| |
G4TNU > NEWS 24.11.15 03:21l 242 Lines 11685 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
BID : 26422G4TNU
Read: GUEST
Subj: RSGB Main News - 22 Nov 2015
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IK6ZDE<I0OJJ<IR0AAB<GB7CIP<GB7CIP<GB7CIP
Sent: 151124/0116Z @:GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO $:26422G4TNU
T:From: G4TNU@GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EU <g4tnu@gb7ipf.ampr.org>
T:Newsgroups: ampr.news.europe
T:Message-Id: <E148200R_G4TNU@gb7ipf.ampr.org>
GB2RS Main News for Sunday 22nd November 2015
The news headlines:
* WRC-15 News
* Youngsters on the Air
* Listen to Marconi's voice
This week, the World Radio Conference in Geneva finally approved a
new amateur service allocation at 5MHz. Although only a small
allocation of 15kHz between 5351.5 - 5366.5kHz was agreed, it is the
first new allocation at HF since the WARC of 1979. After intense
pressure from the fixed service primary user, power limits have been
set at 15 watts EIRP in Regions 1 and 3, 20 watts EIRP in Mexico and
25 watts EIRP in Central America, South America and most of the
Caribbean area. The new Radio Regulations will not come into force
until the 1st of January 2017 but it will be for individual
administrations to agree local arrangements. No change is expected to
the current spectrum allocation at 5MHz within the UK. Regular
updates from Colin Thomas, G3PSM who is attending the conference and
other background information are at www.rsgb.org/wrc-15
This December, 14 groups will activate G15YOTA and its regional
variations taking part in Youngsters on the Air month. The mix of
participants is diverse; from schools to universities and local
clubs. Many of the operators will be experiencing amateur radio for
the first time and it also presents a fantastic opportunity for
youngsters already licensed to get on the air. The first couple of
activations will take place on the 2nd of December at Durham and
District ARS and on the 3rd at No 2 Welsh Wing RAF Air Cadets. If you
hear the youngsters on the air, please make the time to talk to them.
The Essex Record Office has released a sound recording that includes
the second part of a speech by Marconi, delivered at the unveiling of
the Fisk Memorial in Australia. In the speech, Marconi forecast the
impact that wireless communication will have on ship navigation and
on the world economy in general. The Fisk Memorial commemorated the
first direct wireless message sent from the UK to Australia in 1918.
You can find the speech by typing ‘essex record office' into your
favourite search engine and then searching the site for Marconi.
https://soundcloud.com/essex-record-office/speech-by-marconi
Do you think the VHF bands are quiet, well think again. Earlier this
year Thurrock Acorns ARC arranged a 2m activity afternoon that proved
successful. The next activity afternoon is planned for the 28th of
November between 1pm and 5pm. The club's own callsign GX4HKO will
start calling at 1pm. Over in Northern Ireland, Bushvalley ARC
chairman Jack, Mi0JPD and some fellow club members have formed a VHF
net on Tuesday evenings. Jack operates from Slieve Gallion, at
approximately 1800 feet ASL and other club members are stationed on
available high ground. So far contacts have been made into North
Wales, Lincolnshire, Scotland as well as plenty of contacts within
Northern Ireland. The net listens on the calling channel, 145.500MHz,
before moving to a suitable frequency. If your club is doing
something to keep the levels of activity high on the bands, drop us a
line at radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk
Sadly, the RSGB has to announce that Peter Dodd G3LDO became a Silent
key. For many years Peter shared his vast knowledge of antennas
through the medium of RadCom and his many RSGB books. His writing
will be sadly missed by the amateur community and our thoughts go to
his family and friends at this difficult time.
DX Magazine has announced that it will no longer solicit input or
publish its traditional, annual Most Wanted DXCC survey. The last
survey was conducted in the autumn of 2014. The list typically has
appeared in the newsletter's January/February issue. The Club Log
website survey and Most Wanted DXCC List is now the best place to
find this sort of information. See www.clublog.org
Between 6.50pm on Sunday the 15th of November and 7am on the 16th,
the main GB7HM DMR digital voice repeater and back ups were stolen
from the repeater site 6 miles north of Wrexham. Details of the items
and their serial numbers are on the repeaters website, www.gb7hm.uk/
If you have any information leading to the return of these units,
please contact them as soon as possible.
Following the work of Essex Ham and Chelmsford ARS, interest in the
highly successful Amateur Radio Skills Nights is spreading. These
events are themed evenings aimed at helping attendees to gain
confidence, develop skills, and progress in the hobby. For more
information to enable your club to stage a similar event, go to
www.essexham.co.uk/skillsformula A Skills Night will be held at the
Felixstowe & District ARS HQ in Suffolk on Wednesday, December 2 and
all are welcome.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
There are no rallies taking place on either today, the 22nd, or next
weekend the 28th or 29th. The final rallies of the year are due to
take place on the 5th of December. The South Lands Winter Rally will
be held in Wigan at the Bickershaw Labour Club and the Bishop
Auckland Rally will be at the Spennymoor Leisure Centre in Co Durham.
More details nearer the date or on the RSGB website.
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
Today, the 22nd, could be when VI0ANZAC gets on the air from Casey
Base in the Antarctic. The station's plan to get on the air has been,
like the weather itself in that part of the world, highly changeable.
Starting at 0200UTC, the station will try again, beginning on
14.250MHz, and hopefully both the weather and conditions will
cooperate.
And now the DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources
Yuriy, N2TTA, will once again be active as NP2P from the US Virgin
Islands during the CQWW DX CW Contest on the 28th and 29th of
November as a Single-Op/All-Band/ Low-Power entry. QSL via Logbook of
the World. During the same contest, Al, WP3C, will be active as NP4A
from Puerto Rico as a Single-Op/Single-Band (40m)/ High-Power entry.
QSL via W3HNK.
Henning, OZ1BII will be active as 9H3EE from Malta between the 24th
and the 30th of November. He will work all bands from 10m to 160m
with an emphasis on the 30, 17 and12m bands using CW only. He will
also participate in the CQ World Wide DX CW Contest on the 28th and
the 29th, working a Single-Op/All-Band/Low-Power entry. QSL via
OZ1BII or Club Log.
Daniel, DL5YWM, is working in Crete as SV9/DL5YWM until November 25.
QSL to his home callsign.
In Liberia, Donald, EL2DW is working from Monrovia until the 17th of
December and can be found on 20, 15 and 10 meters using SSB. QSL via
KD4UDU in Florida.
Peter, DL1RPL, and Soren, DL3RKS, are activating two Indian Ocean
islands. They will be on Mayotte Island until the 25th of November,
working as FH/DL1RPL and FH/DL3RKS, respectively. Beginning on the
27th and running until the 3rd of December they will be on Reunion
Island, active as FR/DL1RPL and FR/DL3RKS. They will operate on the
HF bands from 10 to 20m, mostly on CW, with some SSB. Peter will also
operate on 2m and 440 bands EME using WSJT65 and CW. Send QSL cards
via DL1RPL.
Nick G3RWF is due back in Rwanda as 9X0NH until the 2nd of December.
He will be QRV all bands 80m to 10m. Logs will be uploaded to Logbook
of The World and QSLs go via his home callsign.
Now the contest news
The final session of this year's UK Microwave Group Low Band Contest
using the 1.3, 2.3 and 3.4GHz bands is on today, the 22nd. It's
shorter in duration than the others in the series, because the
organisers want portables to be able to pack up and vacate remote
hilltop sites before it gets dark. Running from 1000 to 1400UTC and
using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number and
locator.
On Tuesday, two different UK Activity contests take place at the same
time, 2000UTC until 2230UTC. The 50MHz contest uses all modes and the
exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The SHF contest
uses the 2.3 to 10GHz bands, all modes and the exchange is also
signal report, serial number and locator.
Wednesday evening from 2000UTC to 2100UTC the UK EI contest is on the
3.5MHz band, using CW only. The exchange is your 4 character locator
square.
There's another 3.5MHz band contest on Thursday when the 80m Club
Sprint takes place from 2000 to 2100UTC. Again, CW only the exchange
is your serial number and name.
Finally for this week, the biggest contest is the CW World Wide DX CW
contest running for 48 hours over the 28th and 29th. Using the bands
1.8 to 28MHz the exchange is your signal report and CQ Zone. For the
UK the zone is 14.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G4BAO and G3YLA
on Friday the 20th of November.
This week has been a bit of a mixed bag in terms of HF propagation.
The early part of the week saw reasonable openings on 18 and 21MHz,
although a continuous K index of around three due to the high-speed
solar wind stream, took its toll. The VK9WA Willis Island DXpedition
was even audible on 40m with a simple dipole around tea time on
Wednesday.
But overall, DX signals were never brilliant and the bands had a
tendency to be noisy.
Very late on Wednesday evening plasma from a coronal mass ejection
arrived on Earth, pushing the K index to five. As a result Thursday
saw the bands noisier still, although the maximum useable frequency
at noon remained around 26MHz according to the Chilton ionosonde.
Next week we expect more of the same with the solar flux index in the
range 105-115. The K index is expected to be in the range two to
three, showing reasonably-settled geomagnetic conditions that may
bode well for next weekend's CQ Worldwide CW contest.
As ever, be prepared for a sudden elevated K index due to the effect
of the high speed solar wind, which can be difficult to predict.
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
Things are looking flat for VHF/UHF propagation again next week. The
charts suggest low-pressure will not be far away from the north of
Britain with strong west or southwesterly winds at times. There are
unlikely to be any significant tropospheric openings to get excited
about, but last week saw some good rain scatter propagation on the
GigaHertz bands.
With strong shower activity around coastal areas, and along the
English Channel on some days, there will be scope for more of the
same this coming week. Unlike summer thunderstorms, which can be very
heavy and slow-moving, winter showers are often fast moving in the
strong upper-level steering winds. Up to 30-50mph is possible, so
you'll need to track your dish to keep up with them. They are also
shallower, so you'll need to be closer than is the case with the deep
convection of summertime.
The Leonids meteor shower is over so it's back to early morning
random QSOs for meteor scatter enthusiasts, while we wait for the
major Geminids shower in December.
This is a good week for EME operators, with the Moon reaching
perigee, or its closest point, losses will be low tomorrow and
increasing declination means moon windows will be long.
And that's all from the propagation team for 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 gb2rs<at>rsgb.org.uk to arrive by
10:00 on the Thursday before transmission.
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
