Summertime condx!

Today, June 1st is the official opening of this year's hurricane season. If you believe the groundhogs among us (you know the type - afraid of their own shadows!), then this year is going to be a busy one. Undoubtedly caused by Global Warming, of course.

Ahhhhhh ..... Global Warming, the cause d'celebre of the decade of the 00s. I'm no climatologist; but when did we become SOOOOOOO arrogant as to believe that we humans are the end-all-be-all cause for everything that happens on this planet? Now I don't doubt that Global Warming is real and exists ....... I just don't think that we humans are the cause of it.

I believe that global warming is a natural cycle in ecological scheme of things. As Hams we should be really in tune with the sun. We're so darned aware of the 11 year sunspot cycle; and we're all bemoaning the fact how crappy band conditions are at the bottom of it. We can't wait until we're out of the bottom of it. So why can't there be a normal cycle of temperatures? The sun can't heat up and cool off a few degrees in a cyclical fashion, just like sunspots ebb and flow? As a species, we've been measuring the temperature of the earth for what ...... 400 years or so? And from that pitiful sample, we're supposed to be experts on climate change? What a joke!

One last thought ....... if we're so responsible for climate change; then how did the last Ice Age come to an end BEFORE the invention of the SUV? Really folks ...... get real!

But I digress. The weather has been sultry and summer like in NJ the past two weeks. (Probably due to Global Warming. Doh!) The bands have gone into their summertime behavior pattern. (Pattern ...... suggests a cycle ...... I better be careful here!) 80 and 40 Meters are filled with static crashes; but unfortunately the low sunspot count is making sure that the ionosphere barely "excites" and 20 Meters is pretty useless once the sun goes down. So while 40 Meters seems to be the best band propagation wise during the night, the static is punishment on the ears and brain.

The sunspot low has been predicted to occur anywhere between last March and this coming September, depending on who you listen to. In either event, once we pass through the nadir, sunspots should start appearing again pretty rapidly.

From this blog to God's eye!

73 de Larry W2LJ