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G4FVG > NEWS 20.02.10 10:17l 247 Lines 12872 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main news 21st Feb 2010
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<F4BWT<GB7COW
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From: G4FVG@GB7COW.#44.GBR.EU
To : NEWS@EU
Hello to all readers,
With Trev/M1CUK's agreement, I have volunteered to copy/paste the RSGB news
script and this is the GB2RS NEWS for Sunday 21st February 2010.
Please note, to reduce file size, the Local/Club news will follow in a
separate bulletin
73 to all
Mike G4FVG at GB7FCR (although using GB7COW as there are forwarding problems
out of FCR at present).
= = = = = = = = = =
GB2RS NEWS
Sunday 21st February 2010
The news headlines
UK CW operators sought for DXpedition
Changes to the GB2RS news service in the North East
Worked All Britain Award deadline approaching
Paul Ewing, N6PSE, has several open positions for CW operators on the
DXpedition team headed to Kurdistan in April. They would love to have several
operators from the UK join the team. The team says that costs for this
DXpedition are quite reasonable and they will be operating from a very safe
and secure facility. Anyone interested in joining the DXpedition team may
contact Paul directly by e-mail to paul(at)n6pse.com or check out the website
at www.yi9pse.com.
Listeners to GB2RS in East Yorkshire need to be aware that the Scarborough two
metre repeater GB3YC is to be changed to D-Star operation. This means that the
current GB2RS news reading taking place at 1130 hours via the repeater is now
being terminated because the news readers are not equipped for D-Star
operation. GB2RS coverage for the North East region will, of course, continue
on 80 metres on 3640kHz lower sideband at 1100 hours, and this is provided by
news readers in Driffield and Hull. The complete GB2RS Broadcast Schedule can
be found in the Members' Area of the RSGB website, together with other useful
information about the RSGB News Service.
The Worked All Britain Ruby Award has now finished. As trophies will be
presented at the Worked All Britain AGM at the Spalding Rally on 6 June, all
claims must reach the WAB Awards Manager, G4IAR by 28 February. G4IAR is QTHR.
Please note that the Worked All Britain 40m net frequency has moved to 7160kHz
in line with the revised band plan.
This year, the 23rd International Marconi Day will take place on the 24 April.
Although not a contest, awards can be obtained and full details can be found
at www.gb4imd.org.uk. For a station to be counted towards an award by
applicants, that station must be registered by contacting the webmaster by
e-mail at webmaster(at)gb4imd.org.uk prior to the event with full details of
the station. In order to qualify as an Award Station, operations should take
place from a site that either used Marconi equipment prior to his death in
1937 or from which Marconi carried out experiments during the same period.
Repeater keepers and other amateurs interested in repeater operation recently
gathered at the Lough Erne ARC for a talk from John McCullagh, GI4BWM,
Chairman of the RSGB's Emerging Technologies Coordinating Committee on the
technical aspects of building a repeater. It provoked much sharing of
experiences among Keepers from Northern Ireland and the Republic. Herbie
Graham, GI6JPO gave a demonstration of cavity tuning. He has built the new
Fermanagh Repeater GB3CP and changed the coverage to give better coverage east
to the Belfast hills but less coverage in West Tyrone, an area well served by
GB3WT.
The Dutch National Radio Fleamarket takes place on 13 March at Autotron at
's-Hertogenbosch, just off A59 motorway in Holland. It's open from 9am to
3.30pm. Details can be found on the website at www.radiovlooienmarkt.nl.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
The Radio Active Rally will take place today, 21 February, at Civic Hall,
Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 5DG. Doors open at 10.30am and there will be trade
stands, a Bring & Buy and catering on site. Details from Simon Chettle, G8ATB,
on 01270 841506.
Also today, 21 February, the Swansea ARS Rally will be at a new venue.
Following the major fire at the Afan Lido the show has now re-located to the
Court Herbert Sports Centre, Neath Abbey SA10 7BE, 2 miles from M4 J43 via
A465. Doors open at 10.30am and admission is œ2.50. There is a free car park
and plenty of trade stands, a Bring & Buy as well as special interest groups.
Details from Roger, GW4HSH, on 01792 404422.
On 28 February the Rainham Radio Rally will take place at Rainham School for
Girls, Derwent Way, Rainham, Gillingham, Kent ME8 0BX. Full details from
Trevor, G6YLW, on 0771 7678 795.
Sadly, we've heard of a cancelled rally. The 4th Chesterfield Rally that was
due to be held on 24 April has been cancelled due to the high price of the
venue this year. However, the organisers say that if they can find a suitable
alternative in the future, they will be back. For their latest activities
check out their website at www.m0oct.com.
Now for the news of special events
The 75th anniversary of the Daventry Experiment by Sir Robert Watson Watt,
which led to the birth of British Radar as his team at Bawdsey developed the
vital Chain Home radar system for the RAF and many others is set to be marked
by a trio of special event stations over the weekend of 26 to 28 February.
GB75BRS will be on the air from Bawdsey Manor on HF, 6m and VHF, operating CW,
SSB and possibly some digital modes too. GB75RDF and GB0RDF will be on the air
from the ex-BBC masts at Daventry. GB75CH will be on the air from the Chain
Home mast at Great Baddow.
Details of these special events stations are available on qrz.com.
The multi million pound Thanks for Life campaign is part of a worldwide
attempt by Rotary International to rid the world of polio and is supported by
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A radio station will be set-up on a stall
in Knaresborough Market place on Wednesday 24 February during market day.
There will be a fundraising component to the station, which will use the
callsign GB0TFL. The station will be using an FT1000MP running 100W SSB on the
80 and 20m amateur bands and it's hoped that full sized half wave dipoles, 12m
high will be erected to radiate a decent signal.
The Newbury & District Amateur Radio Society will be activating GB0VUL next
month to promote awareness and publicity on the plight of the Vulcan Bomber.
The Trust has until the end of the month to raise œ300,000. If they fail to
reach this target, the Vulcan will never fly again. Another œ350,000 has to be
raised in March for the aircraft to appear at air-shows this year. More
details can be found at www.vulcantothesky.org.
And now the HF DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources.
Art, NN7A will be operating from Belize as V31JZ from 24 February until 3
March. He will be operating from the Turneffe islands, which is IOTA reference
NA-123. This will be a one-person operation using a 100 watt transceiver with
vertical and wire antennas. Operation will be mostly CW on the 40 to 17m bands
including WARC bands, with some 80m and 160m. There may be some SSB on 20m and
15m IOTA frequencies if possible, conditions permitting .QSL to NN7A either
direct or via the bureau.
Lothar, DK8LRF, intends to become active as HK3JCL again working in SSB,
PACTOR, RTTY and PSK31 mainly on 20m and 40m from 20 February until Easter
from Colombia. His equipment includes a Kenwood TS-50, an Annecke antenna
coupler, PTC II and a Rhombus antenna pointing to Central Europe. QSLs via the
bureau to DK8LRF. If you are interested in a sked please e-mail him at
dk8lrf@gmx.de.
Cato, 5Z4/LA9PF, will be staying in Kenya for three months. He plans to work
on all bands with his 100 watts, a 3 element Yagi and a loop antenna. Cato
prefers SSB and the digital modes but also works in CW sometimes. Direct QSL
cards are preferred via PO Box 5642, Malindi, 80200 Malindi, Kenya.
Three Bangladeshi operators, S21RC, S21S and S21D, will operate as (probably)
S21DX from St. Martin's Island, AS-127, from 21 to 25 February. Although
primarily intended as an IOTA operation, this could well be a good opportunity
for country chasers to catch what has once again become quite a rare DXCC
entity.
G3SWH and G3RTE will be active as VK9X/G6AY from Christmas Island from 20 to
27 February. It's OC-002 for IOTA and is number 66 on the DX Magazine's 2008
most wanted survey, worldwide. Phil and Jim will be CW only, all bands 80 to
10m, going with the best propagation with two stations on the air as many
hours a day as possible. QSL via G3SWH, direct with SAE and return postage or
via Phil's website, for a bureau reply, or the regular way with a bureau card.
Now the contest news
The 50MHz UK Activity Contest takes place between 2000 and 2230UTC on Tuesday
23 February. You can use all modes and the exchange is signal report, serial
number and locator.
The first of this year's 70MHz Cumulatives takes place on Sunday 28 February
between 100 and 1200UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and
locator.
The penultimate event of February is the CQ WW 160m SSB Contest on 26 to 28
February. It takes place between 2200 and 2200UTC. The exchange is signal
report and CQ Zone, although Ws send their state and VEs send their Province
number.
The month ends with the SSB leg of the REF Contest on 27 and 28 February. Work
French stations only. Unlike many international contests, there are only a few
categories. Single-op stations can enter single- or multi-band, but for
multi-op stations its all-bands and a single-transmitter only. There are no
separate categories for different power levels. Send a report and serial
number, but expect to receive a report and a Department code (or prefix from
French overseas territories). The timing is 0600 and 1800UTC and the exchange
is signal report and serial number with French stations sending their
department number or overseas prefix.
Now the solar factual data for the period from the 8th to the 14th of
February, compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS on the 15th of February.
We start this week with the latest smoothed monthly sunspot numbers which are
for May, June and July 2009 and are 2.3, 2.7 and 3.6 respectively. Not only is
the rise from minimum continuing it is also accelerating.
The solar disc had several sunspot groups visible everyday. Solar activity
varied between low and high. Everyday C class solar flares took place but the
largest flare of the week was a M8/1N which occurred on the 12th. On the 8th
four M class flares took place. Sudden ionospheric disturbances and coronal
mass ejections took place with some of the larger flares. There has been more
solar flare activity this week alone than what took place in 2008 and 2009 put
together. Solar flux levels increased from 91 units on the 10th to 96 by the
12th. The average was 93. The 90 day solar flux average on the 14th was 79,
that's one unit up on last week. X-ray flux levels averaged B1.8 units and
varied little day to day. Geomagnetic activity was quiet everyday and averaged
Ap 4 units. Solar wind data from the ACE spacecraft saw solar wind speeds
increase from 290 kilometres per second on the 9th to 400 by the 12th.
Particle densities were low throughout except for a rise to 20 particles per
cubic centimetre on the 11th. Bz never varied more than minus and plus 9
nanoTeslas during the period.
The combination of heightened flux levels and continuing quiet geomagnetic
conditions resulted in improvements on HF propagation, including the higher
bands. 28MHz, contacts were reported from the UK with Malaysia and the eastern
Mediterranean, while the Caribbean and the southern United States were among
areas worked on 24MHz. 14MHz was also markedly improved.
And finally the solar forecast. If the present level of solar activity
continues then we can expect much of the same for the coming week. Beware
though, as quick as this present active spell started it can end just as
quick. After months during 2009 when hardly a sunspot was visible, we now have
had only three spotless days since the 8th of December. Anyway, this week the
quiet side of the Sun is expected to be looking our way. Solar activity should
be very low to low. Solar flux levels are expected to be around the 80 mark.
Geomagnetic activity should be quiet everyday. MUFs during daylight hours at
equal latitudes should be around 24MHz for the south and 21MHz for the north.
Darkness hour lows should be about 8MHz. Paths this week to the Middle East
should have a maximum usable frequency with a 50 per cent success rate of
around 26MHz. The optimum working frequency with a 90 per cent success rate
should be about 21MHz. The best time to try the path will be between 0900 and
1400UTC.
And that's all for this week from the propagation team.
= = = = =
and the end of the Main news.
Local/Club news follows in a separate bulletin
73 de Mike/G4FVG at GB7FCR (although using GB7COW as there are forwarding
problems out of FCR at present)
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