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G4APL > NEWS 05.08.18 03:38l 309 Lines 14489 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 5 Aug 2018
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Sent: 180805/0231Z @:GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO #:32090 [Caterham Surrey GBR]
From: G4APL@GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO
To : NEWS@EU
GB2RS Main News for Sunday 5th August 2018
The news headlines:
* New Exams Syllabus soon
* YOTA 2018 gets under way
* 71MHz activity thriving
The RSGB is pleased to announce that, following its formal approval
by RSGB Board in July, the new syllabus will be released during the
week commencing 13 August. This will link with the publication of the
first set of project communications in RadCom to give a fuller
understanding of the milestones of the changeover. The Society will
also release a comparison document at the same time, enabling tutors
to see at a glance what changes have been made between the old and
new syllabuses.
This week sees the start of the 2018 Youth on the Air international
event in South Africa, organised by the South African Amateur Radio
League. The seven-day programme runs from the 8th to the 15th of
August and involves around 80 young amateurs from around the world,
including an RSGB-sponsored team of four from the UK. Activities will
include building radio kits, a high-altitude balloon launch and even
the chance to sit South African amateur radio exams. For more
information see www.ham-yota.com
UK amateurs continue to make remarkable progress with innovative
technology in the experimental 71MHz band. The BATC Forum reports
contacts of reduced bandwidth digital amateur TV of between 59 and
87km, using the latest high efficiency video coding. This follows the
initial short range contacts when simplified NoV access to
70.5-71.5MHz was introduced by Ofcom and the RSGB in June. See
www.rsgb.org/nov for info.
The G5RP Trophy is an annual award to encourage newcomers to HF
DXing. Any established HF DXer may make a nomination. The nominee
should be an up-and-coming HF DXer who has made rapid progress in the
last year and has some real achievements to show, for example, a good
total of new countries worked or some serious HF DXpedition activity.
This prestigious RSGB award will be presented at the RSGB Convention
on the 12th-14th October. Please send nominations to HF Manager Ian
Greenshields, G4FSU, by email to hf.manager<at>rsgb.org.uk to arrive
no later than Friday the 14th of September.
A key RSGB web server will be offline one night this week for
essential third-party maintenance. Many RSGB services will be
unavailable from 9pm on Tuesday until about 8.30am on Wednesday the
8th. If you are an RSGB Member planning to visit Bletchley Park on
Wednesday the 8th of August, please make sure you download your free
admission voucher before 9pm on Tuesday.
A field-day style International Convention of CW Operators is taking
place on the 24th to the 27th of August near Moscow, Russia. All
radio amateur CW operators are invited. Participation is free but
attendees must provide their own outdoor sleeping gear. Detailed
information on this event, in Russian, is available
at https://clck.ru/DoNR2 or you can contact the event's
‘international liaison officer' Ed, NT2X by email to
red<at>escape.com
Paraguay has joined the ever-growing list of countries that have
released the 60m Secondary allocation agreed at WARC-15. The band
5351.5 to 5366.5kHz has been authorised at 25W EIRP. The original
announcement, in Spanish, is at tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0308-B
[Note for Newsreaders: original URL is
https://www.conatel.gov.py/index.php/2015-02-17-19-32-25/2015-02-25-12
-56-42/127-rd-2018/466-rd-n-669-2018]
The Nursing Times has run a feature on GB1NHS, the special event
station to promote the 70th anniversary of the NHS and other national
initiatives. The station was launched at the RSGB National Radio
Centre on 8 May this year. You can see the Nursing Times article at
tinyurl.com/GB2RS-0308-C
[Note for Newsreaders: the original URL is
https://www.nursingtimes.net/news/policies-and-guidance/nhs-amateur-ra
dio-station-set-up-to-promote-national-initiatives/7025464.article]
Loughton & Epping Forest Radio Society will be running another of its
highly successful Foundation courses on the weekend of the 23rd and
24th of September. The course takes place at All Saints House in
Chigwell Row, Essex, and concludes with the Foundation exam. There is
parking available, and the venue is a short distance away from
Hainault Tube Station on the central line. For more information
contact Marc Litchman, M0TOC, via email to marc<at>lefars.org.uk or
on 0748 480 4135.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
Today, the 5th, the King's Lynn ARC Great Eastern Radio Rally takes
place at Gaywood Community Centre, Gayton Road, King's Lynn, Norfolk.
PE30 4DZ. There will be talk-in on 145.550MHz and car parking is
free. Doors open at 9am, with admission GBP 2. There will be trade
stands and a Bring & Buy. There are amateur radio pitches outside as
well as tables inside. Onsite catering will be available. Details
from Ted, G4OZG, on 01553 768 701.
Also today, the Lorn Radio Rally takes place at Crianlarich Village
Hall, Main Street, Crianlarich, Perthshire FK20 8QN. Doors open at
10.30am and entry is GBP 2. There will be trade stands, for which
tables are free but a raffle prize is appreciated, as well as a Bring
& Buy. The raffle will be drawn at 1.30pm. Catering is available on
site. Details from mm0elf<at>blueyonder.co.uk.
Friday the 10th sees the 25th Cockenzie & Port Seton Mini Rally
Night, which takes place at the Community Centre, Main Hall, Port
Seton. Bring along your own junk and sell it yourself. Tables are on
a first come first served basis. Entry is GBP 2 and doors open at 6pm.
Next Sunday, the 12th, it's the Flight Refuelling ARS Hamfest. This
large event takes place at the Cobham Sports and Social Club Ground,
Merley, near Wimborne, Dorset BH21 3DA. Talk in will be on S22. Doors
open at 10am and admission is GBP 4, which includes parking. There
will be trade stands, a car boot sale and a lecture stream during the
day. More information from Tony Baker, G3PFM, on 0774 347 5018 or see
www.frars.org.uk.
To get your event into RadCom and GB2RS, send details as early as
possible to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk.
And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources
Dariusz, SP9DLM will be active as 4S7DMG from Kalkudah, Sri Lanka,
IOTA reference AS-003, from the 6th to the 14th of August. He will be
on 40, 20, 15 and 10m. QSL via home call.
Alfredo Caviedes, will be active as HC1HC/8 from Santa Cruz Island,
Galapagos Islands, IOTA SA-004 from the 7th to the 10th of August.
Using an Elecraft KX3 transceiver and Buddipole antenna, he will
operate QRP, mainly WSJT-X DXpedition mode, on WARC-79 bands and
possibly 6m. QSL via NE8Z direct.
Hardy, DL7JLL will operate as A35JLL from the Kingdom of Tonga during
August and September, mainly on 40, 20, 15 and 10m. From the 8th to
the 15th of August he will be at Nuku Alofa. QSL via DL7JLL direct or
by the bureau.
Roly, ZL1BQD, will be active as A35RR from Togatapu, IOTA OC-049, and
possibly Vava'u, OC-063 between the 8th and 17th of August. Activity
will be on 160 to 10m using mostly FT8 and JT65, with some CW
possible depending on conditions. QSL via ZL1BQD.
Now the special event news
Today and Monday, Martello Tower Group continues operating GB5RC,
celebrating five decades of offshore broadcasting. Operating from MV
Ross Revenge, the home of Radio Caroline since 1983, activity will be
on 80, 40, 20, 17 and 10m, SSB and various datamodes. Contact Keith,
G6NHU, via email to g6nhu<at>me.com.
Deep Space Exploration Society will be operating a special event
station from the 11th to the 13th of August from the site of its 60
foot dish observatory in Colorado, USA. Calling as K0PRT and
coinciding with the Perseids meteor shower, operation will be from
1400UTC to 2359UQC on 7.238, 14.253 and 50.160MHz. A special QSL is
available. Details at http://dses.science/
Welland Valley ARS will be operating another in its series of special
event calls marking the end of the First World War. This month's
callsign is GB5FWW.
GB5RC will be on the air from Thursday the 3rd to Monday the 7th at
Bradwell Marina as the Martello Tower group celebrate five decades of
offshore broadcasting.
Fareham & DARC will be operating GB0PKF for Portsmouth Kite Festival
on the 11th and 12th of August.
Advance notice now about International Lighthouse lightship Weekend,
which takes place on the 18th and 19th of August. Following on from a
very successful Maidens Island Lighthouse activation, Bushvalley ARC
will be operational on Rathlin East, West and Rue point Lighthouses
on HF, VHF and UHF. Details will be posted on the MN0GKL QRZ.com page
and full information on the ILLW weekend is at https://illw.net
If you're planning a special event station, please remember to send
publicity information well in advance to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk – we
are very happy to help publicise your event, for free, on GB2RS, in
RadCom and on the RSGB website, but can't help you unless you tell us
what you're doing! As a rule of thumb, please send details for RadCom
at least three months in advance.
Now the contest news
There are no RSGB contests in the month of August.
The UK Six Metre Group Summer Marathon ends today, and participants
have until Monday the 13th to upload logs.
The 432MHz Low Power contest runs from 0800UTC to 1200UTC today, the
8th. The exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and
postcode.
On Tuesday the 144MHz FMAC and UKAC take place. Use FM only on the
FMAC from 1800UTC to 1900UTC, then you can use all modes in the
144MHz UKAC until 2130UTC. Signal report, serial number and locator
form the exchange for both.
On Thursday the 6m FMAC and UKAC take place. The FM-only 50MHz FMAC
runs from 1800UTC to 1900UTC. It is followed immediately by the
all-mode 50MHz UKAC, which runs until 2130UTC. The exchange for both
is signal report, serial number and locator.
The Worked All Europe DX CW Contest takes place for the entire 48
hours of next weekend. Europe works non-Europe only. Using all the
contest bands from 3.5 to 28MHz, the exchange is signal report and
serial number. You can significantly boost your score by exchanging
reports of previously held QSOs, but not everybody chooses to do
this. A web search for DARC WAE should find the rules, explaining how
this works.
Finally for next weekend, next Sunday sees the 70MHz Cumulative #5.
Running from 1400UTC to 1600UTC, all modes can be used on the 4m
band. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO
on Friday 3rd August 2018
The solar flux index stayed around the 70 mark last week, although a
new tiny sunspot did become visible on Tuesday. Unfortunately this
had little real effect on the SFI, although it did push the sunspot
number to 11. This can be misleading due to the way sunspot numbers
are calculated. You score 10 for each group and one for each sunspot,
so the leap from zero to 11 only means one spot has appeared.
We got the geomagnetic forecast correct last week, as conditions were
quite settled. As many amateurs found in the IOTA contest, HF
conditions were largely average, with a predominance of European
signals. However, there were reports of some intercontinental DX,
especially for better-equipped stations.
Next week, NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be pegged at 68,
although we think it could rise a little above this due to the sun's
active region. The other news is another active region is heading
around the sun and its effects may impact us in around a week's time.
Geomagnetic conditions this week will be largely settled, but with
the possibility of a slightly raised K index this weekend due to an
equatorial coronal hole. Expect HF conditions to continue pretty much
as they did in July, with daytime maximum usable frequencies over a
3,000km path struggling to exceed 14MHz at times.
In Doctor Tamitha Skov's weekly solar forecast on YouTube she said
the new sunspot region could push conditions to the "top end of
poor", which sums up solar minimum! You can find out more about her
work at www.spaceweatherwoman.com
The IOTA contest showed that there is still Sporadic-E activity
around on 14-28 MHz, but it sometimes takes a contest to get people
to take advantage of it.
Finally, as we are now into August you should be using the new
smoothed sunspot number of five with your VOACAP-based prediction
programs.
And now the VHF and up propagation news
There is a distinctly Tropo look about the weather charts this week
as high pressure remains the dominant feature across the British
Isles and nearby continent. This type of pattern can produce some
long-lasting openings across the length of the high on the charts,
preferably along one side rather than directly across the centre of
the high, since this is where the inversion sinks very low and the
duct can easily be cut short by high ground.
There will be a slight hiccup around mid-week in the south as a weak
area of low pressure disrupts the high, bringing a risk of thundery
showers to southern parts of the UK. It could mean a chance of rain
scatter on the microwave bands though.
Sporadic-E isn't over yet, but the position of jet streams do not
look favourable. There is almost a total absence of
Sporadic-E-producing jet streams within mainland Europe, except in a
fairly limited band across northern Britain and the north Atlantic,
so check the beacons and the clusters to find out which paths are
open.
We are approaching the peak of the Perseids meteor shower around the
12th August so meteor scatter paths will be good either side as it is
a broad peak.
This is a good week for EME as the moon is heading back towards its
closest point to Earth, perigee, on August 10th. It also reaches
maximum northerly declination on August 8th. Note that the sun and
Moon are close on Saturday morning, meaning high sun noise.
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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