WEBVTT 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:13.240 Thanks for tuning in. Hamtalk Live will be on 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:31.160 the air shortly. Please stand by. Thanks for 00:00:31.160 --> 00:00:33.920 tuning in. Hamtalk Live will be on the air shortly. 00:00:34.219 --> 00:00:41.280 Please stand by. This episode of HamTalk Live 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:44.920 is brought to you by Tower Electronics. For connectors, 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:50.759 cables, and more, call 920 -435 -2973 or visit 00:00:50.759 --> 00:00:56.619 pl -259 .com. And by ICOM, heard it, worked it, 00:00:56.820 --> 00:01:01.859 logged it. Visit www .icomamerica .com slash 00:01:01.859 --> 00:01:05.719 amateur for more information about ICOM radios. 00:01:11.079 --> 00:01:41.540 Here we go Good evening, everyone. It's time 00:01:41.540 --> 00:01:46.519 for HamTalk Live. It's episode number 223, Solar 00:01:46.519 --> 00:01:51.640 Cycle 25 with Ted Cook, K7RA, recorded live on 00:01:51.640 --> 00:01:56.280 Thursday, August 13th, 2020. I'm your host, Neil 00:01:56.280 --> 00:02:00.159 Rapp, WB9VPG. Thanks for tuning in to this episode 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:04.060 of HamTalk Live. Tonight we're joined by Ted 00:02:04.060 --> 00:02:08.460 Cook, K7RA, and we'll take your calls live. In 00:02:08.460 --> 00:02:11.599 just a few minutes, last week, Michael Colley, 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:16.159 W4MCA, and Mike Banigan, KJ4UDO, were here to 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:19.599 talk about the Orlando Hamcation and the Carol 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:23.199 Perry Educator Award nominations. So if you missed 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:26.560 that show, you can listen anytime over at HamTalkLive 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:31.060 .com. or your favorite podcast app or on youtube 00:02:31.060 --> 00:02:34.500 or you can catch the rebroadcast every saturday 00:02:34.500 --> 00:02:37.900 afternoon at three thirty p m eastern time on 00:02:37.900 --> 00:02:44.199 w t w w that's fifty eighty five a m so i get 00:02:44.199 --> 00:02:47.039 your solar questions ready to go we'll talk with 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:49.960 tad here in a little bit and uh... let me give 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:52.580 you the phone number here to call if you have 00:02:52.580 --> 00:02:56.340 a question to ask if you're listening to us live 00:02:56.340 --> 00:02:58.560 on Thursday night you can give us a call after 00:02:58.560 --> 00:03:01.520 the interview and that telephone number to call 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:10.379 is 859 -982 -7373 so write it down have it ready 00:03:10.379 --> 00:03:13.080 to go it's not time to call just yet but it's 00:03:13.080 --> 00:03:21.370 859 -982 -7373 73. You can also tweet us. I'll 00:03:21.370 --> 00:03:23.389 be checking Twitter throughout the night. As 00:03:23.389 --> 00:03:26.650 always, it's at ham talk live on Twitter. And 00:03:26.650 --> 00:03:29.789 if you're on Spreaker, you can comment as well. 00:03:29.789 --> 00:03:32.409 And I'll be back with Tad right after this word 00:03:32.409 --> 00:03:36.300 from icon America right here. on HamTalk Live. 00:03:36.539 --> 00:03:40.840 Get out and be active with ICOM's new IC -705 00:03:40.840 --> 00:03:43.840 and its optional multi -function backpack. 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HamTalk 00:05:07.699 --> 00:05:10.139 Live is on your side with traffic and weather 00:05:10.139 --> 00:05:32.069 together on the eights. Welcome back to HamTalk 00:05:32.069 --> 00:05:36.389 Live. Thanks to Icom America for sponsoring HamTalk 00:05:36.389 --> 00:05:40.949 Live. Check them out at icomamerica .com slash 00:05:40.949 --> 00:05:46.449 amateur. Tonight's guest is Ted Cook K7RA and 00:05:46.449 --> 00:05:49.870 ironically comes from where the Sun doesn't shine 00:05:49.870 --> 00:05:54.490 Seattle, Washington But he knows all about the 00:05:54.490 --> 00:05:58.029 Sun and its effect on radio propagation. Ted 00:05:58.029 --> 00:06:03.050 had become a ham at age 12. It's WN7CSK and has 00:06:03.050 --> 00:06:11.930 been WA7CSK, KT7H, K7VVV and In 2003, he took 00:06:11.930 --> 00:06:16.970 on the call sign K7RA in memory of Homer Spence, 00:06:17.230 --> 00:06:21.810 one dear friend of Tad's. And since 1991, he 00:06:21.810 --> 00:06:25.730 has been writing the weekly ARRL propagation 00:06:25.730 --> 00:06:29.170 bulletin. And I had you muted, Tad, but you can 00:06:29.170 --> 00:06:33.569 say it again. It's actually sunny. Yeah, it's 00:06:33.569 --> 00:06:36.310 sunny in Seattle right now. Very comfortable. 00:06:36.569 --> 00:06:40.110 Doesn't get too hot here. Well there there we 00:06:40.110 --> 00:06:43.370 go, so so we timed it right today So so the Sun 00:06:43.370 --> 00:06:46.550 is the Sun is always shining with it with Tad. 00:06:46.629 --> 00:06:50.629 We'll talk about some nice ways to phrase that 00:06:50.629 --> 00:06:54.569 here in a little bit, but First off. Thanks for 00:06:54.569 --> 00:06:57.129 coming on the show and it was kind of quick notice. 00:06:57.129 --> 00:07:00.209 I had got just totally swamped with the start 00:07:00.209 --> 00:07:05.379 of a new school year and it's like day two of 00:07:05.379 --> 00:07:09.639 school and I'm just like still kind of like trying 00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:13.740 to figure out where I am right now. And so yesterday 00:07:13.740 --> 00:07:15.560 is like, Oh yeah, I've been meaning to get a 00:07:15.560 --> 00:07:18.139 hold of Ted and let's see if he can come on the 00:07:18.139 --> 00:07:21.040 show. So thank you for doing that. And then, 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:23.720 then to top it off, we were fighting audio issues. 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:26.879 So we were a minute late. So I apologize, but 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:31.300 solar 25 solar cycle 25 is revving up and there's 00:07:31.300 --> 00:07:35.620 been some news lately. So tell us about that. 00:07:35.779 --> 00:07:40.040 Well, it's exciting. We certainly waited long 00:07:40.040 --> 00:07:45.060 enough and Let's see, we've had some spots every 00:07:45.060 --> 00:07:49.600 day for over three weeks now, and that's certainly 00:07:49.600 --> 00:08:15.800 a big change. this information campaign from 00:08:15.800 --> 00:08:20.680 some forces that were doubtful about climate 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:26.259 change. Somehow they had got the idea that maybe 00:08:26.259 --> 00:08:29.800 it was actually linked to sunspots, but it wouldn't 00:08:29.800 --> 00:08:31.300 be a problem because we weren't going to have 00:08:31.300 --> 00:08:36.580 sunspots anymore. One day, it was over 10 years 00:08:36.580 --> 00:08:46.679 ago, I got a ton of emails from readers an article 00:08:46.679 --> 00:08:51.419 in Investories Business Daily. And I clicked 00:08:51.419 --> 00:08:56.580 on it, and it was this thing saying, it was poo 00:08:56.580 --> 00:09:03.860 -pooing climatology and saying that it was all 00:09:03.860 --> 00:09:08.899 linked to solar cycles. But this wouldn't be 00:09:08.899 --> 00:09:11.320 a problem because we weren't going to have sunspots 00:09:11.320 --> 00:09:13.340 anymore. And I thought, well, that's news to 00:09:13.340 --> 00:09:19.250 me. anyone would predict that. And then, reading 00:09:19.250 --> 00:09:22.970 further down, they had a quote from somebody 00:09:22.970 --> 00:09:26.389 I know. And that's Ken Tapping, who works at 00:09:26.389 --> 00:09:30.210 this solar observatory in Penticton, British 00:09:30.210 --> 00:09:32.549 Columbia, where we get our solar flux readings. 00:09:33.730 --> 00:09:36.850 And they had insane things that were just outlandish, 00:09:36.870 --> 00:09:39.649 like he was talking way outside of his field, 00:09:40.330 --> 00:09:44.149 and of astrophysics, and talking about climate. 00:09:47.930 --> 00:09:52.649 email and asked if they quoted him accurately. 00:09:52.649 --> 00:09:55.470 And he said, this has been the worst two weeks 00:09:55.470 --> 00:09:58.789 of my life. I don't know what happened, but he 00:09:58.789 --> 00:10:00.870 said he got a call from a woman. He didn't write 00:10:00.870 --> 00:10:03.370 down her name, didn't realize that they were 00:10:03.370 --> 00:10:06.009 going to be talking for 90 minutes. And he kept, 00:10:06.009 --> 00:10:09.330 she kept trying to get him to comment on climate 00:10:09.330 --> 00:10:12.649 and he kept telling her he's not an expert in 00:10:12.649 --> 00:10:17.539 that. And I guess she had an agenda. linking 00:10:17.539 --> 00:10:22.139 climate to solar cycles and when he didn't say 00:10:22.139 --> 00:10:24.139 what she wanted and she didn't get the quote 00:10:24.139 --> 00:10:29.399 she wanted she just made it up and so his life 00:10:29.399 --> 00:10:33.320 had turned to hell because you know he was getting 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:37.419 all this blowback on this and so this started 00:10:37.419 --> 00:10:40.779 me on an interesting path where I was you know 00:10:40.779 --> 00:10:44.139 tracking these articles that would talk about 00:10:44.139 --> 00:10:51.629 climate And they would always mention the monitor 00:10:51.629 --> 00:10:56.029 minimum and the time when England had ice spares 00:10:56.029 --> 00:11:00.210 and there weren't any sunspots. And I just kept 00:11:00.210 --> 00:11:02.870 seeing this over and over and over. And the worst 00:11:02.870 --> 00:11:06.590 were the British tabloids. They've gotten a bit 00:11:06.590 --> 00:11:11.490 better. Now they, of course, point out that even 00:11:11.490 --> 00:11:13.669 if it is linked to sunspots and we don't have 00:11:13.669 --> 00:11:19.769 any sunspots, overwhelmed by all the carbon that's 00:11:19.769 --> 00:11:25.509 in the atmosphere. And anyway, it was quite an 00:11:25.509 --> 00:11:29.269 interesting time. So when I would reply to people 00:11:29.269 --> 00:11:31.889 about this, I would point out that the biggest 00:11:31.889 --> 00:11:37.210 solar cycle of all time was 1957 to 59, cycle 00:11:37.210 --> 00:11:42.190 19, the one we all dream about. And then I would 00:11:42.190 --> 00:11:47.320 ask, well, was that hotter then? or not, and 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:51.919 it wasn't. So anyway, it was an interesting time, 00:11:52.059 --> 00:11:58.019 and I ran into a lot of that noise. Yeah, and 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:04.120 I'm sure when you run into the noise, as my friend 00:12:04.120 --> 00:12:08.039 Christian K0STH says, it's hard to stay above 00:12:08.039 --> 00:12:18.330 the noise, both on the air and in news. Well, 00:12:18.350 --> 00:12:22.549 what for those who don't realize, you know, this, 00:12:23.049 --> 00:12:25.769 what this really means that we've had a sudden 00:12:25.769 --> 00:12:28.210 spot for, you know, every day for three weeks 00:12:28.210 --> 00:12:30.970 and why that's good news. Explain a little bit 00:12:30.970 --> 00:12:34.990 of that. Why, why we're optimistic about this 00:12:34.990 --> 00:12:40.889 next cycle? Well, I don't see any other choice. 00:12:41.629 --> 00:12:46.470 I'm an optimist. But the reason that's a good 00:12:46.470 --> 00:12:49.710 thing, generally, especially for HF propagation, 00:12:50.490 --> 00:12:57.490 is that sunspots and solar flux correlate with 00:12:57.490 --> 00:13:01.490 a type of X -radiation, X -rays from the sun 00:13:01.490 --> 00:13:06.269 that charge the ionosphere. And the record -breaking 00:13:06.269 --> 00:13:12.570 cycle 19 produced so much solar activity that 00:13:12.570 --> 00:13:18.399 the ionosphere was densely ionized, 24 hours 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:21.340 a day. And from stories I've heard, you could 00:13:21.340 --> 00:13:27.000 get on 10 meters with very low power and work 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:32.879 the world. And what happens is as solar activity 00:13:32.879 --> 00:13:36.419 increases and the ionosphere gets more densely 00:13:36.419 --> 00:13:40.039 ionized, the maximum usable frequency goes up 00:13:40.039 --> 00:13:45.830 and it reflects higher frequencies. Well, one 00:13:45.830 --> 00:13:48.789 of the neat things about that is, of course, 00:13:49.070 --> 00:13:52.590 when you double frequency, like when you go from 00:13:52.590 --> 00:13:58.529 20 meters to 10 meters, antennas are half as 00:13:58.529 --> 00:14:03.929 big to be just as efficient. And so this is a 00:14:03.929 --> 00:14:07.769 really neat thing when it gets ionized. And all 00:14:07.769 --> 00:14:10.250 kinds of weird things happen. I remember my dad. 00:14:18.409 --> 00:14:22.809 in the San Joaquin Valley. And he was a biologist, 00:14:22.850 --> 00:14:25.169 but making money so he could go back to school 00:14:25.169 --> 00:14:31.610 at UC Berkeley. And I remember judging from the 00:14:31.610 --> 00:14:33.909 length of the antenna that was on the bumper 00:14:33.909 --> 00:14:39.769 of the company car that we used, his radio, two 00:14:39.769 --> 00:14:43.549 -way radio, was probably up around 40 megahertz, 00:14:43.570 --> 00:14:46.850 or at least above 30 megahertz. And he would 00:14:46.850 --> 00:14:52.460 get weird things happening back in 1958 where 00:14:52.460 --> 00:14:56.360 he wouldn't be able to contact his base in Fresno, 00:14:57.240 --> 00:15:02.679 but he would hear stations in Texas. And so this 00:15:02.679 --> 00:15:05.840 was because of cycle 19 and the increased solar 00:15:05.840 --> 00:15:09.659 activity. So increased solar activity really 00:15:09.659 --> 00:15:14.200 helps make things exciting on HF amateur radio. 00:15:15.659 --> 00:15:19.860 And we've been saying for several years now that 00:15:19.860 --> 00:15:24.100 the bands are dead. The bands are dead. It's 00:15:24.100 --> 00:15:27.940 like, you know, I keep seeing this meme on Twitter. 00:15:28.419 --> 00:15:32.360 It's the Star Trek thing. The bands are dead, 00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:38.879 Jim. And, you know, it's just been pretty miserable 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:44.129 for long distance stuff. We've had a few little 00:15:44.129 --> 00:15:49.509 instances of 10 meters actually doing some stuff, 00:15:50.750 --> 00:15:54.070 and so we're kind of hoping that this is going 00:15:54.070 --> 00:15:57.190 to get better. Yeah, fortunately we have some 00:15:57.190 --> 00:16:01.929 new modes to distract us. FT8 is just amazing 00:16:01.929 --> 00:16:07.549 in how it can dig readable signals out of the 00:16:07.549 --> 00:16:11.330 noise, and I've been enjoying and one of the 00:16:11.330 --> 00:16:16.389 fun things is to put out a call on FT8 on 6 meters 00:16:16.389 --> 00:16:21.169 or 10 meters and then check PSK report and see 00:16:21.169 --> 00:16:26.330 that with a low power and a very limited antenna 00:16:26.330 --> 00:16:29.330 I was heard all over the world and I can see 00:16:29.330 --> 00:16:32.929 what the signal strength was and it's really 00:16:32.929 --> 00:16:37.529 a neat mode. It's a disappointment for some people 00:16:37.529 --> 00:16:40.799 who used to be able to use who want to be able 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:45.659 to grab a mic and just chat. But I think for 00:16:45.659 --> 00:16:48.899 observing openings and propagation, it's really 00:16:48.899 --> 00:16:54.340 neat. I've even noticed in the last couple of 00:16:54.340 --> 00:16:59.080 days, totally independent of the sun here. We're 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:02.919 taking a tangent here for a minute. But there's 00:17:02.919 --> 00:17:05.259 been some tropospheric ducting going on where 00:17:05.259 --> 00:17:10.480 I'm at. And normally I listen to this radio station 00:17:10.480 --> 00:17:13.559 in indianapolis you know on my alarm clock and 00:17:13.559 --> 00:17:17.559 my alarm goes off and i'm hearing wls and i'm 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:21.039 like wls that's in chicago that's on am well 00:17:21.039 --> 00:17:25.160 it was their fm station and you know here i am 00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:28.559 in southern indiana and i'm i'm here in wls all 00:17:28.559 --> 00:17:32.849 the way from chicago well Sometimes I hear KG95 00:17:32.849 --> 00:17:36.450 over in St. Louis and so I'm used to, you know, 00:17:36.490 --> 00:17:39.130 there being kind of a mix there of those two 00:17:39.130 --> 00:17:42.990 and then I've never heard WLS FM before. I didn't 00:17:42.990 --> 00:17:45.410 even know they had an FM and all of a sudden 00:17:45.410 --> 00:17:48.410 yesterday, you know, here it comes and that's 00:17:48.410 --> 00:17:52.569 all that tropospheric ducting stuff. But back 00:17:52.569 --> 00:17:57.490 to the solar stuff, you know, when these sunspots 00:17:57.490 --> 00:18:00.500 get up and going and, you know, we're going to 00:18:00.500 --> 00:18:04.759 have a pretty good time when all this stuff is 00:18:04.759 --> 00:18:09.799 back to what many of us are used to. Yeah, I 00:18:09.799 --> 00:18:17.220 think so. It's certainly welcome. Yeah, and I 00:18:17.220 --> 00:18:21.599 hope the sunspots keep increasing. Okay, now 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:25.519 my next question here is about the number of 00:18:25.519 --> 00:18:28.910 sunspots. So, on these propagation bulletins 00:18:28.910 --> 00:18:33.910 that come out and I remember decoding these on 00:18:33.910 --> 00:18:37.230 RIDD and I think we were talking before the show 00:18:37.230 --> 00:18:43.190 about FEC Amtor mode and I remember that and 00:18:43.190 --> 00:18:46.910 I remember getting these and I would always get 00:18:46.910 --> 00:18:49.269 the bulletins and sometimes we'd read them on 00:18:49.269 --> 00:18:51.390 nets and stuff and kind of got away from it. 00:18:52.119 --> 00:18:55.640 But I remember, you know, whenever I do this 00:18:55.640 --> 00:18:58.619 and on field day, you know, you copy the field 00:18:58.619 --> 00:19:00.440 day bulletin, then all the rest of the bulletins 00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:03.599 come out. And here's all these numbers. So I 00:19:03.599 --> 00:19:06.500 went to the last one here and just copied and 00:19:06.500 --> 00:19:10.670 pasted this into my into my notes here. So the 00:19:10.670 --> 00:19:14.309 sunspot numbers for July 30th through August 00:19:14.309 --> 00:19:19.750 5th 2020 were 22, 23, 22, 22, 23, 12, and 13 00:19:19.750 --> 00:19:26.049 with a mean of 19 .6. So what does that mean 00:19:26.049 --> 00:19:30.009 and why do we care about that? Well we want more 00:19:30.009 --> 00:19:35.650 sunspots and the sunspot number is not the number 00:19:35.650 --> 00:19:41.220 of sunspots. arcane way that this number is calculated, 00:19:41.259 --> 00:19:45.180 and it dates back at least a couple hundred years. 00:19:45.859 --> 00:19:53.119 But basically, one sunspot group counts for 10 00:19:53.119 --> 00:20:12.599 points. And there's one point. what the mean 00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:18.579 is or the average is. And you'll see some correlation 00:20:18.579 --> 00:20:22.599 with the solar flux, which is a measure of radiation 00:20:22.599 --> 00:20:30.740 from the sun at 10 .7 centimeters. And a lot 00:20:30.740 --> 00:20:34.720 of the popular press got confused about this 00:20:34.720 --> 00:20:49.440 when we were at a certain spot minimum. remembering 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:52.180 a time when the sunspot numbers were that high, 00:20:52.619 --> 00:20:55.400 but it wasn't the same as the number of sunspots. 00:20:56.400 --> 00:20:59.180 The other thing that we present in the bulletin 00:20:59.180 --> 00:21:23.019 is geomagnetic indicators. geomagnetic unrest. 00:21:24.140 --> 00:21:26.799 So generally we want those numbers to be low 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:30.220 and we have, they've been low for a very long 00:21:30.220 --> 00:21:34.920 time now. What will happen is if there's a big 00:21:34.920 --> 00:21:40.500 solar flare, for instance, it will disturb the 00:21:40.500 --> 00:21:44.039 magnetic field and we'll see a lot more absorption 00:21:44.039 --> 00:21:47.660 and I remember times past where it was just going 00:21:47.660 --> 00:21:50.779 on for weeks like that and it's especially bad 00:21:50.779 --> 00:21:56.250 if you're way up north, the energy gets concentrated 00:21:56.250 --> 00:22:00.529 towards the poles. And so I remember having friends 00:22:00.529 --> 00:22:03.990 who were in Alaska during times past when things 00:22:03.990 --> 00:22:07.029 were really active and the bands were just dead 00:22:07.029 --> 00:22:13.549 for weeks. But we've been seeing such low geomagnetic 00:22:13.549 --> 00:22:17.029 indicators that it's made it really good for 00:22:17.029 --> 00:22:28.029 160 meters. And it's better when it's dark and 00:22:28.029 --> 00:22:31.609 there's no noise from thunderstorms, which can 00:22:31.609 --> 00:22:35.670 be quite considerable. On 160, you can pick up 00:22:35.670 --> 00:22:38.230 noise from thunderstorms that are happening all 00:22:38.230 --> 00:22:43.630 over the world. And so 160 operators tend to 00:22:43.630 --> 00:23:01.650 enjoy their band. Logarithmic measure and each 00:23:01.650 --> 00:23:05.569 point in the K index from zero, it can go as 00:23:05.569 --> 00:23:11.930 high as nine, I think, is a lot. And so typically 00:23:11.930 --> 00:23:17.190 we'll see numbers like one or two. And if it 00:23:17.190 --> 00:23:22.069 goes up like to above three, things can be pretty 00:23:22.069 --> 00:23:28.549 disturbed. The A index is a daily number from 00:23:28.549 --> 00:23:34.109 all the K indicators, the K index, and it's a 00:23:34.109 --> 00:23:38.650 linear, not a logarithmic number. So when we 00:23:38.650 --> 00:23:44.809 see a K index of three, we might see an A index 00:23:44.809 --> 00:23:55.990 of... Okay, yeah, I was just looking here at 00:23:55.990 --> 00:24:00.430 the this one the a indices were four four three 00:24:00.430 --> 00:24:03.849 nine sixteen eight and five with a mean of seven 00:24:03.849 --> 00:24:07.950 so There was one day in there that that was pretty 00:24:07.950 --> 00:24:12.170 good That was pretty active. Yeah. Yeah or bad 00:24:12.170 --> 00:24:16.269 if you're Or bad. Yes, depending on how you Yeah, 00:24:16.269 --> 00:24:20.490 but But we haven't seen any really bad geomagnetic 00:24:20.490 --> 00:24:23.089 conditions for a long time things have been quiet 00:24:24.900 --> 00:24:28.480 Okay, well we are due for a break, but there's 00:24:28.480 --> 00:24:30.400 there's one other thing I wanted to ask you about 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:33.059 it's kind of a fun thing so we'll do that on 00:24:33.059 --> 00:24:35.859 the other side of the break and Then we'll get 00:24:35.859 --> 00:24:38.940 into some of the questions and comments and and 00:24:38.940 --> 00:24:42.799 take some phone calls Right after this word from 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:46.299 tower electronics right here on ham talk live 00:24:46.299 --> 00:24:51.480 Thanks for choosing tower electronics, how may 00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:55.210 we help you today? We have PL -259s. We have 00:24:55.210 --> 00:24:58.589 in connectors. We have SMA adapters. We have 00:24:58.589 --> 00:25:01.829 BNC adapters. What can I show you today? Where's 00:25:01.829 --> 00:25:05.029 the tower? Well, we don't actually have a tower 00:25:05.029 --> 00:25:07.890 with us. But we have all kinds of things you 00:25:07.890 --> 00:25:11.589 can use with a tower. We have power poles, antennas, 00:25:11.990 --> 00:25:14.109 soldering irons and meters. Where's the tower? 00:25:14.849 --> 00:25:17.990 Ma 'am, that's the name of our company. We can't 00:25:17.990 --> 00:25:20.490 haul towers to all the ham fest across the country 00:25:20.490 --> 00:25:23.349 that we visit. But we have almost every connector 00:25:23.349 --> 00:25:25.890 and adapter you would need to connect your antenna 00:25:25.890 --> 00:25:27.990 that's on your tower. I don't think there's a 00:25:27.990 --> 00:25:31.609 tower back there. I really don't. Tower Electronics. 00:25:31.910 --> 00:25:35.049 Visit us at a hand vest near you or call 920 00:25:35.049 --> 00:25:40.869 -435 -2973 or see our whole catalog at pl -259 00:25:40.869 --> 00:25:43.670 .com. Sorry, one thing we don't have is a tower. 00:25:44.430 --> 00:25:48.450 Join the conversation. Give us a call at 859 00:25:48.450 --> 00:25:54.369 -982 -7373. Again, the number to call is 859 00:25:54.369 --> 00:26:00.170 -982 -7373. Or, if you'd rather type than talk, 00:26:00.450 --> 00:26:03.769 tweet us at HamTalk Live. Now, here's Neil Rapp 00:26:03.769 --> 00:26:08.660 with more HamTalk Live. You're listening to Ham 00:26:08.660 --> 00:26:11.819 Talk Live, the number one podcast amongst the 00:26:11.819 --> 00:26:15.160 podcasts with the words ham, talk, and live in 00:26:15.160 --> 00:26:41.460 the title. Here's your host, Neil Rapp. Welcome 00:26:41.460 --> 00:26:45.500 back to ham talk alive. We'd like to thank Scott 00:26:45.500 --> 00:26:51.380 walking on the PL 259 coal and Jill strolling 00:26:51.380 --> 00:26:54.920 toward the next customer in line coal at our 00:26:54.920 --> 00:26:57.839 electronics For sponsoring the show tonight and 00:26:57.839 --> 00:27:00.160 help bring you ham talk live. They'll be at the 00:27:00.160 --> 00:27:04.619 Winchester, Indiana ham fest on August 15th It's 00:27:04.619 --> 00:27:07.339 this weekend where you can visit them anytime 00:27:07.339 --> 00:27:14.759 at PL dash HamTalk Live is on the air every Thursday 00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:17.480 night, 9 p .m. Eastern Time, right here at HamTalkLive 00:27:17.480 --> 00:27:20.339 .com. And be sure to check us out on Facebook, 00:27:20.440 --> 00:27:23.019 Twitter, and Instagram. And it's time for your 00:27:23.019 --> 00:27:25.500 phone calls right now. So if you have a question 00:27:25.500 --> 00:27:33.700 for Tad, give us a call at 859 -982 -7373. Again, 00:27:34.059 --> 00:27:40.680 859. nine eight two Seventy three seventy three 00:27:40.680 --> 00:27:43.519 is the phone number you can tweet us. It's at 00:27:43.519 --> 00:27:47.259 ham talk live on Twitter and You can type a comment 00:27:47.259 --> 00:27:49.359 if you're listening on Spreaker and if you're 00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:52.759 listening to us on the podcast edition or on 00:27:52.759 --> 00:27:56.259 WTWW you won't be able to reach us because we're 00:27:56.259 --> 00:28:00.769 doing this live on on thursday night so so i 00:28:00.769 --> 00:28:03.210 had you muted but you're kind of giggling at 00:28:03.210 --> 00:28:06.609 the the commercial there because i called him 00:28:06.609 --> 00:28:10.650 scott walking on the pl 259 coal and jill strolling 00:28:10.650 --> 00:28:12.569 toward the next customer in line well we didn't 00:28:12.569 --> 00:28:15.670 get to we didn't get the background so they got 00:28:15.670 --> 00:28:17.589 the punch line they didn't they didn't get the 00:28:17.589 --> 00:28:21.089 background so i want to ask you that you know 00:28:21.089 --> 00:28:23.910 when i was reading these reports but you know 00:28:23.910 --> 00:28:27.950 i guess it's been some years ago and there was 00:28:27.950 --> 00:28:30.910 always a nickname it's like every week there's 00:28:30.910 --> 00:28:34.109 a different nickname for you so it was like tad 00:28:34.109 --> 00:28:38.950 walking on the sun cook or tad somewhere the 00:28:38.950 --> 00:28:42.529 sun is shining cook so yeah i'm guessing there's 00:28:42.529 --> 00:28:45.750 a story behind this so so what's the story behind 00:28:45.750 --> 00:28:50.529 my choice to do those um they were done by uh 00:29:08.579 --> 00:29:11.559 And that wasn't my creation. It was somebody 00:29:11.559 --> 00:29:16.920 else. And so, anyway, those aren't coming back. 00:29:16.920 --> 00:29:20.759 Don't worry. Oh, I kind of enjoyed them because, 00:29:20.859 --> 00:29:22.500 you know, every week it's like, okay, what's 00:29:22.500 --> 00:29:26.380 it gonna be this week? Yeah, well, and then after 00:29:26.380 --> 00:29:29.460 a while, it was just a rotating list. Now, okay, 00:29:29.460 --> 00:29:31.700 now I'm glad you mentioned the rotating list 00:29:31.700 --> 00:29:40.740 because here on my paper, I have some of the 00:29:40.740 --> 00:29:46.900 rotating list So there was Tad who countess the 00:29:46.900 --> 00:29:53.480 steps of the Sun cook You know, that's from I 00:29:53.480 --> 00:29:56.759 think a slightly different era when Christine 00:29:56.759 --> 00:30:07.470 teen was my editor and she liked you know, not 00:30:07.470 --> 00:30:13.089 being very well educated myself. This was kind 00:30:13.089 --> 00:30:15.930 of, kind of helped the liberal arts education 00:30:15.930 --> 00:30:20.250 that I was missing. Yeah, we've got more. Don't 00:30:20.250 --> 00:30:25.049 worry. We've got magnificent, strong sun, so 00:30:25.049 --> 00:30:31.470 prodigally generous of pristine light. Well, 00:30:31.470 --> 00:30:33.430 I guess you could Google that phrase and see 00:30:33.430 --> 00:30:41.190 who wrote it. The rain exploded with a mighty 00:30:41.190 --> 00:30:48.789 crash as we fell into the Sun Yeah, well Google 00:30:48.789 --> 00:30:51.430 it and I'm sure you'll find the reference there 00:30:51.430 --> 00:30:58.589 you go The Sun is swimming on the rim of a hill 00:30:58.589 --> 00:31:06.400 So somebody somebody has some some sense of humor 00:31:06.400 --> 00:31:12.619 here and People would read that and think those 00:31:12.619 --> 00:31:26.640 people or maybe they just needed a nice quick 00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:29.779 little comic relief Just to de -stress from the 00:31:29.779 --> 00:31:34.069 day. Maybe maybe that was it So it's had walking 00:31:34.069 --> 00:31:36.369 on the Sun cook That's the one I was did that 00:31:36.369 --> 00:31:38.410 one happen more often than not because it seems 00:31:38.410 --> 00:31:48.890 like I remember that one more Oh, I know I play 00:31:48.890 --> 00:31:54.029 that I Played that song now. I can't think of 00:31:54.029 --> 00:31:57.690 who it was. But anyway, I had that I had to ask 00:31:57.690 --> 00:32:00.609 I was gonna throw Joe Karsha under the bus and 00:32:00.609 --> 00:32:02.690 I figured it sounded like something he would 00:32:02.690 --> 00:32:05.829 do but it wasn't him so yeah he had nothing to 00:32:05.829 --> 00:32:08.009 do with it he had nothing to do with it he just 00:32:08.009 --> 00:32:12.089 plays it he just reads it and plays it so all 00:32:12.089 --> 00:32:16.670 right well anyway that's uh that's Tad walking 00:32:16.670 --> 00:32:19.369 on the Suncook so that's that's where the where 00:32:19.369 --> 00:32:22.920 the punch line comes from here so Alright, well 00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:25.920 we do have some real questions, so let's get 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:31.319 to some of those. John W. Ford USF wants to know, 00:32:31.880 --> 00:32:34.720 aren't the cycles about 11 years long? Have there 00:32:34.720 --> 00:32:37.880 been cycles significantly shorter or significantly 00:32:37.880 --> 00:33:00.789 longer? Yes, they range from they tend to average 00:33:00.789 --> 00:33:04.869 out that way. So that's kind of the mean, I guess. 00:33:05.650 --> 00:33:11.390 Yeah. All right. Carl KD9HQT says, my father 00:33:11.390 --> 00:33:16.109 WB9EWF remembers the biggest and best from 1968. 00:33:17.170 --> 00:33:22.490 And he was told many stories about 1968. How 00:33:22.490 --> 00:33:29.990 would you compare 1968 to 2020? On the proper 00:33:29.990 --> 00:33:33.869 side not not on the craziness side because you 00:33:33.869 --> 00:33:38.789 know cultural things in 1968 are more interesting 00:34:01.930 --> 00:34:05.529 25, but that was 20. Yeah. Yeah, that was 20. 00:34:06.329 --> 00:34:08.250 And so we would all like to see another cycle 00:34:08.250 --> 00:35:31.400 19. And maybe we'll get to see it. We're making 00:35:31.400 --> 00:35:36.460 a prediction, not a, not a sure thing. So that's 00:35:36.460 --> 00:35:39.480 the way it goes. So John W four USF says, uh, 00:35:39.480 --> 00:35:44.139 68 was his first cycle peak. And that was lots 00:35:44.139 --> 00:35:47.500 of fun during high school with cycle 20. So that 00:35:47.500 --> 00:35:49.320 must've been a good one. That was just before 00:35:49.320 --> 00:36:01.179 my time. So yeah, 68 was surely exciting. I came 00:36:01.179 --> 00:36:04.239 along two years later. So there there we go. 00:36:04.239 --> 00:36:07.079 All right Well, if you have a question, give 00:36:07.079 --> 00:36:11.440 us a call. It's eight five nine Nine eight two 00:36:11.440 --> 00:36:13.619 seventy three seventy three. Give us a call eight 00:36:13.619 --> 00:36:16.639 five nine nine eight two seventy three seventy 00:36:16.639 --> 00:36:19.940 three or tweet us It's at ham talk live on Twitter. 00:36:19.960 --> 00:36:22.340 You're on speaker. Leave us a comment We'll pick 00:36:22.340 --> 00:36:24.860 up on those and I'll check those again a couple 00:36:24.860 --> 00:36:29.150 of times before we Wrapped things up with Ted 00:36:29.150 --> 00:36:33.170 cook K7 la or should I say let me pick one of 00:36:33.170 --> 00:36:38.670 these again? Tad in the dark of the Sun we will 00:36:38.670 --> 00:36:55.519 stand together cook So much fun So Okay, so a 00:36:55.519 --> 00:36:58.980 couple of other things I had put down here to 00:36:58.980 --> 00:37:03.079 ask you about here So we wait for calls or tweets 00:37:03.079 --> 00:37:06.159 here eight five nine nine eight two seventy three 00:37:06.159 --> 00:37:11.420 seventy three the propagation forecast on Websites 00:37:11.420 --> 00:37:13.780 like deck summit, you know, it says good fair 00:37:13.780 --> 00:37:17.519 port. You know, it has the calculated one and 00:37:17.519 --> 00:37:20.920 How are those calculated how do they come up 00:37:20.920 --> 00:37:31.139 with these things? There we go. I always wonder 00:37:31.139 --> 00:37:35.460 how they come up with good. I guess there's a 00:37:35.460 --> 00:37:41.559 range somewhere? Well, good would be more sunspots 00:37:41.559 --> 00:37:48.280 and less geomagnetic disturbance. So somebody's 00:37:48.280 --> 00:37:51.500 probably just come up with a range of numbers 00:37:51.500 --> 00:37:55.719 and said, Well, if it's between here and here, 00:37:55.739 --> 00:37:57.880 that's good. If it's here and here, it's fair, 00:37:58.219 --> 00:38:01.079 I guess. Yeah, I wish I should pay more attention 00:38:01.079 --> 00:38:03.739 to those so I could talk about it. Well, there 00:38:03.739 --> 00:38:08.500 you go. The other thing I was going to ask you 00:38:08.500 --> 00:38:11.900 about is, I don't know if you're familiar with 00:38:11.900 --> 00:38:16.440 Dr. Tamitha Skov, the Spence Weather Woman. What 00:38:16.440 --> 00:38:20.079 do you think about all this imagery that she's 00:38:20.079 --> 00:38:24.510 using to make all these weather forecasts you 00:38:24.510 --> 00:38:26.849 know, solar forecast like a weather forecast 00:38:26.849 --> 00:38:29.809 with all this high -res imagery and stuff. Isn't 00:38:29.809 --> 00:38:33.150 that great? Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's great. She's 00:38:33.150 --> 00:38:37.630 wonderful. I love her. She's just great. And 00:38:37.630 --> 00:38:39.869 I got the chance to meet her last year at the 00:38:39.869 --> 00:38:43.429 DX convention. And she certainly brings a lot 00:38:43.429 --> 00:38:58.329 of excitement to the field. coming up, and that's 00:38:58.329 --> 00:39:01.969 good news for ham operators and emergency responders. 00:39:02.630 --> 00:39:05.530 And it's that last part that I don't really understand. 00:39:06.630 --> 00:39:09.630 I think of emergency responders as people who 00:39:09.630 --> 00:39:14.630 are using trunk radio systems on... Well, yeah. 00:39:15.690 --> 00:39:23.230 Yeah, I guess she's talking about the big catastrophic 00:39:23.230 --> 00:39:32.360 emergencies where ham radio is... Yeah, but there's 00:39:32.360 --> 00:39:36.599 still some VHF going on because sometimes the 00:39:36.599 --> 00:39:42.780 trunk systems just don't cut it. Yeah. Yeah, 00:39:42.780 --> 00:39:47.300 I think she's been a tremendous asset and she 00:39:47.300 --> 00:39:49.900 even got her hand license a couple of years ago. 00:39:50.739 --> 00:39:55.579 Let's see, what is it? WX6SWW. That's it. And 00:39:55.579 --> 00:39:59.219 I think it's a very clever brand she's developed. 00:40:00.480 --> 00:40:05.139 Yeah, I've got to meet her a few times and and 00:40:05.139 --> 00:40:08.860 talk with her and I've got a little clip of all 00:40:08.860 --> 00:40:11.099 the different layers of the atmosphere that I 00:40:11.099 --> 00:40:14.880 use At school to teach, you know, okay. Well, 00:40:14.880 --> 00:40:18.079 this is why this man works at this time and then 00:40:18.079 --> 00:40:20.539 you know a night it doesn't work as well and 00:40:20.539 --> 00:40:23.820 all that kind of thing is She's been a great 00:40:23.820 --> 00:40:28.010 resource. So so Dr. T, if you're listening or 00:40:28.010 --> 00:40:31.309 you hear about this, thank you for all of that. 00:40:31.909 --> 00:40:41.170 All this 3D images let you see these numbers. 00:40:42.789 --> 00:40:46.250 It just gives all new meaning to it. Yeah, it's 00:40:46.250 --> 00:40:50.449 great. Yeah, she's great. She's been a tremendous 00:40:50.449 --> 00:40:54.150 shot in the arm for people who study this stuff. 00:40:55.789 --> 00:40:59.289 all right well if you have a question for here 00:40:59.289 --> 00:41:05.369 we go let's see tad like the bright spots that 00:41:05.369 --> 00:41:08.989 move about the sun cook k7 ra give us a call 00:41:08.989 --> 00:41:16.389 859 982 -7373 will make this the last call here 00:41:16.389 --> 00:41:27.050 for questions. Chris Bloxham, AA, AA4CB says, 00:41:27.369 --> 00:41:30.949 1987 -88 was my first good year. Yeah, that was 00:41:30.949 --> 00:41:35.119 my senior year of high school. So, I was enjoying 00:41:35.119 --> 00:41:37.719 that since I hadn't seen good conditions since 00:41:37.719 --> 00:41:43.400 then. Let's see, John W4USF again. Any idea of 00:41:43.400 --> 00:41:48.079 antenna usage differs during peaks of the cycle? 00:41:48.260 --> 00:41:52.480 Can a great antenna overdrive one signal or change 00:41:52.480 --> 00:41:56.639 broadband characteristics? Well, you need antennas 00:41:56.639 --> 00:42:01.559 as big and as high as possible. Although we saw 00:42:01.559 --> 00:42:04.800 at the Western Washington DX club a couple of 00:42:04.800 --> 00:42:07.840 days ago, we saw a great presentation on tower 00:42:07.840 --> 00:42:11.500 safety. And after seeing that, I mean, it was 00:42:11.500 --> 00:42:16.980 scary. And it's made me rethink the lust for 00:42:16.980 --> 00:42:22.340 bigger and higher antennas. But yeah, as big 00:42:22.340 --> 00:42:26.880 as possible and as high as possible. Yeah, I 00:42:26.880 --> 00:42:30.239 agree. Especially on lower frequencies. Yeah, 00:42:30.239 --> 00:42:32.840 I've seen some of the tower stuff I know what 00:42:32.840 --> 00:42:35.360 you mean and I'm thinking next time it's going 00:42:35.360 --> 00:42:38.960 to be a it's going to be a fold over the climbing 00:42:38.960 --> 00:42:47.699 days are gone, I think 40 by 100 foot walk in 00:42:47.699 --> 00:42:50.780 the city in Seattle University District, so there's 00:42:50.780 --> 00:42:53.179 not a lot of room for antennas. I had a nice 00:42:53.179 --> 00:42:58.449 one back in the 80s. I had a on the peak of the 00:42:58.449 --> 00:43:00.969 roof and the roof is pretty high. I live in a 00:43:00.969 --> 00:43:07.570 1907 Craftsman house and I have that and a 20 00:43:07.570 --> 00:43:10.510 meter three element mono bander and it played 00:43:10.510 --> 00:43:16.150 really, really well. So I miss those days. Yeah, 00:43:16.190 --> 00:43:22.329 I'm looking forward to getting some better antennas 00:43:22.329 --> 00:43:27.030 up when I move. on a, just a, you know, I'll 00:43:27.030 --> 00:43:29.349 say it again, just a dipole. And then, you know, 00:43:29.489 --> 00:43:32.670 I was like, oh, dipoles are good. Well, yeah, 00:43:32.730 --> 00:43:36.289 but I kind of missed my, missed my beans, but 00:43:36.289 --> 00:43:40.309 we'll, we'll see how that goes. All right. Well, 00:43:40.329 --> 00:43:44.869 let's, uh, let's check here. Oh, okay. Just making 00:43:44.869 --> 00:43:48.849 sure we didn't miss any body. But, Tan, it's 00:43:48.849 --> 00:43:51.849 been so good to talk to you. I feel like I've 00:43:51.849 --> 00:43:56.730 known you. We've only talked for like a day getting 00:43:56.730 --> 00:43:59.309 ready for this. But, you know, I keep seeing 00:43:59.309 --> 00:44:04.050 that name on the ARRL letter and on the propagation 00:44:04.050 --> 00:44:08.519 reports and everything. And just glad to talk 00:44:08.519 --> 00:44:11.780 to you and and Karen Eve Murray Katie to GUT 00:44:11.780 --> 00:44:15.719 by the way is the one who recommended that Tad 00:44:15.719 --> 00:44:18.920 be on the show because Tad was on Amateur Radio 00:44:18.920 --> 00:44:22.320 Newsline, which I'm also a part of and you know 00:44:22.320 --> 00:44:27.320 90 seconds just isn't long enough to get Enough 00:44:27.320 --> 00:44:32.460 of Tad's insight, so we wanted to do this to 00:44:32.460 --> 00:44:36.690 kind of get a little more time On the topic. 00:44:36.690 --> 00:44:39.530 So thanks so much for coming on the show. I really 00:44:39.530 --> 00:44:43.650 appreciate it. I'd love to have you back Okay 00:44:43.650 --> 00:44:49.489 All right, very good. Well, that is Oh W4USF 00:44:49.489 --> 00:44:51.869 says thanks to had Neil great show again. So 00:44:51.869 --> 00:44:54.449 thank you very much John and John You've got 00:44:54.449 --> 00:44:57.010 a package on the way. Actually John won a t -shirt 00:44:57.010 --> 00:44:59.570 last week. I just packed it up for the show. 00:44:59.929 --> 00:45:09.059 So T -shirts Oh, yeah, we have teachers. We'll 00:45:09.059 --> 00:45:11.900 have to get you one. I'll talk to you after this 00:45:11.900 --> 00:45:14.079 show. Yeah, it's got to be double XL at least. 00:45:14.579 --> 00:45:18.460 Okay. All right. We'll work that out. All right. 00:45:18.559 --> 00:45:22.280 Well, that is a wrap for this week's edition 00:45:22.280 --> 00:45:25.440 of HamTalk Live. Thanks to my guest, Ted Cook, 00:45:25.800 --> 00:45:29.880 K7RA, and everyone out there in cyberspace for 00:45:29.880 --> 00:45:33.039 listening and typing in. and invite you back 00:45:33.039 --> 00:45:35.679 next Thursday night, 9 p .m. Eastern Time, when 00:45:35.679 --> 00:45:39.699 Frank Howell, K4FMH, will be here to talk about 00:45:39.699 --> 00:45:44.059 the Portable Ops Challenge. It's a new contest 00:45:44.059 --> 00:45:47.639 that puts portable operations against home ones. 00:45:48.019 --> 00:45:50.480 So we'll talk more about that next week for a 00:45:50.480 --> 00:45:53.000 list of all of our upcoming guests. Just go to 00:45:53.000 --> 00:45:55.539 HamTalkLive .com, and if you like the show, please 00:45:55.539 --> 00:45:58.360 leave us a review. That's how... people find 00:45:58.360 --> 00:46:03.460 us faster so for now this is NeilRap WB9VPG saying 00:46:03.460 --> 00:46:08.980 7 3 7 5 and may the good DX be yours