We're pleased to present: Episode #2 of the NW7US Space Weather and Radio Propagation Podcast.

How to Listen to This Podcast Episode

Details About This Podcast

In this episode, Amateur Radio Operator, Tomas David Hood, NW7US, interviews Art Jackson, KA5DWI, about the 2009 Sporadic-E season, and Art's five-year study of propagation using PropNET. This is Part Two of the interview; Part One was aired on July 18, 2009, in Episode #1 of the NW7US Space Weather and Radio Propagation Podcast.

Additionally, the past week in space weather and propagation is reviewed, and the outlook for this coming week is presented.

Do you have any thoughts, suggestions, comments, or questions about this podcast, or of the podcast, in general? Please use the feedback form to send your correspondence to Tomas, NW7US.

We're pleased to present: the Premier Edition #1 of the NW7US Space Weather and Radio Propagation Podcast.

How to Listen to This Podcast Episode

Details About This Podcast

In this episode, Amateur Radio Operator, Tomas David Hood, NW7US, interviews Art Jackson, KA5DWI, about the 2009 Sporadic-E season, and Art's five-year study of propagation using PropNET.  Additionally, the past week in space weather and propagation is reviewed, and the outlook for this coming week is presented.

Do you have any thoughts, suggestions, comments, or questions about this podcast, or of the podcast, in general?  Please use the feedback form to send your correspondence to Tomas, NW7US.

Welcome to the NW7US Space Weather and Radio Propagation Podcast, your source for current news, information, and insights about space weather, the sunspot cycle, and how space weather influences the propagation of radio signals.  Your weekly show is hosted by:

NW7US, Tomas David Hood.  Tomas is the contributing editor of the propagation columns in CQ Magazine, Popular Communications Magazine, and CQ VHF Magazine.  Tomas runs the popular HFRadio.org website, and is published in various books and other media.

KD7TZR, Leigh Hood.  Leigh is Tomas' wife, and co-host of the podcast.  Leigh enjoys the outdoors, and often camps in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana along with Tomas and family on regular mini-dxpeditoins.

Special guests appear from time-to-time, and will be announced on the episode pages.  Those being interviewed will also be announced.

How much credibility should we grant to the panel of solar researchers and scientists that again releases a speculative prediction of the new Solar Cycle (the 24th since accurate solar cycle records have been kept)? Panel chairman Doug Biesecker of the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center states, "If our prediction is correct, Solar Cycle 24 will have a peak sunspot number of 90, the lowest of any cycle since 1928 when Solar Cycle 16 peaked at 78."

NASA's lead representative on the panel, Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center, adds, "It turns out that none of our models were totally correct... The sun is behaving in an unexpected and very interesting way."

What I find entertaining is the self-importance prevalent in the solar science community, by both professional and some amateur participants. Pesnell states the obvious, "In our professional careers, we've never seen anything quite like it."

Yeah, how many solar cycles can one experience during their professional life? The average cycle lasts between 11 and 12 years in length. But the sun is millions of years old. In my view, it is pretty arrogant to postulate that mankind has any real understanding and handle on what the sun might do next. Pesnell, again: "Go ahead and mark your calendar for May 2013, but use a pencil."

If none of the models are totally correct, how are they making this current prediction with such dismal expectations? I'm not holding my breath in favor of supporting any of the predictions, at this point.