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CLUBS & GROUPS Amateur Radio Club Many of us who grew up in the country have fond memories of grabbing a plate of cookies and milk in the evening after chores, firing up an old tube radio, spinning the dial and then hearing hundreds of radio signals pouring in from all over the country — or the world if you were listening to shortwave. It was magic! But sometimes, the magic didn't work — all you could pick up was static or an occasional squawk from that big cloth-covered speaker… then you'd have to eat your cookies in silence. And the question was: what happened? It turns out that the magic of "propagating" radio signals over a long distance has a lot to do with the periodic appearance of large black circles on the sun called sunspots. When sunspots appear in large numbers, the upper layers of the earth's atmosphere become electrically charged and act like a giant reflecting pad, causing radio signals to bounce back to the earth's surface and sometimes then back again to the atmosphere for another bounce. These bounces are what cause radio signals to travel those long distances and also make Amateur Radio operators (Hams) very happy. We love to use our radio equipment to talk to people who are hundreds or even thousands of miles away! Unfortunately, the occurrence of sunspots that we'd normally expect now and for the next few years is unusually low — the magic just doesn't happen as often as some of us would like it to. So, if you see us wandering the neighborhood with hangdog expressions and far-away looks in our eyes, perhaps you could see your way clear to throw an arm over our shoulders, offer some reassurance ("It'll be okay")… and then invite us over for some milk and cookies. Our membership continues to grow… we now have 13 communicators, three of whom are women. We've also made great strides in preparing ourselves to support the community's Emergency Preparedness Program by developing a plan of action and participating in regular radio network practice sessions. It's fun! Come see what it's all about at the next meeting, Sept. 28, at 10 am in the Lodge Conference Room. ~ Jim Peterson, K6JWP 34 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | OCTOBER 2012