Ham Radio – A contact sport

Sunspot #1016 was just identified – it’s interesting for several reasons:

1. It’s a Cycle 23 spot… this means that Solar Cycle 23 has now lasted roughly 13 years.
2. It’s May 1st and we’ve already had 104 days without sunspots. 88% of 2009 has been without sunspots and now we get one but it’s from the last solar cycle? Odd.
3. Some (N4ZO) on the internet have claimed this could be the start of another Dalton Minimum (a period of drastic global cooling that could last 20+ years). OK – that could be a bit alarmist.

One thing is for certain… there is a lot to be learned about the sun. We haven’t even scratched the surface (so to speak) of solar propagation forecasting.