eHam.net News

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Fair Lawn Amateur Radio Club Proposes Creating Network for Emergency Use:

Posted: 02 Sep 2016 05:56 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37487


During the council's work session on Aug. 16, Councilmember Kurt Peluso
said the club is asking for the council's permission to create a mesh
network and for some assistance with the funds to set it up. "What they are
looking to do is add a couple more larger towers, backbone towers, so they
can communicate throughout the community of Fair Lawn," he said. Pelsuo
explained that one of these towers is already in place at the community
center, which is where the club is based, and some members have individual
units enabling them to communicate with each other through the community
center. Club members would like to add more towers on borough property such
as the water tower, the recycling center or borough hall. The club could
use this service for communication in the event of an emergency. Peluso
pointed to storms like Sandy and Irene as examples when communication was
lost. Karl Frank, president of the Fair Lawn Amateur Radio Club, called
this type of network "WiFi on steroids." He said just like individual homes
can wirelessly connect all their devices, this could do it for the borough
in the event of a communications failure. "Amateur radio is a last resort,"
Frank said. "This is not replacing any of the systems that the borough
already has in place that are much more robust." Once the equipment was in
place, the borough could use the system with cell phones, cameras,
computers or other devices. "What is really unique about the amateur radio
club is that they can use frequencies that are not open to government
entities or companies for free," said Peluso.


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Waiting for the Next Sunspot Cycle: 2019-2030:

Posted: 02 Sep 2016 05:55 PM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37486


Forecasters are already starting to make predictions for what might be in
store as our sun winds down its current sunspot cycle in a few years. Are
we in for a very intense cycle of solar activity, or the beginning of a
century-long absence of sunspots and a rise in colder climates? Ever since
Samuel Schwabe discovered the 11-year ebb and flow of sunspots on the sun
in 1843, predicting when the next sunspot cycle will appear, and how strong
it will be, has been a cottage industry among scientists and non-scientists
alike. For solar physicists, the sunspot cycle is a major indicator of how
the sun's magnetic field is generated, and the evolution of various
patterns of plasma circulation near the solar surface and interior. Getting
these forecasts bang-on would be proof that we indeed have a 'deep'
understanding of how the sun works that is a major step beyond just knowing
it is a massive sphere of plasma heated by thermonuclear fusion in its
core. So how are we doing? For over a century, scientists have scrutinized
the shapes of dozens of individual sunspot cycles to glean features that
could be used for predicting the circumstances of the next one. Basically,
we know that 11-years is an average and some cycles are as short as 9 years
or as long as 14. The number of sunspots during the peak year, called
sunspot maximum, can vary from as few as 50 to as many as 260. The speed
with which sunspot numbers rise to a maximum can be as long as 80 months
for weaker sunspot cycles, and as short as 40 months for the stronger
cycles. All of these features, and many other statistical rules-of-thumb,
lead to predictive schemes of one kind or another, but they generally fail
to produce accurate and detailed forecasts of the 'next' sunspot cycle.


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Tropical Storm Hermine Gains Attention on the Eastern Seaboard:

Posted: 02 Sep 2016 11:36 AM PDT
http://www.eham.net/articles/37485


Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and weather-spotting
volunteers remain ready if needed as Tropical storm Hermine
continues to make its way up the US Eastern Seaboard. A category 1
hurricane when it came ashore along Florida's northern Gulf Coast,
Hermine was downgraded to a tropical storm at 0842 UTC. The
Hurricane Watch Net (HWN), which activated to gather ground-level
reports on the storm as it approached landfall, now has secured
after 19 hours of continuous on-air coverage. The net now is at
Alert Level 2 - monitoring mode.