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OT:Sunspots

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Doug Person-4

OT:Sunspots

Sadly, I can only see 3 sunspots today. Down from 6 at the beginning of
the week.

Doug -- K0DXV

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k6dgw

Re: OT:Sunspots

FWIW: Counting sunspots is a fairly arcane diversion. The generally
accepted [although by no means universally] is the Wolf Number,
Wn=k(10g+s), where g denotes the number of groups [sunspots tend to come
in groups, not always individually discernible], s denotes the number of
individual spots, again somewhat hard to discern, and k is an
"observatory factor", which appears to be much like Einstein's
Cosmological Constant, and can take on any value that makes the data
work as you wish it to. If you see spots, and they are at high solar
latitudes, this augurs well, they may be Cycle 25. If they're on the
solar equator, probably just part of Cycle 24.

All that said, right now there aren't very many G's or S's, and k could
be zero for all we know. I am currently at the point where living to
the Cycle 25 maximum is an immediate goal. [:-)

73,

Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County

On 8/24/2017 3:29 PM, Doug Person wrote:
> Sadly, I can only see 3 sunspots today. Down from 6 at the beginning
> of the week.
>
> Doug -- K0DXV

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Tommy

Re: OT:Sunspots

Hi Fred,

Yup, I did the Sunspot counts daily for the AAVSO for 8 years a
long time ago. It was nice to see a few groups during the eclipse! The
"K" factor is an individual observer's factor that takes account of
experience of the observer. See:
https://www.aavso.org/dances-wolfs-short-history-sunspot-indices

73!

Tom - KB2SMS

KX2 #01927

On 08/24/2017 11:11 PM, Fred Jensen wrote:

> FWIW: Counting sunspots is a fairly arcane diversion. The generally
> accepted [although by no means universally] is the Wolf Number,
> Wn=k(10g+s), where g denotes the number of groups [sunspots tend to
> come in groups, not always individually discernible], s denotes the
> number of individual spots, again somewhat hard to discern, and k is
> an "observatory factor", which appears to be much like Einstein's
> Cosmological Constant, and can take on any value that makes the data
> work as you wish it to. If you see spots, and they are at high solar
> latitudes, this augurs well, they may be Cycle 25. If they're on the
> solar equator, probably just part of Cycle 24.
>
> All that said, right now there aren't very many G's or S's, and k
> could be zero for all we know. I am currently at the point where
> living to the Cycle 25 maximum is an immediate goal. [:-)
>
> 73,
>
> Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
> Sparks NV DM09dn
> Washoe County
>
> On 8/24/2017 3:29 PM, Doug Person wrote:
>> Sadly, I can only see 3 sunspots today. Down from 6 at the beginning
>> of the week.
>>
>> Doug -- K0DXV
>
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Doug Person-4

Re: OT:Sunspots

Glad to see there are few more observers out there. What I saw were two
groups moving from north to south. Earlier there were three groups. But
one group rotated out of view. I'm more of a deep sky observer and
seeing the sun is a bit of a new experience. I bought a small solar
scope to observe the eclipse. It was quite fascinating to see it happen
where the sun appeared as large as an apple in the eyepiece.

Now that I have the little solar scope it's kind of interesting to see
spots with my own eyes. I'm hoping this is, in fact, the beginning of
cycle 25. The doldrums on 20 and 17 and a bit depressing.

Oddly enough, despite the low activity, I've been quite amazed at the
number of good Q's I've made on 20 with the KX2. Seem to get a lot of
5x5 to 5x7 reports along with the comment "I can't believe you're only
running 10 watts into a dipole". Of course the dipole is about 8300' ASL
or about 50' above average terrain which is 8250' in elevation. That
seems to be my QRP ace-in-the-hole.

73 - actually 72! -- Viva la QRP
Doug -- K0DXV

On 8/25/2017 6:17 AM, Tommy wrote:

> Hi Fred,
>
> Yup, I did the Sunspot counts daily for the AAVSO for 8 years a
> long time ago. It was nice to see a few groups during the eclipse! The
> "K" factor is an individual observer's factor that takes account of
> experience of the observer. See:
> https://www.aavso.org/dances-wolfs-short-history-sunspot-indices
>
> 73!
>
> Tom - KB2SMS
>
> KX2 #01927
>
>
> On 08/24/2017 11:11 PM, Fred Jensen wrote:
>> FWIW: Counting sunspots is a fairly arcane diversion. The generally
>> accepted [although by no means universally] is the Wolf Number,
>> Wn=k(10g+s), where g denotes the number of groups [sunspots tend to
>> come in groups, not always individually discernible], s denotes the
>> number of individual spots, again somewhat hard to discern, and k is
>> an "observatory factor", which appears to be much like Einstein's
>> Cosmological Constant, and can take on any value that makes the data
>> work as you wish it to. If you see spots, and they are at high solar
>> latitudes, this augurs well, they may be Cycle 25. If they're on the
>> solar equator, probably just part of Cycle 24.
>>
>> All that said, right now there aren't very many G's or S's, and k
>> could be zero for all we know. I am currently at the point where
>> living to the Cycle 25 maximum is an immediate goal. [:-)
>>
>> 73,
>>
>> Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW
>> Sparks NV DM09dn
>> Washoe County
>>
>> On 8/24/2017 3:29 PM, Doug Person wrote:
>>> Sadly, I can only see 3 sunspots today. Down from 6 at the beginning
>>> of the week.
>>>
>>> Doug -- K0DXV
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> Elecraft mailing list
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>>
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>> Message delivered to [hidden email]
>
> ______________________________________________________________
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Brian Hunt

Re: OT: Terrain was OT:Sunspots

Doug-
It's the terrain within a few miles of your QTH that makes the difference. Have you looked at HFTA, the terrain analysis software that comes on the ARRL Antenna Book CD? Kinda neat. I was appalled to find out that I shouldn't hear signals from EU below 8 degrees elevation due to a hill to the NE. Statistically that's about 2/3 of 'em. Good to the Pacific tho.

73,
Brian, K0DTJ

> On Aug 26, 2017, at 15:47, Doug Person <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Of course the dipole is about 8300' ASL or about 50' above average terrain which is 8250' in elevation. That seems to be my QRP ace-in-the-hole.

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