GB2RS News

Sunday, the 16th of November 2025

The news headlines:

Could your skills and experience help to shape the RSGB’s activities? The Society's year starts and ends at the AGM, and it is seeking proactive and enthusiastic members with the right skills who would like to become a Director of the Society or a Regional Representative. There are vacancies for two Nominated Directors, two Elected Directors and three Regional Representatives. Nominated Directors are selected by the Society's Nominations Committee, and then RSGB members vote to endorse them as part of the AGM voting. The closing date for these vacancies is the 5th of December 2025. If you’re interested in either the Elected Director or Regional Representative roles, you can find the candidate packs and application forms on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/elections. The application deadline for the elected roles is the 31st of January 2026. If you’d like to find out more about any of these vacancies, please email the RSGB Company Secretary, Stephen Purser, GW4SHF at [email protected] 

The RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park is hosting another of its popular ‘Build your own radio’ workshops. Morning and afternoon sessions will be held on Sunday, the 23rd of November and will offer young people aged between 12 and 18 years the opportunity to learn more about amateur radio and electronics. The workshops will use simple tools for participants to build their own VHF FM broadcast receiver, which they can take home with them. Attendance at the workshop costs £11. To find out more and to secure a place, visit bletchleypark.org.uk  and search for ‘Build your own radio’.

Ofcom has agreed to the RSGB request to extend the 146-147MHz Notice of Variation for a further year. It is available on a non-interference basis and is subject to a 30-day notice period of change or withdrawal. Ofcom's objective in making this spectrum available is to encourage amateurs to experiment and test new communications schemes and systems. The RSGB VHF Manager would therefore welcome reports of innovative use of the spectrum to support future discussions. Please email him via [email protected]. Full licence holders can apply for the 146-147MHz NoV on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/nov

Listeners may also be interested to know that Ofcom has released a video that aims to guide how to use its recently updated licence portal. As well as other topics, the video contains information on how to change your amateur radio callsign and how to apply for a special event station NoV. You can watch the video at tinyurl.com/2025ofcom 

The RSGB VHF Contest Committee is currently planning the rules for the 2026 VHF contests. Following some discussion at the RSGB Convention, the committee members have some questions on which they would appreciate feedback from contestants. The survey will close at 11.59 pm on Sunday, the 23rd of November. You can find the survey online via tinyurl.com/vhfsurvey

December is all about encouraging young radio amateurs to get on the amateur radio bands. The month will kickstart on Monday, the 1st of December, when members of the RSGB youth team will give Tonight@8 viewers an insight into what a Youngsters on the Air summer camp is like. Team members will talk about some of the activities they enjoyed and how they will be encouraging other young people to get involved in amateur radio in the coming year. They will be joined by RSGB Board Director, Ben Lloyd, GW4BML and RSGB Youth Chair and School Youth Champion, Chris Aitken, MM0WIC, who will give an overview of recent youth activities and engagement and outline the RSGB Youth Team’s plans for 2026. December is also your opportunity to support young radio amateurs. One of the ways you can do this is by hosting special callsign GB25YOTA, which will be active throughout the month. The special event station can be hosted by individuals, clubs, schools and universities or youth groups such as Scouts, Girlguiding and Cadets. This is a brilliant opportunity to show young people what amateur radio has to offer. Get involved now by going to rsgb.org/yota-month  to reserve your operating slot.

The Bath-based Distance Learning team is planning to run a new Intermediate licence training course in January with exams in June. The training is free, but applicants must work through some pre-course material and complete a quiz before Christmas to be eligible for a place. This work focuses on the new Foundation topics that have been introduced to the exam since September 2019. The deadline for applications is Friday, the 5th of December. To request full details and an application form, email BBDL team leader Steve, G0FUW, at [email protected]

Please send details of all your news and events to [email protected]. The deadline for submissions is 10 am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week. 

And now for details of rallies and events

On Sunday, the 30th of November, Bishop Auckland Radio Amateur Club Rally is taking place at Spennymoor Leisure Centre, County Durham. Traders, catering, ample parking and disabled facilities will be available. For more information and downloadable trader forms, visit barac.org.uk

Mid Devon Amateur Radio and Electronics Fair 2025 will be held on Sunday, the 7th of December at Winkleigh Sports & Recreation Centre. The doors will be open from 9 am to 1 pm. Entry costs £3 per person and there is no charge for partners and under-16s. For more details, contact Phil, G6DLJ on 07990 563 147 or email [email protected]

Now the Special Event news

Special callsign GB50AUK is active until the 28th of November to celebrate the 50th anniversary of AMSAT-UK. QSOs will be uploaded to at least eQSL, Logbook of the World and the QO-100 DX Club. To find out more, visit amsat-uk.org

To celebrate the 39th anniversary of the European DX Foundation, several special callsigns are active until the 30th of November. To view a list of participating stations and read information about an award that is available for working them, visit tinyurl.com/eudxf39

Now the DX news

Maurizio, IK2GZU, is active as 5H3MB from Tanzania until the 20th of November. He is operating using CW, digital modes and SSB on the 80 to 10m bands. QSL via OQRS, Logbook of the World, eQSL, or directly to IK2GZU.

Stan, LZ1GC is active as ZL7/LZ1GC from the Chatham Islands, OC-038, until the 20th of November. He is operating CW, SSB, FT4 and FT8 on the 160 to 10m bands. QSL via OQRS is preferred, or via LZ1GC directly. For more information and updates, visit c21gc.com

Now the contest news

Tomorrow, the 17th, the RSGB FT4 Series Contest runs from 2000 to 2200 UTC. Using FT4 on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is your report.                       

On Tuesday the 18th, the RSGB 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230 UTC. Using all modes on 1.3GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Thursday the 20th, the RSGB 70MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230 UTC. Using all modes 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 Thursday the 13th of November 2025

Last week saw one of the most dramatic auroral events of this cycle. Three X-class solar flares, which sparked coronal mass ejections, joined together to give us a peak Kp index of 8.67, with a solar wind speed in excess of 950 kilometres per second.

The result was extensive visible aurora in the US and Canada, although clouds prevented much of its visibility in the UK. The good news from a radio point of view was that the solar wind’s Bz, or interplanetary magnetic field, mostly pointed north or was neutral in the latter stages. This saved the Earth from a lot of its effects.

The next day, HF propagation appeared to be almost normal with maximum usable frequencies, or MUFs, over a 3,000km path still exceeding 24MHz at times. By Thursday the 13th, it was mostly over 28MHz, although there were times it dropped dramatically, and signals were weak and watery at best.

You could tell that there had been some disruption to HF by a lack of spots on the CDXC Slack group. While Stan, ZL7/LZ1GC on Chatham Island had been spotted on the 11th, there was very little to report the next day as the Kp index rose to 5.

Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux will remain in the 160 to 170 range. However, we can expect a repeat of unsettled geomagnetic conditions this weekend, possibly due to a large coronal hole that became Earth-facing on the 13th.

Likewise, the 20th and 21st of November may be unsettled, with a predicted maximum Kp index of 4. After the following weekend, we can also expect more unsettled conditions, especially around the 24th to the 27th, which could see the Kp index rise to 5 or even higher. Expect decreased MUFs and less HF activity if this is the case.

And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO

The current spell of unsettled weather is likely to continue into the coming week.

High pressure is always being kept at arm’s length, so there is no real tropo flavour to proceedings. The rain prospects are very strong, with, if anything, too much rain in some areas. During the coming week, colder northerly air will mean that some snow is possible on the northern hills. So there remains a possibility of rain scatter on the GHz bands.

After the recent auroral activity, the prospects are worth considering, although it would be surprising if a repeat of the exceptional event of last week were to happen. Nonetheless, stay alert to the Kp index going above 5 and check for activity on the 10, 6, 4 and 2m bands. The event of last week was triggered by three successive days of X-class flares, so for an early ‘heads-up’ start with the Sun.

The foEs graphs on propquest.co.uk  were interesting for the evening of the Autumn Series contest on the 12th of November. There were some rapid changes in propagation as paths were affected by the F2-layer one minute and Sporadic-E the next. 

It is occasionally worth examining the graphs now and again to relate perceived conditions from the radio speaker to actual measurements of the ionosphere. Of course, the data from Dourbes is not necessarily what would have been recorded over the UK, but it gives a good flavour. The takeaway message is that although we think of Sporadic-E as a summer phenomenon, it can play a role outside the main season.

Meteor scatter is certainly in the frame this week since the Leonids meteor shower peaks tomorrow, the 17th of November. Since meteors also play a part in Sporadic-E propagation, there is another reason to check the foEs graphs for out-of-season activity.

For EME operators, the Moon’s declination went negative again on Saturday, the 15th, so Moon window lengths and peak elevation fall accordingly. Path losses are increasing to a maximum at apogee on the 20th of November. 144MHz sky noise is low during all of the coming week except for the whole of Thursday, when the Sun and Moon are close in the sky.

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