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G4APL > NEWS 08.04.18 04:04l 286 Lines 13485 Bytes #999 (0) @ GBR
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 8 Apr 2018
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From: G4APL@GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO
To : NEWS@GBR
GB2RS Main News for Sunday 8 April 2018
[Note to Newsreaders: we are aware that there is a discrepancy
between the GB2RS ‘tops and tails' and information published in
RadCom and elsewhere. This concerns the email address for listeners
to send information for publication. Please amend your ‘tops and
tails' to ask people to send information to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk –
we have started an auto-responder on other email addresses directing
contributors to that address and asking them to send material to that
one ONLY, not copying it to multiple RSGB addresses. A revised set of
‘tops and tails' is in the pipeline but will take some time to
complete. If you have any suggestions on the ‘tops and tails' or
indeed any other matter related to GB2RS broadcast scripts, please
let us know via email to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk]
The news headlines:
* Shorter than normal news this week
* Next UK ARISS contact coming soon
* RSGB at Maker Faire UK
Illness of a key RSGB staff member means that it has not been
possible to prepare Local News this week, for which we apologise.
Details of many club events can be found in the April edition of
RadCom, supplemented by the Events List on the RSGB website,
http://rsgb.org/events/ Thank you to everyone who has sent event
details for the May RadCom; all event information sent to
radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk by the published deadline will appear in that
edition but we are running late on acknowledging entries received
after last Thursday for GB2RS and RadCom.
On or just after Monday the 9th, the date and time for the next UK
ARISS contact will be revealed. The contact is between the Kings High
School for Girls in Warwick and the International Space Station. It
is expected to take place in the week commencing the 16th of April,
but for operational reasons the precise date and time cannot be
decided until very close to the event.
Maker Faire UK is one of the largest hands-on exhibitions for those
who enjoy experimenting with all forms of technology, making and
crafting. Members of the RSGB's Training & Education Committee,
supported by the Youth Committee, will be attending Maker Faire UK on
the 28th & 29th of April at the Life Science Centre in Newcastle. We
will broadcast more details nearer the time but Maker Faire UK opens
at 10am each day and tickets are available
at https://makerfaireuk.com
Have you voted yet in the RSGB elections? If not, please take a few
minutes to go to www.rsgb.org/agm and make sure your voice is heard.
The deadline for receipt of votes is 23:59 on Thursday the 19th of
April 2018.
The British Amateur Television Club has announced that its 2018
convention, CAT 18, will take place at the Midland Air Museum on the
weekend of the 15th and 16th September 2018. More information will be
available via the BATC website.
The RSGB is pleased to welcome Dr Martin Sach, G8KDF to the role of
Chair of the EMC Committee. Martin has a strong background in
electronic engineering and communications. He has been the EMC Vice
Chair for some time and is thus well-acquainted with current issues
in the Committee's areas of interest. Martin replaces Dr John Rogers,
M0JAV who was Chair for over six years. Members will have seen the
results of John's recent efforts on VDSL RFI, working with BT and
Ofcom. His RadCom articles and Convention presentations show what
evidence can be gathered by any amateur driving around with
straightforward equipment. We thank him for all he has done.
Adding to the existing guidance at tinyurl.com/radcompix, Royal
Photographic Society Licenciate Alan Messenger, G0TLK, has published
some tips on how you can take better pictures of amateur radio events
and portable activity this spring and summer. You can find them at
tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0804A and his site also has guidance on image
editing and generally taking better pictures.
[Note to Newsreaders: the original, full URL is
https://g0tlk.wordpress.com/digital-photography/amateur-radio-photogra
phy-tips/]
We learned recently from QRP Labs that the first EU to USA contact on
136kHz was achieved by Chris, 2E0ILY and Paul, N1BUG. They used the
slow, Morse-like mode DCFW, which uses a small frequency shift to
indicate ‘dit' or ‘dah'. They used a 60 second dot-equivalent and
a 0.25Hz frequency shift, leading to a far higher signal to noise
ratio than pure Morse – but at the expense of speed. The successful
system was running at about one word per hour and it took four nights
to complete the contact. More details are at www.n1bug.com/LFMF/
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
Today, the 8th, the Ripon & District ARS rally and surplus equipment
sale takes place at Hugh Ripley Hall, Ripon, North Yorkshire HG4 2PT.
Doors open at 10am. Contact David Cutter, G3UNA, via email to
rally<at>ripon.org.uk.
Next Sunday, the 15th, the West London Radio & Electronics Show takes
place at Kempton Park Racecourse, Staines Road East, Sunbury on
Thames, TW16 5AQ. There will be a talk in station and on site car
parking is free. Doors open at 10am, with disabled visitors gaining
access 10 minutes earlier. There will be trade stations, a Bring &
Buy and special interest groups. Other attractions are lectures, a
raffle and catering on site. Details from Paul, M0CJX on
0845 165 0351, info<at>radiofairs.co.uk or www.radiofairs.co.uk.
Also next Sunday, the Yeovil ARC QRP Convention takes place at Digby
Hall, Sherborne, Dorset DT9 3AA. It is supported by RSGB, RAFARS &
BYLARA. Doors open at 9.30am and admission GBP 3. Guide dogs are
permitted, but not pets. There will be traders, a Bring & Buy and
club stands. Many talks will take place; programme details are on the
website, http://yeovil-arc.com/QRPconvention.php
To get your rally or event information into GB2RS News, RadCom and on
the RSGB website, email details as early as possible to
radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk.
And now the DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources
The St Brandon DXpedition 3B7A is going strong. Eight experienced
operators are running five stations with monoband antennas. St
Brandon, IOTA reference AF-015, is number 27 on the Club Log Most
Wanted list. Operations will continue until the 17th of April.
Pedro, ON7WP is active as C5WP from The Gambia until the 13th of
April. He is mainly using FT8. Details of how to work him and QSL are
on QRZ.com.
Zorro, JH1AJT, Jin, JF1IST and Champ, E21EIC are in Bhutan until the
11th. Activity is on 160m to 6m, CW, SSB and FT8. QSL to JH1AJT. OQRS
will be available at Club Log after his return to Japan.
Tony, 3D2AG will be active from Funafuti Atoll, Tuvalu, OC-015, as
T2AR from the 14th to the 21st of April. Operations will be from Top
Band to 6m, including 60m, plus 2m meteor scatter. QSL via 3D2AG.
Now the special event news
Special Event Station news for April did not arrive in time to be
included in the printed edition of RadCom, but the information can be
found on the RSGB website via tinyurl.com/SES-0418
Next Friday to Sunday K4S will be on the air on 40, 20, 17 and 15
metres, supporting the Shark's Tooth Festival in Venice, Florida. QSL
via Jack Sproat, W4JS and include two US dollars – you will get a
card and a genuine shark's tooth as a memento. See QRZ.com for more
information.
W2E, standing for Water to Electricity, is planning operations on
7.045, 7.245, 14.045 and 14.245MHz on Friday, marking Earth Day at
Great Falls National Historical Park, New Jersey. Activities will
include a demonstration of amateur radio to hundreds of students and
visitors. Guest operators will include STEM students from local
schools. Details are on QRZ.com.
Now the contest news
The SP DX contest ends its 24-hour run today, the 8th, at 1500UTC.
Using CW and SSB on all the contest bands from 1.8 to 28MHz, signal
report and serial number forms the exchange, with SP stations also
sending their Province code.
Today also sees the UK Microwave Group Low Band Contest 2, which runs
from 1000UTC to 1600UTC. Using all modes on the 1.3GHz to 3.4GHz
bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
It is a busy week ahead, with five RSGB contests scheduled. Starting
on Tuesday from 1800UTC to 1900 UTC, the RSGB 432MHz FMAC contest
takes place. Using FM only on the 70cm band, the exchange is serial
number and locator.
Immediately following that on Tuesday is the 432MHz UKAC contest,
which runs from 1900UTC to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on 70cm only,
the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
On Tuesday the 80m Club Championship runs from 1900UTC to 2030 UTC.
Using SSB only on the 3.5MHz band, the exchange is signal report and
serial number.
On Thursday the 6m FMAC takes place from 1800UTC to 1900UTC, FM only
on the 50MHz band. It is immediately followed, from 1900UTC to
2130UTC by its all-mode counterpart, the 6m UKAC. The exchange for
both is the same, signal report, serial number and locator.
In memory of the first human in space, the Yuri Gagarin International
DX Competition takes place from 2100UTC on Saturday the 14th to
2100UTC on the 15th. There are numerous categories, including SWL,
and it will pay to check the contest rules at
http://gc.qst.ru/en/section/32 for details. Operation is CW only on
the 1.8, 3.5, 7, 14, 21 and 28MHz bands, plus amateur satellites on
any band. The exchange is signal report plus your ITU Zone number,
which is 27 for the UK.
The First 50MHz contest takes place next Sunday from 0900UTC to
1200UTC. Using all modes on the 6m band, the exchange is signal
report, serial number, locator and your postcode.
Also next Sunday the WAB Data contest takes place from 1200UTC to
2200UTC. Using RTTY and PSK on the 3.5 to 14MHz contest bands, the
exchange is signal report and serial number. Note that this contest
is split into four operating periods – details are on the Worked
All Britain website.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO
on Friday 6th April.
Last week saw a continued lack of sunspots as we journey towards
solar minimum sometime in 2019–2020. The solar flux index hovered
around 68-69, which is only about two to three points above what we
can expect when it hits its lowest point. Unfortunately, we are
likely to be repeating this sentence quite a lot over the next 12
months or so!
There were no solar flares reported and geomagnetic conditions were
relatively calm, with a maximum planetary K index of two. This was
due to a lack of earth-facing coronal hole activity, but that isn't
going to last. Next week, the solar flux index is likely to remain
around 68, but we can expect unsettled geomagnetic conditions, with
the potential for depressed maximum usable frequencies and noisy
bands, from the 11th to 15th, as a large coronal hole on the solar
equator become geo-effective.
Despite the low solar flux, the current settled conditions means
there may be good DX to be had up to 18MHz, and possibly even 21MHz,
over this weekend.
It is still a little too early for reliable Sporadic-E openings on 24
and 28MHz and we may need to wait until the end of April or early
May, but do check.
Looking more generally, we are starting to see a shift towards more
summer-like ionospheric conditions in the northern hemisphere.
Daytime maximum usable frequencies may be lower than they were in
winter, and east-west HF paths are likely to be worse. But the good
news is the HF bands may stay open longer in the evening.
We are already seeing 20 metres remaining open until around 2100 UTC
on 3,000km paths, and 40m and 80m continue to be worthwhile evening
bands as well.
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
It looks like another week of uncertain fortunes, although unlike
last week, there is at least the hint of high pressure to the
northeast of Britain, favouring some potential Tropo conditions from
the north of the country to southern Scandinavia and the Baltic. The
south of Britain may just be far enough away from the high to see
some heavy April shower activity and possible rain scatter on the
microwave bands, especially in the southwest.
Now another mention for Sporadic E, which at times of thin HF
propagation can liven up 10m, and of course the more traditional 6m
bands. The weather patterns can influence this by the distribution of
jet streams, and daily charts are available on www.propquest.co.uk
along with occasional commentary.
The long winter meteor minimum is drawing to a close soon, with the
April Lyrids coming up on the 22nd, so get prepared for better
reflections. We've just passed minimum Moon declination for the
month. Apogee, the point where the moon is furthest away from Earth,
is today, so losses are at their maximum and Moon windows are short.
We are a week away from declination going positive again, but
conditions will slowly improve throughout the week.
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 radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk to arrive by
10:00 on the Thursday before transmission.
Our thanks to Andy G4TNU for providing this RSGB feed.
--
g4apl@gb7cip.ampr.org g4apl@gb7cip.#32.gbr.euro
http://www.theskywaves.net http://gb7cip.ampr.org
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