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G4APL > NEWS 06.02.22 08:31l 230 Lines 10109 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 6 Feb 2022
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday the 6th of February 2022
The news headlines:
* Ofcom authorises /70 for Platinum Jubilee
* New RadCom Plus published
* New Southern Fusion group
Following a request by the RSGB, Ofcom has indicated that stations
wishing to retain their usual Regional Secondary Locator to identify
their DXCC entity may use the suffix /70 to celebrate the Queen's
Platinum Jubilee. It is also permitted to use the /70 suffix with the
GQ/MQ/2Q prefix if desired. The RSGB would like to thank Ofcom for
its support of the Queen's Jubilee Celebrations.
RadCom Plus is the RSGB's online journal for the technically-minded
radio amateur. The winter edition of RadCom Plus is now available to
RSGB Members. There are four varied articles in this edition. You can
read about high-loss RF taps for extracting samples of signals from
your transmitter at levels suitable for display on test instruments
such as spectrum analysers. There is the first part of a two-part
series on experiments in the 30THz band, or long-wave infra-red. The
third article is on long-standing observations of long-delayed
echoes. Finally, there is an article on experiments with DIY remote
operations. Go to rsgb.org/radcom-plus where you can read previous
editions as well as the latest one.
Owners of Yaesu C4FM transceivers may be interested to learn of a new
Wires-X room called Southern Fusion, currently room 41893. It is
focussed primarily on repeater and gateway users in southern England
and, of course, Wires-X users anywhere on the planet. RF access is
available via a growing number of C4FM repeaters. These include GB7IV
in Southampton, GB7CM in Blandford, GB7IE in Plymouth, GB7TM in
Ipswich plus Gateways in Reading, Hastings and Ringwood. The room
also hosts a regular Sunday morning one-hour net at 1100UTC.
The latest edition of RadCom Basics is now available. There are new
topics and follow-on articles to help newcomers and those looking to
brush-up their knowledge. You can read about a useful DC voltmeter,
try some simple experimentation with antennas and equipment as well
as learn more about the DX Century Club and the RSGB's UK Activity
Contests. RSGB Members can read previous editions of RadCom Basics by
going to rsgb.org/radcom-basics.
It has been reported that a person has been prosecuted for racial
harassment over the air. Details of the conviction can be found in an
entry on the 2nd of February on the Sussex Police website at
sussex.police.uk/news. The RSGB will be raising this with Ofcom.
Anyone experiencing similar on-air harassment is encouraged to report
the matter initially to the RSGB OAS Coordinator via the form on the
OAS pages of our website at rsgb.org/oas
The RSGB 2022 Band Plans have been published online. In response to
feedback, the Excel version is now tabbed by frequency but the
alternative viewer still uses wavelengths for those who prefer the
information in that format. You can see them on the Society's website
at rsgb.org/bandplans
In December 2021 and January 2022, a clandestine radio station
appeared on 3.5 and 7MHz. The broadcasts were unusually in USB and
could be heard throughout Europe. The IARU Monitoring System, aided
by DARC Intruder Monitoring, were able to determine the approximate
location of these transmissions. The German and Italian authorities
were then able to have them stopped.
And now for details of rallies and events
If you are travelling to Florida in the USA in the near future, you
may care to visit the 75th Orlando HamCation. It will take place
between the 11th and 13th of February at the Central Florida
Fairgrounds and Expo Park.
Looking ahead to the 20th of February, the Radioactive Fair will take
place at Nantwich Civic Hall. You can find out more at
radioactivefair.co.uk.
Please let us know your rally and event news as soon as possible.
Send details to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk and we'll publicise your event
for free in RadCom, on GB2RS, and online.
Now the DX news
Henry, LU4DXU will be active as 8Q7AH from the Maldives, AS-013,
between the 8th and 15th of February. He will operate SSB and FT8 on
all bands. QSL direct to LU4DXU.
John, AD8J will be active as HR9/AD8J from Guanaja Island [pronounced
Gwa-nah-ha], IOTA reference NA-057, in Honduras between the 12th and
26th of February. He will operate CW and FT8 with some SSB on the 10
to 80m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World or direct to AD8J.
Jean-Gabriel, F4CIX has been active as FW1JG from Wallis Island,
OC-054, and expects to remain there for two years or more. He
operates SSB and FT8 on the 20, 15 and 10m bands. QSL via Logbook of
The World, or direct to his Wallis address.
Now the Special Event news
TM19AAW will be on the air from the 7th to the 22nd of February to
celebrate the 19th Antarctic Activity Week. All information on this
event is on QRZ.com under TM19AAW. Operation will be from Mācon in
the east of France, JN26JH, on the 10 to 40m bands. QSL via F8DVD.
Members of the Kuwait Amateur Radio Society will be active as 9K9NLD
throughout February. The special callsign celebrates both Kuwait
National Day on the 25th and Liberation Day on the 26th.
Now the contest news
When operating in any contests, please keep yourself and fellow
amateurs safe by following all relevant pandemic-related government
rules.
Today, the 6th, the 432MHz AFS contest runs from 0900-1300UTC. Using
all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and your
6-character locator.
On Monday the 80m Club Championship runs from 2000 to 2130UTC. Using
SSB only the exchange is signal report and serial number.
Tuesday sees the 432MHz FM Activity Contest take place from 1900 to
1955. It is followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest from
2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both is signal report, serial
number and locator.
Staying with the 432MHz band, on Wednesday it is the 432MHz FT8
Activity Contest from 1900 to 2100UTC. The exchange is your report
and 4-character locator. A serial number is not required.
The 50MHz UK Activity Contest takes place on Thursday from 2000 to
2230UTC. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number
and locator.
On Saturday the 12th, the 1st 1.8MHz Contest runs from 1900 to
2300UTC. It is CW only and the exchange is signal report and serial
number.
Next weekend the CQ WW RTTY WPX contest runs for 48 hours from
0000UTC on the 12th to 2359UTC on the 13th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz
bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and
serial number.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO
on Friday the 4th of February 2022.
We had another topsy-turvy week, with lots of good sunspots, but
coronal mass ejections or CMEs taking their toll on the ionosphere as
well. While the solar flux index did a little better than predicted,
with numbers in the 120-130 range, there was bad news on the
solar-terrestrial front.
The Kp index was regularly hitting four and even five on Thursday,
thanks to CMEs, which depressed MUFs considerably. But things could
have been a lot worse. NASA issued a major storm warning after the
CME on the 29th of January, with newspapers predicting that visible
aurora would be seen across the UK. But, in the end, this amounted to
very little and the warning was cancelled.
Despite all this geomagnetic activity there were pearls to be found.
Contacts with Hong Kong, China and Australia were all reported by
members of the 10 metre UK Net Facebook group. As Jack, G8DX wrote on
the group: "What an end to the month. ZL, JA, XV, BY, BV, HS, YB on
FT8 and 30-plus VKs on phone and a few on CW."
And bear in mind that this solar cycle has got a lot further to go,
with a predicted sunspot number of more than 100 at its peak in
2025/2026. To give you some idea of what that means, this week it was
65.
Next week there may be some good news. NOAA predicts that the solar
flux index could rise to 125, and perhaps even higher. As always, we
can probably expect unsettled geomagnetic conditions, with the Kp
index predicted to hit four on the 10th.
As always, keep an eye on solarham.com for a more accurate day-to-day
update as things can change very quickly.
In terms of propagation highlights, look for openings to Sydney,
Australia on 10 metres around 8-10am. Short-path openings to Perth
may peak a little later.
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
The present spell of unsettled weather is likely to continue for a
while, into the first part of next week, but before that, there are
signs of the next high building over southern areas. This will bring
a return of Tropo conditions to many areas, although a further low
will track across northern Britain towards the end of the week.
As we hinted last week, the high pressure produced some good Tropo DX
down across Biscay to Spain and France on 2m through to 23cm. The
situation next week is looking similar, so a good week to get some CW
and SSB onto 70cm for the UK Activity Contest on Tuesday and see what
happens on Thursday for the 6m UKAC.
The other modes to check are, like last week, the pre-dawn random
meteor scatter options plus a chance aurora in view of the unsettled
solar-terrestrial conditions at the moment.
Moon declination is positive and rising all week, so Moon windows are
long and peak Moon elevation high. Path losses are also high as we
approach apogee on Friday.
For VHF EMEers, 144MHz sky noise is low to moderate throughout the
week, peaking at 500 Kelvin on Friday.
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
https://www.theskywaves.net http://gb7cip.ampr.org
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