THE SPARK GAP

A monthly publication of the Meridian Amateur Radio Club June 1998

Club Information

President: Dennis KI5FW

Vice Pres: C.P. W5OQY

Secretary: Bill KB5ASR

Treasurer: Ross WB4ZIK

Editor : Darrell W5MAV

Club meets every Saturday 10 A.M. at Queen City Truck Stop. All visitors and new members are welcome. Some folks come early for breakfast.

President Report:

I hope everyone will make plans to attend FIELD DAY because I'm sure there will be lots of contacts to make and grub to eat. It is always a family event so bring everyone and lets have some gud fellowship. John Ziller (N5OhhhhhhhhDV) has again reserved the pavilion on the east side of the Oakatibbee Reservoir Dam. This is a great QTH high on hill with lots of parking , a play ground fer the little harmonics and a big BBQ grill. Come to stay the night as a few folks do; there is plenty of room fer campers, a tent or what ever u desire.......73's.........de...Dennis.....KI5FW.....

Vice President Report:

HOT HOT AND HOT. Looks like a long hot summer and dry. Hope everyone is enjoying the good weather we're having. Bad stuff is still bypassing us. Thank you. Bill is driving it off.

Field day is almost here and Hamfest at Philadelphia the 13th. Don't you forget.

Weather service thinks a mild Hurricane season this year. Maybe 2 major ones. Let us think none.

Hope everybody a good and safe summer. Be careful on the lakes, especially of lightning. Wear that seat belt on and off the water. 73's CP W5OQY

First Annual NARC Ham Fest

The Neshoba Amateur Radio Club will hold a Ham Fest on June 13th 1998 at the National Guard Armory on Hwy 19 North in Philadelphia.

Table setup begins at 7:00 AM

Tables are $5.00 advance

$7.00 day of the Hamfest

Admission is $2.00 which includes 1 door prize ticket (additional tickets $1.00)

Table and vendor registration: Gary Keen (N5EPP) or Sue Keen (KA5PEN) Phone: 656-7534

VE test info: Bill Cheek (AC5PC) Phone: 656-8688

All other info: Johnnie Brown (KA5RTF) at 656-1856 or e-mail ka5rtf@netdoor.com

Hope to see you there

LETS MAKE A DEAL

A young man had just gotten his driving permit. He asked his Dad, a minister, if they could discuss the use of the car. His Dad said, "I'll make a deal with you; you bring up your grades, study your Bible a little, get your hair cut and we'll talk about it."

After a month the son asked again about the car. His Dad said "Son I've been real proud of you. You brought up your grades and studied your Bible, but you didn't get your hair cut."

The young man waited a moment and replied, You know Dad, I've been thinking about that. Samson had long hair, Moses had long hair, and even Jesus had long hair." His Dad then said "Yes, and they walked everywhere then went."

WORLDWIDE HAM POPULATION:

According to the annual statistics collected by the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), there were 2,777,000 amateur radio operators in the world in 1997.--thanks to Nao Akiyama, NX1L

AMATEUR RADIO OUTLOOK COMMITTEE WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU!

The Amateur Radio Outlook Committee wants to hear from you! The committee--appointed last fall during the International Amateur Radio Union Administrative Council meeting in Beijing, China--seeks comments from hams on their views concerning the future of Amateur Radio in the age of the Internet. The comment deadline is June 30, 1998.

IARU President Richard Baldwin, W1RU, appointed the Amateur Radio Outlook Committee. Its members are Chairman Thomas Atkins, VE3CDM; Lou van de Nadort, PA0LOU; and Yoshiji Sekido, JJ1OEY. The idea to solicit comments stemmed from a "lively discussion" at the September Council session about the Internet and its impact on the Amateur Radio Service. This prompted the Council to consider addressing concerns about the future growth and development of ham radio. In addition to reviewing the current and future state of the art in the Amateur and Amateur Satellite Services "in the light of the changing technology and the Internet," the Outlook Committee also will focus on technology, techniques, and future developments, and make general recommendations on the future growth and development of Amateur Radio.

IARU member societies already have begun to discuss the issue. Input from all amateurs is welcome. Address comments to Amateur Radio Outlook Committee, c/o IARU, PO Box 310905, Newington, CT 06131-0905; e-mail aroc@iaru.org; http://www.iaru.org/outlook1.html; http://www.iaru.org/outlook2.html. --IARU

TWIN COMETS RACE TO DEATH BY FIRE

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt MD 20771 USA Thursday, June 3, 1998

In a rare celestial spectacle near Earth's own star, two comets were seen plunging into the Sun's atmosphere in close succession on June 1 and 2. The demise of the comets was followed the same day by a dramatic ejection of hot gas and magnetic energy known as a coronal mass ejection. The observations were made by the Large-Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO).

The comets belong to a family known as the "Kreutz Sun-grazers," a class of comets that pass through the solar atmosphere, or corona, at distances as close as 50,000 km (30,000 miles) from the surface. In the images taken on June 1 and 2, the comets brighten rapidly as they approach the Sun and disappear as they are evaporated by solar radiation. Solar physicists have never seen a comet actually hit the Sun's surface, as comets which appear bright against the night sky are quickly lost in the glare of the Sun.

In a spectacular coincidence, a coronal mass ejection (CME) accompanied by an erupting prominence occurred on the southwest limb of the Sun within hours after the destruction of the comets. The CME and prominence were probably unrelated to the comets, being instead the product of weeks of intense magnetic activity in that region of the Sun. The eruption of solar gas was directed away from Earth and does not pose a hazard to our planet or to orbiting astronauts.

SOLAR FLARE MAY DISRUPT WORLDWIDE COMMUNICATION

By Leonard Novarro SAN DIEGO, (Reuters) - A new video of an exploding solar flare might be a preview of a series of intense sun storms that could disrupt worldwide communications and make high-altitude flight dangerous, a scientist said Monday.

Alan Title, principal investigator for the Stanford Lockheed Institute for Scientific Research in Palo Alto, Calif., said the sun's current 11-year cycle of numerous storms and sunspots, expected to peak in 2001, could produce flares so strong that they could knock out pagers and kill satellite power as they invade the earth's magnetic field.

Commercial aircraft should not be affected, he said, but high-flying military aircraft would be exposed to high levels of radiation.

The video showed a short-lived but extremely bright explosion in the atmosphere of the sun on May 31. It was captured by a telescope flown aboard NASA's Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) spacecraft.

The explosion was 55,000 miles long and 200 miles wide and traveled at a rate of 2 million miles an hour .

The TRACE spacecraft was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on April 1 as part of an international project studying these brief but violent storms as well as periods of relative calm as the sun goes through its present cycle.

``All radio wave communication will be affected,'' Title told Reuters. ``Everytime there's a solar flare, there's a disruption of some kind. There will be some major events and some not so major.''

A threat of another kind was outlined by David K. Lynch, a research scientist for the Aerospace Corp. of El Segundo, Calif., who told reporters that between 500 and 600 satellites orbiting the earth will be ``sandblasted'' by a Leonid Meteoroid Storm due on Nov. 17.

The storm occurs every November as the Earth intersects with the debris field formed by the Tempel-Tuttle comet but grows more severe every 33 years. The last time the shower appeared, there were fewer than 70 satellites.

While most particles in the dust cloud trailing the comet are smaller than grains of sand, they do travel at velocities faster than a .22 caliber bullet. ``These are the fastest solid particles earth ever encountered,'' Lynch said.

While damage most likely will not occur from debris blasting holes in satellites, this ``sandblasting'' can create electrically charged plasma that could short-circuit computers and damage other sensitive electronic equipment, Lynch said.

Because of the earth's position at the time, the showers of between 200 to 5,000 meteors an hour will not be visible from the United States but will be brightest from the vicinity of Japan, Korea, Okinawa and northern Australia and will last five to six days. ^REUTERS@

 

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