Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
The observational information regarding chromospheric emission features in surface-active RS CVn stars is reviewed. Three optical features are considered in detail: Call H and K, Balmer H-alpha and Hel λ 10830. While the qualitative behavior of these lines is in accord with solar-analogy/rotation-activity ideas, the quantitative variation and scaling is very poorly understood. In many cases, the spectroscopic observations with sufficient S/N and resolution to decide these questions have simply not yet been made. The FK Com stars, in particular, present us with extreme examples of rotation that may well press our understanding of surface activity to its limits.