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G4TNU > NEWS 10.01.21 01:42l 221 Lines 10415 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 10 Jan 2021
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday the 10th of January 2021
The news headlines:
* Happy New Year from RSGB
* Volunteers invited to stand for election
* Celebrating 200 years of Greek independence
The news team and all the staff at RSGB HQ would like to wish our
newsreaders, listeners and online readers a very Happy New Year. We
would like to remind everyone that we always welcome your news, by
email to radcom@rsgb.org.uk, and the deadline is 10am sharp on
Thursday mornings. The GB2RS script is uploaded to the RSGB website
by 4.30pm each Friday afternoon.
We're into the final weeks of the nominations process for the RSGB
elections, which will end at 2359UTC on the 31st of January. The
Society is looking for its next President as Dave Wilson, M0OBW will
retire at the AGM. There is also a place for one elected Board
Director. In addition, there are three Regional Representative
vacancies in Regions 2, 6 and 12 because the current post holders
were co-opted into a vacancy after the last AGM. Each one has
indicated their willingness to stand for election but applications
are also welcome from all RSGB Members living in these particular
Regions. For more information about any of these roles, how to
nominate someone or for information about the election process, visit
www.rsgb.org/election. The results will be announced at the RSGB's
online AGM on Saturday the 24th of April.
To commemorate the 200th anniversary, the Greek Independence Award
will run throughout 2021. Anyone can take part and all mode and types
of QSO are valid. The website https://sv2rck.gr/200YEARS lists a
number of award stations.
Get on the air for Christmas finished yesterday, Saturday the 9th of
January, but you still have time to enter the construction
competition. Projects can be hardware, software or a system and may
be based on a kit. There is a prize of GBP 100 and the winning entry
will be featured on the Society's website and in RadCom. The deadline
for entries is the 1st of February. See the details at
www.rsgb.org/gota4c.
Elettra is the vessel on which Marconi conducted many experiments.
The Elettra: the miracle ship award commemorates the centenary of the
ship's official registration under the name of Elettra. The award
period lasts the whole year and there will be a different special
event callsign each month. Detail at www.arifidenza.it.
Were you one of the 19,000 people who enjoyed the RSGB's Tonight @ 8
webinars last year? The 2021 series starts tomorrow, Monday the 11th
of January, when Steve Hartley, G0FUW and Pete Juliano, N6QW will
talk about amateur radio construction. Despite what many people
think, building your own radio equipment is still a very popular
aspect of amateur radio. This presentation will share some ideas on
how to get started and provide some examples of homebrew gear, using
hardware and software. Watch live and ask questions on the RSGB
YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/theRSGB.
A QSO Party to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Marconi Club AR
Loano will take place on the 16th of January. Running from 0800 to
2200UTC using the 20, 40 and 80m bands with CW only, you can find out
the rules at www.ariloano.it/marconiclub.
Permission has been announced for Category 1 Uzbek licensees to
operate in the new WRC-15 Amateur 60m Secondary Allocation of 5351.5
– 5366.5kHz with a maximum power of 100W.
Now the special event news
Hull and District Amateur Radio Society is celebrating 100 years of
amateur radio clubs in the Hull area with a year-long special event
station, callsign GB1OOH [Newsreaders: that's G B 1 oh oh H, not zero
zero H]. The station will operate most days throughout 2021 on bands
ranging from 160m to 70cm and using different modes. Further details
about the station and QSL options can be found on QRZ.com.
During 2021, the British Railways ARS will be celebrating its 55th
anniversary. They will be running the special event call GB0LMR,
operated by BRARS member Mark, G1PIE from Preston in Lancashire.
Bands of operation will be 40 to 10 metres using PSK-31, PSK-63 and
SSB, plus VHF/UHF. Further information is on QRZ.com and
www.brars.info.
Now the DX news
Grant, VK5GR will be active as VK5KI from Kangaroo Island, OC-139,
until the 22nd of January. He plans to operate holiday style on the
80 to 6m bands using CW, SSB and FT8, possibly with some RTTY and
PSK. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS.
Seba, SQ1SGB and Will, M0ZXA expect to be active as VP8/SQ1SGB or
VP8HAL and VP8DOI from Halley VI Research Station, Antarctica until
the 4th of February. In their spare time they will operate SSB and
digital modes FT8 and JT65 on 40 and 20 metres.
Now the contest news
Please remember to check before the contest for any new rules due to
lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world.
The RSGB strongly advises obeying your national and local
government's advice.
Today, the 10th, the Datamodes AFS contest runs from 1300 to 1700UTC.
The SSB AFS contest takes place on Saturday from 1300 to 1700UTC.
Both uses the 3.5 and 7MHz bands, and the exchange is signal report
and serial number.
On Monday and Tuesday, the 2nd Christmas Hope QSO Party has two
sessions. The first is 0930 to 1100UTC on the 11th using FT4 on the
3.5 to 28MHz bands, with an exchange of your 4-character locator. The
second is 1100 to 1230UTC on the 12th using CW on the same bands with
an exchange of signal report and serial number.
Tuesday sees the 432MHz FM Activity Contest run from 1900 to 1955UTC.
It is followed by the All Mode UKAC from 2000 to 2230UTC. The
exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator.
Wednesday and Thursday see two more sessions of the 2nd Christmas
Hope QSO Party. The first is on the 13th from 1230 to 1400UTC using
RTTY. The second session is on the 14th from 1400 to 1530UTC using
SSB. The exchange is the same for both, signal report and serial
number, as are the bands to be used, 3.5 to 28MHz.
On Thursday, the 50MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230UTC.
Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and
locator.
On Saturday, the Worked All Britain 1.8MHz Phone Contest runs from
1900 to 2300UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and WAB
square.
Don't forget, the UK Six Metre Group Winter Marathon runs until the
end of January 2021. Just exchange a signal report and locator.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on
Thursday the 7th of January.
We start by welcoming in 2021, and here's hoping that it proves to be
more fruitful than 2020 in terms of HF propagation. We've started the
New Year with zero sunspots and a solar flux index back in the
mid-70s on Thursday the 7th. The STEREO Ahead spacecraft is not
showing anything of note around the back of the Sun, but we know that
spots can suddenly appear.
HF propagation has been relatively poor, but with seasonal
ionospheric changes mainly being responsible for an uplift in daytime
critical and maximum usable frequencies. Daytime critical frequencies
have generally been in the range of 4.5 to 5.5MHz, falling to below
3.5MHz by 1930UTC on most evenings. This means that 80m is ceasing to
be suitable for local NVIS contacts as the evening progresses, which
is normal for this time of year.
Daytime maximum usable frequencies over a 3,000km path have exceeded
18 and even 21MHz on most days, with winter Sporadic-E being the main
DX mode on the higher 12 and 10 metre bands. There has been the odd
F2-layer opening on 28MHz, but we will need some more sunspot
activity to make band openings more reliable.
NOAA predicts the solar flux index will remain in the high 70s at the
beginning of next week, reflecting the lack of sunspot activity. The
Kp index is predicted to reach a maximum of only two, due to a lack
of coronal hole and coronal mass ejection activity. This means we may
have a more settled ionosphere, which may be good for HF DX.
So in summary, it's more of the same in terms of HF propagation next
week, with no real highlights. But don't ignore the lower bands, such
as 1.8, 3.5, and 7MHz, which can really come into their own in
mid-winter.
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
Despite no Tropo for a number of weeks, there has been high pressure
to the west of Britain for some time. During the weekend and next
week, it will become more dominant over much of the country,
initially favouring Tropo for the south-western parts, but perhaps
more generally later. This may be temporarily curtailed by frontal
systems moving across the country around midweek and thus add some
options for GHz rain scatter, but some models bring a ridge of high
pressure back later in the week.
As hinted at in the last bulletin, a sudden stratospheric warming did
indeed develop on the 4th of January 2021. As mentioned, it can have
impacts on not just the stratospheric flow, but can influence weather
patterns nearer the surface about a couple of weeks later.
In a related note, it appears the models, after a milder next week,
are hinting at a colder northerly spell again after the following
weekend.
Staying with the stratospheric wind flow changes, these may have a
possible link to winter Sporadic-E events and it's worth monitoring
10m and 6m for activity in the next couple of weeks or so, especially
FT8, but CW and SSB are not impossible.
After the excitement of the Quadrantids meteor shower we are now
entering the annual quiet period in meteor activity with just two
significant showers between now and the April Lyrids, so back to
pre-dawn random meteors for the best chance of DX.
The Moon was at perigee yesterday, so path losses are at their
lowest, but it's at minimum declination on Tuesday meaning Moon
windows are short and low elevation. The Moon only reaches 12 degrees
elevation on Tuesday, meaning horizon noise will be an issue all week
at VHF.
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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