BIG Trouble on the Way?

A big sunspot is emerging over the sun's southeastern limb, and it is crackling with activity. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded a surge of extreme ultraviolet radiation from the sunspot's magnetic canopy on March 21st.
This appears to be the return of old sunspot 1165, last seen in early March when it formed on the sun's southwestern limb. Since then it has been transiting the far side of the sun, apparently growing in size and restlessness. The potential for trouble will become more clear in the hours ahead as the active region emerges in full. Stay tuned.

Tsunami Climbing: Ship heading into wave in Japan

The Japanese Coast Guard released footage of a ship in the ocean during the tsunami.

PRESTO ALERT

Rare event 03 21 2011 0957 UTC: Proton flux increased; storm threshold not reached. Back-sided plasma cloud came into view of STEREO B COR2 @ 0254 UTC maybe associated w/proton levels. Earth is magnetically connected w/source site behind Sun. Parker spiral has bended magnetic field lines that guide the electrically charged protons. Earth is near such field lines along which these protons travel. This is a rare event.

SIDC - Solar Influences Data Analysis Center - Homepage

PRESTO Alert

Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival Special Event Station

Amateur Radio at Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival
Moray Firth Amateur Radio Society is celebrating the Spirit of Speyside Whiskey Festival by running three Special Event stations, one located at Strathisla distillery in Keith (call-sign GB3SWF) another located at the Craigellachie Distillery (call-sign GB2SWF) and a third at Glenfarclas Distillery (probably GB4SWF).

The objective of this exercise is to contact as many amateur radio stations as possible, worldwide, to promote Scotland’s iconic dram – malt whiskey. Each station will operate on the Shortwave (HF) bands, principally 80m, 40m and 20m SSB, and also on VHF when possible.

A commemorative QSL card will be sent to all stations that contact the club during the weekend and the station with the most confirmed number of contacts will also win a bottle of malt whiskey. There will be prizes of miniature bottles of malt whiskey sent to the top listed stations in the countries of the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland, & Northern Ireland).

The Spirit of Speyside Whiskey Festival is held each year during the first long weekend in May (28 April to 2 May 2011), it creates an opportunity for visitors to enjoy a visit to Speyside before the start of the main tourism season.

The Festival invites visitors to celebrate Scotland’s national drink through an inventive and wide-ranging program of whiskey-inspired events – some educational, all of them fun.
Further details can be found on their website www.spiritofspeyside.com
source

Big Eruption on the Sun 3/19/11

ICONIC ERUPTION: A huge filament of magnetism and hot plasma blasted off the sun's southwestern limb on March 19th around 1200 UT. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the action.
The eruption was not Earth-directed, but it did attract plenty of attention on our planet. Many amateur astronomers in Europe witnessed the blast and said it was the biggest one they'd ever seen. This event continues the recent trend of increasing solar activity, and shows anew that Solar Cycle 24 is gaining steam after a long period of relative quiet.
source

Super Moon; What's So Super?

Very cool e-mail I just got.

"On Saturday night, the moon will arrive at perigee at 19:09 UT (3:09 p.m. Eastern Time). Its distance from the Earth at that moment will be 221,565 miles. But just over three years ago, on Dec. 12, 2008, which was also the night of a full moon, the moon reached perigee at 21:39 UT (4:39 p.m. Eastern Time) at a distance of 221,559 miles, about 6 miles closer than Saturday night's perigee distance."
"Chester points out that on Dec. 12, 2008, the moon reached fullness at 16:37 UT, while perigee was at 21:39. That's a difference of just over five hours. So when the moon turned full that night, it was still five hours away from reaching its closest point to Earth; its distance at the moment it turned full was 221,587 miles.
In contrast, today's full moon occurs at 18:10 UT, while perigee occurs at 19:09; the difference being less than an hour. So today, when the moon officially turns full, its distance from Earth will be 221,566 miles.
So even though the moon actually came a little closer to Earth in December 2008, if we compare distances when the moon officially turns full, today's full moon wins out by a scant 21 miles. "
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/...permoon-super/

This Weekends Contest.

10-10 Int. Mobile Contest Mar 19
BARTG HF RTTY Contest Mar 19-21
Feld Hell Sprint Mar 19
Russian DX Contest Mar 19-20
Oklahoma QSO Party Mar 19-20
AGCW VHF/UHF Contest Mar 19
Virginia QSO Party Mar 19-21
North Dakota QSO Party Mar 19-20
UBA Spring Contest, 6m Mar 20
Run for the Bacon QRP Contest Mar 21
Bucharest Contest Mar 21

Full Calendar; click here

Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant; UPDATE 3/19/11

I am encouraging everyone to avoid the media reports in regards to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
I truly feel that the media is placing fear into those who do not understand what is going on.
I recommend the following sites.

IAEA; International Atomic Energy Agency
Click here
Japanese Earthquake Update (19 March 2011 12:00 UTC)

Contamination in Food Products around FukushimaJapanese Earthquake Update (19 March 2011 12:00 UTC)

Click here

NEI; Nuclear Energy Institute
click here

Fukushima Nuclear Plant Update 3/18/2011

I am avoiding the media reports covering the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants. I feel that the NEI and the IAEA provide better reports with out the drama and hype.

NEI-Nuclear Energy Institute

IAEA-International Atomic Energy Agency


Top Story | 18 March 2011
Japan Earthquake Update

18 March 10:15 UTC: Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA that new INES ratings have been issued for some of the events relating to the nuclear emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi and Daini nuclear power plants. Read more →

Information on the Japanese Earthquake and Reactors in That Region

ICOM & Kenwood Shutdown Factories Due to Events in Japan

Yesterday I posted an e-mail sent to me informing that Yaesu has shut down its factory in Japan due to last weeks Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear event.
Today I-Com and Kenwood have been added to the list.

From the Icom press release at
http://www.icomamerica.com/en/features/earthquake.aspx

On March 11, northern Japan was struck by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded. Icom Inc. is an international company with its home base in Japan.

Fortunately, no one from Icom is known to be injured. There are no damages reported at Icom's headquarters in Osaka or at either of our two main factories in Wakayama. Both Osaka and Wakayama are located far south of the most severely affected areas. Icom did suffer some minor damage at our Tokyo and Sendai branch offices.

Most of Icom's facilities and systems are ready to get back to normal business. However, supplier logistics, commuting issues and future power disruptions will affect our company. It is too soon to tell how big an impact the earthquake and its aftermath will have on Icom. We appreciate your interest and concern for Icom Inc. and will update you as information becomes available.

We are fortunate that most of the Icom family has so far survived this crisis intact. Other families have not been so fortunate, and many lives have been lost. Crisis relief donations are requested through the American Red Cross at http://www.redcross.org/ . Google has also posted a helpful crisis response page on how to get involved.

The Kenwood statement says
http://www.kenwoodusa.com/NewsArchiv...1-bb97d0fff096

“Thankfully, our staff in Japan is safe due to earthquake preparedness and the special construction of our buildings,” said Junji Kobayashi, President of Kenwood USA Corporation. “Power outages and interruption of mass transit have kept most of Kenwood’s staff at home since the earthquake however we expect the infrastructure to improve in the coming week and our operations to fully resume accordingly. We appreciate the concern for our employees expressed by all those who have contacted us.”

Yaesu Fukushima Factory Shutdown

CQ Newsroom reports that production of Yaesu Amateur Radio equipment at Vertex Standard's factory in Fukushima, Japan, has been temporarily halted due to earthquake damage

In an open letter to the amateur radio community, Vertex Standard CEO and President Jun Hasegawa expressed his gratitude for the many "kind words and thoughts about us during this difficult time." He reports that all Vertex Standard employees and their families are OK, although the company has not been able to reach its many dealers and subcontractors located near the coast. "We just hope that they are alive," he writes.

Read the CQ Newsroom story at
http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/2011/...roduction.html

It is understood the factory is just 60km from the quake-stricken nuclear reactors.

Source; this was e-mailed to me by several and I also see it is posted on
Southgate Amateur Radio News and QRZ

Could the Next Major Earthquake Be in California?

I have read his book, "Krakatoa": The Day the World Exploded: Excellent book.


Here is a link to Amazon.com for Simon Winchester's
book, Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: click here

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant; How to Fix it

Chernobyl, USSR, April of 1986.
I remember the event being on the news and also remember talking about it with my teachers, I was in my senior year of High School.

I can remember hearing about the fires and the firefighters pumping water into the reactors and fighting the fires for days.

Now with what is going on in Japan at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, firefighters are dumping Sea water into reactor 2 after its fuel rods were fully exposed twice.

Is it time for Japan to consider what they did in Chernobyl?
YES IT IS!!!
What I see happening in Japan is they are going to screw around trying to save this plant and the situation will get away from them. They need to act NOW and seal it.

The reactors were entomb in concrete forever in Chernobly.
5,000 tons of boron compounds, dolomite, sand, clay, and lead were dropped onto the reactor. Boron was used because it strongly absorbs neutrons and thus stops a chain reaction. Lead melts easily, and they hoped it would flow over the top to keep air out and thus stop the burning. The dolomite, sand, and clay were to smother the fire. The helicopter pilots had to fly into the rising plume of radioactive dust, exposing many of them to heavy doses of radiation that later proved fatal. As a result of their heroism, the discharge of radioactive dust dropped sharply by May 6.

Related News Updates

ANOTHER PLANT EXPLOSION...
Firefighters battle blaze at reactor...
Rods fully exposed for 2.5 hours...
Spewing radiation...
Higher radiation recorded north of Tokyo...
RACE TO SAVE THE REACTORS...
Japan Asks USA To Help...
WRAP...
BBC LIVE... REUTERS LIVE... KYODO WIRE...
QUAKE MAPS, DETAILS...
PM Kan asks public to act calmly...

Japan Earthquake Frequencies

As Japan continues to weather the events of the last 5 day I sit here and continue to pray for the entire country as well as friends and family I have there.

Amateur Radio Operators are gathering and exchanging emergency information on the following frequencies.

Please keep DXing and Rag-chewing clear of these frequencies.
3525KHz+/-5KHz
7030KHz+/-5KHz
14.100MHz+/-10KHz
21.200MHz+/-10KHz
28.200MHz+/-10KHz
50.100MHz? 51.000MHz? 51.500MHz
144.100MHz? 145.000MHz? 145.500MHz
430.100MHz? 433.000MHz? 433.500MHz

Thank you for your cooperation.

March 19 Super Moon

With all that is happening in Japan I can not help as to wonder.............
There’s a Super-Moon on the rise next week, Saturday, March 19 and according to Internet buzz, it’ll bring a scary surge in natural disasters around the globe.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/03/12/supermoon-cause-moonquakes-scientist-says/#ixzz1GT1M5sec