GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 5th August 2018

 

The news headlines:

New Exams Syllabus soon

YOTA 2018 gets under way

71MHz activity thriving

The RSGB is pleased to announce that, following its formal approval by RSGB Board in July, the new syllabus will be released during the week commencing 13 August. This will link with the publication of the first set of project communications in RadCom to give a fuller understanding of the milestones of the changeover. The Society will also release a comparison document at the same time, enabling tutors to see at a glance what changes have been made between the old and new syllabuses.

This week sees the start of the 2018 Youth on the Air international event in South Africa, organised by the South African Amateur Radio League. The seven-day programme runs from the 8th to the 15th of August and involves around 80 young amateurs from around the world, including an RSGB-sponsored team of four from the UK. Activities will include building radio kits, a high-altitude balloon launch and even the chance to sit South African amateur radio exams. For more information see www.ham-yota.com

UK amateurs continue to make remarkable progress with innovative technology in the experimental 71MHz band. The BATC Forum reports contacts of reduced bandwidth digital amateur TV of between 59 and 87km, using the latest high efficiency video coding. This follows the initial short range contacts when simplified NoV access to 70.5-71.5MHz was introduced by Ofcom and the RSGB in June. See www.rsgb.org/nov for info.

The G5RP Trophy is an annual award to encourage newcomers to HF DXing. Any established HF DXer may make a nomination. The nominee should be an up-and-coming HF DXer who has made rapid progress in the last year and has some real achievements to show, for example, a good total of new countries worked or some serious HF DXpedition activity. This prestigious RSGB award will be presented at the RSGB Convention on the 12th-14th October. Please send nominations to HF Manager Ian Greenshields, G4FSU, by email to [email protected] to arrive no later than Friday the 14th of September.

A key RSGB web server will be offline one night this week for essential third-party maintenance. Many RSGB services will be unavailable from 9pm on Tuesday until about 8.30am on Wednesday the 8th. If you are an RSGB Member planning to visit Bletchley Park on Wednesday the 8th of August, please make sure you download your free admission voucher before 9pm on Tuesday.

A field-day style International Convention of CW Operators is taking place on the 24th to the 27th of August near Moscow, Russia. All radio amateur CW operators are invited. Participation is free but attendees must provide their own outdoor sleeping gear. Detailed information on this event, in Russian, is available at https://clck.ru/DoNR2 or you can contact the event’s ‘international liaison officer’ Ed, NT2X by email to [email protected] 

Paraguay has joined the ever-growing list of countries that have released the 60m Secondary allocation agreed at WARC-15. The band 5351.5 to 5366.5kHz has been authorised at 25W EIRP. The original announcement, in Spanish, is at tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0308-B

The Nursing Times has run a feature on GB1NHS, the special event station to promote the 70th anniversary of the NHS and other national initiatives. The station was launched at the RSGB National Radio Centre on 8 May this year. You can see the Nursing Times article at tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0308-C

Loughton & Epping Forest Radio Society will be running another of its highly successful Foundation courses on the weekend of the 23rd and 24th of September. The course takes place at All Saints House in Chigwell Row, Essex, and concludes with the Foundation exam. There is parking available, and the venue is a short distance away from Hainault Tube Station on the central line. For more information contact Marc Litchman, M0TOC, via email to [email protected] or on 0748 480 4135.

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

Today, the 5th, the King's Lynn ARC Great Eastern Radio Rally takes place at Gaywood Community Centre, Gayton Road, King's Lynn, Norfolk. PE30 4DZ. There will be talk-in on 145.550MHz and car parking is free. Doors open at 9am, with admission £2. There will be trade stands and a Bring & Buy. There are amateur radio pitches outside as well as tables inside. Onsite catering will be available. Details from Ted, G4OZG, on 01553 768 701.

Also today, the Lorn Radio Rally takes place at Crianlarich Village Hall, Main Street, Crianlarich, Perthshire FK20 8QN. Doors open at 10.30am and entry is £2. There will be trade stands, for which tables are free but a raffle prize is appreciated, as well as a Bring & Buy. The raffle will be drawn at 1.30pm. Catering is available on site. Details from [email protected].

Friday the 10th sees the 25th Cockenzie & Port Seton Mini Rally Night, which takes place at the Community Centre, Main Hall, Port Seton. Bring along your own junk and sell it yourself. Tables are on a first come first served basis. Entry is £2 and doors open at 6pm.

Next Sunday, the 12th, it’s the Flight Refuelling ARS Hamfest. This large event takes place at the Cobham Sports and Social Club Ground, Merley, near Wimborne, Dorset BH21 3DA. Talk in will be on S22. Doors open at 10am and admission is £4, which includes parking. There will be trade stands, a car boot sale and a lecture stream during the day. More information from Tony Baker, G3PFM, on 0774 347 5018 or see www.frars.org.uk.

To get your event into RadCom and GB2RS, send details as early as possible to [email protected].

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

Dariusz, SP9DLM will be active as 4S7DMG from Kalkudah, Sri Lanka, IOTA reference AS-003, from the 6th to the 14th of August. He will be on 40, 20, 15 and 10m. QSL via home call.

Alfredo Caviedes, will be active as HC1HC/8 from Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos Islands, IOTA SA-004 from the 7th to the 10th of August. Using an Elecraft KX3 transceiver and Buddipole antenna, he will operate QRP, mainly WSJT-X DXpedition mode, on WARC-79 bands and possibly 6m. QSL via NE8Z direct.

Hardy, DL7JLL will operate as A35JLL from the Kingdom of Tonga during August and September, mainly on 40, 20, 15 and 10m. From the 8th to the 15th of August he will be at Nuku Alofa. QSL via DL7JLL direct or by the bureau.

Roly, ZL1BQD, will be active as A35RR from Togatapu, IOTA OC-049, and possibly Vava’u, OC-063 between the 8th and 17th of August. Activity will be on 160 to 10m using mostly FT8 and JT65, with some CW possible depending on conditions. QSL via ZL1BQD.

Now the special event news

Today and Monday, Martello Tower Group continues operating GB5RC, celebrating five decades of offshore broadcasting. Operating from MV Ross Revenge, the home of Radio Caroline since 1983, activity will be on 80, 40, 20, 17 and 10m, SSB and various datamodes. Contact Keith, G6NHU, via email to [email protected].

Deep Space Exploration Society will be operating a special event station from the 11th to the 13th of August from the site of its 60 foot dish observatory in Colorado, USA. Calling as K0PRT and coinciding with the Perseids meteor shower, operation will be from 1400UTC to 2359UQC on 7.238, 14.253 and 50.160MHz. A special QSL is available. Details at http://dses.science/

Welland Valley ARS will be operating another in its series of special event calls marking the end of the First World War. This month’s callsign is GB5FWW.

GB5RC will be on the air from Thursday the 3rd to Monday the 7th at Bradwell Marina as the Martello Tower group celebrate five decades of offshore broadcasting.

Fareham & DARC will be operating GB0PKF for Portsmouth Kite Festival on the 11th and 12th of August.

Advance notice now about International Lighthouse lightship Weekend, which takes place on the 18th and 19th of August. Following on from a very successful Maidens Island Lighthouse activation, Bushvalley ARC will be operational on Rathlin East, West and Rue point Lighthouses on HF, VHF and UHF. Details will be posted on the MN0GKL QRZ.com page and full information on the ILLW weekend is at https://illw.net

If you’re planning a special event station, please remember to send publicity information well in advance to [email protected] – we are very happy to help publicise your event, for free, on GB2RS, in RadCom and on the RSGB website, but can’t help you unless you tell us what you’re doing! As a rule of thumb, please send details for RadCom at least three months in advance.

Now the contest news

There are no RSGB contests in the month of August.

The UK Six Metre Group Summer Marathon ends today, and participants have until Monday the 13th to upload logs.

The 432MHz Low Power contest runs from 0800UTC to 1200UTC today, the 8th. The exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode.

On Tuesday the 144MHz FMAC and UKAC take place. Use FM only on the FMAC from 1800UTC to 1900UTC, then you can use all modes in the 144MHz UKAC until 2130UTC. Signal report, serial number and locator form the exchange for both.

On Thursday the 6m FMAC and UKAC take place. The FM-only 50MHz FMAC runs from 1800UTC to 1900UTC. It is followed immediately by the all-mode 50MHz UKAC, which runs until 2130UTC. The exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator.

The Worked All Europe DX CW Contest takes place for the entire 48 hours of next weekend. Europe works non-Europe only. Using all the contest bands from 3.5 to 28MHz, the exchange is signal report and serial number. You can significantly boost your score by exchanging reports of previously held QSOs, but not everybody chooses to do this. A web search for DARC WAE should find the rules, explaining how this works.

Finally for next weekend, next Sunday sees the 70MHz Cumulative #5. Running from 1400UTC to 1600UTC, all modes can be used on the 4m band. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday 3rd August 2018

The solar flux index stayed around the 70 mark last week, although a new tiny sunspot did become visible on Tuesday. Unfortunately this had little real effect on the SFI, although it did push the sunspot number to 11. This can be misleading due to the way sunspot numbers are calculated. You score 10 for each group and one for each sunspot, so the leap from zero to 11 only means one spot has appeared.

We got the geomagnetic forecast correct last week, as conditions were quite settled. As many amateurs found in the IOTA contest, HF conditions were largely average, with a predominance of European signals. However, there were reports of some intercontinental DX, especially for better-equipped stations.

Next week, NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be pegged at 68, although we think it could rise a little above this due to the sun’s active region. The other news is another active region is heading around the sun and its effects may impact us in around a week’s time.

Geomagnetic conditions this week will be largely settled, but with the possibility of a slightly raised K index this weekend due to an equatorial coronal hole. Expect HF conditions to continue pretty much as they did in July, with daytime maximum usable frequencies over a 3,000km path struggling to exceed 14MHz at times.

In Doctor Tamitha Skov’s weekly solar forecast on YouTube she said the new sunspot region could push conditions to the “top end of poor”, which sums up solar minimum! You can find out more about her work at www.spaceweatherwoman.com

The IOTA contest showed that there is still Sporadic-E activity around on 14-28 MHz, but it sometimes takes a contest to get people to take advantage of it.

Finally, as we are now into August you should be using the new smoothed sunspot number of five with your VOACAP-based prediction programs.

And now the VHF and up propagation news

There is a distinctly Tropo look about the weather charts this week as high pressure remains the dominant feature across the British Isles and nearby continent. This type of pattern can produce some long-lasting openings across the length of the high on the charts, preferably along one side rather than directly across the centre of the high, since this is where the inversion sinks very low and the duct can easily be cut short by high ground.

There will be a slight hiccup around mid-week in the south as a weak area of low pressure disrupts the high, bringing a risk of thundery showers to southern parts of the UK. It could mean a chance of rain scatter on the microwave bands though.

Sporadic-E isn’t over yet, but the position of jet streams do not look favourable. There is almost a total absence of Sporadic-E-producing jet streams within mainland Europe, except in a fairly limited band across northern Britain and the north Atlantic, so check the beacons and the clusters to find out which paths are open.

We are approaching the peak of the Perseids meteor shower around the 12th August so meteor scatter paths will be good either side as it is a broad peak.

This is a good week for EME as the moon is heading back towards its closest point to Earth, perigee, on August 10th. It also reaches maximum northerly declination on August 8th. Note that the sun and Moon are close on Saturday morning, meaning high sun noise.

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