GB2RS

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 30th June 2019

 

The news headlines:

New Ones for IOTA

Latest news on VHF spectrum

LightSail 2 CubeSat to transmit Morse

 

Every five years the IOTA Board reviews the island list to see if there is scope for a small number of additions to the list of around 1200 island groups. Some ‘New Ones’ were announced at the Ham Radio gathering in Friedrichshafen last weekend. Details are on www.iota-world.org but, in brief, the new ones are AS-206 Honshu Coastal Islands East; AS-207 Chukchi Sea Coast Centre; OC-298 Tatakoto Atoll; OC-299 Yap East group; OC-300 McKean and Nikumaroro Atolls; and SA-101 Alejandro Selkirk Island. AS-206 will probably be activated very soon; the others will take a lot more planning.

The latest stage of our ongoing efforts to protect and develop VHF spectrum saw considerations for the future of 50MHz being concluded with the final meeting of CEPT Project Team D, as they prepare for WRC-19, where the RSGB has been represented throughout. We are also well aware of the concern in the amateur radio community about the 144MHz aeronautical proposal, currently at the CEPT stage and RSGB volunteers continue to work as part of the broader IARU efforts to protect the interests of the global amateur radio community. The RSGB has updated the special focus page with the latest documents and CEPT meeting minutes at tinyurl.com/yxfgfkqt. All amateurs are encouraged to go and read the details, which will be updated as necessary.

The Planetary Society’s LightSail 2 CubeSat, launched on the 25th of June, will transmit Morse code from space. LightSail is a citizen-funded project and the satellite is due to be deployed on the 2nd of July. Once deployed, LightSail 2 will automatically transmit a beacon packet every few seconds, which can be decoded into 238 lines of text telemetry describing the spacecraft's health and status, including everything from battery status to solar sail deployment motor state. Every 45 seconds, the spacecraft will transmit ‘LS2’ on the spacecraft's frequency of 437.025MHz. Further details can be found at tinyurl.com/ae22jvd.

We have added some more detail to the lectures for the 2019 RSGB Convention at www.rsgb.org/convention. You can read about the latest confirmed lectures for the HF, VHF, AMSAT and General Interest streams, as well as information about Contest University, Awards and Contests. Booking is now open for both weekend packages and day tickets. For full details go to www.rsgb.org/convention

The annual SAQ VLF transmission on Alexanderson Day on 17.2kHz from the Alexanderson Alternator takes place today, starting from 0830UTC for the message at 0900UTC, then 1130UTC for the transmission at 1200UTC. Both transmission events will be broadcast live on YouTube. SK6SAQ will also be operating on 7.035kHz or 14.035MHz CW or 3.755kHz SSB. For more information see grimeton.org and alexander.n.se

Last weekend, RSGB President Dave Wilson, M0OBW demonstrated the UK's online exam system at the Ham Radio show held in Friedrichshafen. Online trials are taking place in several countries and representatives were very interested to see how the UK system works.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

Next Saturday, the 6th of July, the Stockport RS Rally will be held in Walthew House, 112 Shaw Heath, Stockport, Cheshire SK2 6SQ. Doors open from 9.30am, with disabled visitors gaining access at 9.15am. Admittance is £2. There will be trade stands, special interest groups and an RSGB Bookstall. Catering is available on site. A talk-in station will be on the air. Details from Nigel Roscoe, G0RXA, on 07506 904422.

On Sunday the 7th of July, the Barford Norfolk Radio Rally will be held at Barford Village Hall & Green, Barford, Norwich NR9 4AB. Doors open at 9am, with talk in on S22. There will be trade stands, a car boot sale, a Bring & Buy, raffle, repeater groups, catering and free car parking. Entry is £2 per person, with under 16s free. Contact [email protected].

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – we need to know four months in advance to get your info into RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Bruce, 3W3B will be in Laos until the 7th of July, where he will activate his XW4XR callsign. Look for him on the 40 to 6m bands on CW, FT8 and RTTY. The QSL manager is E21EIC.

Peter, LA7QIA will be operating as JW7QIA from Spitsbergen, IOTA reference EU-026, from the 29th of June to the 6th of July. Activity will be on 6m from Grid Square JQ68. QSL to his home callsign.

Janusz, SP9FIH returns to Bethlehem in Palestine from the 6th of July to the 3rd of August and will be transmitting on the 80 to 6m bands as E44WE. QSLs go via his home callsign.

Anders, SM0HPL is operating as 5X7W from Kampala until the 6th of July while on work assignment. Activity is in his spare time on the HF bands using QRP and CW, JT65, FT8 and FT4. QSL direct to home callsign.

Paul, SA6PIS will be on the air as SV9/SA6PIS/p from Chania, in Crete, from the 30th of June to the 7th of July. Activity will be holiday style on 40, 20, 15 and 10 metres using SSB. QSL to home callsign.

Tony, 3D2AG and John, KK7L are on the air as T2AR and T2R, respectively, from Tuvalu until the 5th of July. Activity is on the 160 to 6m bands, using CW, SSB, RTTY, JT65 and FT8. QSL T2AR direct via 3D2AG and T2R direct via N7SMI.

Karel, OK2ZI is QRV as 9Y4/OK2ZI from Trinidad, SA-011, until the 6th of July. Activity is on the 40 to 10m bands using CW, SSB and various digital modes. QSL to home call.

Now the special event news

GB1CMS will be operating over the weekend of the 6th and 7th of July. The event is a display of military vehicles and battle re-enactments located 7 miles south of Dorking in Capel, Surrey. A listening watch will be maintained on 51.60MHz and a full list of frequencies can be found via tinyurl.com/yx92b4uy

GB100BM will be on the air to celebrate 100 years of Bentley Motor cars. The station will be operated by members of South Cheshire ARS on the 80 to 2m bands using SSB, CW, FM and data modes from the 1st to the 28th of July. A special full colour QSL will be available. QSL is via OQRS, Bureau, Logbook of The World and eQSL. More information and QSL policy is available at QRZ.com

Leicester Radio Society will be hosting a special call GB5EHL, Eagle Has Landed, between the 1st and the 28th of July. It is 50 years since Apollo 11 lifted off from Cape Kennedy carrying the command module, Columbia and the Lunar Module, Eagle with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins heading for the moon on the 16th of July. On the 20th of July the lunar module touched down on the moon’s surface, which was announced by the now-famous words, “The Eagle Has Landed”.

The special callsign GB100HAL has been issued to commemorate 100 years of RAF Halton in conjunction with the many events that are taking part celebrating the anniversary. The call may also be claimed towards the Airfields on the Air Award and is recognised by RAFARS for all their awards. The callsign will be used most Saturdays up until the end of the year.

The annual Original 13 Colonies Special Event will mark its 11th anniversary this year. The event gets under way on the 1st of July 1300UTC and runs until the 7th July at 0400UTC. Special event stations with 1×1 callsigns will represent the original 13 US colonies, plus bonus stations K2Z, WM3PEN in Philadelphia and GB13COL in Durham, England. Each special event station will have its own QRZ.com profile page.

Please send special event details to [email protected] as early as possible so we can give you free publicity. Remember, it’s a licensing condition that stations using UK special event must be open to the public.

Now the contest news

Today, the 30th, the UK Microwave Group’s 5.7 and 10GHz contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on the two bands the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Monday the 80m Club Championships run from 1900 to 2030UTC. It is the CW leg and the exchange is signal report and serial number.

On Tuesday the 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC, using FM only with the exchange of signal report, serial number and locator. It runs simultaneously with the 144MHz Machine Generated Mode Activity Contest, whose exchange is signal report and 4-character locator. They are immediately followed by the all-mode 144MHz UK Activity Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange for this contest is signal report, serial number and locator.

Next weekend is RSGB VHF National Field Day from 1400UTC on the 6th to 1400UTC on the 7th. Using all modes on the 50 to 1.3GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Next Sunday, the 7th, the 3rd 2m Backpackers Contest runs from 1100 to 1500UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Don’t forget that the UK Six Metre Group Marathon runs until the 4th of August. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is just your 4-character locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 28th of June.

Last week saw a continued quiet sun with zero sunspots at the end of the week and a settled geomagnetic field. A feature in Nature magazine has suggested that we may be heading for a Maunder Minimum in the next three decades. The report cites a study of long-term oscillations of the solar background magnetic field associated with double dynamo waves generated in the inner and outer layers of the Sun, which indicate that the solar activity is heading for a grand minimum.

Another report says an international panel of experts coordinated by the NOAA and NASA have released its preliminary solar cycle 25 forecast, predicting that cycle 25 will peak no earlier than 2023 and no later than 2026, with a minimum peak sunspot number of 95 and a maximum of 130. This would make it similar to cycle 24, which was predicted to reach a maximum smoothed sunspot number of 90 in May 2013. In fact, solar cycle 24’s maximum was reached in April, 2014 and peaked at an average sunspot number of 82. Meanwhile, we continue to head towards sunspot minimum, which is predicted no earlier than July 2019, and no later than September 2020.

The HF doldrums continue, although evenings and night-times seem to be best for DX, with 20m remaining open until very late indeed. OD5TX in Lebanon was romping in at around 1930UTC on Wednesday. 40m is also very active with Roger, G3LDI reporting many stations from the USA on the band around 0330UTC.

Next week, NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be in the range 67-69 with settled geomagnetic conditions and a maximum Kp index of two or three.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

This coming week, Tropo should be fairly productive at times, especially across nearby sea paths over the North Sea and English Channel. High pressure remains a primary feature of the weekend and part of next week, although the centre of the high being close-by will mean that the inversion is quite close to the ground, so paths may suffer if this gets too low. That said, it looks like a good week to get those beams and some CW/SSB going on VHF bands.

Moving on to Sporadic-E now, which relies indirectly upon the presence of jet stream flow. This can make gravity waves that propagate up to the E region and play a role in the formation of Sporadic-E propagation.

The location of jet stream winds recently has been driven by an upper low west of Biscay, which has favoured paths to Spain and Portugal, but this is about to change as the pattern shifts to a jet stream across Scandinavia into eastern Europe. This will favour paths to Scandinavia, the Baltic and Ukraine. There is an outside chance of an upper ridge over western Europe, which could introduce a chance of Sporadic-E into Italy or Spain, but this is not a clear signal this far ahead.

The Moon reaches peak declination on Tuesday and perigee on Friday, so EME conditions will be at their best all week with low path losses and long Moon windows. There are no major meteor showers this week so continue to look for best DX opportunities via random meteors around dawn.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 23rd June 2019

 

The news headlines:

2m crosses the Atlantic

SAQ transmission next weekend

Update on 144 MHz and 23cm threats

 

An historic contact was made on Sunday the 16th of June 2019, when the Atlantic was spanned for the first time on 144MHz. D41CV on Cape Verde Islands off the coast of Africa managed to work FG8OJ in Guadeloupe on 144.174MHz using FT8. The distance was 3,867km. This was bettered on the 18th with QSOs between Cape Verde and Puerto, KP4. The distance was 4,458km. There was also a QSO with WP4G at 4,358km. The propagation mechanism was tropospheric ducting and the path has been predicted as being workable for a long time.

The annual SAQ VLF transmission on Alexanderson Day on 17.2kHz from the Alexanderson Alternator will take place Sunday the 30th of June. Two transmissions are scheduled. Tuning will start at 0830UTC for the message at 0900UTC, then 1130UTC for the transmission at 1200UTC. Both transmission events will be broadcasted live on YouTube. QSL reports to SAQ should be via the new reception report form, via the SM bureau or direct by postal mail, not by email. SK6SAQ will be operating on 7.035kHz or 14.035MHz CW or 3.755kHz SSB. QSL instructions are on the website. QSL details and other information are on the websites grimeton.org and alexander.n.se

The IARU was represented this week at the meeting of CEPT Project Team A, which is one of the groups leading WRC-19 preparations and has just finished in Prague on Friday the 21st. Of particular interest were discussions on two proposed Agenda items for WRC-23, concerning the sharing of the 1240-1300MHz band with the Galileo satellite navigation system and the proposal from France to study a range of frequencies, including the 144MHz amateur band, for future primary aeronautical applications. The meeting considered views that the Galileo issue did not currently warrant a WRC23 Agenda item and should be first investigated within CEPT. However, regarding new aeronautical frequencies including 144MHz, the proposal was unfortunately not strongly opposed by other administrations; this has been carried forward to the higher level CEPT-CPG meeting in August. The IARU and RSGB views with grave concern any proposal to include the global amateur and amateur satellite 144MHz primary band in the proposed aeronautical agenda item; and will be making every effort to fully protect amateur radio interest and seek the support of regulators in this regard. More details can found at tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0623A and on the RSGB’s own special focus page at https://rsgb.org/wrc-19

A newly-digitised classic film of the 25th Anniversary Congress of the IARU has been uploaded to the RSGB YouTube channel. Taking place in 1950, the Congress was attended by many well-known amateurs from around the world. The silent film also includes some marvellously authentic street scenes – and some decidedly odd motor vehicles. You can find it in the Film Archive section at www.rsgb.org/videos, where you’ll also be able to find the Bulletin report from August 1950 on the same event.

Former Colliery Sites on the Air takes place on the 25th of June from 7 to 9pm. It’s easy to take part and there are very few rules: all you need is a 2m handheld. For full details visit http://fcsota.org.uk/

The latest edition of Six News is now available for UK Six Metre Group members to download from www.uksmg.org. The printed edition has been sent out to those members who take it but all members are able to access the digital version.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

Today, the 23rd of June, the Newbury Radio Rally and Boot Sale takes place at Newbury Showground, next to M4 Junction 13. There will be talk-in on S22. Car parking is free. Traders can gain access from 8am and visitors at 9am. Admission is £2.50, car boot sale pitches are £12.50. There’s a huge radio, electronics and computing boot sale, plus demo marquee with amateur radio on air, plus clubs and national society stands. There’s catering on site. Contact Phill, G6EES on 0777 150 4738 or by email to [email protected]

The Houghton-le-Spring ARC radio rally takes place on Saturday the 29th of June at Dubmire Royal British Legion Club, Britannia Terrace, Fencehouses DH4 6LJ. Doors open 10.15am, or 10am for disabled visitors. Admission is free. Donations welcome to the Royal British Legion Club. Hot drinks will be available and a licenced bar will be open from 11am. More from Amanda, M6LXK, on 0778 715 5745.

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – we need to know four months in advance to get your info into RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

John, AD8J will return to Dunbar Rock near Guanaja Island, Honduras, IOTA reference NA-057, until the 6th of July. He will be active holiday style as AD8J/HR9. He will operate CW, SSB and FT8 the 80 to 10m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World, or direct to home call.

Giuseppe, IW1EGO will be active as ID9/IW1EGO from Vulcano Island, EU-017, until the 30th of June. QSL via his home call.

Dave, W9DR will be active as PJ5/W9DR from Sint Eustatius, NA-145, from the 25th of June to the 2nd of July. He will operate SSB, CW and FT8 on 6 metres only. QSL direct to home call.

Bruce, 3W3B will be active as XW4XR from Laos from the 26th of June to the 7th of July. He will operate CW, FT8 and RTTY on the 40 to 6m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World or via E21EIC.

Now the special event news

GB1SCW, operated by members of Worthing & District ARC, will be on the air from the National Coast Watch Institution lookout at Shoreham By Sea, Sussex BN43 5HY today, the 23rd of June, using 40, 20 and 2m from 10am to 4pm. QSL via bureau or eQSL. More information on QRZ.com.

Christian Vision for Men holds an annual event called The Gathering, attended by some 2000 men. Today, the 23rd, special event station GB0CVM will be operating on 80, 40 and 20 metres.

GB4SRC will be operating, mainly on 40m SSB and 2m FM, from the South East Big Bang STEMfest at the South of England Showground on the 26th of June. GB4SRC was the callsign used by the ARISS team in April 2016 at St Richard’s, one of the ten schools who earned the right to talk to British astronaut, Tim Peake. The station will be operated by St Richard’s College Radio Club, under the supervision of Phil, G3MGQ, who set up the radio club when the College asked the Hastings Electronics & Radio Club for help after that ISS contact.

Coventry ARS will be supporting The Nuneaton Armed Forces Day event, at Riversley Park, Nuneaton, Warwickshire on the 29th of June. Operating GB6AFD, mainly 40m SSB, 2m FM and digital modes, the event is open to the public from 11am. Further information from Brian G8GMU on 07801 86 26 86.

Please send special event details to [email protected] as early as possible so we can give you free publicity. Remember, it’s a licensing condition that stations using UK special event must be open to the public.

Now the contest news

Today, the 23rd, the 50MHz CW contest runs from 0900 to 1200UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Also today, the 23rd, the 70MHz Cumulative Contest runs from 1400 to 1600UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Tuesday the SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1830 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 2.3 to 10GHz bands the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Thursday, the 80m Club Championships runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using SSB only the exchange is signal report and serial number.

Next Sunday, the 30th, the UK Microwave Group’s 5.7 and 10GHz contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on the two bands the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 21st of June

The week was dominated by thunderstorms and rain. While not strictly HF propagation-related, this did cause havoc on the lower bands, with frequent static crashes. This was particularly noticeable in Thursday’s RSGB 80m Club Championship CW contest, where storms over the low countries made the contest hard going.

Other than that the week was once again marked by a lack of sunspots, but more settled geomagnetic conditions. The solar flux index was pegged at 67-68, with the Kp index fluctuating between one and two. F-layer propagation has generally seen maximum useable frequencies over a 3,000km path around 14-18MHz, although frequent Sporadic-E openings have seen this boosted to 28MHz and higher on short-skip paths.

As an example, the five watt IW3FZQ/B beacon on 28.227MHz in Monselice, Italy and ED4YAK/B on 28.251MHz in Henares, Spain were both booming in on Thursday at 0900UTC, with no other CW or SSB signals on the band.

Next week NOAA has the solar flux index remaining at 68-69, with generally calm geomagnetic conditions other than around Monday the 24th to Wednesday the 26th when it predicts the Kp index could rise to four.

At the time of writing most coronal hole activity was around the solar poles, which shouldn’t threaten the Earth.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

The weekend starts with a weak high transiting across the British Isles, which could give some Tropo enhancements for southern stations, while the north remains closer to the old low and its showery weather type. Some models retain a tendency for higher pressure in the south and further possible Tropo.

The fact that showery weather is not far away and continues to put in appearances during the week ahead, means that rain scatter should again be an option for GHz band enthusiasts, especially for northern and western areas.

There have been a few active days recently for Sporadic-E and, in a jet stream sense, the coming week offers some useful directions for Sporadic-E paths. South to Spain and north-east into Scandinavia should be favoured. Additionally there is a broad upper ridge pattern over eastern Europe and this can produce good openings in the high summer. Remember the peak periods for Sporadic-E are late morning and late afternoon or early evening.

The Moon is at apogee today with declination rising and going positive on Wednesday, so EME conditions will slowly improve as the week progresses, with falling path losses and lengthening Moon windows.

As mentioned last week, the Bootids meteor shower peaks on Thursday but no unusually high zenith hourly rate is predicted for 2019.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 16th June 2019

 

The news headlines:

IARU addresses 2m & 23cm threats

High altitude balloon launches on 20th at 27th

Emergency Comms meeting at Friedrichshafen

 

As October’s World Radio Conference, WRC-19 draws closer, proposals that would need to be agreed for the future WRC-23 agenda are also in progress. On Monday the 10th of June, IARU Region 1 provided detailed background and serious concerns it has regarding two proposals under discussion in CEPT/Europe that may potentially impact important amateur bands at 144-146MHz and 1240-1300MHz on a global basis if initially adopted and eventually agreed at the 2023 conference. The 2m band has a proposal for a Primary Aeronautical Mobile service allocation, whilst 23cm faces potential restrictions with respect to the European Galileo and similar satellite navigation services. RSGB and IARU volunteers are actively involved with the CEPT meetings and other fora considering these initial proposals. The RSGB’s own special focus page is at https://rsgb.org/wrc-19. Whilst IARU and RSGB wish to draw this information to the attention of the amateur community, we urge restraint in pubic and social media comments until further progress has been made in the regulatory discussions. More details can found at www.iaru-r1.org

hi-impact will be launching two high altitude balloon flights this month, on the 20th and 27th of June. Working alongside Altrincham Prep School and South Wirral High School, they plan to launch from Welshpool at 11am, subject to any operational changes, which will appear on their Facebook and Twitter feeds, @hiimpactconsult. Both flights are HABDuino equipped, and assistance from amateurs and SWLs in receiving the data and feeding it into HABHUB via DL-FLDigi is appreciated. The HABduino is set up on 434.650MHz USB, RTTY, 50 Baud, 425Hz Shift with 7 Bits, No Parity and 1 Stop Bit, or 7N1, for both flights. The callsign for the 20th is ALTRIPREP and for the 27th it is SWHS_HAB. Mark, MW1MDH will be on site, and will try to be on S22, but as he’s part of the launch team, this may not happen!

IARU Region 1 will be hosting a meeting for radio amateurs interested in Emergency Communications in Friedrichshafen on Friday the 21st of June, starting at 12 noon. There will be talks on new technology, satellite use, drills, data networks and responding to a power grid failure. The working language for this meeting will be English.

The second Midlands ARDF event takes place today, the 16th of June, at Cademan Wood near Whitwick. The assembly area is in the small car park at the Eastern end of the wood. The event is designed for members of radio clubs in RSGB Regions 5 and 13, although anyone is welcome to participate. Registration opens 10am and there will be tuition on how to operate the 80m DF receiver. Details are at www.rsgb.org/ARDF

There are two International Space Station contacts with schools planned for this coming week. On Wednesday the 19th of June a contact has been planned for David St-Jacques, KG5FYI with participants at King Island District High School in Australia. It will begin at approximately 0849UTC and will be a telebridge operated by IK1SLD, located in northern Italy. The downlink signals will be audible in parts of Europe on 145.800MHz. The International Space Station school contact for Nick Hague, KG5TMV with participants at Rowan Preparatory School in Surrey is planned for Thursday the 20th of June at 1248UTC.That contact will be a direct link between NA1SS and GB4RPS. The downlink signals will be audible in many parts of Europe on 145.800MHz.

A new APRS iGate and Digipeater has come online in Aylesbury, callsign MB7UDJ. It is planned that it will be operational 24 hours a day 7 days a week, in order to fill a gap in APRS coverage in the Aylesbury area. For further information, please contact the keeper, John Gascoigne, M5ET, via email to [email protected]

The May/June ITU-R Study Group 1 meeting, together with its Working Parties, has just completed its 2019 meeting in Geneva. The IARU was represented for the whole seven days of meetings by Region 1 President Don Beattie, G3BJ. The meetings spent a large amount of time discussing the emerging Wireless Power Transmission technologies and their applications. Work was advanced on Reports on WPT at 100-148.5kHz for low power charging of portable devices, for WPT for electric vehicles at high power around 20, 60 and 85kHz and for wirelessly beamed WPT for remote charging. All these technologies, particularly their harmonics, have the potential for harmful interference to radio communications services, if not carefully managed. The IARU has submitted formal studies on the impact on the amateur service and these have been incorporated into one completed report and will inform a new Recommendation being developed on emissions from WPT. The IARU is advocating proper emission limits to protect radio services and is working with other spectrum users and administrations which share its concerns. The ITU meetings discussed the emerging CISPR proposals for WPT-EV emission limits, where there is a level of concern that they fall short of providing the necessary protection to radio communications services.

The RSGB Cricket World Cup Radio Marathon has been running for 13 days and has already exceeded the UK QSO total of the 2013 RSGB Centenary activation, making this the biggest UK amateur radio event ever, measured by QSO count. Thirty-one GB19 series callsigns are active, with 200 volunteer operators having made over 132,000 QSOs so far. Nine International stations are taking part and they have made an additional 21,000 QSOs. Awards are available for numbers of QSOs with the activating special stations. Alek, SP2EWQ, the leading award chaser, has already made over 500 QSOs with Cricket World Cup stations, all on different bands and modes, and has been awarded the first Platinum Certificate. It is not too late for you to take part, either activating one of the GB19 callsigns or chasing awards by calling the GB19 and International stations. Full details are on the RSGB website at www.rsgb.org/cricket.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

Today, the 16th, the sixteenth West of England Radio Rally will take place at the Cheese & Grain, Market Yard, Bridge Street, Frome, Somerset BA11 1BE. Doors open at 10am. The event will feature inside and outside trade stands, an RSGB book stall, a café and car parking. Further information from Shaun, G8VPG, on 01225 873 098, or email [email protected]

Today, the 16th, the Scottish Amateur Radio and Electronics Rally will take place at INTU Braehead Centre, Glasgow. Doors open at 10am. There will be traders, radio clubs and a Bring & Buy, and areas for clubs to operate from. Talks and presentations will be running throughout the day. Refreshments are available on-site. For more information call Tony Miles on 07702 134 188.

The Ham Radio Exhibition in Friedrichshafen will take place between the 21st and the 23rd of June. The RSGB will be represented by its usual large book stall, with volunteers and staff to answer queries, and some will attend the various meetings that take place. The IARU will be in the main hall, also with staff and volunteers available for informal discussions on important amateur radio matters.

On Saturday the 22nd of June, the Bangor & District ARS Rally will be held in The Hub, Hamilton Road, Bangor. A Council pay car park is nearby. Doors open 11am and entry is £3 including a raffle ticket. There will be traders, a Bring & Buy and a bookstall. More from 0289 042 2762 or by e-mail to [email protected]

On Sunday the 23rd of June, the Newbury Radio Rally and Boot Sale takes place at Newbury Showground, next to M4 J13. There will be talk-in on S22. Car parking is free. Traders can gain access from 8am and visitors at 9am. Admission is £2.50, car boot sale pitches are £12.50. There’s a huge radio, electronics and computing boot sale, plus demo marquee with amateur radio on air, plus clubs and national society stands. There’s catering on site. Contact Phill, G6EES on 0777 150 4738 or by email to [email protected]

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – we need to know four months in advance to get your info into RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Gildas, FG/F6HMQ and Michel, FG/F6GWV will be active from Guadeloupe, IOTA reference NA-102, until the 25th of June. QSL via home calls. They will also operate as TO1T. QSL via F6HMQ.

Nobu, JA0JHQ will be active as T88PB from Koror, Palau, OC-009 until the 23rd of June. QSL via Logbook of The World, preferred, or direct to JA0JHQ.

Matteo, IZ4YGS is on the air as 9G5GS from Sanzule, West Takoradi in Ghana until the 2nd of July while there on work assignment. He is active in his spare time during his evenings on 160 to 6m using mostly FT8 and SSB. QSL direct to home call.

Special event station CB2E is on the air in Chile until the 2nd of July to mark their total solar eclipse. Activity is on the HF bands using SSB and FT8. QSL via the bureau.

Now the special event news

On Thursday the 20th of June, Tom, M0HYE is running GB19RG from noon until 6pm using the HF bands for the Cricket World Cup Marathon 2019.

Members of the Government Communication ARC will be operating two special event stations in celebration of the centenary of Government Communication Headquarters, or GCHQ. Operation will be from approximately 0800 to 1600UTC on Friday the 21st. GB100GCHQ will operate from the organisations’ HQ in Cheltenham and GB100GCB will operate from their station in Bude, Cornwall. Operation will be primarily on HF using a mixture of voice, CW and datamodes. All contacts will be confirmed via eQSL and Logbook of The World.

GB1SCW, operated by members of Worthing & District ARC, will be on the air from the National Coast Watch Institution lookout at Shoreham By Sea, Sussex BN43 5HY on the 23rd of June using 40, 20 and 2m from 10am to 4pm. QSL via bureau or eQSL. More information on QRZ.com.

Christian Vision for Men holds an annual event called The Gathering, attended by some 2000 men. From the 21st to the 23rd, special event station GB0CVM will be operating on 80, 40 and 20 metres.

Please send special event details to [email protected] as early as possible so we can give you free publicity. Remember, it’s a licensing condition that stations using UK special event must be open to the public.

Now the contest news

The 50MHz Trophy ends its 24 hour run at 1400UTC today, the 16th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

The All Asian DX contest ends its 48 hour run at 2359UTC today, the 16th. Using CW only on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and your age.

Today, the 16th, the UK Microwave Group 24 to 248GHz band contest runs from 0900 to 1700UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

The Worked All Britain 50MHz phone contest takes place today, the 16th, from 0800 to 1400UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and, for UK stations, their WAB square. Entries must be with the contest manager by the 7th of July. Full details are at www.worked-all-britain.org.uk

On Tuesday the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest will run from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Wednesday the 80m Club Championship CW leg runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number.

On Thursday the 70MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Next Sunday, the 23rd, the 50MHz CW contest runs from 0900 to 1200UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Also on the 23rd, the 70MHz Cumulative Contest runs from 1400 to 1600UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday 14th June 2019.

We had another quite settled week. The Kp index rose to four on the 8th thanks to a glancing blow from an earlier coronal mass ejection. It rose to three again on Thursday the 13th due to an enhanced solar wind stream. The solar flux index remained around 70 thanks to a total lack of sunspots. It is hard to believe we are heading for the summer solstice in the Northern hemisphere, especially with last week’s weather! Summer solstice is characterised by lower daytime maximum useable frequencies than winter, but higher night-time MUFs. Don’t write off 20 or 30 metres in the evening as the bands may well be open all night. Otherwise, the highlights are likely to be due to Sporadic-E, with June perhaps offering some of the best, with openings from 40 through to 10 metres.

Next week, NOAA predicts more of the same with the solar flux index pegged at 68-70 with the Kp index averaging around two. There is the risk of an increase in the Kp index this weekend thanks to an Earth-facing coronal hole, but this is unlikely to be long lasting.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

We ended the week with the last of the very wet unsettled weather, but high pressure is making an appearance in the far south, which could well put Tropo back on the agenda again for the coming week. The regions most likely to benefit are southern England into the continent and across Biscay to Spain. These improved conditions may extend into northern Britain later.

The heavy thunderstorms last week brought almost daily GHz bands rain scatter conditions for those fortunate enough to be around to catch them. These showers should still be present in some northern areas at first next week, again providing a potential source for rain scatter.

As we said earlier, it’s high season for Sporadic -E and the jet stream distribution suggests that there will be some options for Sporadic-E because of the placement of these jet streams, although the strength looks weaker as we move through the coming week.

The Moon is at minimum declination this coming Tuesday and with apogee just a week away the Moon is only up for a few hours either side of midnight and path losses increase all week.

June has three daytime meteor showers. Two are over, but the Bootids shower, associated with comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke and peaking on June the 27th, produced high activity in 1998 and 2004. The last perihelion passage of the comet was in 2015, and no unusual activity is predicted for 2019.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 9th June 2019

 

The news headlines:

Use 6m on the 13th

IARU Kids Day next Saturday

GB3RS QSOs now at Logbook of the World

 

At the 2019 ITU World Radio Conference there is an important motion on the agenda to consolidate and extend access to the 50MHz band in IARU Region 1, which is Europe, Africa and Asiatic Russia. To gather solid evidence of the high level of amateur activity on the band, and at the same time to demonstrate that amateurs can co-exist with other band users including the military, the IARU is supporting a monitoring trial in the middle of June. It will be run by the Czech national radio society, in conjunction with their regulator, and it is part activity period, part contest. Government and professional users will also be monitoring and some will be transmitting so it is important that if you do hear any non-amateur stations you must make sure you do not cause them any interference. The monitoring operation is on the 13th of June from 0730 to 0900UTC and from 1100 to 1230UTC. There needs to be as much activity as possible on the band during these two periods, preferably sticking to the Czech power limit of 25W ERP. It doesn't matter whether the band is open or not, just get on the air using SSB, CW, digital, or all three. IARU would like as many logs as possible to be sent in by the 15th of June, whether or not you take part in the contest, to provide solid evidence that can be used in pre-WRC planning. For full details, including the contest info, please see https://tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0906A

This year’s second Kids Day will be held on Saturday the 15th of June. This event is especially created to promote amateur radio to youth. This is a moment where you can share your amateur radio hobby with your family, grandchildren, friends, Scouts or even to the general public. Suggested frequencies for IARU R1 and ARRL stations can be found at www.iaru-r1.org and you should call CQ Kids Day to take part.

GB3RS, the permanent special event station at the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley, is now registered for Logbook of the World. Martin Atherton, G3ZAY, has uploaded 17,000 QSOs with GB3RS into the database so that operators can receive electronic confirmations.

Kuwaiti telecom regulator, CITRA, has released the new WRC-15 60m Secondary allocation to Kuwaiti 9K2 licensees under ITU Footnote 5.133B, which in the case of Kuwait means a maximum of 15W EIRP.

CQScotland.com, funded by the RSGB Legacy Committee and supported by the Mid Lanark Amateur Radio Society, will be attending the Braehead Arena Rally on Sunday the 16th of June. Donations of surplus components, books and magazines that will be shared among local community groups would be most welcome. The group would like to thank amateurs all for the tremendous support received so far. A current Project Update may be downloaded from www.cqscotland.com

The International Museums Weekends are the 15th and 16th, and 22nd and 23rd of June. More details about the event can be found at www.radio-amateur-events.org/ including a list of the stations registered. An award certificate can be obtained for 5 and 20 stations worked, or 10 heard by a SWL. Registration is still open if you wish to enter a museum station.

The second Midlands ARDF event takes place on the 16th of June at Cademan Wood near Whitwick. The assembly area is in the small car park at the Eastern end of the wood. The event is designed for members of radio clubs in Regions 5 and 13, although anyone is welcome to participate. The event will use the 80m amateur band and there will be five hidden transmitters deployed. Suitable directional receivers will be available on loan and there will be a small fee, around £2, to cover the cost of the maps and other incidental expenses. If you are taking part, bring a pair of headphones with 3.5mm plug, wear clothing suitable for walking around in woodland, a compass with a rectangular base plate, a lightweight A4 board, a red spirit pen, some safety pins and a whistle to summon help if needed. Registration opens 10am and there will be tuition on how to operate the ‘sense’ feature on the 80m DF receiver. Details at www.rsgb.org/ARDF

Two new 2018 Convention videos are now available on the RSGB YouTube channel. These are an introduction to 3D printing for the radio amateur by James Patterson, M1DST and The Iceni high-performance 70cm transverter by Sam Jewell, G4DDK. There are also two new lectures for RSGB Members only – these are An HF DXpedition to the Andaman Islands by John Warburton, G4IRN, and Arduino, GPS, RF and Si5351A for Radio Amateurs by Bo Hansen, OZ2M. To see any of these lectures go to www.rsgb.org/videos

To give UK amateurs an opportunity to work all the GB19 Team and Ground callsigns, the organisers are holding a UK Special on the evening of Saturday 15 June. This will be for four hours from 8pm until midnight, local time, to try to achieve good UK propagation. Team and Ground stations will be on 40m from 8pm, moving to 80m from 10pm, switching hourly between CW and SSB. See www.rsgb.org/cricket for more details.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

Today, the 9th, the Junction 28 Radio Rally takes place at Alfreton Leisure Centre, Alfreton, Derbyshire. Doors open at 10.15am and admission is £3. Run by South Normanton & Alfreton & District ARC, there will be a hot and cold drinks plus a bar, and a selection of cobs and hot food. There’s free parking and over 100 tables, all indoors, with dealers & private traders, RSGB, local & national clubs. Contact Alan Jones, on 01332 679 913.

Today, the East Suffolk Wireless Revival, the Ipswich Rally, takes place at Kirton Recreation Ground, Back Road, Kirton IP10 0PW, just off the A14. Doors open at 9.30am and admission is £2. The venue has free car parking. There will be trade stands, a car boot sale, a Bring & Buy, special interests groups, GB4SWR HF station and an RSGB bookstall. Catering is available on site. Contact Kevin, G8MXV on 07710 046 846.

Next Saturday, the 15th, the Rochdale and District ARS Summer Rally will take place at St Vincent de Paul’s, Caldershaw Road, Norden, Rochdale OL12 7QR. Proceeds from this rally ensure the continued operation of DMR repeater GB7MR. Doors open at 10.15am, with disabled visitors gaining access at 10am. Admission is £2.50, with those under 12 free. Refreshments will be available including bacon and sausage butties. Further details from Robert, M0NVQ by email to [email protected] or 0777 811 3333.

Next Sunday, the 16th, the sixteenth West of England Radio Rally will take place at the Cheese & Grain, Market Yard, Bridge Street, Frome, Somerset BA11 1BE. Doors open at 10am. The event will feature inside and outside trade stands, an RSGB book stall, a café and car parking. Further information from Shaun, G8VPG, on 01225 873 098, or email [email protected]

Next Sunday, the 16th, the Scottish Amateur Radio and Electronics Rally will take place at INTU Braehead Centre, Glasgow. Doors open at 10am. There will be traders, radio clubs and a Bring & Buy, and areas for clubs to operate from. Talks and presentations will be running throughout the day. Refreshments are available on-site. For more information call Tony Miles on 07702 134 188.

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – we need to know four months in advance to get your info into RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Christian, EA3NT and Col, MM0NDX will be active as JW/EA3NT and JW/OJ0Y respectively from Longyearbyen, Svalbard, IOTA reference EU-026, between the 12th and the 16th of June. They will operate CW, SSB and digital modes on whatever bands are open, and will upload their logs to Club Log.

S9A will be the callsign of the LazyDXers, who will be on Sao Tome Island, AF – 023, until the 18th of June. They will be on all bands from 160 to 10m on CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8. QSL manager is EB7DX.

Elixander, W7HU and his son Elixander Jr, N4EVJ will operate SSB and FT8 as homecall/HC7 from Ecuador from the 8th to the 11th of June. QSLs via Logbook of the World, or via W7HU.

Jacques, CT2IXX will be active as LA/CT2IXX/p from Melandsjoen, Hitra Island, EU-036, until the 12th of July. He will operate SSB only, in his spare time.

Bo, OZ1DJJ will be active as OX3LX from Nuuk, Greenland, NA-018, between the 11th and the 21st of June, with possible activity also from Kook Island, NA-220. Bo will operate in his spare time, typically around lunch and after dinner. QSL via OZ0J, Club Log OQRS and Logbook of the World.

Lars, SM6CUK will be active as SA6G/7 from Ven Island, EU-137, between the 10th and the 14th of June. He will operate CW only on the 40 to 10m bands. QSL via SM6CUK.

Now the special event news

DL0WUN will be on the air from the 10th to the 16th of June to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Airlift from Wunstorf to Berlin. On 28 June 1948, the first RAF C47 started to transport goods to the then-blockaded Berlin from Wunstorf Air Base. By September 1949, more than 277,000 flights had been made from various airfields in West Germany. Exact operating times and frequencies can be found on QRZ.com

The Galway Radio Experimenters Club will be active as EI100ABC for the Alcock & Brown Centenary Festival in Clifden, Co. Galway, between the 11th and the 16th of June. The festival celebrates the 100th anniversary of the first non-stop transatlantic flight, made in June 1919 by British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown from St John’s, Newfoundland to Clifden, Ireland. QSL via EI2II.

GB5HH will be on the air from Hengistbury Head Visitor Centre, Bournemouth BH6 5EN for Museums on the Air on the 15th and 16th of June.

Please send special event details to [email protected] as early as possible so we can give you free publicity. Remember, it’s a licensing condition that stations using UK special event must be open to the public.

Now the contest news

The IARU Region 1 ATV Contest will end its 30 hour run at 1800UTC today, the 9th. Using the 432MHz and up bands, the report is picture quality, serial number, four digit code and locator.

Today, the 9th, the second 144MHz Backpackers contest runs from 0900 to 1300UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Also today, the 9th, the Practical Wireless 2m QRP contest runs from 0900 to 1600UTC. Using phone only, the exchange is signal report, serial number band locator. Please note the maximum power for this one is 5W.

On Monday, the 80m Club Championships runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. This is the data leg and the exchange is signal report and serial number.

On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC, using FM only. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange for both contests is signal report, serial number and locator.

As mentioned in the main part of the news, there’s a special 50MHz contest and activity session on Thursday morning. The future of the 6m band will be affected by the number of users during the test period, so please take part or at least get some signals up on 6m. Full information is at tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0906A

On Thursday the 50MHz Machine Generated Mode Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1900UTC, with the exchange being your signal report and 4-character locator. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 50MHz UK Activity Contest, from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange for is signal report, serial number and locator.

Next weekend the 50MHz Trophy runs from 1400UTC on the 15th to 1400UTC on the 16th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Also next weekend, the All Asian DX contest runs for 48 hours from 0000UTC on the 15th to 2359UTC on the 16th. Using CW only on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and your age.

On Sunday the 16th the UK Microwave Group 24 to 248GHz band contest runs from 0900 to 1700UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

The Worked All Britain 50MHz phone contest takes place next Sunday, the 16th, from 0800 to 1400UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and, for UK stations, their WAB square. Entries need to be with the contest manager by the 7th of July. Full details are at www.worked-all-britain.org.uk

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday 7th June 2019.

We had a very quiet, settled Sun last week. The solar flux index never got above 70, reflecting a complete lack of sunspots, while the Kp index eventually decreased to one or two, due to a lack of coronal holes on the solar surface. The net result was that HF conditions were not bad, but definitely not outstanding. Last weekend’s NFD saw many teams with better scores than last year, although the bulk of the propagation was to Europe.

40 metres has become the new 20m, being open during the day as well as in the evening, while openings on the bands above 20m have been fleeting and largely restricted to short-skip Sporadic-E. A station on the west coast of the USA was worked by G4ARN/P, but that was largely due to the other station’s antenna system.

Another DX nugget this week has been 3D2CR on Conway Reef in the South Pacific. This has been worked by a few UK amateurs equipped with high-mounted beams. As the long and short path routes both go over the poles, this is an indication that geomagnetic conditions have been good.

Sporadic-E has not been so prevalent this week, but there have been short openings. A surprise was hearing GB19CH, the Scotland World Cup HQ Station, on 28MHz CW on Thursday, here in Norfolk. This was undoubtedly short-skip Sporadic-E. Special Event Stations AM70C, AM70L and AM70P in Spain were also frequent visitors to 28MHz.

Next week, NOAA predicts the solar flux index will continue around 70-72, while geomagnetic conditions will be settled, with a maximum Kp index of two. Maximum useable frequencies over a 3,000km-long path will peak at about 16-17.5MHz, so 20 metres continues to be the daytime DX band of choice.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

With an unsettled weather week coming up, this time of the year often means some potentially heavy rain with a chance of thunder. Therefore the first propagation mode to get a mention this week is rain scatter on the microwave bands. Use one of the many radar displays available on the web to track the storms.

Now it’s high summer, the Sporadic-E season is well under way. Recent days have been a bit lacklustre in a European sense, although some choice DX has been worked on six metres into Central Africa. Given that jet streams at 10km altitude in the weather part of the atmosphere are known to play a role in the location of Sporadic-E at 100km, it's reassuring to see that there will be some significant jet streams over our part of Europe during the coming week. At various times they will support possible Sporadic-E paths from Scandinavia round to Spain. The main operating tip is to check the bands late morning and again late afternoon and early evening, starting with 10m and working up through six, four and two metres. Unfortunately all of this depends upon the other parameters that influence Sporadic-E coming into line, but at least the weather part looks promising. With predominantly low pressure, there is a limited chance of Tropo featuring much during the coming week.

The Moon is past peak declination perigee, but it is still a good week for EME, albeit with shortening Moon windows and path losses increasing. After last week’s peak of the daytime Arietids meteor shower, there are no significant showers in the upcoming week. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 2nd June 2019

 

The news headlines:

RadCom Basics out this weekend

GB100GP marks Gilwell Park’s centenary

Latest Cricket World Cup Marathon news

A new edition of RadCom Basics is out this weekend. RSGB Members can read it today by going to www.rsgb.org/radcom-basics. You can also register to receive notification of subsequent issues as they become available at the same address. Each edition of RadCom Basics explores key aspects of amateur radio in a straightforward and accessible way. RadCom Basics is sent as an email alert to subscribers when each edition is published. This email provides a list of contents and a link to the articles on the RSGB website. This edition looks at Antennas and explains impedance and reactance, as well as looking at the locator square systems that exist – and how to use them.

Gilwell Park is recognised by many people involved in Scouts as the movement’s spiritual home. It is also home to Scouting’s UK administrative headquarters. Gilwell Park also hosts an amateur radio station, GB2GP, which has been getting Scouts on the air for over 50 years. 2019 is the centenary of the site being donated to Lord Baden Powell, and there are numerous events taking place to mark this. There is a special call sign to mark the site’s centenary: GB100GP. It will be active at a Funday for Beavers and Cubs on the 8th and 9th of June. If you hear the station, give the young people a call.

The ICC Cricket World Cup has started and so has the RSGB’s Cricket World Cup Marathon. UK and international callsigns will be active on nine HF bands on SSB, CW, and digital modes. Award certificates will be offered based on the number of contacts made with the special UK and international stations. A total of 31 special callsigns will be on the air in the UK, with GB19CWC representing the 2019 Cricket World Cup Headquarters in England. Listen for other GB19 prefix callsigns too. Teams will field special event stations as well. Full details are at www.rsgb.org/cricket

Logbook of The World is now accepting FT4 contacts. The latest TQSL update, released on the 22nd of May, includes FT4 as a sub-mode of MFSK. It also adds AISAT-1 and PO-101 in the satellite category. As of the 23rd of May, over one thousand million contact records have been entered into the system, resulting in 200 million contact confirmations. Logbook in The World has 118,328 users.

Now some advanced warning about restricted access to the RSGB’s National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park. On Thursday the 6th of June the NRC will be running a special event station GB2DAY to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day. On that day, access for visiting radio amateurs wishing to operate the station GB3RS will be limited.

Thursday the 6th of June is the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. HMS Belfast was the flagship for the flotilla supporting the British and Canadian troops at Gold and Juno beaches. Commemorating this important event, the radio station in the Bridge Wireless Office aboard the preserved cruiser will use the special callsign GB75DDAY throughout June, manned by members of RNARS (affiliated) London Group and Imperial War Museum volunteers. See www.gb2rn.org.uk for more details.

GB2ORM will be on the air from the 7th to the 9th of June commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day Landings from The Great Orme, Llandudno. This location played a vital role in WW2 with its Gunnery School Positions, RAF Radar Station and, of course the famous Mulberry Harbour construction site. North Wales RS and Dragon ARC will be operating the station. A small party of Air Cadets, Army Cadets & Sea Cadets will also be involved.

To commemorate the work of the many D-Day signallers who were responsible for maintaining essential wireless communications during the Normandy landings, members of VMARS, the Vintage & Military Amateur Radio Society, are co-ordinating wireless nets of equipment types that were in use on that historic day. Those already planning to take part in the nets include portable stations being established at British Gold King Red Beach and near to the Bénouville bascule bridge on the Caen Canal, better known today as Pegasus Bridge. In the UK will be stations operating from a former navigation station at Beachy Head and from Windy Ridge, the site of the WW2 transmitting station at Whaddon Hall in Buckinghamshire. The 75th Anniversary nets will be established from early in the morning of the 6th of June on 3615kHz AM. Communications will take place throughout the entire day. The net is open to all licenced amateurs who can operate using AM equipment of any vintage, but it is hoped that vintage military equipment will be used wherever possible. All amateur radio stations are invited to join in on the AM and FM nets on the 6th of June to celebrate and honour the work of the D-Day signallers, many of whom were targeted by enemy snipers attempting to disrupt the wireless communications of the invasion troops.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

Today, the 2nd, the Spalding DARS annual rally takes place at Holbeach Community Sports Academy, Pennyhill Lane, Holbeach PE12 7PR. Doors open at 9.30am and admittance is £3. The venue offers easy access from the A17, a large area for boot traders and modern hall for indoor traders. There will be a car boot sale, RSGB Book Stall, special interest groups and trade stands. Catering is available on site and there will be a prize draw. Contact Graham Boor, G8NWC, on 0775 461 9701, or email [email protected].

Next Sunday, the 9th, the Junction 28 Radio Rally will be held at Alfreton Leisure Centre, Alfreton, Derbyshire. Doors open 10.15am and admission is £3. Run by South Normanton & Alfreton & District ARC, there will be full disabled facilities and a bar selling alcoholic, hot and cold beverages, and a selection of cobs. Hot food is also available in the on-site café. There’s free parking and over 100 tables, all indoors, with dealers & private traders, RSGB, local & national clubs. You’ll find new rigs and accessories to vintage spares and components. Contact Alan Jones, [email protected] or 01332 679 913.

Next Sunday, the 9th, the East Suffolk Wireless Revival will be held at Kirton Recreation Ground, Back Road, Kirton IP10 0PW, just off the A14. Doors open at 9.30am and the entry fee for visitors is £2. The venue has free car parking. There will be trade stands, a car boot sale, a Bring & Buy, special interests groups, GB4SWR HF station and an RSGB bookstall. Catering is available on site. Contact Kevin, G8MXV on 07710 046 846.

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – the print cycle means we need to know four months in advance to get your information into RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Sven, HB9DXB expects to be active as XV9DXB from Nha Trang in Vietnam, starting around the 2nd of June. Plans are to operate SSB and CW on 80, 40, 20 and 10 metres. QSL via EB7DX.

Audie, DU1ZDR and Gazelle, DU1ZDQ will be active as DZ1A from Kalanggaman Island, IOTA reference OC-129, on the 3rd of June. They will operate QRP on or around 14260 and 7055kHz.

Oliver, SV8/DK7TX will be active from IOTA group EU-052, Antipaxos, Paxos and Kerkyra, between the 2nd and 9th of June. He will operate SSB on 40, 20, 17 and 15m bands. QSL via DK7TX, direct or bureau.

Now the special event news

GB0RBW will be active this weekend from the Bath and West Show near Shepton Mallet. Organised by Mid-Somerset ARC, with support from Yeovil and South Bristol clubs, the station will be on the air from 9am to 6pm each day.

The Marconi museum ship, Elettra, which was Marconi’s moving laboratory, will be on the air this weekend as part of the Museum Ships weekend. 2019 is the centenary of the purchase of Elettra by Marconi.

GB2DAW will be on the air for Dementia Awareness Week between the 3rd and 9th of June, to raise awareness of dementia. Operating from the Shetland Islands, Scotland, they will transmit on varying bands and frequencies depending on conditions and time of day. All information is be on QRZ.com.

The Windmill Amateur Radio DX Group will be operating GB1RY on the 6th of June from RAF Ramsbury for the 75th anniversary of D-Day. They will be operating again on the 8th and 9th during the unveiling of a commemorative plaque and information board about RAF Ramsbury.

Please send special event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. Remember that stations using UK special event callsigns must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

This weekend will see the lower parts of the bands very busy for the RSGB CW National Field Day, which is part of the IARU Region 1 Field Day. Ending it 24 hour run at 1500UTC today, the 2nd, it’s CW-only on all the contest bands from 1.8 to 28MHz. The exchange is RST and serial number. Note that although the RSGB and IARU events coincide, European data protection laws mean you need to send your log to each organisation separately. RSGB can’t forward logs to the IARU on your behalf as has been the practice in earlier years.

The SEANET contest ends its 24 hour run at 1200UTC today, the 2nd. CW and SSB can be used on the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, and the exchange is signal report and serial number.

The UK Six Metre Group Summer Contest ends its 24 hour run 1300UTC today, the 2nd. Using all modes on the 50MHz band only, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and UKSMG membership number.

The UK Microwave Group Low Band contest takes place today, the 2nd, from 1000 to 1600UTC. Using all modes on the 23, 13 and 6cm bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Tuesday the 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC, using FM only. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. It takes place concurrently with the 144MHz Machine Generated Mode Activity Contest, where the exchange is signal report and 4 character locator. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 144MHz UK Activity Contest, from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange for this contest is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Saturday the 8th, the 1st 40m QSO Party runs from 1000 to 1200UTC. Using SSB on the 7MHz band, the exchange is 59 and your name.

The IARU Region 1 ATV Contest will be held on the 8th and 9th of June from 1200UTC on the 8th to 1800UTC on the 9th. Using the 432MHz and up bands, the report is picture quality, serial number, four digit code and locator.

Next Sunday, the 9th, the second 144MHz Backpackers contest runs from 0900 to 1300UTC. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Also on Sunday the 9th, the Practical Wireless 2m QRP contest runs from 0900 to 1600UTC. Using phone only, the exchange is signal report, serial number band locator. Please note your maximum power for this one is 5 watts.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday 31st May 2019.

A couple of small Earth-facing coronal holes were the source of an elevated solar wind stream that pushed the Kp index to four on Wednesday. Otherwise solar conditions were generally quite flat last week. This helped Sporadic-E production, which saw 10 metres come alive, with the band sounding more like 20 metres on a good day. Unfortunately, this came to an end mid week when the Kp index soared, as we’ll explain later. One highlight was the start of the Cricket World Cup, with special stations GB19AUS, for Australia, and GB19LL, for Lord’s London, starting the ball rolling on Thursday.

The Sun remained distinctly spotless and that trend is due to continue. NOAA predicts more of the same with the solar flux index between 68 and 72 next week. The good news is that geomagnetic conditions should remain quiet with a maximum Kp index of two forecast over the next seven days. This should help the ionosphere replenish itself.

This weekend has seen National Field Day take place and while we can’t say how conditions have been we are sure that there have been the odd instance of DX openings, albeit fleetingly. This is an example of how you can write off a band, only to find it opening up in one direction for ten minutes or so. F2-layer openings do occur on the higher bands, even at sunspot minimum – it is just a case of being lucky enough to catch them.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

There has been some spectacular Sporadic-E across much of Europe during the last week or so, reaching up to 144MHz in a few cases. However, this changed from midweek as conditions reverted back to normal and Sporadic-E barely made it to 10m.

So what changed? Well, on Wednesday the Kp index was four at a critical time when Sporadic-E might form. This is higher than ideal; typically a K index of less than three is good. Also there has been a gradual deterioration in the positioning of the jet streams in the upper air and these look to be less likely to intersect with the Alps or Pyrenees as we move through this weekend. Sporadic-E paths into Europe may well be biased towards northern Europe, the Baltic and Scandinavia.

Regarding other modes, we appear to be lined up for being associated with low pressure and a showery weather pattern, so offering the prospects for rain scatter on the GHz bands. Watch out for thundery showers today. High pressure does try to return at the end of the week, but may not bring strong Tropo, although sea paths around Britain may offer the better paths.

The Moon reaches peak declination on Wednesday and perigee on Friday, so a good week for EME with long Moon windows and low path losses.

Next Friday/Saturday sees the peak of the daytime Arietids meteor shower, with a zenithal hourly rate of 30.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 26th May 2019

 

The news headlines:

New propagation prediction tool released

Cricket World Cup Radio Marathon is imminent

New forum for Easy-100 satellite upconverter

The RSGB’s Propagation Studies Committee has released a new propagation tool for amateurs. Based on the ITU’s ITURHFPROP program, the new tool is the work of programmer and Committee member James Watson, HZ1JW. It gives hour-by-hour monthly median propagation predictions from a location you specify to one of 28 locations around the world. You can select your operating mode, eg SSB, CW or FT8, local noise levels, the antenna type at each end and other variables. The results are presented in tables, using colours and numeric values to indicate path properties. There is more information on the RSGB website and the tool itself, which is free to all amateurs worldwide, is at www.rsgb.org/proppy

It’s only a few days until the start of the Cricket World Cup Radio Marathon. Some brand-new awards have been added, including Worked all Teams and Worked all Cricket Grounds. The Marathon runs from the 30th of May to the 14th of July and full details can be found at www.rsgb.org/cricket

There has been a great deal of interest in the Easy-100 DIY upconverter for geostationary satellite QO-100, published in the June RadCom. A special interest group has now been created for discussions and support at groups.io/g/easy-100 and all are welcome to join.

Dementia Awareness Week is run by Alzheimer’s Scotland from the 3rd to the 9th of June. Peter, MM0NQY will be running GB2DAW during this time to help raise the worldwide amateur community’s awareness of dementia. Operating from the Shetland Islands, Scotland, on various bands and times, Peter hopes that the end result may be a world-wide net where operators with dementia could talk to each other. For more information please see the QRZ.com entry for GB2DAW.

Next Saturday and Sunday sees this year’s Museum Ships weekend. Transmissions will be sent from all sorts of old and special ships worldwide, enabling unique QSOs. Around 110 museum ships around the world have registered to take part, including seven or so that are new to the event. Ships and boats from submarines to aircraft carriers will be on the air and a full list can be found at www.qsl.net/w/wa2tvs//museum

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

Today, the Durham District ARS Radio Rally takes place at Bowburn Community Association, Durham Road, Bowburn, Co. Durham DH6 5AT. Doors open 10.10am to 2.30pm, with disabled visitors gaining access at 10 am. Admittance is £2. There will be traders, a Bring & Buy as well as an RSGB bookstall and special interest groups. Catering and a licensed bar is on site. Contact Michael, G7TWX on 07826 924 1192.

Next Sunday, the Spalding DARS annual rally takes place at Holbeach Community Sports Academy, Pennyhill Lane, Holbeach PE12 7PR. Doors open at 9.30am and admittance is £3. The venue offers easy access from the A17, a large area for boot traders and a modern hall for indoor traders. There will be a car boot sale, RSGB Book Stall, special interest groups and trade stands. Catering is available on site and there will be a prize draw. Contact Graham Boor, G8NWC, on 0775 461 9701, or email [email protected].

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – the print cycle means we need to know four months in advance to get your information into RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

M0PAI will be active from the 1st to the 8th of June on the Isle of Lewis/Harris, IOTA reference EU-010, Isle of Skye, as MM0PAI/p. He will be active all week on 80m to 2m, including 4m SSB, and on FT8. New references for World Flora Fauna will be activated, there will be WAB references up for grabs and possible SOTA activations depending on weather.

Ric, LA/DL2VFR, Friedrich, LA/DL4BBH and Klaus, LA/DL7UXG will be active from the Vesteralen Islands, EU-033, from the 27th to the 31st of May, and from the Lofoten Islands, EU-076, on the 1st to the 5th of June. They will operate CW, SSB and FT8. QSL via home calls, Club Log and eQSL.

Akio, JE2QIZ has received a licence to operate in Naypyitaw, Myanmar as XZ2B. It covers 20 to 300MHz at 25W maximum and expires at the end of June. Details are on QRZ.com

Dwight, VE7BV is on the air from Guatemala as TG9BBV until the 13th of June. QSL via home call, direct, bureau, or Logbook of the World.

Yuki, JH1NBN is active as 9N7BN in Nepal until the 4th of June. Bands in use are 80m to 6m using CW and FT8. QSL via home call.

Now the special event news

GB0RBW will be active for four days from Wednesday the 29th from the Bath and West Show near Shepton Mallet. Organised by Mid-Somerset ARC, with support from Yeovil and South Bristol clubs, the station will be on the air from 9 am to 6 pm each day.

Burton Amateur Radio Club will be operating GB2RTF for Rolleston On Dove Transport Festival on Bank Holiday Monday. The station will be active on HF, VHF & UHF using SSB, FM, FT8, FT4 and CW using SDR and traditional transceivers.

Unusual callsign GB9SOS comes to the end of its month-long run on the 31st of May. Run by G8XQB in aid of SOS Radio Week, full information can be found on QRZ.com

Please send special event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. Remember that stations using UK special event callsigns must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

The 48 hour CQ Worldwide WPX CW contest is in full swing, ending at 2359UTC tonight. Using CW only on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands, the exchange is a signal report and serial number.

Also today, the 26th, the UK Microwave Groups contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on the 5.7 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is a signal report, serial number and locator.

The 3rd 70MHz Cumulative contest runs from 1400 to 1600UTC today. Using all modes, the exchange is a signal report, serial number and locator.

On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2000UTC, using FM only. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both contests is a signal report, serial number and locator.

Also on Tuesday, the SHF UKAC takes place from 1830 to 2130UTC, Using all bands on the 2.4 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is a signal report, serial number and locator.

On Thursday the 80m Club Championships CW leg runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is a signal report and serial number.

Next weekend will see the lower parts of the bands very busy for the RSGB CW National Field Day, which is part of the IARU Region 1 Field Day. Running from 1500 UTC on Saturday to the same time on Sunday, it’s CW-only on all the contest bands from 1.8 to 28MHz. The exchange is RST and serial number. Note that although the RSGB and IARU events coincide, European data protection laws mean you need to send your log to each organisation separately. RSGB can’t forward to the IARU on your behalf as has been the practice in earlier years.

Also next weekend, the SEANET contest takes place from 1200UTC on Saturday until the same time on Sunday. CW and SSB can be used on the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, and the exchange is a signal report and serial number.

The UK Six Metre Group Summer Contest runs from 1300 UTC next Saturday to 1300 on Sunday. Using all modes on the 50MHz band only, the exchange is a signal report, serial number, locator and UKSMG membership number.

Finally, for next weekend, the UK Microwave Group Low Band contest takes place next Sunday from 1000 to 1600UTC. Using all modes on the 23, 13 and 6cm bands, the exchange is a signal report, serial number and locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday 24th May 2019.

Geomagnetic conditions have been much quieter over the last week as the result of reduced coronal hole activity and a lack of coronal mass ejections. The solar surface is now devoid of sunspots, so we are back to settled conditions.

Many listeners are reporting that 20 metres is staying open longer at night. This is to be expected as we move towards summer ionospheric conditions, characterised by lower maximum useable frequencies during the day, compared with winter, but sustained MUFs at night. This is due to a mixture of increased D-layer absorption during daylight and a change in the ionospheric chemistry to more molecular, rather than monatomic species, which are harder to ionise. Some long-distance contacts into the USA have been reported even at 2 am and we can expect these to continue. Twenty metres may even become a 24-hour DX band by mid-summer.

There is a slight chance of an elevated K index on Friday 24th or Saturday 25th due to an Earth-facing coronal hole, but otherwise the geomagnetic field is predicted to be quiet. NOAA predicts unsettled conditions on the 28th and 29th when the K index could rise to three or four. The solar flux index will start at about 68 and is predicted to rise to 74 or 76 by next weekend, presumably due to the return of a sunspot group.

And finally, as mentioned in the main news the RSGB’s Propagation Studies Committee has launched a new HF prediction tool that uses the ITURHFPROP engine. The tool can create predictions to 28 different locations around the world, based on your particular antenna, mode and power. It joins the VOACAP-based tool launched earlier this year, which can be found via www.rsgb.org/psc

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

This week we will find a tendency for high pressure to be located to the southwest of the British Isles, with any Tropo prospects biased towards southern UK into France across Biscay into Spain perhaps. The bulk of the country is dominated by low pressure to give a showery type of weather and offer some possibility of some rain scatter, since it’s likely at this time of the year to be a case of some showers being heavy and thundery.

Sporadic-E is working well this season with some openings reported on most days, often as high as 50MHz and occasionally higher. Obviously, not all paths have been accessible from the UK, but some have and so far this season many of the paths have been associated with jet streams. The coming week suggests some further jet stream activity over northern Europe and Scandinavia, while flows over southern Europe become weaker. Maybe it is time for paths to Scandinavia and the Baltic to come to the fore. It’s always worth remembering to check the clusters and, as an operating principle, try a late morning or early evening check on 10m and 6m beacons for signs of activity.

The Moon is at apogee today so losses are at their highest, but falling as the week progresses. Declination is rising and goes positive on Thursday so EME conditions will become more favourable towards next weekend. Again there is no significant meteor shower activity this week so in between the Sporadic-E, keep looking for the early morning random meteor peak on the lower VHF bands.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 19th May 2019

 

The news headlines:

Book now for RSGB Convention

CQ Hall of Fame inductees named

GB2DAY at NRC on 6 June

Booking is now open for the 2019 RSGB Convention, which is sponsored by Martin Lynch & Sons. Join us between the 11th and 13th of October at Kents Hill Park, Milton Keynes. The lecture programme is in the process of being finalised, and will feature streams including HF, VHF, AMSAT-UK and general interest. The Convention will include the annual Construction Competition, an SMD Buildathon, the Contest University and a Pi workshop. Our after-dinner speaker will be Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, Secretary of the IARU. Dave was active with the IARU during his entire 44-year career on the staff of the ARRL. Making a weekend of it? Why not come and visit the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park on the Friday? RSGB Members can download their free entry voucher from the RSGB website. See more at www.rsgb.org/convention.

Five amateurs have been inducted into the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame. They are John Attaway Senior, K4IIF, SK, who served for more than 20 years as CQ magazine’s DX Editor, proposing the establishment of the CQ DX Hall of Fame in 1967; Dave Bernstein, AA6YQ the author of the DXLab software suite, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, KD2JTX, the Director of the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Development Bureau and the first woman ever to hold a senior elected position in the ITU, Predescu Florin Cristian, YO0CNU, the founder of Europe's Youngsters On The Air (YOTA) program and Ellen White, W1YL who served as the ARRL's Deputy Communications Manager, was QST magazine's DX editor, recorded QST on tape for the Library of Congress’s Talking Book Program for the visually-impaired. Bruce, WA7BNM; Dean, N6BV, and Chris, 9A5K, SK, have been inducted into CQ Contest Hall of Fame. Joe Taylor, K1JT, the Nobel Prize winning-astrophysicist who created the suite of WSJT weak-signal digital modes, including FT8, and Silvano Borsa, I2YSB and the Italian DXpedition Team who have made more than 20 major DXpeditions in the past 20 years, mostly to Africa have been inducted into the CQ DX Hall of Fame.

Advance notice now that RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park will have restricted access for visiting radio amateurs wishing to operate the station, GB3RS on the 6th of June. On the 6th, the NRC will be running a special event station, GB2DAY to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day. The NRC will remain open to visitors but access to the radio room will be restricted and visiting amateurs will be unable to operate the station.

New videos have been added to the RSGB website for Members to view. They are two 2018 RSGB Convention lectures. John Worsnop, G4BAO talks about The Wednesday Night Digifest and Steve Nichols, G0KYA speaks on The top HF propagation questions and some possible answers. Go to www.rsgb.org/videos for these and many more interesting talks. There is also new archive video, National Field Day 1947, plus the original RadCom article written about the event now live in the Film Archive section at www.rsgb.org/videos

This year the ITU World Radio Conference takes place and there is an important motion on the agenda to consolidate and extend access to 50MHz in Region 1, which covers Europe, Africa and Asiatic Russia. One of the national telecoms administrations that is actively supporting the proposal is the Czech Republic; unfortunately some other administrations are actively opposed. To gather solid evidence of the high level of amateur activity on the band, and at the same time to demonstrate that amateurs can co-exist with other band users including the military, IARU is supporting a monitoring trial on the 13th of June. The event is being run by the Czech national radio society, in conjunction with their regulator and it is part activity period, part contest. Government and professional users will be monitoring and some will be transmitting as well so it is important that amateurs make a good showing. Remember, by the way, that if you do hear any non-amateur stations you must make sure you do not cause them any interference. Full details of the event can be found at https://tinyurl.com/yxngnmlw

The 200th registration for this year's International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend has been received and it is from Latvia, which is a rare country for the event and a new lighthouse as well. This highly popular event, now in its 22nd year, takes place on the 17th and 18th of August with over 500 entries expected. It is a fun weekend with many entrants returning year after year with some taking part every year since 1998. All the details and registration form are on the ILLW website, https://illw.net

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

Today, the 19th of May, the Dunstable Downs National Amateur Radio Car Boot Sale takes place at Stockwood Park, Luton LU1 4BQ. More details can be found on the website www.ddrcbootsale.org.

On the 26th of May, the Durham District ARS Radio Rally takes place at Bowburn Community Association, Durham Road, Bowburn, Co. Durham DH6 5AT. Doors open 10.10am to 2.30pm, with disabled visitors gaining access at 10am. Admittance is £2. There will be traders, a Bring & Buy as well as an RSGB bookstall and Special Interest Groups. Catering and a licensed bar is on site. Contact Michael, G7TWX on 07826 924 1192.

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – the print cycle means we need to know four months in advance to get your information into RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Juha, OH5CW and the OH5C group will be active as OG0C from Kokar, in the Aland Islands, IOTA reference EU-002, between the 22nd and the 28th of May. They will operate CW, SSB, FT8, FT4 and MSK144 on the 160 to 2m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World, via the bureau, or direct to OH5CW; logsearch on Club Log.

Thomas, F4HPX will be active holiday-style as FR/F4HPX from Reunion Island until the 5th June. He will operate mainly SSB and FT8 on 40, 20 and 15m.

Waldi, SP7IDX will be active as LA/SP7IDX from Store Molla, Lofoten Islands, EU-076, until the 29th of May. He will operate SSB and FT8 on the 40 to 10m bands. QSL direct to home call or via Logbook of The World.

Members of the Old House Radio Club, OH5C, will visit the Aland Islands from the 22nd to 28th of May using the callsign OG0C. QSL via OH5CW.

Zorro, JH1AJT will visit Eritrea from the 25th of May to the 3rd of June. The main purpose of his trip is to support the Eritrea National Olympic Committee. He will be joined by Franz, DJ9ZB, David, WD5COV, Johannes, PA5X, Dima, RAUSU, Sergey, RZ9UN and Champ, E21EIC, who will be active as E31A on the 160 to 6m bands using CW, SSB and FT8 Fox & Hound mode. QSL via Club Log’s OQRS, or via JH1AJT.

Laci, HA0HW will be active as SW8WW from Thassos Island, EU-174, from the 23rd of May to the 5th of June. He will operate mainly CW, with some SSB and RTTY/PSK, on the 40 to 6m bands. QSL via Club Log’s OQRS, or via HA0HW direct or bureau.

Now the special event news

W7K celebrates the redefinition of the SI unit kelvin, which will take place on the 20th of May. This station will be operated from one of the most accurate temperature standards laboratories in the world, at American Fork, Utah. Times of operation will be 0000UTC to 2359UTC. The station will operate on both HF and VHF. For HF, operation will be on the 20, 40 and 80m bands. The VHF operation will be accessible via Echolink for those out of the area at specific times. For more information, go to tinyurl.com/w7kelvin

Two special event radio stations will be on the air from Shetland. GB0DAW, for Dementia Action Week, will be on the air between the 20th and the 26th of May; GB2DAW for Dementia Awareness Week between the 3rd and 9th of June. All information will be on QRZ.com.

Please send special event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. Remember that stations using UK special event callsigns must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

The 144MHz May Contest ends its 24 hour run at 1400UTC today, the 19th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode.

Today, the 19th, the 144MHz Backpackers contest runs from 1100 to 1500UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Also today, the 19th, the UK Microwave Group High Band contest runs from 0900 to 1700UTC. Using all modes on the 24 to 76GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Tuesday the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Wednesday the 80m Club Championships data leg runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number.

Next weekend the CQ Worldwide WPX CW contest runs for 48 hours from 0000UTC on the 25th to 2359UTC on the 26th. Using CW only on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number.

On Sunday the 26th, the 3rd 70MHz Cumulative contest runs from 1400 to 1600UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Sunday the 26th, the UK Microwave Groups contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on the 5.7 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 17th of May.

Last week saw the Kp index rise to seven on Tuesday thanks to an enhanced solar wind stream containing a sharply south-pointing Bz. This is the direction of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field and south-pointing means it was more likely to couple with the Earth’s magnetic field. This was due to a number of filament eruptions in the vicinity of sunspot region 2741.

While not entirely unexpected, the Kp index rise to seven was quite severe and resulted in auroral conditions on HF. A number of B-class solar flares on Wednesday didn’t help much either. The FoF2 plot at Propquest.co.uk looked a bit like a roller coaster as the predicted MUF over a 3,000km path went rapidly from nearly 20MHz to 16MHz. Luckily, things were more settled on Thursday with a Kp index of two, although HF conditions remained flat.

Sunspot group 2741 is now rotating off the Sun’s disk, with NOAA predicting the solar flux index will go back down to around 68 next week, due to an absence of spots. As a result the K index is predicted to be around 2 to 3 as the risk of coronal mass ejections declines.

Phil, GU0SUP, the RSGB newsreader for Guernsey, reports that FT8 has been quite active. On the morning of Friday the 10th he heard lots of Ws on 30 metres, including a W7 in Idaho. Moving to 20m he then then saw K2GT calling CQ and found out he was in Hawaii. Phil says he was very surprised at just how loud he was. He adds that he usually expect to work KH6 later in the day, although he has worked Hawaii in the mornings before, but when the SFI was much higher.

And now the VHF and up propagation news

The weak high pressure nearby may reassert itself as a shallow area of low pressure over France drifts away. This does not look anything like as strong as the exceptional high of 1042mb of last week. Therefore some weak Tropo is always possible, especially along the east coast.

Sporadic-E has been doing fairly well with a comprehensive selection of jet streams to offer potential triggers for Sporadic-E at first, but the coming week looks much thinner with the main jet stream activity displaced south over the Mediterranean. This may put Sporadic-E patches too far south, although it should be productive across the Mediterranean region. Best prospects from the UK look to be south into Spain and Portugal.

As we head down to minimum Moon declination on Wednesday and are just a weak away from apogee, Moon windows are short and losses high. It’s a good time put aside QSO attempts and to check out EME system performance using Sun to cold sky measurements as the sun is nice and high in the sky at noon now.

There is no significant meteor shower activity this week so in between the Sporadic-E, keep looking for the early morning random meteor peak on the lower VHF bands.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 12th May 2019

 

The news headlines:

Midland series ARDF event in Leicestershire

Monk Apollo, SV2ASP, Silent Key

BBC explains amateur radio emergency comms

 

The first of the Midland series ARDF events takes place on Saturday the 18th of May at Burbage Common, between Hinckley and Earl Shilton in Leicestershire, map reference SP446953. Anyone interested should meet at the visitor centre off the B4668, that’s the old A47, at 10am. Suitable radio receivers will be available on loan. There will be tuition if you would like this and also mentors to help you get started. The 80m band is being used and there will be five transmitters to be located. You will find it helpful to bring a compass with a rectangular base plate, a fine tipped spirit pen and a lightweight A4 board to which you can tape the map that will be provided. Dress appropriately for a walk in the woods. There is a fee of £2 to cover the costs of the maps and incidentals.

Sad news now. Mount Athos’ best-known radio amateur, Monk Apollo, SV2ASP, became Silent Key on the 5th of May after complications resulting from cancer. He was 64. Monk Apollo was essentially the lone DX voice from Mount Athos, the 20th most-wanted DXCC entity, where he operated from his Orthodox Monastery.

An interesting item about amateur radio was broadcast on the BBC World Service this week. It dealt with the importance of amateur radio emergency communications during the recent cyclone in India. You can listen to the broadcast, Digital Planet – Ham Radio Aids Cyclone Relief Effort, at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csy664

New videos have been added to the RSGB YouTube channel for anyone to view. Dan McGraw, M0WUT presents ‘Designing an HR WSPR Transceiver’ and Noel Matthews, G8GTZ talks about ‘The Farnham WebSDR – DC to microwaves on your smartphone’. Go to www.rsgb.org/videos for these and many more interesting talks.

A BBC Earth PodCast featuring Eleanor Griffin, M6NWZ talking about her experience with an ISS link from Kings High School, Warwick was broadcast this week. Go to www.bbcearth.com/podcast, scroll to the bottom and listen to the one called ‘Looking Up’.

There are several interesting publications available on the IARU Region 1 website at www.iaru-r1.org. You can read the latest edition of the IARU Region 1 Monitoring System newsletter that contains detailed reports from the various national coordinators showing the various stations that have been monitored on the amateur bands and any action that has been taken. The IARU Region 1 VHF newsletter contains reports on the recent IARU meetings in Vienna preparing for the next ITU conference and has details of a 50MHz test that will take place on the 13th of June.

Recently added to the Syllabus 2019 updates on the RSGB website is a presentation on Digital Signal Processing Without The Maths. This is aimed at tutors preparing training material. On the page you will also find the Exam Specifications, details of the Tutors’ meeting in March, and model tutorial slides on SDR and Digital elements.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

There are no rallies in the diary for this weekend, the 11th and 12th of May.

Dayton Hamvention® takes place on the 17th to the 19th of May at the Greene County Fairgrounds and Expo Center, Dayton, Ohio, USA. The RSGB will be represented with a Book Stall and Membership stand.

On Sunday the 19th of May, the Dunstable Downs National Amateur Radio Car Boot Sale will be held at Stockwood Park, Luton LU1 4BQ. More details can be found on the website www.ddrcbootsale.org.

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected].

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

To celebrate World Telecommunication and Information Society Day on 17th May a special station, 8J1ITU, will be on the air throughout May from the Japanese island of Honshu. QSL via the Bureau.

Tom, DL7BO will be active again as XV9BO from Mui Ne, Vietnam on 13-19 May. He will operate sporadically on the HF bands SSB, CW, RTTY and FT8. QSL via LoTW or DL7BO.

Lance, W7GJ will be active as CP1GJ from Copacabana, WWL FH53kt, Bolivia on 7-16 May. This will be a 6m EME DXpedition. Lance urges people to gain experience with JT65A and especially review the QSO procedure. When not aimed up at the moon he may be on SSB, or FT8 on 50.313MHz. QSL direct only to home call. See www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj/ for planned operating schedules and other information.

Members of Tynemouth ARC, G0NWM, are travelling to the Isle of Mull, IOTA reference EU-008, from Friday the 17th of May until Friday the 24th, where they will be operating using the callsign GS0NWM. Subject to conditions the group will be operating up to four stations across the HF bands on SSB, CW, RTTY, FT8 using Fox and Hound mode and they hope to have a go at VHF/UHF satellite operation. QSL is via m0urx.com.

Thomas, F4HPX will be active again as FR/F4HPX from Reunion Island, AF-016, between mid-May and early June. He will operate SSB, FT8 and maybe some CW on 40 to 15 metres from different locations around the island. QSL via LoTW, Club Log’s OQRS, or via home call, direct or bureau.

Jacques, F6HMJ will be active as SV8/F6HMJ from Ios Island, EU-067, on 14-28 May. He will operate SSB and CW on 80 to 10 metres.

Now the special event news

This weekend you can expect to hear special event stations taking part in SOS Radio Week, Pubs and Clubs on the Air and Mills on the Air. Several of these stations are mentioned in local news this week.

Cwmbran ARC will be operating from Llanyravon Mill, Llanyravon Way, Cwmbran over the weekend for Mills on the Air. Visitors are welcome.

Windmill Amateur Radio DX Group will be operating GB1WW from Wilton Windmill, Wilton, near Marlborough.

Members of West Kent ARS are operating from the Nutley Windmill on Ashdown Forest today, the 12th, using GB2NW. Operation will be on HF and 144MHz SSB and FM.

This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is being held in Tel Aviv, Israel and to mark the occasion five special event callsigns will be on the air until the 18th of May. Look for 4Z64EURO, 4X64S, 4X64O, 4X64N and 4X64G.

Please send special event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. UK special event stations must be open to the public, and our free publicity can help.

Now the contest news

The UK Six Metre Group Summer Marathon runs until the 4th of August. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is just your four-character locator.

Today, the 12th of May, the 70MHz CW Contest runs from 0900 to 1200UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode.

Also today, the 12th, the Worked All Britain 40m phone contest runs from 1000 to 1400UTC. Using SSB only, the exchange is signal report, serial number and WAB area.

On Monday the 80m Club Championships takes place from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using SSB only the exchange is signal report and serial number.

On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC, using FM only. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest, from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange for both contests is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Thursday the 70MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Next weekend the 144MHz May Contest runs from 1400UTC on the 18th to 1400UTC on the 19th. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode.

On Sunday the 19th, the 144MHz Backpackers contest runs from 1100 to 1500UTC. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Also next Sunday, the 19th, the UK Microwave Group High Band contest runs from 0900 to 1700UTC. Using all modes on the 24 to 76GHz bands the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4DDK on Friday the 10th of May.

Sunspot group 2740 has now returned and is emitting a lot of radio noise. Solarweather.com reports large bursts have been recorded on 20 and 25MHz. The bursts sound like waves breaking on the shore and are caused by beams of electrons accelerated by explosions in the sunspot’s magnetic canopy. As the electrons slice through the Sun’s atmosphere, they generate a ripple of plasma waves and radio emissions detectable on Earth.

The last week saw slightly better HF conditions. Andy, M0NKR reports working Nobby, FW5JG on 20 metres on Wallis and Futuna Islands. Jim, G3YLA also reported working James, K6AR just north of San Diego in California at 1400Z, also on 20 metres.

Sporadic-E has also been growing this week. Beacon signals were logged on 10 metres from Poland on Wednesday, and Spain and Italy on Thursday. The 10m beacons, from 28.160 to 28.325MHz are a good guide to propagation, especially as many of them run less than five watts.

Next week, NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be 76, thanks to the two sunspots groups now visible on the solar disk. A weak, slow-moving coronal mass ejection observed on Tuesday the 7th of May is predicted to deliver a glancing blow to our geomagnetic field this weekend. Otherwise, geomagnetic conditions will be settled with a maximum K index of two next week, although more coronal mass ejections from sunspot groups 2740 and 2741 are a strong possibility. This could lead to an elevated K index and poorer HF conditions in the short term.

Daytime critical frequencies remain in the 4-5MHz range, with the maximum usable frequency over 3,000km occasionally exceeding 18MHz. The night-time critical frequency is mostly now staying above 3.5MHz, which means 80m should remain open to NVIS signals around the UK throughout the night.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

It’s an unsettled end to the week with further showers for many areas, so there is still some scope for rain scatter on the microwave bands. Some of the showers could be heavy with a chance of hail and thunder, so watch out for rain static.

The big change will come after the weekend when the pressure builds quickly to produce a large area of high pressure over the country and improved weather all round. It also means a good chance of Tropo and maybe checking out those solar panels for your off-the-grid portable set up.

Sporadic-E has been showing its hand during the last week and there should a reasonable chance of jet streams in good locations for further Sporadic-E in the coming week.

Use the Propquest.co.uk website to see the daily updates. Starting this weekend, there will be a jet stream over the Pyrenees that translates east to the Alps. This means we could start off with paths to EA/CT and gradually move to Italy and IS0 in the central Mediterranean.

The Eta Aquariid meteor shower has now peaked, although there are still meteors associated with this shower up to about the 24th of May, so expect to hear some pings throughout this week. We now enter a bit of a lull in shower activity until the July Delta Aquariids.

Full Moon occurs next Sunday, the 19th of May. This is a low declination full Moon, meaning that the moon reaches full illumination at its lowest point in the sky of this lunar cycle. This period should be more favourable for stations without antenna elevation, although the low declination often means more terrestrial obstructions for the antenna view of the Moon. Path loss will increase through the week, as will libration – the Moon’s apparent “wobble” that lets us see up to 59% of its surface.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 5th May 2019

 

The news headlines:

New RSGB talks online

ARDF Champs in Thames Valley

NRC visitor figures rise

After the formal proceedings and the trophy presentations at the recent RSGB AGM, attendees were treated to an introductory talk on Qatar Oscar 100, the new geostationary satellite. Noel Matthews, G8GTZ, Dave Crump, G8GKQ and Phil Crump, M0DMY gave an introduction to the QO-100 amateur transponders on the Es’hail-2 commercial satellite, which was launched in February. It has already seen many stations making contacts across a third of the globe on the narrow band voice/data and wide band DATV transponders. The presentation included a brief history of how the project came about, an overview of equipment required to operate QO-100 and a demonstration of the webSDR and spectrum monitor. You can listen to the talk and view the presentation slides at tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0505A.

This Bank Holiday weekend sees the annual three day RSGB ARDF Championships taking place in the Thames Valley. The areas chosen are Christmas Common near Wendover, Whiteleaf near Princes Risborough and Hodgmoor Woods near Amersham. The competitions will comprise ‘classic’ ARDF events on 144MHz and 3.5MHz on two of the days, with the final day devoted to the two ‘short format’ variants. More information is available on the ARDF pages of the RSGB website.

9,092 visitors went to the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park in April, bringing the total in the first four months to 27,077. That’s nearly three times more than the 9,355 in the same period last year. The radio room in the NRC will have reduced access on the morning of Tuesday the 7th of May. The NRC will remain open to visitors but access to the radio room will be restricted as filming will be taking place. We apologise for any inconvenience but this means that any visiting radio amateurs won’t be able to operate the station GB3RS until after midday.

RSGB Club Insurance and Beacon and Repeater Insurance has now been renewed for the year to April 2020. Club Insurance Certificates can be downloaded from the RSGB website; please use your Membership Services login to obtain a copy of your Certificate. To ensure that your beacon and repeater is covered under the RSGB Insurance a £10 admin fee is required and you may renew this via the RSGB shop. Please allow a couple of days after renewal for your certificate to be dispatched.

At the IARU Region 1 Interim meeting last week, a special Sunday morning session that focussed on enhanced VHF/Microwave activities was kicked off by John Regnault, G4SWX, the RSGB VHF Manager. Joining the meeting by Skype, John explained how the UK had gained access to the experimental 71 and 146MHz bands for digital innovation. Amongst other things this had fostered ground-breaking developments in reduced bandwidth digital ATV by BATC, which has transformed activity on VHF/UHF. More recently this innovative work has supported the IARU WRC-19 case for 50MHz; and has also proved to be a popular mode on the new QO-100 geostationary satellite. Details are at tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0505B.

SOS Radio Week has started and will continue until the end of May. This annual event raises awareness of the amazing work that the brave volunteers of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution perform and to honour the volunteer watchkeepers of the National Coastwatch Institution, who provide eyes around the coast of the UK to observe and report potential disasters unfolding that technology cannot detect. For further information, visit www.sosradioweek.org.uk.

The UK DX Foundation will be holding its convention, dinner and 2019 AGM at the Link Hotel, Loughborough, on Saturday the 11th of May. The programme includes the AGM in the morning, afternoon DX and technical talks, and an evening dinner – with plenty of time for socialising in between. Members, XYLs and non members are welcome. Booking details can be found on the CDXC website www.cdxc.org.uk.

New videos have been added to both the RSGB Members section of the website and the RSGB YouTube channel for anyone to view. Members can view Troposcatter on the VHF Bands by Palle Hansen, OZ1RH; and Cezar Trifu, VE3LYC talking about the IOTA DXpedition to H44R & H40D. Available on the RSGB YouTube channel is why the digital mode PI4 is a success for beacons by Bo Hansen, OZ2M; and Ian White, GM3SEK’s talk on VHF baluns – fact and fancy. Go to www.rsgb.org/videos to find these and many more interesting talks.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

Today, the 6th of May, sees the 35th Dartmoor Radio Club Rally at The Butchers Hall, Pannier Market, Tavistock. Entrance to the rally will be from the square and doors open at 10am. Admission is £2. There will be traders, a Bring & Buy and an RSGB bookstall. Refreshments will be available. Contact Roger, 2E0RPH on 07854 088 882, or email [email protected]

There are no rallies in the diary for next weekend, the 11th and 12th of May.

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – the print cycle means we need to know four months in advance to get your information into RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Brian, GW4DVB will be operating a small holiday DXpedition from the 6th to the 15th of May to Palm Island, also know as Prune Island, IOTA reference NA-025, in St Vincent and the Grenadines. He will use the callsign J88PI from the locator FK92HO. QSL, direct only, to PO Box 20:20, Llanharan, Pontyclun, Wales CF72 9ZA.

Andrey, R9YU will be active as JT9/R9YU from Mongolia until the 12th of May. He will operate SSB on the 40, 20 and 15m bands. QSL direct to his home call; note he does not use Logbook of The World or Club Log.

Mike, AC0PR will be on the air as OA3/AC0PR from Peru between the 5th and 11th of May. Activity will be limited to his spare time, most likely in one-hour sessions on the 40 to 10m bands using QRP CW. QSL via home call, and Logbook of The World.

Bernd, DL9LBR will be active as OZ/DL9LBR from Fano Island, EU-125, until the 11th of May. All QSOs will be confirmed automatically via the bureau.

Roland, DL1EAL will be active as PA/DL1EAL from Texel Island, EU-038, until the 9th of May. He prefers CW and all digital modes, and will be operating holiday style on the 40, 20, 15 and 10m bands. QSL via his home call either direct or via the bureau, eQSL and Logbook of The World.

Now the special event news

From the 4th to the 31st of May, GB9SOS will be operating as part of SOS Radio Week. The station will be operating on as many different HF and VHF bands as possible during the 28 days the station will be active. The station will be operating from 1900 to 2100UTC on weekdays and 0900 to 1600UTC at weekends. Further details can be found at www.docsvruk.com/g8xqb

Pubs and Clubs on the Air is taking place between the 10th and the 12th of May. More details can be found at www.g6tw.org.uk.

Cwmbran ARC will be operating from Llanyravon Mill, Llanyravon Way, Cwmbran on the 11th and 12th of May for Mills on the Air. Visitors are welcome.

Windmill Amateur Radio DX Group will take part in Mills on the Air on the 11th and 12th of May from Wilton Windmill, Wilton near Marlborough Wiltshire, using the callsign GB1WW.

Many other club stations will be taking part in Mills on the Air; the details we’ve been given are in the relevant parts of Local News.

Please send special event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. Remember that stations using UK special event callsigns must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

The UK Six Metre Group Summer Marathon runs until the 4th of August. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is just your four-character locator.

The 432MHz to 248GHz Trophy contest ends its 24 hour run at 1400UTC today, the 5th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

The ARI International DX contest ends its 24 hour run today, the 5th, at 1200UTC. Using CW, phone and RTTY on the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number with Italian stations also sending the Province code.

Today, the 5th of May, sees the UK Microwave Groups contest runs from 0800 to 1400UTC. Using all modes on the 1.3 to 3.4GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Also on today, the 5th of May, the IRTS 40m Counties contest runs from 1200 to 1400UTC. Using SSB and CW the exchange is signal report and serial number. Irish stations also send their County.

On Tuesday the 144MHz Machine Generated Modes Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC with the exchange of signal report, serial number and four-character locator. It takes place at the same time as the 144MHz FM Activity Contest. Both are immediately followed by the all-mode 144MHz UK Activity Contest, running from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange for the FMAC and UKAC is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Thursday the 50MHz Machine Generated Mode Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and four-character locator. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 50MHz UK Activity Contest, running from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange for this contest is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Sunday the 12th of May, the 70MHz CW Contest runs from 0900 to 1200UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode.

Also on Sunday the 12th, the Worked All Britain 40m phone contest runs from 1000 to 1400UTC. Using SSB only, the exchange is signal report, serial number and WAB area.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 3rd of May.

Well, it is now May and that means the Sporadic-E season has started. There have already been some Sporadic-E openings on 10m, but the best is yet to come. Meanwhile, a lack of sunspots and continuing coronal hole activity means F2-layer DX is a little harder to come by.

Last week’s International Marconi Day saw some reports of poor conditions, but with a few propagation nuggets to keep the spirits up. GB0CMS at Caister Lifeboat in Norfolk worked 36 countries, including eight US States and a contact with Indonesia on 20m, so there is propagation about if you look for it.

NOAA predicts the solar flux index will remain around 68-72 next week and we can expect unsettled geomagnetic conditions this weekend with a maximum K index of four. Once that has passed, the rest of the week should be more settled. This is due to a large elongated coronal hole on the solar surface, the same one that was responsible for poor geomagnetic conditions on Thursday the 2nd of May. By next weekend we may see the return of sunspot groups 2738 and 2739 as they rotate into view again. The STEREO Ahead spacecraft shows they have been active, emitting solar flares and coronal mass ejections, so we might be in for a bumpy ride.

Otherwise, the HF bands are starting to stay open longer in the evening as we move towards summer, but a change in the ionospheric chemistry may mean we may have to wait until the autumn to see the return of optimum DX conditions.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

The weather charts for next week appear to be fully tilted towards the unsettled side, with low pressure either over the country, or close-by. At first this weekend there is a weak ridge of high pressure near western parts of Britain, but it will soon decline and does not look good for Tropo.

The Sporadic-E season has started for traditional modes now with paths opening into Spain on 24th and Eastern Europe on the 26th on CW and SSB.

To keep up to date, use www.propquest.co.uk to see the daily weather jet stream charts with a Sporadic-E blog detailing possible areas of interest. The main advice is to follow the jet streams and check the clusters. There is a reasonable link between meteor debris and potential Sporadic-E, so the Eta Aquarids peaking tomorrow should keep the enthusiasm going.

Look out for rain scatter on the GHz bands due to the heavy showers that are likely to be a feature of the coming week. The bigger storms with hail and thunder are the most promising, and you’ll be able to track them down using one of the many online weather displays.

The Moon reaches maximum declination this coming Thursday, and path losses are falling as it moves in to perigee a week on Monday, so it’s a good week for EME.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 28th April 2019

 

The news headlines:

RSGB at IARU Region-1 Interim Meeting

RSGB ARDF Championships next weekend

Could you volunteer to support amateur radio?

The IARU Region-1 Interim Meeting is being held this weekend, the 27th and 28th of April, in Vienna. It is a key opportunity for National Societies to consider changes and opportunities across at HF, VHF/Microwave and EMC matters. The RSGB has been a major contributor of inputs to the overall total of 70 papers and will have representatives in all three topics. The inputs can be found on the meeting website at https://vienna.iaru-r1.org/

The first Bank Holiday weekend sees the annual three day RSGB ARDF Championships taking place in the Thames Valley. The areas chosen are Christmas Common near Wendover, Whiteleaf near Princes Risborough and Hodgmoor Woods near Amersham. At this time of the year the forests in this country are at their best. The weather is reasonably warm and the nettles, brambles and bracken are not yet fully developed. We are welcoming small groups from Romania and the Czech Republic this year, to add an international flavour to the weekend. The competitions will comprise ‘classic’ ARDF events on 144MHz and 3.5MHz on two of the days with the final day devoted to the two ‘short format’ variants. These both use the 3.5MHz band and are FoxOring where the location of each transmitter is marked by a circle on the map. The transmitter is extremely low power (typically 30 milliwatts), which is only audible when the competitor gets close to the circle. DF is then used to actually find it either inside or close by the circle. The second is a sprint race with a total of ten 3.5MHz transmitters operating on two frequencies (five transmitters on each frequency). The top competitors will be coming back in about 20 minutes having located all ten transmitters. Needless to say the transmitters are quite close to each other. More information is available on the ARDF pages of the RSGB website and late entries are possible.

There are a number of volunteer vacancies available within the RSGB. These range from District Regional Representatives who work with clubs and individuals within part of one of the 13 Regions to the role of Beyond Exams Champion. Beyond Exams is a suite of initiatives designed to promote engagement, learning and enjoyment in amateur radio for all and someone is needed to look after the schemes under this banner. If you think you would like to volunteer within the hobby of amateur radio, go to www.rsgb.org/volunteers

Joe Taylor, K1JT has announced a new digital mode, FT4, which is 2.5 times faster than FT8 and is an experimental digital mode designed specifically for radio contesting. FT4 can work with signals 10dB weaker than needed for RTTY, while using much less bandwidth. The message formats are the same as those in FT8 and encoded with the same low-density parity check code. Transmissions last for 4.48 seconds, compared to 12.64 for FT8. Full information on FT4 is at https://tinyurl.com/y5yl66nj

SOS Radio Week will take place between 0000UTC on the 1st May and 2359UTC on the 31st of May. This annual event has been extended for 2019 to raise awareness of the amazing work that the brave volunteers of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution perform and to honour the volunteer watchkeepers of the National Coastwatch Institution who provide eyes around the coast of the UK to observe and report potential disasters unfolding that technology cannot. Individual amateur radio operators and clubs are invited to register as official SOS Radio Week stations and operate during the month to raise awareness of the invaluable work these two organisations perform. Stations can be run under individual, club, or special event callsigns, from home or other locations. There are few restrictions at to what can be done when, how, or where, other than to warn participants not to operate within the vicinity of a lifeboat or Coastwatch station without clearing it with them first. To register to take part, or for further information, please visit our website at sosradioweek.org.uk

The May edition of HackSpace magazine features amateur radio articles by Jo, MW6CYK. It is available as a free PDF. You can download it from https://tinyurl.com/y3k795t8

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

Today, the 28th of April, the Northern Amateur Radio Societies Association Exhibition will take place at the Norbreck Castle Exhibition Centre, Blackpool FY2 9AA. There will be a talk-in station and plenty of car parking. There will be trade stands, a Bring & Buy, special interest groups and an RSGB bookstall. Doors open at 10.30am, or 10.15 for disabled visitors. Catering is available on site. Contact Dave, M0OBW on 01270 761 608.

Today, the 28th of April, the Andover RAC Spring Car Boot Sale will be held in the Wildhern Village Hall, near Andover SP11 0JE. Opening at 10am, admission is £2. Catering is available all day. There is ample on site parking and indoor shelter should it rain. Contact Paul, G4KZY on 07775 738 200.

Next Saturday, the 5th of May, the Thorpe Camp Hamfest will be taking place at Thorpe Camp Visitor Centre. Tattershall Thorpe LN4 4PL. Doors to the public from 9am and entry is £4 per person, children under 12 free entry. More information in the events page of thorpecamp.org or Sylvia or Ant on 0795 665 4481.

Sunday 6th of May sees the 35th Dartmoor Radio Club Rally at The Butchers Hall, Pannier Market, Tavistock Entrance to the rally will be from the square and doors open at 10am. Admission is £2. There will be traders, a Bring & Buy and an RSGB bookstall. Refreshments will be available. Contact Roger, 2E0RPH on 07854 088 882, or by email to [email protected]

To get your event into RadCom, onto GB2RS and on the RSGB website, please send details as early as possible to [email protected] – the print cycle means we need to know four months in advance to get your information into RadCom.

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Jean-Marc, F5SGI will be active as TM6ILE from Groix Island, EU-048, until the 4th of May. He will operate CW only. All QSOs will be confirmed automatically via the bureau.

Hiro, JF1OSL, Toru, JH0CJH and Shin, JR1NHD will operate as MD0HWX, MD0ITP and MD0IUX respectively holiday style from the Isle of Man, EU-116, until the 1st of May. They will operate SSB, CW and digital modes on the 40 to 10m bands. Plans are to upload the logs to Logbook of The World and Club Log.

A team of eight Belgian operators will be active as GJ6EFW from Jersey, EU-013, until the 5th of May. They will operate mainly SSB with some CW and FT8 on the HF bands and 6 metres. QSL via ON6EF, direct or bureau, and eQSL; they will not use Logbook of The World.

Pasi, OH3WS will be active as OJ0W from Market Reef, EU-053, until the 4th of May. Activity will be limited to his spare time. QSL via home call, direct or bureau.

Jun, JL8AQH will be on the air as XV9XX from Hue in Vietnam until the 4th of May. He hopes to be on 40, 30, 20 and 17m and QSL requests go via Club Log OQRS.

Now the special event news

From the 4th to the 31st of May, GB9SOS will be operating as part of SOS Radio Week. The station will be operating on as many different HF and VHF bands as possible during the 28 days the station will be active. The station will be operating from 1900 to 2100UTC on weekdays and 0900 to 1600UTC at weekends. Further details can be found at www.docsvruk.com/g8xqb

Please send special event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. Remember that stations using UK special event callsigns must be open to the public, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

The SP DX RTTY contest ends its 24 hour run at 1200UTC today, the 28th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number, with SP stations also sending their Province code.

Today, the 28th, the BARTG Sprint 75 contest runs from 1700 to 2100UTC. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is the serial number.

There are no contests in the diary for MONDAY TO Friday this week. But it’s a busy weekend over the 4th and 5th of May,

On Saturday the 4th, the 432MHz Trophy contest runs from 1400 to 2200UTC. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

The 10GHz Trophy contest runs at the same time, also using all modes and with the same contest exchange.

The 432MHz to 248GHz Trophy contest runs for 24 hours from 1400UTC on the 4th to 1400UTC on the 5th. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

The UK Six Metre Group Summer Marathon starts on the 4th of May and runs until the 4th of August. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is just your four-character locator.

Starting at 1200UTC on the 4th and running for 24 hours the ARI International DX contest uses CW, phone and RTTY on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands. The exchange is signal report and serial number with Italian stations also sending the Province code.

Sunday the 5th of May sees the UK Microwave Groups contest runs from 0800 to 1400UTC. Using all modes on the 1.3 to 3.4GHz bands the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Also on Sunday the 5th of May, the IRTS 40m Counties contest runs from 1200 to 1400UTC. Using SSB and CW the exchange is signal report and serial number. Irish stations also send their County.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4DDK on Friday the 26th of April.

Last week saw the start of the Sporadic-E season. There were reports of openings on 10m, and Andy, M0NKR even reported working The Gambia on 28MHz. This may have been a lucky F2-layer opening, but a contact is a contact!

Es signals from Czech Republic, Ukraine, Poland, Italy, Spain, and the French beacon F5ZEH beacon on 28.231MHz, were heard on Thursday the 25th at 1300UTC.

Don’t forget that Sporadic-E can affect all the bands from 20m to 10m. The best guide may be the 10m beacons across Europe, which can act as good propagation indicators.

We’ll look at Es a little more in the VHF section.

The solar flux level dropped below 70 last week as a result of sunspot number 2738 rotating off the visible disk. Sunspot 2739 never really amounted to much and since then the solar disk has been bare. One bit of news is that the cosmic ray flux has been increasing. This is to be expected as we head towards solar minimum.

Solar activity will remain very low, unless a sunspot crops up unannounced. A small coronal hole may cause some disruption on Friday or Saturday this weekend, just in time for International Marconi Day.

HF conditions remain challenging with even 20m not fully opening until later in the morning.

NOAA predicts the solar flux index will remain at about 60-70 this next week thanks to a spotless Sun. Geomagnetic conditions will be unsettled on the Saturday 27th as we said, and again on the 30th, 1st and 2nd, when the Kp index may rise to four.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

We have a low-pressure feel for many areas at first, so this spell of showery weather continues to provide a chance of rain scatter on the Gigahertz bands. The high pressure is only temporarily displaced, so as it rebuilds, to the north of Scotland in one model and to the south of Britain in another, there is clearly scope for changes to the forecast as the week progresses. Either way it does suggest that we may be able to talk of some Tropo returning in the second half of the week.

The Sporadic-E season is upon us (and has been for some time using digital modes) and on Wednesday evening the 6m band gave a brief opening from the UK to Spain and the Balearics for SSB and CW. This seemed to tie in with a strong jet stream over the Pyrenees. From the 1st May the daily Es blogs will restart on Propquest.co.uk to give some ideas as to where to find these useful jet streams.

The forecast jet stream charts at the moment suggest that this region may migrate eastwards to affect the Alps before weakening and therefore paths towards Italy and the Balkans may be activated in the first part of the week.

After the excitement of the Lyrids meteor shower, this coming week will be a little slower. The Eta Aquarids shower will peak on the 5th of May, but there are meteors associated with the shower from around the 19th of April, so expect to see bursts and pings all this week.

The Moon will continue to wane this week with the new Moon appearing on the 5th of May. Libration will be at a minimum, but path loss will be quite high with the Moon coming off apogee (furthest distance from Earth) at the start of the week. The Moon will rise in the very early morning at the beginning of the week and with the low declination, it will set quite early. As the week progresses the Moon will set later in the day, making the later part of the week probably best for casual EME activity.And that’s all from the propagation team this week.