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G4APL > NEWS 15.10.17 07:43l 298 Lines 14251 Bytes #999 (0) @ GBR
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 15 Oct 2017
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From: G4APL@GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO
To : NEWS@GBR
GB2RS Main News for Sunday the 15th of October 2017
The news headlines:
* BBC DG to open G8BBC shack
* Upcoming Train the Trainers courses
* Exercise Blue Ham on 5MHz
On Wednesday the 18th, BBC Director General Tony Hall will cut the
ribbon to mark the official opening of the new G8BBC radio shack at
Broadcasting House, London. The station, home of the recently formed
London BBC Radio Group, will move on from test transmissions to full
operation following a watch period of a few months during which the
Master Control Room at BH were checking for any interference issues.
It is hoped that the Director General will be able to pass a
greetings message over the air to GB3RS at the RSGB's National Radio
Centre in Bletchley Park, or GB2RN on HMS Belfast, depending on
propagation conditions on the day. G8BBC will be active on HF bands
and VHF, and hopes to expand operations further in the near future.
Train the Trainers is free to any RSGB Member teaching at Foundation,
Intermediate or Advanced level. It is especially designed for anyone
who does not already have a professional background in teaching.
Courses must be pre-booked. One is planned for the 18th of November
at Worksop Amateur Radio Club. Contact Steve Hambleton, by email to
g0eaksteve<at>gmail.com to book your place. Then on the 9th of
December there will be a training session at Thames Amateur Radio
Group in Southend on Sea. Email nigel.m0ich<at>gmail.com to book a
place.
Cadet Radio Exercise BLUE HAM 17-2 is an HF radio exercise on the
MOD/Amateur shared 5MHz band. It takes place on 21-22 and 28-29
October from 0800 to 2000UTC. Feedback received from previous
Exercises has resulted in changes to the scoring system. Details are
at https://alphacharlie.org.uk/exercise-blue-ham
The RSGB Examination Standards Committee Report 2017 is available for
download. It includes a submission about the Air Cadets Organisation
Foundation equivalent exam. A comparison of the 2016 RSGB exam passes
with the RCF figures for 2015 shows a fall in the number of passes at
both Foundation and Intermediate levels. You can download the full
2017 Examination Standards Committee Report from
tinyurl.com/GB2RS-1715a
[Note to Newsreaders: the original, full URL is
http://rsgb.org/main/about-us/committees/examination-standards-committ
ee/minutes-papers-and-reports/]
The DXCC Most Wanted entities list has been updated on ClubLog as of
the first of October. The top ten entities remain unchanged, with the
top three being P5, North Korea, also known as DPRK, 3Y/B, Bouvet
Island, and FT5/W Crozet Island. The complete DXCC Most Wanted lists
is at tinyurl.com/GB2RS-1715b and island-chasers will be pleased to
hear that a team is planning to activate Bouvet Island, IOTA
reference AN-002, early next year. We will report more news as it
becomes available.
[Note to Newsreaders: the original, full URL is
https://secure.clublog.org/mostwanted.php]
British Railways Amateur Radio Society is holding its AGM on Saturday
28th October at the Brunswick Inn at 1 Railway Terrace, Derby,
DE1 2RU. This is almost opposite the railway station car park.
Starting with an informal chat at noon, the AGM will commence at
1.15pm. The AGM is in a private, ground floor room. Ian G4EAN, the
BRARS secretary, says that the BRARS committee is hoping that a good
number of members will attend. For more information contact Ian
Brothwell, G4EAN, via email to g4ean<at>brars.info or on
0115 926 2360. Membership of BRARS is open to anyone with an active
interest in amateur radio and details are at www.BRARS.info
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
Today, the 15th, the Holsworthy ARS Rally takes place at Holsworthy
Community College, Victoria Hill, Holsworthy, Devon EX22 6JD. There
is free car parking on site, with disabled access. There will be
trade stands and a Bring & Buy. Catering is available on site.
Contact Howard, M0MYB by email to holsworthyarc<at>gmail.com for more
details.
Today also sees the Hornsea Amateur Radio Rally at Floral Hall, 7 The
Esplanade, Hornsea HU18 1NQ. There is car parking at the venue. Doors
open at 10am and admission is GBP 2, with under-14s free. There will
be trade stands, a Bring & Buy, special interest groups and an RSGB
bookstand. A raffle will take place. There is catering on site.
Details from Rick, M0CZR, 01964 533712 or by email to
R106221<at>aol.com
A WADARC Junk Sale takes place on Wednesday 18th October starting at
7.30pm in the Jubilee Hall, Lancing Parish Hall, South Street,
Lancing. There will be NO ENTRANCE FEE to non-WADARC members. All are
welcome. The sale will include items from the estate of the late
Bryan Philips, G3GVB. Most items can be viewed in advance on the club
website at tinyurl.com/GB2RS-1715c
[Note to Newsreaders: the original, full URL is
www.wadarc.org.uk/weekly-updates/sk-g3gvb-equipment-at-the-next-junk-s
ale]
On Saturday the 21st Carrickfergus Amateur Radio Club is holding its
rally at Downshire Community School, Downshire Road, Carrickfergus
BT38 7DA. Doors open 11am and admission is GBP 3. Light refreshments
will be available. All will be welcome. Details from Elizabeth Forde,
via email to elizabethforde64<at>yahoo.com.
Next Saturday also sees Yeovil Amateur Radio Club's 71st anniversary
event at Sparkford Village Hall, Sparkford, Nr Yeovil, Somerset
BA22 7ED. Admission is free and light refreshments will be available.
There will be displays, computer controlled radio, SDR, Morse, spy
sets and more. Ex members are welcome. For more information contact
Bob on 01963 440 167.
Next Sunday, the 22nd, the Galashiels Rally takes place at The
Volunteer Hall, Galashiels TD1 3JX. Doors open 11.15am, fifteen
minutes earlier for disabled visitors. There will be trade stands, a
bring and buy and refreshments. Admission is GBP 2.50 – and please
note that round pounds are no longer acceptable.
If you have any rally or event information you'd like to appear in
future editions of GB2RS News, in RadCom and on the RSGB website,
please email full details to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk.
And now the DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources
Janusz, SP9FIH, will be active again as E44WE from Palestine on 18-29
October. He will be active on 30, 15, 12 and 10m SSB, PSK63 and RTTY.
He will participate in the CQ WW DX SSB Contest on 15m. QSL via Club
Log's OQRS or SP9FIH. See www.e4.dxpeditions.org for more information.
Flavio, IW2NEF will be active holiday style as 3B8/IW2NEF from
Mauritius Island, IOTA reference AF-049, on the 16th to the 23rd of
October. QSL via IK2DUW.
Martti, OH2BH and others will be active as 4S7BHG from Sri Lanka from
25 October to 1 November. They will focus on the low bands, and will
participate in the CQ WW DX SSB Contest. QSL via OH2BH.
Steve, N6SJ will be active as A52SJ from Paro, Bhutan from the 12th
to the 19th of October and again for one night on the 26th of
October. This will be a Top Band-only operation, with activity on
1826.5kHz CW, or 1840kHz FT8 if conditions are marginal. QSL via home
call; log search on Club Log.
Now the special event news
On 21st October, Members of Wrexham Amateur Radio Society will put on
a Special Event Station during the open day at the Brymbo Heritage
Project. Using the callsign GB1BSW they will be active on HF and VHF,
looking for contacts in this country and all around the world. Feel
free to pop along and have a go at talking to the world without
wires, whether or not you're licenced.
Solihull Amateur Radio Society will be running two Jamboree on the
Air stations on 21 October. GB1NSS will be on the air for Nelson Sea
Scouts in Solihull and GB0SDB will be active in Birmingham.
From the 20th to the 22nd Watcombe Radio Club is running JOTA station
GB3TBS for Torbay Borough Scouts at the Torbay District Scout Camp in
Torquay. Celebrating 60 years of Jamboree on the Air, the station
will operate on Friday, before the official start of JOTA, from 7am
to midnight. Saturday hours will be 9.30am to 8pm and on Sunday it's
10am to 1pm. Scouts are expected to attend all three sessions and
pass greetings messages. There will also be an amateur television
station thanks to local members of the British Amateur Television
Club. The first event in 1957 included an ATV station so this seems
rather appropriate.
Grey Point Fort Amateur Radio Society will be operating JOTA and
Jamboree on the Internet, JOTI, with Bangor West Explorer Scouts.
Activity will be from 10am to 4pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at
Grey Point Fort, Fort Road, Helen's Bay, Crawfordsburn, Co Down
BT19 1PU. There will be a talk-in station and attractions include
family activities and special interest groups. Contact Stephen
McFarland, GB0GPF, on 028 9263 4315 or email
greypointfort<at>hotmail.co.uk.
Perth Repeater Group is running a JOTA event with 1st Perthshire
Pitlochry Scout Group next Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 6pm.
Operations will be at Atholl Road, Pitlochry, Perthshire PH16 5BX.
Contact Martin Hobson, GS0PRG, on 01796 472 140 or email
martin.hobson<at>btinternet.com.
Coventry Amateur Radio Society is taking part in JOTA next Saturday
and Sunday, supporting the Coventry Minotaur Unit. GB0CMU will be on
the air from The Scout Headquarters, Partidge Croft, Coventry.
Now the contest news
The Oceania DX CW Contest ends its 24 hour run at 0800UTC today, the
15th. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and
serial number.
On Tuesday it's the 1.3GHz UKAC from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes
on the 23cm band, RST, serial number and locator forms the exchange.
On Wednesday the 80m Autumn Series Data leg takes place from
1900-2030UTC. Using data modes only on the 3.5MHz band, the exchange
is RST and serial number.
Thursday sees the 70MHz UKAC from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on
the 4m band, the exchange is RST, serial number and locator.
The Worked All Germany contest takes place from 1500UTC Saturday to
1500UTC Sunday. Using CW and SSB on 80 to 10m, the exchange is RST
and serial number, with DLs sending DOK.
Next Sunday sees three events. The 50MHz AFS contest takes place on
6m from 0900 to 1300UTC. All modes can be used, and the exchange is
RST, serial number and locator.
Also starting at 0900UTC next Sunday, the UKuG 24-76GHz contest runs
until 1700UTC. All modes can be used on the bands between 24 and
76GHz. RST, serial number and locator forms the exchange.
Finally for this week, the RoLo 2 contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC
on Sunday 2030UTC, using CW only on the 3.5MHz band. The exchange is
RST plus the rolling locator.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO
on Friday the 13th of October.
Last week saw a mixed bag in terms of HF propagation. At the
beginning, quiet geomagnetic conditions saw the HF bands alive with
DX. With the K index hovering between zero and one, the ionosphere
was showing what it can do during a typical Autumn day. There were
openings up to and including 12 metres, with DX being worked as far
afield as India, Cocos Keeling Island, the Falkland Islands, and Sao
Tome and Principe off the west coast of Africa.
Unfortunately, and as we predicted, it didn't last as a high-speed
solar wind stream from a coronal hole, moving at more than 500
kilometres per second, impacted the earth on Wednesday the 11th. This
sent the K index soaring to five and, after a brief ionospheric
enhancement, maximum useable frequencies started to plummet.
By Thursday the MUF over a 3,000km path was struggling to exceed
14MHz as the geomagnetic storm continued. However, another
pre-auroral enhancement, probably due to a surge in the incoming
solar wind stream, saw 10 metres open to DX briefly on Thursday
afternoon, with Saudi Arabia booming in.
Next week, the solar flux index is predicted to remain in the range
74 to 80, reflecting where we are in the declining solar cycle.
Ionospheric conditions may be unsettled this weekend following the
final throes of the coronal hole solar wind stream, but should then
improve.
Geomagnetic conditions are forecast to be quite settled after Tuesday
the 17th, with a maximum K index of two. If correct this means that
reliable HF DX may return, giving good openings up to 21MHz, perhaps
even 24MHz, for the rest of the week.
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
We are stuck in a very unsettled weather pattern and it seems like
the north-west of the country is most likely to experience the more
disturbed weather conditions with strong winds and a risk of gales.
None of these things are good for Tropo, but we may see some good
options for rain scatter on the gigahertz bands.
We have nearby high pressure over the continent and this should be a
player at first over this weekend. It will decline early next week
and any temporary Tropo is only likely to be available from southern
Britain, favouring paths towards the Continent.
Meteor scatter conditions should be better this week, with the
Epsilon-Geminids shower on Wednesday and the larger Orionids, peaking
sometime in the early hours of Saturday. Interestingly, the Orionid
meteor shower is one of the showers created by debris from Comet
Halley.
You'd better get your QSOs in with the 3DA0MB eight-band EME
DXpedition to Swaziland early next week. Moon declination goes
negative again on Wednesday and the moon reaches apogee on Thursday,
with highest losses. As the sun and moon are close on Thursday, noise
will also be an issue on VHF. At least it's a daytime moon and
gigahertz band dish feed changes can be done without a torch!
More details of 3DA0MB are available on the HB9Q logger and moon net.
And that's all from the propagation team this week.
And that's the end of the main news for this week prepared by the
Radio Society of Great Britain. Items for inclusion in subsequent
bulletins can be emailed to gb2rs<at>rsgb.org.uk to arrive by
10:00 on the Thursday before transmission.
--
g4apl@gb7cip.ampr.org g4apl@gb7cip.#32.gbr.euro
http://www.theskywaves.net http://gb7cip.ampr.org
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