Hi Everyone

Our spring tornado season is just around the corner and now is the time to review your plans and procedures for those storms to come.

Take this time brush up on your skills. Don’t wait until the sirens sound. For by then it may be too late.

In preparing, you should ask yourselves these questions:

Is my family shelter (and everyone should have one) ready?
Is my equipment, both antennae & radios working?
Are the batteries charged?
Are my communications channels still functional? Including RF, Internet & telephone resources.
Can I reliably receive weather watches and warnings?
If you are on the NWSChat or Slack Chat, is your password up to date?
Is your training and knowledge fresh, or do you need to do a quick review?

Are you prepared both at home and at work?

In preparing, remember that keeping yourself and your family alive and intact during and after the storms is your number one priority.

Here’s hoping that your February will be peaceful and safe.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Blount County Repeaters

Last month I featured the list of repeaters which I have programmed in my Yaesu FT-817ND.

I have since learned of several repeaters in Blount County that I didn’t know about, which I wish to pass along to you.

In addition to the 146.700 MHz Nectar repeater (91.5 Hz tone), some excellent repeaters which you should also add to you lists are:

147.375 Straight Mountain 77.0 Hz tone
442.450 Snead 100.0 Hz tone
442.750 Palisades Park 123.0 Hz Tone
442.875 Pine Mountain 123.0 Hz Tone
443.875 Nectar 123.0 Hz Tone

Special thanks to JR Lowery KK4CWX for providing this list. I appreciate it!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

With the headlines filled with plagues, wars, rumors of wars and calamity…

Just for fun…

The Grand Adventures Of Mister Muff Muff

Some dog people, hopefully not all, and certainly not you, can be a weird lot. With some you could call the owners mother a wanton harlot and it would not faze them in the least, but, let them think that you have hurt poor little Ruffles feelings, usually because the mutt just tore something up, and the owner did nothing about it, and you are now “someone we do not associate with”.

Doris and Phil decide to come over to Aunt Gladys’s house. They also decide to bring their darling English bulldog, known at the shows as Lord Fauntleroy Of Stonevale, but, more affectionately known as Mr. Muff Muff. Because he likes visiting and they know everyone loves seeing little Mr. Muff Muff.

They don’t bother informing Aunt Gladys that they are bringing the 50 pound bulldog, who has a little drooling problem, just little incontinence and more than a little flatulence, since after all everyone looks forward to a visit from Mr. Muff Muff.

I mean, who wouldn’t?

They arrive, and Doris carefully adjusts Mr. Muff Muff’s designer bandana cooing “oh my handsome Boo Bear” as they get out of the car. The first thing Mr. Muff Muff does is run off Aunt Gladys’s cat, Mittens and her kittens to parts unknown. “Mr. Muff Muff, you little imp.” Doris cheerfully says.

That’s about all you can hear though, because Mr. Muff Muff starts barking and growling incessantly at Aunt Gladys, until he sees her reading glasses on the table, which he grabs and promptly chews to pieces. “Mr. Muff Muff, whatever am I going to do with you?” Doris chimes in that sing song voice that makes everyone cringe.

Aunt Gladys mumbles something about a little arsenic, but that isn’t heard, because there is a loud ripping sound from the corner of the room. Sitting in the corner is Great Great Grandma Lucille’s Chair. You know, the one that escaped the fire set when Sherman burned the plantation down in the War Of Northern Aggression.

The cushion that Great Great Grandma’s Lucille’s mother hand sewed in the log cabin is in the finishing process of being ripped to shreds and 185 year old feathers are floating everywhere. “Oh Mr. Muff Muff, you are a naughty little boy, aren’t you?” Doris laughingly says.

About that time Mr. Muff Muff jumps on the new sofa and loses bladder control.

“GET THAT BEAST OUT OF MY HOUSE!” screams Aunt Gladys, causing Mr. Muff Muff to run to the opposite corner leaving a little river across the wool carpet. You know, the imported wool one that Aunt Gladys jokingly told Phil came from a giant sheep in New Zealand and he believed it.

“Well if our precious one is not welcome, then neither are we”, Doris defiantly cries, throwing her head in the air as she stomps out of the door, with Phil cuddling poor Mr. Muff Muff and choking back tears, either due to Mr. Muff Muff’s trauma, or perhaps due to the sulfurous waft left in Mr. Muff Muff’s wake which ia curling the ceiling tiles.

Some years later Aunt Gladys passes away. Doris and Phil proudly declare they won’t “darken the halls of the church for that cruel crone”. No one misses them. They certainly don’t miss Mr. Muff Muff, remembering the incident at Uncle Oscar’s funeral when he tipped the coffin over, with Doris all the while cooing “oh how precious, he wants some ‘Unk Unk’ love”. And, the coffin having landed on Father Dominic’s foot, explains why he walks with a limp to this day.

As expected they get the call from the lawyer about Aunt Gladys’s will. Unexpectedly, it seems Aunt Gladys changed the will and the 250 million she was going to give Doris went to Mittens the Cat instead, along with a letter to Doris explaining in the most exacting detail why.

Mittens and her descendants lived happily ever after at the estate in Maui.

Doris still works the drive through at the Taco World in Picayune to this day.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Mark’s Almanac

February, or Februarius, as the Romans called it, is named after the Latin term februum, which means “purification”. Ancient Rome celebrated the Februa purification ritual on February 15, which was Full Moon on the old lunar based Latin calendar.

February was not originally included in the Roman calendar, which began in March, but was added, along with January by Numa Pompilius around 713 BC, and until 450 BC was considered the last month of the year.

February was originally 29 days long, but one day was taken and added to August, so the that Emperor Augustus’s month would be equal to Julius Caesar’s month of July. Now only Leap Year, which will next occur in 2024, has 29 days.

Ground Hog Day is on February 2 & believers will watch that flea bitten danged old Yankee Punxsutawney Phil and (if he hasn’t gone to the Great Burrow In The Sky), True Southern Gentleman Birmingham Bill, to see if they see their shadows. If so, prepare for six more weeks of winter.

How did we come up with Groundhog Day anyway?

It is said by one theory that the first day of Spring is about six weeks after Groundhog Day, on March 20 or 21. 1000 years ago when the world used the Julian calendar, Spring Equinox fell on March 16, which is exactly six weeks after February 2. So, if the groundhog saw his shadow on Groundhog Day there would be six more weeks of winter. But, if he didn’t, there would be only 42 more days of winter left instead. Get the calculator out and you will find that 42 days equals six weeks, so Groundhog Day may have started out as a practical joke.

The modern 21 Century version blurs this into saying that if a groundhog emerges from its burrow and fails to see its shadow, winter will soon end. If not, it will return into its burrow, and the winter will continue for 6 more weeks.

It is believed that the Germans in Pennsylvania brought Groundhog Day with them.

 

Morgantown, Pennsylvania storekeeper James Morris’ diary entry for Feb. 4, 1841 states “Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate.”

So, how accurate is the little goomer?

Well, Groundhog Day believers claim a 75% to 90% accuracy rate. The National Climatic Data Center, on the other hand, says it’s more like 39%.

But, you know how Heathens can be.

If the NCDC is right, maybe they can still use the critter anyway, by flipping the theory around, so if he predicts warmth, you go with winter & vice versa.

I think this is called “Inverse Forecasting”. Or it should be anyway.

In the Southern Hemisphere February is the equivalent of August. But, for us, February is a cold month with more snow falling in February than in any other month.

Statistically speaking, there is a 70% chance of snow flurries, and a 57% chance of snow up to one inch. There is a 13% chance of over one inch, and a 3% chance of 4 inches or more.

There is hope on the horizon though, as the worst of winter weather is usually over by February 15.

North Atlantic Tropical activity is at a minimum. From 1851 to 2021 there has been only one Tropical Storm to occur, 70 MPH Tropical Storm #1, which affected Florida on February 2 & 3, 1952.

Days grow longer as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon rapidly increases from 39.5 degrees at the beginning of the month to 48.6 degrees at the end. Daylight increases from 10 hours 35 minutes on February 1 to 11 hours 26 minutes on February 28.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

February 1 Sunrise 6:44 AM Sunset 5:18 PM
February 14 Sunrise 6:33 AM Sunset 5:31 PM
February 28 Sunrise 6:17 AM Sunset 5:43 PM

Looking skyward, the Sun, magnitude -26.8 is in Capricornus.

At the beginning of the month Mercury, magnitude +4.6 in Capricornus, is rising higher in the predawn sky.

On February 16 Mercury will reach his highest point above the eastern horizon or “Greatest Western Elongation, 26.3 degrees from the Sun. This is the best time to view Mercury since he will be at his highest point above the horizon in the morning sky. Look for the planet low in the eastern sky just before sunrise

Having emerged from the sunrise, after passing between the Earth and Sun, with his unilluminated side turned towards the Earth, he has reemerged as a thin, barely illuminated crescent. As the weeks proceed, this crescent will wax and becomes gibbous.

Since Mercury can only be observed in twilight, he is particularly difficult to find when he is in the thin crescent phase. So, he will be significantly easier to see in the days after he reaches his highest point in the sky, when he will show a gibbous phase, than in the days beforehand.

Venus, magnitude -4.7 in Sagittarius, shines brilliantly in the predawn morning sky reaching her greatest brilliancy for 2022 on February 9th.

On that date she will rise at 4:04 AM, 2 hours and 31 minutes before the Sun at an altitude of 23° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks around 06:19 AM.

If you get a chance, get up early, sip a little coffee and take a look at our bright neighbor, for she won’t appear this bright again until July 2023.

She will reach her highest altitude of 27 degrees above the horizon on February 21, blazing in darkness and into the pink twilight sky.

In a small telescope she is a dazzling thin crescent, getting a little thicker and smaller each day.

Earth, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is in the Constellation Leo.

Mars, magnitude +1.5 on the far side of his orbit from us in Sagittarius, is emerging from behind the Sun, low in the east-southeastern sky.

He rises two hours before sunrise and will reach the horizon at 5:55 AM.

Autumnal Equinox will occur in Mars northern hemisphere, and Vernal Equinox in the southern hemisphere on February 24.

Dwarf Planet Ceres, magnitude 8.3, is in Taurus.

Jupiter , magnitude –2.0, in Aquarius, still shines brightly in the southwest at dusk, a little lower every day. He will soon disappear into the glow of the Sun.

Saturn, magnitude +0.8 in Capricornus, will pass behind the Sun on February 4 and will emerge very low in the east-southeast morning twilight in mid-February.

Uranus, magnitude 5.8, is in Aries, north of the head of Cetus the Sea Monster, is very high in the south-southwest in early evening. He will set around midnight.

In binoculars Uranus is a little pinpoint “star” and in small telescopes with sharp optics, high power and a spell of good seeing, a tiny, fuzzy ball.

Neptune, magnitude 7.8, in Aquarius, is hidden in the glow of the Sun

Dwarf Planet Pluto, with his five moons shines at a dim 14.4 in Sagittarius.

Dwarf Planet 136108 Haumea, her ring and moons Hiʻiaka and Namaka, shines at a faint magnitude of 17.4 in Bootes.

Haumea, discovered in December 2004, is the goddess of fertility and childbirth in Hawaiian mythology.

Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake with his moon S/2015 (136472) faintly shines at magnitude 17.2 in Coma Berenices.

Makemake is the creator of humanity and god of fertility in the myths of the Rapa Nui, the native people of Easter Island.

After its discovery on March31, 2005, Makemake was given the official provisional designation 2005 FY9 when the discovery was made public. Before that, the discovery team used the nickname “Easterbunny” for the object, because of its discovery shortly after Easter.

Dwarf Planet 136199 Eris and her moon Dysnomia is barely visible in the most powerful telescopes at magnitude 18.8 in Cetus the Sea Monster.

Eris, discovered in January 2005, is named after the Greek goddess of strife and discord. Her Roman equivalent is Discordia, which means the same. Eris’s Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Roman counterpart is Concordia.

Dysnomia is from the Ancient Greek word Δυσνομία meaning “anarchy & lawlessness” and is the daughter Eris.

Eris was initially labeled by NASA as the “Tenth Planet” and was temporarily named “Xena” after TV’s “Xena The Warrior Princess” and her moon “Gabrielle”, after Xena’s sidekick.

At least four additional bodies meet the preliminary criteria for identifying dwarf planets, and though not “officially” declared as such, are generally called dwarf planets by astronomers as well.

The unofficial official list includes:

50000 Quaoar, magnitude +18.6 in Ophiucus, was discovered June 5, 2002 and announced October 7 of that year. Quaoar has one known moon named Waywot.

Quaoar was temporarily nicknamed “Object X” as a reference to Planet X, due to its potentially large size and unknown nature.

Both objects were eventually named after mythological figures from the Native American Tongva people in Southern California. Quaoar is the Tongva creator deity and Weywot is his son.

90377 Sedna, magnitude +20.7 in Taurus, was discovered November 14, 2003 and announced March 15, 2004.

Sedna was nicknamed “The Flying Dutchman”, or “Dutch”, after a legendary ghost ship, because its slow movement had initially masked its presence from researchers.

Because it is the coldest, most distant place known in the Solar System, it was decided to name the object “Sedna” honor of Sedna, the Inuit goddess of the sea, who is thought to live at the bottom of the frigid Arctic Ocean.

90482 Orcus, magnitude 19.1 between Hydra and Serpens, was discovered February 17, 2004 and announced two days later. Orcus has one known moon, named Vanth.

Orcus is very similar to Pluto, both in size and orbit, and since Pluto is the god of the underworld, they kept with the theme naming this object Orcus.

Orcus was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths in Etruscan and Roman mythology. As with Hades, the name of the god was also used for the underworld itself.

Vanth, was named after a winged female demon of the Etruscan underworld. She could be present at the moment of death, and frequently acted as a psychopomp, a guide of the deceased to the underworld.

Not a heifer you exactly want to mess with.

225088 Gonggong, +21.5 magnitude in Aquarius, was discovered July 17, 2007 and announced January 2009. Gonggong has one moon, Xiangli.

Initially nicknamed the object “Snow White” for its presumed white color as it was assumed to be ice covered, Gongong is the Chinese water god responsible for chaos, floods and the tilt of the Earth. Xiangliu, was a nine-headed poisonous snake monster in Chinese mythology that attended the water god Gonggong as his chief minister.
Gonggong was recognized as a dwarf planet by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA in May 2016.

Elsewhere, 4903 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of January 10, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

New Moon occurs February 1 at 5:48 UTC when the Moon will on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

Now. this month we have a situation in which the New Moon is occurring in two months at the same time, as 5:48 UTC February 1st is also 11:48 CST on January 31.

If you have two New Moons in a month, or a “the third New Moon in a season with four New Moons”, the second New Moon is unofficially called by some a “Black Moon”.

So, from Alabama westward it will be a January 31 Black Moon, from Georgia eastward, just a New Moon.

To help further complicate things further, February is a short month, having only 28 days this year, so there will not be another New Moon for Alabama until March. So, technically Alabama eastward will experience a February without a New Moon, which only happens every 19 years, and only in February. This has also been tagged the name “Black Moon”.

Either way, we are going to have one, (or is it two?) Black Moons. One on January 31 and not having a New Moon in February, a second one.

First Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Western side illuminated, will occur February 8.

During the Quarter Moons the Moon is only 10% as bright as a Full Moon.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on February 10, when she will be 251,591 miles from Earth.
Full Moon will occur February 16 at 10:59 AM CST or 16.59 UTC. The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be fully illuminated. February’s Full Moon is “Full Snow Moon” in Native American folklore, since the heaviest snows usually fall at this time of year. Since the harsh weather made hunting difficult, some tribes called it “Full Hunger Moon”.

Last Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Eastern side illuminated, will occur February 23.

The Moon will be at Perigee or her closest approach to Earth on February 3, when she will be 228,532 miles from Earth.

The February sky is alit with bright stars. Orion the Hunter is overhead, along with his faithful hunting dogs, Canis Major & Canis Minor, the Large & Lesser Dogs. In Canis Major is the blue star Sirius, The Dog Star, which 8.6 light years away, is the brightest star in the night sky.

February and March are the best times of the year for seeing the Zodiacal Light. In the evening away from city lights and after twilight has faded you might see a faint, roughly triangular, whitish glow near the sunset point. This is Zodiacal Light, which is formed by the sunlight reflecting off millions of minute particles of cosmic dust aligned with the Earth’s orbital plane.

A kindred, but much fainter glow is the “Counterglow” or “Gegenschein”. This is a glow in the night sky directly opposite the Sun caused by sunlight being reflected by dust and particles in the disk shaped interplanetary dust cloud which lies along the plane of the Solar System. These particles are the debris from comet and asteroid collisions.

To see the Gegenschein you must look around midnight in very dark, non-light polluted skies. In February it is located near base of the head of Leo The Lion.

You will probably have to use “averted vision”, a trick astronomers use to see faint objects.

Averted vision is a technique for viewing faint objects which uses your peripheral vision instead of looking directly at the object.

This technique compensates for fact that the retina of the human eye has virtually no rods, the cells which detect dim light in black and white near the focal point of the eye, but, has mostly cone cells, which serve as bright light and color detectors and are not as useful during the night.
This situation results in a decrease in visual sensitivity in central field of vision at night.

But by looking as an object a little off to the nasal side of the field of view, which avoids the possibility that the object will be imaged on the blind spot, which everyone has at approximately 15 degrees on the cheek side of the field of vison, you can use the most light sensitive part of the eye, which is around 20 degrees off the center of vision.

For right-eyed observers it is best to shift to the right, and for left-eye observers it is best to shift to the left.

I have used this technique for many years and though it can be frustrating not being able to look directly at an object, as they tend to disappear from view when you look directly at them, it does work, and the object appears brighter. This is especially useful for observing diffuse objects such as galaxies, comets and nebulae.

You should give your eyes time to adapt to the dark. It can take typically 7 minutes for your eyes to become used to darkness and up to 30 minutes to become totally adjusted to the dark conditions of observing.

Care should be taken not to ruin this dark adaptation by being exposed to bright lights, such as headlights from passing cars, flashlights or moonlight. Lights with red filters will not harm the eyes sensitivity.

Relaxing your eyes also helps. By straining at objects or squinting eyes we place stress on them which makes it harder for the eye to refocus on objects. By relaxing our eyes when we look through a telescope or by using an eye patch we can improve our vision.

An eyepatch also helps preserve dark adapted eyesight. There is a theory that the reason so many pirates are depicted as wearing eyepatches isn’t that they typically had the worst of luck in combat with all of them losing an eye, but rather they were preserving their “night eye” so that when they went below the deck, which was very poorly lit, they could still see.

Very few people have actually seen the Gegenschein, for finding a dark enough sky can be a challenge. The least light polluted skies in Alabama are in a crescent shaped area of west Alabama from west of Tuscaloosa to near the Mississippi border and north and south of that line. An especially good area is southwest Alabama from south of Tuscaloosa to north of Mobile. Another area is southeast of Montgomery towards Eufaula.

Light Pollution Map – DarkSiteFinder.com

For the Gegenschein’s position for other months see:

https://earthsky.org/upl/2020/03/Screen-Shot-2020-03-02-at-11.19.39-AM-e1583166166450.png

Another sight to look for which is much more common is the Earth Shadow. At sunset, on very clear days, as the sun goes farther below the horizon, you will see what appears to be a layer of gray cloud rising along the eastern horizon. This is actually the silhouette of the earth’s shadow being cast against darkening sky, sometimes with a pinkish glow along the edge. It fades as twilight fades into darkness.

The pink fringe, which is technically called an “anti-twilight arch” was called in Victorian times “The Belt of Venus” or “Venus’s Girdle” and the shadow itself being “the dark segment”.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

This month’s meeting will be on February 8 at 7PM.

The meeting will be done remotely as was last month’s meeting. Details and instructions will be issued as the time nears.

I hope to see you there!

Finally, we are in need for weather, radio & emergency communications related articles for this newsletter. Any help at all will be appreciated.

Mark Wells
WD4NYL & WRJE893

Editor
ALERT Newsletter
Wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

Hi everyone & Happy New Year!

I hope you had a safe and happy holiday season. Santa was good to me with books and LOTS to eat, which seeing that my New Year’s Resolution is to become the Fat of The Land, worked out perfectly.

As we begin, I wanted to discuss the Newsletter for a moment.

One thing that I have occasionally pointed out is that this is YOUR newsletter, not mine. I am merely the caretaker.

I have been producing this newsletter since 2007 and there are a couple of favors that I would like to ask of you.

First, and this is an easy one, is that if you are reading this newsletter, let me know. Whether you love it, loathe it or need to be “marked safe from” it, let me know, so I can get an idea of whether there is still an audience or a need for it. A simple “yeah, I read the garbage” will do. Wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

Secondly, I need articles. It was suggested once that I write an article on digital modes and their comparative features. I can’t do this, as I am in no way versed in the subject. I see we use DMR, Allstar, D-Star, EchoLink, IRLP, WinLink along with social media platforms such as Zello & Telegram and the more familiar Twitter, Facebook and MeWe.

Some I am familiar with, some are complete mysteries to me, and I can’t fake the knowledge needed to write a credible, coherent article, but there are others with our group who are very knowledgeable in these modes and if they could write a simple overview for dummies such as I on how they work, and how ALERT utilizes these modes it would be appreciated.

That’s all!

I hope 2022 is kind, peaceful and prosperous for you!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Optimizing An HF Transceiver’s General Coverage Capabilities

One feature most modern High Frequency transceivers feature is a top rate general coverage receiver, usually covering from 100 kHz to 30 MHz, This covering the longwave, mediumwave, and shortwave portions of the radio frequency spectrum.

These frequencies cover broadcast, marine, aviation, government, and of course amateur radio frequencies.

Forty-four years ago, as a young amateur and even before, I would have given my eyeteeth to have my grubby little hands on such a resource, as I was and still am interested in shortwave radio and AM DXing.

The first taste of these capabilities came when I found a Radio Shack DX-300 receiver at a Birminghamfest in the 1980’s. This receiver was unique in that it covered the mysterious realm below 100 kHz, covering, according to the box, from 10 kHz to 100 kHz. In reality, it went all the way down to 3 kHz.

Using transformer wire salvaged from old TV sets I strung 1000 feet of wire in the back yard, which gained me a visit from a Birmingham fireman cautioning me against installing an electric fence in Birmingham. I explained it was an antenna used for receiving very low frequency signals and apparently, he did not believe me, for a week later I heard a voice outside my house saying “no, it’s an antenna, haven’t you ever seen an antenna before?” I looked out to see a BFD Lieutenant explaining the wire to the fireman I had spoken to.

I never heard from them again.

Using that antenna and a crude filter I made to filter out bleed over from AM broadcast stations, I was able to tune in the USSR Alpha navigation beacon on 11.9 kHz, and the now defunct US Omega navigation beacons at 10.2, 13.6 &11.33 kHz. Scattered around I heard jingle of RTTY being sent by the US Navy to submerged submarines, the weird sounding digital signal of WWVB on 60 kHz setting folks “atomic clocks”.

Also, there were strange natural signals such as “whistlers” which sound like someone whistling “whew”, which are radio waves caused by thunderstorm lightning strikes in South America travelling along the Earth’s magnetic field to a similar longitude in the Northern hemisphere, and the “dawn chorus” a birdlike sound that occurs at dawn.

To quote Wikipedia “The electromagnetic dawn chorus is believed to be generated by a Doppler-shifted cyclotron interaction between anisotropic distributions of energetic (> 40 keV) electrons and ambient background VLF noise.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Frequencies below 3 kHz are in use. Namely by the Indian and Russian Navy. The Russian ZEVS (Zeus) system transmits signals to deeply submerged submarines on 82 Hz. The rules of physics become mushy at these low frequencies and due to this radio waves travel lower than the speed of light. Signals must be sent very slowly and basically it is used as a pager telling the submarines to rise to a level where they can receive commands from the VLF systems.

Why manufacturers don’t include these frequencies below 100 kHz, I don’t know. But I wish they did.

Back on topic, while most hams now have good general coverage receivers at their fingertips, many, perhaps most, never venture out of the ham bands to explore what is out there. In fact, there is an old joke that some hams set their VFOs to 3.965 MHz, the Alabama Section Net frequency, glue the tuning shaft in place and break off the knobs, never venturing anywhere else and never powering down either.

But there is a fascinating world “between the bands” to be explored. Whether it is shortwave broadcasters, ships at sea or transoceanic air traffic, it’s all out there waiting to be heard. There is heavy use of HF by the world’s militaries. Some is in CW, most is in USB and is not scrambled, but readily heard.

Low VHF is also heavily used between 30 & 35 MHz by military forces. That’s why tanks, Humvees and have long antennas like the 102” whips you sometimes see for CB radios. Both the US Army and the Russian Army used these frequencies. A point to remember if you have a scanner.

Recently I acquired a Yaesu FT-817ND, which is an all mode QRP rig, covering HF, 6 meters, 2 meters and 70 centimeters aka “440”.

Though the manual says somewhat differently, 100 kHz – 30 MHz and 30 MHz to 50 MHz, the HF portion covers from 100 kHz to 33 MHz, and then the low VHF portion picks up at the 30 MHz point and continues to 56 MHz, providing all mode coverage.

This radio has 200 channels and as I started programming the various repeaters, a friend suggested that the way I was programming the radio was not utilizing this radio to its full potential.

He pointed out that if I program an HF frequency into memory and touch the VFO, the frequency will go up or down. Using this idea, I could use the memory as a secondary band switch and preprogram whatever band I wanted, in addition to the amateur bands covered by the normal band selector.

Going with this approach, the following is how I have programmed this radio. Perhaps you can use the same method to program your radio.

1. 135.7 kHz 2200 Meter Ham Band (135.7 – 137.8 kHz)
2. 472.0 kHz 630 Meter Ham Band (472.0 – 479.0 kHz)
3. 530.0 kHz AM Broadcast Band (530.0 – 1710.0 kHz)
4. 2.300 MHz 120 Meter Medium Wave Band (2.300 – 2.495 MHz) local tropical regions
5. 3.200 MHz 90 Meter Shortwave Band (3.200 – 3.400 MHz) local tropical regions
6. 3.900 MHz 75 Meter Shortwave Band (3.900 – 4.000 MHz) eastern hemisphere
7. 4.750 MHz 60 Meter Shortwave Band (4.750 – 4.995 MHz) local tropical regions
8. 5.900 MHz 49 Meter Shortwave Band (5.900 – 6.200 MHz) good year long night
9. 7.200 MHz 41 Meter Shortwave Band (7.300 – 7.450 MHz) Europe year long night
10. 9.400 MHz 31 Meter Shortwave Band (9.400 – 9.900 MHz) most heavily used band
11. 11.600 MHz 25 Meter Shortwave Band (11.600 – 12.100 MHz) best in summer
12. 13.570 MHz 22 Meter Shortwave Band (13.570 – 13.870 MHz) Eurasia summer best
13. 15.100 MHz 19 Meter Shortwave Band (15.100 – 15.830 MHz) day good, night varies
14. 17.480 MHz 16 Meter Shortwave Band (17.480 – 17.900 MHz) day good, night varies
15. 18.900 MHz 15 Meter Shortwave Band (18.900 – 19.030 MHz) lightly used
16. 21.450 MHz 13 Meter Shortwave Band (21.450 – 21.850 MHz) Asia – Pacific region
17. 25.670 MHz 11 Meter Shortwave Band (25.670 – 26.100 MHz) seldom used
18. 26.965 MHz Citizens Band Radio Service (26.965 – 27.405 MHz) CB 10-4!
19. 2.500 MHz WWV Colorado – Time & Frequency
20. 5.000 MHz WWV Colorado & WWVH Hawaii – Time & Frequency
21. 10.000 MHz WWV Colorado & WWVH Hawaii – Time & Frequency
22. 15.000 MHz WWV Colorado & WWVH Hawaii – Time & Frequency
23. 20.000 MHz WWV Colorado – Time & Frequency
24. 3.330 MHz CHU Ottawa, Ontario – Time & Frequency
25. 7.850 MHz CHU Ottawa, Ontario – Time & Frequency
26. 14.670 MHz CHU Ottawa, Ontario – Time & Frequency
27. 25.890 MHz Image NOAA Weatheradio 162.550 MHz (the image is 136.660 MHz lower)
28. 3.965 MHz Alabama Traffic Net LSB
29. 3.975 MHz Georgia Single Sideband Net LSB
30. 3.980 MHz Tennessee Phone Net LSB
31. 3.862 MHz Mississippi Section Net LSB
32. 3.950 MHz North Florida Section Net LSB
33. 3.935 MHz Central Gulf Coast Hurricane Net LSB
34. 7.243 MHz Alabama Traffic Net – Alternate LSB
35. 7.268 MHz Hurricane Watch Net – Alternate LSB
36. 14.325 MHz Hurricane Watch Net USB
37. 28.400 MHz Alabama Calling Frequency (unofficial) USB
38. 29.600 MHz FM Calling Frequency – Simplex
39. 29.620 MHZ Repeater – minus 100 kHz input
40. 28.640 MHz Repeater – minus 100 kHz input
41. 28.660 MHz Repeater – minus 100 kHz input
42. 28.680 MHz Repeater – minus 100 kHz input
43. 50.110 MHz DX Window CW & USB
44. 50.125 MHz USB Calling Frequency
45. 50.150 MHz North Alabama Net USB 8:30 PM Mon – Sat
46. 50.400 MHz AM Calling Frequency
47. 52.525 MHz FM Calling Frequency – Simplex
48. 53.090 MHz Bessemer, Jefferson County, AL – minus 1 MHz input – no tone
49. 53.110 MHz Warrior, AL – minus 1 MHz input – 131.8 Hz tone
50. 53.310 MHz Cullman, Cullman County, AL – minus 1 MHz input – no tone
51. 53.750 MHz Pelham, Shelby County, AL – minus 1 MHz input – 100.0 Hz tone
52. 144,200 MHz USB Calling Frequency
53. 145.130 MHz “Bald Rock”, St. Clair, County – minus 600 Hz input – 103.5 Hz tone
54. 145.230 MHz Birmingham, AL – UAB – minus 600 Hz input – 203.5 Hz tone
55. 145.350 MHz “Tall Tower”, Tuscaloosa County, AL – minus 600 Hz input – 91.5 Hz tone
56. 145.450 MHz Palmerdale, Jefferson County, AL – minus 600 Hz input – 100.0 Hz tone
57. 146.520 MHz FM Calling Frequency – Simplex
58. 146.580 MHz Central Alabama Simplex Net
59. 146.620 MHz Moody, St. Clair County, AL – minus 600 Hz input – 146.2 Hz tone
60. 146.640 MHz Jasper, Walker County, AL – minus 600 Hz input – 123.0 Hz tone
61. 146.700 MHz Nectar, Blount County, A – minus 600 Hz input L – 91.5 Hz tone
62. 146.760 MHz Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL – minus 600 Hz input – 88.5 Hz tone
63. 146.840 MHz Warrior, Jefferson County, AL – minus 600 Hz input – 156.7 Hz tone
64. 146.880 MHz Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL – minus 600 Hz input – 88.5 Hz tone
65. 146.980 MHz Columbiana, Shelby County, AL – minus 600 Hz input – 88.5 Hz tone
66. 147.075 MHz Trafford, Jefferson County, AL – plus 600 Hz input – 67.0 Hz tone
67. 147.120 MHz Corner, Jefferson County, AL – plus 600 Hz input – 100.0 Hz tone
68. 147.140 MHz “Hueytown”, Jefferson County, AL – plus 600 Hz input – 156.7 Hz tone
69. 147.280 MHz Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL – plus 600 Hz input – 100.0 Hz tone
70. 147.320 MHz Helena, Shelby County, AL – plus 600 Hz input – 88.50 Hz tone
71. 147.555 MHz “The Triple Nickel” FM Simplex
72. 432.100 MHz Trussville, Jefferson County, AL
73. 443.775 MHz Nectar, Blount County, AL- plus 5 MHz input – 91.5 Hz tone
74. 444.200 MHz Quinton, Walker County, AL – plus 5 MHz input – 179.9 Hz tone
75. 444.700 MHz Birmingham, Jefferson County AL – plus 5 MHz input 179.9 Hz tone
76. 444.875 MHz Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL – plus 5 MHz input – 131.8 Hz tone
77. 444.975 MHz Birmingham, Jefferson County, AL – plus 5 MHz input – 156.7 Hz tone
78. 446.000 MHz FM Calling Frequency – Simplex
79. 145.800 MHz International Space Station Downlink – input 144.490 MHz

Having programed 79 positions, I still have 121 channels I could use. I could program my favorite AM or FM radio stations, local aviation frequencies in the 108 – 130 MHz band, etc.

On the FT-817ND there is also a Channel 601 – 605 section, which covers the 60 meter amateur band.

Those I was careful not to delete!

A few notes:

Just above the 2200 meter ham band there is a longwave AM broadcast band used in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. This band lies between 153 – 279 kHz and is occasionally heard in North America. These stations have a much higher wattage output than stations in the standard AM Broadcast band, which are typically limited to 50,000 watts, with 300 kw and over a megawatt not being unusual.

Scattered throughout from 195 to 530 kHz are aeronautical Non-Directional Beacons, recognizable by their two or three letter CW ID’s. Birmingham’s NDB “BH” is on 224 kHz, Bessemer’s “BEQ” is on 368 kHz.

In North America the standard AM broadcast band uses channels spaced 10 kHz apart. In Europe and Africa, they are spaced 9 kHz apart. Under perfect conditions it is occasionally possible to hear these stations between the North American stations.

Though the AM band technically starts at 530 kHz, there are a few stations, most notably Radio Enciclopeia in Havana, Cuba on 530 kHz.

The 75 meter Shortwave Broadcast band lie inside the 75 meter amateur band, from 3.900 – 4.000 Mhz. The 41 meter Shortwave Band overlaps the 7.200 to 7.300 MHz portion of the US 40 meter amateur band, which is why you hear broadcast stations on those frequencies.

One oddity is how signals can be booming in from Europe on the 41 meter Shortwave Band, and yet the 40 meter ham band is “dead”, seeing they are on the same frequencies.

I included the CB Band in my setup as I have been CB capable since 1976 and always will be.

The FT-817ND is designed where it will not transmit outside of the amateur bands. I like this, since it helps prevent one from accidently transmitting out of band. It is possible, and I know how, to do a “CAP{/MARS Mod” to it to allow it to transmit out of band. I have zero interest in doing so. One reason being that if my technical skills should prove to be smaller than my ego, I would ruin a perfectly good radio.

The other reason being when I want to transmit on CB frequencies, I have good LEGAL CB radios that do the job quite nicely. They are “stock”, having not had the “Golden Screwdriver” put to them to crank out ½ watt more punch or to go “freeband” up and down the spectrum, jeopardizing my ham, GMRS and General Radiotelephone licenses.

Plus, there is a concept of “doing things the right way” which still applies or should.

If you wonder why 25.890 MHz is included, the FT-817ND does not cover the 162 MHz range and so it cannot receive NOAA Weatheradio transmissions. But, due to a design quirk, that region is receivable 136.660 MHz lower as the signals can penetrate the IF chain of the radio if in close proximity. So, if you are close enough to the transmitter, you can pick up NOAA Weatheradio, 162.550 MHz at 25.890 MHz, which is 136.660 MHz lower than the 162.550 MHz frequency.

I did not include possible subtones for the 10 meter repeaters. During a band opening it is impossible to predict what will come in and from where. That’s where the being able to quickly “program on the fly” and change or plug in a subtone comes in handy. Find the tone, program the tone and ham away!

Information on local 6 meter repeaters are problematic. One source telling me one thing, another saying another “this repeater is off”, “this repeater is off and on” and “unless you have 400 watts you might as well not even try”, which is certainly encouraging and hopefully not exactly true.

Noticeably absent from the list are two 2 meter repeaters: Mt. Cheaha, 147.090 MHz, in Calhoun, County 131.9 Hz tone and Tuscaloosa, 146.820 MHz, 118.8 Hz.

Due to me being stuck between two elongated Southwest to Northeast oriented 1000 foot mountains, namely Red Mountain and Shades Mountain, I can’t hear them, let alone hit them, so I felt there was no need include them in my set up.

The 2 and 440 MHz repeaters listed are the repeaters which I can actually reach. Others reading this who aren’t stuck in a valley, as I am and probably can reach many others.

No 220 frequencies are included since the FT-817ND doesn’t feature this band. Very few radios do, which is a shame.

Once, when I had 220 capabilities, I was able to work the 220 MHz repeater on Monsanto Mountain in Huntsville on an HT from Red Mountain. This showed me the band’s potential. 220 MHz unfortunately is a little used band, whether due to lack of interest, a lack of equipment or both.

Also not included are oddball “SHTF” frequencies touted by various groups and websites. In an actual real-life emergency, you want to go to your counties ARES, SKYWARN or Club frequencies. Just going to some random frequency because someone somewhere said so will not produce the results you are looking for. Nor will buying a radio and never bothering to learn how it works, how to use it effectively, what its limitations are and how to overcome problems when the performance doesn’t match the advertising.

Which is why if you intend to ever transmit on a ham radio you need the knowledge gained by studying, getting licensed and using the radio regularly so you can become proficient and see what really can and can’t be done. In fact, not just because of legalities, the knowledge and experience gained can make the difference in a life-or-death situation, where just making excuses thinking that “I’ll just call for help, after all anything is legal in emergencies” is a foolish approach.

If you get a radio for life and death scenarios, get the best you can currently afford, learn how to use, and care for it with proficiently and use it regularly.

Otherwise, you have merely invested in a false sense of security.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Mark’s Almanac

January is named for the Roman god Janus, the god of gates and doors, and so openings and beginnings.

January receives more sunlight than December, but the equilibrium between incoming solar heat and the heat radiated into space by the northern snowfields does not peak until late January and early February, six weeks after winter solstice. So, the weather continues to cool, with January 8 – 20 being the coldest part of the year.

Typically, in January there is a 53% chance of up to one inch of snow and a 25% chance of over one inch of snow.

There is has been less snowfall this year than normal, as usually we see except for the southern tip of Nova Scotia, all of Canada and roughly one half of the Continental US, or “CONUS”, are usually covered with snow. Canada’s Hudson’s Bay is frozen, as is the ocean water between Baffin Island and Greenland.

https://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/snow_model/images/full/National/nsm_depth/202112/nsm_depth_2021122205_National.jpg

Barometric pressure is highest in January.

Though the Atlantic Hurricane Season officially ended November 30, every now and then Mother Nature will give us a surprise as there have been 5 tropical storms and 3 Category 1 hurricanes from 1851 to 2020. This includes an unnamed hurricane in 1938 in the Eastern Atlantic & Hurricane Alex which in 2016 effected Bermuda and the Azores.

Birmingham January climatology per Intellicast is monthly rainfall 5.45” inches and snowfall 0.7”. Average high temperature is 53 degrees and the average low 32 degrees. Record high of 81 degrees occurred in 1941 and a record low of -6 degrees in 1985.
Barometric pressure is highest in January.

Days grow longer as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily increases from 33.5 degrees at the beginning of the month to 39.2 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight increases from 9 hours 59 minutes on January 1 to 10 hours 33 minutes on January 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

January 1 Sunrise 6:52 AM Sunset 4:50 PM
January 15 Sunrise 6:51 AM Sunset 5:02 PM
January 31 Sunrise 6:44 AM Sunset 5:17 PM

Looking skyward, at the beginning of the month, the Sun, magnitude -26.8 is in Sagittarius

At the beginning of the month Mercury, magnitude –0.8, is very low in the west-southwest during twilight in Sagittarius.

Mercury reaches his highest point in the evening sky, or “Greatest Eastern Elongation” of 19.2 degrees from the Sun on January 7. This is the best time to view Mercury since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the evening sky. Look for the planet low in the western sky just after sunset.

He will then begin descending towards the horizon as the weeks pass and by mid-month will disappear beneath the horizon.

Mercury will pass between the Earth and the Sun or be in “Inferior Conjunction on January 23.

He will reach his closest distance to the Sun or Perihelion on January 14.

Venus, magnitude –4.7, is very low in the west-southwest during twilight in Sagittarius and is sinking towards the horizon, disappearing before the first week’s end.

Venus will pass between the Earth and the Sun or be in “Inferior Conjunction on January 8.

She will reach his closest distance to the Sun or Perihelion on January 23.
.
Earth, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is in the Constellation Gemini.

Earth will reach her closest distance to the Sun on Jan 2, when the planet will be 0.98324 Astronomical Units or 91,403,000 miles from the Sun.

Mars, magnitude +1.6 Scorpius, is on the far side of its orbit from us, so in a telescope it’s just a tiny blob.

Dwarf Planet Ceres, magnitude 7.6, is in Taurus.

Jupiter, magnitude –2.2, in Aquarius, is in the southwest at dusk.

Saturn, magnitudes at +0.8, in Capricorn.

Uranus, magnitude 5.7, in Aries, north of the head of Cetus the Sea Monster, is very high in the south-southeast in early evening.

Neptune, magnitude 7.8, in Aquarius, is high in the south-southwest after dark 20° upper left of Jupiter. Though it is invisible to the naked eye, it adds a fourth planet to the Venus-Saturn-Jupiter line arrayed across the sky.

Dwarf Planet Pluto, with his five moons shines at a dim 14.5 in Sagittarius.

Dwarf Planet 136108 Haumea, its ring, and moons Hiʻiaka and Namaka, shines at a faint magnitude of 17.4 in Bootes.

Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake with his moon faintly shines at magnitude 17.3 in Coma Berenices.

Dwarf Planet 136199 Eris and her moon Dysnomia is barely visible in the most powerful telescopes at magnitude 18.8 in Cetus the Sea Monster

4884 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of December 13, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on January 1, when she will be 222,474 miles from Earth.

New Moon occurs January 2 at 12:35 PM CST or 18:35 UTC January 13 when the Moon will on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

The Quadrantids Meteor Shower will occur Saturday & Sunday, January 3 & 4. This is an above average shower producing between 40 to 100 meteors per hour radiating from the constellation Bootes, in the area near the end of the handle of the Big Dipper and the head of Draco the Dragon.

The shower runs annually from January 1-5. It peaks this year on the night of the 3rd and morning of the 4th. The thin, crescent moon will set early in the evening leaving dark skies for what should be an excellent show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Bootes but can appear anywhere in the sky.

This shower favors the Northern Hemisphere because its radiant point, or the point where the meteors appear to originate in the sky, is so far north on the sky’s dome.

This shower is believed to be produced by dust grains from burnt out comet 2003 EH1, which may also be the remainder of comet c/1490 Y1, which was lost to history after a prominent meteor shower was observed in 1490, possibly due to the breakup of the comet.

First Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Western side illuminated, will occur January 9.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on January 15, when she will be 252,156 miles from Earth.

Full Moon will occur Thursday, January 17, at 5:51 PM CST or 23:51 PM UTC. The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be fully illuminated.

January’s Full Moon is “Wolf Moon” in Native American folklore. This was also called “Wulf-Monath” or “Wolf Month” by the Saxons, because at this full Moon, packs of wolves howled in hunger outside of the villages.

It has also been called “Old Moon” and “Moon After Yule”.

Last Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Eastern side illuminated, will occur January 25.

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on January 30, when she will be 225,092 miles from Earth.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

This month’s meeting will be on January 11 at 7PM.

The meeting will be done remotely as was last month’s meeting. Details and instructions will be issued as the time nears.

I hope to see you there!

Mark Wells
WD4NYL & WRJE893
Editor
ALERT Newsletter
Wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database
https://weatherlynx.webs.com/

Hi Everyone,

I hope this finds everyone well as we look forward to the Christmas Season.

Do you know where you stand on the Naughty and Nice List?

I find it’s getting harder to trick Old Saint Nick, especially with Alexa and Siri snitching on me, for you do know they are listening, don’t you? I heard them talking about me just the other day.

Will I get a nice new antenna, good gooey chocolate or that large sack of coal, as the mechanical sounding heifers were saying just yesterday?

Only time will tell.

But, I trust you are all on the Nice list and are safe from unpleasant surprises.

So, I from the House of Mark and Teresa, we wish you all a very safe and Merry Christmas!

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

 

Skywarn Appreciation Day!

It’s time for Skywarn Day 2021!

Skywarn Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service and the ARRL to honor the contributions that Skywarn volunteers make to the NWS mission – the protection of life and property during threatening weather.

During the Skywarn special event, normally hams operate from ham equipped NWS offices nationwide. The object of the event is for all participating Amateur Radio stations to exchange contact information with as many NWS stations as possible on 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, 2 meters, 220 MHz and 70 centimeters. Contacts via repeaters are permitted.

These of course are not normal times, and while we won’t be activating K4NWS onsite at the NWS, we WILL be an active bunch during this event.

One exciting feature of this year’s event is its expansion to include the NWS social media outreach. There will be Facebook presentations with seminars, interviews, balloon launch footage and many other interesting surprises.

If you have never participated in SRD you definitely want to give it a go, for this is a fun event.

Details from our NWS Liaison and Station Trustee, Russel Thomas follows:

“Skywarn Recognition Day is an event celebrates the contribution of SKYWARN volunteers to the NWS’s mission. More information about the event, including Operating Procedures for the contest, Participating Offices, Echolink Info/IRLP info, all can be found at the link below. Also, NWS request you fill out the Registration form so NWS can associate your operation with a specific NWS office, the form can also be found at the following link:
https://www.weather.gov/crh/skywarnrecognition

To make contact with us via Amateur Radio:

HF: 10,17,15,20 Meters
2M FM 146.880 (BARC), 147.320 and 146.980 (SCARC)
220 FM 224.500
70cm FM 444.700
DMR Talk Group 31013 which is available on all DMR repeaters in the Birmingham area but is also available on various repeaters in the BMX county warning area.
D-Star: REF058B or REF090C/XRF334C
AllStar: 48168
EchoLink: K4NWS-L (155003)
IRLP Experimental Reflector: 0091
WinLink: K4NWS (at) winlink (dot) org

In 2020 and in response to COVID, SRD was expanded outside of Amateur Radio to include all Skywarn Storm spotters.

Here are some ways to contact our station that are not Amateur Radio:

Zello: https://zello.com/channels/k/duTMd
Telegram: http://t.me/K4NWS
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/K4NWS/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/K4NWS
MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/alert

Our participation in SRD in previous years can be found here:
http://alert-alabama.org/SRD/index.htm“

73,

Russell Thomas, KV4S
NWS Liaison and Station Trustee
http://alert-alabama.org

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

How To Manually Program That “Darned Piece Of Junk” Baofeng Radio

The Baofeng UV-5R. Hams have a love hate relationship with these little radios.

It is said by some that they reek when it comes to transmit spectral purity, throwing spurious signals far and wide making it a true all band radio since it transmits on all bands at once.

Mine can’t receive worth dog spit, and transmits even worse, but others rave about how wonderful they are. And, they may be wonderful, I sometimes have questionable luck and may have gotten a lemon.

My main complaint isn’t with the radio at all, but with the unscrupulous advertisers who sell them dirt cheap to preppers, off-roaders and anyone else without even the slightest whisper of “pssssst….you need a ham license to use these” and by doing so promote bootlegging on ham bands, public service frequencies or anywhere else they have the notion to transmit.

Some think they are similar to FRS radios and just don’t know any better and some know and don’t care. They figure “who needs a stinkin’ license, in an emergency anything goes”, and assume they will turn on the radio a radio they don’t know how to use, it will still be charged and they will call out somewhere, anywhere on the radio dial and people will be listening random oddball frequencies anxiously awaiting their call and that they will know that they aren’t just playing with Daddy’s radio, believe them and rush to their rescue.

Radio communications simply doesn’t work that way. But try to tell them and some will “bow up”, use the word “radio police” or wrap themselves in the American flag and try to pretend that displaying stupidity is some sort of patriotic act.

On the plus side, they are the least expensive means of getting on the air, are compact, good looking, which certainly counts, because who wants an pug ugly radio? and they are far superior to the junk I ran or tried to run when I got started back in the Dark Ages in 1977.

One drawback to these and other similar radios is the complexity of programming, which is certainly complicated by a manual apparently originally written in Klingonese.

Many, perhaps most, use an app called “CHIRP” to program these radios. I chose a different route.

“Why don’t you just use the durned cable that came with the radio?” I was asked.

There are two reasons. One, is I’m too old and lazy to try and learn CHIRP, secondly, I don’t want to be overly “computer dependent”.

I wanted to be able to change the programming “on the fly” in case someone said “hey, can you hit the new Podunk repeater? It ain’t even listed yet.” Or, if a repeater changes or adds subtones, I can quickly adjust. And, if I am travelling, I can program the repeaters along the route. These are common scenarios that may occur when I may not have a laptop with me.

Also, by learning this, a lot of the mystique of the radio disappears, and you can unravel other features and tricks, which were there all the time, but you just didn’t know how to access them or were afraid to try.

I will warn you right away not to expect this to work the first time, or second, or third. The CD set “Swearing Effectively In Mandarin” may come in handy. You will try, start over, try again, start over again, try yet again and…wait a minute…IT WORKED! Why did it work?….I got it!” This was my experience.

Once you have mastered the Baofeng, programming other radios such as the Wouxon are not that problematic. They all use similar methods.

So, if you have one of these radios, give it a try (or two).

I will mention that you do not need a license to listen, but you do if you intend to transmit on ham frequencies.

If you don’t have a license yet, you will want one, because, if you purchased it for emergencies, you want to become proficient in its use, protocol, procedures, limits, pros and cons and this proficiency only comes by practice, and, the knowledge gained by preparing for and passing the FCC test.

For more information, seek out your local ham club or go to: Ham Radio Licenses (arrl.org)

I strongly recommend that you find and attend your local ham club. They can help you with licensing and with ideas for setting up and using your equipment to their best advantage.

Two of the best are the Birmingham Amateur Radio Club and the Shelby County Amateur Radio Club.
http://www.w4cue.com/ & http://www.w4shl.com respectively.

Now one question that arises is “are these legal for CB, FRS, GMRS & MURs. The simple answer is “no”, They are too far up the dial to reach the CB band and they are not “type accepted” for the other services. They are legal for amateur radio only.

So, lets look at programming the Baofeng UV-5R,

First you will need a frequency list. I prefer the Repeaterbook site, RepeaterBook.com: Quick Search.

One caution to remember is that that all repeater databases are out of date. Some have been recently updated, some not for years. There is no requirement that a repeater owner list his repeater with any database. Some do, some prefer not to.

The result is you will probably end up programming some “dead” repeaters into your radio. That’s another reason why getting involved with your local club is so important. They know what repeaters are real and which are illusions.

Some repeaters are listed, but can’t be found because someone plans on putting it on the air, but, hasn’t been able to, usually due to time and finances, since putting a repeater on the air is not an inexpensive proposition. Some are missing because they are being repaired or renovated. This may take days, weeks, months even years to accomplish. Again, time and finances dictate speed.

Now, one thing worth mentioning is that unlike programming say a Kenwood or Yaesu, with a Baofeng you have to program the receive and transmit frequencies separately. This can be an advantage, in that since you have 128 channel positions, you can program frequencies that you would never want to talk on anyway. NOAA Weatheradio, for instance. MURs, FRS/GMRS, Marine, etc., you can listen to, but, since the radio is not “legal” for those frequencies, you could just program the receive side and leave the transmit side alone. My radio has many frequencies I like to listen in on, but, have no business nor desire to transmit on.

I have many non-amateur frequencies programmed into mine. The radio has a scan program, so, I can use it just like a scanner.

With that said, let us begin.

PROGRAM RECEIVE FREQUNCY

1. Charge the battery pack. (The battery indicator is for flash only. It will lie to you telling you have a strong battery right until the battery dies. Also, very soon after the battery loses peak charge the receive and transmit capability will rapidly decrease. So charge it before you begin.
2. Turn the radio on.
3. Enter “frequency mode” by pressing the VFO/MR button.
4. Press the AB button to highlight the upper frequency in the display.
5. Type in the receive frequency, for example 146.880.
6. Press MENU.
7. If the repeater uses an output subtone so that only radios set to receive a signal with this subtone will hear the signal, use the following steps to program the receive subtone. Not all repeaters use these tones and if you program them in, any signal without the tone will not be heard. I don’t use this feature, because I want to be able to hear the other signals. Especially if someone is not hitting the repeater and transmits on the repeater output. Especially useful during emergencies. If you do not wish to use this feature skip to Step 14.
8. Press MENU.
9. Using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys, go to option 1, which will be on the right side of the display. The display should show “R-CTCS Off”
10. Press MENU.
11. Using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys select the proper tone.
12. Press MENU to save the setting.
13. Press EXIT.
14. Press MENU.
15. Using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys go to option 27. The display should show “MEM-CH CH 001”
16. Press MENU.
17. Using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys scroll to an empty channel position. (Not that you cannot overwrite a currently stored frequency. You must go to option 28 “DEL-CH”, press MENU, select the channel to be erased and then press MENU to delete that channel. Then you can replace the channel with a more favored one.)
18. Press MENU.
19. Press EXIt.
20. Press VFO/MR button.
21. Using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys go to the programmed channel and see if it “took” and is there. If not, go back to Step 3.

PROGRAM TRANSMIT FREQUNCY

1. Enter “frequency mode” by pressing the VFO/MR button.
2. Press the AB button to highlight the upper frequency in the display.
3. Type in the receive frequency, for example 146.280.
4. Press MENU.
5. Using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys go to option 2 to set transmit power level.
6. Press MENU.
7. Using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys go to set either High or Low.
8. Press MENU.
9. Using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys go to option 13 to set transmit PL tone, display should read “T-CTCS OFF”.
10. Using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys go to set the tone, in this example 88.5.
11. Press MENU.
12. Using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys go to option 27. The display should show “MEM-CH CH 001”
13. Press MENU.
14. Using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys scroll to the channel of the receive frequency of 146.880.
15. Press MENU.
16. Press EXIt.
17. Press VFO/MR button.
18. Using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys scroll to the channel just programmed.
19. Key the radio (don’t forget to identify). If the repeater “kerchunks” Great! If not, go to Step 1 again.

Sometimes you will have to program the transmit information twice to get it to work. Why, only the Lord knows.

Yes, it is a pain in the posterior to try this. But, with time and sooner than you may think, the process will go faster and faster until it’s no big deal. In the process you will lose the “fear of the radio and start to tinker with other settings.

Some of these settings are:

“Using the UP/DOWN ARROW keys scroll to Option:”

Option 8, which turns the beep on or off.
Option 14, which switches the voice to English, Chinese or off.
Option 29. which controls the “tuning” LED color.
Option 30. which controls the “receive” LED color.
Option 31. which controls the “transmit” LED color
Color choices being blue, purple, amber or off.
Option 0. which controls the squelch level.
Or simply press MENU and press 0 to set the squelch level.
Pressing * turns the scan feature on.
Pressing the orange CALL button on the side turns the FM radio on.

Here is my programming scheme:

CH# Receive Transmit PL Tone Remarks

001. 146.880 146.280 88.5 Birmingham (programmed when it was the ARES frequency)
002. 146.280 146.880 – Birmingham – Reverse (to listen for weak signals)
003. 146.880 146.880 – Birmingham – Simplex (in case of repeater failure)
004. 145.130 144.530 103.5 St. Clair County
005. 145.230 144.630 203.4 Birmingham
006. 145.350 144.750 91.6 Tuscaloosa “Tall Tower”
007. 145.450 144.850 100.0 Blount County
008. 146.420 144.420 – Simplex
009. 146.500 146.500 – Simplex
010. 146.520 146.520 – Simplex
011. 146.530 146.530 – Simplex
012. 146.550 146.550 – Simplex
013. 146.555 146.555 – Simplex
014. 146.640 146.040 123.0 Walker County
015. 146.700 146.100 91.5 Blount County
016. 146.760 146.160 88.5 Birmingham (ARES Frequency)
017. 146.840 146.240 156.7 Birmingham
018. 146.880 146.280 88.5 Birmingham
019. 146.980 146.380 88.5 Shelby County
020. 147.075 147.675 67.0 Birmingham
021. 147.120 147.720 100.0 Birmingham
022. 147.140 147.740 156.7 Birmingham
023. 147.280 147.880 100.0 Birmingham
024. 147.320 147.620 88.5 Birmingham
025. 147.555 147.555 – Simplex
026. 146.580 147.580 – Simplex
041. 443.775 448.776 91.5 Birmingham
042. 444.100 449.100 162.2 Birmingham
043. 444.200 449.200 179.9 Birmingham
044. 444.700 449.700 156.7 Birmingham
045. 444.825 449.825 131.8 Birmingham
046. 444.975 449.975 156.7 Birmingham
047. 445.975 445.975 – Simplex
048. 446.000 446.000 – Simplex
049. 446.025 446.025 – Simplex
050. 446.030 446.030 – Simplex

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Receive Only

Multi-Use Radio Service – MURS

061. 151.820 – MURS 1
062. 151.880 – MURS 2
063. 151.940 – MURS 3
064. 154.570 – MURS 4 – Blue Dot (Walmart & Sam’s Club frequency)
065. 154.600 – MURS 5 – Green Dot

Marine Service

070. 156.800 – Marine Channel 16 – Emergency Channel

 

Commercial Dot & Star Frequencies

089. 151.625 – Red Dot
090. 151.955 – Purple Dot
091. 464.500 – Brown Dot
092. 464.550 – Yellow Dot
093. 467.7625 – J Dot
094. 467.8125 – K Dot
095. 467.850 – Silver Star
096. 467.875 – Gold Star
097. 467.900 – Red Star
098. 467.925 – Blue Dot

Family Radio Service & General Mobile Radio Service – FRS & GMRS

101. 462.5625 – FRS 1 / GMRS 1
102. 462.5875 – FRS 2 / GMRS 2
103. 462.6125 – FRS 3 / GMRS 3
104. 462.6375 – FRS 4 / GMRS 4
105. 462.6625 – FRS 5 / GMRS 5
106. 462.6875 – FRS 6 / GMRS 6
107. 462.7125 – FRS 7 / GMRS 7
108. 467.5625 – FRS 8 / GMRS 8
109. 467.5875 – FRS 9 / GMRS 9
110. 467.6125 – FRS 10 / GMRS 10
111. 467.6375 – FRS 11 / GMRS 11
112. 467.6625 – FRS 12 / GMRS 12
113. 467.6875 – FRS 13 / GMRS 13
114. 467.7125 – FRS 14 / GMRS 14
115. 462.550 – FRS 15 / GMRS 15
116. 462.575 – FRS 16 / GMRS 16 / White Dot
117. 462.600 – FRS 17 / GMRS 17
118. 462.625 – FRS 18 / GMRS 18 / Black Dot
119. 462.650 – FRS 19 / GMRS 19
120. 462.675 – FRS 20 / GMRS 20 / Orange Dot
121. 462.700 – FRS 21 / GMRS 21
122. 462.725 – FRS 22 / GMRS 22

128. 162.550 NOAA Weatheradio – Birmingham

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

 

 

Mark’s Almanac

December was the tenth Roman Month, from whence it gets its name, “decem” meaning “ten”. Among many Native American tribes it was called “the Moon of Clacking Rocks”, as it was the time when they prepared and manufactured stone tools, implements and weapons, since the growing season was over, and bad weather prevented them from hunting.

December is the cloudiest month of the year, with only 40 to 60% of possible sunshine poking through the clouds. It is also the stormiest month of the year for the Continental US & the Gulf of Mexico. By “stormy” meaning large-scale storms, not necessarily the tornadic storms that they bring, even though we are still in our Second Tornado Season.

A region of heavy rainfall usually forms from Texas to Northwest Florida to Tennessee and Arkansas. Cold waves bringing rain, snow, ice and occasionally tornadoes, sweep across the region.

Average precipitation in Birmingham is 4.47” of rainfall and 0.1” of snowfall.

December can be cloudy and cold, and, then it can swing into spring like warmth, luring plants to bloom early, only to have the frosts and freezes return and the plants are “nipped in the bud”.

Hurricane season is now “officially” over, however Mother Nature sometimes throws a surprise in to make life interesting.

From 1851 – 2019 there have been 19 Tropical Storms and from 1822 to 2020 there have been 8 Category 1 hurricanes, but, none have ever struck the United States.

Two notable December hurricanes are:

Hurricane Alice of 1954, which is the only known Atlantic hurricane to span two calendar years and one of only two named Atlantic tropical cyclones, along with Tropical Storm Zeta of 2005, to do so.

Alice developed on December 30, 1954 from a trough of low pressure in the central Atlantic Ocean in an area of unusually favorable conditions. The storm moved southwestward and gradually strengthened to reach hurricane status. After passing through the Leeward Islands on January 2, 1955, Alice reached peak winds of 90 mph before encountering cold air and turning to the southeast. It dissipated on January 6 over the southeastern Caribbean Sea.

The last December hurricane to occur was Hurricane Epsilon during the 2005 season, the year in which we ran out of hurricane names. The year also featured Tropical Storm Zeta, the latest forming Tropical Storm which formed on December 30, 2005 and lasted until January 7, 2006.

Days continue to grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily decreases from 34.6 degrees at the beginning of the month to 33.0 degrees at Winter Solstice on December 21 and then the angle begins to lift reaching 33.4 degrees on New Year’s Eve,

Daylight decreases from 10 hours 6 minutes on December 1 to 9 hours 56 minutes at Winter Solstice and then increases to 9 hours 58 minutes on December 31

 

Sunrise and Sunset times for Birmingham are:

December 1 Sunrise 6:33 AM Sunset 4:39 PM
December 15 Sunrise 6:43 AM Sunset 4:40 PM
December 21 Sunrise 6:47 AM Sunset 4:43 PM
December 31 Sunrise 6:51 AM Sunset 4:49 PM

Looking skyward, at the beginning of the month, the Sun, magnitude -26.8 is in Scorpius.

Mercury, magnitude –1.4, in Scorpius is out of sight passing behind the Sun. In late December he will begin emerging from the sunset and will be briefly visible 30 minutes after sunset.

Venus, magnitude –4.9, in Sagittarius, continues to be the brilliant “evening star” in the southwest during and after twilight and reaches her greatest brilliance and highest altitude in the evening sky on December 7th, and then will begin descending a little lower every week.

Earth, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is in the Constellation Taurus.

Mars, magnitude +1.5, in Libra, is emerging from the sunrise and will continue gaining altitude as the months progress.

Dwarf Planet Ceres, magnitude +7.1, is in Taurus.

Jupiter, magnitude –2.3, in Capricornus, shines prominently in the South to Southwest during the evening far upper left of Venus.

Saturn, magnitudes +0.7, in Capricornus. Is 16 degrees or nearly two fist lengths to the lower right of Jupiter.

Nearby at 22 degrees or two fist lengths from Jupiter’s lower left is Fomalhaut, the Autumn Star, magnitude +1.2.

Saturn sets around 9 p.m. Jupiter sets a little more than an hour later.

When looking at Saturn and Fomalhaut, you will notice that one twinkles and the other does not. For unless there is an extremely turbulent atmosphere, planets do not twinkle.

Planets don’t twinkle because since they are closer to the Earth they are appear larger and that larger size in a sense “averages out” the turbulent effects of the atmosphere, presenting a relatively stable image to the eye. Stars, on the other hand are much more distant and being pinpoints of light, any variation is noticeable.

Uranus, magnitude 5.7, in Aries, above the head of Cetus the Sea Monster, is high in the east after dark.

Cetus, incidentally, is in the “watery” portion of the sky, with the water related constellations of Aquarius The Water Bearer, Pisces The Fish and Eridanus The River.

Eridanus is notable for containing the star 40 Eridani A, the host star of Star Trek’s planet Vulcan.

40 Eridani A, which has a formal designation of HD 26965b, has actually been found to possess a planet about twice the size of Earth and is considered the closest “super-Earth” orbiting a sunlike star.

For now, it’s known as HD 26965b, in keeping with naming guidelines set forth by the International Astronomical Union.

This newfound exoplanet is 16 light-years away.

https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/astronomers-just-discovered-spock-s-home-planet-vulcan-ncna911136

Live long and prosper.

Neptune, magnitude 7.7, at the Aquarius-Pisces border, is high in the south after dark.

Dwarf Planet Pluto, with his five moons shines at a dim 14.5 in Sagittarius.

Dwarf Planet 136108 Haumea, its ring and moons Hiʻiaka and Namaka, shines at a faint magnitude of 17.4 in Bootes.

Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake with his moon faintly shines at magnitude 17.3 in Coma Berenices.

Dwarf Planet 136199 Eris and her moon Dysnomia is barely visible in the most powerful telescopes at magnitude 18.8 in Cetus the Sea Monster

4575 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of November 18, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

New Moon occurs December 4 at 1:44 AM CST or 7:44 UTC. The Moon will on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

On November 19 there was a near Total Lunar Eclipse. If you have a Lunar or Solar Eclipse, there will be a Solar or Lunar Eclipse two weeks following, since both bodies are temporarily still in a proper alignment or orbital plane.

On December 4 there will be a Total Solar Eclipse. A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon completely blocks the Sun, revealing the Sun’s beautiful outer atmosphere known as the corona.
The total eclipse will be limited to Antarctica and the southern Atlantic Ocean. A partial eclipse will be visible throughout much of Southern Africa

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on December 4, when she will be 221,701 miles from Earth.

First Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Western side illuminated, will occur December 10.

The Geminid Meteor Shower peaks on December 13-14. Geminids are one of the year’s best meteor showers. It is my favorite meteor shower and considered by many to be the best shower in the heavens. It’s a consistent and prolific shower, and usually the most satisfying of all the annual showers, even surpassing the more widely recognized Perseids of August. This shower typically produces 50 or more multicolored meteors an hour, or about one every minute, and at the peak 120 meteors per hour.

As a general rule, the dazzling Geminid meteor shower starts around mid-evening and tends to pick up steam as evening deepens into late night. No matter where you live worldwide, the greatest number of meteors usually fall in the wee hours after midnight, or for a few hours centered around 2 a.m. local time, as the Earth plows headlong into the stream. If you’re game, you can watch the Geminid shower all the way from mid-evening until dawn.

The Geminids are produced by debris left behind by an asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon, which was discovered in 1982. The shower runs annually from December 7-17. It peaks this year on the night of the 13th and morning of the 14th. The morning of the 15th could also be nearly as active this year.

The waxing gibbous moon will block out most of the fainter meteors this year. But the Geminids are so numerous and bright that this could still be a good show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Gemini but can appear anywhere in the sky.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on December 17, when she will be 252,477 miles from Earth.

Full Moon occurs at 10:37 PM CST on December 18 or 4:37 UTC on December 19 when the Moon, being on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun will be fully illuminated. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Cold Moon because this is the time of year when the cold winter air settles in and the nights become long and dark. This moon has also been known as the Moon Before Yule and the Full Long Nights Moon.

As I write this, I am reminded of a Full Moon and a Lunar Eclipse which occurred December 30, 1963. I remember a 5-year-old me looking at it in wonder, which probably planted the seeds of interest that are resulting in the Almanac you are reading today.

I was afraid of the Moon back then, since it kept nosily peeking through the window blinds at me.

Winter Solstice will occur on December 21 at 9:59 AM CST or 19:59 UTC. The South Pole of the earth will be tilted toward the Sun, which will have reached its southernmost position in the sky and will be directly over the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.44 degrees south latitude. This is the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Ursid meteor shower, a minor meteor shower, which runs annually from December 17-25 will peak on the night and morning of December 21 – 22 producing about 5-10 meteors per hour. It is produced by dust grains left behind by comet Tuttle, which was first discovered in 1790.

The nearly full moon will be a problem this year, blocking all but the brightest meteors. But if you are patient enough, you may still be able to catch a few good ones. Best viewing will be just after midnight from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Ursa Minor but can appear anywhere in the sky.

Last Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Eastern side illuminated, will occur December 26.

One notable object to look for in the December skies is The Great Square of Pegasus. By looking overhead, maybe a tad to the North the Square is easily seen. Looking at it facing North, you will see two parallel arms or streamers of stars coming off the upper left corner of the Square. If you look with binoculars at the second pair of stars, and move just barely North, you will see the hint of a rice grain shaped object, which, due to the nature of the human eye, frustratingly fades from view if you try looking directly at it.

This object is Messier 31, also know The Andromeda Galaxy. Boasting an apparent magnitude of 3.1, under clear, non-light polluted skies, the galaxy can be seen with the naked eye. NASA claims you can see it even in areas with moderate light pollution, though you can’t prove it my me.

If you do spot it with the unaided eye, if someone ever asks how far you can see, you can shrug and nonchalantly say “oh 2.54 million light years, give or take.”

Now if you follow the arm radiating from the Square that lies next to Messier 31 on out you will in short order come to the Double Star Cluster of Perseus, one of the best telescope targets in the heavens, And, it doesn’t take Lowell Observatory size telescope to see it.

Backyard optics will do just fine.

 

’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’

Christmas

Christmas is my favorite time of the year.

Christmastime is a time of wonder & mystery. A time of bright lights, shining trees and the time of hide and seek, as presents are hidden from inquiring minds and fingers.

It is a time when one’s mind and memories drift back to days of childhood, and Christmases now long gone by. Remembering friends and family, some here, some now gone & longing that they were near once again, as it was once upon a time not so long ago.
And it is a time when, if we allow ourselves and don’t choose to “Grinch out” and be sour pusses, we can become kids once again.

Most importantly though, it’s a time to remember that the true “reason for the season” occurred in a manger, long ago on that first cold and chilly “Silent Night.”

So, as you go about your Christmas preparations remember the magic that was there when you were a child & don’t let that magic die. Make it magic once again

For Christmas truly is “the most wonderful time of the year”.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The December meeting will, due to the Holidays, was held Tuesday, November 30, so the next meeting will be January 11 at 7PM.

The meeting will be done remotely as was last month’s meeting. Details and instructions will be issued as the time nears.

I hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter
Wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database
https://weatherlynx.webs.com/

 

 

Hi everyone,

I hope this finds you well, and untouched by the hobgoblin attack of the 31st. We had no trick or treaters this year, so you know what that means. Yes, I have to eat ALL of the candy. Which is a tough job, but someone has to do it.

As we enter November, we also enter the Fall tornado season. The Fall season is often more severe than the Spring Season.

Just as in the Spring, you need to review your plans and procedures for the storms to come.

Take this time brush up on your skills, check and prepare your equipment and make sure that you have reliable methods to receive timely watches and warnings. This includes NOAA Weatheradio and phone Apps from local broadcast media. This does not include social media posts, as the medium’s algorithm can accidently “bury” a warning in the newsfeed. Also, beware of good meaning “amateur weather experts”, including myself. Instead trust the REAL experts at our NWS. They have the training, knowledge and expertise, which you can place confidence in.

Hopefully we will have a calm Fall as we look forward toward Thanksgiving and the Holiday Season.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

“Halap, halap, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up”
Or
How to properly call for help during emergencies

(The following article originally appeared in the September 2011 Newsletter. It was one of the best received articles and I received compliments from First Responders as it deals with situations they deal with quite regularly.)

“Mark call 911!!!” ”Click” as the caller hangs up.

In my line of work, I’ve heard this more than once, and each time I have had to call the caller back and ask for the proper information to give 911, which in turn delayed the response time. This revealed to me that most people really have no idea how to make calls for emergency assistance.

The “who, what, where, when and why” rules apply and should be taught, but apparently are not.

“Call 911!” Tell me why I’m calling, so I can tell the operator. Do you need the police or paramedics?
It makes a big difference. Engine 8 isn’t very helpful in a bank robbery, and Car 347’s officers may not know how to deliver a baby.

What is the situation? The EMS will need to know. “Bringing the paddles” doesn’t do much good for a lady in labor & air splints are overkill for a guy who just fainted because he just read his power bill.

By providing the information of who you are, including an exact location of where the emergency is located and when it happened help streamline the process. The EMS will know what they are heading for and will be better mentally and physically prepared to respond properly. It eliminates the wondering and guesswork.

Another thing not really taught is how to get help via amateur radio. Do you really know how to seek help?

Just saying “Hey can someone out thar call the pair of medics over to the Walls Smart” just might not suffice.

How do you transmit a distress call? I’m glad you asked.

Now the following is to be used only for bonifide emergencies. Using it in any other case and you will end up in Leavenworth, Sing Sing, Atmore or, well, you get the idea.

Distress calling procedure:

1. Tune to your local ARES / Skywarn frequency or the most heavily populated frequency you know of.
2. If you hear stations on frequency, break in and attempt to contact them.
3. If they hear and acknowledge you, calmly give your situation, remembering the “who, what, where, when and why” rules. Then wait at the location for help. Don’t wander off. That turns a rescue into a search and rescue. In 99% of the cases STAY PUT.
4. If it seems no one has heard you, then you will have to “broadcast in the blind”. Don’t let the word “broadcast” scare you. You do this every time you send a CQ or throw your call out on a silent repeater seeking a contact.
5. Say slowly and clearly the words “MAYDAY” three times.
6. Say, “This is” and give your call sign three times and your name once.
7. Give your position as exact as possible. Give your address, or street / cross street, or highway mile marker (you do you pay attention to those little green signs, don’t you?) or if you have GPS, your latitude and longitude. Or give your distance to any well-known landmark that may help rescuers locate the incident location. Use the best or most logical options you have.
Giving latitude and longitude, when you know the street and cross street is a little kooky.
8. Give the nature of the emergency – medical, fire, criminal, etc.
9. Indicate the type of assistance required – police, EMS, etc.
10. Say “over” and listen.

Example:

Mayday – mayday – mayday. This is WD4NYL, WD4NYL, WD4NYL. My name is Mark Wells. I’m located on Highway 45 near Johnson Road. I’ve just been in an accident and I’m trapped in my car. Please call 911. Over”.

If someone responds, great! If not, there is a decent chance someone listening on a scanner could be calling 911.

If you hear no response, repeat the above for two minutes and then listen for three. If still no answer, to save your batteries, cut off the radio and wait until the top of the hour and begin calling again. It’s good if you indicate that you are going to do this, so someone listening will know to listen again.

This method is the recommended procedure for marine radios and can be effectively used on both the ham bands or on the 11-meter band.

And, yes, even though we may cuss it, every amateur in emergency communications or planning on going on a trip, should have a CB radio somewhere in their arsenal.

Repeaters may die; whole forests of repeaters may be uninhabited just when you need someone the most, or you may get stuck somewhere between the Podunk and Possum Hollow repeaters. But, chances are some Bubba is listening on Channel 9 or even more likely on Channel 19. He may call 911…. or he may come in a dually and help haul you boohunkus out of that ditch.

Giving oneself multiple options is savvy move, one that could save your hide someday.

Always have one or more backup plans.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

 

Mark’s Almanac

With the arrival of November we enter our second tornado season. Alabama and the Southeast are “blessed” by being the only area on Earth having two tornado seasons. The cause of the second season is the same as the spring season – clashes of cold and warm air masses. The cold air of winter is invading and trying to push the warmth of the summer back into the sea, which is the same process of springtime.

This second season is often more destructive than the spring season. From 1950 to 2020 there have been 279 November tornadoes in Alabama resulting in 52 fatalities and 1069 injuries. The third largest tornado outbreak occurred on November 24 – 25 2001 when 36 tornadoes occurred and 21 tornadoes occurred during the outbreak of November 23 – 24 2004.

November was Alabama’s leading tornado month from 2001 to 2011 until the dual outbreaks of April 15 and April 27 2011 erased that record.

So beware of a warm & muggy November day. Especially one with a south wind, as something may really be “in the air”.

The Hurricane threat greatly diminishes, with hurricane activity occurring mainly in the open Atlantic, threatening the Eastern Seaboard, but usually veering off into sea as cold fronts off the East Coast deflect them. Hurricanes can still form in the Caribbean, which usually visit the Yucatan, but can enter the Gulf.

From 1851 – 2020 there have been 101 Tropical Storms and 48 hurricanes, 5 of which made landfall in the United States.

Some notable November hurricanes are:

The 1932 Cuba hurricane, known also as the Hurricane of Santa Cruz del Sur or the 1932 Camagüey Hurricane. Although forming as a tropical depression on October 30, it became the only Category 5 Atlantic hurricane ever recorded in November, and was the deadliest and one of the most intense tropical cyclones in Cuban history. On November 6, the tropical cyclone reached its peak intensity as a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph. The storm weakened to Category 4 intensity as it came ashore in Cuba’s Camagüey Province on November 9 with winds of 150 mph. The storm took 3,033 lives.

Hurricane Ida, in 2009 was the strongest land falling tropical cyclone during the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season. Ida formed on November 4 in the southwestern Caribbean, and within 24 hours struck the Nicaragua coast with winds of 80 mph. It weakened significantly over land, although it restrengthened in the Yucatán Channel to peak winds of 105 mph. Ida weakened and became an extratropical cyclone in the northern Gulf of Mexico before spreading across the southeastern United States. The remnants of Ida contributed to the formation of a nor’easter that significantly affected the eastern coast of the United States.

1985’s Hurricane Kate was the latest Hurricane in any calendar year to strike the United States.
Kate formed on November, 15 and reached hurricane intensity on November 16, and reached Category 2 intensity three days later. Kate struck the northern coast of Cuba on November 19. Once clear of land, she strengthened quickly, becoming a Category 3 storm and reached its peak intensity of 120 mph. On November 21 Kate came ashore near Mexico Beach, Florida, as Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 mph.

Hurricane Lenny, or Wrong Way Lenny, occurred in 1999. It is the second-strongest November Atlantic hurricane on record, behind the 1932 Cuba hurricane. Lenny formed on November 13 in the western Caribbean Sea and moved retrograde from the West to East passing South of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. He reached hurricane status south of Jamaica on November 15 and rapidly intensified over the northeastern Caribbean on November 17, attaining peak winds of 155 mph near Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. It gradually weakened while moving through the Leeward Islands, eventually dissipating on November 23 over the open Atlantic Ocean.

1994’s Hurricane Gordon claimed 1122 lives in Haiti when it passed just west of the country as a tropical storm on November 13, 1994.

Figure 2 – November Tropical Cyclone Breeding Grounds

Both the Atlantic and Pacific Hurricane seasons ends November 30.

Days rapidly grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily decreases from 40.9 degrees at the beginning of the month to 34.8 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight decreases from 10 hours 40 minutes on November 1 to 10 hours 07 minutes on November 30.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

November 1 Sunrise 7:06 AM Sunset 5:55 PM
November 15 Sunrise 6:19 AM Sunset 4:45 PM – After Daylight Savings Time Ends
November 31 Sunrise 6:33 AM Sunset 4:39 PM

The blooms of summer have faded, but you may find yourself still sneezing, due to ragweed and mold.

Mold is a fall allergy trigger. You may think of mold growing in your basement or bathroom – damp areas in the house – but mold spores also love wet spots outside. Piles of damp leaves are ideal breeding grounds for mold.

Oh, and did I mention dust mites? While they are common during the humid summer months, they can get stirred into the air the first time you turn on your heat in the fall. Dust mites can trigger sneezes, wheezes, and runny noses.

November welcomes the peak of fall colors. For Birmingham the peak occurs around November 15, but the date can vary depending on your elevation & latitude.

Indian Summer and Squaw Winter continue to battle it out, but the cool or cold weather will eventually win, with the first average frost being on November 11.

The usual fall effects occur in North America with Canada’s Hudson Bay becoming unnavigable due to pack ice & icebergs. Navigation in the Great Lakes becomes perilous due to storms bringing the “Gales Of November” made famous in the Gordon Lightfoot song “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald”.

And, don’t be surprised if you hear ducks overhead & see wedges of Canadian geese heading south for the winter. And if you see strange birds appearing in your front yard, remember that for 336 species of birds Alabama IS south for the winter.

Looking skyward, at the beginning of the month, the Sun, magnitude -26.8 is in Virgo.

Mercury, magnitude -0.7, in Virgo, is still making his best appearance of the year. As the month progresses, he sinks towards the eastern horizon and slips beyond view midmonth.

He will pass behind the Sun, or reach “Superior Conjunction” on November 28, 2021.

Venus, magnitude –4.5, in Ophiucus, shines brilliantly in the southwest during and after twilight, to the lower right of the vastly fainter Sagittarius Teapot.

Venus remains in the evening sky an hour after dark. She will continue to get a little higher and brighter into early December.

Her prominent glow in the evening sky occasionally triggers UFO reports by those not familiar with “The Morning Star”, Earth’s twin sister.

“Earth’s twin sister” because they are nearly the same size, have the same density, have volcanoes, and dense atmospheres. In the dim mists of ages past they were even more similar, both having oceans. Then they parted ways Venus entering a runaway greenhouse effect, and now sports crushing atmospheric pressure and sulfuric acid rain.

A Venusian Hades, as compared to the Garden of Eden, which is Earth.

Earth, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is in Taurus.

Mars, magnitude +1.5, in Virgo, remains out of sight deep in the glow of sunrise.

Dwarf Planet Ceres shines at magnitude +7.8 in Taurus.

Jupiter, magnitude -2.5, and Saturn, magnitude +0.6, glow in the south during evening, 15° apart in Capricornus. Jupiter is the bright one with Saturn, to his right or lower right.

In twilight they’re just beginning to tilt. As evening advances, they tilt more steeply as they move westward. Saturn sets around between 1 and midnight, Jupiter about an hour later.

Uranus, magnitude +5.7, in Aries, will reach his closet approach to Earth, or opposition on November 5.

The blue-green planet will be fully illuminated by the Sun. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long. This is the best time to view Uranus. Due to its distance, it will only appear as a tiny blue-green dot in all but the most powerful telescopes.

Neptune, magnitude +7.7, in Aquarius remains at near peak brightness, but is fading slowly.

Dwarf Planet Pluto, with his five moons shines at a dim +14.4 in Sagittarius.

Dwarf Planet 136108 Haumea, its ring and moons Hiʻiaka and Namaka, shines at a faint magnitude of +17.4 in Bootes.

Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake with his moon faintly shines at magnitude +17.2 in Coma Berenices.

Dwarf Planet 136199 Eris and her moon Dysnomia is barely visible in the most powerful telescopes at magnitude +18.7 in Cetus the Sea Monster

New Moon will occur November 4. The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This phase occurs at 21:15 UTC or 4:15 PM CDT. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on November 5, when she will be 222,976 miles from Earth.

The First Quarter Moon occurs November 11.

The Northern Taurid Meteor Shower will occur November 11 & 12. The Northern Taurids is a long-running minor meteor shower producing only about 5-10 meteors per hour. This shower is, however, famous for producing a higher than normal percentage of bright fireballs, It is also unusual in that it consists of two separate streams. The first is produced by dust grains left behind by Asteroid 2004 TG10. The second stream is produced by debris left behind by Comet 2P Encke.

The shower runs annually from September 7 to December 10. It peaks this year on the night of the 11th and morning of the 12th. The First Quarter Moon should not overly interfere with what should be an excellent show. Best viewing will be just after midnight from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Taurus, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

The annual Leonid meteor shower occurs from November 6 – 30 and peaks on the night of November 17 & the morning of the 18th. Though the Leonids are an “average shower”, producing only an average of 15 meteors per hour, they are well known for producing bright meteors and fireballs.

This shower is also unique in that it has a cyclonic peak about every 33 years where hundreds of meteors per hour can be seen. That last of these occurred in 2001. The Leonids are produced by dust grains left behind by Comet Tempel-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1865.

Its productivity varies per year, but it can deposit 12 to 13 tons of particles across the planet. Which is why having an atmosphere to shield us is such a nifty thing.

Unfortunately, the nearly full moon will dominate the sky this year, blocking all but the brightest meteors. But if you are patient, you should still be able to catch a few good ones. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Leo, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

Full Moon will occur November 19. The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 3:59 AM CST or 08:59 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Beaver Moon because this was the time of year to set the beaver traps before the swamps and rivers froze. It has also been known as the Frosty Moon and the Dark Moon.

A Partial Lunar Eclipse will occur November 19. A partial lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth’s partial shadow, or penumbra, and only a portion of it passes through the darkest shadow, or umbra. During this type of eclipse, a part of the Moon will darken as it moves through the Earth’s shadow. The eclipse will be visible throughout most of eastern Russia, Japan, the Pacific Ocean, North America, Mexico, Central America, and parts of western South America.

In Birmingham the eclipse timings are:

Eclipse Begins 12:02 AM
Partial Eclipse Begins 1:18 AM
Maximum Eclipse 3:02 AM
Partial Eclipse Ends 4:47 AM
Eclipse Ends 6:03 AM

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on November 20, when she will be 252,448 miles from Earth.

The Last Quarter Moon occurs November 27.

4551 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of October 25, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/.

Finally, don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour at 2 AM, Sunday morning November 7th, as Daylight Savings Time ends and the clock goes back to the way the Good Lord intended.

Look up Hezekiah 4:7, I dare you.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

This month’s meeting will be on November 9 at 7PM.

The meeting will be done remotely as was last month’s meeting.

Details and instructions will be issued as the time nears.

I have had difficulty joining in, but hopefully my technical issues will be resolved and I can will
see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter
wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database
www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/