[Ccarc] FW: ARLP033 Propagation de K7RA

[Tom Murray]

>From: "ARRL Web site" <memberlist at www.arrl.org>
>To: kb9wsl at hotmail.com
>CC: Subscribed ARRL Members:;
>Subject: ARLP033 Propagation de K7RA
>Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 09:30:36 -0400
>
>SB PROP @ ARL $ARLP033
>ARLP033 Propagation de K7RA
>
>ZCZC AP33
>QST de W1AW
>Propagation Forecast Bulletin 33  ARLP033
>From Tad Cook, K7RA
>Seattle, WA  August 15, 2006
>To all radio amateurs
>
>SB PROP ARL ARLP033
>ARLP033 Propagation de K7RA
>
>This is a special early edition of the propagation bulletin, three
>days before the regular Friday publication schedule.  The regular
>bulletin will appear on Friday, August 18.
>
>A newspaper article on Monday out of New Zealand reported a proposed
>Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project that could
>cause major worldwide disruptions to HF radio communication and GPS
>navigation.  The ''Radiation Belt Remediation'' (RBR) system is
>envisaged as a method for protecting low earth orbit (LEO)
>satellites from damage caused by high altitude nuclear detonations
>or severe solar storms.  Testing the system would use extremely high
>intensity very low frequency (VLF) radio waves to flush particles
>from radiation belts and dump them into the upper atmosphere.
>
>When I first heard of this on Monday morning, I thought it must be
>something from a fringe web site peddling dark conspiracy theories.
>But the newspaper reporting the news is real, and so is the team of
>scientists from New Zealand, the UK and Finland whose study of
>possible effects of the scheme is reported in a recent edition of
>Annales Geophysicae.
>
>You can find the article here:
>
>http://www.physics.otago.ac.nz/research/space/ag-24-2025.pdf
>
>A web page from the University of Otago describing the research is
>here:
>
>http://www.physics.otago.ac.nz/research/space/RBR_Media_release_8Aug06.htm
>
>I contacted the lead researcher on the team reporting the possible
>effects of the project, Dr. Craig Rodger of the Physics Department
>at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand.  He proved very
>cooperative, accessible and helpful, and told me RBR is a serious
>project, ''money is starting to appear to investigate it in more
>detail'', and ''U.S. scientists with military connections are treating
>it seriously''.
>
>It is feared that testing the system could shut down worldwide HF
>communications for several days to a week, rendering the ionosphere
>a giant sponge for RF.
>
>I sent Dr. Rodger a comment from Ward Silver, N0AX, who speculated
>''the sheer energy needed to accomplish it would tend to rule it out
>from the start, and I don't know where they would erect the
>necessary antennas.''
>
>Dr. Rodger responded, ''This would be true, but they are hoping to
>rely on some of the non-linear processes in space plasmas, stealing
>the energy from the radiation belts to get the wave-amplitudes high
>enough.  We know this is possible (in theory), as it happens
>naturally already.  We don't know how easy it will be to get it
>happening under our control''.
>
>''Also, as for erecting the antenna, there are two plans.  One is to
>fly VLF antenna in space.  This could be a power problem.  But for
>ground-based systems, you probably already know that most major
>naval powers have big VLF transmitters dotted over the globe.  (Two
>of the US Navy transmitters radiate one megawatt).  While these are
>designed to keep the signals mostly under the ionosphere, it shows
>the possibility for building big powerful antenna''.
>
>You can read Monday's article from the New Zealand Herald, here:
>
>http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1ObjectID=10396164
>
>If you would like to make a comment or have a tip for our readers,
>email the author at, k7ra at arrl.net.
>
>For more information concerning radio propagation, see the ARRL
>Technical Information Service at
>http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/propagation.html.  For a detailed
>explanation of the numbers used in this bulletin, see
>http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/k9la-prop.html.  An archive of past
>propagation bulletins is at http://www.arrl.org/w1aw/prop/.
>
>Sunspot numbers for August 3 through 9 were 23, 0, 0, 0, 0, 12 and
>25 with a mean of 8.6. 10.7 cm flux was 71.3, 69.6, 69.5, 69.5,
>69.8, 71.4, and 74.1, with a mean of 70.7.  Estimated planetary A
>indices were 6, 3, 4, 4, 32, 12 and 9 with a mean of 10.  Estimated
>mid-latitude A indices were 5, 2, 2, 2, 19, 10 and 9, with a mean of
>7.
>NNNN
>/EX
>