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    Solar Cycle 24
    Solar Cycle 24
    Solar Cycle 24
    Ebook76 pages58 minutes

    Solar Cycle 24

    By Darrel Bird

    ()

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    About this ebook

    An Amateur radio operator discovers a signal coming from space where it ought not to be.
    He and his wife are carried off to a government facility; their every day life turned upside down.

    Soon they realize that they must get out at all costs as they learn more about Solar Cycle 24.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDarrel Bird
    Release dateOct 15, 2012
    ISBN9781301154494
    Solar Cycle 24
    Author

    Darrel Bird

    Darrel Bird has written and published 47 short stories. He attended Bakersfield college, and is an avid motorcyclist.

    Read more from Darrel Bird

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      Book preview

      Solar Cycle 24 - Darrel Bird

      Solar Cycle 24

      by Darrel Bird

      Copyright 2012 by Darrel Bird

      Smashwords Edition

      Smashwords License Statement

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      "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 them 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 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 Angeles, 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 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 up with a vast array that covered a quarter of an acre, a spider web of wire that hung to the ground no more than twenty feet.

      He sat down 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 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 sake, 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 also attended it up until the day he died.

      He knew it would be a comfort to his mother when he went, but there just

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