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G4TNU > NEWS 24.01.16 02:02l 213 Lines 9867 Bytes #999 (0) @ GBR
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 24 Jan 2016
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday 24th January 2016
The news headlines:
* New 134GHz DX record
* Club of the Year deadline extended
* Apply NOW for Board and Regional positions
A new UK 134GHz DX Record was set by Ian, G8KQW and John, G8ACE, who
achieved 35.6km on the 16th of January, over a line of sight path
between Cheesefoot Head and Chute Causeway. Signals were 10dB above
noise at best. The key enabler for success on this extended distance
record contact was lower path loss due to less water vapour
attenuation courtesy of the low temperature, 2.5°C, and dew point,
1°C. This was sufficient to overcome the ~9dB increase in free
space path loss attenuation over the previous record path.
Congratulations to both.
The deadline for entries to the Club of the Year 2015 Competition has
been extended to 29 February. The national competition is kindly
sponsored by Waters and Stanton. For details of how to enter, please
see http://rsgb.org/main/clubs/national-club-of-the-year/ The
Regional winners of the competition will be announced at the RSGB
Annual General meeting in April and the National winners will receive
their prizes at the National Hamfest in Lincoln on the 1st of
October.
The deadline for nominations for the position of President, Board or
Regional Manager in Regions 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 13 is the 1st
of February 2016. Details of the nomination process are in both the
January and February RadCom and on the RSGB website at
www.rsgb.org.uk/elections2016.
In response to requests from Affiliated clubs, a subtitled version of
the popular video Amateur Radio – a hobby for the 21st Century is
now available. The subtitles may be helpful when the video is shown
in a noisy environment. It can be downloaded from the RSGB website at
http://rsgb.org/main/get-started-in-amateur-radio/amateur-radio-a-hobb
y-for-the-21st-century/
The American Amateur Radio League – or ARRL – Board of Directors
elected a new president on the 15th of January, during the Board's
Annual Meeting. Rick Roderick, K5UR has been licensed for 48 years,
is an ARRL Life Member and has served on the Board for 24 years. The
sitting president, Kay, N3KN, is stepping down after 3 terms in
office.
Australia Day is on the 26th of January and radio amateurs may choose
to substitute their callsign's VK prefix with AX. Australian amateurs
will get to do this twice again this year, on ANZAC Day, the 25th of
April, and International Telecommunications Day, on the 17th of May.
The Australian Communications and Media Authority automatically
grants amateurs use of the prefix for the duration of the named
celebrations.
Following details of the RSGB Contest Committee restructuring and
vacancies announced last week, the Board have approved terms of
reference for the three new contest committees. Details are now
available online at http://rsgb.org/main/about-us/committees/
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
There are no rallies in the diary for this weekend. On the 31st of
January the Horncastle Winter Rally will take place at Horncastle
Youth Centre, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6DZ. The venue is all on
one level and doors open at 10.30am. Admission is GBP 1.50. There
will be refreshments available, including hot bacon butties. Details
from Tony Nightingale, G3ZPU on 01507 527 835.
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
GX0MWT and GB2LBD will be among the stations active for RNLI SOS
Radio Weekend today. Check out the website www.sosradioweek.org.uk
for the full listing.
On the 22nd and 23rd, there will be a commemoration of Francis Bacon,
born in 1561, and Robert Boyle, born in 1627. MX0YHA and MX0PHX will
be on the air and contacts will qualify for the British Scientists
award. These commemorations will be on the 40m band SSB and also on
the higher bands if conditions permit.
Owen, M1OJS, will be running GB0HLB from Hartlepool Lifeboat Station
for SOS Radio Week on the 24th and again on the 30th and 31st. He
will be active on 2m and the HF bands. He looks forward to working as
many other amateurs as possible.
And now the DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources
The VP8STI team has been on the air from Southern Thule Island with
three stations since arriving on the 17th. The 14-member team will
activate South Sandwich, AN-009 and South Georgia, AN-007, over the
course of their adventure. South Sandwich is the number 3 most-wanted
DXCC entity, while South Georgia is the 8th most-wanted, according to
ClubLog. The VP8STI/VP8SGI team plans to spend 10 days on each
island, including setup and teardown. Very rough seas are endangering
the process of transporting supplies, as are the high winds and some
snow.
Bertrand, DF3FS will be in Kenya until the 7th of February. He will
operate holiday-style using the callsign 5Z4/DF3FS.
Gene, N9SW will be active from the 28th of January to the 9th of
February as FJ/N9SW from St Barthelemy, NA-146. He will work holiday
style on the 6 to 60m bands, mainly in CW. QSL via his home callsign.
Thilo, DL9NBJ, is working from Curacao, SA-099, until the 9th of
February using the callsign PJ2/DL9NBJ. He will work both single
sideband and CW on the HF bands. QSL only via ClubLog OQRS.
Stig, SM3PHM will be on holiday until the 3rd of February on the
Caribbean island of Dominica, NA-101. His callsign will be J79M. QSL
via his home call and also Logbook of The World.
Now the contest news
The first UK/EI DX CW contest of the year ends its 24 hours run at 12
noon today, the 24th. It is CW-only on the five contest bands from 80
to 10 metres. There are multi-op and single-op categories and the
exchange is a serial and your district code. You'll need to know your
own district code, and these are listed in the rules at www.ukeicc.com
The BARTG RTTY Sprint also ends at 1200UTC today, the 24th. Using the
3.5 to 28MHz bands the exchange is just the serial number. Please
note that if you have been placed anywhere in the Top 10 in this
contest in the past three years you have to enter the Expert category.
On Tuesday, two Activity Contests take place, both from 2000 to
2230UTC. The 50MHz event uses all modes on that band and the SHF
event uses the 2.3 to 10GHz bands, again all modes. The exchange for
both events is signal report, serial number and locator.
On Wednesday the UK-EI CC takes place between 2000 and 2100UTC on the
80m bands. Using SSB the exchange is your 4-character Locator.
The final contest of the month is the CQ World Wide 160m DX CW that
runs for 48 hours, starting at 10pm on Friday the 29th. Exchange a
signal report and your CQ Zone, which is 14 for the UK. American and
Canadian stations will send their State/Province code.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G4BAO and G3YLA
on Friday 22nd January.
We've had yet another week with unsettled geomagnetic conditions.
This time the Kp index hit five on Wednesday, and even six on
Thursday, caused by a plasma emission from the Sun with a prolonged
southward-facing Bz field. This was a shame as the field had been
very settled on Monday, with a Kp index of zero, which usually bodes
well for good HF conditions.
On Monday the critical F2 layer frequency, as measured by the Chilton
ionosonde, hit 6.8MHz at noon, giving a predicted maximum usable
frequency of about 21MHz.
By Wednesday it was 7.6MHz, giving a MUF of about 25MHz over 3,000km.
This shows that, perversely, a higher K index can sometimes result in
better conditions as the initial onset of solar plasma can cause a
positive phase with better maximum useable frequencies, before the
subsequent negative phase with depressed MUFs, noisy bands and
auroral conditions.
The moral of the story is that the best thing to do is monitor the HF
bands as often as you can, as you never really know what you might
hear.
The forecast for the next week is more of the same, with a further
high risk of unsettled geomagnetic conditions at times, especially on
the 28th and 29th.
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
The edge of a high pressure system sits well to the East over the
continent, so stations in the South and East of the country could get
some enhanced conditions this week.
The second half of the week looks the best, with the F5LEN tropo maps
showing a long narrow finger of enhancement over Southern England,
into the Low Countries and the Southern Baltic. This could link up
with the Azores high, providing slightly-enhanced conditions into
Western France, Spain and Portugal. Otherwise, the bulk of the
country offers windier weather with low pressure and frontal rain
bands, with not much tropo on offer for VHF and UHF. However, some
active weather fronts could introduce the prospect of some rain
scatter on the GHz bands.
We are now in the year's quiet period for meteor activity, extending
from early January until the Lyrids shower at the end of April, so
it's back to early mornings waiting patiently for the random meteors
to provide fleeting low VHF DX opportunities.
Moon declination is falling and goes negative on Thursday and, with
apogee next Saturday, path losses will continue to increase
throughout the week.
That's all for this week from the propagation team.
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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