Solar Cycle 24
By Darrel Bird
Copyright 2012 by Darrel Bird
"Imagination will often carry us to
worlds that never were. But
without it we go nowhere."
- Carl Sagan
Part 1: The signal
Robert Packwood had been an Amateur Radio operator since he was thirteen years old; he had inherited his grandfather’s transceiver and amplifier and had become fascinated with it as he listened in on the digital and voice signals coming in on the aged earphones.
He had to pass a Morse code test that went from 5 words to 20 words a minute plus the technical exams.
He kept at it until he got his coveted extra class ticket, and he was on his way.
Like many other hams, he sought for the ultimate in antenna space; he saved his money to buy a place where he could put up a tower or two.
He eventually bought a forty-acre farm that sat on the flanks of Mt. Rainier in Washington State, and he and his young wife moved into the old farm house in 1998.
When he first got into radio, he became fascinated with sun spot activity and between radio conversations with other hams; he had progressed in that particular field of science.
He made his living in insurance sales, and he could get around the country on his company's ticket whenever they had meetings and seminars.
He flew around the country from Seattle to Boston to Los Angles, compliments of Great Western Insurance and that’s what took him to tour the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s facilities in Pasadena, California.
He met a young scientist named Gary Goldsmith, who worked on the current Mars mission to send a Lander up to dig for evidence of water.
With the advent of the internet, he was finally able to do most all of his business from home, and so he could experiment with different antennas, he had the money and the time, and he put that to good use.
There was one antenna he was interested in; in particular, it was his own idea.
As he sat drawing it out on paper, he finally ended with a vast array which covered a quarter of an acre, a spider web of wire that hung to the ground no more than twenty feet.
He sat evening after evening and crunched the numbers, he knew most of his ham buddies would think he was nuts, but he thought it had a chance to work.
He was after the signals from the depths of space in the four megahertz range, as well as signals that bounced off the ionosphere.
This all brought him to that fateful day, when about midnight he sat tuning around the bands in the marine frequencies, just outside of the ham radio band spectrum.
“Bob, are we going to church tomorrow?” The strident voice of his wife came from the hallway, as she passed the door of his radio room.
“Naw, I have to do some work on the antenna.”
“But you know you promised your mother we would be there this Sunday!”
“For Pete’s sakes Kathleen! You’re making me lose my train of thought! Shut the damn door!”
“Ok, but don’t say I didn’t warn you! You promised her you would start going to church! And I’m going with or without you!” She slammed the door as she disappeared down the hall to the living room.
He felt a little guilty, because he knew he didn’t spend enough time with his wife, and he had promised his mother he would start going to church, but he was so close, just give me five more minutes he thought as he hunched over the keyboard.
Kathleen enjoyed going to the church his mother went to, but to him, it was not worth the bother to get dressed and go down there.
His mother still attended the same Assembly of God church down by Estace Park; his dad had attended it also up until the day he died.
He knew it was a comfort to his mother when he went, but there just wasn’t time, what with his job and the new antenna project.
He hit the enter button, and there it was, a long line of complicated math, and it hit him right in the gut. He quickly checked his figures again. Wow, it’s going to work. It has too!" His mind reeled at the sagacity of it, the absolute boldness of it.
He had worked every spare minute the last month, and now here he was, listening in on the songs of the ether. The warble of distant stars as they spun their spumes of electrons around the edge of a black hole, the faint beep, beep of a satellite circling the equator.
He slowly, ever so slowly, moved the large tuning knob a number at a time, and then he heard it, a distinct tick, tick, tick. He thought it might be an idling chip somewhere in his computer; he reached over and turned it off. The tick was still there.
Fluorescent lights? He walked over and turned the overhead light off, then walked over and put the head phones back on. Still there.
What the heck am I hearing? There are no satellites on this frequency.
“Bob…suppers ready!”
“For goodness sake Kathleen, would you shut the door?”
His wife looked at him with the head phones on and knew she would be throwing out another supper, when he got like that, there was no reaching him.
She loved her husband, he always had been a good provider, and she sometimes thought he was more married to his hobby than too her, but she knew he would come out of it if she just gave him room to do his thing.
She gently closed the door, walked back down the hall and curled up in her favorite chair and opened her Bible.
She drew comfort from God’s word as she continued reading out of the book of Romans.
Rob tuned the dial up one number, and then back down a number below the frequency he had the radio set on. The tick got weaker each time he tuned the knob up or down a number, and he was mystified.
The tick had never been there before; he had been over this band a thousand times looking for ships and fishing boats in the Barents Sea. Not until he brought the new array online today. What was the antenna hearing that other antennas could not? It was too strong for the other antennas not to pick it up. It sounded man made almost except there was a slight swish on the tail of the tick.
“What the hell am I hearing?” He mumbled aloud as he listened to the sound coming from space, a tick with a fading swish sounded clearly in his ears.
He reached over and hit the recorder button, and recorded five minutes of it on his digital recorder.
“I heard something. Where is supper?”
“Supper was three hours ago dear; it's in the refrigerator.”
He looked at his watch; it was two in the morning.
“What are you doing still up?”
“I'm watching a T.V. show.”
“Let’s go to bed, I’ll skip supper.”
“No you will not, now eat, then we’ll go to bed.”
“Ok” he said meekly.
“I heard something.” He said as he ate the spaghetti cold.
“What?”
“I don’t know…something that shouldn’t be there.”
He ate, and they went to bed; he fell into an exhausted sleep, only to wake up at five in the morning; he walked into the radio room still in his pajamas and hit the power button on the radio. The tick was still there. When the sun comes up, the interference will get worse, and it will probably be gone.
His wife stopped by the door of his radio room with her car keys in one hand and her purse in the other; she was in a black dress with a frilly white blouse.
“God woman, you are so beautiful, why do you get me all hot and bothered just before you walk out the door?”
“Tease!”
At ten AM, his wife left for church, and he walked into the radio room and closed the door. He put the ear phones on and hit the power button on the radio; the tick had not faded, and the sound had actually gotten louder with the rising of the sun.
That’s strange! This sho
uldn’t be happening. What the heck is going on here?
He hoped Gary Goldsmith would be at work at Jet Propulsion Laboratories as he hit the automatic dialer on his phone, the secretary at JPL answered in a sleepy voice, “JPL.”
“Is Gary Goldsmith there please?”
“What is your extension please?”
“Extension 54.”
“May I say whose calling?”
“Tell him it’s Rob Packwood in Seattle.”
“Just a moment.”
He waited for about five minutes, and by the time Gary answered he was growing irritated, but he didn’t dare to let it show in his voice as Gary finally came on the line.
He knew very well it was a privilege to even be able to call one of the scientists at JPL.
“This is Gary.”
“Gary, this is Rob Packwood in Seattle, remember me?”
“Oh yeah, the ham operator, how are you doing?”
“Ok… listen, I have something I want you to listen to. I picked it up right after I brought the new array on line yesterday.”
He patched the recorder to the phone, and hit the play button; he played the recorder about a minute then switched it off again.
“So?”
“So this is just above the four megahertz region, should it be there?”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. What do you think it is?”
“Does it get louder when the sun comes up?”
“Yeah, it does.”
“You are hearing a disturbance in the magnetic field of the sun. The only thing is, you shouldn’t be hearing it at that frequency.”
“Why is that?”
“Well…because…well…you generally pick that up in the UHF range, and I’ve never heard it that clear before, even up there.”
“Tell you what, send me the recording by e-mail, and I’ll get back too you in a few days. Ok?”
“Sure, you should have it in about five minutes.”
“Ok, I have to get back to work, thanks for calling.” The phone went dead.
Rob transferred the recording into an MP3, and sent the recording to JPL, attention Gary Goldsmith.
He monitored the same frequency for the next few days, and it got clearer if anything, and it was there day and night.
Beads of sweat were on his forehead as he planted the last of the spring flowers in his wife’s flower beds and walked into the house.
“Rob, your mother’s on the phone.”
“Ok, I’ll take it in the radio room.”
“Hello Mom.”
“Robby, you promised you would bring Kathleen to church last Sunday.”
“I know mom; I had some projects that had to be finished. I’ll be there this Sunday. I promise.”
“Robby, the Lord won’t wait forever you know.”
“I know mom. I'll make it up to you.”
“Not to me, to him.”
“Ok mom, I’ll be there. I promise.”
“I love you so much Robby.”
“I love you too mom.”
His wife was listening at the door, and grinned at him, “Pretty bad huh?”
“Yeah, I love mom, but she can be a virtual pain in the butt.”
“She’s right you know.”
“I know, it’s just that there are things I want to get done, and it takes so much time.”
“I love you Robby.”
“I love you too Kath.”
He waited for another week and still had no communication from Gary Goldsmith; finally out of desperation he called JPL again.
An irritated Gary Goldsmith answered the phone after a ten-minute wait.
“Mr. Packwood, I’ve got every scientist at JPL down my neck for listening to you, and I really don’t appreciate it!” The voice roared out of the phone into Rob’s ear.
“What’s wrong Gary?”
“You know what’s wrong, practical jokes in a government sponsored facilities is no joke!”
“Gary, there’s no practical joking going on here, what are you talking about?”
Gary’s voice began to soften a little. “ Rob, you’ve got a signal coming off the Sun; it just can’t be coming from the four megahertz range is all.”
“But that’s where it’s coming from Gary, I swear it!”
Gary could hear the frustration in Rob’s voice, and it began to cool him down a little.
“Are you sure it’s not a second harmonic?”
“Yes, I’m sure I checked that first thing. I know better than that Gary.” Now he was becoming agitated.
“We listened to the same frequency on every antenna we have, and we didn’t hear a thing.”
“Well, it's still here if you want to come and check it out.”
“Rob, have you ever heard of Solar Cycle 24?”
“Sure, who hasn’t?”
“Well, a lot of people in big government haven’t, that's who haven’t. Do you know what this would mean if you are right?”
“Not exactly…er…not at all really.”
“It would mean there is a hell of a solar wind coming in behind solar cycle 24, and is due to hit the earth later this year.”
“Will solar cycle 24 really have the ability to burn up power grids as they predict it might?”
“Yes, if it’s strong enough it could.”
“Look Rob, I’ve got to go, but I’ll get back to you in a few days; you keep this under your hat until I can get back to you, will you do that?”
“Sure.”
“Ok, good bye sir.”
“Good bye.”
The good bye sir didn’t sound any too friendly to Rob as he hung up the phone.
What the heck have I gotten myself into here?
The next Sunday Rob and Kathleen got ready to go to church at the Estes Park Assembly Of God.
They arrived sharply for the eleven AM service; the service had just started as they took their seat next to Rob’s mom, and she smiled and squeezed Rob’s hand.
The pastor walked to the front of the church, “We have a guest speaker this morning that is going to be teaching out of the book of Revelations, may I introduce Dr. Dan Boyd; he is an instructor at Dallas theological seminary.”
A short balding man stood up, walked to the pulpit and opened his bible.
Rob groaned, he just never could understand the Revelations stuff, and he felt he might as well have stayed home, except for his mom. He knew it really pleased her for him to be there.
The good doctor plowed on in Revelation 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Revelation 16:2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image. The preaching didn’t make much sense to Rob.
After the service, they drove straight home, and were planning to have a quiet lunch together.
As they drove into the driveway, they saw two black cars parked near the back fence of the property. There was no one in the cars.
“Now who is that do you think?” Kathleen said as the car came to a halt.
“I don’t know.”
They got out of the car, and while Kathleen went inside, Rob went to see who it was.
As he rounded the corner of the house, he saw four men in suits in the field standing looking up at his antenna array.
When he got closer he recognized Gary, they turned and looked at him as he walked up to them.
“Rob, this is Dr. Jack Cantrell, Chris Stone, and John Riddley, all from JPL, we came to check out your story. We’ve been looking at your array, but we don’t understand the math behind it. We want to check out your equipment, and then you can explain the math, also, it’s official from the white house; you are under top secret obligations.”
“Do you understand the penalties involved with that?”
“Why?”
&nb
sp; “We will explain that later, does your wife know how this works, if it works?”
“No, she only knows about the signal.”
“Ok, show us the whole setup; we will check your radio first.”
“Let’s go in the house then.”
They followed him into the house; he noticed that the scientists were taking in everything they saw, even including the washing machine, the walls and the ceilings as they went.
“Would you like something to drink?”
“Skip the small stuff and let’s get to it.” Dr. Cantrell replied.
Boy, what a grouch!
He led them straight to the radio room; he hit the power button on his Kenwood, picked up the ear phones, listened. Yep, still there. He handed the phone to Gary, who listened intently, Gary handed the phones to Cantrell, and they all listened.
“Put it on the external speaker please.”
They all listened to the tick as it ticked, swished and faded again and again like clockwork.
“Ok, show us the math on the array.” Cantrell said gruffly, and Rob got the feeling the guys weren’t fooling around, and it sobered him.
He patiently took them through the math on the antenna.
“I’ll be damned.” Chris Stone cut in.
“Yeah.” Returned Cantrell, “Won’t we all?”
“Look fellows, I appreciate that you might believe me now, but why all this?”
Gary turned to him, “What this means is that the signal hidden in the low four megahertz band is that there will probably be damaging solar winds later this year.”
“You mean stronger effects on satellites, power grids and so fourth?”
“No, I mean damages to people.”
Rob looked at them for a full minute.
“What? Damages to people?”
“Not to mention animals and no telling what else, maybe even bugs.”
Gary stared at him through his thick glasses as if he had brought disaster on the whole world.
“It may mean the end of the world as we know it.”
“What kind of damages to people?”
“Skin cancer, sores, blindness, all kinds of damage.”
“Is that why I am now under the secrecy act?”
“Yes, we all are now.”
John Riddley spoke for the first time, “Well hell; It's not his fault, let's get to the problem.”
That seemed to break the tension, and all four of the scientist started jabbering like squirrels, they listened to the signal again, and then began to take the connections loose on the radio.
“Hey, that’s my stuff, don’t do that!”
“Was your stuff.” Riddley said, and kept unscrewing the antenna terminals.
“We are moving the whole thing to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s in Pasadena California, including you.” Cantrell said. “I’ve already called for a moving van, compliments of uncle Sam.”
“Government officials will be here shortly to take down the antenna.”
“But its just wire and capacitors!”
“We can’t take the chance of changing anything; we have to monitor this signal.”
“What about my wife?”
“We’ll take her with us; she falls under the secrecy act too.”
Kathleen heard it through the door, and fear filled her eyes as she tried to take it all in.
A horn honked outside; it was a moving van with U.S. Government written on the sides.
Pandemonium broke loose as they began to disassemble the array, marking each piece carefully; they weren’t even going to leave the holes in the ground.
Robs mind reeled at the situation that was occurring. He walked up to Cantrell, “I’ll have to tell my mom something.”
“We’ll take care of that, you and your wife go with us, and you are not allowed to talk to anyone, do you understand?”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“Ok then.”
Within three more hours, they were in the air, and on their way to the JPL facilities.