GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 3rd March 2019

 

The news headlines:

Prepare for Commonwealth Contest next weekend

Suggest talks for RSGB Convention 2019

Ham radio artwork returns to Tate Gallery

 

The Commonwealth Contest, RSGB’s longest-running contest, takes place for 24 hours over the weekend of the 9th and 10th of March. As mentioned in the Propagation Report, you should not expect much propagation on the upper HF bands, but some hardy travellers will undoubtedly activate countries that don’t appear on the air every day, so make the most of it.

Planning has begun for the 2019 RSGB Convention, which will take place from Friday the 11th to Sunday the 13th of October, at Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre, Milton Keynes. The organising committee would like to encourage suggestions for this year’s lectures, please email [email protected], in particular, if you are able to suggest a presenter, as well as a topic. The RSGB Convention is generously sponsored by Martin Lynch & Sons.

The artwork Ten Minute Transmission, featuring the Kenwood TS-2000 transceiver and the International Space Station is again on display at the Tate Gallery in London. Made of wire and attached to the TS-2000, this sculpture receives radio signals from the ISS and transmits them into the gallery space. The title of this work, Ten Minute Transmission refers to the period of time when the ISS can be contacted as it flies past. Although the ISS orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes, it only passes close enough to the artwork to receive any signals just twice a day. See www.tate.org.uk for other details about the exhibit.

Two videos of 2018 RSGB Convention lectures are due for release to Members this week. Sam Jewell, G4DDK speaks about the Iceni, a high performance 70cm transverter for the constructor, and James Patterson, M1DST gives an introduction to 3D printing for the radio amateur. Go to www.rsgb.org/videos to view these two very interesting talks – and many others too.

Stations taking part in the St Patrick Award will be on the air from noon on the 16th of March to noon on the 18th of March. This year a new Digital Award has been added, covering such modes as FT8, DMR, D-Star, JT656 abd Echolink etc. To claim it you must have made 20 contacts with a registered St Patricks Day Station. For more information go to https://stpatrickaward.webs.com/.

The provisional results for the last IARU Region 1 145MHz Contest have been published. In the Multi Operator 145MHz section G8P was placed third, operating from JO01QD, and G8T was placed 9th, operating from JO01KJ. Full results can be found at www.iaru-r1.org

Cwmbran and District ARS now have a new local SSTV repeater. Classed as a ‘regenerative node’, it will relay/repeat a received image. MB7TR is situated in Cwmbran and maintained by Peter, MW0RPB. It operates on 144.500MHz using FM and outputs in the Martin1 SSTV mode. To get it to repeat your transmitted image, which incidentally can be transmitted in any SSTV mode, on 144.500MHz in FM, you transmit your CW ident, then a 1750Hz tone burst for around 1-2 seconds and key off. Finally you listen and wait for MB7TR to reply with its CW ident and this signifies it is ready so you can transmit your SSTV image. Those using the repeater wish to thank Peter for all his work on this.

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

Today, the 3rd of March, the Exeter Radio & Electronics Rally takes place at America Hall, De la Rue Way, Pinhoe, Exeter EX4 8PW. Doors open at 10.30am, with disabled customers gaining access at 10.15am. Admission is £2, with under 16s free. There will be trade stands and a Bring & Buy, and catering will be available on site. Details from Pete, G3ZVI on 0771 419 8374.

Next Sunday, the 10th of March, the Grantham ARC Radio and Electronics Rally takes place at Grantham West Community Centre, Trent Road , Grantham, Lincs NG31 7XW. Doors are open from 9.30am to 3pm and admittance £3. There will be trade stands, RSGB bookstall and Special Interest Groups. Catering is available on site. Contact Kevin Burton, G6SSN, 07793 142 483.

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 about four months in advance for RadCom.

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

Don, G3XTT will be active as C56DF from the Gambia on from the 5th to the 12th of March. Main activity will be during the RSGB Commonwealth Contest on the 9th and 10th, but he hopes to do some operating also before and after the contest. This will be a CW-only operation, low power with wires from a rooftop apartment. It is unlikely there will be space for 80 or 160m antennas. QSL via Logbook of The World, Club Log’s OQRS or direct to his home call.

Ali, EP3CQ will be on the air as 6O1OO from Somalia until the 24th of March. Usually he operates FT8 on the 20m band; his activity is limited to his spare time. QSL direct with details on QRZ.com.

Dom, M1KTA will be active as C6AKT from Eleuthera Island, IOTA reference NA-001, in the Bahamas between the 8th and 16th of March. He will operate CW on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m bands, and will participate in the Commonwealth (BERU) Contest. QSL via Club Log’s OQRS, or via his home call.

Dagmar, DM7PQ and Rainer, DL1AUZ will be active as E51NPQ and E51AUZ respectively from Rarotonga, OC-013, in the South Cooks between the 9 and 11th of March, holiday-style. They will operate CW only.

Look for KG4SC and KG4AS to operate SSB, CW, FT8 and possibly other digital modes from Guantanamo Bay between the 6th and 13th of March. QSL as per instructions on QRZ.com.

Now the special event news

TC10GITRAD is the special callsign for the Giresun Radio Amateurs and Nature Sports Association to celebrate their 10th anniversary. It will be active until the end of the year. QSL via Logbook of The World, eQSL, direct or via the bureau.

Please send special event details to [email protected], as early as possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. Remember that UK stations with 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, the 144/432MHz contest ends its 24 hour run at 1400UTC today, the 3rd. Using all modes on both bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

The ARRL International DX contest ends its 48 hour run at 2359UTC today, the 3rd. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and transmit power. American and Canadian stations also give their State or Province.

Today, the 3rd, the UK Microwave Group’s Low Band Contest runs from 1000 to 1600UTC. Using all modes on the 1.3 to 3.4GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Monday the 80m Club Championship runs from 2000 to 2130UTC. This is the data leg and the exchange is signal report and serial number.

On Tuesday the 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2000UTC, using FM only. It runs concurrently with the Machine Generated Mode Activity Contest. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. These are immediately followed by the all-mode 144MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for this one is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Wednesday the UK EI Contest Club event will be on the 80m band between 2000 and 2100UTC. The exchange is your four-character locator.

Next weekend the RSGB Commonwealth Contest runs from 1000UTC on the 9th to 1000UTC on the 10th. It’s CW only on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands with the exchange signal report and serial number. HQ stations also send HQ.

On Sunday the 10th, the second 70MHz Cumulative Contest runs from 1000 to 1200UTC. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

The Worked All Britain 3.5MHz contest takes place next Sunday, the 10th of March, from 1800 to 2200UTC. Entries need to be with the Contest Manager by the 31st. The exchange will be RS plus serial number plus WAB square. Full details at www.worked-all-britain.org.uk

Now the propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 1st of March

The settled Sun came to an abrupt end on Thursday when the Kp index rose to five as a result of an elongated coronal hole on its surface. This sparked high-latitude auroras. It brought to an end a period of settled conditions, with the Chilton ionosonde showing MUFs struggling to reach much above 14MHz on Thursday morning.

Before this there was DX to be had if you stuck with it. Chris, G0DWV reports working T31EU Central Kiribati on 40m CW at 1750UTC. Another DX station that was sought after was FH/UA4WMHX on Mayotte, off the coast of Madagascar, which was worked on many HF bands by Mike, G4DYC during the week. Both Hawaii and Peru were worked on 40m in the morning by Andy, M0NKR.

Next weekend is the Commonwealth Contest with lots of stations on, so make the most of it, but don’t expect much above 14MHz.

NOAA has the solar conditions settled until Friday the 8th of March, when it expects the Kp index to rise to four or more, due to a coronal hole. This should be relatively short lived as it should die down again shortly after. The solar flux index is pegged solidly at 71, so no surprises there.

As we head into March, expect conditions to improve slightly with better DX, although the lower bands may suffer with more daylight. This is a great time for north-south paths, such as the UK to South Africa, and UK to South America.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

We’ve now seen the end of the extended Tropo weather we’ve been enjoying, and are now in a very unsettled Atlantic weather pattern. Weather systems moving towards the British Isles will bring stronger winds and periods of rain or showers.

It’s hard to pinpoint a good weather propagation mode in this pattern, other than some occasional GHz bands rain scatter from showers or the more active cold fronts that happen to pass by. As usual there are many good radar displays, which can allow you to pick the most intense echoes.

Without Tropo to boost activity, and still too early for traditional Sporadic-E, pickings may be thin. However, with such strong jet streams on the charts, especially across the Atlantic, there’s always a remote chance for a brief 28MHz path, but I wouldn’t take a day off work for it!

Meteor scatter conditions are still quiet until April, so just random meteors to keep us interested there.

The Moon is at apogee tomorrow and last Friday saw minimum declination. This week we have a daytime Moon and a week of lengthening Moon windows and falling losses.

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