Old Tip Of The Week 14


Sunspots & Cb Radio



Johann Rudolph Wolf
(1816-1893).

National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian Institution,
Washington D.C.
In 1848 Rudolph Wolf
devised a daily method of estimating solar activity
by counting the number of individual spots
and groups of spots on the face of the sun.
Wolf chose to compute his sunspot number
by adding 10 times the number of groups
to the total count of individual spots,
because neither quantity alone
completely captured the level of activity.
Today, Wolf sunspot counts continue,
since no other index of the sun's activity
reaches into the past as far and as continuously.
An avid astronomical historian
and an unrivaled expert on sunspot lore,
Wolf confirmed the existence of a cycle
in sunspot numbers.
He also more accurately determined
the cycle's length to be 11.1 years
by using early historical records.
Wolf, 
who became director of the Zurich Observatory,
discovered independently the coincidence
of the sunspot cycle with disturbances in the 
earth's magnetic field.
The Sunspot Cycle

The Sun Goes Through 11 Year Cycles.
During The 11 Year Cycles Peak,
Eruptions Of Solar Energy Increase.
Particles From These Eruptions Travel To Earth,
And Energize The Earth's Atmosphere.
The Increased Solar Activity Ionizes The Upper Levels Of The Earth's Atmosphere.
The Upper Layers Of The Atmosphere Become Reflective,
To Certain Wavelengths Of Radio Waves.
When This Happens,
Your CB's Signal Can Travel (Skip) Over 2,500 Miles.
The Conditions Fade At Night. 
We Are Currently At The Peak Of Cycle 23. 
Cycle # 23