The ESS Bulletin

September totals: QNI 342, per session 11.4 (Aug 11.2); QSP 42, per session 1.4 (Aug 1.3). Another good month, with improved propagation countered--alas--with increasing QRM; SSB ops have become more of a factor as the band lengthens. I'd like to stay on 40 meters until we return to standard time early next month, though, but circumstances may dictate an earlier seasonal QSY; if that turns out to be the case, I'll email our checkins and post on the .io group. NYS manager KT2D advises NCSs to move up the band a bit from 7110 if there's QRM; the space cadets seem to favor 7108 and thereabouts during the early evening. We bid a fond farewell to K1NN (a friend of W2WSS), who is substituting a permanent move to London for winters in the UK, and wish Jan and his wife Barbara health and much happiness in their new QTH. Although I hope he can get on the air with a G-land call, I imagine that his days checking into ESS are in the rear-view mirror; Jan is missed already, by me and other CW-net old-timers. Jay, NK2Y, has graciously offered to take the Thursday NCS slot which had been vacated by AB2WB (who is also missed). I got my first ESS NCS slot a few months after I began checking in, when W2WSS asked me to fill in for an umpire during baseball season; the umpire never returned, and I've been hanging around ever since. Experience is the best teacher, and ESS is a great way to learn CW net controlling. Congratulations and thanks for their support of the net to this month's bumper harvest of net-certificate recipients--NY3J, K3ZYK, N2TQT and K0BUF; Chris accumulated his 80 points in a brisk five months, an inspiration to net members who may be constrained by the seasons. Birthdays: October and November—None, as far as I know. Additions and corrections, preferably by radiogram, are always welcome!

On paper, anyway; the calendar says fall, but our drought continues (about 10 inches below normal for the year to date, despite a wet spring. Hope we don't get wildfires) and the thermometer remains stubbornly well above average. The only indications of autumn are shorter days and falling leaves, the latter due more to drought stress than cool nights. Forty meters continues to serve us well, despite cross-mode QRM; I fondly remember the dear dead days of sub-bands determined by mode. The band is beginning to lengthen as sunset approaches ESS time. We may lose K2TV, though, when we inevitably return to 80 meters; Bob's Virginia QTH is antenna-restricted, and it'll be a wonderful day indeed when he can hear us on 80. K2VX (SK) was in a similar situation--also in VA but closer to Washington, I believe. Dave's workaround was a clothesline antenna which he would reel in and out as needed. Using…whatever to receive radio signals is one thing, but I'll never forget antenna guru Kurt N. Sterba (Jack, K6NY, also a silent key) writing for the old Worldradio magazine that it was even possible to load a metal supermarket shopping cart. I appreciate Bob's emailing me the monthly Great South Bay ARC Compass; GSBARC (which recently celebrated its 50th anniversary) was founded in 1974 in his Copiague dining room, and his informative club history is featured in the October Compass. It's April in October below, with a much-needed chuckle for these interesting times:

In a shocking development, astrophysicists at the University of Phoenix (online) announced Tuesday that solar panels, once hailed as humanity's clean-energy savior, are in fact sucking the juice directly out of the sun itself. According to lead researcher Dr. Ray Diation, every rooftop solar panel acts “like a giant cosmic straw,” pulling usable watts from the star’s core and leaving behind a visibly weaker sun. “We’re already seeing a 12% dip in solar brightness,” Diation explained while nervously wearing SPF 2 sunscreen. “At this rate, by 2050, the sun will only be the strength of a refrigerator light bulb.”

The revelation has triggered global panic, with scientists warning of catastrophic consequences: collapsing ecosystems, frozen crops, and widespread Vitamin D deficiencies. Experts say the early warning signs are already here. “Remember that gloomy Tuesday last week? That wasn’t weather—that was solar lag,” warned Diation. Meanwhile, fossil fuel executives have expressed relief, noting that the new discovery confirms what they’ve been saying all along: “Sun bad. Oil good.” Chevron has even launched a new marketing campaign, ‘Coal: The Original Renewable Energy.’

Amid the chaos, one unlikely group has stepped up to save humanity: ham radio operators. “We knew this day would come,” said John Melfi, W2HCB, president of the Great South Bay Amateur Radio Club, while hunched over a gas-powered generator that roared like a Harley-Davidson in his driveway. “While the rest of the world is out there sucking the sun dry with their fancy panels, we’re keeping the lights on the old-fashioned way—diesel fumes and extension cords.”

Ham operators across the country have begun deploying emergency fossil-fueled relay stations to maintain global communications as sunlight dwindles. “If the sun does go out, at least we’ll still be able to complain about propagation on 80 meters,” Melfi said proudly as he refueled his Honda generator with a suspicious-looking red gas can.

Scientists estimate that if solar panel use continues at its current pace, by 2080 the sun will be so drained that it will need to be “unplugged and plugged back in” just to restart. NASA has reportedly considered “jumper cables the size of Manhattan” as a last-ditch solution.

Until then, humanity faces a stark choice: abandon solar energy and return to coal-fired comfort—or continue down the path of progress and watch the sun slowly fade like a dying flashlight.

As Melfi summed it up: “When the sun finally blinks out, don’t worry—we’ll still be here, broadcasting CQ into the void."