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!
op:
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!
op:
