ALERT Newsletter

ALERT NEWSLETTER – October 2024

Published 10/02/2024 | By WD4NYL

Hi everyone and welcome to the October ALERT Newsletter.

As we look towards the cool clear weather of fall, our hearts and minds turn to our neighbors to the South and East as they deal with the destruction left by Hurricane Helene.

The degree of suffering and loss which we are witnessing is hard to comprehend and given that there are so many areas still cut off and so many missing, the losses will tragically continue to mount.

While we work with weather and have a fascination and grudging admiration of the power of nature, we absolutely loath the heartaches that these storms, whether hurricanes or tornadoes, cause.

The people of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas are in our thoughts and prayers,

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Birmingham NWS Fall 2024 Spotter Courses

The Birmingham NWS will be offering several online and in person Basic and Advanced Spotter Courses this fall. These classes are FREE and allow individuals to complete these courses in the comfort of their own home or office as well as in a traditional format.

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

Unless you want to or are in need of a refresher, you do not need to attend more than one Basic SKYWARN Course, as the material covered is the same; however, it is required that you 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, but you may use the built-in chat feature to ask questions.

To attend the Online Spotter Class:

Via the schedule below, register by clicking the link
corresponding to the class you’d like to attend.
Select the ‘join webinar’ button on the registration page or
in your confirmation email and follow the prompts.
Enjoy the class and ask questions.

To avoid being hurried, give yourself at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the class to complete the above process.

The current schedule is as follows:

Online:

Basic Class Tuesday, October 8 at 1:00 PM Class Registration Link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8100064120604805980

Basic Class Wednesday, October 9 at 6:30 PM Class Registration Link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7351265915763805526

Basic Class Tuesday, October 15 at 6:30 PM Class Registration Link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1731693872037890399

Advanced Class Tuesday, October 29, at 6:30 PM Class Registration Link:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7434274645614412126

In Person:

Basic Class To Be Determined Sumpter County

Basic Class Tuesday, October 22 at 6:30 PM Millport Public Library
920 Black Street
Millport, AL *

Basic Class Thursday, October 24 at 6:00 PM Elmore County EMA Office
8917 Highway 231
Wetumpka, AL

Basic Class To Be Determined Fayette Civic Center
534 Temple Avenue North
Fayette, AL

Basic Class Thursday, November 7 at 6:00 PM Elmore County EMA Office
8917 Highway 231
Wetumpka, AL

Please register HERE for head count.
Thank you!

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 205-664-3010 and pressing 2, online at https://www.weather.gov/bmx/submitstormreport
or via chat 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/skywarn

A PDF of the September 20, 2018 Basic presentation may be found at:
https://www.weather.gov/media/bmx/skywarn/BasicSpotterGSAT.pdf

A PDF of the April 4, 2019 Advanced presentation may be found at:
https://www.weather.gov/media/bmx/skywarn/Gerald_Satterwhite_Advanced_WEBPAGE.pdf

The NWS in Norman, OK have numerous YouTube videos worth exploring at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/NWSNorman/playlists

Other useful resources:

ABC33/40 Basic Storm Spotter Training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_MzKUTfUKA

ABC 33/40 Storm Spotter Extreme Part 1 – April 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOE69nsaKWE

ABC 33/40 Storm Spotter Extreme Part 2 – April 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hT7gCCQB0

ABC 33/40 Storm Spotter Extreme Part 3 – April 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKHsAxNzqEM

For information on online training visit:
https://www.meted.ucar.edu/training_course.php?id=23

Note this online course IS NOT intended to replace the courses offered by the NWS offices. The local meteorologists will know factors and variations in the area microclimate that may need to be considered in assessing the observed phenomena. Consider this online course as supplemental information.

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Mark’s Almanac

The tenth Month, October is so named because it is the eighth month on the Roman calendar. To the Slavs of Eastern Europe it is called “yellow month,” from the fading of the leaves, while to the Anglo-Saxons it was known as Winterfylleth, because at this full moon (fylleth) winter was supposed to begin.

By whichever name you call it, October is a mild and dry month, the driest of the year, in fact. And it is a sunny month with the amount of possible sunshine reaching the ground in the 60% or greater range.

Weather shifts from autumn pattern to revisiting the summer pattern and back again. The Azores-Bermuda High shifts eastward into the Atlantic, but leaves weakened high pressure centers over the Virginias, which still try to block out approaching fronts.

October is usually a quite month for tornadoes, with a 40% decrease in activity. Nationwide an average of 28 tornadoes occur in October and those tornadoes are usually weak.

Our Hurricane threat continues, with hurricane activity increasing during the first half of the month, concentrating in the Caribbean, both from formation in the Caribbean and from the long track Cape Verde hurricanes, which enter the Caribbean. And, we still have the little “gifts” that the Gulf of Mexico occasionally will provide.

Florida, due to its low latitude, becomes especially vulnerable to hurricanes. Since 1851, Florida has endured 31 October hurricane landfalls, nearly triple the next highest state — Louisiana, which has had eight. Also, about 60 percent of all U.S. hurricanes that made landfall after September 26 have done so in Florida. One factor being the cold fronts of Fall penetrating the Gulf and then deflecting storms towards the West coast of Florida.

Luckily after the second half of the month the activity will begin a steady decrease.

28% of the year’s hurricanes occur in October.

From 1851 – 2023 there have been 366 Tropical Storms and 219 hurricanes, 60 of which made landfall in the United States.

Some notable October hurricanes are:

The Great Hurricane of 1780, also known as Huracán San Calixto, the Great Hurricane of the Antilles, and the 1780 Disaster, the deadliest Atlantic hurricane, which killed between 20,000 to 22, 000 people in the Lesser Antilles as it passed through from October 10 – 16, 1780. It is possible that it had winds in excess of 200 MPH when it reached Barbados.

Hurricane Hazel struck the Carolinas in 1954. Weather satellite did not yet exist, and the Hurricane Hunters were unable to observe the core of the storm until it neared land on October 15. Hazel made landfall just west of the North Carolina/South Carolina border slightly northeast of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with a Category 4 intensity of 130 mph.

Hurricane Wilma still holds the record as the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin. In 24 hours, Wilma went from a Category 1 storm on October 18 to a Category 5 storm with 185 MPH Maximum Sustained Winds. She weakened to Category 4 and struck the Yucatan, then restrengthened and struck Cape Romano Florida as a Category 3 storm on October 24, 2005.

Hurricane Mitch became a Category 1 hurricane on October 24, 1998, and within 48 hours grew to Category 5 intensity, and though he weakened to Category 1 before making landfall, he became the second deadliest hurricane on record killing over 11,000, with nearly that number missing in Central America due to intense rainfall and mudslides. He would eventually reach the United States making landfall near Naples Florida on November 5.

Hurricane Michael formed near the Yucatan Peninsula on October 7, 2018, and in 72 hours grew from a Tropical Depression to a Category 5 hurricane striking struck Mexico Beach Florida.

Beware of October hurricanes, for as Wilma, Mitch and Michael have demonstrated, they can experience explosive growth.

October Tropical Cyclone Breeding Grounds

This is the month for Alabama’s version of “Indian Summer’s” arrival.

Technically speaking Indian Summer doesn’t occur until “Squaw Winter” or the first frost arrives, but exact date when Indian Summer arrives varies with latitude.

We live in Alabama, and while the earliest frosts have been known to occur by October 17, they usually wait until November. So, we, in our milder climate call the first warm up after the first cool down “Indian Summer”.

The Yellow Giant Sulphur Butterflies are very noticeable as they continue to drift South-Southeast on their migration towards Florida. They prefer red things & if you have red flowers, they will zero in on them.

The Monarchs also will be seen gliding by in their migration towards Central America.

Fall colors will become prominent & by late October & early November the leaves will be reaching their peak fall colors.

Days rapidly grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily decreases from 53.2 degrees at the beginning of the month to 42.3 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight decreases from 11 hours 50 minutes on October 1 to 10 hours 51 minutes on October 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

October 1 Sunrise 5:41 AM Sunset 6:32 PM
October 15 Sunrise 6:51 AM Sunset 6:14 PM
October 31 Sunrise 7:05 AM Sunset 5:56 PM

Looking skyward, the Sun, magnitude -26.7 is in Virgo, The Virgin.

Mercury, magnitude -1.7 is in Virgo, The Virgin, is hidden in the glow of the Sun.

Venus, magnitude -3.9 in Virgo, The Virgin, has emerged into. the evening sky and will steadily rise in the western sky as the weeks pass, eventually dominating the Winter skies.

At the first of the month, she will become visible at around 6:46 PM CDT, 12° above the south-western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. She will then sink towards the horizon, setting 1 hour and 23 minutes after the Sun at 7:53 PM CDT.

At midmonth she will become visible at around 6:28 PM CDT, 14° above the south-western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. She will then sink towards the horizon, setting 1 hour and 37 minutes after the Sun at 7:49 PM CDT.

At month’s end she will become visible at around 6:11 PM CDT, 16° above the south-western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. She will then sink towards the horizon, setting 2 hours and 00 minutes after the Sun at 7:55 PM CDT.

Earth, magnitude -4.0 as viewed from the Sun, and her Moon is in the Pisces, The Fish.

Mars, magnitude +0.5, with his Moons Phobos and Deimos in Gemini, The Twins, is an early morning object.

At the first of the month, he rises at midnight CDT and reaches an altitude of 73° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:09 AM CDT.

At midmonth he rises at 11:35 PM CDT and reaches an altitude of 78° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:21 AM CDT.

At months end he rises at Midnight and reaches an altitude of 78° above the southern horizon at 6:08 AM, before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:36 AM CDT.

Dwarf Planet Ceres, magnitude +8.9, is in Sagittarius, The Archer.

Jupiter, magnitude –2.5, and his 95 moons and (invisible from Earth) ring, in Taurus, The Bull, dominates the early morning sky.

At the first of the month, he rises at 11:03 PM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 78° above the southern horizon at 5:25 AM, before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:24 AM CDT.

By midmonth he rises at 10:09 PM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 78° above the southern horizon at 4:30 AM before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:34 AM CDT.

At months end he rises at 9:03 PM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 78° above the southern horizon at 3:24 AM before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:47 AM CDT.

Saturn, magnitude +0.7, and his 146 moons and extensive debris ring system, is in Aquarius, The Water Bearer, is an evening object.

At the first of the month, he becomes visible around 7:01 PM CDT 18° above the south-eastern horizon. He will reach its highest point in the sky at 11:06 PM CDT, 43° above the southern horizon. He will be lost to dawn twilight around 3:48 AM CDT, 13° above the western horizon.

By midmonth he becomes visible around 6:53 PM CDT at an altitude of 25° above the south- eastern horizon. He will reach his highest altitude of 47° above the southern horizon around 10:08 PM CDT. He fades into the dawn around 2:49 AM CDT at 10° above the western horizon.

At month’s end he becomes visible around 6:37 PM CDT at an altitude of 33° above the south-eastern horizon. He will reach his highest altitude of 47° above the southern horizon around 9:02 PM CDT. He will continue to be observable until around 1:43 AM CDT, when he sinks below 10° above your western horizon.

Uranus, magnitude +5.7, and his 27 moons and ring, in Taurus, The Bull, is a morning object/

At the first of the month, he rises at 10:35 PM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 76 ° above the southern horizon at 3:42 AM CDT, before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:40 AM CDT.

By midmonth he becomes accessible around 9:39 PM CDT, when he reaches an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon. he will then reach his highest point in the sky at 2:45 AM, 75° above the southern horizon. He will be lost to dawn twilight around 5:60 AM, 46° above the western horizon.

At months end he becomes accessible around 8:34 PM CDT, when it reaches an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon. It will then reach its highest point in the sky at 1:40 AM CDT, 75° above the southern horizon. He will be lost to dawn twilight around 6:02 AM CDT, 40° above the south-western horizon.

Neptune, magnitude 7.7, and his 14 moons and ring, is in Pisces, The Fish, is visible using a telescope in the evening sky.

At the first of the month, he becomes accessible at 7:48 PM CDT at an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon and reaches an altitude of 54° above the southern horizon at 11:55 PM CDT and fades into the dawn twilight around 4:02 AM CDT, 31° above the western horizon.

By midmonth he becomes accessible at 7:11 PM CDT at an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon and reaches an altitude of 54° above the southern horizon at 10:59 PM CDT. He will become inaccessible at around 3:06 AM CDT when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

At months end he becomes accessible, at 6:55 PM CDT at an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon and reaches an altitude of 54° above the southern horizon at 9:55 PM CDT and fades into the dawn twilight around 5:17 AM CDT, 32° above the southern horizon. He will become inaccessible at around 2:01 PM CDT when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

Dwarf Planet Pluto, with his five moons shines at a dim +14.5 in Capricornus, The Sea Goat.

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

Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake with his moon S/2015 (136472) 1, nicknamed MK1 by the discovery team, shines faintly at magnitude +17.2 in Coma Berenices.

Dwarf Planet 136199 Eris and her moon Dysnomia, originally referred to as Xena and Gabrielle, is barely visible in the most powerful telescopes at magnitude +18.6 in Cetus the Sea Monster.

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

90482 Orcus, and his moon Vanth shines at magnitude 19.1 in Hydra, the Water Snake.
.
50000 Quaoar, and his moon Waywot shines at magnitude +18.6 in Pisces, The Fish.

90377 Sedna, the coldest, and at one time, the most distant known place in the Solar System, glows faintly at magnitude +20.9 in Taurus, The Bull.

225088 Gonggong, originally nicknamed Snow White by the discovery team, and his moon Xiangli glows dimly at +21.5 magnitude in Pisces, The Fish.

2014 UZ224 nicknamed “DeeDee” for “Distant Dwarf” is 8.5 billion miles from the Sun, at magnitude +23.0 in Eridanus, The River.

120347 Salacia, and her moon Actaea glows at magnitude 20.7 in Auriga, The Charioteer. Salacia is considered a “borderline” Dwarf Planet. Some astronomers saying she “most certainly is a Dwarf Planet”, while others disagreeing based on her size, saying she is too small to have compressed into a fully solid body, to have been resurfaced, or to have collapsed into “hydrostatic equilibrium”, that is to assume spherical shape like a planet.

This dark world lies beyond the orbit of Neptune, orbiting 4,164,420,166 miles from the Sun.

Currently the most distant observable known object in the Solar System, an asteroid unofficially called Asteroid 2018 AG37, and nicknamed FarFarOut, glows at a barely detectable +25.5 magnitude in Lynx.

FarFarOut is currently 12,349,780 miles or in Light Time, 18 hours, 24 minutes and 56 seconds from Earth.

The most distant man-made object, Voyager 1, still operating after 46 years, 12 months and +25 days is 15,343,706,176 miles, or in Light Time, 22 hours, 52 minutes 48 Seconds from Earth as of 2:39 PM, September 29, 2024, sailing 38,027 miles per hour through Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer.
Voyager – Mission Status (nasa.gov) & Voyager 1 | TheSkyLive

There are 1,405,019 known asteroids and 3,967 comets as of September 29, 2024 per NASA/JPL Solar Dynamics Website JPL Solar System Dynamics (nasa.gov).

5,759 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of September 17, 2024, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/.

New Moon will occur at 1:50 PM CDT or 18:50 UTC on October 2. 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.

This New Moon occurs near Apogee, or the Moon’s farthest point from the Earth, so this will be a Micromoon. A Micromoon is the opposite of a Supermoon. Where a Supermoon appears slightly larger than normal, a Micromoon appears smaller.

An Annular Solar Eclipse will occur on October 2. 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 eclipse path will begin in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America and move across parts of southern Chile and Argentina. A partial eclipse will be visible throughout most of southern South America.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on October 2, when she will be 252,598 miles from Earth.

First Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Western side illuminated, will occur October 10 at 1:56 PM or 18:56 UTC.

During the Quarter Moon, the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

The Draconid Meteor Shower will peak on October 7. This minor shower, which produces only 10 meteors per hour, is produced by dust grains left behind by Comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner, which was discovered in 1900. This shower, which runs from October 6 – 10, is unusual in that it is best observed in the early evening, instead of the early morning hours as with most other showers.

The last quarter moon will be visible in the early morning but shouldn’t interfere too much. Best viewing will be in the early evening from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Draco, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

The Moon will be at Perigee or her closest approach to Earth on October 16, when she will be 221,937 miles from Earth.

October’s Full Moon will occur October 17. The Moon will be directly opposite the Earth from the Sun and will be fully illuminated as seen from Earth. This phase occurs at 6:27 AM or 11:27 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Hunters Moon because at this time of year the leaves are falling, and the game is fat and ready to hunt. This moon has also been known as the Travel Moon and the Blood Moon.

This is the second of four Supermoons for 2024. The Moon will be near its closest approach to the Earth and may look slightly larger and brighter than usual.

During a Full Moon, the Moon’s magnitude is -12.7.

The Orionid Meteor Shower peaks on October 21 & 22. The Orionids is an average shower producing up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak This shower, which runs from October 2 to November 7, is produced by the broad debris trail of Halley’s Comet.

The first quarter moon may block some of the dim meteors in the evening, but it will set shortly after midnight. This will leave dark skies for what could be a good morning show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Orion, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

Last Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Eastern side illuminated, will occur October 24 at 3:05 AM CDT or 8:05 UTC.

During a Quarter Moon the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on October 29, when she will be 252,379 miles from Earth.

Last month I mentioned Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. The comet has been putting on a good display in the morning skies just before sunset.

Early October the comet will be too close to the Sun to be easily visible. Prime time will be in the second and third weeks of October as the comet enters the evening sky and moves upward in the west-southwest sky.

Assuming all goes well, and comets can very unpredictable, beginning around October 10 the comet should be visible a over the western horizon after sunset. Each day he will appear higher and higher in night sky and easier to spot.

This comet may be bright enough to see even in the light polluted skies of the city. There is even the possibility it could be visible during daylight hours.

He may have company also.

Astronomers are watching a comet discovered just a few days ago. This comet, which is so new that it has no name other than the designation “A11bP7I,” appears to be a relatively large sungrazer on course to become a bright naked-eye object in late October.

Experts have noted a similarity between the orbits of A11bP7I and Great Comet Ikeya-Seki which appeared in 1965. Ikeya-Seki became so bright when it passed by the sun that it was visible during the day at magnitude -10. Japanese observers were able to observe it at noon.

This comet is so new that the timing and dates are still being determined.

Do know that comets are finicky beasts. Both comets could be spectacular, or one or both could fizzle, as comets are prone to do.

But, if possible, I would try to see them.

I recommend going to a less light polluted environment.

Let your eyes adjust to the dark for several minutes, 30 minutes is best. If you look slightly above or to the sides of the comet instead of keeping it in the center of your vision, it will appear brighter.

This is called the “averted vision”.

This technique helps overcome a quirk in the human eye. The center of our eyes have virtually no rods, the cells that detect dim light in black and white. This situation results in a decrease in visual sensitivity in central vision at night.

The density of the rod cells usually reaches a maximum around 20 degrees off the center of vision, so as you look away, dim objects suddenly brighten.

So, try this trick, and as mentioned last month, use binoculars, as their great light gathering ability are perfect for comets.

While you are looking for the comets, take a peek at the rich star clouds of the Milky Way in Cygnus as she crosses the zenith. These will appear as a ghostly band overhead in the hour after nightfall is complete. The Milky Way now rises straight up from the southwest horizon, passes overhead, and runs straight down to the northeast.

Later at midnight, Orion the Hunter and the stars of winter rise over the eastern horizon, reminding us to enjoy the mild weather while it is here, for this season, as all seasons, is but a fleeting moment in the never-ending waltz of time.

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This month’s meeting will be on October 8 at 7 PM at the NWS Forecast Office in Calera.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

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ALERT NEWSLETTER – September 2024

Published 09/03/2024 | By WD4NYL

Hi everyone,

I hope all are doing well. As I write this, I see the first signs of Fall. The air is a little less humid and the temperatures just a tad less oppressive. Most notable is the view out of my window as bright yellow spots go flapping and gliding by as the butterflies have started migrating, taking an exact South-southeast course to who knows where.

Oh, and are you ready for some football? Happily, Alabama and Auburn are off to a good start.

I hope you have a good month, and I hope to see you at our next meeting, which will be on September 10.

Roll Tide & War Eagle.

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Current Ham Radio Statistics

Alabama Amateur Radio Licensees as of 8/23/2024:

Novice 61
Technician 5404
General 3195
Advanced 483
Amateur Extra 2913

Total Ham 12056

GMRS Licenses 3835 (For Comparison)

United States Amateur Licensees as of 8/23/2024:

Novice 5331
Technician 368493
General 184650
Advanced 30074
Amateur Extra 156077

Total Ham 744626

Total GMRS 307828 (For Comparison)

Latest Amateur Callsigns as of 8/24/2024

First Call Area: KC1VGW
Second Call Area: KE2DZX
Third Call Area: KC3ZQL
Fourth Call Area: KQ4UWS
Fifth Call Area: KJ5HTE
Sixth Call Area: KO6FUN
Seventh Call Area: KK7UZY
Eight Call Area: KF8CAO
Ninth Call Area: KE9BHB
Tenth Call Area: KF0RNH

Top 25 First Names

John
Robert
David
Michael
James
William
Richard
Thomas
Charles
Mark
Joseph
Daniel
Paul
Christopher
Steven
Matthew
Brian
Donald
Stephen
Kenneth
Jeffrey
Ronald
Gary
Andrew
Timothy

Top 25 Last Names

Smith
Johnson
Miller
Brown
Jones
Williams
Davis
Anderson
Wilson
Martin
Taylor
Thompson
Moore
White
Clark
Thomas
Lee
Nelson
Young
Hall
Harris
Lewis
Allen
Baker
King

Random comments:

When one sees the census of ham operators various questions occur. One concerns the Novice, Advanced licenses. Though the FCC no longer issues Novice and Advanced licenses, the existing licenses are still valid and will be as long as the holders continue to renew them.

Another question that occurs is “how many of those 744626 licensees are active or even alive?”
No one can really tell. I figure the percentage is about the same as it always has been. When one croaks, it is not reflected in the FCC database unless someone informs the FCC. As to “active”, my question is how does one define active? A QSO per day, once a month, every other season or one QSO per year?

With my operating habits, balancing work and other responsibilities, I may tear up the airwaves one weekend and not get a chance to operate for weeks or months. At what point am I considered inactive? Does listening and not transmitting equate into the “active / inactive” definition?

Until last week I hadn’t made a single 2 meter contact in months. Anyone who remembers me probably thinks I’m dead. But, on HF in the two weeks I’ve talked to 28 states and Slovenia on sideband. But, knowing how life and it’s 10,000 responsibilities get in the way I might not turn anything on again until 2025.

“Where is everyone, if we have sooooo many hams?” is also asked.

Ham radio has changed over the years. In 1970’s and 1980’s, people we’re lamenting the demise of ham radio due to it being a “graying hobby”, due to the lack of youth, every change in rules, regulations, exam requirements, crabby old hams and of course CBers. Sound familiar?

With the exception of RTTY like operations, everything was CW, SSB and FM. There we’re only a handful of repeaters and so hams would congregate on those available repeaters. So those few repeaters were heavily populated.

Now there are a multitude of data and voice modes, both on HF and VHF and the ham population has dispersed into these various modes, methods and niches. Which isn’t a complaint, just an observation and possible explanation as to why you hear so few operators at times, when the numbers would suggest we should be more “present” than ever. They are still there, just spread out among “competing” modes, frequencies and activities.

Ham radio IS NOT DYING. Regardless of those who seem to wish it we’re so by declaring it on every possible opportunity. Evolve? Yes. Relevant? Absolutely! Still “fun”, very much so. After nearly 47 years in Ham Radio, I’m more optimistic than ever and still feel the wonder of talking to someone 1000 miles away using an antenna that looks like Mom’s clothesline.

Now let’s mention GMRS. It’s not a ham band, though there are those who would like for it to be “ham radio lite” or “CB 2.0”.

There 307828 licensees, and Lord only knows how many use it without a license. Sharing frequencies with the license free Family Radio Service, sometimes it’s hard to tell which is GMRS or FRS. Beeps, bloops and no callsign might indicate FRS operations, not GMRS, but, then I rarely hear a callsign given anyway.

IF GMRS “catches on”, with a goodly number of operators, and if those operators were to become trained stormspotters and IF there was a wide coverage repeater in our area, let’s dream big and say a Mt. Cheaha equivalent, then this could be a very valuable resource during severe weather emergencies.

It already can be a valuable resource on a local, neighborhood scale, using a GMRS base and FRS radios. Even if it’s a pink Hello Kitty / Buzz Lightyear FRS radio, if it works, it works. Not unlike current neighborhood Facebook groups, a neighborhood group could blanket an entire neighborhood by GMRS and FRS radios using this manner.

For now, though, at least in the Birmingham Metro, we get to listen to “Ed bring me some connectors”, “pickup from ER to OR5”, “Miss Tilley, Joshua’s Mom is here to pick him up”, “grooming, is Fluffy ready for pickup?”, “mas trabajo, pequeno denero, no beuno”, and “looky Mommy, I’m a kangaroo! Boink, boink, boink, tee hee hee hee.”

Which is what you usually hear on the GMRS frequencies in Birmingham. And, which falls within the intent and purpose of the service as stated by the FCC “a licensed radio service……for short-distance, two-way voice communications using hand-held radios, mobile radios and repeater systems.”

And, though some, certainly not all, hams “dog CBers out”, CB is still a valuable resource, as is MURS.

Back to the ham license numbers, to me it is curious that the Fourth Call Area, or Southeastern US, with California closely behind, leads the nation in new licenses by such a large degree. We are running out of KQ calls, while the densely populated Northeast is still in the KC and KE calls.

Demographically speaking, shouldn’t the opposite be the case?

Whatever the reason, we must be doing something right.

So, keep up the good work!

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Mark’s Almanac

September is the ninth month of the year and the seventh month of the Roman calendar, which is where the month gets its name.

Temperatures are still hot at the beginning of the month, but, by the month’s end, fall will definitely be felt.

Noticeable in September will be the thickening of the cat’s fur, as she begins growing her winter coat & the drift of Yellow Giant Sulphur Butterflies as they migrate towards Florida.

Weather starts shifting from the summer to autumn pattern and then back again. Storm activity resembles the August pattern, but the Bermuda High starts shifting southward and begins weakening, which weakens the blocking effect that has hampered fronts attempting to invade from the northwest.

September is the peak of the hurricane season, the actual peak being on September 10. This peak coincides with the time of “syzygy”, when the effects of the solar and lunar gravity and autumnal equinox combine to provide the highest astronomical tides of the year. Add a hurricane’s storm surge on top of this and you can have incredibly destructive flooding.

From 1851 – 2023 there have been 650 Tropical Storms, 3 Subtropical Storms and 426 hurricanes, 112 of which made landfall in the United States.

Some notable September hurricanes are:

The Galveston Hurricane of 1900, which was a Category 4 Storm whose storm surge overwhelmed Galveston Island, killing 8000 people, and is still the deadliest weather disaster in US history.

The Labor Day Hurricane of 1936, the most intense storm to strike the US, was a Category 5 storm which moved through the Florida Keys and along West Florida, overturning trains and literally sandblasting people to death.

Ivan, the category 3 storm which struck Alabama & Florida in 2004, caused tremendous damage to Gulf Shores and extensive damage to the state’s electrical grid. At the height of the outages, Alabama Power reported 489,000 subscribers having lost electrical power—roughly half of its subscriber base.

Rita, a category 3 storm which struck the Texas – Louisiana border in 2005, and, despite the distance, dropped 22 tornadoes over Western Alabama.

Ian, a category 4 storms which struck Florida in 2022, following the exact path of Hurricane Charley in August 2004.

Days continue to grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily decreases from 64.9 degrees at the beginning of the month to 53.6 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight decreases from 12 hours 52 minutes on August 1 to 11 hours 53 minutes on August 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

September 1 Sunrise 6:21 AM Sunset 7:13 PM
September 15 Sunrise 6:30 AM Sunset 6:55 PM
September 31 Sunrise 6:41 AM Sunset 6:33 PM

Looking skyward, the Sun, magnitude -26.7 is in Leo, The Lion.

Mercury, magnitude +2.5 is in Leo, The Lion, has emerged into the predawn sky

At the first of the month, he rises at 4:56 AM CDT, 1 hour and 5 minutes before the Sun, reaching an altitude of just 10° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks around 5:52 AM CDT.

On September the 4th he will reach its greatest separation from the Sun in its August –September 2024 morning apparition. He will be shining brightly at mag -0.3.

He will reach “dichotomy” or be halfway lit light a quarter Moon on September 5th, and will reach peak altitude of 17° above the horizon at sunrise and then will start sinking back towards the sunrise.

Mercury will reach his closest distance from the Sun or “Perihelion” on September 9.

At Midmonth he will rise at 5:23 AM CDT, 1 hour and 5 minutes before the Sun – and reach an altitude of 9° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:13 AM CDT.

On the 17th his visit in the morning sky will end as he disappears beyond the eastern horizon.

He will pass behind the Sun on September 30th..

Venus, magnitude -3.9 in Virgo, The Virgin, has emerged into. the evening sky and will steadily rise in the western sky as the weeks pass, eventually dominating the Winter skies.

At the first of the month, she will become visible at around 7:27 PM CDT, 9° above the western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. She will then sink towards the horizon, setting 1 hour and 4 minutes after the Sun at 8:15 PM CDT.

At midmonth she will become visible at around 7:08 PM CDT, 10° above the western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. She will then sink towards the horizon, setting 1 hour and 11 minutes after the Sun at 8:03 PM CDT.

At month’s end she will become visible at around 6:47 PM CDT, 12° above the south-western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. She will then sink towards the horizon, setting 1 hour and 21 minutes after the Sun at 7:53 PM CDT.

Earth, magnitude -4.0 as viewed from the Sun, and her Moon is in the Pisces, The Fish.

Mars, magnitude +0.8, with his Moons Phobos and Deimos in Taurus, The Bull, is an early morning object.

At the first of the month, he rises at 12:41 AM CDT and reaches an altitude of 60° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:46 AM CDT.

At midmonth he rises at 1:22 AM CDT and reaches an altitude of 66° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:57 AM CDT.

At months end he rises at Midnight and reaches an altitude of 73° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:08 AM CDT.

Dwarf Planet Ceres, magnitude +8.3, is in Sagittarius, The Archer.

Jupiter, magnitude –2.2, and his 95 moons and (invisible from Earth) ring, in Taurus, The Bull, is dominates the early morning sky.

At the first of the month, he rises at 12:07 AM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 70° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:03 AM CDT.

By midmonth he rises at 11:18 PM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 78° above the southern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:13 AM CDT.

At months end he rises at 11:07 PM CDT, and reaches his highest altitude of 78° above the eastern horizon at 5:28 AM before fading into the dawn twilight around 6:23 AM CDT.

Saturn, magnitude +0.6, and his 146 moons and extensive debris ring system, is in Aquarius, The Water Bearer, is a late evening and early morning object.

At the first of the month, he becomes visible around 8:31 PM CDT 11° above the eastern horizon. He will reach its highest point in the sky at 1:16 AM CDT, 49° above the southern horizon. He will be lost to dawn twilight around 5:47 AM CDT, 13° above the western horizon.

He will be exactly opposite the Sun in the night sky or be in “opposition” on September 7.

By midmonth he becomes visible around 7:33 PM CDT at an altitude of 10° above the eastern horizon. He will reach his highest altitude of 48° above the southern horizon around 12:17 AM CDT. He fades into the dawn around 5:01 AM CDT at 10° above the western horizon.

At month’s end he becomes visible around 7:02 PM CDT at an altitude of 17° above the south-eastern horizon. He will reach his highest altitude of 48° above the southern horizon around 11:10 PM CDT. He will continue to be observable until around 3:53 AM CDT, when he sinks below 10° above your western horizon.

Uranus, magnitude +5.7, and his 27 moons and ring, in Taurus, The Bull, has into the predawn sky.

Near the first of the month, he rises at 10:45 AM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 74 ° above the southern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:18 AM CDT.

By midmonth he becomes accessible around 11:40 AM CDT, when he reaches an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon. he will then reach his highest point in the sky at 4:46 AM, 75° above the southern horizon. He will be lost to dawn twilight around 5:29 AM, 72° above your south-western horizon.

At months end he becomes accessible around 10:39 AM CDT, when it reaches an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon. It will then reach its highest point in the sky at 3:46 AM CDT, 75° above the southern horizon. He will be lost to dawn twilight around 5:39 AM CDT, 60° above the south-western horizon.

Neptune, magnitude 7.7, and his 14 moons and ring, is in Pisces, The Fish, is visible using a telescope in the evening and early morning sky.

At the first of the month, he becomes accessible at 9:52 PM CDT at an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon and reaches an altitude of 54° above the southern horizon at 2:00 AM CDT and fades into the dawn twilight around 5:18 AM CDT, 31° above the southern horizon.

By midmonth he becomes accessible at 8:56 PM CDT at an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon and reaches an altitude of 54° above the southern horizon at 1:04 AM CDT. He will become inaccessible at around 5:11 AM CDT when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

He will be exactly opposite the Sun in the night sky or be in “opposition” on September 20.

At months end he becomes accessible, at 7:56 PM CDT at an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon and reaches an altitude of 54° above the southern horizon at 12:04 AM CDT and fades into the dawn twilight around 5:17 AM CDT, 32° above the southern horizon. He will become inaccessible at around 4:10 AM CDY when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

Dwarf Planet Pluto, with his five moons shines at a dim +14.4 in Capricornus, The Sea Goat.

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

Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake with his moon S/2015 (136472) 1, nicknamed MK1 by the discovery team, shines faintly at magnitude +17.2 in Coma Berenices.

Dwarf Planet 136199 Eris and her moon Dysnomia, originally referred to as Xena and Gabrielle, is barely visible in the most powerful telescopes at magnitude +18.7 in Cetus the Sea Monster.

90482 Orcus, and his moon Vanth shines at magnitude 19.1 between Hydra and Sextans, The Sextant.

50000 Quaoar, and his moon Waywot shines at magnitude +18.6 in Scutum, The Shield.

90377 Sedna, the coldest, and at one time, the most distant known place in the Solar System, glows faintly at magnitude +20.9 in Taurus, The Bull.

225088 Gonggong, originally nicknamed Snow White by the discovery team, and his moon Xiangli glows dimly at +21.5 magnitude in Aquarius, The Water Bearer.

2014 UZ224 nicknamed “DeeDee” for “Distant Dwarf” is 8.5 billion miles from the Sun, at magnitude +23.0 in Eridanus, The River.

120347 Salacia, and her moon Actaea glows at magnitude 20.7 in Andromeda, The Chained Woman. Salacia is considered a “borderline” Dwarf Planet. Some astronomers saying she “most certainly is a Dwarf Planet”, while others disagreeing based on her size, saying she is too small to have compressed into a fully solid body, to have been resurfaced, or to have collapsed into “hydrostatic equilibrium”, that is to assume spherical shape like a planet.

This dark world lies beyond the orbit of Neptune, orbiting 4,164,420,166 miles from the Sun.

FarFarOut is currently 12,389,802 miles or in Light Time, 18 hours, 28 minutes and 30 seconds from Earth.

The most distant man-made object, Voyager 1, still operating after 46 years, 11 months and +20 days is 15,267,426,140 miles, or in Light Time, 22 hours, 44 minutes Seconds from Earth as of 3:42 PM, August 25, 2024, sailing 38,027 miles per hour through Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer.
Voyager – Mission Status (nasa.gov) & Voyager 1 | TheSkyLive

There are 1,387,976 known asteroids and 3,962 comets as of August 25, 2024 per NASA/JPL Solar Dynamics Website JPL Solar System Dynamics (nasa.gov).

5,747 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of August 16, 2024, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/.

New Moon will occur at 8:56 PM CDT or 02:56 UTC on August 2. 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.

Or it would if you could actually see the thing, which you can’t, since New Moons are invisible.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on September 5, when she will be 252,410 miles from Earth.

First Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Western side illuminated, will occur September 11 at 1:06 AM or 07:06 UTC.

During the Quarter Moon, the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

September’s Full Moon will occur September 17 at 9:36 PM CDT or 02:36 UTC September 18.

The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be fully illuminated. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the “Corn Moon” because the corn is harvested around this time of year.

This moon is also known as the Harvest Moon. The Harvest Moon is the full moon that occurs closest to the September equinox each year.

The name “Harvest Moon” dates from the time before electricity, when farmers depended on the Moon’s light to harvest their crops late into the night. The Harvest Moon was especially important since it coincided with the largest harvest of the year.

This is the second of four Supermoons for 2024. The Moon will be near its closest approach to the Earth and may look slightly larger and brighter than usual.

During a Full Moon, the Moon’s magnitude is -12.7.

A Partial Lunar Eclipse will occur September 17. 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 North America, Mexico, Central America, South America, the Atlantic Ocean, and most of Europe and Africa.

This will be a “shallow eclipse”, with only 3.5 % of the Moon’s surface being obscured.

Eclipse Times for Birmingham are as follows:

Penumbral Eclipse begins September 17 at 7:41 PM
Partial Eclipse begins September 17 at 9:13 PM
Maximum Eclipse September 17 at 9:44 PM
Partial Eclipse ends September 17 at 10:16 PM
Penumbral Eclipse ends September 17 at 11:47 PM

The moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on August 18, when she will be 222,006 miles from Earth.

Fall begins at Autumnal Equinox on September 22 at 6:39 AM CDT or 12:39 UTC, when the Sun crosses directly over the equator and night and day is approximately the same length throughout the world. For the Southern Hemisphere it is Vernal Equinox, the first day of Spring.

One term that occasionally pops up is “equinoctial storms”. Which are severe storms in North America and the UK that supposedly accompany the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Where this belief originated is obscure. Some say perhaps from the 1700’s when sailors were greeted by West Indies hurricanes, or due to the coincidence of the first fall severe storms sometimes coming in the latter half of September. At any rate, statistics show no evidence to support the belief.

On this date, if there is sufficient solar activity, and you are away from city lights, the aurora may possibly be seen, as the Equinox dates are the two most favored times of the year for auroral sightings.

At this time of year, the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) can link up with Earth’s magnetic field, prying open cracks. Solar wind pours in to fuel displays of the aurora borealis with no geomagnetic storm required. Researchers call this the “Russell-McPherron” effect after the space physicists who first described it in the 1970s.

Last Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Eastern side illuminated, will occur September 24 at 1:52 PM CDT or 19L52 UTC.

During the Quarter Moon the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

A potentially bright comet, Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS (that’s pronounce roughly “Choo-cheen-SHAHN”), or C/2023 A3, is cruising through the inner solar system at 89477 miles per hour. It is currently around the same distance from the Sun as the Earth.

It is possible that it could be bright enough to be observed with binoculars in the last days of September before sunrise.

It is also possible that it will become a naked eye object.

C/2023 A3, with will reach it’s closest approach to the Sun on September 27, will appear in the predawn sky, just before sunrise in late September. Be sure to find a viewing site with an unobstructed eastern horizon for the best chance to see it. The comet will hover only a few degrees above the horizon 45 minutes to an hour before sunrise during the final week of September and first few days of October. It possibly will be magnitude +2, as bright as Polaris, the North Star.

But the best show could be reserved for skywatchers during the second and third weeks of October as the comet enters the evening sky and moves upward in the west-southwest sky.

Comets are notoriously unpredictable, with faint ones flaring brilliantly, anticipated bright ones never brightening at all or being melted into rubble by the Sun.

If you want to see this new comet, whether bright or not, I recommend using good binoculars, say a 7 X 35 mm pair, but, not a telescope, as binoculars give you maximum light gathering capability, and two light detectors – your eyes – where telescopes overmagnify and lose definition when looking at defuse objects and provide one eyes worth of visual data.

You will need to find a dark sky, well away from any bright lights and a clear and unobstructed view of the sky.

Looking at the September night sky, in the Southern night sky an asterism or a group of stars appearing clustered together, but not actually gravitationally bound, will be seen that resembles a teapot. This is the Teapot of Sagittarius.

To the naked eye, the Teapot is roughly the size of your fist at arm’s length. Above the spout of the Teapot lies a band of light, emerging like steam from the spout of the Teapot, which is the Large Sagittarius Star Cloud. That pair of binoculars I recommended for the comet will reveal a sea of stars and faint grayish patches, the largest of which is the Lagoon Nebula. When you look upon these nebulae you are seeing stars in the process of being born.

The spout, which is tilting and pouring to the right, also points towards the galactic center of the Milky Way, located just beyond the Large Sagittarius Star cloud, but largely hidden by the dust clouds, which lie along the plane of the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy.

While we sweat through Summer, do you want at sneak peek at the Winter sky? Step out before the first light of dawn, and the sky displays the same starry panorama it does at dinnertime around New Year’s. With Orion the Hunter striding up in the southeast, Taurus the Bull with Aldebaran and then the Pleiades high above it. Sirius the Dog Star sparkles far down below Orion, and Gemini The Twins are lying on their sides well up in the east, left of Orion.

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Comments, suggestions, articles and items for YOUR Newsletter are welcome!

Send to wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

This month’s meeting will be on September 10 at 7 PM at the NWS Forecast Office in Calera.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

Posted in ALERT Newsletter | Leave a comment

ALERT NEWSLETTER – August 2024

Published 08/02/2024 | By WD4NYL

Hi everyone,

My original plan for today was to cut the jungle which used to be called “my yard”, but, as my phone is cheerfully announcing, “Flood Advisory In Effect”, the yard and the unknown secrets it holds will have to wait yet again.

Have you ever been in a rain forest? Well keeping in mind, a quote from last month’s Newsletter “Tropical conditions are dominant, with conditions similar to that of the Amazon Valley” and considering that Alabama is 70% forest, and since it has been consistently dumping rain on us nearly every afternoon, this is about as close as it gets to being in a rain forest without airfare becoming involved.

Enjoy(?) it while it lasts, for in just a little over a month the heat and humidity will begin its annual retreat towards the tropical realms and in about 6 months from now we will be griping and wishing we could borrow one of these days for a welcomed winter thaw.

So hang onto that buoy and lifeboat, for the rain is coming to an end!

Our next ALERT meeting will be on August 13, at the NWS Forecast Office at the Shelby County Airport.

See you there!

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When The Squirrels Sneeze On The Power Pole

On July 8, 2024, Category 1 hurricane Beryl made landfall along the southeast Texas, snapping power poles as it shredded the power grid. CenterpointEnergy, the supplier for Houston and the surrounding areas reported that roughly 87% of their customers lost power.

Repairing such damage doesn’t occur overnight, as it basically means rebuilding an electrical infrastructure that took decades to build.

In the days that followed, with the help of electrical crews from nearby states, steady progress was made as is seen here:

Date Outages

July 8 2,745,894
July 9 2,095,934
July 10 1,546,564
July 11 1,233,332
July 12 994,461
July 13 529,098
July 14 435,000
July 15 281,850
July 16 139,485
July 17 50,099
Julu 18 15,000
July 19 6,817

As you can see, many we’re out of power for days, many for a week and some for nearly two weeks.

Closer to home, after the April 27, 2011, tornadoes some were without power for two weeks.

So, the question arises, how long could YOU remain sustainable without power?

I remember as a child in the 1960’s it was said “if a squirrel sneezes the pole the power goes out”.

I loved it. My Mom would dig out long taper candles, little stubby candles and Dad would drag oil lanterns out of the cupboard and for a few hours we were in the 1800’s. Mom would say “do your homework. This is how Abraham Lincoln did it”. I loved the “adventure living” and would groan in disappointment as the appliances groaned back to life as the power was restored.

Sixty years later I still have those lanterns. The glass globes are polished, the wicks are trimmed, and the fuel is ready should “adventure arrive”.

That’s the fun part that still appeals to the child in me. The not so fun part is what to do with the food in the fridge and freezer, and in my case, my CPAP machine and other various necessities. So the child in me fights the adult in me and as a young lady at work said “adulting isn’t fun”.

So, what, besides waiting, can you do to ease the impact of a prolonged power outage?

Here are some ideas.

One answer of course is having a generator. There are two approaches to this:

A large generator to power the entire house. This is absolutely not a DIY project. First you need deep pockets, as they cost from $7000 up to the five digit mark. Then you need an actual electrician to install the wiring and the transfer switches that will switch the house off the electric grid and onto the generator. Try this yourself, and you probably will end up with ashes where the house once stood. So, this is a major investment, though I have seen it done.
A smaller portable generator can be used to power key equipment and appliances. In this scenario you can power the freezer, refrigerator, medical equipment, maybe small heaters, etc. The size and cost of the generator is determined by the anticipated load it will bear. These may range from $500 to $5000 or more depending on its capacity. A cheaper one may only be able to run the freezer and a few “luxury items.

Generators, not including the initial and ongoing costs have some drawbacks to consider:

Maintenance. Have you ever put a lawn mower away in the fall and then pulled it out in the spring and nearly dislocated a shoulder trying to get the miserable thing to crank and it just goes “rat-tat-tat-tat” and nothing else? Generators, unless they are properly maintained, will do the exact same thing. Fuel lines will clog, carburetors will gum up and spark plugs fouled up simply by them not being run. You may make every promise in the world to fire that puppy up once a month, but life and it’s 10,000 responsibilities will interfere, and you probably will forget. Then the lights go out, you try to crank it up and the poor thing will only give you “rat-tat-tat-tat” and nothing else. So, if you get one, fire her up on a regular basis. At work I monitor ours as it test fires every Monday.
Fuel. How much fuel can you practically and safely store? Putting 500 gallons in the basement not far from the pilot light of your gas heater is a recipe for disaster. You need to rotate the fuel on a regular basis, as it doesn’t stay good forever. I keep fuel stabilizer in stock also, for “just in case”.
The “Beacon Effect”. Generators are noisy. After a major power outage, the sound of a generator in the darkness can act as a beacon drawing people to your location thinking you can or should help them, whether you have the ability and resources to or not.

You may have no clue who they are, what they are or if they can be trusted. Plus, you probably don’t have the goods in stock to feed a few hundred random folks showing up at your doorstep. Not all of whom may be “understanding” if you don’t just fork over the family food.

Though largely forgotten, this was a problem after Katrina and to a lesser degree occurred after Beryl also.

Here is a true example of how things can go wrong. One friend’s power was lost during a snowstorm, and he fired up his generator and all the neighbors came pouring in. Being kindhearted, he let them stay. Things went ok for a couple of days, until some of the men decided to hike a few miles to the highway, where they could see lights, go to the liquor store, come back and get roaring drunk. My friend told them if they tried that they would have to leave, as he didn’t want his wife and young children exposed to that, as you never know how people will react when they get “soaked”. Will they be sleepy, weepy, be the life of the party or want to cut you up for a chicken wing? They went ahead with their plan anyway, came back loaded so they could “get loaded” and my friend booted them out, and though some apologized later, some won’t speak to him to this day.

So, maybe you don’t want to advertise to the world that you are prepared. For not every visitor “behaves”.

Another answer, which I opted for, is an inverter.

One place I worked at had an equipment room which housed a hefty charger and inverter all tied in to 32 deep cycle batteries in parallel. This was to power the computer system and other key systems until the power was restored or they could safely power everything down for the long haul. This was well maintained.

At another place I worked they had a similar system, but it was not maintained at all, and all the batteries went dry, and the connections corroded, and the entire mess was covered with green goop.

I use a much smaller system using the same concept. In my case two deep cycle batteries in parallel powering is 2400-watt inverter. I periodically charge the batteries using a car charger, and if there was a prolonged outage, I can charge the batteries using the SUV as a charging station. At some point I may add a solar option.

With this I can power the freezer, let’s say hit it every four or five hours to chill it down. Also I can power the communications gear, which includes CB, GMRS, ham VHF and HF capability and the TV, which can run off an antenna if the cable goes out, for “situational awareness” and to watch The Young & The Restless.

And, I have my beloved lanterns!

But, let’s say the clock runs out, as the fuel runs out. What do you do then?

Let’s focus on food.

First, eat what’s in the fridge, as it will spoil quickly.

Cook and eat what you can and boil the eggs, so they will last a few days extra.

How are you supposed to do that cooking with the power out you might ask?

Simple, by using Coleman stoves, butane stoves, propane stoves, Sterno stoves. Camp stoves, solar ovens, grilling, campfires, a camping Dutch Oven with charcoal, etc. You can cook without electricity, and probably have in the past.

It’s like when we have periodic Snowmageddons. For whatever reason, folk, not only here in the South, but, also across North America, Europe and even Australia, anywhere a threat of a blizzard is mentioned, will rush to buy bread and milk. If you mention there are better options folk get defensive as one lady did when she said online “laugh all you want, my children are not going hungry”.

That’s great.

But, they could be having hot chili, soups, stew, chicken and dumplings, steaks, potatoes, bacon, eggs, anything that can be cooked over a flame, as you would on the blooming patio deck grill or if you were camping instead. Nutritious, delicious, beneficious, which ought to be a word, a veritable smorgasbord of culinary delights at one’s fingertips. You can have a steaming plate of pan seared salmon served in with garlic butter. Perched atop mashed potatoes with a side of asparagus. A toothsome, tasty treat guaranteed to tantalize the tastebuds and tickle the tonsils. A bonafide epicurean delight…but instead people choose….(sigh)…sandwiches….

Next is the freezer, which you should not open until now, as it’s the world’s best cooler. Go ahead and invite the neighbors over, as you are going to have to cook everything in it and there is no way you can eat it all.

After you have eaten your way through the fridge and freezer, next comes the cans and dry goods in your pantry.

You do have a pantry, don’t you? I do.

My Mom and Dad were of the Great Depression / World War II Generation. They conserved, took care of their things, gardened and preserved food, how to “make do with what you have” and believed in having a well-stocked pantry of food. They were not hoarders, but believed in being prepared, for “SHTF” was not a theoretical scenario to them, for they lived through the “real deal”. Economic wasteland and a nation and world at total war.

The children of the Great Depression / World War II Generation laughed at them for being hoarders and old fogeys. Even today a major insurance company has advertisements about “not being like your parents”.

But, the grandchildren of that WWII generation are actively buying books, devouring videos and earnestly trying to relearn the knowledge and skills that were common knowledge of their grandparents. For, the world is an unpredictably volatile place and being prepared is a prudent move.

Are you ready for life’s adventures and misadventures?

Hopefully I’ve given you some ideas to chew on.

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Mark’s Almanac

August was originally named “Sextilis”, the sixth Roman month. It was renamed August in honor of Caesar Augustus and lengthened to 31 days, to equal Julius Caesar’s month of July.

August is hot and humid and summer temperatures remain at or near their summer peak.

The rapid vegetation growth of spring is over, and, since conditions are now perfect for the growth of mold, fungi & germs, plants have a “used” look, which is enhanced if rainfall is scarce.

In August the choir of cicadas whine in the afternoon & towards the end of the month the big Yellow Sulphur Butterflies will begin heading to the South-Southeast, giving hints of their soon upcoming fall migration & cats will begin to hint of growing their winter coats.

Hurricane breeding grounds in August are the Atlantic, with Low Latitude “Cape Verde” storms forming off Africa crossing the Ocean and either threatening the Eastern Seaboard or striking the Leeward Islands, entering the Caribbean and then striking the Yucatan, or the Western or Northern Gulf coast. Breeding grounds also include the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.

August is second only to September in the number of Tropical Storms and Hurricanes. From 1851 to 2023 there have been 407 Tropical Storms and 254 Hurricanes, 84 of which made landfall in the United States, the most notable storms being Hurricanes Camille, Katrina and Ida in 1969, 2005 and 2021, which devastated Mississippi and Louisiana and Hurricane Andrew which ravaged South Florida in 1992.

21% of a year’s Hurricanes occur in August, however, 85 to 95% of land falling Hurricanes have not occurred by August 15.

Days grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily decreases from 74.4 degrees at the beginning of the month to 65.0 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight decreases from 13 hours 48 minutes on August 1 to 12 hours 54 minutes on August 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

August 1 Sunrise 6:00 AM Sunset 7:47 PM
August 15 Sunrise 6:09 AM Sunset 7:34 PM
August 31 Sunrise 6:20 AM Sunset 7:14 PM

Looking skyward, the Sun, magnitude -26.7 is in Cancer, The Crab.

Mercury, magnitude +0.7 in Leo, The Lion, is lost in the glow of the Sun

He will pass between the Sun and the Earth, or reach “Inferior Conjunction” on August 18.

Venus, magnitude -3.9 in Leo, The Lion, is lost in the glow of the Sun the first third of the month.

She emerges in the evening sky 8° above the western horizon around 7:42 PM CDT as the duck fades into darkness and sets 59 minutes after the Sun.

At month’s end she rises at 7:28 PM CDT, 9° above the western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness and sets at 20:16 PM CDT.

Earth, magnitude -4.0 as viewed from the Sun, and her Moon is in the Leo, The Lion.

Mars, magnitude +0.9, with his Moons Phobos and Deimos in Taurus, The Bull, is an early morning object.

At the first of the month, he rises at 1:25 AM CDT and reaches an altitude of 46° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:20 AM CDT.

At midmonth he rises at 1:05 AM CDT and reaches an altitude of 53° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:32 AM CDT.

At months end he rises at 12:43 AM CDT and reaches an altitude of 60° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 05:45 AM CDT..

Dwarf Planet Ceres, magnitude +7.8, is in Sagittarius, The Archer.

Jupiter, magnitude –2.1, and his 95 moons and (invisible from Earth) ring, in Taurus, The Bull, is an early morning object.

At the first of the month, he rises at 1:51 AM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 45° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:40 AM CDT.

On August 14 Mars and Jupiter will pass by each other, or be in “Conjunction” as they pass within 0.3° of each other in the predawn sky.

By midmonth he rises at 1:05 AM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 57° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:51 AM CDT.

At months end he rises at 12:11 AM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 70° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:02 AM CDT.

Saturn, magnitude +0.7, and his 146 moons and extensive debris ring system, is in Leo, The Lion.

He is a late evening and early morning object, becoming visible around 10:38 PM CDT at an altitude of 11° above the eastern horizon. He will reach his highest altitude of 49° above the southern horizon around 3:25 AM CDT. He will be lost as he fades into the dawn.

By midmonth he becomes visible around 9:41 PM CDT at an altitude of 11° above the eastern horizon. He will reach his highest altitude of 49° above the southern horizon around 2:27 AM CDT. He fades into the dawn around 5:34 AM CDT at 29° above the southwestern horizon.

At month’s end he becomes visible around 8:35 PM CDT at an altitude of 11° above the eastern horizon. He will reach his highest altitude of 49° above the southern horizon around 1:20 AM CDT. He fades into the dawn around 5:46 AM CDT at 14° above the western horizon.

Uranus, magnitude +5.8, and his 27 moons and ring, in Taurus, The Bull, is reemerging into the predawn sky.

Near the first of the month, he rises at 12:45 AM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 49 ° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:51 AM CDT.

By midmonth he rises at 11:51 PM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 62° above the southeastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:03 AM CDT.

At months end he rises at 10:49 AM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 74° above the southeastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:17 AM CDT.

Neptune, magnitude 7.8, and his 14 moons and ring, is in Pisces, The Fish,

At the first of the month, he becomes accessible at 11:56 PM CDT at an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon and reaches an altitude of 55° above the southern horizon at 4:05 AM CDT and fades into the dawn twilight around 04:51 AM CDT, 53° above the southern horizon.

By midmonth he becomes accessible at 11:00 PM CDT at an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon and reaches an altitude of 54° above the southern horizon at 3:09 AM CDT and fades into the dawn twilight around 5:03 AM CDT, 45° above the southern horizon.

At months end he becomes accessible, at 9:56 PM CDT at an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon and reaches an altitude of 54° above the southern horizon at 2:04 AM CDT and fades into the dawn twilight around 5:17 AM CDT, 32° above the southern horizon.

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

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

Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake with his moon S/2015 (136472) 1, nicknamed MK1 by the discovery team, shines faintly at magnitude +17.2 in Coma Berenices.

Dwarf Planet 136199 Eris and her moon Dysnomia, originally referred to as Xena and Gabrielle, is barely visible in the most powerful telescopes at magnitude +18.7 in Cetus the Sea Monster.

90482 Orcus, and his moon Vanth shines at magnitude 19.1 between Hydra and Sextans, The Sextant.

50000 Quaoar, and his moon Waywot shines at magnitude +18.6 in Scutum, The Shield.

90377 Sedna, the coldest, and at one time, the most distant known place in the Solar System, glows faintly at magnitude +20.9 in Taurus, The Bull.

225088 Gonggong, originally nicknamed Snow White by the discovery team, and his moon Xiangli glows dimly at +21.5 magnitude in Aquarius, The Water Bearer.

2014 UZ224 nicknamed “DeeDee” for “Distant Dwarf” is 8.5 billion miles from the Sun, at magnitude +23.1 in Eridanus, The River.

This dark world lies beyond the orbit of Neptune, orbiting 4,164,420,166 miles from the Sun.

The most distant man-made object, Voyager 1, still operating after 46 years, 10 months and 25 days is 14,214,591,428 miles, or in Light Time, 22 hours, 41 minutes and 14 Seconds from Earth as of 4:18 PM, July 27, 2024, sailing 38,027 miles per hour through Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer.
Voyager – Mission Status (nasa.gov)

There are 1,385,938 known asteroids and 3,975 comets as of July 24, 2024 per NASA/JPL Solar Dynamics Website JPL Solar System Dynamics (nasa.gov).

5,741 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of July 23, 2024, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/.

New Moon will occur at 5:15 AM CDT or 11:15 UTC on August 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 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 August 8, when she will be 251,841 miles from Earth.

The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks on the night of August 12 & 13, with 50 to 60 meteors per hour. This shower, produce by debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1862, ranks as the best of the best, famous for producing bright meteors. The shower runs annually from July 17 to August 24. It peaks this year on the night of August 12 and the morning of August 13.

The first quarter moon will block out some of the fainter meteors in the early evening. But the Moon will set shortly after midnight leaving dark skies for what could be an excellent early morning show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Perseus, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

First Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Western side illuminated, will occur August 12 at 10:19 AM or 16:19 UTC.

During the Quarter Moons the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

August’s Full Moon will occur August 19 at 1:27 PM or 18:27 UTC. August’s Full Moon was called “Fruit Moon” in Cherokee Folklore, “Women’s Moon” among the Choctaw, “Sturgeon Moon” by the Algonquin because the large sturgeon fish of the Great Lakes and other major lakes were more easily caught at this time of year. This moon has also been known as the Green Corn Moon and the Grain Moon and at one time was called “Dog Days Moon” by the Colonial Americans.

This is the first of four Supermoons for 2024. The Moon will be near its closest approach to the Earth and may look slightly larger and brighter than usual.

Since this is the third of four full moons in this season, it is known as a blue moon. This rare calendar event only happens once every few years, giving rise to the term, “once in a blue moon.”

There are normally only three full moons in each season of the year. But since full moons occur every 29.53 days, occasionally a season will contain 4 full moons. The extra full moon of the season is known as a blue moon. Blue moons occur on average once every 2.7 years.

The second definition of a Blue Moon is two full moons in a calendar month, but this doesn’t apply in this case.

During a Full Moon the Moon’s magnitude is -12.7.

The moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on August 20, when she will be 223,817 miles from Earth.

Last Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Eastern side illuminated, will occur August 26 at 4:28 AM CDT or 09:28 UTC.

During the Quarter Moon the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

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This month’s meeting will be on August 13 at 7PM at the NWS Forecast Office in Calera.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

Posted in ALERT Newsletter | Leave a comment

ALERT NEWSLETTER – July 2024

Published 07/01/2024 | By WD4NYL

Hi everyone & an early Happy 4th of July!

I hope you are staying cool and hydrated as we bake in the heat of Summer.

That time of the year you always look forward to has arrived!

Yes the time for ALERT dues! Yay!!!

To maintain roster records, according to ALERT’s constitution and bylaws, members who have not paid their 2024/2025 dues (which are due on July 2024’s meeting date, per Article IV), will be removed from the roster. After this point, these members may re-apply.

Members who are not current in good standing may be ineligible for Callouts, NWSchat access, officer positions and the right to vote in the monthly meetings.

In special cases/hardship, members may submit a confidential request to be considered by the board. Such a request will be kept ultra-hush-hush, and can be brought to any board member: (Currently Mark Wells, Russell Thomas, Roger Parsons, Johnnie Knobloch & Casey Benefield).

More on dues, including payment address, can be found in the ALERT Bylaws, on the ALERT-Alabama.org website under Join/Documents.

Join ALERT/Documents

The direct link to the application can be found at https://alert-alabama.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/Documents/alertapp.pdf

Existing members who are renewing can also use PayPal option via billrodgers1973@gmail.com

Also, if anyone would rather use Venmo, route it via @William-Rodgers-73

Until next month, everyone stay safe!

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Echoes Of Signals And Strange Squeals In The Night

I love radio. My first memorable exposure to radio, besides Mom listening to Elvis and Patsy Cline on WSGN, WVOK and WBRC, now WAGG, WJOX and WERC, was hearing the weird “tick, tick, tick at the tone eighteen hours forty six minutes Greenwich Mean Time” on my brothers Shortwave radio.

That was in 1963 and I was 5 years old. So, counting this as the start, listening to AM radio and discovering in 1967 that distant signals drifted in at night, which lead to AM DXing, which lead to Shortwave listening, then scanning, then CB radio, then ham radio, then GMRS and other realms, I can claim to have been “radioing” for sixty plus years.

To me having elevator music from CMBQ “Radio Encilclopdia” on 530 kHz in Cuba, oldies from CFZM “Zoomer Radio” in Toronto battling it out with talk shows from KMRG in Tulsa on 740 kHz or endless political blah, blah, blah from WBAP Dallas on 820 kHz, drifting into my radio fascinates me just as much today as it did when I was a teen sitting up all night listening, when I should have been sleeping. Now I can’t get enough sleep. “Youth is wasted on the young”.

Adding that I can talk to Africa using an antenna that looks like my Mom’s clothesline from back in 1968 and let’s just say that the love affair with radio is still strong.

In the course of time, you hear strange things on the radio. Not just meaning strange people either, which if delved into, would result in a 900 page article.

But, weird squeaks & whistles, for instance the squirmy sound that drifts up and down the 10 meter band when the sun is shining, and the band is open.

Some of these are just regular quirks of a band. Not unusual at all, but, first noticed, makes on scratch their head.

The secret of finding or noticing strange signals and things, is eliminating the normal signals and things. And this takes becoming familiar with the band or becoming a “Band Master”. Don’t Google the term. Just trust me, it’s real, or should be anyway.

Anyone can be a Band Master, that person you know who knows where to look when the band opens for strange or exotic signals and locations. And, it doesn’t take long to become one.

First, you pick a range of frequencies. Preferably not so large as to be unmanageable. Then you just listen. You listen regularly at various times as occasion permits and as you listen you note what signals, stations, nets or regions are there regularly, whether it is repeaters on 2 meters, nets on 75 meters, roundtables that gather at various times of the day or on HF recognizing that New England come in on 15 Meters at such and such times.

Within a week, maybe two you will know what to expect, who to expect and get a good sense of the propagation range and direction of signals at various times of the day.

Then you are ready to listen for signals that pop up where there is usually nothing or at times they are normally absent. Or signals that appear on regular frequencies, but not from the usual source.

For instance, did you know that a repeater from Illinois was booming in on the BARC repeater frequency on 146.880 MHz Monday morning on June 24?

If you did, and if you knew how to go to VFO or change your radio’s subtone from 88.5 Hz, (the Birmingham repeater’s tone) to 107.2 Hz, you probably could have been talking to folk on the Chicago 88 repeater.

The 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands are open far more regularly than most people realize. Especially from dawn extending to midday. That’s why it’s a good idea to not just program a radio and never venture from those preprogrammed frequencies, but, explore! Go to VFO and explore the band. You never know what you may find. From distant repeaters, long distance stations on simplex to the Zombie Liberation Army Nerf Gun Squad bootlegging on Baofengs, you never know what strange things you may find.

What is the strangest thing I’ve encountered?

Many years ago, in the mid 1980’s, there was a slow speed CW Traffic Net, the Alabama Emergency Net Delta, that met nightly at 5:30 local time on 3.725 MHz.

One fall night the Net Control Station began the net, and we thought something was wrong with his radio, because as he sent the CW characters there was still a signal to be heard that filled in the spaces between the dits and the dahs.

There was a fault that occasionally occur with transmitters where the transmitter will not fully cut off between CW elements, “backwave” if I remember the term correctly, and this is what we thought was happening.

But, then we noticed that the same thing was happening to every station checking in.

In those days we were using older analog equipment, and many times the frequencies were tuned by ear, rather than by dial, everyone was sending manually, and some transmitters had some quirks. So everyone sounded just a little different and distinct.

We heard a mirror image of each stations individual frequency, cadence of sending and if a transmitter was a little chirpy (due to a voltage regulator getting ready to kick the bucket) the image chirped right along. Sometimes it was so loud that it was hard to copy anyone.

We finished the net and the next night everything was back to normal, and it never happened again.

Some of those CW operators had been CW operators had been radio operators in the Navy during World War II (and could copy CW at 40 – 55 WPM be ear). They had never heard anything like this happening. In the years since, Google has not been my friend, in explaining this matter.

Signals can do strange things.

There is a Long Delay Echo which, if conditions are absolutely perfect, you can hear yourself at the end of a transmission 1/7 second after you unkey. In this case the signal has bounced off the ionosphere and the Earth repeated and has completely circled the Earth.

Sometimes a signal can have a metallic sounding “stutter” as it is being received via both the long path and short path simultaneously.

Sometime Medium Wave and Short Wave signals can fade and strengthen, sometimes slowly disappearing into the night, only to reappear a few minutes later stronger than before, or on VHF or UHF, flutter rapidly like a slow drum roll, as signals are arriving at the antenna from different points and a different phases, cancelling each other out and then reinforcing each other.

Signals can flutter bouncing off an aurora on the upper HF bands and 6 meters, sounding like you are violently shaking your head back and forth as you speak.

But none of these apply in this case.

One person on social media explained it to me that “under certain conditions an electromagnetic wave in the ionosphere is coupled into a slow-moving electromechanical wave for a distance, then de-couples into the electromagnet wave.”

It sounds reasonable. Especially since I have no clue what he is talking about. So, why not?

I don’t know.

If we had not been on the air regularly we would have not known whether this was something strange or just a regular occurrence. But, since we haunted that frequency and band, we knew something was afoot.

You have a window to a realm, an unseen world at your fingertips. Familiar, yet unfamiliar. Understood, but is it really understood?

This realm is waiting for your interest and exploration.

So, turn off Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the Young & Restless and turn on that dust covered radio and do some exploring!

Whether it’s peeking between the repeaters or plowing through the static on HF, you never know what you may find.

Oh, did I mention it’s fun?

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Mark’s Almanac

Originally called “Quintilis”, the fifth Roman month, Quintilis was renamed “July” in 44 BC in honor of Julius Caesar.
July is miserably hot, as land temperatures reach their peaks in late July through early August – the Dog Days of Summer.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac lists the traditional period of the Dog Days as the 40 days beginning July 3 and ending August 11.

The Romans on the other hand said that the Dog Days ran from July 24 through August 24, or, alternatively, from July 23 through August 23, coinciding with the Sun and the Dog Star Sirius rising at the same time & their combined heat supposedly adding to the summer misery.

As you endure this heat, remember to drink lots of fluids, hug the shade & avoid the afternoon sun.

Also please resist the temptation to take Fido for a walk during the heat of the day. Remember that the “official” temperature readings are taken 6 feet above ground level. It’s much, much hotter on the ground where Fido & Puss must walk with bare paws, where it could easily be 150 degrees.

Before taking Muttley for a walk, place your hand on the pavement and see how hot it is. If it’s miserable to you, it will be miserable to him also. Just walk him in the morning or wait until the sun is setting and it cools off to a tolerable level and try to stick to grassy areas. Then go have a good time together.

The last week of July is usually the hottest week of the year. Tropical conditions are dominant, with conditions similar to that of the Amazon Valley.

This is the time to test the “Brown Grass Theory”. According to this theory, if the grass remains green the temperature will probably not reach 100, but, if the grass turns brown, get set for triple digits. This is a local Birmingham rule, which the Old Timers at the Birmingham NWS, such as Frank Makosky and J.B Elliott used for years.

In July the least rainfall falls in the Northern Hemisphere.

Tornado activity drops sharply, with a 47% decrease nationwide. July has an average of 103 tornadoes.

Hurricane activity increases, but major hurricanes are not yet frequent. By months end, one hurricane will have occurred. Seven percent of a year’s hurricane total occurs in July.

July Tropical Cyclone Breeding Grounds

Long track hurricanes are possible, forming off the African coast and crossing the Atlantic, either to threaten the US East Coast, then eventually veering off towards Bermuda. Or in the case of “Low Latitude” storms, cross the Atlantic, strike the Leeward Islands; enter the Caribbean and then striking the Yucatan, or the Western or Northern Gulf coast.

From 1851 to 2023 there have been 130 Tropical Storms and 62 Hurricanes, 29 of which made landfall in the United States.

Among notable storms are 2005’s Hurricane Emily, the only Category 5 storm to form in July, reaching 160 MPH and striking Mexico.

Hurricane Bertha, a 125 MPH storm holds the record for the longest lifespan for a July hurricane, churning for 17 days.

Days grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon decreases from 79.6 degrees at the beginning of the month to 74.7 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight decreases from 14 hours 20 minutes on July 1 to 13 hours 49 minutes on July 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

July 1 Sunrise 5:41 AM Sunset 8:01 PM
July 15 Sunrise 5:48 AM Sunset 7:58 PM
July 31 Sunrise 5:59 AM Sunset 7:48 PM

Looking skyward, the Sun, magnitude -26.7 is in Gemini.

At the first of the month Mercury, magnitude -1.2 in Gemini, The Twins, is lost in the glow of the Sun.

He will emerge into the evening sky on July 4th, becoming visible at 8:25 PM, 9° above the western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness.

He will then sink towards the horizon, setting 1 hour and 17 minutes after the Sun at 9:17 PM.

He will reach his highest altitude above the Western horizon on July 13, reaching a low 10° above the horizon.

He will then fade from view, lost once again on the glow of the Sun, on July 15

He will reach her farthest distance from the Sun, or “aphelion” on July 27.

Venus, magnitude -3.9 in Gemini, The Twins, is lost in the glow of the Sun.

She will reach her closest distance from the Sun, or “perihelion” on July 10.

Earth, magnitude -4.0 as viewed from the Sun, is in the constellation Capricorn, The Sea Goat.

Earth will reach her farthest distance from the Sun or Aphelion on July 5 at 12:16 AM CDT or 5:16
UTC, when the distance from the Sun’s center to Earth’s center will be 94,510,539 miles from our home star, as she and the Moon wobble through space, the Moon tugging on the Earth like an unruly pup on a leash.

Mars, magnitude +0.9, with his Moons Phobos and Deimos are in Aries, The Ram,

At the first of the month, he rises at 2:15 AM CDT, 3 hours and 23 minutes before the Sun and reaches an altitude of 32° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:58 AM CDT.

At midmonth he rises at 1:52 AM CDT, 3 hours and 53 minutes before the Sun, reaching an altitude of 38° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:06 AM CDT.

By months end he rises at 1:27 AM CDT, reaching an altitude of 46° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:19 AM CDT.

Dwarf Planet Ceres, magnitude 7.5, is in Sagittarius, The Archer.

Jupiter, magnitude –2.0, and his 95 moons and (invisible from Earth) ring, is in Taurus, The Bull, is a predawn object.

At the first of the month, he rises at 3:29 AM CDT, 2 hours and 9 minutes before the Sun, and reaches an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:20 AM CDT.

By midmonth he rises at 2:47 AM CDT, 3 hours and 0 minutes before the Sun and reaches an altitude of 31° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:28 AM CDT.

At months end he rises at 1:54 CDT, and reaches an altitude of 44° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:39 AM CDT.

Saturn, magnitude +0.9, and his 146 moons and extensive debris ring system, is in Aquarius, The Water Bearer, and is an early morning object.

At the first of the month, he becomes visible at 11:43 PM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 49° above the southern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:59 AM CDT.

By midmonth he becomes visible at 11:47 PM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 50° above the southern horizon at 4:43 AM CDT, before fading into the twilight at 5:08 AM CDT.

On July 24 Saturn sit next to the Moon. If you were in Asia, he would be seen skimming just above the Lunar disk.

At months end, he becomes visible at 10:43 PM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 49° above the southern horizon at 3:29 AM CDT before fading into the twilight at 5:21 AM CDT.

Uranus, magnitude +5.8, and his 27 moons and ring, in Taurus, The Bull, is reemerging into the predawn sky.

Near the first of the month, he rises at 2:36 AM CDT, 3 hours and 3 minutes before the Sun, and reaches an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:28 AM CDT.

By midmonth he rises at 1:50 AM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 32° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:36 AM CDT.

At months end he rises at 12:49 AM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 48° above the eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:50 AM CDT.

Neptune, magnitude 7.8, and his 14 moons and ring, is in Pisces, The Fish,

At the first of the month, he rises at 12:08 AM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 47° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:27 AM CDT.

By midmonth he rises at 11:13 PM CDT, and reaches an altitude of 54° above the southern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:46 AM CDT.

At months end he rises at Midnight, and reaches an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon at 4:09 AM CDT, before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 4:50 AM CDT.

If one looks at the times given for the rising of Saturn and Uranus through the month: 11:43 PM, 11:47 PM and 10:43 PM for Saturn and 12:08 AM ,11:23 PM and Midnight for Neptune, one might think there is a typographical error. This is not the case.

Saturn and Neptune have entered a period called “retrograde motion”, where they stop their usual eastward movement through the constellations, and start moving westward instead. This apparent reversal of direction is a phenomenon that all the of the outer planets periodically undergo, a few months before they reach opposition, or the point exactly opposite from the Sun.

This retrograde motion is caused by the Earth’s own motion around the Sun. As the Earth circles the Sun, our view or perspective changes, and this causes the apparent positions of objects to move from side to side in the sky during a one year period. This nodding motion is super imposed on the planet’s long-term eastward motion through the constellations, causing them to appear to be moving backwards in their orbits.

A terrestrial example would be passing a car on the highway. Both are moving forward, but the car you are passing looks as if it were going backwards as you look at it through the side window.
This motion was known to ancient observers, and it troubled them to no end, as they could not reconcile this motion with their models which had the planets moving in uniform circular orbits around the Earth, since they believed that the Earth was the center of the solar system.

Saturn entered retrograde motion on June 29, will reach opposition on September 8 and will end retrograde motion on November 15, 2024

Neptune enters retrograde motion on July 2, will reach opposition on September 20 and will end retrograde motion on December 7, 2024.

Dwarf Planet Pluto, with his five moons shines at a dim +14.4 in Capricorn, The Sea Goat.

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

Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake with his moon S/2015 (136472) 1, nicknamed MK1 by the discovery team, shines faintly at magnitude +17.2 in Coma Berenices.

Dwarf Planet 136199 Eris and her moon Dysnomia, originally referred to as Xena and Gabrielle, is barely visible in the most powerful telescopes at magnitude +18.7 in Cetus the Sea Monster.

90482 Orcus, and his moon Vanth shines at magnitude 19.2 between Hydra and Sextans, The Sextant.

50000 Quaoar, and his moon Waywot shines at magnitude +18.7 in Scutum, The Shield.

90377 Sedna, the coldest, and at one time, the most distant known place in the Solar System, glows faintly at magnitude +20.8 in Taurus, The Bull.

225088 Gonggong, originally nicknamed Snow White by the discovery team, and his moon Xiangli glows dimly at +21.5 magnitude in Aquarius, The Water Bearer.

2014 UZ224 nicknamed “DeeDee” for “Distant Dwarf” is 8.5 billion miles from the Sun, at magnitude +23.1 in Eridanus, The River.

This dark world lies beyond the orbit of Neptune, orbiting 4,164,420,166 miles from the Sun.

Currently the most distant observable known object in the Solar System, Asteroid 2018 AG37, nicknamed “FarFarOut”, which is 12,392,647,939 miles or 18 hours, 28 minutes and 46 seconds from Earth, glows at a barely detectable +25.5 magnitude in Lynx.

The most distant man-made object, and the most distant known object in the Solar System Voyager 1, still operating after 46 years, 8 months and 22 days is 15,161,125,747 miles, or in Light Time, 22 hours, 36 minutes and 27 Seconds from Earth as of 5:17 PM, June 23, 2024, sailing 38,027 miles per hour through Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer.

There are 1,351,401 known asteroids as of June 23, 2024, per NASA.

5671 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of June 11, 2024 per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

New Moon will occur at 5:59 PM CDT or 22:59 UTC on July 5. 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 July 12, when she will be 252,457 miles from Earth.

First Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Western side illuminated, will occur July 13 at 5:49 PM or 22:49 UTC.

During the Quarter Moons the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

July’s Full Moon occurs July 21 at 5:19 AM CDT or 10:19 UTC, when the Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be fully illuminated.

July’s Full Moon is called “Buck Moon” in Native American folklore. This moon gets its name because the male buck deer begin to grow their new antlers at this time of year. It has also been called “Full Thunder Moon” & “Hay Moon”.

During a Full Moon the Moon’s magnitude is -12.7.

Last Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Eastern side illuminated, will occur July 27 at 9:54 PM CDT or 2:54 UTC on July 28.

During the Quarter Moon the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

The moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on July 23, when she will be 226,747 miles from Earth.

Though it won’t peak until the night and morning of August 12 & 13, the Perseid Meteor Shower begins July 17, and lasts until August 24. This shower, associated with comet Swift-Tuttle will peak at 60 meteors per hour in August.

The Delta-Aquariad Meteor shower peaks on the night of July 28th into the morning of the 29th.
This shower annually occurs from July 12 through August 23 is made up of debris from Comet Marsden Kracht and produces a ZHR or Zenith Hourly Rate of 20 meteors per hour.

The second quarter moon will block many of the fainter meteors this year. 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 Aquarius, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

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This month’s meeting will be on July 9 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast Office at the Shelby County Airport,

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

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ALERT / National Weather Service Birmingham Coverage Area

ALERT covers the BMX county warning area. Presently, this includes: Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Blount, Bullock, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton, Clay, Cleburne, Coosa, Dallas, Elmore, Etowah, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Jefferson, Lamar, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Marion, Montgomery, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Randolph, Russell, Shelby, St Clair, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Walker, Winston

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