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G4APL > NEWS 18.04.21 10:01l 219 Lines 9684 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 18 Apr 2021
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Sent: 210418/0852Z @:GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO #:31317 [Caterham Surrey GBR]
From: G4APL@GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO
To : NEWS@EU
RSGB Main News - 18 Apr 2021
GB2RS Main News for Sunday the 18th of April 2021
The news headlines:
* Vote now in RSGB elections
* New 122GHz DX record
* Video explains EMF Calculator
Voting in the RSGB elections closes at 0900 on Thursday the 22nd of
April. Don't miss your opportunity to decide who you would like to
represent you as RSGB President and on the RSGB Board of Directors.
You can find voting guidance and read statements from all the
candidates on the RSGB website. RSGB Members can submit written
questions in advance for Board Directors. Please note that the form
will only be available until voting ends. The AGM takes place on the
24th. After the formal business ends there will be a presentation by
John Rogers, M0JAV on the new EMF licence regulations. For all
information, including how to watch the AGM live, go to rsgb.org/agm.
UK amateurs continue to create new DX records on the 122GHz
millimetre-wave band. On the 7th of April, using barely one
milliwatt, a new all-time UK record was set. The contact was between
Roger, G8CUB and Chris, G0FDZ, from Danbury Hill in Essex to the Isle
of Sheppey, a distance of nearly 36km. This is all the more
remarkable given the very low powers and high atmospheric loss due to
an oxygen resonance that affects this particular microwave band.
RSGB Board Director and EMC Chair, John Rogers, M0JAV, has created a
helpful video to demonstrate how to use the RSGB/Ofcom EMF
calculator. The calculator itself has also been updated on the RSGB
website. You can find links to the video and the calculator at
rsgb.org/emf.
The RSGB's new Friendship on the Air Award links in with the chosen
theme of Home But Never Alone for World Amateur Radio Day today, the
18th of April. It is a chance to get on the air, represent your club
and have a proper chat with radio amateurs across the airwaves. There
are monthly and annual awards for individuals, clubs and the
highest-scoring club in each region. To find out how to take part,
visit rsgb.org/friendship-award.
Belgian individual operators and radio clubs are authorised to
replace their ON prefix with OS between the 18th of April and the
12th of December. This is to celebrate World Amateur Radio Day on the
18th of April and the 120th anniversary of Marconi's first reception
of transatlantic radio signals on the 12th of December 1901.
The RSGB remote invigilation exams have been very successful during
the Covid-19 lockdown. Last week, the remote invigilation exam team
saw the 1000th Intermediate candidate pass their exam.
Congratulations to all the students. Over 3,100 candidates have made
the first step into the hobby by obtaining a Foundation pass and over
330 to the Full licence. Thanks go to the team of volunteers who run
the programme. We are very grateful for their effort during these
difficult times.
The latest GB2RS Broadcast Schedule can be downloaded from
rsgb.org/gb2rsschedule. We're always looking for new readers to join
the teams around the UK and Crown Dependencies. If you would like to
find out more, and you are an RSGB Member with a Full or Intermediate
licence, please contact the GB2RS Manager via email to
gb2rs.manager@rsgb.org.uk.
Eugene Marlow is in the very late stages of producing a documentary
about China starting in the 1920s. He is looking for high resolution
photos of the use of radio in the 1920s in China to incorporate into
the documentary. If you think you have photos that could be used,
contact Eugene via email to meiienterprises@aol.com.
Now the DX news
Joe, 9H5JO will be on the air at weekends during April from Malta.
Between 1200 and 1300UTC each Saturday and Sunday, he will listen
specifically for Foundation licensees on, or very near to, 14.268MHz.
This could be a really good opportunity to get Malta in your logbook.
Mark, W5MED is stationed at McMurdo Station on Ross Island in
Antarctica, AN-011, until October. He will operate as KC4USV on the
18th of April at 0600 to 0800UTC and from 2100UTC until midnight.
Look for him on 14243kHz SSB and 14070 kHz FT8. QSL direct to K7MT
and Logbook of The World.
JW1I is the club callsign for the Meteorological Station on Bear
Island, EU-027, Svalbard. The operator is Erling, JW/LB2PG, who is
expected to stay there until the 15th of May. QSL via the bureau.
Now the Special Event news
Today, the 18th of April, is World Amateur Radio Day, with the theme
Home But Never Alone. The South African Radio League is holding a
WARD QSO Party from 0600 to 1800UTC on all bands and modes.
Participants must contact various stations to obtain points adding up
to 96 because the IARU and the SARL are both celebrating their 96th
anniversary in 2021. Special certificates are available. For full
details, search online for SARL WARD QSO Party.
GB1PF will be on the air from the 23rd to the 26th of April, operated
by members of Fort Purbrook ARC. Activity will be from members'
homes, with activity planned on HF using CW, SSB and data and VHF/UHF
using SSB and FM.
GB1PPP has been issued to G0CCT until the 30th of April to
commemorate the life of Prince Philip, who passed away on the 9th of
April.
Now the contest news
With different parts of the UK having different lockdown
restrictions, please make sure you follow the appropriate rules.
Several contests now accept portable entries, so please check the
contest rules. Above all, please follow relevant national and local
restrictions.
On Tuesday the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC.
Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and
locator.
On Wednesday it's the SSB leg of the 80m Club Championships, running
from 1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number
and locator.
Next weekend the SP DX RTTY contest runs for 24 hours from 1200UTC on
the 24th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is
signal report and serial number. SP stations also exchange their
Province code.
Next Sunday, the 25th, the BARTG Sprint 75 contest runs from 1700 to
2100UTC. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is just
the serial number.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on
Friday the 16th of April.
The Sun continued to remain quiet last week with a maximum solar flux
index of 75.3 on the twelfth and a maximum sunspot number of 17.
Sunspot region 2814, whose physical width was equivalent to four
Earth diameters, spawned a few B-class solar flares, but showed
little sign of growing and as you read or hear this report will be
rotating out of view on the Sun's limb.
The STEREO Ahead spacecraft is showing some future potential spots,
with two areas exhibiting magnetic activity, but it is too early to
say whether these will amount to actual spots when they rotate onto
the visible solar disk.
What is more obvious is a large coronal hole that will be
Earth-facing by Friday and promising a high-speed solar wind that
will hit us by late Saturday or Sunday. This is predicted to make the
Kp index rise to an estimated five, although, rather like the rise in
the Kp Index on Thursday the 15th, it will likely be short lived. As
the Kp Index rises expect a decrease in maximum usable frequencies
until the ionosphere recovers.
NOAA predicts the SFI will be in the range 72-75 next week with
relatively calm geomagnetic conditions once we get past the Kp
increase this weekend.
We are now probably just a couple of weeks away from the start of the
Sporadic-E season, and as the weather forecast for this next week is
quite good, it may be an ideal opportunity to check your 10m antennas.
One upcoming highlight is International Marconi Day on Saturday the
24th of April, when special event stations in locations with a
significance to Marconi's work will operate around the world. For
more details, just search online for GB4IMD.
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
With another week of high pressure on the charts, it will be a Tropo
theme for propagation. Although, for some of the time the surface
air, which ideally should be cool and moist, looks likely to be cold
and dry, so Tropo may not be as strong as it could be. Sometimes the
presence of misty low cloud or fog in the morning will put things
right temporarily, but conditions will fade thereafter as the fog or
cloud clears.
Northwestern parts of the British Isles will have some spells of
frontal rain and a chance of some rain scatter, but even here the
high will become more dominant later. That leaves us with the
approaching Sporadic-E season to consider. It's coming, but these
early season opportunities tend to be fleeting and more likely on the
lower bands like 10m and 6m using digital modes.
With the Moon at maximum positive declination today and falling path
losses, towards perigee a week on Monday, it's a good week for EME.
There will be long Moon windows and high peak elevations.
Thursday the 22nd sees the peak of the April Lyrids meteor shower,
and on Friday the smaller Pi-Puppids. These showers signal the end of
the annual meteor activity minimum and already there are signs of
more meteor reflections being reported, so get looking at the usual
frequencies for the mainly digimode activity.
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
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