Topband: Moonlight & K-sums

[Pat Collins N8VW]

On Wed, 19 Oct 2005 08:35:03 -0400, Bill Tippett <btippett at alum.mit.edu> wrote :

> 	When conditions were very good last
> week, someone mentioned to me the "moonlight"
> theory of enhanced conditions, which has been
> discussed here from time to time.  Seems like
> we have an opportunity to test this theory since
> moonlight peaked on October 17, and yet the K
> index has varied quite a bit over the past week.
> 

I was watching Nova with the kids last night and they had an interesting bit
on lightning being caused by "cosmic rays", to put it simply.  The cosmic
ray provided the additional energy for the spark to get started across the
built up charges in the cloud.  

I think that there is a lot to propagation we don't understand so theories
like moonlight helping to enhance propagation, while wild, should be
investigated.

Pat N8VW