09/11/2025
The last two days, Friday and Saturday, saw folks from the JCMRS meet at Parton Kirk to put on a Special Event Station GB2JCM to commemorate the death of Professor James Clark Maxwell on the 5th. November 1879. On Friday we experienced a lot of QRM which we later discovered was caused by a poorly suppressed transformer therefore rectifying this Saturday's QSO's were easier to hear. The sun has also been active and the bands were not behaving as we had hoped however we did manage to log some 75 QSO's both from the UK and the European continent.
Some folks contacted knew about JCM while others were left with an apitiser and went off to look up JCM's achievements. It is perhaps a good thing that we choose Friday and Saturday as our two day event as the sun exploded with a powerful X1.8-class flare at 7:01 UTC this morning (November 9, 2025). The flare marked a dramatic surge to very high activity levels. The eruption originated from the magnetically complex AR4274, a large region near disk center. The powerful blast triggered a radio blackout, disrupting high-frequency communications across the sunlit hemisphere. The eruption also sent a blob of material, a coronal mass ejection (CME) in Earth’s direction. The CME is observed as a halo event in the LASCO C2 coronagraph. A EIT or coronal wave rushed across the solar surface. This X-class event capped a period of sustained C-class flare production recorded throughout the past 24 hours, most originating from the same prolific sunspot region, AR4274. Meanwhile, Earth’s magnetic field eased to unsettled levels. With the Sun’s most complex region still near disk center and additional CME arrivals possible, the coming days promise continued solar fireworks and potential geomagnetic disturbances according to the experts.
Personally I would want to thank my friends (yes I have some) who came to Parton Kirk to join in the fun and laughter and enter into the friendship which is so valuable and important in this age. There were three main operators with other JCMRS folk called in on 40 meters and still other new faces turned up at Parton to spend some time with us. Thank you as your involvement, even a brief visit, makes the event special. Thank you also to those who attended Parton Kirk to ensure things were ready for Friday and Saturday, again, without this help and input the days would not have been such a success.
Richard, MM1BHO, will be uploading all the QSO's onto the JCM internet web page as soon as he has corrolated the two computers used for logging. Please look out for this addition to the JCM Web site.
We have taken down the antenna in order to avoid any potential damage during the winter months, this is now kept in the Kirk vestry ready for next years events. Our next event this year will be our usual December (6th) meeting at Springholm Village Hall, as per my last email I am still hoping you will let me know what you might bring by way of a bring and share feast for the group. Clive will do the quiz therefore be sure to bring your thinking caps with you.
Have a good November and look forward to seeing YOU ALL in December.
Ralph 2M0RHT
