ALERT NEWSLETTER – September 2024

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

1. John
2. Robert
3. David
4. Michael
5. James
6. William
7. Richard
8. Thomas
9. Charles
10. Mark
11. Joseph
12. Daniel
13. Paul
14. Christopher
15. Steven
16. Matthew
17. Brian
18. Donald
19. Stephen
20. Kenneth
21. Jeffrey
22. Ronald
23. Gary
24. Andrew
25. Timothy

Top 25 Last Names

1. Smith
2. Johnson
3. Miller
4. Brown
5. Jones
6. Williams
7. Davis
8. Anderson
9. Wilson
10. Martin
11. Taylor
12. Thompson
13. Moore
14. White
15. Clark
16. Thomas
17. Lee
18. Nelson
19. Young
20. Hall
21. Harris
22. Lewis
23. Allen
24. Baker
25. 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.

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 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.

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 12,389,802 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.

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.

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