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Largest Flare of Cycle 24 - Three M-Flares including an M6.4 have taken place around Sunspot 1045. The flare at 03:19 UTC Sunday is the largest solar flare of Cycle 24 thus far. Any earth directed explosions could trigger geomagnetic storming. The latest blast did trigger a R2 Radio blackout. […]

Sunspots are now starting to pop up in many areas on the visible solar disk. There is probably another sunspot hiding on the eastern limb as well. Sunspot 1043 remains a single sunspot. New Sunspot 1044 which formed just below 1043 has vanished for the time being. A few new sunspots formed on Friday evening. Click on the image below. There will be a small (3 […]

Sunspot 1043 which formed on Saturday has been fairly quiet. It has produced some B-Class flares and there will be a slight chance of a C-Class flare. […]

Solar activity has been very low the past 24 hours. Sunspot 1042 in the north is approaching the western limb. Sunspot 1041 in the south has been quiet as well. There will continue to be a chance for B-Class flares and perhaps a C-Class flare. […]

The new sunspot that formed in the northern hemisphere Friday morning was numbered 1042. It did show some growth during the day. Sunspot 1041 in the southern hemisphere has produced B-Class flare activity. There will remain a chance for C-Class flares and a slight chance for an M-Class event. […]

M2.3 Flare - The first M-Class flare of Cycle 24 has taken place at 13:41 UTC around the new region about to rotate into view on the Eastern Limb. Several C-Class flares have taken place as well. […]

What appears to be a solar flare has taken place off the eastern limb. If there is a sunspot hiding on the limb, it will rotate into view by next weekend. Sunspot 1040 is in a state of decay as it makes its way towards the western limb of the sun. There is still a chance for B-Class flares and a smaller chance of C-Class flares. […]

A C1.0 solar flare has taken place around Sunspot 1040 this morning. Sunspot 1040 has shown minor growth and is capable of producing C-Class flares. […]

Sunspot 1039 continues to persist as it approaches the western limb of the sun. Early Saturday, It did produce a C1.0 Solar Flare. The December Sunspot Number average was 15.7. This is the highest it has been since March 2008. […]

The plage region in the southeastern part of the sun is no longer spotless. As you can see in the latest solar images, a new sunspot group has formed. It has been numbered Sunspot 1039 and there is a slight chance for a C-Class flare. […]

Last year I posted results from a series of experiments on ground systems for vertical antennas. That series of reports was converted, with some modifications, into a series fo seven articles in QEX magazine. As of the Jan/Feb 2010 issue... […]

Last August the FCC renewed and expanded the license for the 600m experimental group so for this new season I have rebuilt my antenna and completely redone the station. The following is a description of the current antenna and station... […]

Earlier this year I posted a description of a simple clamp-on RF current transformer. Since that time I have updated the design with a much larger ID and the core held in a spring-clamp that allows easy on/off in the... […]

Earlier I posted a report on the work done last October on the 80m 4-square at NK7U. After that work there were still many unanswered questions so I and W2VJN went back to NK7U at the end of May to... […]

It's well known that a nearby tower can affect the performance of a vertical array but I haven't seen any articles which give an actual example. Last fall I made such measurements on an 80m 4-square which clearly show just... […]

Interaction between a vertical and a nearby tower can be a very real concern. I have done a short NEC modeling study on the subject which sheds some light on the subject. It's far from complete and I will no... […]

I mentioned on the towertalk reflector that I had been trying to make accurate measurements of resonance in grounded towers with large antennas systems on them. A number of people asked for the details. So here they are: Download Some... […]

I just realized that my weblog was open for comments. I thought I had it closed so I have not been reading any of your comments. Please send comments to n6lf@arrl.net […]

On Friday October 17th I'll be giving a talk at Pacificon 2008 in San Ramon, CA. The talk is just an overview of my recent ground system experiments. Here is a copy of the presentation for those who attended or... […]

I first posted this note some weeks ago with information on the relation between vertical height and radial lengths. However, that information was buried in one of the attachments. To make it easier to find I've extracted the parts relevant... […]