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G4APL > NEWS 19.10.19 19:52l 297 Lines 13860 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 6 Oct 2019
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday 6th October 2019
The news headlines:
* Bampton School to contact ISS on Tuesday
* Exams committees reorganised
* Enter the Construction Competition!
Bampton School in East Devon will make their contact with the
International Space Station on the Tuesday the 8th of October at
1.51pm. They will be operating as GB4BPS and contacting NA1SS on the
station, speaking to Drew Morgan, KI5AAA. The downlink signals on
145.800MHz FM will be audible in many parts of Europe.
In January 2019 the RSGB announced that the Exam committee structure
would be changing. The Examinations and Syllabus Review Group, or
ESRG, has now been formed to replace the previous Examinations Group.
The new Group includes places for club tutors who hold a Full amateur
radio licence and have taught the Advanced Syllabus for at least two
years. The RSGB is seeking to appoint a Chair and up to three
additional members. Further information about the Group, including
its Terms of Reference and membership can be found on the RSGB
website at www.rsgb.org/esrg. Please email the Examination Standards
Committee Chair, Tony Kent G8PBH, via esc.chair<at>rsgb.org.uk for an
application and include a brief description of your relevant
experience.
There is still time to put in an entry for the RSGB Annual
Construction Competition, which will be judged at the RSGB Convention
on the 12th. Entries covering any aspect of amateur radio are
welcome. Any project may be entered, other than previous winners in
this competition. If you have entered a club or national construction
competition, or written up a project for your club magazine, you have
done most of the work needed to enter the RSGB Construction
Competition. Go to www.rsgb.org/construction-competition to find out
more.
Regrettably, two items were stolen from the ML&S stand at the
National Hamfest last Saturday. A Kenwood TH-D74E, serial number
B6B10239, complete with the battery and antenna was removed from the
stand. Additionally a Nissei digital SWR/power meter type RS-70 was
removed. If you are offered either of these items, please contact
Martin Lynch & Sons.
The RSGB Convention takes place in Milton Keynes from the 11th to the
13th of October. It is kindly sponsored by Martin Lynch & Sons. The
programme of lectures and workshops is now online at
www.rsgb.org/convention. The closing date for online discount day
tickets is the 7th of October. Weekend package bookings can be made
until midnight tonight, the 6th of October, at
www.rsgb.org/convention. If you have tickets for the Gala Dinner on
Saturday and wish to reserve a table with friends, send your name and
callsign details to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk.
From 8am to 5pm on the 12th and 13th of October, UK Army, Navy and
Air Cadet Units will be carrying out Exercise Blue Ham 19. Operations
will be on the 5MHz shared band. Amateurs may claim a certificate if
they contact 10 or more stations over the weekend and submit a copy
of their log sheet. QSO exchange details and claim info are at
tinyurl.com/GB2RS-BlueHam-19. This is the last chance of 2019 to make
contact with Cadets.
John Rogers, M0JAV and David Lauder, G0SNO will be running an RFI
Clinic at the RSGB Convention on Saturday at 4.45pm. The session will
consist of a short presentation on the tools and techniques used to
locate and identify RFI sources. Then a number of test setups and
live demos will be available using radios, SDRs and spectrum
analysers to let you see and hear some of these common RFI sources.
If you have an unusual source then please bring it along for them to
investigate.
Due to essential maintenance work, the GB3RS radio room at the RSGB's
National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park will be closed on Wednesday
the 9th of October. The NRC itself will remain open to visitors but,
with the radio room closed, it will be unavailable for visiting radio
amateurs to operate the station GB3RS. We apologise for any
inconvenience and anticipate the station to be fully operational
again on Thursday morning.
There will be two Raspberry Pi workshops held on Saturday the 12th at
the RSGB Convention. Raspberry Pi owners that are new to Linux and
the Pi who would like to understand more about its capabilities in
amateur radio should bring along their own Pi; the workshop will
supply other equipment. There are limited spaces, but plenty of room
for observers, and handouts will be provided. See
www.rsgb.org/convention for timings.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
Today, the 6th of October the 46th Welsh Radio Rally takes place at
Rougemont School, Llantarnam Hall, Malpas, Newport NP20 6QB. Doors
open from 10am to 4pm, or 9.45am for disabled visitors. Admittance is
GBP 2.50. There will be trade stands, a Bring & Buy, RSGB bookstall
and Special Interest Groups. Lectures will take place during the day.
Catering is available on site. Contact Rob Evans, MW0CVT,
01495 220 455.
The RSGB Convention takes place from the 11th to the 13th of October,
with delegates being encouraged to visit the RSGB's National Radio
Centre at Bletchley Park on Friday as part of the weekend activities.
Taking place at Kent's Hill Park Training and Conference Centre,
Swallow House, Timbold Drive, Kent's Hill Park, Milton Keynes,
Buckinghamshire MK7 6BZ, the Convention will feature five streams of
lectures and workshops to suit all areas of amateur radio interest.
See www.rsgb.org/convention
Next Sunday, the 13th, the Hornsea Amateur Radio Rally will be held
in the Floral Hall, Hornsea HU18 1NQ. Doors open at 10am. Admission
is GBP 2, with under 14s free. The Bring & Buy will be run by Hornsea
ARC. There will be trade stands showing radio equipment, computers
etc and an RSGB book stand. Hot and cold food will be available in
the café. Contact Les, 2E0LBJ on 01377 252393 or see
www.hornseaarc.co.uk.
Next Sunday, the 13th, sees the Holsworthy Radio Rally take place at
its new venue, Holsworthy Leisure Centre, Well Park, Western Road,
Holsworthy, Devon EX22 6DH. There will be traders, a Bring & Buy and
catering on site. The venue has separate disabled access via the
traders side door entrance. A club steward will be on duty in the car
park. Doors open 8am for traders and 10am for visitors. Contact
Howard, M0MYB via email to holsworthyarc<at>gmail.com.
Please send details of your 2020 rally and event plans as soon as
possible to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk.
And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources
Pasi, OH3WS will be active as OJ0W, OJ0/OH3WS and OJ0/OG3A from
Market Reef, IOTA reference EU-053, until the 12th of October. He
will operate CW and SSB on the 80 to 30m bands. This is expected to
be the last activity for Market Reef's Golden Jubilee celebrations.
Ravi, VU2IIX will be on Mahe Island in the Seychelles, AF-024, until
30 June 2021. He will operate SSB and digital modes as S79VU on the
80 to 10m bands.
Vernon, NN5E and James, NT5V will operate as V31CC and V31JW
respectively from Belize until the 12th of October. QSL via Logbook
of The World, or via home calls either direct or via the bureau.
Members of the Italian DXpedition Team will be on the air from
Liberia until the 11th of October. An unusual feature of this trip is
that instead of the normal EL prefix they will be using A82X for CW
and SSB contacts and A82Z for digital contacts. QSL manager is I2YSB
and there will be an online log.
Istvan, HA5AO is in Lesotho until the 19th if October using the
callsign 7P8AO. He will focus on the high bands, mainly on CW and
FT8. QSL via his home call.
Now the special event news
Special callsign GB100HAL has been issued to commemorate 100 years of
RAF Halton, in conjunction with the many events that are taking part
celebrating the anniversary. The call may also be claimed towards the
Airfields on the Air Award and is recognised by RAFARS for all their
awards. The callsign will be used most Saturdays up until the end of
the year.
Please send special event details to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk as early
as possible so we can give you free publicity. It is a licensing
condition that stations using a UK special event callsign must be
open to the public.
Now the contest news
This weekend is busy, with several contests taking place over the two
days.
The IARU 432MHz to 245GHz contest runs for 24 hours, finishing at
1400UTC today, the 6th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal
report, serial number and locator.
The Oceania DX SSB Contest runs for 24 hours until 0800UTC today, the
6th. Using SSB only on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange
is signal report and serial number.
Today, the 6th, the DX Contest runs from 0500 to 2300UTC. Using CW
and SSB on the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal
report and serial number.
Also today, the 6th, the Worked All Britain DX Contest runs from 0500
to 2300UTC. Using SSB only on the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the
exchange is signal report, serial number and WAB area.
On Monday the Pioneer FT4 Series contest takes place from 1900 to
2000 on the 3.5MHz band. The exchange is your signal report and
4-character locator.
The IRTS 80m Evening Counties Contest runs from 1900 to 2000UTC using
CW and SSB on the 3.5MHz band. The exchange is signal report and
serial number. EI and GI stations also send their County.
On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC,
using FM only. It is followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity
Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange for both contests is
signal report, serial number and locator.
On Thursday the 50MHz Machine Generate Mode Activity Contest runs
from 1800 to 1855UTC, with the exchange of signal report and your
4-character locator. It is followed by the all-mode 50MHz UK Activity
Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange for that contest is signal
report, serial number and locator.
The Oceania DX CW contest runs for 24 hours from 0800UTC on the 12th
to 0800UTC on the 13th. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the
exchange is signal report and serial number.
Next Sunday, the 13th, is the IRTS 40m Counties Contest. Running from
1200 to 1400UTC using CW and SSB, the exchange is signal report and
serial number. EI and GI stations also send their County.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on
Friday the 4th of October.
We had a real mixed bag in terms of HF propagation last week. The
middle of the week through to Friday was actually quite good. Peter,
G3XJE ran a very comprised 20m WSPR station from the Propagation
Studies Committee stand at the Newark Hamfest and was picked up as
far afield as the southern states in the USA. Saturday was a
different story though, thanks to a geomagnetic storm that saw the Kp
index soar to five. Twenty metres was pretty lousy and WSPR on 30
metres from Newark only returned a few European spots.
The Sun remained spotless last week and HF propagation is again being
dominated by geomagnetic disturbances. Next week NOAA has the solar
flux stuck at around 68 with zero sunspots.
We may see the effects of another coronal hole today, the 6th of
October, with the Kp index predicted to rise to four. Look out for a
possible pre-auroral enhancement. This disturbance may be relatively
short lived, with the Kp index falling to two for the rest of the
week.
There are a number of DXpeditions on at the moment. The A82X and A82Z
DXpedition to Liberia may be one of the easier ones to catch, with
openings from 0600-0800 hours on 30m to 15m being favourite. After
the slight mid-day D-Layer absorption lull, openings again occur all
afternoon. Keep an eye on the DX Cluster to see where they are
operating.
Station A35JT from Tonga may be a little more difficult for average
stations, as will ZK3A from the Tokelau Islands, both in the Pacific
Ocean. But if you don't have a beam and a linear amplifier, why not
try FT8?
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
It's another very unsettled looking set of weather charts for the
week to come. They suggest that once again, rain scatter will be the
go-to mode on the GHz bands. The hidden message here is that this
means low pressure and a general lack of high pressure and
temperature inversions for enhanced Tropo conditions.
It can sometimes be useful to explore areas of high pressure a bit
further away, and in the next week we find a large high resident
between the UK and the Azores. A ridge from this high could
occasionally just reach out to the south-western corner of the
British Isles to give a small chance of Tropo paths from Southern
Ireland, southwest England and South Wales towards Spain and perhaps
as far as the Canaries or Azores.
Moon declination reached minimum yesterday so we'll see an increase
in Moon window lengths and peak moon elevation as the week goes on.
Apogee is on Thursday, so losses will be high as well. The only plus
is that sky noise on VHF is low all week.
There is a flurry of meteor showers this week with the largest, the
Draconids, with a zenithal hourly rate of 10, peaking on the 9th.
This is followed by the Southern Taurids on the 10th and the delta
Aurigids on the 11th, so we should see some better meteor scatter
conditions.
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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