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Perihelion vs Aphelion

Robb

Honorary Member Silent Key
Dec 18, 2008
11,432
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Silicon Valley CA, Storm Lake IA
If you are a radio newbie/beginner and are talking skip, you might find this interesting:

The Earth is not in a round-shaped orbit around the Sun.
It is more of an egg shaped - or 'elliptical' shaped orbit.

"...The Sun isn't quite at the center of a planet's elliptical orbit. An ellipse has a point a little bit away from the center called the "focus". The Sun is at the focus of the ellipse. Because the Sun is at the focus, not the center, of the ellipse, the planet moves closer to and further away from the Sun every orbit. The close point in each orbit is called perihelion. The far away point is called aphelion...."
Elliptical Orbits

"Perihelion" = Closest point of the Earth's orbit - to the Sun.
"Aphelion" = Farthest point of the Earth's orbit - to the Sun

Keep this in mind as I write here...
We are still far away from our closest point to the Sun - in our elliptical journey around each year.

Although skip conditions have been very decent so far -as the solar minimum has already hit its low point- it is returning and heading for a peak sunspot activity in the next 5 years. Scientists are aware that every 11 years the sun will go thru a predictable period of many sunspots to few sunspots. We have just past the minimum point and will be going back up to the maximum sunspot activity in 5 years. It has just begun to rise twards the maximum, and it looks pretty decent so far. Besides that fact, there is something else to consider next.

As we approach the Summer Sun, we will be much closer to the Sun than we are presently. The electrons spewed from the sunspot activity will be far more intense in the next six months. Intense - because there will be less scattering of these free electrons. In much the same way that a shotgun blast will be conentrated 20 yards away instead of 100 yards away.

It is the 'shower' of these electrons that reach the Earth:
That charge up the Ionosphere
That in turn allows radio waves to bounce between the Earth's surface and the Ionosphere
That creates these 'skip conditions'.

My point is this: If we thought we are experiencing great conditions so far - just wait a few months until we get more concentrated doses from the Sun as we get closer to it. At the present rate, skip conditions should be getting better every day as we get closer to Summer. Of course, the Sun will need to cooperate and continue to produce sunspots consistenly. Not every day of the month will produce - but it is bound to be better each time the Sun does produce sunspots. This isn't guessing; it is just plain science fact. If it does; then skip conditions will have to get stronger and better in the coming days ahead. This is potentially an exciting situation for anybody in the radio hobby - regardless if one is a Ham or a CBer.

Surf is UP!
:pop:
 

:oops: Ahem, back to grade school science class for you Robb. The Earth is CLOSER to the sun in the WINTER months, not the summer.

WikiAnswers - When is the earth closest to the sun


A lot of people think it is hotter here in the summer because we are closer to the sun then but that is not true. It is hotter in the northern hemisphere in the summer because of the tilt angle the Earth presents to the sun at that time.The southern hemisphere is cooler at that time as well.
 
i would have to say Perihelion because of the very higher and more focesed radiation levels of solar flares, which therefore is so much better for skip conditions ..


hey guys you remember the early 1990's .


ohhhhh my god my friends base station got cut going to me from GI Joe in tennesse .
wowwwwwww.
 
:oops: Ahem, back to grade school science class for you Robb. The Earth is CLOSER to the sun in the WINTER months, not the summer.

WikiAnswers - When is the earth closest to the sun


A lot of people think it is hotter here in the summer because we are closer to the sun then but that is not true. It is hotter in the northern hemisphere in the summer because of the tilt angle the Earth presents to the sun at that time.The southern hemisphere is cooler at that time as well.

Thank You for the correction.
I was under the impression it was the other way around.
As Rosanne Rosanna D'anna once said: "It's always something..."
 
The important thing here is that the sun's mojo is starting to get fired up!

Dr. Evil: Mojo: The libido. The life force. The essence. The right stuff. What the French call a certain... I don't know what.



Ivana: Do you know how we keep warm in Russia?
Austin: I can guess, baby.
Ivana: We play chess.
Austin: I guessed wrong.


Austin: I've lost my mojo.
Felicity Shagwell: Oh, so that's why you...
Austin: Yes! Yes!
Felicity Shagwell: [smiles] I thought you didn't like me!
Austin: Oh no, baby. You're very shagadelic. I just didn't want to fall in love again, and I thought you'd never love me without my mojo. It's not you. You're fab, you're switched on, you're a bit of alright! YES!
 
Thank You for the correction.
I was under the impression it was the other way around.
As Rosann Rosanna D'anna once said: "It's always something..."

If that were the case then the northern and southern hemispheres would have the same seasons at the same time. The seasons are caused by the angle that the suns rays hit the earth. In the summer months the suns rays travel through less atmosphere as they are more directly aimed at the planet rather than at an angle and are attenuated and scattered less. The further north you go the greater the angle of incidence and thus the greater the atmosphere the rays have to travel through to reach the planet.
 
too much of a good thing perhaps

I am looking forward to the changing conditions.

well, for some of you this will be your 1st active cycle.

when you turn on your rig, the s-meter will be pegged @ max.
you won't be able to hear someone 5 miles away, but you will can work someone 1/2 way around the world.

after a while, you may get sick of it:headbang

:pop::pop:
 
Yep, I remember when I first go on, during a slump. Nothing to hear, just a few locals...then I tried it again years later, nothing but needle burrying noise. Could not hear a single local over all that ruckuss.
 
well, for some of you this will be your 1st active cycle.

when you turn on your rig, the s-meter will be pegged @ max.
you won't be able to hear someone 5 miles away, but you will can work someone 1/2 way around the world.

after a while, you may get sick of it:headbang

:pop::pop:

Well I hope it doesn't get quite that bad. But I do look forward to the opportunity to talk to people in other places. I was big into CB in the late 70's and early 80's and had a nice collection of QSL cards that over the years got misplaced. I wish I could find them to see all the places I talked to back then. Anyway I guess we will see what conditions we get as time goes by.
 
The years 97, 98 and 99 were pretty amazing for me. I had just a modest station for 11 meters (RCI 2950, Palomar 225, D104, A99 @30 feet) but I could work all continents pretty much at will up on the freeband. More often than not, I could establish the contact then turn the amp off and chat with armchair copy to my favorite places (UK, EU, AUS/NZ, Hawaii, Caribbean, Africa, Asia). France on 5 watts PEP is pretty cool, especially given that the A99 is very much a compromise antenna. My neighbor with a Moonraker 4 @110 feet always kept me humble, lol. But it always blew me away back then that you could work QRP or at least 100 watts or less and be heard globally!
 
The years 97, 98 and 99 were pretty amazing for me. I had just a modest station for 11 meters (RCI 2950, Palomar 225, D104, A99 @30 feet) but I could work all continents pretty much at will up on the freeband. More often than not, I could establish the contact then turn the amp off and chat with armchair copy to my favorite places (UK, EU, AUS/NZ, Hawaii, Caribbean, Africa, Asia). France on 5 watts PEP is pretty cool, especially given that the A99 is very much a compromise antenna. My neighbor with a Moonraker 4 @110 feet always kept me humble, lol. But it always blew me away back then that you could work QRP or at least 100 watts or less and be heard globally!


You said it. I remember when I was 14 having a 23 ch Midland 13-898B SSB base and a 5/8 wave groundplane from Radio Shack. This was back in the late 70's early 80's. I used to listen to all the European DX and wish I had a beam so I could talk to them.A friend finally convinced me to give it a try.I haven't looked back since. My very first QSL card ever was from NK-166 in Nanortalik Greenland and my second was from a station called Dixie-Delta in Capetown South Africa. Both were on SSB and the regular 23 channels. Ahhhhh.......the memories. (y)
 

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