ALERT NEWSLETTER – November 2020

“They say two-thousand-two-zero, party over, oops out of time.
So tonight I’m gonna party like its 1999.”
– “1999” by Prince & The Revolution 1982 (paraphrased)

My version of partying is of course writing the exciting ALERT Newsletter!

Hi everyone,

I hope this finds you well during these tumultuous times.

2020 has certainly proved to be the dud or all duds year wise, hasn’t it?

There are many who truly think normalcy as we know it, if not the world, ends in November 2020. In fact some jabronis almost act like mayhem and chaos would be a desirable thing. After all it all turns out good in the video games, doesn’t it?

I would worry, since everyone else seems to be, but, as I watch the events unfold, things my Mom taught me keep ringing in the back of my mind.

One is my Mom saying “most of the things people worry about never actually happen”, and she, who was born during World War I, lived through the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Vietnam years and the events surrounding them, was always singing “God will take care of you, through every day, o’er all the way; he will take care of you, God will take care of you.”

I do believe this. I’ve seen it prove true too many times not to.

Other things she said was “when the ‘wrong guy’ gets elected they never turn out to be as bad as you feared they would be. On the other hand, when the ‘right guy’ gets elected they are never turn out to be as good as you hoped they would be either.” She said this because I was upset because the “wrong guy” had been elected, who I won’t say, except to say that Carter turned out not to be that bad guy after all.

One story she told was that when she was a small girl the 1920 election was near and her Mom’s
lady friends were visiting and teasing one lady of a differing political view. They told her “you know they say that if Harding is elected he is going to have all the baby boys thrown into the Potomac like Pharaoh did in Egypt.”

The lady, easily duped, held her son closely and said defiantly “he’ll never get mine!”

Harding did get elected and the song floated around “Harding got elected, just as was expected. Hard, hard times.”, but, the country survived.

Nothing really changes, just the names.

For instance, in the 1800 election it was said by his opponents that Thomas Jefferson was “planning to close all the churches and convert them into ‘temples of wisdom’ and force all mothers and their daughters into prostitution”, it didn’t prove true.

One favorite memory of mine was during the 1964 election when Goldwater was running against Johnson and an advertisement ran with a little girl was picking petals off of a daisy and counting “seven, eight, nine” and she couldn’t remember what came next. The next voice was of a missile countdown “ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, for, three, two, one” BOOOOOM as the mushroom cloud appeared.

It was hinted that this was your future if Goldwater was elected and since Johnson won the office, I guess the advertisement was somewhat successful. We had no nuclear war. We got the Vietnam War instead.

These examples, along with a completely unrelated one which I will throw in for free, “don’t be the first to welcome new neighbors into the neighborhood. Find out if they are nuts first”, have taught me to be cautiously optimistic during times as these.

So, with the lessons of the past and with eternal hope for the future, I am approaching this time period with my “eyes open and ears peaked”, as one should always be “situationally aware” aka “street smart”, but, also maintaining a peaceful heart.

I hope this is the case with you also.

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August 21, 1945

August 21, 1945 was a momentous day in Amateur Radio history. For on that day Amateur Radio returned from the dead.

“Ham radio is dying”. How many times have we heard this? Well, twice in history ham radio actually has died, and that through no fault of its own.

The beginning of the first death started on June 28, 1914 when Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip of Bosnia. This assassination sparked a chain of events among the major alliances of Europe which resulted in Germany declaring war on Russia on August 1, 1914 in support of their Austria-Hungarian allies. France then entered the war in support of Russia as did Britain and Italy entered in support of Germany. The war then spread from a regional conflict to a global conflict as it spread to the countries overseas territories and colonies.

The UK worried about national security risks from uncontrolled experimental wireless transmitting stations around the country and them possibly giving military information to Germany. These licensees were ordered off the air and to dismantle their equipment. Most equipment was confiscated.

The US entered the war on April 6, 1917. On April 7, 1917 President Wilson ordered all private US radio stations to either be shut down or taken over by the government to prevent the airwaves from being used against the US by spies communicating with Germany and her allies. It became illegal for citizens to possess an operational radio transmitter or receiver. In fact in San Jose California it was declared an act of treason to possess radio equipment.

On November 11, 1918, at 11 am – “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”—a ceasefire came into effect, and World War I, which cost between 15 to 22 million souls ended.

When would Amateur Radio return? In some powerful governmental circles the answer would be “never”, as they wanted to keep the genie in the bottle. But in Congressional hearings after the testimonies of Hiram Percy Maxim and Guglielmo Marconi, it was agreed that Amateur Radio was an asset worth saving. So the Amateur Radio Service was restored on October 1, 1919.

In spite of the Great Depression and renewed saber rattling in Europe, all was going well with the world of Amateur Radio and there was steady progress in both technology and numbers.

On September 1, 1939 there were 52,000 US ham radio operators. On that day Germany invaded Poland, and soon the Soviet Union would attack Poland also, Britain and France soon declared war on Germany and once again a regional war grew into a World War.

As in the beginning of First World War, the US was neutral.

US hams remained on the air, but, were strongly discouraged from communicating with European stations or any British or German dependencies or occupied countries.

In June 1940 the FCC issued Order 72, which restricted US amateurs from engaging in foreign communications. The order stressed four major points:

“1. Do not contact any European station.
“2. Do not relay anything from one country to another: confine any international contact to technical subjects or trivial small talk.
“3. Do not use any code, use plain language, English recommended. Sign each transmission with your assigned call.
“4. Do not talk about the war over the air (even among yourselves).”

In February 1941, the US War Department, watching the world situation deteriorate, sent a questionnaire to every ham listed in the Callbook asking for information about their code proficiency, military status, occupation and dependents.

At 18:18 GMT, now UTC, December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Over the next seven hours there were coordinated attacks on US territories of the Philippines, Guam, Wake Island, and the British in Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong. Eight hours after Pearl Harbor was attacked the FCC issued Order 82 which suspended all amateur radio activity.

Unlike during World War I, hams could still use receivers. This was allowed so hams could listen for people not observing the ban, as they could easily be German or Japanese spies using the ham bands to conduct covert activities both in the US and abroad.

Hams, being knowledgeable in radio and operating techniques proved invaluable as they served in the military all over the world.

Veteran radio operators I met through the years still could easily copy CW sent 40 and 50 WPM by ear. it was a second language to them, as it, with their mentoring, eventually became with me.

As the war was nearing its end, unlike the situation with World War I, there was no doubt that the Amateur Radio Service would be restored. There would be shifts in some frequencies, the loss of one band, 160 Meters, a new band, 15 Meters and a new call area, the Tenth would be created because the Ninth area was running out of call signs. When you heard a Zero call, they are really in the Tenth Call District.

Hostilities stopped on August 15, 1945. On August 21, 1945, 12 days before the end of World War II, the Amateur Radio Service was restored.

Operations were initially limited to 112 – 115 MHz, the old 2 ½ Meter Band, other bands becoming available as the military relinquished them.

The Amateur Radio Service would soon have cousins, as three other radio services were also created, Class A, B & C Citizens Radio, not to be confused with the CB radios of today.

Established in 1948, Classes A & B were 460 – 470 MHz UHF services intended for short range communications, Class A being the forerunner of the General Mobile Radio Service or GMRS radios, and Class B being similar to the Family Radio Service or FRS radios of today. Class C was for non-voice radio controlled models.

Classes A & B proved to be ahead of their time, with the tube type equipment being bulky and too expensive for average use, and eventually the Class B service was discontinued. Class C, with frequencies in the 27 & later the 70 MHz bands still exists today.

Still wishing to have a short range, non-technical communications service, the FCC created the Class D Citizens Radio Service aka Citizens Band in 1958

Much to the chagrin of the hams of that day, the frequencies for this new service were taken from the 11 Meter Amateur Radio band, which stretched from 26.960 to 27.230 MHz.

The 11 Meter band was a secondary allocation in the realm of ISM or Industrial, Scientific and Medical devices and was never a popular band. Partly because it was not harmonically related the other Amateur bands, such as 160, 80, 40, 20 15 or 10 Meters, and largely because of interference from the devices of the primary ISM users which legally created hellacious broadband interference from coast to coast.

But, popular or not, the “we was robbed” sentiment help create the love/hate relationship that some hams have with CB (and by consequence, some CBers have with hams) to this day.

In the 1960’s CB was highly “legalistic”, it wasn’t until the oil shortage of the 70’s, Smokey and The Bandit and songs by CW McCall came along that it became a fad with 20 million users and it sank into the maelstrom that it, though the fad has long ended, is even today.

Why the FCC would put a service designed for short range communications in a DX band is a mystery to me. The upper Low VHF range around 45 MHz would have seemed to be a more reasonable approach.

It is still a valuable realm, however, especially on trips. I’m not allergic to having one, and in fact have had one since 1976. My family had them, and I would talk to my sister as she travelled a dark lonely road at night going to work to make sure she arrived safely. The call sign KAJD8693 predates WD4NYL by one year.

Interesting to note that even though a license is not required, and hasn’t been for years, and people believe that the FCC doesn’t maintain a CB call sign database, the FCC rules state in Part 95.417 “You are encouraged to identify your CB communications by any of the following means: 1. Previously assigned CB call sign”. So the old clunky thing is still valid.

Another interesting item from the late 80’s or early 90’s was when, since any form of malicious interference was blamed on “those darned CBers they are letting in”, the ARRL did a survey and found that 50% of active hams not only had a CB, but, were active on it.

That and the FCC finding that most of the interference was from long term hams whose brain cells had apparently been cooked by RF, granted the CBers a temporary reprieve.

In 1984 Radio Shack proposed a low power radio service for families and the Family Radio Service or FRS band was born. Intended for family use, businesses quickly found they could use it as a much cheaper version of a Business radio. Some describe FRS as a distant cousin of the old Class B service of yesterday.

The Class A service would see changes in bandwidth and heavy use by businesses until around 1987 when due to congestion in the available channels most businesses were forced to relocate to the Business Band to get interference free coverage and the service was renamed as the General Mobile Radio Service or GMRS, and repurposed for business and personal use, allowing 50 Watts output and repeaters. GMRS requires a test free $70 license, which is valid for ten years and covers the immediate family members of the licensee.

Initially FRS and GMRS had slightly different frequencies, with some overlap. Inter-service communications between the two services were technically illegal, but, that didn’t stop many.

In 2017 the FCC basically combined the two services, and though the FCC doesn’t designate channels as with CB, there are 22 combined channels and 8 more for GMRS repeater inputs.

Birmingham incidentally has no GRMS repeaters, nor does Montgomery or Mobile. Blount County and Tuscaloosa do.

The newest addition to the radio family is MURS. In 2003 the FCC created the Multi-Use Radio Service or MURS using some unused frequencies and “borrowing” a couple from the “Color Dot/Star” Itinerant frequencies. Which are business frequencies whose channels are identified by a dot or star on the radio.

MURS uses 5 channels in the 151 – 154 MHz range. MURS channels are according to the FCC “for license free short-distance, two-way communications using small, portable hand-held radios that function similar to walkie-talkies.”

At 2 watts, they have the same coverage as 2 meter HTs on simplex. Whether due to the limited choices of equipment available, or the fact that it is relatively new and not much discussed, there is not that much activity there. Walmart is aid to be one of the prime users, though I have yet to hear “cleanup on aisle 7” or any other radio traffic from them yet.

So, we have five services available, each with their own assets, quirks and foibles which we can use.

On GMRS, which I am licensed for, and FRS which doesn’t need one, you will hear various types of businesses and occasionally families. If you listen on a scanner, if a station doesn’t have a “roger beep or is strong, it is probably GMRS. If it “bledadeeadeps” at you, and is weak, it is probably FRS.
You can set PL tones on both to cut some interference, if needed. I run my equipment without a tone so I can hear what is out there.

Efforts have been attempted to make GRMS Channel 20, which is actually a made up name that seems to have stuck, to be considered the “travel channel and safety channel” with a “Trael Tone” or PL tone of 141.3. It would be a great idea, if it ever becomes popular.

On MURS, if you hear anything at all, it will be occasional business use.

With CB, you may hear anything under the sun, and with ham radio, well, if the truth be told, almost the same there also.

I’ve never heard anything on a CB that I haven’t heard on ham radio also. And, usually it’s my fellow Old Goats who are guilty, not the “digital, no code, mail order, drive through, weather wacko, CBers”.

 

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Mark’s Almanac

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

This second season is often more destructive than the spring season. From 1950 to 2018 there have been 275 November tornadoes in Alabama resulting in 52 fatalities and 1069 injuries. The third largest tornado outbreak occurred on November 24 – 25 2001 when 36 tornadoes occurred and 21 tornadoes occurred during the outbreak of November 23 – 24 2004.

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

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

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

From 1851 – 2019 there have been 100 Tropical Storms and 47 hurricanes, 5 of which made landfall in the United States.

Some notable November hurricanes are:

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

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

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

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

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

Figure 2 – November Tropical Cyclone Breeding Grounds

Both the Atlantic and Pacific Hurricane seasons ends November 30.

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

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Looking skyward, at the beginning of the month, the Sun, magnitude -26.7 is in Virgo.

Mercury, magnitude 0, in Virgo, rapidly emerges into dawn. Mercury will be at his the closest distance to the Sun or Perihelion on November 1 and by the morning of Wednesday November 4th he will be low in the east-southeast, well below Venus, about 45 minutes before sunrise.

In telescopes Mercury will appear at “dichotomy” or half phase on November 8.

On November 10 Mercury will reach “Greatest Western Elongation”, or his highest point above the horizon, in this case 19.1 degrees from the Sun. This is the best time to view Mercury since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the morning sky. Look for the planet low in the eastern sky just before sunrise.

Venus, magnitude –4.0, in Virgo, rises about an hour before dawn as the “Morning Star” and shines brightly in the east before and during dawn.

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

Mars, magnitude –2.0, in Pisces, is three weeks past opposition or the closest approach to Earth and is noticeably less bright. He is slowly shrinking in size, but is still large enough to display good surface detail when viewed with a telescope.

He is climbing higher in view earlier each night and by dusk is fiery orange in the east-southeast. He is highest and brightest around 10 PM.

Dwarf Planet Ceres shines at magnitude 7.7 in Aquarius.

Jupiter, magnitude -2.2 and Saturn, magnitude +0.6, sit together in Sagittarius in the west-southwest during and after twilight. Jupiter is the brighter of the two and they are only 5 degrees apart and closing.

They are sinking lower in the southeast in the evening and are growing smaller in a telescope.

Uranus, magnitude 5.7, in Aries, is high in the east by 8 PM. He appears as a tiny fuzzy ball, not just a point of light, at high power in even a good small telescope.

He will reach his closet approach to Earth, or opposition on November 4.

Neptune, magnitude 7.8, in Aquarius, is high in the south by 9 PM.

Dwarf Planet Pluto, with his five moons shines at a dim 14.3 in Sagittarius.

Dwarf Planet 136108 Haumea, its ring and moons Hiʻiaka and Namaka, shines at a faint magnitude of 17.3 in Bootes.

Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake with his moon faintly shines at magnitude 17.0 in Coma Berenices.

Dwarf Planet 136199 Eris and her moon Dysnomia is barely visible in the most powerful telescopes at magnitude 19.0 in Cetus the Sea Monster

The Last Quarter Moon occurs October 8.

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

The shower runs annually from September 7 to December 10. It peaks this year on the night of November of the 11th and morning of the 12th. The thin crescent moon will not be much of a problem this year leaving dark skies for what could be a really good show. Best viewing will be just after midnight from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Taurus, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on November 14, when she will be 222,351 miles from Earth.

New Moon will occur November 15. The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This phase occurs at 5:08 UTC or 12:08 AM CST. 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 annual Leonid meteor shower occurs from November 6 – 30 and peaks on the night of November 16 & the morning of the 17th. Though the Leonids are an “average shower”, producing only an average of 15 meteors per hour, they are well known for producing bright meteors and fireballs.

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

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

The crescent moon will set early in the evening leaving dark skies for what should be an excellent show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Leo, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

The Last Quarter Moon occurs October 21.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on November 26, when she will be 252,209 miles from Earth.

Full Moon will occur at 3:43 UTC November 30 or 9:43 AM CST November 29. November’s Full Moon is called “Beaver Moon” in Native American folklore, because this was the time of year to set the beaver traps before the swamps and rivers froze. It has also been known as the Frosty Moon and the Hunter’s Moon.

Also on November 30 there will be a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse. A Penumbral Lunar Eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth’s partial shadow, or penumbra. During this type of eclipse the Moon will darken slightly but not completely.

The eclipse will be visible in North and South America, Australia, and parts of Asia.

In Birmingham the eclipse will begin at 1:32 AM CST or 7:32 UTC.
Maximum eclipse will occur at 3:43 AM CST or 9:43 UTC
The eclipse ends at 5:53 CST or 11:53 UTC.

4296 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of October 22, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/.

Finally, don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour at 2 AM, Sunday morning November 1st, as Daylight Savings Time ends and the clock goes back to the way the Good Lord intended.

Look up Hezekiah 4:7, I dare you.

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This month’s meeting will be on November 10 at 7PM.

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

Details and instructions will be issued as the time nears.

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

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter
wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

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