
19 Aug 2009
2013 for sunspot cycle 24 peak?

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Simple QRP projects, 10m, 8m, 6m, 4m, FT8, 160m, WSPR, LF/MF, sub-9kHz, nanowaves and other random stuff, some not related to amateur radio.
It is probably the case that I am rare in quite looking forward to the quieter solar years when propagation on 10m becomes more difficult. ...
3 comments:
http://spaceweather.com/
According to Bill Livingston and Matt Penn of the National Solar Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, sunspot magnetic fields are waning. The two respected solar astronomers have been measuring solar magnetism since 1992. Their technique is based on Zeeman splitting of infrared spectral lines emitted by iron atoms in the vicinity of sunspots. Extrapolating their data into the future suggests that sunspots could completely disappear within decades. That would be a bummer for Spaceweather.com.
Don't count out sunspots just yet, however. While the data of Livingston and Penn are widely thought to be correct, far-reaching extrapolations may be premature. This type of measurement is relatively new, and the data reaches back less than 17 years. "Whether this is an omen of long-term sunspot decline, analogous to the Maunder Minimum, remains to be seen," they caution in a recent EOS article.
it gets worse.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/01apr_deepsolarminimum.htm
I remember the peak in 1990/91, unbelievable, I've never known conditions like it. I wasn't a licensed radio ham at that particular time, just a CB'er, but I had a shortwave receiver that used to literally bounce around the room due to the signals coming in from North America, if only we could get those conditions again, let's keep our fingers crossed. G0VQY
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