GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 16th December 2018

The news headlines:

Kenilworth pupils speak to astronaut

SAQ to transmit on Christmas Eve

Call in to YOTA stations

 

Pupils at Kenilworth School in Warwickshire conversed with astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor aboard the ISS on Friday afternoon. The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station contact was facilitated by the ARISS volunteers and streamed live via the internet. Ten children asked around twenty probing questions, and we learned things like what the outside of the ISS smells like. Amateurs around the country were listening in to transmissions direct from the spacecraft and many posted their experiences to social media, both during and immediately after the contact.

Sweden’s Alexanderson alternator station SAQ has planned a Christmas Eve transmission on 17.2kHz. The transmitter will be tuned up starting at around 0730UTC, and a message will be transmitted at 0800UTC. The 200kW Alexanderson alternator is an electromechanical transmitter dating back to 1924. The event will be streamed live on the Alexanderson site YouTube Channel. Listener reports are invited via email or direct to Radiostationen Grimeton 72, SE-432 98 Grimeton, Sweden. Amateur radio station SK6SAQ will be active on Christmas Eve on 7.035 and 14.035MHz on CW, and 3.755MHz SSB. Two stations will be on the air most of the time.

Youngsters on the Air month, or YOTA, runs throughout December. The next clubs to activate the GB18YOTA callsign will be the RSGB’s National Radio Centre today, the 156th. This is followed by Castle Rushen High School Radio Club on the 21st and Chertsey Club on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th. If you hear these stations and others around the world taking part in YOTA month, please take the time to contact the young people.

The forms and paperwork for the various RSGB Regional and Board elections is now available on the RSGB website at www.rsgb.org/nominations There are ten Regional vacancies, two elected Board Director vacancies, and two nominated Board Director vacancies. Volunteers are sought for all these roles. Details also appear in the January 2019 edition of RadCom.

Due to a change in working hours, Bill, G4IOD and Jasmine, G4KFP will no longer be able to read the news at 9.30am on Sundays, so replacements are being sought. At the end of the year, Bill will have read the news for 26 years and the RSGB would like to commend him on his service to his fellow amateurs. Ideally a small team of newsreaders covering the West Yorkshire area would mean that no single reader has to read each week. Contact [email protected] if you are willing to become part of the valuable news reading service.

Another call for volunteers, this time from Region 9. Regional Representative Tom, G0NSY is looking for District Representatives for the Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire areas. If you live in those areas and are interesting in joining the regional team, contact Tom via email to [email protected].

A reminder now that next week is the last GB2RS News broadcast of 2018. Transmissions resume on Sunday the 6th of January.

And finally, the RadCom editorial team apologises to David Jackson, G4HYY, his late brother G3ZMX and also to G4JYY, for errors made in recent Silent Keys listings in RadCom. We are pleased to report that G4HYY and G4JYY are alive and well, despite being reported to the contrary. We are very sorry for any distress caused and will print a correction in the February edition.

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

We have no rallies in the diary for the next two weekends. 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 at least three to four months in advance to get your information into RadCom.

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

Elvira, IV3FSG is active as E44YL from Palestine until the 18th of December. She will operate SSB, RTYY and FT8. QSL via Club Log's OQRS or via IK3GES.

Harry, JG7PSJ will be active as JD1BMH from Chichijima, IOTA reference AS-031, from the 17th of December to the 2nd of January. He will operate CW, SSB and RTTY on the 160 to 10m bands. QSL via JD1BMH via the bureau or JG7PSJ direct. Harry does not use Logbook of the World.

Ben, DL6RAI is active as P4/DL6RAI from Aruba, SA-036, until the 27th of December. He will focus on the 160 and 80m bands. QSL via Club Log's OQRS, Logbook of The World or via his home call.

Anders, SM4KYN will be active as PJ2/SM4KYN from Curacao, SA-099, until the 14th of January. QSL direct to his home call.

Now the special event news

Several NASA Amateur Radio clubs will mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 8 between the 21st and 27th of December. Apollo 8 was launched on the 21st of December 1968, and splashed down 6 days later on the 27th. It was the first manned spacecraft to leave low-Earth orbit, orbit the moon, and return safely. Special event operation will be on various bands and modes, and participating stations will self-spot on the DX cluster as well as via Facebook and Twitter.

Please send 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, so our free publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.

Now the contest news

The second machine generated mode, or MGM Contest on the 6 and 2m bands takes place this weekend, ending its 24 hour run at 1400UTC today, the 16th of December. This is the second in the series of this brand new concept contest dedicated to machine generated modes. The first leg in April was well received all over Europe. The now-popular FT8, MSK144, FSK441 and other machine generated modes are all allowed in this contest, with the emphasis on DX and with multipliers for each new 4 character locator square. The exchange is signal report and your 4-character locator. Visit www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/ for more information.

On Tuesday, the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Thursday the 70MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2000UTC, using FM only. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 70MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both contests is signal report, serial number and locator.

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

As we are approaching Christmas we have a festive twist to the HF propagation report this week.

Firstly though, this week saw a lack of sunspots with the solar flux index around 70. Geomagnetic conditions were better than they have been though due to lack of coronal holes, with the K index being two, one or zero as the week progressed. Next week NOAA says the solar flux index will probably be around 68 again, with quite settled geomagnetic conditions and a maximum K index of two, or perhaps three.

If you fancy something a little different, Santa Claus and his ham radio elves are on from Romania again in 2018 for the third consecutive year. The YP-XMAS callsigns are a tradition and the Romanian RadioClub Association, ARR, says it aims to give moments of joy to the radio community around the winter holidays. The Santa Claus story via radio waves was started by Finnish radio amateurs, beginning with OH9SCL in 1986 and, later, the OF9X team. It has been taken over in recent years by different colleagues from several European countries. In 2018, Romania is preparing for the largest team with activators in all the districts of YO. Google YP-XMAS for details, but all you have to do is contact at least three different YP-XMAS callsigns and they will be able to issue an electronic award directly from Santa Claus. HF propagation to Romania is probably best on 20 metres during the day, but falls back at night. 40 metres, or more likely 80 metres will be the favourite bands for contacts after dark.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

It’s a low pressure theme from one of the longer-range models, with an area of low pressure right over the country by the second half of next week. A second model is slightly more cautious in bringing the next low in after mid-week, but nonetheless doesn’t really leave room for any high pressure of significance. This all means that the weather influence is very limited during this coming week. No real signs of Tropo, but possibly a little microwave bands rain scatter, although it's not a very strong hint.

This mid-winter period can produce some out of season Sporadic-E, although it will be limited and fleeting. The best way forward is to monitor the clusters for signs of 10m activity, showing as short-skip signals from Europe.

The Geminids meteor shower is over now so while we wait for the next major one, the Quadrantids in January, it’s back to early morning sporadic meteors for our meteor scatter DX on the low VHF bands.

The Moon’s declination goes positive today and its orbit is bringing it closer all this week. Moon windows for EME will lengthen and losses decrease as the week progresses, so get active in next weekend’s 3.4GHz activity session.

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