This is the RAIN hamcast #56, posted 12-11-2021 on therainreport.com and on the YouTube RAIN Report channel (see link on therainreport.com’s main menu); voiced by Will Rogers/K5WLR. When you were knee high to a grasshopper, did you undergo a game-changing experience that shaped your future career? Tomas Hood/NW7US did. Tomas has been a short wave enthusiast since 1973. He was first licensed as a ham in 1990 at age 25. In the mid 1990s Tomas launched the first civilian space weather propagation website, HFRadio.org, which later spawned sunspotwatch.com. His NW7US.us has been up and running since June, 1999. Tomas has contributed to the Space Weather Propagation column in CQ magazine for over 20 years, and for Spectrum Monitor since 2014. A product of the Pacific northwest, Tomas resides today in Fayetteville, OH. RAIN's Hap Holly/KC9RP spoke with Tomas recently about Solar Cycle 25 and the game-changing afternoon Tomas experienced in 1973 at age 8. [2021 P1 16M43S/09M22S] We'll conclude Hap's conversation with Tomas in RH57, scheduled for posting Christmas Day. The RAIN Hamcast is produced and edited by Hap Holly/KC9RP; this biweekly podcast is copyright 1985-2021 RAIN, All rights reserved. RAIN programming is formatted for Amateur Radio transmission and is made available under a Creative Commons license ; downloading, sharing, posting and transmission of this ham radio program via Amateur Radio in its entirety are encouraged. Your support and feedback are welcome on therainreport.com. Thanks for YouTube Technical Assistance from Tom Shimizu/N9JDI. KEEP ON HAMMING!