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G4TNU > NEWS 28.06.20 00:35l 236 Lines 11396 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday the 28th of June 2020
The news headlines:
* Online remote invigilation expanding
* Tonight <at> 8: Antennas for small gardens
* New Propagation Studies video released
The online remote invigilation of the UK Foundation amateur radio
exam continues to be extremely popular, with over 800 successful
candidates so far, and more than 650 already booked for future
Foundation exams. The RSGB is now contacting candidates and Exam
Secretaries who had previously booked for Intermediate exams before
social distancing caused their postponement. Candidates will be
offered online remote invigilation exam slots. It is hoped that
bookings can also be opened to new Intermediate candidates in the
near future, once existing bookings are cleared. Full exams will
follow on in a similar manner in due course. The FAQ's on the RSGB
website, under the Training tab, will be updated shortly.
The next RSGB Tonight <at> 8 webinar is on the 29th of June and is a
presentation on Antennas for small gardens by Steve Nichols, G0KYA.
You can watch the live stream and ask questions on either the RSGB
YouTube channel or the special Tonight <at> 8 channel on the BATC
website, https://batc.org.uk/live/RSGB. You can find out more about
all the webinars at www.rsgb.org/webinars and you can also watch
previous talks in the series at the same site.
The RSGB has released a new VHF propagation video, created by the
Society's Propagation Studies Committee. You can watch this
interesting presentation on the Society's YouTube channel,
www.youtube.com/theRSGB.
The annual transmission by the 17.2kHz VLF Alexanderson Alternator
will take place as usual this year on Alexanderson Day, Sunday the
5th of July. As usual it will use the callsign SAQ. Startup and
tuning begins at 0830 and 1130UTC, with the transmission of a message
at 0900 and 1200UTC. You can watch both events live on their YouTube
channel and, of course, listen out if you have VLF capability.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, no RSGB awards information will be
published between now and 22 July. If you have submitted your data
for an award and have not yet received a reply, you will be contacted
after that date. The Society would encourage you to keep working
towards awards in the meantime – it is a great way to gain
experience, especially if you're new to amateur radio. You can find
more details of the RSGB awards on the Society's website,
www.rsgb.org/awards.
We understand that Bletchley Park plans to re-open on 4 July and have
further details on their website, bletchleypark.org.uk. The RSGB
National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park will remain closed, for the
time being, but this will continue to be regularly reviewed.
Due to uncertainty about large gatherings being allowed, and in
recognition that many radio amateurs may not want to attend physical
meetings for some time, the G-QRP Club took the unwelcome decision to
cancel their Conventions for 2020. However, following a very
successful survey of members, a meeting of the Standing Committee
this week confirmed definitely that the G-QRP Convention for 2020
will take place as a virtual event, over the weekend of the 5th and
6th of September. There will be a series of webinars and possibly a
virtual Buildathon. A small working group are now developing the
detail and a number of key speakers have already volunteered. Full
details will be shared as soon as they are known.
Apologies to Tony, VK5ZAI for the error in his callsign last week.
Tony received the Order of Australia in the Queen's birthday honours
list for significant service to amateur radio, particularly to
satellite and space communication.
The RSGB/NHS ‘Get on the air to care' campaign continues to feature
in the media across the world. Recently there were articles in the
ARRL's QST magazine and in the Emergency Services Times publication.
You can see both on the Society's media campaign web pages,
www.rsgb.org/gota2c-media.
The latest Something for the Weekend video goes out today on YouTube.
ML&S looks back at the 1970s and the beginning of Amateur Radio
Exchange with Bernie, G4AOG. Fund raising for Alzheimer's Disease is
part of the video. Go to https://youtu.be/fICqJM_BIfw.
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.
Today, the 28th, is the Centenary of the Royal Corps of Signals. The
Royal Signals Museum has a permanent special event callsign,
GB100RSM, but due to the Covid-19 restrictions they cannot run the
station from the museum. The station will instead run from the home
QTH of G3WZP in IO90BR. Activity will be until the end of June on the
40, 20 and 17m bands, using SSB and CW. Skeds are welcome.
Another Royal Corps of Signals centenary station is GB100RS Royal
Signals, operating from Bishop Auckland. It will start operating
today, the 28th. Full details of the centenary stations and their
operations can be found at
https://rsars.org.uk/rsars-corps-celebrations-2020/.
To commemorate their 3rd anniversary, special event stations will be
on air during the FT8DMC Activity Days from the 1st to the 31st of
July. All stations will bear the FTDMC or FTDM suffix, referring to
the third anniversary of the FT8 Digital Mode Club. An FTDMC
Anniversary Award can be earned by working the FTDMC and FTDM
stations and collecting points applicable for various award classes.
See www.ft8dmc.eu.
Durham and District Amateur Radio Society is participating as one of
the bonus stations in the 13 Colonies Special Event. GB13COL will run
from 1300UTC on 1 July to 0400UTC on 8 July. The primary focus of the
event will be the HF bands using SSB, CW, FM and various digital
modes, but VHF and UHF will also be in use. This year's QSL cards for
GB13COL has been kindly sponsored by Martin Lynch at ML&S.
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.
The UK Microwave Group's 5.7 and 10GHz bands contest runs from 0600
to 1800 today, the 28th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal
report and serial number.
Also today, the 28th, the 50MHz CW contest runs from 0900 to 1200UTC.
It's CW only and the exchange is signal report, serial number and
locator.
The 7MHz Cumulative contest runs from 1400 to 1600UTC today, the
28th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number
and locator.
The 3rd 144MHz Backpackers contest is cancelled and there is a
different format contest to replace VHF NFD, for 2020 only, called
‘lockdown VHF NFD'. Only single operator fixed stations may enter
this contest. The rules are available
at www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/rules/2020/VHFNFD.shtml. The rules are loosely
based around the UKAC and VHF AFS rules and include a team element.
The UK Six Metre Group's Summer Marathon runs until the 2nd of
August. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is your
4-character locator.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO
on Friday the 26th of June.
After the recent excitement of a new Solar Cycle 25 sunspot, it seems
the Sun has decided to go back to sleep. We have had zero sunspots
since the 16th of June and the STEREO spacecraft Ahead view shows
just one small bright area on the Sun, which might result in a spot
in due course. Luckily, geomagnetic conditions remained quiet
throughout the week, with a maximum Kp index of two.
The bands were a little lacklustre, other than the continued
Sporadic-E openings, which have brought almost daily fun on 28MHz.
There were F-layer openings to be found on 14MHz, but these were
mainly enjoyed by well-equipped stations. Ed, WA6QDQ/KH6 in Hawaii
was audible at 0652TUTC on Tuesday the 23rd at G3UML's Hendon QTH. As
was William, AL7KC in North Pole, Alaska, who had a big pile up on
14.224MHz.
Early morning does seem to be the best time to get on 14MHz, with
Jim, E51JD on the South Cook Islands being reported again as well.
But as the day goes on D-layer absorption grows and 14MHz doesn't
sound very lively at all. Fifteen metres was open to Brazil and
Paraguay on Thursday afternoon, although this was mostly FT8.
Otherwise, it was 10 metres and Sporadic-E contacts that continued to
provide excitement, with one or two North American, South American
and Caribbean openings occurring.
Next week NOAA predicts more of the same, with a solar flux index
hovering around 68-70 and a maximum Kp index of two.
A weak solar wind stream flowing from a narrow coronal hole could
reach Earth beginning on the 27th of June. A minor geomagnetic
disturbance at higher latitudes may be expected.
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
The heatwave of midweek should be over by today, so any enhanced sea
path Tropo will have weakened too. Coasts can be productive for ducts
across the North Sea or English Channel and Biscay in any quieter
settled window during the week.
Overall, Tropo is probably not a mode to rely upon this week, since
much of the time we will have low pressure either over the UK or very
close by. This will bring periods of rain or showers, many of which
could have a chance of thunder and hail. This implies large
convective clouds and potentially good GHz bands rainscatter.
That leaves Sporadic-E, and we are still within the main part of the
season, so keep up the usual procedure of checking mid-morning and
late afternoon/early evening. Sporadic-E is a mode ideally suited for
weak signals and digital modes can give good clues as to which
directions may open later for CW and SSB as the opening develops.
Make use of the good map-based clusters to see if you are close
enough to where the paths cross. Ideally the hot spot should be
between about 600km and 1400km away from your station.
Moon declination goes negative today but as perigee is on Monday,
path losses will be at their lowest of the lunar month. 144MHz sky
temperatures are low today but increasing to a peak of 2700K around
midnight next Saturday. Compare this to the usual 300K cold sky
temperature at 144MHz, do the maths and, you'll see that your low
noise preamps are not going to help you at this sky temperature!
The June Bootids meteor shower peaked yesterday but continue looking
for the best meteor scatter conditions around local dawn.
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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