Hi Everyone,

The Birminghamfest is almost here, and I hope you can attend.

The Birminghamfest will occur Friday and Saturday March 6 & 7 at the Trussville Civic Center.

Four Saturday forums of particular interest will be:

9 – 10 AM Shelby County ARES by Terry Rowe KK4DLV EC Fireside Room 3
11 – 12 PM Weather Preparation by FOX-6 Meteorologist Wes Wyatt Fireside Room 3
12 – 1 PM ALERT by Johnny Knobloch KJ4OPX President Fireside Room 2
3 – 4 PM Jefferson County ARES by Ron King WX4RON EC Fireside Room 2

Amateur radio exams will be administered on Saturday from 9 AM to Noon in Fireside Room 1,

For more information go to http://birminghamfest.org/

Our next ALERT meeting will be on Tuesday, March 10 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.

Hope to see you there!

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10 Ways To Extend Cellphone Battery Life During An Emergency

Cellphones are society’s primary means of communications. We all have them, use them, cuss them and depend on them. They are a lifeline and a vital link to the outside world. They are also fragile and are only usable as long as their batteries last.

The following are hints for cellphone care and usage during emergencies.

1. Try to keep it charged and carry a charger both with you and in your car. Frequently check the battery level.

2. If you have a weak connection, sometimes you can get a better connection by momentarily going to airplane mode, waiting a few seconds and then going back to normal. The phone will seek out and lock onto strongest signal.

3. Unless you are using WIFI for access, turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modes, as they will drain your battery. Sometimes however WIFI will connect when other means fail. For example, after the Moore Oklahoma tornado of 2013 my nieces house phone was out, but, the internet was still working, so WIFI was the lifeline.

4. Once your location, either by address, street / cross street, via map or your longitude & latitude has been determined, cut off location services, as this drains the battery.

5. Don’t play games, look at photos, listen to music or play videos.

6. Texting uses much less battery power than voice. Texting can also sometimes penetrate the “all circuits are busy” situations or make their way through faint connections, as they have such narrow bandwidth and data usage.

7. In an emergency, have one designated offsite contact person and talk to them only.

8. If there are others with phones, give the numbers of those phones to the contact person, so they will recognize the numbers if they see them and then completely power down all phones except for one. It will be the primary and the others are backups, with the batteries being conserved. “Completely” means “turned off”, not airplane mode.

9. Set a specific time when you will contact the contact person, “I’ll call you at 6:00 PM” for instance and then completely power down the phone. Turn it on again a couple of minutes before the designated time. You initiate the call; they are not the ones with the dying battery.

10. Keep calls as brief as possible.

Using these steps, assuming the battery is not old as dirt and worn out to begin with, this could lengthen the battery life for days beyond the norm.

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Birmingham NWS Spring 2020 Storm Spotter Courses

The Birmingham NWS office will present several online Basic Spotter Courses and a single online Advanced Spotter Course this Spring. These online classes allow individuals to complete the courses in the comfort of their own home or office with the use of https://www.join.me/
meeting site.

By attending any course, which runs about 1.5 – 2 hours, individuals or a group of individuals will become SKYWARN Storm Spotters.

Unless you are in need of or just want to attend a refresher Course, you do not need to attend more than one Basic SKYWARN Course, as the material covered is the same; however it is required you to attend at least one Basic SKYWARN Course before taking the Advanced SKYWARN Course.

These courses are two-way, meaning you will be able to interact with the meteorologist leading the training. You will be muted while training is in-progress, and unmuted when applicable (e.g., for questions); or, you can use the built-in chat feature.

The current online schedule is as follows:

Basic Class Tuesday, March 3 at 1:00 PM Use Session Code 412-237-985
Basic Class Thursday, March 5 at 6:30 PM Use Session Code 583-754-755
Basic Class Tuesday, March 10 at 6:30 PM Use Session Code 801-555-076
Basic Class Thursday, March 19 at 1:00 PM Use Session Code 726-373-081
Advanced Class Thursday April 2 at 6:30 PM Use Session Code 746-697-002
Enter the session code at https://www.join.me/

These classes will help you provide the NWS the vital “ground truth” information they need to verify radar indications, target their attention and help you relay reports in a clear manner to the NWS, either directly via the 1-800-856-0758 Storm Reporting Hotline, online at http://www.weather.gov/bmx/submit_storm_report or amateur radio.

This knowledge helps SKYWARN Net Control stations filter reports, by giving them knowledge of what reporting stations are trying to describe. This way they can tell if the report is a valid report, an invalid report by an overly excited operator or a valid, but, poorly described report, which without this knowledge would be mistakenly dismissed.

For further information on these classes visit: http://www.weather.gov/bmx/skywarnschedule

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The 21st Century Marquess of Queensbury Rules For Arguing On Social Media

Let’s discuss social media arguments. Whether we admit it or not, people love following social media arguments. Somehow it’s strangely addictive, watching random people ranting, raving and acting like lunatics towards each other, calling each other every name in the book, and a few that haven’t even been written yet over some topic, more times than not of absolutely zero importance, since the powers that be will never see their sage wisdom and fierce defense.

But, it is also an art that many have yet to perfect or at least understand. So, I thought I would do society a favor by enlightening them with the following guidelines.

As a side note, before we begin, the British are the undisputed champions of social media warfare. Seeing a chap replying to an insult with “a thousand pardons, Me Lord, for having dared to express an opinion” somehow makes our attempts at cat calling seem totally lame. Aussies on the other hand have ways of insulting each other that just leaves one shaking their head asking “why can’t I think of stuff like this bloke?”

But, though our version of warfare is mediocre, here are some hints that will help you in this less than chivalrous task.

1. First a serious word of caution. Be careful when sharing personal information, opinions, biases or jokes that, just twenty years ago may have been perfectly acceptable. Remember that what you post online never really disappears from cyberspace and that we are all leaving a digital footprint the size of Greenland. So don’t post things that will haunt you five years from now. Or will cause a riot at work today.

2. When commenting “you’re an idiot” or “I wholeheartedly agree” please be sure to indicate which person you are agreeing with or who you are insulting. You may be commenting on the third comment posted in the thread, but, your comment may end up being the forty fifth comment posted. No one will know who you are referring to or who you are agreeing with, and so you may end up looking like a nut or agreeing with one, which puts you in league with nuts, or nutty cause.

Example:

“Steve – Ed you, like your opinion are utter rubbish.”
“Ed – Steve you, my dear fellow, are a complete waste of skin.”
“Doris – it’s such a pretty day!”
“Wilbur – that’s the absolute truth!”

Which one is Wilbur agreeing with, Steve, Ed or Doris?

Another example:

In the middle of a heated argument, Joe writes a lengthy reply specifically to Bob calling Bob every name in the book, saying he’s the reason his kids are ugly and that he is a miserable lout.

Bob replies “why are you attacking me? I agreed with you.”

Bob was telling the truth, he did post in agreement, but, he did not specify who he was replying to and Joe just assumed the worst.

This was a true story, by the way.

3. Check the dates on the conversation. You make be joining an argument that faded into disinterest in 2006, and no one will ever see your comment or care. The person who made the post you are arguing with will never see your reply if 14,230 comments have already been made. Your posting the 14,231st comment is just a waste of your time.

4. If you can’t defend a point without using every foul word known to man, then you need to be quiet and just let someone who is capable of communicating on an educated adult level handle the debate.

5. Though it’s hard to admit it, sometimes the other guy is actually right. Admitting so doesn’t make you look bad either, at least to reasonable folk. Who cares what the unreasonable ones think?

6. “Never argue with an idiot, they will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

7. Some arguments and people just aren’t worth the trouble. Don’t wear yourself out “swatting at gnats”. Just scroll on by.

8. Remember some folk post garbage because they are having a garbagy day. On other days they aren’t “that way” at all.

9. Sometimes the best way to win an argument is to say nothing in reply, and just leave the other guy hanging, waiting and waiting for a reply that never comes, while continuing to comment to others, indicating that neither he nor his comment is worthy of acknowledgement.

10. A quick “to the point” comment is the best, while long drawn out “sermons” like the one you are reading, are seldom read.

11. By not retaliating, but, “killing them with kindness” instead, you can make the other guy look like dumb, while you look like the smartest, kindest guy on the planet. It’s called the “bless his heart, he can’t help it” maneuver.

12. Don’t be surprised if you find out that the “know it all” opponent you have been arguing with for three solid hours is really a 13 year old up past his bedtime.

13. Even the most educated person on the planet is ignorant on some subjects. Instead of insulting them, explain it to them instead. If they reject it you’ve lost nothing, if they accept it, you have gained an ally and friend.

14. Don’t feed the trolls by acknowledging them, it only encourages them. The same is true of people interfering on the air. Ignore them.
15. Whether you are winning or losing, know when it’s time to leave the argument.

16. Anything you say, no matter how truthful or carefully worded, WILL be declared wrong and you an “idiot” if the majority is against you to begin with. For example conservatives will be pounced on on liberal sites and liberals pounced on on conservative sites. Wisely pick your field of battle or don’t whine when you receive the hail of negative, insulting comments. In other words, don’t step in an anthill and not expect to be bit.

17. You can “play” with or “gaslight” folk by publicly thanking all those people who are private messaging you with their encouragement, support and humor. Your opponent won’t know that you are lying like a dog and will either feel outnumbered or at least confused, which is good at any rate.

18. Criticizing spelling or grammar while ignoring the substance of the debate usually just succeeds in making you look bad, especially if you misssspell a wurd while sarcastically “educating” the other person and pointing out their “ignorance”.

19. Keeping your emotions under control usually makes the other guy look like the nitwit.

20. Not everyone knows that typing in ALL CAPS means YOU ARE SHOUTING!!! So don’t be too touchy if they do.

21. Finally, if you know that by replying you are going to end up in an argument, but, don’t want the pain, then just don’t reply. As the old saying goes “cabbages don’t get hit by lightning”.
Just lay low.

So there you have it.

In the British Parliament chamber the room is divided down the middle by two red lines running the length of the hall which members are not allowed to cross during debates. The lines are exactly two sword lengths apart. A throwback to when debates were not always conducted in a “gentlemanly manner.”

Today we can just whale away at each other on a keyboard.

Oh, as an added bonus, I’ll throw this in. If the situation should occur, be aware that the lady you might be flirting with online could really be a guy in a pool hall in Jersey City named Gus, who just won a bet with the guys by stringing you on.

It happens.

Have fun!

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Mark’s Almanac

Originally called Martius, March is the third month & first month of the Roman calendar. March is named for Mars, the god of war, and was the start of the military campaign season.

The beginning of “Meteorological Spring”, which is based on changes in temperature and precipitation, not the solar angle, is March 1

March is a wet month. Most floods occur in March and rainfall averages around 6 inches.
Tornadic activity sharply increases in March with there being an increase of 2.2 times the number of tornadoes over the February amount. The focal point for this tornadic activity is the Gulf States.

March is the hail maximum for the Deep South. This is due both to the number of thunderstorms & due to the freezing level still being near the surface. This allows hail to form at lower altitudes and reach the ground intact, as opposed to summer months, when the freezing level is higher and near surface level temperatures are higher melting the hail into liquid before impact.

North Atlantic Tropical activity remains at a minimum. From 1851 to 2019 there has been only one Hurricane to occur. A 100 MPH unnamed Hurricane which affected the Lesser Antilles in March 6- 9, 1908. Some sources also cite a pre-Civil War Tropical Storm also occurring, but others do not.

South Atlantic Tropical activity doesn’t have a sharp peak as the North Atlantic season does in September, however currently March has a thin lead in activity, as from 1957 – 2019 there have been 11 identified Tropical Systems, including the only known South Atlantic Hurricane – Hurricane Catarina which struck Brazil March 28, 2004.

Brazilian authorities at first were unwilling to admit that Catarina was a hurricane, for up until that time is was considered impossible for the South Atlantic to generate a tropical system, due to wind shear, cold sea surface temperatures and the lack of storm systems from which a storm could develop. With extensive damage from an impossible storm looking at them, they finally reluctantly agreed that maybe NOAA’s opinion was right.

Meanwhile, back in Alabama…

Killing frosts are gone and the last average frost is on March 16.

March is a snow month for Alabama & there is a 45% chance of snow up to one inch, and an 8% chance of one inch or more.

The good news is that there is hope on the horizon as Spring will arrive at Vernal Equinox on March 19 at 21:50 UTC or 4:50 P.M. CDT.

The Sun will shine directly on the equator and there will be nearly equal amounts of day and night throughout the world. This is also the first day of fall, or Autumnal Equinox, in the Southern Hemisphere.

Remember to get the eggs out, as it is said that you can stand eggs on their ends at the hour of equinox.

Days grow longer as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon rapidly increases from 49.0 degrees at the beginning of the month to 60.7 degrees at the end. Daylight increases from 11 hours 28 minutes on March 1 to 12 hours 30 minutes on March 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

March 1 Sunrise 6:16 AM Sunset 5:44 PM
March 15 Sunrise 6:58 AM Sunset 6:55 PM
March 31 Sunrise 6:36 AM Sunset 7:07 PM *Daylight Savings Time

Why the sunrise is later midmonth as opposed to the first and the last of the month is due to a combination of the quirks in the Earth’s orbit, it’s axial tilt and it being near equinox affecting the length of day based on sunlight as opposed to the measurement of time based on the Earth’s rotation.

Daylight Savings Time begins at 2 AM on March 8. So remember to “spring forward” one hour. This, of course means I will lose one hour of “beauty sleep”, which is something I desperately need.

I don’t particularly care for Daylight Savings Time. I share the same opinion I found on the “Republic Of Lakotah” website:

When told the reason for daylight saving time the old Native American said…
“Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket.”

Saint Patrick’s Day is Tuesday March 17, and you better participate by wearing a Touch O’ The Green or you will be plagued by leprechauns and gnomes. Not a pleasant experience, I can assure you.

Looking towards the sky, at the beginning of the month Mercury is hidden deep in the sunrise.

He will emerge into the morning sky and by March 23 will reach his highest point in the sky in 2020 or Greatest Western Elongation, when he will be 27, 8 degrees above the eastern horizon,

There will be other Elongations as the year progresses, but, this will be the highest one.

He will reach his furthest distance from the Sun, or Aphelion on March 26, when he will be 43.4 million miles from our parent star.

Venus, magnitude –4.3, is moving from Pisces into Aries and is the big, bright “Evening Star” shining in the west during and after twilight.

She doesn’t set until more than two hours after the end of twilight.

Venus will reach her furthest distance from the Sun, or Perihelion, on March 19, when she will be 66.7 million miles from the Sun,

On March 24 she will reach her highest point in the sky or Greatest Eastern Elongation, when she will be 46.1 degrees above the western horizon,

In a telescope, Venus is growing larger and appears gibbous, being about 61% sunlit. She will continue to enlarge in size and wane in phase for the next three months — passing through “dichotomy”, or the half-lit phase, in late March and becoming a dramatic thin crescent in May.

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

Mars, magnitude +1.1, above the handle of the Sagittarius Teapot, glows in the southeast before and during early dawn, He is located to the upper right of bright Jupiter.

Mars is slowly creeping toward Jupiter, by about half a degree per day.

Jupiter, magnitude –2.0, in Sagittarius, shines much brighter and whiter to the lower left of Mar in and during the early dawn.

Saturn, magnitude +0.7, in Sagittarius, is low in early dawn, lower left of Jupiter.

Uranus, magnitude 5.8, in southwestern Aries, hides in the vicinity of Venus right after dark.

Neptune is lost in the sunset and will pass behind the Sun on March 8.

4126 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of February 13, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

March’s Full Moon will occur on March 9 at 6:48 AM CDT or 11:48 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as “Worm Moon”. So called because the rains disturb the earthworms & they are seen wiggling around after the rains.

This moon has also been known as the Full Crow Moon, the Full Crust Moon, the Full Sap Moon, and the Lenten Moon.

The Moon will be at her closest distance from Earth or perigee at 221,906 miles on March 10.

New Moon will occur on March 23 at 10:28 AM CDT or 3:28 UTC March 24. 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 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 her greatest distance from Earth or apogee at 252,705 miles on March 24.

Or perhaps I should be saying “Earth’s Primary Moon”, for the Earth’s gravitational field has temporarily captured Near-Earth Asteroid 2020 CD3, also known by the designation C26FED2, making it a temporary moon of the Earth.

2020 CD3 was discovered February 15, 2020 by astronomers Theodore Pruyne and Kacper Wierzchos as part of the Catalina Sky Survey, who spotted it and eliminated the possibility of it being a spent rocket booster, as proved to be the case with object J002E3, which discovered in September 2002, was thought to be an asteroid but proved to be Apollo 12’s third stage.

The Apollo-Saturn S-IVB third stages of Apollo 8, 10, and 11, passed by the Moon and are in solar orbits, while the third stage of Apollo 12 is in weird orbit that is sometimes a solar orbit and sometimes a distant Earth orbit.

The third stages of Apollo 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 were purposely crashed into the Moon to study the Moon’s interior using seismometers left by the previous missions.

Based on its preliminary orbit, 2020 CD3 may have been captured by the Earth around 2017–2018, and is expected to remain in Earth orbit until April 2020. It has a 47 day oval orbit that mostly is far outside the Moon’s orbit,

Don’t expect to see this second moon however, as the car sized rock is currently a faint 20th magnitude object, and heading away from the Earth.

This is the second temporary satellite of Earth to be discovered. Near-Earth Asteroid 2006-RH120, was discovered in 2006, and was in Earth orbit from September 2006 to June 2007.

It is possible for asteroids to be captured and enter a stable orbit and become a permanent moon, as is the case of the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos.

Celestial carnivores are emerging from hibernation. After dinnertime at this time of year, five carnivore constellations are rising upright in a ragged row from the northeast to south. They’re all seen in profile with their noses pointed up and their feet (if any) to the right. These are The Great Bear, Ursa Major in the northeast, with the Big Dipper as its brightest part, Leo the Lion in the east, Hydra the Sea Serpent in the southeast, The Lesser Dog, Canis Minor higher in the south-southeast, and The Greater Dog, bright Canis Major in the south.

Sirius, shining at magnitude −1.46, the brightest night time star, blazes high in the south on the meridian, in Canis Major by about 8 or 9 p.m. Using binoculars, you will find a fuzzy spot 4 degrees south of Sirius, directly below it when the constellation is directly South. Four degrees is somewhat less than the width of a typical binocular’s field of view.

That dim little patch of gray haze is open star cluster Messier 41, a small gravitationally bound group of 100 stars about 2,200 light-years away, and moving away from us at 869 miles per second. Sirius, by comparison, is only 8.6 light-years away.

Canopus, shining at magnitude -0.72, making it the second-brightest star after Sirius, lies 36° almost due south of Sirius. That’s far enough south that it never appears above the horizon if you are above latitude 37° N, such as southern Virginia, southern Missouri and central California. Luckily we lie south of that latitude, with our horizon lying, in the case of Central Alabama, around latitude 33°.

Canopus is located in the southern constellation Carina, The Keel, part of the defunct constellation Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts who searched for the Golden Fleece.

The constellation of Argo was introduced in ancient Greece. However, due to the massive size of Argo Navis and the sheer number of stars that required separate designation, Nicolas Louis de Lacaille divided Argo into three sections in 1763, including Carina, the Hull or Keel, Puppis, the Poop Deck, and Vela the Sails.

In the 19th century, these three became established as separate constellations, and were formally included in the list of 88 modern IAU constellations in 1930.

Canopus, 313 light years away, crosses low above the horizon, due south just 21 minutes before Sirius and is worthy of a peak.

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This month’s ALERT meeting will be on March 10 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.

If for some reason you cannot attend the meeting in person, you can still participate via telephone. The NEW teleconference number is 1-866-231-8384 & and the conference code is
2056215645#.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

Wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/

Hi Everyone,

I hope this finds you well, and that you are enjoying these mild winter days. With the calm period in our weather it is good to remember that 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, 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.

Alabama, as we know, is located in the “Dixie Alley”, distinct from the better known “Tornado Alley” and is one of the most active tornado breeding grounds on Earth.

Some statistics you may find interesting are:

Counties with the most tornadoes from 1950 – 2018

1. Jefferson – 98
2. Baldwin – 96
3. Mobile – 84
4. Cullman – 83
5. Madison – 76
6. Tuscaloosa – 74
7. Marshall – 66

Counties with the most EF4 & EF5 tornadoes from 1950 – 2018

1. Tuscaloosa – 8
2. Jefferson & Morgan – 7
3. Madison – 6
4. Marion, Walker, Cullman, Dekalb, Limestone, Jackson, & Lawrence – 4
5. Blount & Pickens – 3

Tornado Percentages, Injury and Mortality Rates

EF5 Tornadoes account for 0.42% of tornadoes, 15% of injuries and 35% of fatalities
EF4 Tornadoes account for 1.78% of tornadoes, 40% of injuries and 43% of fatalities
EF3 Tornadoes account for 6.85% of tornadoes, 28% of injuries and 16% of fatalities
EF2 Tornadoes account for 20.07% of tornadoes, 12% of injuries and 4% of fatalities
EF1 Tornadoes account for 38.76% of tornadoes, 5% of injuries and 1% of fatalities
EF0 Tornadoes account for 32.81% of tornadoes, 0% of injuries and 0% of fatalities

Note that “0%” doesn’t mean there were no injuries or fatalities, just that they are below 1%.

Here’s hoping that your February will be peaceful and safe.
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Primary Entry Point Radio Stations

Here is a little question for you. Do you know the frequency of North Alabama’s Primary Entry Point Radio Station?

“What in the world is a Primary Entry Point Radio Station?” you are probably thinking.

Primary Entry Point, or “PEP” stations, officially known as the National Public Warning System, are a network of 77 privately owned commercial and non-commercial radio broadcast stations, usually in the medium wave AM broadcast band, that cooperatively participate with FEMA to provide emergency alert and warning information to the public before, during, and after a national or local emergency.

PEP stations are located throughout the country and have a direct link to FEMA and serve as the primary broadcast source for Presidential National Emergency Alert System (EAS) messages. PEP stations network to other broadcast stations in order to disseminate messages throughout the country.

In a widespread disaster they would be vital information sources if the local infrastructure is down.

During more localized emergencies State and local public safety officials can utilize EAS and FEMA PEP stations when they are not in use for National EAS warning messages.

PEP stations are “hardened” with additional broadcasting equipment, backup communications equipment, power generators, fuel systems, emergency provisions, a rest area, and an air filtration system. The stations have been enhanced into shelters with increased survivability of from chemical, biological, radiological air protection and protection from an electromagnetic pulse or EMP.

They are designed to enable them to continue broadcasting information to the public during and after a catastrophic national event.

Beginning with WJR 760 kHz in Detroit and WLW 700 kHz in Cincinnati in 2016, FEMA began the process of constructing transportable studio shelters at the transmitters of 33 PEP stations. The network now has 77 stations that can cover 90% of the American population.

This brings us back to our original question and the answer is North Alabama’s PEP station is WJOX 690 kHz in Birmingham, which normally broadcasts at 50,000 watts during the day and only 500 watts during nighttime hours. But, as they say “I bet they can crank that puppy up to full power if they needed to.”

Other PEP stations of note would be WSM 650 kHz in Nashville, TN, which I can receive day or night, WWL 870 kHz in New Orleans and KMOX 1120 kHz in St. Louis, Mo. All of which are standard features of the nighttime AM radio band.

It is somewhat reminiscent of the old CONELRAD system of the 1950’s and early 1060’s. In that system, in the event of a nuclear attack most broadcast stations went off the air and those that stayed on the air would transmit on either 640 or 1240 kHz. They would transmit for several minutes and then go off the air, and another station would take over on the same frequency in a “round robin” chain.
The 640 and 1240 AM frequencies were selected to confuse enemy aircraft Radio Direction Finders or RDF’s, to prevent Soviet long range bombers form using America’s broadcast stations as homing beacons, as the Japanese did when they used the signals from Honolulu’s KGMB (now KSSK) 590 kHz and KGU 760 kHz to lead their aircraft to Pearl Harbor, or as German bombers also did when attacking cities in Europe.

With the Global Positioning System and the Russian GLONASS navigation satellite systems available for targeting, that is no longer a concern. Getting information to the public is.

For a full map of PEP Radio Stations go to http://pages.iu.edu/~djwild/pep.jpg

Note that this is a large high resolution map which will be easier to view if you save the image to your computer and then zoom it in.

WJOX’s studio is in Homewood, Alabama but, its transmitter is in Midfield, Alabama. Its towers are an unusual arrangement of one full size tower and one shorter tower. They were originally the same size, but on the afternoon of May 6, 1967 an F3 tornado clipped the northern tower and draped it across the Bessemer Super Highway and it was never rebuilt.

WJOX may be more familiar to some as the former “Mighty Six Ninety” WVOK, which along with WSGN 610 kHz (now WAGG), WAPI 1070 kHz and WBRC 960 kHz (now WERC) were AM radio music powerhouses from the 1940’s through 1980’s, and in the cases of WAPI and WBRC, back to the 1920’s.

This brings up an important point. AM radio receivers are still the simplest receivers that can be built. They can literally be made out of the wreckage of other radio and electronic equipment or from spare parts, as is covered in the article “Stone Age Radios” in the November 2017 ALERT Newsletter. (Which you can search for at https://alert-alabama.org/blog/?cat=12).

There is a proposal by the FCC that would allow stations in the AM broadcast band to voluntarily begin transmitting in a digital format. I hope, not because I’m a fossil, but, because of the existing simplicity for emergency use, that this doesn’t signal the beginnings of the end of the AM format of medium wave broadcasting in the 530 – 1710 kHz band. For as it is, even with a average receiver you have coverage of half the country at during nighttime hours, and 50 to 100 mile range during the day.

How well competing digital and analog stations on the same frequency would coexist is a valid question. As it is, at night regional stations fade in and out, and even if you lose one station another usually comes into reception. Would a digital signal basically jam the frequency?

Plus, not intending to disparage the format, just how essential is it to have “stimulating talk radio” at a higher fidelity if it is at the cost of losing a critical and easily accessible format and resource?

It is my hope that good old reliable rough and ready Ancient Modulation radio stations have a long future ahead.

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What’s The Strangest Thing You Ever Heard On A Radio?

This question was recently posed on an online radio forum and I found it to be an interesting question, for in 42 years of Amateur Radio, and even longer in Shortwave, AM DXing and CB, I have heard some strange things, not to mention some strange people.

Looking back, some memories stand out above the others.

There was the time in 1972 when I was listening to a late night talk show on KDKA 1020 kHz in Pittsburgh. It was 7 below zero in Pittsburgh and a lady called the host Jack Wheeler and seriously asked at what temperature silicone implants froze.

Or that night in 1976 when I actually talked to John The Baptist. Or at least that’s what he called himself. If his name was actually John and he was a Baptist, he might have a valid claim to the name. Or, perhaps there was some exceedingly rare band conditions going on that night.

Another strange incidence was listening to a station in Guyana on 20 meters working a DX pileup in the fall of 1978. The operator was working the pile up smoothly, but, was obviously reading from an alternating script. One script told of the “good work they were doing among the natives and villagers.” The other script told about the location, which was described as a tropical paradise and how “you can call the birds out of the trees and they will light in your hands.”

My puny signal could not compete with the Big Boys of Kilowatt Alley and in the end I’m sort of glad that I didn’t work them, for in the next couple of days the world would come to know them as they, the Peoples Temple Cult of Jonestown, would literally “drink the cool aid” and commit mass suicide under the orders of their leader, Jim Jones.

Those were all interesting, but two episodes in particular take the top spots.

Bear with me, if you will, as we visit that strange RF land of south of the 10 meter border and the episode I rank as the second strangest episode, which occurred on a band not a stranger to strange episodes, which we will call “The Papa Joe Incident”.

CB in 1977 was the Wild West of the radio dial. It was a chaotic maelstrom of hundreds of stations trying to talk at once on 23 Channels during the peak of the solar cycle. Some operators obeyed the rules, trying as hard as they could to “keep it legal”. Others didn’t care, with some running so much wattage that the power grid dimmed as they transmitted and their signals came over peoples TV’s, stereos and church PA systems.

I was a teenager who had wanted to become a ham radio operator since I first discovered the realm listening to the Alabama Emergency Net X-ray, now known as the Jefferson County ARES Net, during a tornado outbreak in 1973. I was studying the books, and learning Morse Code for the day when I could figure out how and where to take the Novice test. But, I had no clue who I could contact for information or where to get help, so I was stuck. But, the dream was alive and so I studied. Meanwhile my family was getting CB radios for safety, and so did I. Mine was an exceedingly puny setup. Sometimes folk could hear me, but, usually it was an exception rather than the rule.

Among the souls I encountered was another teenager who went to different high school than I, who went by the moniker “Training Wheel”, and seemed like a likeable fellow. He was active. Very active, in fact, for there never seemed to be a time day or night that he wasn’t on the air.

One of the people he frequently talked to went by the name “Roundman”. For weeks I had been hearing them talk, when another operator, with an unusual slightly slurred guttural voice, calling himself “Papa Joe” appeared.

“Papa Joe” soon started dealing them misery, following them all over the dial interfering, harassing and mocking them. This went on for weeks.

Finally one day during a heated argument “Roundman” invited “Papa Joe” to meet and they would “settle this.” They agreed to meet in the parking lot of a doughnut shop in Five Points West, and they talked to and “chest thumped” at each other until they arrived.
Ten minutes passed by when someone called “Training Wheel” and told him he was “Roundman’s” brother-in-law, and that “Papa Joe” had “brought two other guys with him. They beat ‘Roundman’ with 2 by 4’s and he is hurt real bad, and I’m taking him to Lloyd Nolen Hospital.” He said he would let him know how it turned out and signed off.

Almost immediately “Papa Joe” came on and called “Training Wheel” and said “I just took care of ‘Roundman’, now I’m coming after you.” He then called “Training Wheel” by his actual name, “Billy Smith”, told him the street address where he lived, the color of his house and what car his father drove and ended with the warning “I’m coming for you.”

“Training Wheel” then started calling anyone on the air he had talked to and finally went to Channel 9, which back then was actually monitored for emergency calls, got someone, described what was happening and they in turn called the police. Then silence.

A week went by and I heard nothing. Sometime later I finally I heard “Training Wheel” again and I asked him what happened and he said “I can’t talk about it.”

Around this time I took and passed my Novice test and ham radio took over my radio interest and CB radio faded into the background.

Some months later I happened to turn the CB back on and heard two random stations talking to each other. After a rather long exchange one said to the other “you remember a few months back?
We really had “Billy Smith” going didn’t we ‘Papa Joe?” and the other operator changed his voice to that strange guttural tone and laughing said “we sure did ‘Roundman’”.

It had been a hoax. A well thought out, well executed cruel hoax by two students at the same high school designed to torment a fellow student who for whatever reason, or perhaps no reason at all, just didn’t particularly like.

They apparently did receive some form of reprimand by the school, but, what happened after this I will never know, as ham radio then took my full attention.

It was perhaps one of the earliest examples of “social media” bullying.

But, that’s not “The Strangest Thing I Heard On A Radio”.

In 1983 I had reached Extra Class and had discovered CW Traffic Nets. The Alabama Emergency Net Delta was the Section slow speed training traffic net which met in the middle of the 80 meter Novice band daily at 6:00 PM on 3.725 MHz.

The operators were a mix of operators ranging from Novices to operators who had been on the air 40 or 50 years, including World War 2 Navy CW operators. They were the most fun group I have ever been with. CW was just a second language to them, as natural as rain, and they knew how to have fun with it. “ARF, ARF” someone would send barking before the net answered by a “MEOW”, or a chicken clucking “dit…dit…dit dit dah dit…dit…dit dit dah.” I guess you had to be there, but, it was fun.

Radios with digital readouts were available, but radios using analog dials were the norm. As a result none of the signals were exactly on frequency or “zero beat” with the Net Control Station. Some would be high, some low, some waaaay low, but, the NCS could usually pull them in. Also, some radios had distinctive signals. Some might drift, some might have a slight chirp, key clicks, or uneven power levels, starting low and building up by the end of each character. Add the distinctive sending patterns of hand sent code (which computer code reading programs have difficulty deciphering today) and most of the members could tell who was who just by their signal and rhythm or “fist”, for no two signals were the same.
One night Jake Rosecrans, WA4UCT, now silent key, was the Net Control. He began sending the net preamble and someone immediately began interfering with him, or so we thought.

There was a signal of the exact same frequency and almost the same signal strength filling in the spaces of the CW signal. The first thought was it was a case of “back wave”, which is where a faulty transmitter doesn’t stop transmitting between CW characters, but “fills in the blanks” at a much reduced power level.

But, then we noticed that it wasn’t just Jake’s signal. It was EVERY signal by EVERY station. It was an exact, slightly delayed duplication or mirror image of every signal being sent, regardless of frequency variation, signal variation or rhythm variation. It was like a slightly delayed 80 meter repeater.

We barely managed to finish the net, and, no one could explain what happened.

I know some things it could not be.

It could not have been deliberate manmade interference, for no one could duplicate all of the variations and nuances of the signals being sent. Computers were crude and rudimentary, so they could not have been used to achieve what was heard.

On rare occasions, on some higher HF bands, stations using beams have heard the tail end of their own transmissions as the signals completely circled the Earth. But, this was 80 meters, not 15 meters, where the propagation is decidedly different, and everyone was using long wire antennas. So, this could not be the reason.

It certainly wasn’t EME or Moonbounce, as that requires a bank of beam antennas on VHF or higher, plus the time delay was wrong, as it takes 2.5 seconds for a signal to return to the Earth

The signals had, by my estimate, a 1/16th second delay. Given that radio waves travel at 186,000 miles per second, it would seem by my fuzzy math that something give or take 23,000 miles away was reflecting the signals. Geosynchronous satellites inhabit a realm 22,236 miles above the equator. But, no satellites then or now are designed to reflect or repeat HF radio signals, and if they could, why they would they choose the 80 meter Novice Band in Alabama?

We were never able to explain what happened that night. It never occurred again and I’ve never seen anything even remotely resembling it being mentioned by any source in the years since.

It truly is a mystery, and so “The Echo” takes first place in my list of “Strangest Things I Ever Heard”.

So, what is the strangest thing you have heard?

Let us know.

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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 2020 is, has 29 days.

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 2018 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 towards the sky, at the beginning of the month we find Mercury, magnitude -1.0, is rising higher in the Western sky at sunset.

On February 10, Mercury reaches his highest altitude of 18.2° above the horizon in the western evening sky, also called ”Greatest Eastern Elongation” and then begins sinking lower into the sunset.

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.

Mercury will reach Perihelion or his closest approach to the Sun in his elliptical orbit on February 11, when he will be 28,537,000 miles from the Sun.

He will then begin lowering in the sky and by the 25th He will slip below the horizon and pass between the Earth and Sun, or be in “Inferior Conjunction.”

Venus, magnitude –4.1 in Aquarius, is the brilliant Evening Star shining in the southwest during and after twilight. In a telescope Venus still appears small and gibbous or 75% sunlit. But she will enlarge in size and wane in phase as she shines in the evening for the next four months.

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

Mars, magnitude +1.4, the feet of Ophiuchus, glows in the southeast before and during early dawn. To his right is the Mars colored star Antares, at magnitude +1.1.

Antares will be twinkling; Mars won’t, for planets normally don’t twinkle.
Jupiter, magnitude –1.9, in Sagittarius is very low in the glow of sunrise. About 40 or 30 minutes before sunup, look for Him just above the southeast horizon. Nothing else in the vicinity is nearly as bright.

Saturn is lost in the glow of sunrise.

Uranus, magnitude 5.8, in southern Aries, is high in the southwest right after dark.

Neptune, magnitude 7.9, in eastern Aquarius, is low in the southwest right after dark.

3108 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of January 16, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

Full Moon will occur February 9 at 1:34 AM CST or 7:34 UTC. 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”.

This is also the first of four Supermoons for 2020. The Moon will be at its closest approach to the Earth and may look slightly larger and brighter than usual. But, they are never as dramatic or prophetic as social media tends to claim them to be.

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on February 10, when she will be 223,982 miles from Earth.

New Moon will occur at 9:33 AM CST or 15:33 UTC on Monday, February 23, as 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 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 Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on February 26, when she will be 252,489 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.

Another sight, 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”.

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The next Volunteer Exam Amateur Radio testing session will be 2:00 PM Sunday, February 9, 2020, at SCARC’s site in Pelham. For more information go to http://w4shl.com

This month’s meeting will be on February 11 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.

If for some reason you cannot attend the meeting in person, you can still participate via telephone. The NEW teleconference number is 1-866-231-8384 & and the conference code is
2056215645#.

Don’t use the old number given in previous newsletters, as it won’t work.

A final notice or warning, if you will, if you have not paid your dues, you need to do so. For, you WILL be dropped from the roster if you haven’t by this meeting.

There will be a Basic NWS Storm Spotter class on February 24 at 6:30 PM. Go to https://www.join.me/ and follow the prompts and use the Session Code 399-450-619
Last but, not least, the Birmingham Hamfest http://birminghamfest.org/ is now only five weeks away, Friday and Saturday March 6 & 7 at its new home at the Trussville Civic Center. For more information go to http://birminghamfest.org/

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter
wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

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

Hi Everyone & Happy New Year.

I hope that Santa treated you well and that Father Time will be kind to you also.

As we unwind from the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, make sure to mark January 14 on your calendar, as that is our next ALERT meeting.

Other important dates to remember and hopefully attend are:

The Blount County Freezefest 2020, Saturday January 4, from 8 to 12 Noon, at the Locust Fork High School, in Locust Fork.

For more information got to: http://freezefest.w4blt.org/

Amateur Radio Exams will be administered at 2:00 PM Sunday January 12, 2020 at the Birmingham Amateur Radio Club’s site which is at the Alabama Historical Radio Society.

For more information go to: https://w4cue.com/vetest.html

Winter Field Day will he held January 25 & 26.

For more information contact Roger Parsons kk4udu@arrl.net or Johnnie Knobloch kj4opx@arrl.net

Winter Field Day and it’s spring counterpart Field Day are to me one of the most valuable events that ham radio operators can participate in, for it helps give actual experience in a “grid down” situation, where hams have to erect their antennas and power their equipment as in an actual post-disaster scenario. Whether it’s a club or group, providing their own generator and food, or an individual setting up and using his own equipment using alternate power sources, whether that be battery power or battery and solar power, this can provide valuable hands own experience and operating experience that someday could prove vital in during an actual emergency.

Oh, and did I mention that it’s a fun event? It is.

The Birmingham Hamfest is only nine weeks away, March 6 & 7, at the Trussville Civic Center.

This event, will as with last year’s event, will be a Friday & Saturday affair. There will be vendors, a flea market, forums, including one by ALERT and ARES, and Amateur Radio Examinations.

For more information go to: http://birminghamfest.org/

The 2020 Black Warrior Hamfest, which is a cooperative effort by Tuscaloosa Amateur community, will be held at the Tuscaloosa High School on May 2nd, 2020.

For more information go to: http://www.blackwarriorhamfest.org/ or their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bwhamfest

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ALERT Dues

Before the December meeting, which featured the ALERT Christmas party, the subject of delinquent dues was discussed.

To be eligible to respond to ALERT callouts, vote in ALERT elections, hold leadership positions or have access to the NWSChat system under the auspices of ALERT, you have to be current with your membership dues.

In years past enforcement of this requirement was a perhaps a little lax, however this will now be corrected.

To maintain roster records according to ALERT’s Bylaws, effective January 31, 2020, members who have not paid 2019 dues (which were due on July 2019’s meeting date, per Article IV), will be removed from the ALERT roster. After this point, these members may re-apply.
Per the ALERT Bylaws, ALERT offers four levels of Membership: Friend, Support, Operations and Lifetime Membership.

Friend Membership is open to anyone who believes in and helps with ALERT. Friend Members pay no dues & do not have the right to vote.

This level is designed for those interested in ALERT’s mission, but, cannot take an active part in its operations.

Supporting Membership is open to any person interested in Amateur Radio, Skywarn, or Emergency Communications.

Supporting Members pay the appropriate dues and they have a right to vote.

Upon obtaining a valid Amateur Radio License & receiving training by ALERT, Supporting Members will become eligible for Operations Member status.

This level is designed for those interested in participating, but, do not have an Amateur Radio license. Perhaps they can monitor the Central Alabama Spotterchat and Social Media for instance or provide other means of assistance.

Operations Members must hold a valid Amateur Radio license.

Operations Members must be trained by ALERT in order to be designated as a Control Operator at the National Weather Service.

Operations Members must pay appropriate dues and they have a right to vote.

Finally there is Lifetime Membership.

This level is available after five consecutive years of ALERT Membership. Currently there are two Lifetime Members – Ron Arant – N4PHP and Brian Peters – WD4EPR.

Dues for ALERT are $20.00 for Operations & Supporting Members, $10.00 for family members, $10.00 for students and senior citizens over age 65. Dues are prorated by 50% if paid after January 1 of the current membership year.

Dues for Lifetime Membership are $450 after consecutive membership of five years.

In special cases or hardship, applicants or members may submit a confidential written request to the Board of Directors to have the dues waived or reduced. This request, which will be held in strictest confidence, may be brought to any Board Member: Mark Wells, Russell Thomas, Roger Parsons, Johnnie Knobloch, and Casey Benefield.

More information on dues, the ALERT Bylaws, Membership Applications and the payment address, may be found on the ALERT- Alabama.org website under Join/Documents.
https://alert-alabama.org/blog/?page_id=530

If you are a current member, but, forgot to pay the year dues, or a former member interested in becoming active again or if you have never been a member, but, believe in ALERT and ALERT’s mission of helping the NWS receive the vital information they need so they may issue their life saving warnings, I cordially invite to join or rejoin your Alabama Emergency Response Team!

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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.

With the exception of the southern tip of Nova Scotia, all of Canada and roughly one half of the Continental US, or “CONUS”, are now covered with snow. Canada’s Hudson’s Bay is frozen, as is the ocean water between Baffin Island and Greenland.

http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/ims/ims_gif/DATA/cursnow_usa.gif
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 2018. 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 towards the sky, Mercury is hidden deep in the glare of the Sun. He will reach “Superior Conjunction” located directly behind the Sun on January 10. He will then begin moving towards the dusk sky.

Venus, magnitude –4.0, is crossing central Capricornus. She shines in the southwest in evening twilight, rising higher each week and is coming into a grand “Evening Star” apparition that will continue all winter and into the spring. As impressive as she will be, she is still nearly on the far side of the solar system from us.

Earth, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is in the Constellation Gemini near the 3.6 magnitude star Lambda Geminorum, 101 light years distant.

Earth will reach her closest distance to the Sun on Jan 4, when the planet will be 0.98324 Astronomical Units or 91,398,199 miles from the Sun.
Mars, magnitude +1.6, in Libra, is fairly low in the southeast before and during early dawn. He, like Venus is still on the far side of the solar system from us and so is appears very tiny in telescopes, but, by October he will be on our side of the solar system and will 50 times brighter than now.

Jupiter is hidden behind the Sun.

Saturn will be directly behind the Sun on January 13.

Uranus, magnitude 5.7, in southern Aries, is high in the south-southeast after dusk ends.

Neptune, magnitude 7.9, in eastern Aquarius, is in the southwest right after dark.

4104 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of December 5, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on January 1, when she will be 251394 miles from Earth.

The Quadrantids Meteor Shower will occur Wednesday & Thursday, 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.

It peaks this year on the night of the 3rd and morning of the 4th. The first quarter moon will set shortly after midnight, leaving fairly dark skies for what could be a good show

This shower favors the Northern Hemisphere because its radiant point, or the point where the meteors appear to originated 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.

Full Moon will occur Monday January 10, at 1:23 PM CST or 19:23 PM UTC.

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”.
Also on January 10 there will be a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse. A Penumbral Lunar Eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth’s partial shadow, or penumbra. During this type of eclipse the Moon will darken slightly but not completely.

The eclipse will be visible throughout most of Europe, Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean, and Western Australia. So get your jet ready!

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on January 23, when she will be 237,399 miles from Earth.

New Moon occurs January 25 at 3:44 PM CST or 21:44 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.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth again on January 29, when she will be 251,898 miles from Earth.

Now we come to the strange case of Betelgeuse.

Betelgeuse or Alpha Orionis is the bright red star marking the left shoulder of Orion The Hunter.

Sitting 640 light years away, Betelgeuse is normally the ninth most luminous star in the sky. However since December it has suddenly and rapidly dimmed to the point that it doesn’t even break the Top Twenty in luminosity.

Betelgeuse is a variable star, known for wild fluctuations, but, not at this rapid a shift.

Betelgeuse is also believed to be on the brink of going supernova and exploding and becoming briefly the brightest nighttime star ever seen. This could happen at any moment, but, with human lifespans being just a flicker of time, this has been the case since long before the days if the Pyramids and may not occur for another thousand millennia.

Or it could be tonight.

More than likely though, it will wait until it’s been raining for a week, as that often tends to be my luck with these kinds of things, for instance the Total Solar Eclipse of March 7, 1970, Comet Kohoutek of December 1973, and others that I could whine about, but I guess I won’t.

One thing that I am especially looking forward to in 2020 is the United States is expected to regaining manned spaceflight launch capability, with both SpaceX and Boeing scheduled to launch crews to the International Space Station.

This will be the first crewed missions the United States has launched into orbit since the conclusion of the Space Shuttle program on July 21, 2011, with the landing of the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Since that date, all American astronauts entering space have been launched aboard Russian Soyuz craft, at currently $86 million per seat.

Using Boeing the cost is $90 million and SpaceX $56 million per seat.

But, it eliminates our foreign dependency for manned spaceflight access, which is good, in case Russia decides that they don’t particularly like us anymore.

Later in this decade, NASA’s Artemis program is scheduled to begin as we return to the Moon and aim towards sending a manned mission to Mars.

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This month’s meeting will be on January 14 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.

If for some reason you cannot attend the meeting in person, you can still participate via telephone. The NEW teleconference number is 1-866-231-8384 & and the conference code is
2056215645#.

Don’t use the old number given in previous newsletters, as it won’t work.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter
wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

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

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to the One Hundred and Fiftieth ALERT Newsletter!

The newsletter has always been a “labor of love” to me, as it’s a way I can contribute to and participate in an organization that I believe in, and help “spread the word” of who we are and what we do.

Since it is a labor of love, I would love to get some articles and items for the newsletter. Articles about radio, ham radio, emergency preparedness, concerns, suggestions, good news and bad news. Let’s just say there is a wide latitude of possibilities.

While, I reserve the right to edit for clarity and to keep us from being sued, tarred and feathered, articles are welcome and needed. Please send them to wd4nyl (at) bellsouth (dot) net

Thanks!

Of news of note, the ALERT Pot Luck Christmas Party will occur Tuesday December 10th at 7PM during our regular meeting time.

There will be food, non-alcoholic drinks, desserts and goodies. Come have Christmas dinner with your ALERT family!

If you can attend, please go to our online signup sheet, and tell us who you are, what you will bring (so we don’t end up with 18 turkeys) and how many will attend.

https://alertalabama-my.sharepoint.com/:x:/g/personal/nz2o_alert-alabama_org/EZzJWTLCkzNMm2MdyFgg5qABf75nxwE6Glpizj7WN0Dc5w?e=g7LvHk

We hope to see you there!

The weekend before the meeting, on Saturday 6 & 7 K4NWS will be activated for Skywarn Appreciation Day from 6PM to 6PM.

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, 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.

Starting at 6PM Friday December 6th, the ALERT Team will activate K4NWS as part of this special event and will operate until Saturday, December 7th at 6PM.

We will be operating on all bands & radios in the Forecast Office Station including 2-Meter, 220, 440, and D-Star,

Because of space limitations, this will be an ALERT Operational Members Only event.

Our President, Johnnie, KJ4OPX is coordinating this event. So if you are available to help with the SRD, please coordinate with Johnnie in advance at wxjohnnie@gmail.com.

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WX4RON

We wish to congratulate Ronnie King, WX4RON on becoming the new ARES Emergency Coordinator for Jefferson County.

Ronnie is well versed in emergency communications, preparedness and emergency response. Ronnie, is a long term ALERT member, former ALERT President, former Net Manager of the ALERT Sunday Night Net and a firefighter.

Ronnie is planning a meeting for January 30 to discuss the future direction of ARES including training. The time and venue of the meeting are to be determined later.

Let’s all make sure to give Ronnie and our sister organization ARES all the help, support and encouragement we can.

If you are not active in ARES, I would consider becoming active, by participating in nets, training and public service events.

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Amateur Radio Testing Opportunity

In the fall of 1977 I was interested in becoming a Ham radio operator. I had been researching and studying since I discovered hams working a severe weather event in 1973. I wanted to become one, but, did not know any hams who could guide me into the realms of hamdom.

Meanwhile, I got a CB radio, and talked on it, not engaging in the shenanigans I heard, but trying to emulate the hams I listened to on two meters on an old multiband “police radio”.

While at UAB, I happened upon a car with the callsign WA4LVC. I took a chance, a shot in the dark and wrote a note “CBer needs help becoming a ham. Please call Mark – 747-7424”, (not my current number, by the way), and left it on his car.

Being then, as well as now, a shy introvert, I halfway hoped he would toss the note in the trash. But, he did call, and directed me to Jim Bonner, K4UMD who tutored or “elmered” me and gave me my Novice test, which led to a teenage Mark becoming WD4NYL on December 27, 1977.

Becoming a ham was one of the better decisions I’ve made in my life. It has been an adventure and eventually led to me meeting, monopolizing on the air and marrying a lady ham, Teresa KQ4JC.

If you or anyone you know is interested in becoming a ham operator or if you are interested in upgrading, the Amateur Radio Advancement Group will be administering Amateur Radio Testing at 2:00 PM Sunday, December 1 at the Shelby County Amateur Radio Club Site at the Pelham Fire Department Training Center at 663 Stuart Lane.
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For more information, including directions, visit https://aragroup.org/

Be bold, be determined and become a ham!

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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 – 2018 there have been 19 Tropical Storms and from 1822 to 2017 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 towards the sky, at the beginning of the month Mercury, magnitude –0.6, is having its best dawn appearance of 2019. Spot him low in the east-southeast as much as an hour before sunrise.

Venus, magnitude –3.9, in Sagittarius, shines low in the southwest in evening twilight, a little higher each week. She will continue to rise and become the brilliant “Evening Star” dominating the western skies all this coming winter and into the spring.

Earth, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is in the Constellation Taurus near Zeta Tauri, the star that marks the tip of the Bull’s southern horn, 444.7 light years away. In ancient Chinese sky lore this star was known as Tien Kwan, the “Gate of Heaven”.

Mars, magnitude +1.8, in Virgo, is low in the east-southeast in early dawn to the upper right of Mercury.

Jupiter, magnitude –1.8, in southern Ophiuchus, moves farther to the lower right of Venus in twilight and becomes trickier to spot before it sets.

Saturn, magnitude +0.6, in Sagittarius, is the steady yellow “star” upper left of bright Venus. Every evening Venus gets closer to Saturn.

They’ll be sitting next to each other in conjunction, on December 10th and 11th.

Uranus, magnitude +5.7, in southern Aries is high in the South in the early evening.

Neptune, magnitude +7.9 in eastern Aquarius is high in the southeast in the early evenings.

4099 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of November 21, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on December 4, when she will be 251312 miles from Earth.

Full Moon occurs at 11:14 PM on December 11 or 5:14 UTC on December 12. 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.

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.

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. If you’re game, you can watch the Geminid shower all the way from mid-evening until dawn.

This year the glare from the Full Moon will hide all but the brightest meteors. If you are extremely patient, you might still be able to catch a few good ones.

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.

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 Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on December 24, when she will be 230,069 miles from Earth.

Winter Solstice will be December 21 at 10:19 PM or 04:19 UTC on December 22. 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 waning crescent moon should not interfere too much this year. Skies should still be dark enough for what could be a good show.

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.

New Moon occurs December 25 at 11:15 PM CST or 05:15 UTC December 26 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.

Five minutes after New Moon there will be an Annular Solar Eclipse. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is too far away from the Earth to completely cover the Sun. This results in a ring of light around the darkened Moon. The Sun’s corona is not visible during an annular eclipse.

The path of the eclipse begins in Saudi Arabia and then moves east through southern India, northern Sri Lanka, parts of the Indian Ocean, and Indonesia before ending in the Pacific Ocean. A partial eclipse will be visible throughout most of Asia and northern Australia.

I’m fueling up the jet as I type.

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

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 hid 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”.

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This month’s meeting will feature the ALERT Christmas Party on December 10 at 7:00 PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter
Wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

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