From a recent edition of [CQ]() I was reading today…

Projecting the Impact of a Geomagnetic “Superstorm”
Posted: Jan 23, 2009

As the sun begins to rouse from its prolonged quiet period at the bottom of the sunspot cycle, hams around the world are looking forward to the next solar peak and the big band openings on HF and VHF that will accompany it. But a big solar peak can also result in big solar flares, followed by big geomagnetic storms here on Earth. And that has some researchers working for the National Academy of Sciences very worried. Their report, funded by NASA and released in mid-January, looks at the potential impact of a “super solar flare” followed by an extreme geomagnetic storm. According to NASA, the researchers looked at a huge geomagnetic storm that took place in 1921 (estimated to be 10 times stronger than the 1989 storm that left six million people in Quebec without power for nine hours). They then modeled its likely effects on the modern power grid.

Conclusion: the electrical power distribution system is likely to collapse across the eastern one-third of the U.S. as well as the Pacific Northwest, leaving more than 100 million people without power! Projected economic impact is some 20 times greater than that caused by Hurricane Katrina.

So enjoy those sunspots, but just hope the sun doesn’t get carried away with itself!

Source is [here](http://newsvc.cq-amateur-radio.com/) if you go to “View All.”

That’s scary stuff! Let’s hope it doesn’t cause too much harm.

Uncategorized amateur radio, cq, electronics, ham radio, nasa, radio, storm, weather

I got my callsign today:

KB3RXM

Now, to actually buy a radio. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and I think I might be happiest with a home base station after all, even though I live in an apartment. I may buy a little portable station kit to build, but that will be secondary to the large fixed station. Now, I just need to figure out exactly what I want. Power is a pretty big deal since I think I’ll be in a pretty suboptimal antenna situation. I am going to probably purchase a HamStick antenna for the balcony as I’ve seen some evidence that it may perform pretty well out there, and it’s pretty stealthy.

I’ll probably be testing for my General license on December 6th in Reisterstown. That should be fun…

Uncategorized fcc, ham radio, images, kb3rxm, license, radio

I was listening to “Ends” by Everlast on the radio today on my way to work. It was going alright, but I noticed that there are quite a few things you can’t say on the radio that are surprising.

Things you can’t say

• whore
• drugs
• Colt 45
• balls
• green

Now, I realize that much of this has to do with context, but come on… You can’t say smoked the finest green? What’s wrong with the word whore anyway? Concubine is in the Bible, and that’s a synonym, so… Would it be OK to say that on the radio? Do we need to censor Christian radio when they say concubine?

So, I looked into it, and found this. Interesting…

Uncategorized life, radio

NPR just played a story on Tony Campolo, an Evangelical pastor. I really liked him – his views were actually thought out and valid rather than what I’m used to hearing from the Evangelical crowd. He even claims to have a wife that goes to an Evangelical church that supports gay marriage. I didn’t think these people existed! I love his views on abortion and gay marriage. He seems to support financial aid to curtail abortion, which is a very realistic point of view. Most of his fellow believers want to outlaw abortion outright, which will work just as well as prohibition did.

He states that the average woman receiving an abortion is lower to lower-middle class, and that usually their concern over cost of raising a child is that main incentive for aborting. This is a very good point.

When asked about gay marriage, he says that the government shouldn’t have any involvement in marriage itself at all, but rather grant all couples civil union and leave actual marriage up to the churches. This is a great idea – one I have never heard brought up before, and it would greatly benefit many couples, gay and straight.

I just hope that more people in the Evangelical community and especially in the Religious Right start absorbing this kind of attitude. Many of them are doing exactly what their religious leaders tell them to do, and not thinking for themselves. I’m glad at least a few can break from the herd and point out what’s wrong.

Check out his sermon podcast. I just may later tomorrow.

Uncategorized life, radio, religion