The average daily sunspot numbers for the past week rose nearly 25 points, or about 27 percent, to 117.3. The big day was Monday, May 14 when the daily sunspot number jumped to 156. This was the day after four new sunspot groups, numbered 1481 through 1484 arrived. Sunspot numbers for May 10-16 were 93, 102, 85, 138, 156, 125 and 122, with a mean of 117.3. The 10.7 cm flux was 130.7, 136.4, 129...

Have you ever wanted to see a photo of yours in QST, the annual ARRL Amateur Radio Calendar or another ARRL publication? Well, here’s your chance! If you’re among the winners, not only will your photographic skill be propagated far and wide, but we’re offering $100 as the First Prize. The winning photo and three runners-up will be published in QST. All submitted photos will also be considered f...

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

This week, Surfin’ tries to unclutter the house and learns about more open source software.

Old Magazines Fill My House

I have copies of every issue of QST going back to the mid-1960s, when I first became interested in ham radio. In addition to QST, I also have mass quantities of QEX, NCJ, CQ, Ham Radio, 73, Popular Communications and numerous other radio...

Solar Flux: 136 | Ap: 6 | Kp 2

136

136

(1745 UTC) 6h hi C3.6(0753Z 05/18) 24h hi M5.1(0125Z 05/17)

SSN: 114 (05/17/2012)

Solar Wind: 425 km/s @ 5.0 protons/cm3 Bz: 2012 May 18 1743Z at -3.3 nT

Global HF Propagation Conditions for 1700Z on 18 May, 2012

Warning (355): Proton 10MeV Integral Flux above 10pfu expected From: 2012 May 17 0255 UTC To: 2012 May 18 1300 UTC Condition: Persistence. Extends Warning #354.

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I've posted a good informational article regarding HF radio signal propagation. Check it out:

Is HF radio signal propagation reciprocal? http://hfradio.org/ace-hf/ace-hf-reciprocal.html

I've posted a good informational article regarding HF radio signal propagation. Check it out:

De-mystifying HF radio signal propagation and modeling. http://hfradio.org/ace-hf/ace-hf-demystified.html

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Sparrowvsrevolution writes "On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing to discuss a proposed bill to limit location tracking of electronic devices without a warrant — what it's calling the Geolocational Privacy and Surveillance Act, or the GPS Act. Ahead of that hearing, University of Pennsylvania computer science professor Matt Blaze submitted written testimony (PDF) telling Congress that phone carriers, as well as the law enforcement agencies with which they share data, can now use phones' proximity to cell towers and other sources of cellular data to track their location as precisely or even more precisely than they can with global positioning satellites. Thanks to the growing density of cell towers and the proliferation of devices like picocells and femtocells that transmit cell signals indoors, even GPS-less phones can be tracked with a high degree of precision and can offer data that GPS can't, like the location of someone inside a building or what floor they're on. With the GPS Act, Congress is considering expanding the ban on warrantless tracking of cars with GPS devices that the Supreme Court decided on in January. Blaze's testimony suggests they need to include non-GPS tracking of cell phones in that ban, a measure law enforcement agencies are strongly resisting."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

bonch writes "Autoparts manufacturer Delphi has developed a diesel-like ignition engine running on gasoline, providing a potential 50 percent efficiency improvement over existing gas-powered engines. Engineers have long sought to run diesel-like engines on gasoline for its higher efficiency and low emissions. Delphi's engine, using a technique called gasoline-direct-injection compression ignition, could rival the performance of hybrid automobiles at a cheaper cost."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.