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G4TNU > NEWS 02.08.15 01:03l 242 Lines 11636 Bytes #999 (0) @ GBR
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 02 Aug 2015
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday 2nd August 2015
The news headlines:
* Respond now to Contest Consultation
* Lightships weekend registrations strong
* New highlights for RSGB Convention
Amateurs interested in contesting have the opportunity to comment on
the 2015 Contest Rules Consultation White paper, but time is running
out. Your comments must be received by the 7th of August. The White
Paper is available at www.rsgbcc.org/whitepaper2015.pdf and it
contains details of how to submit your comments.
The International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend has attracted 370
registrations from 33 nations to date, with more expected before the
event on the 15th and 16th August. Germany has registered 65
stations, Australia 60, USA 50 and England about 40. At least 10
registrations each are from Argentina, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands,
Scotland and South Africa and Sweden. Visit the website www.illw.net
for more information.
The RSGB Convention takes place over the 9th to the 11th of October
at Kent's Hill Conference Centre in Milton Keynes The lecture
timetable is almost full now and details are on the RSGB website. As
part of Saturday's Contest University, Olof Lundberg, G0CKV will talk
about how contesting is about having fun and that feeling of
achievement you gain through continuous self-improvement in terms of
operating skills and station-building. Lee Volante, G0MTN will
explore different aspects of station design for HF contesting and
show how computer software allows site location, tower height and
antenna choices to be modelled and performance predicted. Inside and
outside the shack there are design decisions to be made that will
increase your score – many of them simple and at zero cost. Details
of the other lectures as well as weekend packages and day tickets can
be found at www.rsgb.org/convention.
In Australia, the WIA have updated VHF/UHF band plans. This includes
a move of their narrowband segment at 3.4GHz to circumvent loss of
spectrum to LTE, with EME moving down to around 3398MHz as they have
an allocation that goes lower than ours. The updated band plan also
includes implementation of the new 144MHz satellite segment and
various changes for their 2m and 70cm usage, especially repeaters.
You can view the band plan at www.wia.org.au/members/bandplans/data/
The Yasme Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation organised to
conduct scientific and educational projects related to amateur radio,
including DXing and the introduction and promotion of amateur radio
in developing countries. The Foundation has announced the recipients
of grants for this year. The recipients are the organising committee
of the 2018 World Radiosport Team Championship that will take place
in Germany; the Reverse Beacon Network, for the purchase of equipment
necessary to establish a node at the Ethiopian Amateur Radio
Society's ET3AA club station, and to a representative of the Voodoo
Contest Group for the purchase of Amateur Radio training materials
for use in Liberia.
The RSGB Board has agreed an update to the policy for the awards that
are presented at the Convention and the AGM. The biggest change is
that they have widened the eligibility criteria for several of the
AGM awards. Nominations are currently being sought for the G5RP
Trophy that is awarded annualy to encourage newcomers to HF DXing.
The award is not limited to youngsters or the newly-licensed; it is
open to anyone who has recently discovered and made significant
progress in HF DXing. If you are an established HF DXer and want to
recommend someone to be awarded the G5RP Trophy for 2015, now is the
time to send in your nomination. Full details of eligibility will
appear in the September RadCom, due with Members from 15th August
onwards. The award will be presented this year at the RSGB Convention
in October. Please send your nominations to Ian Greenshields, G4FSU,
QTHR, or by e-mail to ian.greenshields<at>gmail.com to arrive no
later than the 11th of September.
A reminder that the 2015 AGM of the UK Six Metre Group takes place on
Saturday the 8th of August, starting at 10am, at the home QTH of
Chris, G3WOS. The agenda can be downloaded from the Group's website.
The AGM is immediately followed by the G3WOS 6m BBQ, which is a
ticketed event. All UKSMG members are welcome to attend the AGM and
those wishing to stay on for the excellent BBQ and talks event should
purchase tickets in advance from www.gare.co.uk/bbq2015.htm
Satellite-maker Pocketqube has announced a vacancy for an RF engineer
with an emphasis on antenna design for satellites. Full details are
at www.pocketqubeshop.com/rf-engineer
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
Today, on the 2nd of August, the 26th King's Lynn ARC Rally & Car
Boot will take place at Gaywood Community Centre, PE30 4DZ. Talk in
will be on 145.550MHz and car parking is free. Doors open at 9am and
entry is GBP 2. There will be trade stands, a Bring & Buy as well as
car boot pitches. More information from Ted, G4OZG on 01553 768 701.
Also today, the 2nd of August, the Lorn Radio Rally will be held in
Crianlarich Village Hall, Main Street, Crianlarich, Perthshire
FK20 8QN. Doors open at 10.30am and the entry is GBP 2. There will be
traders and a Bring & Buy. Details by email from
lornradioclub<at>gmail.com.
Flight Refuelling ARS Hamfest takes place on the 9th of August at
Cobham Sports and Social Club Ground, Merley, near Wimborne, Dorset
BH21 3DA. Talk In will be on S22 and the gates are open from 10am to
4pm. There is disabled access from 9.30am. Admission is GBP 3.50 and
there will be trade stands, a car boot sale, licensed bar as well as
lectures. Details from Tony, G3PFM on 07743 475 018.
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 details to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk.
Now the special event news
Felixstowe & District ARS will be putting on a special event station,
call sign GB2BRS, to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of
Britain today, the 2nd. The station is located at Bawdsey Radar
Station. Further details are on QRZ.com.
Riviera ARC will be attending the Torbay Steam Fair today, the 2nd,
using GB6TSF. They aim to be operating 40m and 2m but other bands may
be used depending on band conditions.
Hastings Electronics & Radio Club members are supporting the 10th
Essex Living History Group annual WW1 spectacular with GB2WWI. It
will be held at Batemans, Rudyard Kipling's home, today, the 2nd.
Details on QRZ.com.
GB2VJ will be on the air to commemorate the 70th anniversary of VJ
Day from the 8th of August to the 4th of September. Details at
www.essexcw.org.uk.
And now the DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources
Samuel, EA1IQC is currently residing on Arosa Island that is part of
the IOTA group EU-080. He now has a permanent station on the island.
More information is on QRZ.com under the callsign EA1IQC.
Rene, DL2JRM will be active from Faroe Islands, EU-018, from the 7th
to the 10th of August as OY/DL2JRM.
Scott, K0MD will be QRV as CE0/K0MD from Vina del Mar in Chile until
the 7th of August. Activity will be on 20 to 10m in his spare time.
QSL to his home callsign.
Tim, N3QE is QRV as N3QE/KH6 from Hawaii, OC-019, until the 5th of
August. Activity is holiday style on the HF bands. QSL via operator's
instructions.
Mikhail, RA1ALA, will be QRV as RA1ALA/1 from Varnek on Vaygach
Island, EU-086, from the 2nd to the 14 of August. Activity will be on
40 metres and above using CW and SSB as time permits. QSL to his home
call.
Now the contest news
Today, the 2nd, the second RoPoCo contest takes place from 0700 to
0830UTC. This is the CW leg and the exchange is signal report and in
your first QSO you send your full postcode. In subsequent QSOs you
send a signal report and the postcode you received in your previous
QSO. QSOs with non-UK stations don't count and should not appear in
your contest log.
On Tuesday the 144MHz UK Activity Contest will take place from 1900
to 2130UTC. Using all modes the exchange is the usual signal report,
serial number and locator.
The Worked All Europe (WAE) contest runs for the entire 48 hours of
the weekend of the 8th and 9th. Europe works non-Europe only in this
contest, so there tends to be a lot of DX working. Using CW only on
the 3.5 to 28MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and serial
number.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO
on Friday the 31st of July.
HF propagation conditions during last weekend's IOTA contest were
pretty dire. This was due to a "perfect storm" of typical summer
conditions, a fairly low sunspot count and poor geomagnetic
conditions, reflected in a Kp index of three. This was due to the
arrival of material from a coronal mass ejection and the onset of a
weak high speed solar wind stream from a coronal hole. One contestant
said that he worked no stations outside of Europe at all in the IOTA
contest, which just about sums it up!
Over the next week the solar flux index is predicted to be in the
range 100-110 with the Ap index in the range five to sixteen. The
third, fourth and fifth are predicted to be the most settled days
geomagnetically, with Sunday the second of August and next weekend
predicted to be very unsettled with the chance of the Kp index
hitting five. This means that you may be better off hunting DX during
the week as next weekend may see a return of unsettled conditions
with poor maximum usable frequencies in terms of F layer propagation
and low DX potential.
As we are now in August, make sure you use the new smoothed sunspot
number of 51 for your VOACAP-based prediction programs.
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
This will be another week of mixed, but not really strong indicators.
Tropo-wise there are likely to be periods when there is a weak ridge
of high pressure over southern parts of Britain and this could mean
slightly enhanced prospects at times, both across to the Baltic, and
south across Biscay towards Spain.
Unfortunately, for much of the week, there will be a large area of
low pressure near northwestern Britain and this will mean its only
rain scatter on offer for many north-western areas of the UK.
For Sporadic-E, the prospects are reasonable on two counts. Firstly
there is a very non-summer jet stream, albeit weaker than last week,
over the British Isles and into northern Europe. Jet streams are good
places to generate the wave motion in the air that can propagate
vertically to make Sporadic-E.
Secondly, we are approaching the interesting part of the year for the
Perseids meteor shower, which peaks around 12th August and meteors
are generally regarded as the 'raw materials' of Sporadic-E. For a
day-by-day update on the jet stream check out the Sporadic-E blog on
the RSGB forums on www.rsgb.org
It is also less than two weeks to the Perseids meteor shower, peaking
around the 12th of August.
With EME, the moon declination is increasing and losses are lowest
today and Monday.
And that's all from the propagation team for 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.
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