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G4TNU > NEWS 15.12.19 01:44l 236 Lines 11369 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 15 Dec 2019
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday 15th December 2019
The news headlines:
* RSGB Christmas opening times
* RadCom Basics out now
* Happy birthday GB3BS
RSGB HQ will close for the Christmas and New Year period from 12 noon
on the 24th of December. It opens again at 8.30am on the 2nd of
January. During that time, if you need information about amateur
radio, exams or RadCom you'll find lots of information on the RSGB
website, www.rsgb.org. Last UK orders from the RSGB shop for delivery
in time for Christmas is 10am on Friday the 20th of December. The
deadline for overseas orders has passed. Don't forget to use your
RSGB Members voucher against any purchase. The RSGB's National Radio
Centre at Bletchley Park will be closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas
Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. Visitors should also note that
the NRC will close early, at 3pm, on New Year's Eve.
A new edition of RadCom Basics is now out. RSGB Members can read it
today by going to www.rsgb.org/radcom-basics, where you can also
register to receive notification of subsequent issues as they become
available.
Repeater GB3BS is celebrating its 10th year at the Lansdown site,
IO81TK. After more than 30 years of continuous operation at Cossham
Hospital, it was moved on the 19th of December 2009 to make way for a
multi-million-pound refurbishment of the Grade 2 listed hospital
building that had been its home for so long. GB3BS is also
celebrating its 43rd year of operation serving Bristol and
surrounding area. The GB3BS repeater group believe it was ether the
second or third UHF repeater to be licensed in the UK, so happy
birthday GB3BS!
YOTA Month is in full swing and thanks to local clubs, schools and
Scout groups it has already introduced large numbers of youngsters to
amateur radio. Flight Refuelling ARS in Wimborne had seven young
people involved in their activation. Two were already licenced and
they hope at least two of the visitors will be future Foundation
candidates. This weekend, the 14th and 15th of December, the RSGB's
National Radio Centre is hosting the callsign. Do take young family
or club members to take part in this event. RSGB Members can download
their free Bletchley Park entrance voucher from
www.rsgb.org/bpvoucher. On Tuesday and Thursday, M0WHP will operate
from 1800 to 2359UTC and G0MFR will do the same on Wednesday. On
Friday and Saturday, a multi young operator activity, supervised by
M0SDV, will take place over 48 hours. Next Sunday, the 22nd, the
Royal School of Signals will operate from 1200 to 1800UTC.
The reports, presentations and minutes from the recent 2019 RSGB
Spectrum Forum annual meeting are now available. The material
provides a unique overview on a wide range of topics from EMC, HF to
VHF and microwaves from both the Society and Nationally Affiliated
Groups. This year's meeting included an overview of the results of
the 2019 World Radio Conference and recent changes and concerns
regarding callsigns and licence revalidation. The reports are online
at www.rsgb.org/sfmeeting2019.
There will be no GB2RS news script for Sunday the 29th of December.
Newsreaders are of course free to run a net under their own callsign
on their normal transmission slot. An abbreviated script will be
prepared for Sunday the 5th of January for those newsreaders who are
able to read on that day. Normal service will resume on the 12th of
January. The RSGB would like to take the opportunity to thank all the
GB2RS news reading volunteers for their service to the amateur
community throughout the year.
Two more videos from the 2019 RSGB Convention will be released to
Members early next week. First is a recording of Dean Pesnell
speaking via Skype about the Solar Dynamics Observatory, SDO, the Sun
and the Ionosphere. The second video will be RSGB EMC Committee
members John Rogers, M0JAV and David Lauder, G0SNO delivering an EMC
workshop. Both will be available at rsgb.org/videos, as are many more
from this and previous RSGB Conventions.
Over the Christmas period there are fewer contests than usual so you
may like to take part in Worked All Postcodes, sponsored by Moonraker
and assisted by several other dealers. The idea is simple: work as
many different postcode areas as you can on 4m, 2m, 70cm and 23cm.
Activity nights are on Wednesdays but contacts on any day are valid.
The award website is www.amateur-radio.co.uk.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
We have no more rallies or events listed for 2019. 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
Tony, 3D2AG expects to be active as 3D2AG/p from Rotuma, IOTA
reference OC-060, starting around the 17th of December and continuing
until mid-January 2020. He plans to operate CW, RTTY, FT8 and SSB on
the 160 to 6m bands. He will have no internet access while on the
island. QSL direct to 3D2AG or Club Log's OQRS for FT8 only.
Rudi, DB1RUL will be active holiday style as FK/DB1RUL from Ouvea
Island, OC-033, in New Caledonia from the 18th to 21st of December,
and from Ile des Pins, OC-032, from the 23 to the 27th of December.
QSL via home call, either direct or bureau and Logbook of The World.
Joshua, W9HT will be active as HC5JLT from Ecuador between the 15th
and the 21st of December. He will operate SSB, CW and digital modes
on the HF bands and 6m. QSL via home call.
Ron, PP2RON will be active holiday style as PY6/PP2RON from Itaparica
Island, SA-023, from the 20th of December to the 1st of January. He
will operate SSB, CW and maybe FT8 on the 80 to 6m bands. QSL via his
home call.
Seba, SQ1SGB expects to be active as VP8HAL from the Halley VI
Research Station, Antarctica until the 8th of February 2020. In his
spare time he will operate SSB plus FT8 and JT65 on the 40 and 20m
bands. QSL via EB7DX.
Now the special event news
CN19JIM will be active on the 21st and 22nd of December from Imlil in
the High Atlas mountain range of Morocco. The callsign's suffix
translates to International Mountain Day. QSL via RW6HS.
DL250BTHVN will be active from Bonn on the 16th and 17th of December
2020, helping mark Beethoven Anniversary Year.
Please send special event details to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk as early
as possible. We have not received special event station info from
Ofcom in recent months so you MUST let us know to get your event
publicised here on GB2RS, in RadCom, and online.
Now the contest news
The 2nd Machine Generated Mode contest ends its 24 hours at 1400UTC
today, the 15th. Using the 50 and 144MHz bands, the exchange is
signal report and your 4-character locator.
The ARRL 10m contest ends its 48-hour run at 2359UTC today, the 15th.
The exchange is signal report and serial number, with USA stations
sending their State code and Canadians their Province code.
On Tuesday the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230UTC.
Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and
locator.
On Thursday it's the turn of the 70MHz UK Activity Contest, also from
2000 to 2230UTC. It's also all modes with the exchange signal report,
serial number and locator.
The UK Six Metre Group's Winter Marathon and runs until the end of
January. There are no specific operating modes or periods. Just work
as many locator squares as you can on the 50MHz band.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO
on Friday the 13th of December 2019.
This week NOAA and NASA produced their latest forecast for the
upcoming solar cycle. It predicts that we will be at solar minimum in
April 2020, plus or minus six months. We should therefore begin to
see a slow rise in new cycle sunspots towards the end of 2020. It
says the next cycle is likely to be similar to the last one and will
peak in July 2025, plus or minus eight months, with a smoothed
sunspot number of 115. This is not exactly exciting, but is roughly
line with how solar cycle 24 performed. Cycle 24 peaked in April 2014
with an average sunspot number of 82. More importantly it says there
is no indication of an approaching Maunder-type minimum.
This last week was characterised by quiet geomagnetic conditions with
a maximum Kp index of three. There were no sunspots and the solar
flux index hovered between 70 and 72. Next week NOAA predicts
unsettled geomagnetic conditions between the 18th and the 21st due to
coronal hole activity. Needless to say the solar flux index will
remain around 70, reflecting a lack of sunspots.
Daytime critical frequencies as measured by the Chilton Digisonde are
currently in the range of 4.8-6.1MHz, which makes 40m difficult for
short skip. Maximum usable frequencies over a 3,000km path are
reaching 18MHz at times, with occasional openings up to 21MHz. But
you may find the 14MHz band more reliable.
Eighty metres should remain open to both short-skip and DX during the
night, after a short dip just after sunset. By 1830 UTC the F layer
should stabilise and the band may become more usable, especially for
paths over 100km.
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
The coming week shows that we once again have predominantly
low-pressure systems over the UK, mostly centred over the north of
Britain or even further to the north. This will mean several
occasions when there could be some rain scatter on the microwave
bands to chase down.
For completeness we need to consider Tropo, but with a total absence
of high-pressure areas, it is unlikely to feature much during the
next week.
Something of a wild card next. Winter Sporadic-E is not unknown, and
with a strong set of jet streams over the country during the first
part of the week, it is just possible that a check on the clusters
may reveal some unseasonal Sporadic-E on bands like 10m and 6m,
particularly on the digital modes like FT8. It may also lead to some
good days on the HF bands for short-skip paths on, say 20m, and
perhaps give some boosted local net propagation on LF bands like 80m,
long after the foF2 has dipped below 3.5MHz.
We are now just past the peak of the Geminids meteor shower on
Saturday night, but there may still be some activity for the meteor
scatter folk into the coming week as the shower tails off. That is
until the Ursids shower starts to become dominant from around the
middle of the week, peaking on the Sunday through Monday. Although
not a large shower, there have been occasional meteor numbers beyond
that normally expected, so it might be worth waiting up for.
Now to EME. The moon will be waning throughout this week. As the moon
also moves closer to perigee by mid-week, its closest point to the
Earth, this will mean low path loss. Sky noise also reaches its
lowest at mid-week, so with low libration, the overall prospects for
EME operation look very good.
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.
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