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THE WORLD ABOVE 50 MHZ SOLAR CYCLES AND THE COMING OF CYCLE 24 PART 1 THE
PRESENT SUNSPOT CYCLE, CYCLE 23, IS NEARING ITS MINIMUM.  AS NOTED AT THE
END OF LAST MONTHS COLUMN, TWO SUNSPOT PAIRS WITH POLARITIES REVERSED FROM
THOSE OF CYCLE 23 AND CHARACTERISTIC OF CYCLE 24 HAVE RECENTLY BEEN
OBSERVED.  THERE WAS A SMALL TRANSIENT ONE IN LATE JULY AND A LARGER ONE,
905, IN LATE AUGUST.  IN THE FOLLOWING TWO PART PRESENTATION, READERS ARE
FORTUNATE TO HAVE JIM KENNEDY, K6MIO KH6, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AT THE
GEMINI OBSERVATORY IN HILO, HAWAII, TO DISCUSS THE NATURE OF SUNSPOT CYCLES
AND TO OFFER SOME INSIGHT INTO THE PREDICTION OF CYCLE 24.  JIM NEEDS NO
INTRODUCTION TO MOST OF US.  HIS SEMINAL PAPER ON 50 MHZ F2 PROPAGATION
PRESENTED AT THE 2000 CENTRAL STATES VHF SOCIETY MEETING IS A CLASSIC IN
THE FIELD.  BACKGROUND F2 PROPAGATION CAN PRODUCE DRAMATIC RESULTS ON 6
METERS.  THE F LAYER IS IONIZED PRIMARILY BY EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET EUV
RADIATION FROM THE SUN.  THE INTENSITY OF SOLAR EUV IS STRONGLY DEPENDENT
ON THE PHASE OF THE SOLAR ACTIVITY CYCLE.  UNFORTUNATELY, THE AVERAGE LEVEL
OF SOLAR EUV IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO RAISE THE MUF ABOVE 50 MHZ.
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SCV W3IZ 298 2 1 888 CT K5EEE 267 2 1 884 SFL Wet Willies KD3FG 245 2 3 862
MDC VE7KET 82 5 1 850 BC W2TI 60 5 1 850 NNJ N2MTG 321 2 1 792 ENY W0VHV
158 2 1 782 MO AB0RX 137 2 1 774 MO AD9T 137 2 1 770 IN W3AG 52 5 1 770 WPA
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