RSID: <<2021-07-08T23:31Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>

 

Welcome to program 212 of Shortwave Radiogram.

I'm Kim Andrew Elliott in Arlington, Virginia USA.

Here is the lineup for today's program, in MFSK modes as noted:

  1:41 MFSK32: Program preview (now)
  2:46 First X-class major solar flare of Solar Cycle 25
  7:54 MFSK64: Test of battery powered railroad locomotives*
17:20 This week's images*
28:31 MFSK32: Closing announcements

* with image(s)



Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

And visit http://swradiogram.net

Twitter: @SWRadiogram



From ARRL.org:

First X-Class Major Solar Flare of Solar Cycle 25 Blacks Out HF
on July 3

July 7, 2021

A lot of radio amateurs may have been wondering, "Where did the
bands go?" as the first X-class solar flare in 4 years blacked
out HF propagation for a time on July 3.

"Many American radio amateurs reported sudden HF propagation
blackouts on Saturday morning, July 3, when solar active region
12838 produced an X1.5 major solar flare that reached maximum
intensity at 1429 UTC, the first X-class solar flare of Solar
Cycle 25 and the first since 2017," Frank Donovan, W3LPL, said.
"HF propagation blackouts are caused when x-ray and extreme
ultraviolet radiation from X-class solar flares strongly ionizes
the absorbing D-region in the Earth's sun-facing dense lower
ionosphere," he explained. Such a radio blackout occurs when a
pulse of x-rays ionize the top layer of the atmosphere, the
exosphere.

In this instance, it caused what NOAA's Space Weather Prediction
Center (SWPC) calls an R3-level or "strong" radio blackout (on a
scale of R1 – R5). An R3 incident can cause a "wide-area blackout
of HF radio communication [and] loss of radio contact for about
an hour on sunlit side of Earth. Low-frequency navigation signals
degraded for about an hour."

Donovan said that X-class major solar flares are necessary
consequences of steadily increasing Solar Cycle 25 activity. "95%
of all X-class solar flares occur when the solar flux index is 90
or greater. The remaining 5% can occur any time during the solar
cycle," he points out. "X1-class major solar flares typically
degrade HF propagation for only an hour or two at mid and high
latitudes, only on Earth's sunlit side."

X-class major flares are measured on an open-ended scale. The
strongest one ever recorded was an X28 flare in 2003, hundreds of
times more powerful than the July 3 X1.5 solar flare. X10-class
and stronger solar flares typically have effects that last for
most of a day and affect the entire sunlit side of the Earth.
Fortunately, X10-class solar flares occur only about once every
20 years or more.

"Much more severe and long-lasting HF propagation degradations
are often caused by the coronal mass ejections (CMEs) often
associated with - but not caused by - major solar flares,"
Donovan explained. "HF propagation degradation caused by CMEs
typically begins about 2 days after the effects of the associated
solar flare, the duration of the delay depending on interactions
between the CME and the solar wind."

The CME associated with the July 3 X1.5 solar flare is likely to
have little to no effect on HF propagation going forward, because
the active region was very close to the western edge of the
visible solar disk when the CME erupted. Region 12838 rotated off
the visible disk on Sunday, July 4.

Solar flares have no significant effect on VHF ionospheric
propagation but can degrade satellite communications passing
through the ionosphere. More frequent, less powerful M-class
medium solar flares produce short-duration degradation at high
latitudes. Very frequent, much weaker A-, B-, and C-class solar
flares do not degrade HF propagation.

http://www.arrl.org/news/first-x-class-major-solar-flare-of-solar-cycle-25-blacks-out-hf-on-july-3

Shortwave Radiogram now changes to MFSK64 ...
 

RSID: <<2021-07-08T23:38Z MFSK-64 @ 9265000+1500>>


This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

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From the Los Angeles Times via TechXplore:

Battery-powered trains could be a climate game changer. Is
everyone all aboard?

by Ralph Vartabedian
July 7, 2021

Colossal freight locomotives are a fixture of the American
landscape, but their 4,400-horsepower engines collectively burn
3.5 billion gallons of diesel annually, at a time when railroads
and other fossil fuel users face pressure to reduce pollution and
greenhouse gas emissions.

With little fanfare, however, the industry has begun operating
locomotives that run on stored electrical power, moving toward a
future in which toy shops are not the only source of battery
trains. American passenger lines could also be transformed by the
technology, though California rail officials say it will not work
for the state's bullet train.

In a just-completed test, BNSF ran a freight train from Barstow
to Stockton with an experimental battery locomotive, coupled with
two diesel locomotives, and achieved an 11% reduction in fuel
consumption, along with similar reductions in emissions of
nitrogen oxides, small particulates and greenhouse gasses. An
upgraded future operational version is expected to improve fuel
efficiency by 30%.

The test was a "defining moment for freight rail," accelerating
the industry to eventual zero-emission locomotives, said Eric
Gebhardt, chief technology officer at Wabtec, which developed the
system at its research center near Lake Erie in northern
Pennsylvania.

Battery- and hydrogen fuel cell-powered trains are among the rail
industry's only viable options for reducing greenhouse gasses.
Every battery locomotive that replaces a diesel will reduce
carbon dioxide emissions by 3,000 tons per year, Wabtec
estimates.

But it is unlikely they can quickly replace diesel-powered
trains. U.S. freight railroads are awash in surplus locomotives
and nobody can predict what battery-operated systems will cost,
compared with existing $3-million diesels.

"Battery locomotives are feasible," said Michael Iden, a
consultant who was Union Pacific's longtime director of
locomotive engineering. Iden compares Wabtec's achievement to the
Wright brothers' first powered flight: a proof of concept ready
for development. They will be tested soon in California ports and
rail yards, he noted.

That said, "Estimating the cost of commercially available in
production battery locomotives is, in my opinion, like
forecasting the price of multiple fully landscaped four-bedroom,
three-car garage homes with in-ground pools on Mars," Iden said.
"Someday such homes may exist on Mars but that's a long way off."

Much will depend on the degree that state and federal regulators
pressure railroads to clean up their emissions. Here in
California, the state Air Resources Board wants railroads to
reduce or even eliminate diesels in the next 14 years.

The transportation sector accounts for 29% of U.S. greenhouse gas
emissions. Within that category, the rail industry, which moves
40% of long-distance freight, accounts for just 2%, according to
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data. But freight trains as
well as trucks expose many populated urban corridors, notably
neighborhoods near the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, to
soot and pollution.

"We can do more," said Ian Jefferies, president of the Assn. of
American Railroads, citing the potential of battery-operated
trains. "It is good business to reduce emissions and reduce fuel
consumption and is reflective of society's goals." At the same
time, Jefferies and his organization are pushing back against
proposed regulations to eliminate diesels, saying, "It doesn't
make sense."

Severin Borenstein, an energy expert and professor at UC
Berkeley's Haas School of Business, said railroads are not likely
to get a free pass on climate change issues.

"The fact that railroads are already the most efficient
transportation source is great, but we all need to reduce
greenhouse gasses," he said. "Railroads are a major source of
greenhouse gasses."

Apart from freight, battery- and fuel cell-powered trains offer
promise to upgrade U.S. passenger rail, which generally runs on
rails owned by freight railroads, such as BNSF and Union Pacific.
These companies oppose overhead electrical lines—such as those
that power urban light rail—because of potential interference
with freight operations. Batteries and fuel cell locomotives
eliminate that potential conflict.

In San Bernardino, the county transportation authority is waiting
for delivery of a hydrogen fuel cell-powered passenger train,
which will go into service by 2024 on the Metrolink commuter rail
system. The train is under development in Switzerland by Stadler,
which also makes a line of high-speed trains that run on wires.

Besides reducing pollution, the Stadler train can accelerate and
slow down faster than a diesel, reducing trip times—much like
electric vehicles that mimic muscle cars of the 1960s—and is
likely to appeal to riders with strong environmental beliefs.

"We are in the beginning of a transition period and there is a
lot of movement in the technology," said Guido Vogel, Stadler's
engineering chief. "There is a political push to get away from
diesel propulsion."

The U.S. rail industry has made key transformations in the past,
going from wood to coal and coal to oil, before its current
dependence on diesel. Today it operates what is regarded as the
most efficient freight system in the world.

About 23,000 locomotives ply the nation's railway network every
day. Half of them operate in California. Even though they are
about four times more fuel efficient than big rig trucks—in terms
of ton-miles hauled—they burn roughly a gallon of diesel every
2,000 feet.

Add it all up, and this 3.5-billion gallon yearly usage of diesel
would fill a river 10 feet deep and 25 feet wide from Los Angeles
to Phoenix.

The California Air Resources Board, which helped fund the Wabtec
test, believes trains are too big a source of greenhouse gasses
to escape further regulation.

Air regulators began clamping down on the freight railroads,
specifically BNSF and Union Pacific, in 1998, when they signed a
voluntary pact that required the use of newer diesel engines that
produced less pollution. But the agreement did commit the
railroads to use even newer generations of diesel engines. Today,
the two railroads operate just 472 of the most modern systems,
known as Tier 4 diesels, out of the 11,217 that they run in
California at any given time, according to an annual report to
the air board.

"There is nothing to compel them to get rid of their Tier 0
locomotives," said Ajay Mangat, supervisor of the air board's
freight systems section.

The air board staff is preparing complex regulations to eliminate
railroad emissions by 2035, though it does depend on technical
feasibility, he said. The proposal will go to the air board for a
vote next year.

Jefferies, the railroad association chief, said the proposed
regulations ignore a 70% voluntary reduction in California
emissions since 2005. More pointedly, the association asserts the
air board has no legal jurisdiction because railroads are subject
only to federal regulation, a long-held entitlement.

Even if the air board doesn't succeed in imposing tough
regulations, railroads, as with other industries, are facing
pressure from many directions: shareholders, customers, employees
and advocacy groups.

In Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom and the U.S., about half a
dozen rail equipment makers are developing systems that would
operate trains either on batteries or hydrogen fuel cells,
according to an industry research report.

Wabtec's Gebhardt said the upfront cost of a battery-powered
locomotive will be higher than a traditional diesel, but the fuel
costs with electrical charging will be lower. Since existing
locomotives use diesel engines to generate power that drives
electric traction motors, only the generation of the electricity
has to be solved.

"It makes economic sense with batteries getting exponentially
better," Gebhardt said.

In the California test, the batteries recharge every time the
train slows to a stop, which is frequent along freight routes.
The Wabtec train recharged its batteries, through regenerative
braking, on the steep 4,000-foot descent from the Tehachapi Pass
to the San Joaquin Valley, for example.

Another battery-powered locomotive will anchor a demonstration
project by Pacific Harbor Line in the ports of Los Angeles and
Long Beach. The 3,200-horsepower locomotive, made by Progress
Rail, a unit of Caterpillar, can haul cars around the port for 24
hours on one charge. Union Pacific just purchased a
battery-operated locomotive for use in one of its California
switching yards, as well.

Carrie Schindler, director of transit and rail programs for the
San Bernardino County Transportation Authority, said its Stadler
two-car train set will be put into service on a newly built
nine-mile line between San Bernardino and Redlands, making 16
round trips per day at 79 mph.

An electric train is more energy efficient than an electric car,
on a per passenger basis, said Vogel, Stadler's engineering
chief.

Schindler said the $23 million program for the technology
development and train sets will enable significant emission
reductions without the huge cost of building overhead
high-voltage lines. The Caltrain commuter system between San Jose
and San Francisco is paying $2 billion for just 50 miles of
overhead wires.

At the moment, it appears unlikely the California bullet train
authority will embrace the technology. When asked about it at a
recent legislative hearing, Chief Executive Brian Kelly said
proposed wireless trains would not satisfy the 220 mph-speed
mandate, written into law. The rail authority is in the process
of issuing a contract this year for a wired system and related
trains, though he said the authority will monitor battery
technology.

The rail authority's plans came up in recent negotiations with
the Legislature for additional funding, stirring concern about
whether the bullet train is not considering the potential for a
game-changing technology. Legislative leaders left without any
agreement to appropriate more money, according to a person who is
familiar with the closed door talks but was not authorized to
speak publicly about them.

https://techxplore.com/news/2021-07-battery-powered-climate-game-changer-aboard.html

Image: A Wabtec battery electric locomotive ...

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This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net
 

This week's images ...

A bee flying between Nasturtiums near Elsrickle, South
Lanarkshire, Scotland. https://bbc.in/3hqXQZq ...

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Burnet moths in Larbert, Falkirk, Scotland.
https://bbc.in/3hqXQZq ...

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Independence Day fireworks in Washington DC as seen from the
Netherlands Carillon in Arlington, Virginia.
https://bit.ly/3jX1vQa ...

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Middle Falls at Old Man's Cave, Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio.
https://bit.ly/3yzD1QX ...

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A juvenile yellow-crowned night heron at sunrise, Brazos Bend
State Park, Texas. https://bit.ly/3hP5fAu ...

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Our painting of the week is "Rhythm of Summer Flowers" by Olga
Darchuk. https://bit.ly/3xteT2e ...

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Shortwave Radiogram returns to MFSK32 ...



 

RSID: <<2021-07-08T23:58Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>


This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK32 ...

 

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and

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Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

And visit http://swradiogram.net

Twitter: @SWRadiogram or twitter.com/swradiogram

I'm Kim Elliott. Please join us for the next Shortwave
Radiogram.

RSID: <<2021-07-08T02:48Z MFSK-64 @ 5850000+1500>>



This Is A Music Show #123
08 July 2021


0200-0300UTC Thursday on 5850 kHz

via WRMI, Okeechobee USA


***ALSO***

TIAnExpressMS w/ Radio Northern Europe International
via Channel 292 in Germany, on 6070 kHz.

Broadcast various dates/times. Check the schedule here:

https://www.channel292.de/schedule-6070-khz/
https://rnei.org/

----------------------------------------

PLAYLIST

The John Schroeder Orchestra - Summertime
-----

Kenny Shane - Don't Turn Me Off
The Five Americans - Somebody Help Me

-----

Al Di Meola - Sequencer
Natasha King - AM-FM
Moti Special - Cold Days, Hot Nights
Kenneth Sherman - Why Can't We Live Together

-----

Vin Gordon - Enforcement
Sammy - Bed Sax
Dorothy Moore - Here It Is

-----

16-bit - Changing Minds

-----

THIS DATA w/ Bert Kaempfert - Tea And Trumpets

-----

Les Baxter - Born Free

----------------------------------------


TIAMS Website:

https://thisisamusicshow.com

Go here for show archives + official shop!

-----

Please send reception reports/comments:

thisisamusicshow@gmail.com

Follow TIAMS on Twitter:

www.twitter.com/ThisIsAMusicSho/

------

Thanks for listening!

--YOUR HOST--


EOM

 

RSID: <<2021-07-08T02:50Z MFSK-64 @ 5850000+1500>>

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Eleine - Crawl from the Ashes

RSID: <<2021-07-04T11:52Z MFSK-64 @ 6070000+1500>>

 

This Is An Express Music Show
July 2021

Channel 292 on 6070 kHz

----------------------------------------

PLAYLIST

Takeshi Terauchi And The Bunnys - Für Elise

------

The Bubble Puppy - Hot Smoke And Sasafrass
Spirit - Uncle Jack
Jo Ment - I Can See For Miles
Toots And The Maytals - Sailing On
Oliver Sain - Bus Stop
Donna Allen - Satisfied

------

THIS DATA

------

Walter Rossi - RIPDAD

----------------------------------------

Please send reception reports/comments:

thisisamusicshow@gmail.com

Follow TIAMS on Twitter:

www.twitter.com/ThisIsAMusicSho/

**NEW WEBSITE**
https://thisisamusicshow.com

------


Thanks for listening!

--YOUR HOST--



EOM


RSID: <<2021-07-04T11:53Z MFSK-64 @ 6070000+1500>>


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