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G4APL > NEWS 09.12.18 04:46l 245 Lines 11368 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 9 Dec 2018
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<F4DUR<F1OYP<ON0AR<GB7CIP
Sent: 181209/0331Z @:GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO #:48663 [Caterham Surrey GBR]
From: G4APL@GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO
To : NEWS@EU
GB2RS Main News for Sunday 9th December 2018
The news headlines:
* Watch an ISS contact on Friday
* Turkey gets 60m and 6m
* RSGB responds to CEPT Wireless Power report
An amateur radio contact with the International Space Station,
facilitated by ARISS, is planned for Friday the 14th of December. The
contact with Kenilworth school is scheduled for 1255UTC and will be
streamed from around noon at https://live.ariss.org
Turkey's telecom regulator, BTK, in a government gazette notice on
the 29th of November, released two new amateur radio allocations.
They are the new WRC-15 60m band, at 15W, plus an all mode 6m
allocation of 50 to 52MHz, with a power limit of 75W.
The RSGB has made a submission to a CEPT regarding its Draft Report
on Wireless Power Transmission for Electric Vehicles. This is the
latest step as part of ongoing work by RSGB and IARU that is
preparing for WRC-19 next autumn. A copy of the submission can be
found at https://tinyurl.com/yavpsnx6
There will be no GB2RS Script for Sunday the 30th of December. The
last news reading for 2018 will take place on Sunday the 23rd of
December, with normal service resuming on Sunday the 6th of January.
Individual Newsreaders may choose to run a net instead of the news
during their slot on the 30th, though this must be under their own
callsign, not GB2RS. [You may ad-lib here to announce your own
intentions].
CWops is accepting nominations for the Advancing the Art of CW award
for 2019. The purpose of the award is to recognise individuals,
groups, or organisations that have made the greatest contribution
toward advancing the art or practice of radio communications by Morse
code. Nominations may be made by anybody, not limited to CWops
members. Email nominations to awards<at>cwops.org with a copy to
secretary<at>cwops.org. Nominations must be received by the 1st of
March 2019. Details are under the About tab at https://cwops.org
Youngsters on the Air month, or YOTA, runs throughout December. The
next clubs to activate the GB18YOTA callsign will be Southampton
University Wireless Society on the 12th, Durham & District ARS on the
14th, then the RSGB's National Radio Centre will be operating the
station on the 15th and 16th. Young people are welcome at the NRC
where they will have the opportunity to experience amateur radio
using the state of the at GB3RS station at the NRC. If you hear these
stations and others around the world taking part in YOTA month,
please take the time to contact the young people.
The RSGB is still taking bookings for the Introduction to Amateur
Radio workshops running in association with Bletchley Park on the
15th and 16th of December. These workshops will give an introductory
insight into the world of amateur radio, as well as a chance to see
the RSGB's National Radio Centre. So spread the word to any friends,
family members, colleagues who might be interested in finding out
more about our amazing hobby. Full details, including booking
information and prices, can be found at tinyurl.com/ya7exjva
The GB3LEX 10GHz beacon was switched off at 1450UTC on the 29th of
November. This is to enable investigations to identify the cause of a
fault reported by a local user. Details of its switch on will be
announced when more is known of the fault.
The RSGB has released a video of the YOTA 2018 event held between the
8th and 15th of August in South Africa. The event welcomed 74 young
radio amateurs from all over the world, including participants from
seven African countries. This video, filmed and edited by Peter
Barnes, M0SWN, shows the highlights of the event, and accompanies the
official blog at https://rsgb.org/yota2018
Worked all Postcodes is an award scheme announced by radio dealer
Moonraker. Participants need to work as many postcodes as possible
using a maximum of 10W, any mode, on the 70, 144, 430 and 1296MHz
bands. Wednesday will be activity night and awards will be available
for different numbers of postcodes. This all starts on the 2nd of
January 2019 so keep an eye on the Moonraker blog for more
information.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
Members of the British Vintage Wireless Society are holding a
Swapmeet and Auction today, the 9th of December, at Royal Wootton
Bassett Memorial Hall, Royal Wootton Bassett, Swindon, Wiltshire
SN4 8EN. Doors open at 10am and the auction starts at around 1pm.
More details of BVWS membership can be found at www.bvws.org.uk
We have no rallies in the diary for the weekend of the 15th and 16th
of December.
To get your event into RadCom and GB2RS, please send details as early
as possible to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk – we need to know at least
three to four months in advance to get your information into RadCom.
And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources
Cezar, VE3LYC and Adrian, KO8SCA are scheduled to operate as TX0M
from the new IOTA, Morane Atoll, OC-297, until the 10th of December.
They will then change to TX0A from Maria Est Atoll, OC-113, from the
12th to the 16th of December.
Tom, N9EAW will be active holiday style as HQ9T from Roatan Island,
NA-057, in Honduras, until the 18th of December. He will operate SSB
and slow CW on the HF bands. QSL direct to N9EAW.
Ben, DL6RAI is on the air as P4/DL6RAI until the 27th of December.
Activity is holiday style on the low bands, with some activity in
various contests. QSL via Logbook of the World.
Now the special event news
4O18YOTA is on the air from Montenegro during December for Youngsters
On The Air. QSL via OQRS.
E71YOTA is also operating during December as part of YOTA from
Bosnia-Herzegovina. QSL via OQRS.
ES9YOTA, in Estonia, is another station that will get young people on
the amateur bands. QSL via OQRS.
Members of the Ethiopian Amateur Radio Society are QRV as ET3YOTA
during December as part of YOTA. QSL via N2OO.
Special event station C4XMAS is on the air from Cyprus during the
festive season. Activity will be on the 160 to 6m bands using CW, SSB
and various digital modes. QSL via IZ4AMS.
Please send event details to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk, as early as
possible, for free publicity on GB2RS, in RadCom and online. UK
special event stations must be open to the public, so our free
publicity can help make your efforts more widely known.
Now the contest news
The UK Six Metre Group's Winter Marathon began on the 1st of December
and runs until the end of January. There are no specific operating
periods. Just work as many Locator squares as you can, when you can,
using any mode on the 50MHz band.
The ARRL 10m Contest ends its 48 hour run at 2359UTC today, the 9th.
Using CW and SSB, the exchange is signal report and serial number,
with American and Canadian sending their State or Province code.
On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2000UTC,
using FM only. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK
Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both contests
is signal report, serial number and locator.
On Thursday the 50MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2000UTC,
using FM only. It is immediately followed by the all-mode 50MHz UK
Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both contests
is signal report, serial number and locator.
The 2nd MGM Contest on the 6 and 2m bands takes place next weekend,
the 15th and 16th of December, starting at 1400UTC and running for 24
hours. This is the second in the series of this brand new concept
contest dedicated to MGM modes. The first leg in April was well
received all over Europe. The now-popular FT8, MSK144, FSK441 and
other MGM modes are all allowed in this contest, with the emphasis on
DX and with multipliers for each new 4 character locator square. The
exchange is signal report and your 4-character locator. Visit
www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/ for more information.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO
on Friday 7th December.
We had a new sunspot group, Region 2729, appear this week, although
it is a member of the weakening Solar Cycle 24. The region formed
fairly quickly in the sun's southwest quadrant and at the time of
writing was producing only very minor B-Class solar flares. It is
unlikely to do too much for the solar flux index though, which was at
70 on Friday morning.
The Independent reported that the Northern Lights might be seen in
the UK on Wednesday the fifth, but this proved to be over-optimistic.
Meanwhile, the Daily Express said the Earth could be "plunged into
darkness, with the solar wind having the power to affect satellites,
knocking out GPS navigation, mobile phone signals and satellite TV".
The reality is that the large solar coronal hole MAY cause the K
index to rise, but the effects were more likely to be felt late on
Friday the 7th and the weekend. Next week, NOAA has the K index at
two, thanks to a lack of coronal holes, and the solar flux index at
68.
We'd like to reiterate that this is a good season for low-band
propagation though, with 160 and 80 metres coming into their own.
Even 40m can be open to longer distances, even before sunset, so do
keep an eye on the lower bands.
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
The Es'Hail 2 satellite launch went well and the bird is slowly
moving to its final geostationary slot at 26 degrees East. Stations
are already reporting reception of the commercial beacons with
amateur equipment so check social media and the AMSAT site for
details.
The night of Thursday the 13th and morning of Friday the 14th of
December sees one of the largest meteor showers of the year, the
Geminids. With a zenith hourly rate of around 120 the shower can give
excellent meteor scatter reflections on the low VHF bands up to
144MHz, and for EME-class stations even on 432MHz. 144MHz stations
with a small Yagi and a quiet site should be able to work plenty of
stations using the MSK144 digimode.
The weekend starting this period off will have windy and unsettled
weather, so there may be no Tropo around. Active systems like these
may provide a few heavy showers to add rain scatter to the
propagation on offer. The glimmer of hope with the next week is
likely to be the appearance of a weak ridge of high pressure until
mid-week. The second half appears to be a slide back into
low-pressure weather, especially in the northwest of Britain,
although high pressure remains just to the east. This may allow paths
across the North Sea for a few more days, but none of these
indicative weather types look to be really stand-out affairs.
Meanwhile, the Moon is at minimum declination today and reaches
apogee this Wednesday, so concentrate on meteor scatter rather than
the short Moon windows and high losses that will characterise this
week on EME.
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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