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G4TNU > NEWS 16.02.20 01:35l 248 Lines 11220 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 16 Feb 2020
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday the 16th of February 2020
The news headlines:
* Storm Ciara prevents 40m GB2RS news reading
* Get involved in British Science Week
* Second mock Full licence exam available
Due to the awful weather conditions last weekend during Strom Ciara,
Gunter, DJ2XB and Colin DJ0OK were unable to read the GB2RS news on
40m. Both readers had to take their antennas down for safety. They
hope to resume a normal service today, the 16th, weather permitting.
If you or your radio club want to get involved in British Science
Week, which takes place between the 6th and the 15th of March,
activity packs are now available to download from
https://tinyurl.com/qvyqnr8 The pack contains tips on how to run
British Science Week in school or at home, easy-to-run activities,
and details of the annual poster competition. Whilst there's no
details of radio activities, there's a lot to get you started on this
excellent initiative and can be adapted for amateur radio use.
The RSGB has published a second mock exam paper for the Full licence
this week so there are now two for each licence level. You can see
all the mock exam papers on the Society's website at
www.rsgb.org/mock-exams
Amateurs in all French territories now have access to the 60m 5351.5
to 5366.5kHz WRC allocation at a maximum power of 15WERP following
the publication in the French official journal. The French national
society, REF, advocates the use of the IARU 60m band plan.
Mitsuo, JA1WQF successfully decoded a 47GHz signal bounced off the
moon from Al, W5LUA on the 10th of February. Al posted news of the
achievement on the Moon-Net email reflector saying these were only
one-way tests that started out with sending single tones that were
copied well. Then Al sent several sequences of calls and grid that
Mitsuo was able to decode at 1146 and 1234UTC. Signal levels were -23
and -25dB. More tests are planned.
The Leicester Mercury has a story on the top-secret wartime listening
station Beaumanor Hall's crucial role in the Second World War. It was
a Y station and you can read the full story at
https://tinyurl.com/rhtb8tl
The IARU Monitoring System Region 1 Newsletter January 2020 is now
available at www.iaru-r1.org. Richard, G4DYA is the Intruder Watch
Coordinator runs the RSGB Monitoring System, part of the IARU
Monitoring System. His report contains several instances of the
Container over-the-horizon radar.
The RSGB Build a Radio workshop at the National Radio Centre at
Bletchley Park on the 14th of March is now sold out. Details of the
next event will be in a forthcoming GB2RS.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
Today, the 16th, the RadioActive Rally will be held at Nantwich Civic
Hall, Cheshire, CW5 5DG. There is free car parking and doors open at
10.30am. There will be a Bring & Buy, as well as traders and an RSGB
book stall. A single raffle ticket is included with the entrance
programme; additional tickets available. Catering is provided on
site. Contact Stuart Jackson on 0788 073 2534.
Also today, the 16th, the Lomond Radio Club Bring & Buy event takes
place at John Connolly Centre, Main Street, Renton G82 4LY. Doors
open at 10am. There will be a Bring & Buy, traders and refreshments
will be available. Contact Bill at mm0elf<at>blueyonder.co.uk
Next Sunday, the 23rd, the Rainham Radio Rally takes place at The
Victory Academy, Magpie Hall Road, Chatham, Kent ME4 5JB. Doors open
from 10am to 4pm and admission is GBP 3 with children attending free
of charge. Talk in will be on 145.550MHz using GB4RRR. Local and
national traders will be in attendance. The BRATS Interactive Zone
for Kids will be available as will the BRATS Junk stand. Refreshments
from the BRATS Kitchen. Contact 0782 583 8877 if you need more
information.
Also next Sunday, the 23rd, is the Red Rose Winter Rally at St
Joseph's Hall, Chapel Street, Leigh WN7 2PQ. Doors open at 11am.
There will be trade, individual and Club stands as well as a Bring &
Buy. Details at www.wmrc.co.uk
Please send details of your rally and event plans as soon as possible
to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk – we give you valuable publicity online,
in RadCom and on GB2RS, all for free.
And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources
Chas, NK8O will be active as 5H3DX from Zinga in Tanzania between the
16th of February and 16th of March. In his spare time, he will
operate CW, PSK31, FT8 and possibly SSB on the 40 to 10m bands. QSL
via NK8O direct only, see qrz.com for instructions, Logbook of The
World and eQSL.
Hiro, JG1SXP will be active as 8Q7HK from the Maldives, AS-013,
between the 19th and 24th of February. He will operate FT8, CW and
some SSB on the 80 to15m bands, possibly also on 160m depending on
local conditions. QSL via Logbook of The World, Club Log's OQRS, or
direct to home call.
Brian, ND3F will be active as KP2/ND3F from St. Croix in the Virgin
Islands, NA-106, until the18th of February. QSL via EA5GL.
Mike, TI5/W1USN and Bob, TI5/AA1M will be active from Costa Rica from
the 20th of February to the 4th of March. They will operate CW, SSB
and FT8 on the 160 to 10m bands. QSLs via Logbook of The World, or
via their home calls either direct or via the bureau.
Rick, N1DC is active holiday style as N1DC/4 from Hutchinson Island,
NA-141, until the 25th of February. He operates CW, FT8 and SSB on
the 40, 30 and 20m bands. QSL direct to his home call and Logbook of
The World.
Wolfgang, DL5MAE will be paying another visit to Laos until the 20th
of February. In his spare time, he will reactivate his 3W2MAE
callsign. He suffers from heavy local QRM and requests that callers
bear this in mind when trying to contact him. His preferred QSL route
is via the German QSL bureau.
Now the special event news
Members of the Bruneck section of the ARI, the Italian national
society, will be using II3BIA until the 23rd of February to celebrate
the Biathlon World Championships in Italy. Operations will be on all
bands between 160 and 10m as well as 2m and 70cm using CW, SSB,
digital modes and QO-100 satellite. QSL via IN3ZWF, by the Bureau,
direct, eQSL or OQRS.
Please send special event details to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk as early
as possible to get your event publicised here on GB2RS, in RadCom,
and online.
Now the contest news
This weekend the ARRL International DX Contest ends its 48-hour run
at 2359UTC today, the 16th. Using CW only on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands
the exchange is signal report and transmit power, with US stations
also sending their State and Canadians their Province.
On Monday the first FT4 contest runs from 2000 to 230UTC on the 80m
band. The exchange is your 4-character locator.
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 the 70MHz UK Activity Contest also runs from 2000 to
2230UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial
number and locator.
Next Sunday, the 23rd, is the first 70MHz Cumulative Contest. Running
from 1000 to 1200UTC and using all modes the exchange is signal
report, serial number and locator.
For 48 hours next weekend the CQ 160m DX contest take place. Starting
at 2200UTC on the 21st, it ends at the same time on the 23rd. Using
SSB only the exchange is signal report and CQ Zone with American
stations also sending their State and Canadians their Province.
From 0600UTC on the 22nd to 1800UTC on the 23rd, the REF Contest is
SSB only on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands. The exchange is signal report and
serial number with French stations sending their Department number or
overseas prefix.
For 24 hours from 1200UTC on the 22nd, the UK EI Contest Club DX
contest is CW only on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands. The exchange is signal
report and District Code.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO
on Friday the 14th of February.
Last week saw reasonably-settled HF conditions after the effects of a
geomagnetic disturbance passed. But the Sun remained spotless again
with a solar flux index of about 70-72 all week.
Wednesday's 80m Club Championship contest left many amateurs feeling
disappointed and with fairly empty logs after the critical frequency
let them down.
At the start of the contest the f0F2 as measured at RAL in Chilton
was 3.5MHz, but it then declined before finishing at 3.45MHz at
21:30hrs. As a result, long skip was the order of the day with the
highest scorers being in Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany and
Sweden.
With a few exceptions, there were few inter-G contacts as the
high-angle signals were just not being returned by the ionosphere.
Hopefully, this will improve over the next few months as the series
continues and the evening critical frequency or f0F2 rises.
Barring any dramatic changes, NOAA has the solar flux index at 71
this coming week. A large coronal hole should become Earth-facing on
Friday the 14th, which means we may see its associated high speed
solar wind impact the Earth around Sunday or Monday the 16th/17th.
This could see the Kp index rise to four with characteristic
disturbed conditions after a potential initial positive phase.
There are some DX nuggets to be had this week. Mike TI7/G3WPH and
John TI7/G4IRN are both active in Costa Rica until 17th February.
They have already been spotted on 160m and 40m, and should be taking
part in this weekend's ARRL International DX Contest. See
www.rsgb.org/predtest for prediction details to Costa Rica
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
Next week's weather is likely to continue the unsettled theme, so
more strong winds at times and little real chance of significant
Tropo paying a visit. There may just be a brief weak ridge close to
southern England midweek, but not looking too useful for developing
the inversions needed for Tropo.
In propagation terms, that leaves us with some potential for rain
scatter as active fronts and showers bring useful scatter points
regions for the GHz fraternity.
The shower examples may be quite a challenge since the rate of
movement can be quite high in such windy weather; imagine trying to
follow a target moving at 40mph! Radar displays are your friend here
and can make a big difference to the outcomes.
Moon declination reaches its minimum for the lunar month on
Wednesday, with the Moon appearing above the horizon for seven hours
and reaching just 13 degrees elevation. Path losses are rising all
week and 144 MHz sky noise is very high, peaking at around 3000
Kelvin on Tuesday.
Keep looking for random meteor scatter QSOs around dawn when the
Earth is rotating towards the main meteor flux to keep the VHF DX
coming.
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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