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G4APL > NEWS 15.05.22 09:26l 242 Lines 11279 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 15 May 2022
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Sent: 220515/0717Z @:GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO #:21720 [Caterham Surrey GBR]
From: G4APL@GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO
To : NEWS@EU
GB2RS Main News for Sunday the 15th of May 2022
The news headlines:
* Innovation 70 project for Platinum Jubilee
* Youngsters On The Air contest
* IARU Monitoring Service newsletter
The RSGB has launched the Innovation 70 competition as part of its
Platinum Jubilee activities. The challenge is to design and build a
useful piece of equipment with no more than 70 connections, or a
useful piece of software with no more than 70 lines of code. A
selection of the most innovative entries will be published in RadCom
and on the RSGB website. The RSGB Technical Forum will judge the
entries and results will be announced at the end of the year. The
closing date is the 30th of September. Go to rsgb.org/jubilee and
click on the Innovation 70 section to find out more.
The next Youngsters On The Air Contest takes place on the 21st of May
between 0800 and 1959UTC. Everyone can take part and show your
support for young amateurs across the world. There are eight
different categories, including special ones for those under 25 years
of age. Using the 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m bands, the contest is CW and
SSB only. The exchange includes the age of the participating
operators, which acts as multipliers. Find out more at ham-yota.com.
The IARU Monitoring Service for Region 1 has published its April
newsletter. It talks about emissions that are often received on the
40 and 20m bands with a bandwidth of about 8kHz. Thoughts are that it
could be a jammer where the signal is intentionally transmitted over
other transmissions in order to disrupt or nullify their reception.
The newsletter includes a report by Richard, G4DYA, the RSGB Intruder
Watch Coordinator, that includes many radar sightings. You can read
more at iaru-r1.org.
All RSGB Members who have an email address linked to their
membership, should have received an email in the last few days. This
email explains how to set up a new password to access the updated
membership portal. The email will have been sent to the email address
linked to your membership account. If you are an RSGB Member and
don't think you have received an email, please do check your junk
folder. If you still can't see an email, please contact
membership<at>rsgb.org.uk or call the RSGB during office hours on
01234 832 700 and choose option two. While the Society has been
sending out the emails, access to the online members' resources such
as RadCom have been turned off, but it plans to make them accessible
again early this week.
Sad news now. Nancy Bone, G7UUR, the co-founder and long-time
secretary of the Angel of the North ARC became a Silent Key last
week. She was an RSGB Deputy Regional Manager for a number of years,
a repeater licence holder, exam tutor and GB2RS news reader. In
everything that she did, she approached it with enthusiasm and
commitment that challenged and inspired others. We are thinking of
her husband Warren, G7MWB, their family and many friends at this
difficult time.
Since the AGM, the RSGB Board has made two appointments. Richard
Horton, G4AOJ will be the new Board Chair and Stan Lee, G4XXI has
taken on the role of Company Secretary. The Board would like to
record its thanks to General Manager Steve Thomas, M1ACB for carrying
out the additional role of Company Secretary since June 2020.
Brickworks is a scheme run by local amateur radio clubs that have
committed to helping all licensed amateur radio operators discover
more about what the hobby has to offer. It was originally launched in
early 2020 by the RSGB under the name of the Beyond Exams Club
Scheme. When Covid struck, clubs were no longer able to meet in
person and it was harder to help radio amateurs to work through the
Club Scheme activities. Now life is opening up again, the RSGB is
delighted that Brickworks, as it will now be called, is being
relaunched. Whether you are a new licensee, returning to amateur
radio or want to try something new, Brickworks has something to offer
you. For more information see rsgb.org/brickworks.
And now for details of rallies and events
Please send your rally and event news as soon as possible to
radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk. We'll publicise your event in RadCom, on
GB2RS, and online.
Next week the Dayton Hamvention takes place between the 20th and 22nd
of May at the Greene County Fairground in Ohio, USA. Now in its 70th
year, this is one of the largest amateur radio shows in the world,
famous for its massive flea market. There will also be lectures,
traders and a strong ARRL and RSGB presence, including a bookstall.
Next Sunday, the 22nd of May, the National Amateur Radio Car Boot
Sale organised by Dunstable Downs Radio Club will take place at
Stockwood Park in Luton. Entry and car parking is GBP 4 per vehicle
and the gates open at 9am for buyers.
Now the DX news
Irek, SP3SUX will be operating as DV8/KH7EA from Mindanao Island,
OC-130, in the Philippines until the 27th of May. Activity will be
during his daytime hours on the 6 to 80m bands using CW and SSB. QSL
to his home callsign.
Members of the Radio Club of Haiti will be active as HH18MAI between
the 18th and 23rd of May. The special callsign is for Flag Day, which
commemorates the creation of the flag of Haiti in 1803. QSL via W3HNK.
Dick, K2KA will be active holiday style as V4/K2KA from St. Kitts,
NA-104, until the 18th of May. QSL via his preferred method of
logbook of The World, Club Log, or direct to K2KA.
Andrey, R9YU and Gennady, R5QA are on the air as JV0YU from Mongolia
until the 10th of June. Activity is on the HF and VHF/UHF bands using
CW, SSB and FT8 in DXpedition mode. QSL via RW6HS.
Now the Special Event news
Northwest Group Amateur Radio Club in Londonderry are activating
GB0AEL as part of the 90th Anniversary of Amelia Earhart landing in
Londonderry. She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.
They will activate GB0AEL until the 30th of May. More information on
qrz.com under the callsign GB0AEL.
Now the contest news
Today, the 15th, the 70MHz CW contest runs from 0900 to 1200UTC. The
exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
The UK Microwave Group's millimetre-wave contest runs from 0900 to
1700UTC today, the 15th. Using all modes on the 24, 47 and 76GHz
bands the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
On Tuesday the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2100UTC.
Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and
locator.
The data leg of the 80m Club Championships runs on Wednesday from
1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number.
On Thursday the all-mode 70MHz UK Activity Contest runs between 1900
and 2130UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
Next weekend is the 144MHz May contest. It runs for 24 hours from
1400UTC on the 21st. Using all modes the exchange is signal report,
serial number and locator. Note that UK stations also send their
postcode.
Next Sunday, the 22nd, the First 144MHz Backpackers contest runs from
1100 to 1500UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report,
serial number and locator. Note that UK stations also send their
postcode.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO
on Friday the 13th of May 2022.
Well, it looks like the US Air Force was more accurate than NOAA with
their solar flux index forecast last week. While the week started
with an SFI at 117, by Thursday it had grown to 133. It has been
mostly quiet from a geomagnetic point of view with a maximum Kp index
of three, with mostly ones and twos.
The only downside has been a number of solar flares, which includes
an X-class flare on Tuesday the 10th. The X1.5 event was observed
from sunspot region 3006 at 1355UTC and resulted in a radio blackout
over the Atlantic, Africa and South America. The critical frequency,
as measured by the Chilton Ionosonde, dropped below 7MHz for a time,
before recovering.
Despite this short-lived phenomenon, there has been plenty of DX to
be worked on the higher bands. The 15m band has seen Asia and the Far
East romping in on FT8 and there have been 10m band openings to
Australia and the Middle East.
Next week NOAA predicts that the SFI will be in the range 118-122
with generally quiet geomagnetic conditions. But we give the same
warning as we did last week. NASA gives a 45% chance of an M-class
flare and a 15% chance of an X-class flare occurring at the moment.
Any solar flare could trigger a coronal mass ejection and, if
Earth-facing, we can expect a degradation in HF paths, perhaps 36 to
48 hours after the CME event as the solar plasma hits and the Kp
index rises.
The better news is that the Sporadic-E season is now in full swing
and plenty of low-power 10m beacons are becoming audible between
28.160 and 28.325MHz. These are often a good indicator of openings. A
list of 10m beacons can be found on the RSGB website under On the
Air. Just click on Beacons and Repeaters.
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
There is a typical flavour to the current weather pattern with high
pressure, initially to the south, being displaced east as an Atlantic
low tries to push its associated weather fronts into western Britain.
This will eventually lead to unstable, thundery bands of rain
spreading into the country from the southwest. It makes detail
complicated, but some rules still apply.
There will be some Tropo, especially at first and perhaps
occasionally next week along the east coast and across the North Sea.
However, the changing element is going to be how effectively the
thundery rain areas move across the country, and they will reduce the
Tropo chances and introduce some rain scatter.
There are some small meteor showers this week, the Eta Lyrids peaked
on the 10th of May but the o-Cetids, peaking on the 20th of May, is
the most significant. With this addition to the seasonal increase in
random meteor flux, expect good conditions for meteor scatter DXing.
Apart from the random meteor scatter options, the growing interest is
in Sporadic-E and most days you can find something on the clusters to
confirm that the new season is starting to simmer nicely.
The position of jet streams and the type of upper air weather pattern
this week suggests that the main features will slow down and leave
marked meanderings north and south. Preferred directions would be to
Scandinavia and Baltic plus secondly looking south towards Spain and
Portugal.
The Moon gets to minimum declination on Thursday, and today, Sunday,
is perigee. The week's trend will therefore be for shorter Moon
windows until Thursday and rising path losses. 144MHz sky noise is
high all week, reaching 2200K on Wednesday.
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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