Ham Radio News
…because we don’t live in a vacuum
Nathan Simington Confirmed as
Newest FCC Member
On a 49 - 46 vote, the US Senate on December 9 confirmed
Nathan Simington to be a Commissioner at the FCC. Simington
previously served as a senior advisor at the US Department of
Commerce. Earlier, he was a legal associate at various law firms,
often specializing in finance.
Upon being sworn in, he will take the seat of Commissioner
Michael O'Rielly, whose renomination was pulled by President
Donald Trump last summer, shortly before it was to go to the
Senate floor.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has announced that he will step down on
January 20, opening a seat for incoming President Joe Biden to
appoint a new commissioner to form a new 3 - 2 Democratic
majority. Biden then could either designate that new
commissioner as chairman, or select one of the two sitting
Democrats already on the Commission, Jessica Rosenworcel
and Geoffrey Starks. Biden could also designate one of the two
sitting Democrats as Acting Chairman to manage the FCC until
his new pick has been confirmed by the Senate and sworn in.
Until that happens, the FCC will have a 2 - 2 party split.
First Solar Image from Hawaii
Observatory Shows Sunspot
Close-Up
The world's largest solar observatory, National Science
Foundation (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii,
has released its first image of a sunspot, capturing the
phenomenon in striking detail. The image, taken last January, is
among the first solar images of the new Solar Cycle 25. The
telescope's 4-meter primary mirror will give the best views of
the sun from Earth throughout Solar Cycle 25. The image was
released along with the first of a series of Inouye-related articles
featured in the Solar Physics journal. As radio amateurs know,
sunspots and other solar activity can affect HF radio
The first sunspot image taken on January 28, 2020 by the NSF's Inouye Solar Telescope's
Wave Front Correction context viewer. The sunspot is sculpted by a convergence of
intense magnetic fields and hot gas boiling up from below. [NSO/AURA/NSF, photo]
propagation, among other things, and they are where coronal
mass ejections (CMEs) and solar flares originate. The Inouye
telescope is in its final stages of construction.
"While the start of telescope operations has been slightly
delayed due to the impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic,
this image represents an early preview of the unprecedented
capabilities that the facility will bring to bear on our
understanding of the sun," said David Boboltz, NSF Inouye Solar
Telescope Program Director. Solar Cycle 25 is predicted to peak
in mid-2025.
"With this solar cycle just beginning, we also enter the era of the
Inouye Solar Telescope," said Matt Mountain, President of the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA),
the organization that manages the National Solar Observatory
and the Inouye Solar Telescope. "We can now point the world's
most advanced solar telescope at the sun to capture and share
incredibly detailed images and add to our scientific insights
about the sun's activity."
During the peak of Solar Cycle 24, 120 sunspots were tracked.
Some 115 sunspots are predicted for the peak of Solar Cycle 25.
The new image encompasses an area on the sun's surface of
some 10,000 miles across -- just a tiny part of the sun, but large
enough to fit Earth inside, the Inouye Solar Telescope said in its
statement. Read more. -- Thanks to the National Solar
Observatory and news media reports
It's us versus the Great Barrier!
It;’s time for some education about the bands… and how they behave…
courtesy of Joe, K8MP and his contest update for the DELARA Contest Team
(and others). These contests are over now but the content is well worth
consideration:
What is the Great Barrier?
It depends on what HF band you're using. This past weekend was the ARRL
160-Meter Contest. For that one, the barrier is daylight. There are a few die
hards that stay active after the sun is up but many folks use those hours to
catch up on sleep after having stayed up most of the night.
"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I CQd weak and weary...."
160 is the quintessential night time band.
This coming weekend, the barrier becomes night time because we're moving
to the other end of the HF spectrum. Ten meter signals require a higher level
of ionization for propagation so it's usually not open until after sun rise.
During a solar minimum, which we are slowly coming out of, even day time
isn't enough for good propagation.
This weekend we could have marginally decent conditions on 10. That recent
little bump in the solar flux helped open it up a bit but now it's dropping off.
We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed. One thing to keep in mind is that
the Big Guns will be on and they can sometimes punch through marginal
conditions.
There are other types of propagation we can hope for too, such as an E-Skip
opening. There was a rare one just a few weeks ago.
There should also be some meteor-scatter propagation because the Geminids
meteor shower will be near its peak over this weekend.
When a meteor burns up in the atmosphere, it causes an ionization trail that
will refract RF back to the earth. You have to be quick though. That path may
only exist for a few seconds or so. It may be just enough time to exchange
your info. (i.e. "59(9) Ohio")
Great Lakes Division election results
Incumbent Director Dale Williams, WA8EFK, retained his seat in a challenge
from Michael Kalter, W8CI. The vote was 1,840 to 1,398. In a three-way
contest for Division Vice-Director, Scott Yonally, N8SY, received 1,670 votes to
win over Jim Hessler (975 votes) and Frank Piper, KI8GW (611 votes). Dale
Williams will have to name a successor to fill Scott’s unexpired term. That
should be done by January.
Brace yourself- and lookie here
Nope, it’s NOT the April edition of DELARA News. RadioShack® is back as an
online retailer of electronics. It is offering some parts in its inventory that
largely consists of radios, batteries, telephone gear, drones, computer
accessories, and even cameras. The iconic company was recently purchased
from General Wireless by Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV). No plans are in
place to reopen RadioShack-owned stores, although some 400 brick-and-
mortar outlets are operated by franchisees.
As we all know by now, Universal Radio closed its doors November 30. The
website will be selling off remaining stock as owners Fred and Babara
Osterman have retired. While we’re saddened to see the venerable ham radio
“Candy Store” disappear, we do with Fred and Barbara well in their retirement!