including SETI???

Mike! Aloha! Off to do a google search for a good diagram to show what we (YOU?!) are talking about! (Yippee!!!)

SETI? Ya, sure... Makes it more easy to sneak in comments from the radio astronomy side.... Mike

Excellent! *delighted grin* Love the name you chose, Mike! Perfect!

http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/cowley.html It begins: A Beginner's Guide to the Earth's Magnetosphere Earth in Space Vol. 8, No. 7, March 1996, p.9. � 1996 American Geophysical Union. Permission is hereby granted to journalists to use this material so long as credit is given, and to teachers to use this material in classrooms. The magnetosphere is the region of space to which the Earth's magnetic field is confined by the solar wind plasma blowing outward from the Sun, extending to distances in excess of 60,000 kilometers from Earth. Much has been learned about this dynamic plasma region over the past 40 years, since the first direct measurements were made by the early Sputnik and Explorer spacecraft. by Stanley W. H. Cowley, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom The Earth's magnetosphere is formed from two essential ingredients. The first is the Earth's magnetic field, generated by currents flowing in the Earth's core. Outside the Earth this field has the same form as that of a bar magnet, a dipole field, aligned approximately with the Earth's spin axis. The second ingredient is the solar wind, a fully ionized hydrogen/helium plasma that streams continuously outward from the Sun into the solar system at speeds of about 300�800 kilometers per second. This wind is therefore composed of protons and alpha particles, together with sufficient electrons that it is electrically neutral overall. The solar wind is also pervaded by a large-scale interplanetary magnetic field, the solar magnetic field transported outward into the solar system by the solar wind plasma. There is a third ingredient that also plays an important role: the Earth's ionosphere. The upper atmosphere is partially ionized by far-ultraviolet and X rays from the Sun above altitudes of about 100 km. The resulting ionosphere forms a second source of plasma for the magnetosphere, mainly of protons, singly charged helium and oxygen, and the requisite number of electrons for electric charge neutrality.

The Earth's Magnetic Field The Earth has a magnetic field with north and south poles. The Earth's magnetic field reaches 36,000 miles into space. The magnetic field of the Earth is surrounded in a region called the magnetosphere. The magnetosphere prevents most of the particles from the sun, carried in solar wind, from hitting the Earth. Some particles from the solar wind can enters the magnetosphere. The particles that enter from the magnetotail travel toward the Earth and create the auroral oval light shows. The Sun and other planets have magnetospheres, but the Earth has the strongest one of all the rocky planets. The Earth's north and south magnetic poles reverse at irregular intervals of hundreds of thousands of years. Lots of links on this url - all are worth a look http://www.windows.umich.edu/cgi-bin/tour_def/earth/Magnetosphere/overview.html

*Whew* Ok. Mike, it's your sand box. I'll try to stay out of it as much as possible. Enjoy! (Isn't that a killer diagram? I liked it so much I had to delete the post with the pix from the web and save it on my space on Spring's hard drive...)

Greetings all Well thats a good start! An interesting tool that is available for the analysis of whistlers is a FFTDSP program that runs on your PC. Check out www.webcom.com/af9y/ for information on this application. Also on this page is some good info on Earth Moon Earth communications and other weak signal applications. Mike

Mike, I think you're gonna have to write out what FFTDSP means (I'm gonna look it up 'cause I don't remember. About the EME communications, there is a rather lively group on the 14 MHz band which sets up schedules for folks to work in pairs so they know to listen very carefully. One sends the signal (often CW or Morse Code) to the moon at such an angle that the other guy with a calculated amount of time lapse for the signal to travel can receive the bounced signal. I think that is truly amazing. I have listened for it, but my antenna is all wrong for those frequencies they work. Going to check out the program you suggest.

http://www.webcom.com/af9y/ is a totally amazing place. That one little program ($32 US to get by email) will allow you to "see" signals from NASA's Lunar Prospector, EME signals(see above), And has SETI applications. There is a month's free trial also available. Kew Features are available on http://www.webcom.com/af9y/radio10.htm Check it out! Thanks, Mike!

Solar Flux is on the rise! This morning it was 137. This just came in: SFI=150 | A=10 down from 11 | K=1 down from 2 at 0000 on 10 May. SAF: low to moderate, GMF: quiet to unsettled Aurora Level: 7 More: http://hfradio.org/propagation.html

Check out posting http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/geo/2.180 I wonder how much of that stuff will interefere with our global well-being and wave propagation. Never heard of ejecta from anything but out Sun having an effect on terrestrial matters. Mike, do you know? SFI=179 | A=3 | K=1 down from 2 at 1800 on 11 May. SAF: low to moderate, GMF: quiet to active Aurora Level: 5

Mike, gotta few questions for you since you are going to be making the array to detect these things and please let us know what you are doing and how it is progressing. It will be like being at Genesis 1:1 You must not live in an urban stetting if a radio-telescope dish is in your future. What size are you planning and is it gonna be one of those altasimuth mounts or are you opting for a U-shaped movable yoke? Clock drive is imperitive, of course. This will be for the Project SETI observations. What sort of antennas are you going to need for the ELF and EME listening? You must be building the world's most amazing antenna switch! Please let us hear your thinking and planning for these prohjects. That is almost the most exciting part - aside from actually capturing the signals themselves!

Space Weather News for May 11, 2000 Material from a coronal mass ejection that left the Sun on May 8 is expected to pass by our planet late on May 11 or early May 12. Depending on the characteristics of the magnetic field within the disturbance, it could trigger minor geomagnetic storms on Earth. There is a slim chance of aurorae at mid-latitudes, but auroral activity will more likely be concentrated over high latitude regions including northern Europe, Canada and Alaska. Visit http://www.spaceweather.com for more information and updates. SpaceWeather.com ---

Propagation Forecast Bulletin 19 - May 12, 2000 Solar flux and sunspot numbers were sharply lower over the past ten days, but are now heading higher. Solar flux reached a low on Saturday, May 6, when the three readings for the day were 126.3, 126.8 and 126.7. The noon 126.8 reading is the official flux for the day. Daily solar flux values have not been this low since October 2, 1999, when it was 126.3. Average solar flux for the past week was off by over 30 points when compared to the previous week, and average sunspot numbers were down by nearly 13. Another interesting number to look at is the total sunspot area visible on the solar disk. These numbers are expressed as millionths of a hemisphere, and you can see the daily value along with the solar flux and sunspot numbers online at gopher://sec.noaa.gov/00/indices/DSD. We reached a low of 130 for visible sunspot area on May 7. Sunspot area has not been this low since September 30 and October 1, 1999. This value represents a nearly spotless sun, and is actually equivalent to .013 percent of the visible surface. Contrast this with a short time back, April 23, when the sunspot area number was 2860, representing 22 times the visible area of the May 7 value. All of this does not mean that we have passed the peak of the solar cycle, however. Activity jumps around quite a bit, even during a peak year of the cycle such as this one. It is only later when viewing smoothed numbers on a graph that the progress of a cycle looks steady. For more information, read Solar Ups and Downs at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast09may_1m.htm. As this bulletin is written on Thursday evening, the solar flux seems to be ramping upward. It is measured three times per day in Penticton, British Columbia at 1700, 2000 and 2300z, and the last four values measured, from 2300z Wednesday through 2300z Thursday are 167.7, 177.7, 177.7 and 186.5. The predicted solar flux for the next five days, Friday through Tuesday, are 190, 195, 200, 200, and 205. Solar flux is expected to peak for the short term around 220 on May 18, then drop down around 130 from June 1-3. Unfortunately, this weekend there may be effects from a coronal mass ejection that occurred on May 8. Predicted planetary A index for Friday through Tuesday is 20, 20, 15, 8, 8 and 8. Sunspot numbers for May 4 through 10 were 105, 122, 111, 130, 131, 149 and 174 with a mean of 131.7. 10.7 cm flux was 134.5, 129.8, 126.8, 130.9, 137, 149.5 and 179.2, with a mean of 141.1, and estimated planetary A indices were 8, 14, 12, 7, 6, 11 and 7, with a mean of 9.3.

Mike! Look!!! You should get all sorts of stuff tonight on short wave. Pop the BFO and enjoy! I plan to SFI=190 up from 178 | A=15 up from 5 | K=2 at 2100 on 12 May. SAF: low to moderate, GMF: quiet to active Aurora Level: 7

Of course, it'll be really noisy with the A index so high. The lower the better with that and the K.

The Cosmos Was Alive With the Sound of Matter By K.C. COLE When the universe speaks, astronomers listen. When it sings, they swoon. That's roughly what happened late last month when a group of astronomers led by Caltech's Andrew Lange published the most detailed analysis yet of the cosmos' primordial song: a low hum, deep in its throat, that preceded both atoms and stars. It is a simple sound, like the mantra "Om." But hidden within its harmonics are details of the universe's shape, composition and birth. So rich are these details that within hours of the paper's publication, new interpretations of the data had already appeared on the Los Alamos web for new astrophysical papers. "It's stirred up a hornet's nest of interest," said UCLA astronomer Ned Wright, who gave a talk to his colleagues on the paper the next week. So what is all the fuss about? Why are astronomers churning out paper after paper on what looks to a lay person like a puzzling set of wiggly peaks--graphic depictions of the sound, based on hours of computer analysis? Because there's scientific gold in them there sinusoidal hills. The peaks and valleys paint a visual picture of the sound the newborn universe made when it was still wet behind the ears, a mere 300,000 years after its birth in a big bang. Nothing existed but pure light, speckled with occasional subatomic particles. Nothing happened, either, except that this light and matter fluid, as physicists call it, sloshed in and out of gravity wells, compressing the liquid in some places and spreading it out in others. Like banging on the head of a drum, the compression of the "liquid light" as it fell into gravity wells set up the "sound waves" that cosmologist Charles Lineweaver calls "the oldest music in the universe." * * * Then, suddenly, the sound fell silent. The universe had gotten cold enough that the particles, in effect, congealed, like the salad dressing left in the fridge; the light separated and escaped, like the oil on top. The rest is the history of the universe: The particles joined each other to form atoms, stars and everything else, including people. "The universe was very simple back then," said Lange. "After that, we have atoms, chemistry, economics. Things go downhill very quickly." As for the light, or radiation, it still pervades all space. In fact, it's part of the familiar "snow" that sometimes shows up on broadcast TV. But it's more than just noise: When the particles congealed, they left an imprint on the light. Like children going after cookies, the patterns of sloshing particles left their sticky fingerprints all over the sky. The pattern of the sloshes tells you all you need to know about the very early universe: It's shape, how much was made of matter, how much of something else. The principle is familiar: Your child's voice sounds like no one else's because the resonant cavities within her throat create a unique voiceprint. The large, heavy wood of the cello creates a mellower sound than the high-strung violin. Just so, the sounds coming from the early universe depend directly on the density of matter, and the shape of the cosmos itself. Astronomers can't hear the sounds, of course. But they can read them on the walls of the universe like notes on a page. Compressed sound gets hot, and produces hot splotches, like a pressure cooker. Expanded areas cool. Analyze the hot and cold patches and you get a picture of the sound: exactly how much falls on middle C, or B flat. What they've seen so far is both exciting and troubling. The sound suggests that the universe is a tad too heavy with ordinary matter to agree with standard cosmological theories; it resonates more like an oboe than a flute. Something's going on that can't be explained. The answers may come when an even more ambitious probe launches into space later this year. Lest you think these sounds are music only for astronomers' ears, consider: The same wrinkles in space that created the gravity wells that gave rise to the sounds also blew up to form clusters, galaxies, stars, planets, us. Even Hare Krishnas murmuring: Om. ....and Mike and we are listening, too *grin*

SFI=190 | A=17 up from 15 | K=4 up from 2 at 0000 on 13 May. SAF: low to moderate, GMF: quiet to active, Aurora Level: 8

FFTDSP - Fast Fourier Transform Digital Signal Processing Spectral Analysis using software algorithms.... Re the SETI, EME, and ELF stuff EME calls for very large (for lower frequencies) antenna arrays althogh some single yagi type arrays have been used at 144mhz. At 1.2ghz, some EME antennas are yagi type antennas but the dish starts coming into play - a large dish however..... My initial dish is a reinforced solid aluminum 9ft dish that came from a nondisclosed defense contractor antenna test range. It is currently residing behind a garage covered with decaying leaves... My goal would be to put up a 5meter or larger dish but the backyard would be obscured - I was told to just put the thing up and quit asking about it. The neighbors couldnt tell an L-band feed from a hole in the ground.... As far as steering the antenna goes, I plan to use an AZ-EL although the cheap alternative is to fix the position and just do drift scan. Its ok as long as I do not clutter too much of the yard - kind of interferes with summer parties. The VLF antenna is actually quite small - just a short whip connected to a high gain amplifier. Other experimenters have used long wires. The design I have will get by with a small vertical.

How nice - you already have the Big stuff in the back yard, and what a conversation piece for your summer parties! Just a short whip? Not a rubber duckie coiled miles of antenna wire into a little space? A real little whip? That must be some high-gain amplifier you have (and I have no reason whatever to question you on it - you are the expert and I am the novice in here). How are you going to record the stuff - rolls of paper like seismographs, autio tape, other I cannot imagine? Ummm...I like the idea of the 5 meter dish (or larger!) Your less with-it neighbors are gonna want to know what TV programs you get on that dish! EME stuff is line-of-sight... How many of the others you are planning depend on propagation rather than line-of-sight? I wish I knew more to ask more intelligent questions. But, I'll work on it! Thanks, Mike!

Off to find an english (simple, hopefully) explanation of "FFTDSP - Fast Fourier Transform Digital Signal Processing Spectral Analysis using software algorithms.... " I've heard it discussed often enough between two people who already knew what they were talking about. Off to try to teach myself a few new things...!

SFI=217 up from 190 | A=14 down from 17 | K=3 at 2100 on 13 May. SAF: low to moderate, GMF: quiet to active, Aurora Level: 7

SFI=233 up from 217 | A=16 up from 14 | K=2 at 2100 on 14 May. SAF: moderate, GMF: quiet to unsettled, Aurora Level: 5 More: http://hfradio.org/propagation.html

SFI=244 up from 233 | A=13 down from 15 | K=2 down from 3 at 2100 on 15 May. SAF: high, GMF: quiet to active, Aurora Level: 7

How's the radio telescope project, Mike?

SFI=259 up from 244 | A=15 up from 12 | K=2 down from 3 at 2100 on 16 May. SAF: moderate, GMF: quiet to active, Aurora Level: 6 Ok guys, how high can this go? Another coronal outburst is due to hit May 17-18

Please check post http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/Geo/34.66

Radio JOVE -- NASA helps students tune in to radio bursts from Jupiter Jupiter is a source of powerful radio bursts that can produce exotic sounds on common ham radio receivers. NASA scientists are helping students tune in to the giant planet as part of an innovative educational program called Radio JOVE. FULL STORY at http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ast22may_1.htm?list Radio JOVE

Greetings all Back from the bog..... Well, some of the obnoxious distractions are behind me so I can focus on the more important things like building equipment - as far as the ELF monitoring equipment goes, the antenna is a 57 inch steel whip that is part of an E-field preamp - this was a construction project in the July 1999 'Lowdown' publication (Longwave Club of America). This might take a back seat to my 24ghz transmit/receive system which I need to get to building. I will post more info as time allows - also check out: www.triax.com/vlfradio/ which is a webpage dedicated to VLF monitoring along with actual recordings of whisters. Finally, regarding the radio telescope project - I need to come up with some designs for the down converter and receiver assembly then how to log the data - plus have to get that 8ft dish moved over.... The first stage is (other than the dish, feed, LNA, AZ EL, etc...) is to build a stable L band (1.4ghz) down converter which will feed some type of analogue to digital converter which then feeds the PC doing data logging. This is a very long term project with the end not in sight at the moment. Not to say that components will not be built up and integrated - the dish will allow for some satellite or EME experiments as well. Re the Jovian experiments - listening to Jupiter is one of the initial steps in radio astronomy and can be copied on radio receivers that tune 21Mhz. The next would be a simple 12ghz solar observatory using available ku band satellite tv components. With the arrival of new surplus components, the 24ghz project beckons... radio free cosmo

Yay! Mike is back. Terry and I were about to send out a posse to rescue you! Now to read what you posted. We thought mebbe a DXpedition or a swap meet had taken you hostage...*grin* It is great to have you back. Now, I'm gonna read what you wrote...!

Have the receiver with the 21 MHz band right beside me - surely not in SSB or is it? Know any freq's off hand for the Jovian listening (or I could hunt at the url I posted above - which is what I should be doing...) It is really great to have such great long-term projects which will interface. I know Terry is eager to know what you are doing and I am sure you will be seeing his posts in here. The propagation was out of sight last week and weekend - and I could get stations in daylight which I normally do not get. It was interesting and not too noisy - something of a surprise!

Check out Mike's suggested url http://www.triax.com/vlfradio/ Lots of what he will be talking about is there and a terrific photo of an Aurora over Canada. Too bad it is black and white!

but keep going...http://www.triax.com/vlfradio/sndbites.htm is the sound page and it is in color there! Absolutely spectacular. Thanks for the URL !

The sounds are phenomenal. Have you ever heard Aurora sounds, Mike? How loud are they and how much like this wav file do they sound?

Testing

Coming in loud and clear. Welcome!

Mike, I am downloading and installing SETI@home software http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/windows.html There is a topic concerning this software and what it does http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/software/172/new

I am up and running! I signed in and now it is data crunching. I feel joined to the cosmos!

Im still here for the moment but will have to observe radio silence for a bit - no need to call out the rescue units (grin) Will try to check in if possible. Re Aurora - a popular mode of communcating amongst the VHF and up crowd is Aurora scatter - point the antenna at the aurora and use it as a giant reflector - have not heard cw signals from aurora propagation but I think it has a raspy note to it (?) I have listened to microwave signals using rain scatter - once during the June VHF contest, I listened to 5ghz ssb signals from a station 35 miles to the west (off the back of my dish) talking to a station across the lake in central Michigan - neat stuff. This type of propagation also can happen in snow blizzards. The mode I want to work on is tropo-ducting where the hot and cold air near the lake surface form a 'duct' that acts as an excellent propagation medium. For 24ghz, I will have to rely on dry days with little humidity due to the absorption problems caused by moisture. Anyway, be back sometime in the near future.... Mike AA9IL

Good business, Mike. I have heard tropr-ducting across a small lake in upper NY State. We could hear quite plainly the voices and allied noises of the people across the lake who were making breakfast and using china plates. It is amazing how loud and clear it is. How is skip doing these days? It has been years since it was worth the effort. My SETI software is still crunching numbers from Arecibo. This is the most fascinating program I ever downloaded! Take care - we await your next post 3's n 8's Marcia

Here's another interesting monitoring and data crunching possibillity: From: Glenn Thompson - glenn@mvomrat.com With a single PC workstation it is now possible to compute plots (e.g. spectrograms) of continuous seismic data for dozens of stations and display these on the World-Wide Web within minutes. Web-based seismic monitoring of volcanoes offers several advantages, perhaps the main one being that a person on beeper duty can respond to an alarm without having to leave home in the middle of the night. It also makes it easy to share data with other scientists and schools. I spent the last two years developing a Web-based system to monitor the seismicity at Alaskan volcanoes. I am curious to learn what other systems exist out there. I would be very grateful if the creators of such systems would get in touch with me and give me a short (a paragraph would be fine) description of your system (would be helpful if you included URL and related publications if any). I would also be happy to hear from anyone who is currently developing (or thinking about developing) such a system, or anyone's views on the future of Web-based monitoring of volcanoes (including web-cams, satellite data etc.). Many thanks, Glenn Thompson (glenn@mvomrat.com) Seismologist Montserrat Volcano Observatory

Lack of coronal outbursts lately caused the solar flux to plummet. They are recovering nicely, now - and they have added another parameter to their reports: SFI=166 | A=11 | K=2 down from 3 at 0300 on 4 June. SAF: moderate to high, GMF: quiet to unsettled Aurora Level: 4 Solar Wind: 443.1 km/s at 3.5 protons/cc More: http://hfradio.org/propagation.html

First Light for a Space Weather Satellite NASA Science News for June 5, 2000 NASA's IMAGE mission, a unique satellite dedicated to the study of space storms, has returned its first pictures of electrified gas surrounding our planet. Using antennas as large as the Empire State Building, IMAGE is taking an unprecedented look at Earth's magnetic environment and its response to fierce gusts of solar wind. FULL STORY at http://spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ast05jun_1m.htm?list __

Ok, back again.... The seismic monitoring seems tres kewl - have to dig up that web page and give it a look-see. First on the list is some goofy microwave stuff but I need to build up the final parts for a project INSPIRE receiver to take out into the country for Whistler monitoring. Free time, what is that? Let Chaos Reign! Hail Eris! Mike

Mike! There you are! Another solar burst is on its way - use your cosmic umbrella this week. I am just about finished crunching my 8th block of SETI data. Welcome home. Of course, Chaos reigns... and there is even order in Chaos!

Solar Storm Warnings Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 12:30:08 -0500 From: NASA Science News NASA Science News for June 7, 2000 An interplanetary shock wave from a solar coronal mass ejection is expected to pass our planet this Thursday, possibly triggering aurora at middle-latitudes. This story includes animations of the solar eruption as well as aurora borealis observing tips. Note: Science@NASA readers who capture photos of the aurora are invited to send them as email attachments to phillips@spacescience.com for possible inclusion in a follow-up web story. FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast07jun_1m.htm?list __

Anyone going out tonite to watch for the Aurora? - In the VLF communications area, another organization that is doing research in VLF communications is AMRAD - the Amateur Radio Research and Development Corporation. See their web page at www.amrad.org 73's de Mike

Thanks mike - my ex is gonna try!!! I posted the coronal storms on Geo 34 I'll try but we are pretty far south...

June 8-9 Aurora Update Space Weather News for June 8-9, 2000 Geomagnetic disturbances are finally subsiding after an interplanetary shock wave struck Earth's magnetosphere around 930 UT on June 8. The event triggered intense aurora over sparsely-inhabited regions of northern Asia and the Pacific. However, by nightfall over North America conditions had quieted. There is still a chance for isolated auroral substorms that might be visible tonight (June 8-9) at middle latitudes. The next opportunity for viewing aurora borealis may arrive as soon as June 10, when another solar wind disturbance is expected to reach Earth. For more information and updates please visit http://www.spaceweather.com SpaceWeather.com

Propagation Forecast Bulletin 23 - June 9, 2000 A large coronal mass ejection on June 6 is raising havoc with HF propagation. Geomagnetic conditions were rough on Wednesday, with K indices of 3 and 4, but the big effect was measured on Thursday, when the planetary K index was 7 at 0900 and 1200z, followed by 6 at 1500z. The planetary A index for Thursday was 53, while the College A index (in Alaska) was 79. This indicates a severe geomagnetic storm, which should disrupt HF communications but may provide interesting auroral communication opportunities for VHF enthusiasts. Regarding visible aurora effects, the chances over North America are declining on Friday morning, although earlier in the day there was an intense aurora visible over Asia. To add to the excitement, there was another coronal mass ejection on Wednesday, June 7. The latest word has solar wind providing another disruption on Saturday, June 10. Planetary A index should rise on Friday to 75, then drop to 40 on Saturday, 25 on Sunday, 18 on Monday and 15 on Tuesday. Solar flux is expected to rise over the same period, to 185 on Friday, 190 on Saturday, 200 on Monday and 210 on Tuesday. Solar flux is expected to peak over the short term around 245 on June 16. Last week's bulletin mentioned monitoring WWV for the latest solar and geophysical numbers, and both WB6RIB and W9LYN wrote to suggest the URL of ftp://ftp.sel.noaa.gov/pub/latest/wwv.txt for the latest text of the WWV bulletin that appears at 18 minutes after every hour.

No aurora here but plenty of mosquitos. Took the high tech scooter around the neighborhood and barely made it to the door alive. Oh well, see what happens on 6-10 with the solar wind blast. de Mike Radio Cosmo International

Thanks for reporting in, Mike. My respondants reported city light glare, clouds and rain but no aurora. Don't think my message got to the European contingent. I had a transfusion when I got back as well. Eruptions are much nicer. They smell bad enough and are hot enough to discourage mosquitoes. Maybe you need to burn mosquito coils on your high-tech scooter?!

The solar storm has hit us: SFI=180 up from 169 | A=25 up from 7 | K=3 at 2100 on 10 June. SAF: low to moderate, GMF: quiet to active Aurora Level: 9 Solar Wind: 460.7 km/s at 1.6 protons/cc More: http://hfradio.org/propagation.html

Well, did some VHF/UHF operating during the June ARRL contest. Worked across the lake into Michigan on 144Mhz and heard some bursts on 223Mhz. Someone else was working 6 meters (50Mhz) but the band did seem open - most likely sporadic E propagation although maybe F??? No Aurora but plenty of storm clouds to the North. Brought the 5.7ghz transverter out for show and tell - need to hook that thing up and operate! 73 de Mike AA9IL

Let me know when you are GOING to be on (rather than after it) - would love to hear your voice... the 14 MHz is sort of dead but there is a huge pile up on 14.204. Pretty quiet, actually!

A solar flare, a CME, and a solar wind disturbance -- all in one day! Space Weather News for June 10, 2000 The prolific flare-producing sunspot group #9026 unleashed another moderately strong solar flare today. The eruption was accompanied by a partial halo coronal mass ejection (CME) that might be Earth-directed. If so, material from the CME would arrive in the vicinity of our planet on June 12 or 13. A SOHO coronagraph animation of the event shows a beautiful billowing CME peppered by speckles and meteor-like streaks resulting from energetic particles hitting the spacecraft's camera. Earlier in the day, as predicted, a solar wind disturbance from a CME on June 7 struck Earth's magnetosphere. Active geomagnetic conditions were observed for about nine hours, but have since subsided. For more information and pictures, please visit http://www.spaceweather.com

This rare red-colored aurora over North Carolina was photographed by Chuck Adams on April 6, 2000. The bright object near the horizon is the Moon. Also visible in the background are the Pleiades, Taurus, and Orion. The photographer used a Nikon FM2 camera equipped with a 28mm f/2 lens. The exposure time was one minute on Kodak Elite 100 slide film. (Copyright 2000, Chuck Adams, all rights reserved.)

The storm is approaching: Date: Sun, 11 Jun 2000 14:31:21 -0700 SFI=187 up from 180 | A=25 up from 23 | K=5 up from 4 at 2100 on 11 June. SAF: moderate, GMF: at unsettled to minor storm levels Aurora Level: 9 Solar Wind: 569.3 km/s at 7.2 protons/cc More: http://hfradio.org/propagation.html

Wonder how high its going to go.... Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2000 14:30:44 -0700 SFI=193 up from 187 | A=16 down from 24 | K=3 down from 4 at 2100 on 12 June. SAF: moderate, GMF: at unsettled to minor storm levels Aurora Level: 7 Solar Wind: 466.1 km/s at 1.5 protons/cc More: http://hfradio.org/propagation.html

Greetings all In the most recent Lowdown (Long Wave Club of America), there was a short description of a ELF/ULF/SLF receiver built by John WB7TQT. - frequency range 0.03 to 300Hz - 47000 turn loop. John has tapes available of the signals heard at these frequencies. I will post the address once I find it. 73 de AA9IL Mike

Great news. The last ones you posted the urls for were spectacular!

Supposedly the solar storm has passed us (see Geo 34 today) but the numbers keep going up. The latest: SFI=199 | A=16 | K=3 up from 2 at 0000 on 14 June. SAF: low to moderate, GMF: quiet to unsettled Aurora Level: 6 Solar Wind: 433.5 km/s at 8.5 protons/cc More: http://hfradio.org/propagation.html

Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2000 14:32:20 -0700 SFI=201 up from 199 | A=17 up from 16 | K=4 at 2100 on 14 June. SAF: low to moderate, GMF: quiet to active Aurora Level: 6 Solar Wind: 447.0 km/s at 41.7 protons/cc More: http://hfradio.org/propagation.html

Note the increase of velocity of the solar wind. I think it is not over yet...

Check the sunspots with this amazing little updating image:

Howdy all Well, just finished a neat book - 'Boffin' which was a historical account of early radar during WWII. Also some neat info about the early experiments at Jodrell Bank and design work on interferometers. I know book reviews should be in the Books section but this should appeal to the Geo crowd. BTW, the author is R Hanbury Brown. Currently plodding through 'Gravity's Rainbow' and will also be starting up on the history of the crypto group at Bletchley Park that cracked the Enigma Cipher. 73 de Mike Radio Cosmo International

HanaHou...... Mike! Been there and seen them. Amazing stuff Gotta get that book. Was at your webpage today. Really great antenna you have and it is widely used here with palm trees at the corner posts and the ubiquitous chain link fence below. Check AA9IL http://www.qsl.net/aa1ll/

Propagation Forecast Bulletin 25 - June 23, 2000 Average solar flux and sunspot numbers rose slightly this week, and geomagnetic indices were lower. Planetary and mid-latitude A indices have been mostly in the single digits. Unfortunately, geomagnetic conditions may be a bit more active for Field Day this weekend. The predicted planetary A index for Friday through Tuesday is 15, 15, 20, 20 and 12, but no major disturbance is likely. Solar flux for the same period is expected to be around 175, 175, 170, 165 and 165, and should begin rising again around July 1. The short term outlook is for flux values to slowly rise and then peak around 200 before the middle of next month. NASA has an article this week on a proposed model for better predicting the arrival time of the effects from Coronal Mass Ejections. You can see the NASA article at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast22jun_1m.htm?list and see more info from a solar physics meeting at http://www.lmsal.com/spd/Press/ .

Greets to all Well, back again after another week of silliness. Did pick up some microwave goodies tho and visit with a fellow radio op regarding mysterious signals on the HF bands - primarily Numbers Stations and bizarre digital modes. Also, discussion on a cw 'beacon' that transmits at intervals on 10.106 Mhz in the 30 meter band. Strange slow cw text that could be a prank or a coded message? (ooooh...) No luck hearing it now since it is early afternoon - will have to try again at sunset due to propagation. Speaking of propagation, an interesting book to read is 'Beyond Line of Sight' by Emil Pocock and is published by the ARRL. This is a series of reprints from QST covering VHF and up progagation studies. Kewl Stuph Also, checked out the web page listed above (AA1LL) - not mine but does have some interesting links plus a picture of a bug semi auto key similar to one that I have. 73 de Mike Radio Cosmo International

No wonder I had trouble connecting it with you.....you are AA1IL......sigh. I did note the big brass bug and though it would be an object of envy for sure. Ever catch those voice 'number stations' which recite two number units on and on?? It has been suggested that it is the method of choise to covey covert information - I have heard all accents but the numbers are always in English.

Ok, looks like another hot thread with number stations - will have to move that to the 'Radio' page. I have listened to Spanish speaking number stations - might have heard some in English as well in my far distant past... The ones I remember the best are the Spanish ones tho... There are many theories regarding the purpose of the stations - most likely a means of passing secret info to operatives in the field. Not likely a hoax...? It is just about nitefall here where there will be a peak in grey line propagation - the HF rig is tuned to 30M but all I hear is static - the HF bands were kind of poor today to begin with. Well, back to the listening post. 73 de Secret Agent Mike

I kept a list of frequencies a few years ago...must dig it out and post it. Wow, I wonder what reminded of them... No hoax... You are right about to operatives in the field and every country did it... Read an article a few years back by an ex CIA operative writing in a Ham-trade magazine (not sure now which one) The code changes daily and an hour which varies from day to day.

Please create the new topic in radio while I hunt for my list... Meet you there!

50291 39710 71002 52983 47016 84392 91023 62091 89015 39102 75223 97738 ..... Well, I can see that even my pseudo random key strokes are hardly pseudo random - you can notice a distinct frequency of 1-0's plus a pattern of upper 5 digits alternating with lower 5 digits. The Cray's do have job security, dont they..... Thought I heard some possible traffic of interest on the target frequency but was just someone calling CQ. Shades of the monitoring stations in the Mediterranean that would copy diplomatic traffic up and down the coast along with a bit of intercept of North African signals to liven things up a bit. Ok, back to the static - will have to move this to the radio page if this keeps up. RYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRY

You have a pretty good fist and you came up with those results? Amazing! It is very funny that the guy calling CQ was so bad you mistook it for something else. Talk about Novice Class...! Hey, we can topic drift right here. All that stuff was bounced off the Kennelly-Heavyside Layer, anyway.....

RY? aa9il, what is RY? (I'll get your call right one of these days...sorry!)

Howdy again RY harkens back to ye olden days of teletype where commercial stations would send a string of RY's on their channel in between traffic. Also, (not quite memorized the Baudot) I think the letters R and Y mirror themselves - kind of like 73 which would be: _ _ ... ... _ _ Have to look up the baudot sheet for that. Also, regarding the chap sending CQ - heard a faint cw signal down in the noise floor - got my attention never the less... Probably the same effect of trying to pull cw signals out of the noise on microwave or EME. During the June contests years ago, I could have sworn I was hearing CW down in the noise floor on 5.7 GHz. Sleep depravation more likely. 73 de Mike Radio Cosmo International

Sleep Depravation can make for interesting notes in the log book, never again to be duplicated. I remember doing it for my Dad when I was the little kid in the family. But, never do I recall anything like in the GHz range. The old HRO just did not have that capacity and I don't think anyone was broadcasting in that range in any case. Not when I was a little kid. Oh Yeah, *That* RY... Yes! I think you are correct about the mirror image call

Regarding Number Stations (I recall hearing them in the 6MHz band) Number Stations Timothy Lehto 1. Introduction When listening around the lower frequencies of the international shortwave bands, one may hear stations, usually weak, reciting endless groups of numbers (usually groups of five, with a letter at the end of each group). These stations, dubbed "number stations" have been found to be radio stations, operated by foreign governments for the purpose of communicating to their field agents. Yes, folks, spy radio, and you can listen in! The first thing you must realize is that, there is no given frequency for certain number stations. They do change frequency when they feel that security is being compromised. However, they do tend to stay in the lower frequencies for two reasons. One reason is that at night, an enormous amount of range can be achieved with low power output on low frequencies. Another is that, for the most part, international broadcasts are above 7 MHz (giving ham operators headaches). 2. Where and when to look The best range of frequencies to hunt in is anywhere from 2 MHz to 6.5 MHz. And the best time of day to go hunting for them is at night. However, it is not impossible for you to hear these clandestine broadcasts during the day -- you just have to look harder. 3. Listening tips It is useful to write down the beginning and the end of the broadcasts. Some people are saying that there is a form of identifier for the station, and it is usually at the beginning or end. Keep a careful log of where you heard the station, and at what time. Over a period of a few weeks, you may notice a pattern that will make monitoring easier. And you will be able to determine what part of the world they are communicating with, the day of the week and time at which they communicate, and if you are lucky, figure out a frequency pattern so that you can make listening regular. more at: http://www.tdyc.com/archive/radio/number.html

The Ultimate Frequency list for the Number Stations: http://www.btinternet.com/~simon.mason/page51.html This guy thinks they're fake http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/5751/what.html And, if you are truly interested in this subject, I did a google.com search and they came up with 421,997 hits for Number stations.

I guess the secret on number stations is out judging from the number of hits. But has anyone cracked the code yet? Most likely one time pad ciphers... Anyway, working back towards earth science, saw a nice picture of the Aurora in the July issue of CQ. This was a red one. The only Aurora I ever saw was out a plane window on the way to Seattle. Looked out and saw this powder blue curtain in the sky - a few seconds later, the captain announced over the PA that the Aurora was visible - seconds later after that it was gone. Just thought of another interesting theory about whistlers - there was an article in a book titled RadioText(e) published by Semiotext(e) about an experiment to correlate whistlers with the Marfa lights. The Marfa lights was a strange visible phenomenon that occurred in Marfa, Tx (natch...) - strange orbs of light that would jet across the ground. Speculation ranged from ball lightning, to ghosts, to strange plasma balls formed from intense geological pressure on rocks (quartz fissures perhaps?). No end conclusions but interesting none the less. Closest I ever came to ball lightning was once witnessing the plasma dissipation after a close lightning strike. Sort of like strings of lightning pearls. 3's de Mike radio cosmo international p.s. - never saw the Marfa lights but did see hundreds of jack rabbits along the road side during one night of an epic road trip through West Texas....

Interesting and nice try, Mike! (random coeds no cracking re number stations) Your near-ball lightning reminds me of my experience with it. Purple sheet lightning succeeded by these odd plasma pearls (good name for them). Don't ever want to be that close to them again. The best aurora pix from the latest coronal ejections I posted the best on http://www.spring.net/yapp-bin/restricted/read/geo/35.59

Make that Random CODES not coeds......*grin*

Random coeds - ah yes, shades of my college days.... :-)

anyway... Another interesting form of lightning that has been more in the news in the past decade are the 'sprites' and 'jets'. These were observed by astronauts and pilots as upward charges that flare up from the top of a cloud during a strike. These can be seen as red tendrils and white bursts - must have to do a search on these as to what is the theoretical (or actual) cause. One other interesting form of lightning I had a chance to witness (although, given the circumstances, rather had not...) was some of the cloud to cloud bursts that would light up the night sky while viewed from an airplane window. Intense beauty but rather un-nerving - flying by storms aint much fun. 73 de mike radio cosmo....

You're right about flying in storms. Ain't fun. Did that landing in Tucson once. Blind lighning everywhere. Have NO idea how the pilot landed the place but we gave him a hearty ovation when he emerged from the cockpit! I've seen NASA footage of Elfs and Sprites and jets. Truly amazing - and colors too. Wonder if I can find pix of them to post...going hunting!

And howdy once again.... Got the latest Lowdown yesterday - why is it when I finally hunker down to work on one project - I get some info on something completely different that distracts me. This issue had a discussion on SLF continuous and irregular pulsations. Frequency range is in the 0 to 3hz range. I guess I'll have to do some web searches and find some design criteria for receivers or tunable amplifiers that work at that low frequency. Then, off to the surplus store to by a 10lb spool of #30awg copper wire to wind up a 50000 turn pickup loop. Until then, packaging on the 10ghz transverter will continue.... Talk about interests at the opposite ends of the spectrum. At least I have not decided to move up to the THz range and experiment with long range laser communications and optical cloud bounce. Stay tuned.... 73 de Mike Radio Cosmo International

No middle of the road for you, Mike! 10 GHz is WAY up there! I have wound transformers with my Dad - that is a really laborious task. How tedious is winding that loop?

Hi Marcia and Geo-ites I need to do some web research on these loops - I remember from an old Scientific American book that included a chapter on amateur seismology that the pickup loop was wound on a large bobbin which was balanced between the polls of a magnetron magnet. The balance was fixed to a large concrete pier which picked up the activity by moving the coil up and down between the magnet poles - awesome book - wished I could find a copy. The coil for this receiver will probably be wound on a good dielectric former - not sure if it is an air coil or has a ferro-magnetic core - probably does. Needless to say, 50000 turns will require automation! 73 de Mike radio cosmo international

Aloha Mike! Wow!!! 50000 turns....indeed! I shall hunt too for that book. One of us should find what you are looking for. They are reissuing those old but great Scientific American books. Gotta check on the web to see what is available. I would like it as well to make the seismology loop. When my son was young we looked everywhere for that book, but have not looked recently... And, if it as elaborate as you say, it is not a job for a novice former transformer winder!

The title of the book is: "The Scientific American Book of Projects for the Amateur Scientist" or something close to that - the book was written by CL Stong and sadly it is out of print. This was one of those 'mad scientist' books which included articles on model rocketry (not Estes!), building Van de Graff generators, particle accelerators, X Ray machines and other way cool gadgets that, if printed today, would cause litigation jittery folks to excrete bricks. This is hard core science in the classic sense and not for the weak of heart. - I.e. you could either get a cool project up and running or kill yourself in the process. Now, this is what I call a science book. The lilly livered can stick to making plaster of paris volcanos that use baking soda and vinegar. Anyway, there was a whole section on amateur seismology including mechanical and electrical designs. Of course, today, you can build up the system using OP Amps but the pickup coil and pivot/balance should still apply. Speaking of cool old books - there is an outfit called Lindsay Publications that puts out books on lost technology - stuff like how to build steam engines, lathes, tesla coils, and other weird science stuff. They seem to have quite a bit on Tesla - would like to build up something that generates a couple of MEV and throw lightning bolts around the basement. I found a perfect corona discharge orb at a ham fest once and just need to get a large plexiglass pipe to wind the coil. Kewl stuff. 73 de Mike radio cosmo international

For out of print books and rareties: http://abebooks.com/ The things of which dreams are made - Mine, anyway...Van de Graf Generator, Tesla Coil, wood-panelled library with a ceiling orerary. Never mind the rest of the house...I definitly need to find that book! Particle accellerators?! Mike, if you have not been the British Museum of Science off Cromwell Road in London, get thee hither and watch the lightning in there. What a show - and what a bang! oh, I also need a full length Foucault Pendulum...and...and...

Coronagraphs on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) recorded a full halo coronal mass ejection (CME) on July 7 at 1030 UT (6:30 a.m. EDT). Forecasters estimate that material from the CME, which was expanding away from the Sun at 455 km/s, will arrive in the vicinity of Earth on July 11, 2000.

And the propagations rises: SFI=210 up from 187 | A=7 | K=2 down from 3 at 2100 on 8 July. SAF: low to moderate, GMF: quiet to unsettled Aurora Level: 5 Solar Wind: 368.6 km/s at 3.4 protons/cc More: http://hfradio.org/propagation.html

Got a chance to go to the Science Museum last time I was in London. Way cool stuph. Only had a short time and focused on the space section and the telecom/wireless section. Even got to see an Enigma machine and did also see the pendulum. Missed the lightning show. Anyway, I'll have to do some rare book searches for the Sci American book. Probably alot of updated info already exists on the web. Still need to do some searches on ELF and SLF monitoring and the integration and/or DSP methods used to extract data. Mike radio cosmo international

Mike, you gotta to the the top floor and look at the old boat anchors - there is my dad's HRO there!!! On the same floor and room as the Enigma Machine!!! The lightning generator was in the next building back I think - science and technology. Really great stuph in there!!! Good luck on your searches!!!