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G4TNU > NEWS 24.05.20 00:32l 220 Lines 10442 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 24 May 2020
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday the 24th of May 2020
The news headlines:
* YOTA Online programme launched
* SARL celebrates 95 years
* Change to exam booking system
As all planned YOTA 2020 events have been cancelled until September,
a new programme called YOTA Online has been developed. This will be a
monthly livestream gathering, free to all participants and available
afterwards as a recorded version. In each meeting, the YOTA team will
present different topics and answer questions from the YOTA
community. There will also be opportunities to share stories of
recent YOTA events. The first meeting will be on the 28th of May.
Details of the livestream link will be publicised on the YOTA website
and social media channels the day before.
Last Wednesday, the 20th, the South African Radio Relay League
celebrated its 95th anniversary. It was formed on Wednesday the 20th
of May 1925, just a month after the world's radio amateurs met in
Paris to form the world body, the International Amateur Radio Union.
In 1947 the word Relay was dropped from the name. Their message is
that amateur radio has withstood the test of time because it is based
on three major guiding principles: communication between people,
continuous technology development and self-education and training.
In response to the demand for remote invigilation exams, the RSGB is
launching a new, automated booking system. It will make each part of
the process smoother for applicants and HQ staff. As all 600 exam
slots in June have now been filled, the new booking system will go
live on 1 June in readiness for booking July exam slots. Over the
next ten days the Society will share more details about the system
and how to use it. In the meantime, please note that the RSGB is not
accepting any new bookings via the old application form.
The RSGB's national ‘Get on the air to care' campaign in
partnership with the NHS has received more media coverage this week,
including a BBC radio interview with 11-year-old Anne-Marie who was
nominated by her primary school headteacher as the local hero of the
week for the two weekly nets she has been running during the
lockdown. Telford and District Amateur Radio Society were featured in
their local paper and other radio amateurs have been sharing their
stories with us. Thank you to everyone who is showing their support
by getting on the air, caring for other radio amateurs and trying new
aspects of amateur radio. More details about the campaign, media
coverage and stories from clubs and radio amateurs can be seen on the
RSGB website at www.rsgb.org/gota2c.
Users of the Islands on the Air programme may now obtain contact
credits via the ARRL's Logbook of The World. A similar arrangement is
already in place with Club Log. To claim a new island group from
matched Logbook of The World contacts, users should click on Retrieve
QSOs from LoTW to retrieve matching records. Within 30 minutes, IOTA
users will receive an email listing the matches added to a list of
pending contacts.
Joe Taylor, K1JT reports what is possibly the first FT8 contact via
Moonbouce that took place on the 21st of May between Paul, W2HRO and
Peter, PA2V. They used WSJT-X 2.2.0-rc1, a beta-release candidate for
version 2.2 of the program WSJT-X. Both stations have moderate 4-Yagi
setups on 432MHz. Conditions were not particularly good, with
degradation around 3dB and the Sun only 20 degrees from the Moon.
The Royal Air Force Air Cadets are pleased to announce that the next
Exercise Blue Ham will be held on the MoD 5MHz shared band over the
weekend of the 6th and 7th of June. There are plenty of callsigns
available for Cadets over the period of the exercise using both SSB
voice and datamodes. Details can be found at
https://alphacharlie.org.uk/exercise-blue-ham
Now the special event news
Since the change of regulations applying to special event stations in
the UK, many activations are now able to go ahead. UK amateurs would
like to thank Ofcom for their help in making this happen.
The RAF Amateur Radio Society will be activating the special event
GB75VED until the 28th May. Operations will be from members' homes.
Details are at www.rafars.org/GB75VED and on QRZ.com.
Dragon Amateur Radio Club and North Wales Radio Society are operating
GB0GIG throughout May, named after the National Health Service in the
Welsh language. The station will be active on HF, VHF and UHF using
as many modes as possible. An award certificate is available and full
details can be found on QRZ.com.
Durham and District Amateur Radio Society is participating as one of
the bonus stations in the popular 13 Colonies special event. The
special callsign GB13COL has been issued for this event and will run
from 1300 UTC on the 1st of July to 0400 UTC on the 8th. The primary
focus of the event will be the HF bands, including VHF & UHF for QSOs
using SSB, CW, FM and various digital modes.
Now the contest news
Please remember to check before the events for new rules due to
lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world.
RSGB strongly advises obeying your own government's advice first and
foremost.
Today, the 24th, the third 70MHz Cumulative contest runs from 1400 to
1600UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial
number and locator.
On Tuesday the SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 2130UTC.
Using all modes on the 2.3 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal
report, serial number and locator.
On Thursday it's the CW leg of the 80m Club Championships. Running
from 1900 to 2030UTC, the exchange is signal report and serial number.
Next weekend is the CQ World Wide WPX CW contest. It runs for 48
hours from 0000UTC on the 30th to 2359UTC on the 31st. Using the 1.8
to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial
number.
Next Sunday, the 31st, the UK Microwave group High Band Contest runs
from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on the 5.7 to 10GHz bands, the
exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
The UK Six Metre Group's Summer Marathon runs until the 2nd of
August. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is you
4-character locator.
And finally, join the fun of the next round of RSGB Hope QSO Party on
weekdays. See www.rsgbcc.org/hf.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO
on Friday the 22nd of May.
Last week was dominated by extensive Sporadic-E openings that made 10
metres sound like 20 metres on a good day. The openings were steady
and stable, with lots of stations around Europe being very workable.
These openings extended to multi-hop as well, with Chris, VO1CH being
heard on 10m FT8 at 1240UTC on Monday the 18th for example. Low-power
beacons have also been heard – the IW4EIR beacon, running just
1.5W, was heard on 28.195MHz at 1600UTC on Monday as well.
If you are interested in monitoring 10m beacons, Martin, G3USF has
updated his 10 metre beacon list. It is available on the RSGB website
under the Propagation section, using the link on the right hand side,
Propagation Beacons.
Hopefully, the Sporadic-E season will continue to improve over the
next few weeks. Other than Sporadic-E, HF conditions have been
average for this time of year. Late Spring and Summer are
traditionally times when maximum usable frequencies decline during
the day due to a change in ionospheric chemistry. However, the good
news is that night-time MUFs are higher, with bands like 20 metres
remaining open long after sunset if there is sufficient ionisation.
The Sun remains very quiet. Two lighter plage areas – bright
regions in the Sun's chromosphere – have moved into view, but are
unlikely to turn into sunspots. As a result NOAA predicts the solar
flux index will remain around 70. It also predicts that the Sun will
remain stable geomagnetically, bringing a maximum Kp index of two. So
it looks like Sporadic-E will continue to provide the HF fun on the
higher HF bands.
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
Most of next week will be dominated by high pressure just south of
the UK and hence Tropo will be a good mode to try. At this time of
the year, the strong sunshine makes any nocturnal enhancement of
conditions temporary and soon disappears after sunrise and the new
thermals destroy the night-time cooling inversion.
However, the main high-pressure subsidence inversion is a different
case and extends across the same region as the area of high pressure
and will be present throughout. This will mean paths across the North
Sea, English Channel or Bay of Biscay should do well. Unlike
Sporadic-E, Tropo contacts need not be rushed.
A fairly strong Atlantic jet stream will push across the UK this
weekend and when it reaches the near continent it will be in a good
place for Sporadic-E in a broad direction range from Scandinavia
round through the Balkans to Italy and Spain.
Meanwhile, the Atlantic will continue to provide jet stream segments
for openings across the pond. The association of Sporadic-E with jet
streams is useful, since the charts show the meandering jet stream
extending well east over Russia and could be used for paths to the
Far East.
There is a hint that a region of showers may develop around the
middle of next week to give an opportunity for some GHz rain scatter
propagation.
The Moon's reaches peak declination on Tuesday and path losses are
falling all week. 144MHz sky noise is low.
A number of small showers keep May and June an active time for meteor
scatter operations, so keep looking for early morning opportunities
before the Sporadic-E.
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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