September 8th, 2006 - Dr. Kerry Kingham, WA4BQM, U.S. Naval Observatory, “The Sun, Episode 2”
Notes Posted By Len Hook on September 14th, 2006
VWS General Meeting, Friday, Sept. 8, 2006
Vienna Elementary School
Ray Albers, K2HYD, President, presiding
Attendees: 46
First Time Visitors: Bob Bowis, WB4KLJ; Mike Card, N4YFA; Ted Woo, KB3CNE; Dale Pace, WB4CCM. Welcome, guys.
Ray K2HYD brass-pounded the meeting to order at 7:34 PM.
Tonight’s refreshments were provided by John Birch, KA4YMA. Thanks, John!
Next meeting’s refreshments: KG6ZR. Oct. 13 (Friday the 13th) will be Bob, KI4POS.
Reports.
Treasurer’s Report: Pete Norloff, KG4OJT.
VWS has rented a P.O. Box for the 2007 fiscal year. VWS received a donation check from the Town of Vienna in the amount of $550.00. The NAQP-SSB multi-two event saw a record number of VWS Ops: 17, and the highest “calories per QSO” in club history. We scored over 60K points and 530 QSOs, both club records. We are now setting our sights on NAQP in January (location TBD). Bob Kennedy, KI4POS recommended Smith Island in Chesapeake Bay. The President’s Picnic will be held Sunday, Sept. 24, at Glyndon Park, 0900 - 1500. Please bring a side dish and dessert.
Secretary’s Report: Len Hook, KG6ZR.
Our last meeting was the annual VWS Banquet, Aug. 25, at Wu’s Garden Restaurant. After dinner we were treated to a presentation of “VWS Year 2006 in Review” by VWS President, Ray Albers, K2HYD. After his presentation, Ray honored Pete Norloff, KG4OJT with the VWS Outstanding Member Award for 2006.
Repeater Report.
John Transue, AF4PD, reported that the repeaters are both working well.
Net Reports.
2-m Monday Night Net, KG4OJT Net Control. 146.685, 8 PM.
Digital Net, Tuesdays, 8 PM. N4ZPT Net Control, 3578 USB, 1000 Hz offset PSK31.
10-m Pow-wow Net, Thursdays, 8:30 PM, AE4R Net Control, 28.444 MHz, USB.
6-m Activity Net, Wednesdays, 8 PM (no report, KO1D is in Malaysia)
New Business.
Tom Azlin, N4ZPT. The Marine Corps Marathon needs 130 ham volunteers, and they have 50 so far. Packet will be 9600 baud this year. Sign up at NCDCAC.com.
Ray, K2HYD. The FAR Fest is in Gaithersburg, MD, Sept. 9-10. The Howard Bullock W4LBM donated gear will be sold to VWS members at auction. Send bids to Ray.
Iain, KI4HLV. Iain showed one of the VLF (20-200 KHz) signal generators that are being given away to interested VWS members. They have been checked out and most of them work. If you get a lemon let him know and Iain will replace it. Iain also has copies of IRE Magazine, 1946-1968, to be given to anyone who wants them.
John, AF4PD. The MS 3-day walking event is Sept. 29 - Oct. 1. Start at GMU and end at the Capitol. They are seeking volunteers. It is an HT friendly event.
Tom, N4ZPT. The VA QRP Club will meet Sept. 9 at Joe’s Place restaurant in Fairfax City.
Mike, K3MT; Paul, KI4DTL. ICS 100, 700 training will be available at FAR Fest and NCDCAC.
Mini Auction.
Ray, K5RJ, auctioned off 4 items from the W4LBM collection which was donated to VWS. Thanks, Ray, for helping out on this donation and auction.
Tonight’s Presentation.
Kerry Kingham, WA4BQM, “The Sun, Episode 2.” This was the second talk in Kerry’s series on the Sun. Kerry discussed, in detail, how the Sun’s magnetic fields behave, with “frozen-in” fields and “circulating currents.” He described the Sun’s quiet and active phases, and how sunspots and HF propagation on Earth are indicators of the phases. Kerry described the “stuff” that is released from the Sun and travels to Earth, affecting the Earth’s magnetic field. He also discussed CMEs, coronal mass ejections, and coronal holes, mysterious phenomena during solar maxima. Kerry described how the Sun’s magnetic fields become tangled and form big loops, and change polarity with each passing solar cycle. Cycle 23 is now reaching the bottom (few or zero visible sunspots) and will soon enter Cycle 24 (a few new sunspots already show the reversed polarity). Thanks, Kerry, for a very interesting discussion!
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