- Update On Radio Atmospherics And Propagation
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- A recent article in Nature Magazine (December 4, 2004)
and NASA paper sheds some light on atmospheric conditions which may be
affecting radio propagation. The paper (and remember, this is from NASA)
states that there have been recent 'cracks' in the earth's magnetic field,
allowing solar wind to pass through these cracks and drop into the atmosphere.
Naturally, satellite communications have been adversely affected, as have
radio signals in the HF frequencies (high frequency or short wave). These
cracks are analogous to cracks in the roof of a house, allowing the outside
conditions to enter into the house (the earth).
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- There was no word on what may be causing these cracks
or opening, except to say that they may last for hours at a time. The conditions
created allow ionized particles, highly charged ions, to hit not only the
earth itself, but of course, pass through the ionosphere. This has an affect
on communications by saturating the various layers of the upper layers
which affect communications. It may also adversely affect power generation
equipment and contribute to power outages.
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- How and why these cracks appear coincidentally with chemical
spraying of the atmosphere is not yet evident. However, data continues
to be gathered, and we will keep you informed as necessary.
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- Hams and short wave listeners have reported 'strange'
conditions in reception of late, with these conditions suddenly disappearing
in the past few days (between November 19 and to date, November 22). If
anyone has information on the dates during which spraying has taken place
in your area, please let us know the times, dates and places in which spraying
has been witnessed.
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- You may send this information to:
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- MortysCabin@aol.com
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- Your contribution of this information will be greatly
appreciated.
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- One last observation made recently by scientists, is
that global warming has actually caused an increase in carbon and carbon
dioxide in the earth's atmosphere. As various regions in the Arctic lose
the ice shield, flora, dead for centuries, are exposed, thereby causing
the release of CO2 at an even greater rate. It seems that we are doing
a great deal more harm to our beautiful planet than at first imagined.
It is now pay back time ... causing harm to us in spades. Perhaps the planet
is getting somewhat angry at us.
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- And who may blame it, for we are ruining the earth, ourselves,
the flora and fauna of our planet, for generations to come, if not forever.
Cogito, ergo, boom!
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- Jim Mortellaro
- -----
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- Note: At the time of submission, the sun had become slightly
more active, with half a dozen sunspots on the solar surface. While much
less in intensity than during the recent solar maximum, the reader should
know that this recent activity has no effect on the observations made.
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- I am an Amateur Radio operator. Been licensed since 1957.
Since I operate the low frequency bands, like 80 and 160 meters and enjoy
listening to long distance (DX) AM radio broadcasts (such as Rense, the
nearest station carrying Jeff is well over 800 miles away) I depend on
'skip' conditions which occur on these frequencies on a regular basis only
during the period of time the sun is in it's active phase. This past August
(2004) the sun was extraordinarily active. Now, the sun is at peace with
nary a sunspot on it's surface. It is in it's 'minimum' stage.
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- This means low frequency radio signals during the nighttime
hours are mostly local. On rare occasions, will these bands 'open up' to
skip and long distance (DX) conditions. The sun's cycle is 11 years. But
solar maximums and minimums will sometimes occur very close to one the
other. We appear to be at a minimum just 3 months after the solar maximum.
Not terribly unusual.
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- Now let's get to the point.
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- A look at the NASA sites show the sun as clear and clean
of sunspots as the sun can be. This past week, there was absolutely NOTHING
there. Nothing. That means the activity on low band radio frequencies,
from 3 MHz on down to about 1 MHz, should be dead. No skip, no long distance
stations coming in, nothing. Quiet.
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- Nothing could be farther from true. Listen in to your
own AM radio and see for yourself. Sunday night (10/24/04) produced a plethora
of stations coming in that should definitely not have been heard. Near
the 1500 and up portion of the spectrum, long distance stations (DX) were
blasting in as if they were local. This occurs only during Solar Maximum.
The Amateur 80 Meter band is bringing in stations from all over the world.
Not only has this condition continued, but it has increased. Stations on
the AM radio dial begin phasing in and out before 7PM EDST and continue
to sunup.
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- I was trying to listen in to a show I cannot receive
on AM radio one night. The closest stations and therefore the strongest
signals in my area, come from New York and Albany. Tonight, I could not
here those stations. I was hearing stations from Mexico, Canada, LA, and
points all over the compass including Canada.
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- A digression. When the solar maximum occurs, ionized
particles flood the upper atmosphere. These particles allow AM stations,
and Amateur radio stations from 80 through 160 meters to bounce off the
ionosphere, landing at great distances beyond the ground wave. The ground
wave for a typical AM broadcast station is normally in the 300+ mile range.
More or less. During skip conditions, the ground wave is less effective,
since the sky wave interferes with local stations.
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- A powerful AM station in New York such as WABC (770)
or WCBS (880) will fade in and out as stronger stations come in. And those
NY stations will actually cancel themselves out as the sky wave arrives
a little after the ground wave, causing phase differences sufficient to
reduce signal strength to near zero at times.
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- Don't give up now, people, there's a lot more to this
little tutorial than a lesson in DX radio conditions.
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- Here is the premise. If the sun is no longer active,
if the sun has a nice, clean surface, and if there are no other perturbations
affecting radio communications, then what the heck is causing this windfall
for Hams and lousy listening for AM radio?
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- Not a darn thing. Not a darn NATURAL thing that is. But
something is happening here and I think I know what it is, Mr. Jones. The
biggest phenomena lurking in our skies is Chemtrails. Chemtrails contain
at least one interesting element and that would be barium. Barium is used
as substrate material since it is not a conductor of electrons. Coat the
barium with other elements and voila, you have a great conductor.
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- I posit the idea that chemtrails may be responsible for
this bounty of good DX radio on the low frequencies. And to add to the
rationale, some high frequency bands are also active which should NOT be
active. These include the ham 10 meter band and even the Citizen's Band
11 meter band. This is quite bizarre. Low frequency bands open up BEFORE
8 PM in the Eastern Time Zone. This is not normal. DX continues until just
before daylight. Also quite impossible, since the sun is not active and
there is NOTHING else known to us which may cause these conditions.
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- It may be that chemtrails are specifically used to enhance
low frequency propagation. Or it may be that chemtrails have the side benefit
of creating superb radio propagation. For there is one additional observation
made by our local Amateur Radio Group. Immediately following a spraying,
band conditions open up wide. And not only on lower frequencies, but also
on some of the high frequency bands.
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- We are not speaking here, of some intermittent phenomena.
We are speaking of continuous, long distance low band radio communications
which should be rare to non-existent during this phase of the solar cycle.
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- Coincidence? Doesn't seem so to us. But hey, you never
know.
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- Jim Mortellaro
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- Notes: ARRL Antenna Handbook, RACES, AREC and Military
Amateur Radio Reports
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-
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- Comment
- From John Blanke
- jbjr@bellsouth.net
- 11-8-4
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- Hi Jeff,
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- I'm a longtime listener and fan of yours. You have very
informative information most times, but one such article I don't think
is very accurate. That is "Chemtrails and Radio Propagation".
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- I'm a ham since 1955 and I know propagation quite well
on the high frequency bands. While I agree that chemtrails do have some
impact on propagation. I don't think much has changed over the years to
point a finger at Chemtrails just yet. Therefore, I don't believe Mr. Mortellaro
truly understands propagation on the lower frequencies, 1mhz-30mhz and
maybe has another agenda afoot.
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- Here is a little rundown on what happens: When there
are lots of sunspots more of the layers of the ionosphere are ionized thereby
allowing long range communication on the higher frequencies, 10mhz and
above to about 30mhz. These are good during the daylight hours. Conversely,
the bands below 10mhz suffer with diminished skip capability and are only
nightime bands at best. The bands below 10mhz are generally nightime bands
throughout the sunspot cycle and are not very good for long range communications
during high sunspot activity, but they are NOT dead, just diminished in
range.
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- During low sunspot activity the reverse occurs. The bands
above 10mhz are very poor and the bands below are great at night including
the broadcast band.
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- As for the broadcast band you can hear skip most nights
throughout the sunspot cycle albeit limited during peak years of the cycle.
I know, I listen to WCBS on 880 most nights since I'm originally from N.J.
I live in Florida.
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- Now for an observation of Mr. Mortellaro. I looked him
up on the following link and found no one with that name as an amateur.
While I think Chemtrails are doing something, more to humans than anything
else, I think little has been shown to actually affect propagation.
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- http://callsign.ualr.edu/callsign.shtml
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- Sincerely,
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- John Blanke
- Melbourne, FL
- K2OAA
Comment
- From Jim Mortellaro
11-10-4
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- jbjr@bellsouth.net writes:
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- Hi Jim,
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- I read your article, "Chemtrails And Radio Propagation
- Some Observations" on Jeff Renses web site. Very interesting. You
mentioned you are a ham since 57. I've been one since 55. Just curious,
but what is your callsign?
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- John/K2OAA
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- I was going to respond to your commentary to my piece
on Rense, but frankly had little time. I do plan to respond, however, John.
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- First thing to explain is that I was not clear enough
to make my point to a technical audience. But then, Rense is clearly not
such an audience, and simplifying the explanations is often better. I recall
substituting for Hank Courten, the astronomer, at Adelphi when I worked
for Grumman years back. I was not aware of the level of knowledge of the
students, and so in an effort to simplify, I broke several laws of physics
to make the point.
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- Quickly however, there is a big difference between normal
DX, most especially on AM radio, which is normally in and out of the noise
level, and that very same DX blasting in as if it were a local station
... and staying at that level. During the daylight hours, three stations,
one in Albany, Schenectady and NYC come in here at about 10d. over S-9
(relative of course). At night, they are skipping in and out as if they
were those DX stations in the noise, and the distant stations at a relatively
consistent 10+ over S-9. BUT ONLY UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS WHICH I did
not mention in my piece. Chemtrails are the one variable, after subtracting
for solar activity, time of year, time of day or night and etc.
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- Now to your question. I operated for years under the
K2SPG call sign. I was about 14 at the time and in High School when I passed
my novice. After many years I moved to a condo and both I and the FCC lost
track. I allowed my license to lapse. I had forgotten all about it. Since
I was inactive, there was nothing to remind me.
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- Thanks to my friends at ARRL, I've been tutored on the
new rules, which frankly were not nearly as prevalent in the exams back
in the decades following the 50's. I passed my General and am waiting to
hear whether I passed the more advanced levels. I had to bolt after the
tests. Whether I continue with K2SPG or select another call sign which
is more appropriate for me, I am not certain. I always wanted W2 call letters.
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- Recently I have been involved in a study correlating
so-called "Chemtrail" activity across the USA with propagation.
I will explain the methodology in the response. I'm sure Jeff with publish
it.
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- There are about a dozen clubs involved. We have a database
which compares chemtrail activity across the nation with propagation between
NY and the chemtrail paths. The data shows a definite correlation. This
project is part of a contract I have with a client I cannot name as a result
of non-diclosure. When the study material becomes available I can send
it to you if you like, redacted.
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- Also, I now live on a small mountain in upstate NY. I
use more than ten acres on the very top of this mountain, three long wires,
two dipoles for 160 (E-W and N-S), same for 80 and a series of beams for
40 thru 10 meters. I rarely use anything above 80 meters, however. I have
the latest TenTek rig along with my old DX-40, three ARC-5's and a damned
good Hammurlund HQ 170 plus a Colins S-Line. I may be the only ham in the
world who still uses a straight key and recently bought a new, in the box,
1950 vintage Vibroplex I bought on EBay.
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- I also use two different verticals on HF (80 and 160).
After I decide on my call letters, I can make a sched with you on virtually
any band except ten and higher, which I never favored in the first place.
As for 2 meters ... God forbid. Back ten or more years ago it was just
bad. Now it's awful. As is 10 due to CB'rs able to obtain rigs with which
to operate on ham and CB frequencies. It's sad what's become of my (our)
ham radio these days. Clearly this is one of thereasons I stick to HF CW
which was always a challenge to me.
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- Thank you for your comments. Shortly, I will be on 80
and 160 on a regular basis. Right now, I have been blessed with some consulting
work which I've not had at this level in many years. Bush may have depressed
a lot of Dems, but business has picked up. RF com is one of my specialties,
specifying and managing the installation and testing of police and government
replacement of analog with digital and encrypted communications.
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- Jim
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