The K7RA Solar Update 03/05/2021
Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: We saw one day during the February 25 – March 3 reporting week Monday, March 1 with no sunspots, so the average daily sunspot number declined slightly from 19.6 to 18.9. Two new sunspot groups (2806 and 2807) appeared on Tuesday, March 2.
Average daily solar flux increased only slightly during the reporting week, from 75.7 to 76.7.
Average daily planetary A index softened slightly from 16 to 14.7, and the middle latitude average went from 12.4 to 10.4. Geomagnetic indicators remained somewhat active due to persistent solar wind. The most active day was Monday, when Alaska’s high-latitude College A index reached 34.
Spaceweather.com reported a G2 class geomagnetic storm on Monday, aided by a significant crack in Earth’s magnetic field. Although activity was otherwise moderate this week, the March 1 event was the largest storm since a G3 event 94 weeks earlier, on May 14, 2019.
ARISS, NASA, and ESA Continue to Probe Amateur Radio Problems on ISS 03/03/2021
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (
ARISS) International Chair Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, reports that the ARISS team has been working closely with NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to identify what may have caused what ARISS is calling a “radio anomaly” on January 27. The net result has been an inability to use the NA1SS ham station gear in the ISS Columbus module. For the time being, ARISS school and group contacts with crew members have been conducted using the ham station in the ISS Service Module. The radio issues came in the wake of a January 27 spacewalk during which astronauts installed new cables (essentially feed lines) to support the commissioning of the Bartolomeo attached payload capability mounted on the Columbus module. The job involved re-routing the cabling of the ARISS antenna to the ARISS radio system onboard Columbus.
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.
Approaches to Tackle Noise Problems Vary, Remedies Elusive 03/03/2021
RF noise is a frequent discussion topic among radio amateurs. A proliferation of electronics has cluttered and complicated the noise environment; it’s not just power lines anymore. Unless isolated from civilization, most hams experience RF interference (RFI) sometimes without even realizing it, although spectrum scopes on modern transceivers make RF noise much more apparent. Various approaches to address the apparently worsening noise floor have been taken around the world, some addressing lax regulation.
“We all want to enhance our ability to copy the weak ones by increasing our signal-to-noise ratio,” Alan Higbie, K0AV, said in his March/April
The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.