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M1CUK > NEWS 21.04.10 20:14l 255 Lines 12200 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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GB2RS NEWS for Sunday 25th April 2010
The news headlines
* RSGB AGM video available online
* International Summits on the Air event
* Bedford amateurs welcomed into Region 12
A video of the 2010 RSGB Annual General Meeting is available online at
the British Amateur Television Club website. The BATC streamed the event
live last weekend from the Swan Hotel in Bedford. Go to www.batc.org.uk
and click on the BATC TV Streamer link, followed by the Film Archive
link. This will take you to the recording of the AGM. There are plenty
of other recordings that amateurs may find interesting on the same link.
Another International Summits On The Air Weekend will be held on the
first weekend in May, the 1st and 2nd. All prospective activators are
encouraged to post their planned activations on SOTAwatch as soon as is
practicable. The event encourages summit to summit contacts between the
many International Associations that comprise SOTA. It should give
Chasers the opportunity to work as many different associations as
possible. This does mean that HF may be required but does not mean that
this is solely an HF event. The choice of operating band and mode is
left to the individual activator. Check out the SOTA website at
www.sota.org.uk for details.
Amateurs in Bedfordshire are now part of Region 12 and the new Deputy
Regional Manager for the County is Neil Whiteside, G4HUN. For the past
three years Neil has been the DRM for Cambridgeshire and has now added
Bedfordshire to this responsibility. Neil is already getting in touch
with clubs in the County but he can always be contacted on 07836 617224.
More information about getting in touch with the Region 12 Team is
available on the RSGB Region 12 website at www.rsgb.org/local/region12.ph
p.
The annual School Club EU Day will take place on 5 May. It is designed
to
create contacts with and between school amateur radio clubs and training
centres and give them the opportunity to contact other amateur stations
around Europe. The activity is a great way to get young operators on the
air from their school shacks. An English version of the rules for this
event can be found on the German website www.aatis.de/content/sites/defau
lt/files/EU2010_EN_txt.pdf.
Colchester Radio Amateurs are running a Foundation Course from Thursday
24 June at St Helena School, Colchester. For further details please
contact Brian, G0GGM on 01206 822547 or by e-mail to
brianfitz<at>aspects.net.
Manassas City in the USA has decided to abandon their broadband over
power line system as it was not cost effective. The BPL system has been
a thorn in the side of amateurs and SWLs in Manassas and had
substantially raised the overall noise floor of most of the HF bands,
making all but the strongest radio signals impossible to hear.
Radio Amateurs of Canada has filed a request with the telecommunications
regulator for some 60 metre spot frequency allocations. The formal
request was for five 5MHz frequencies and two spot frequencies for
exclusive Canadian amateur use. If all goes well, Canadian amateurs
could see an authorisation to this spectrum within a year.
The newly redesigned American Radio Relay League website is up and
running. Check out www.arrl.org. The new website has been more than two
years in the making.
What is believed to be the world's first solar powered D-Star repeater
has come on the air from Belgium. ON0CPS is designed to operate entirely
on solar energy with an input channel of 431.9625MHz and its output on
439.5625MHz. So far the repeater has been running over a month on this
solar power alone with no failures or problems.
Australia now has a digital amateur television repeater that has full
stereo audio. The VK3RTV repeater in the Melbourne and Geelong area now
has dual channel sound on both its digital and analogue inputs. About
seven stations transmitting digital DVB-S uplink have the capability to
transmit stereo sound through the machine. Experiments are also being
conducted on Internet streaming with the British Amateur TV Club.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
The Andover Radio Amateur Club Boot Sale takes place today, 25 April, at
Wildhern Village Hall and Playing Field, SP11 0JE, north of Andover just
off the A343. Talk in will be on S22. There is plenty of car parking and
the entry fee is £1.50. For sellers it is £6 per boot/table, £8 inside
the hall. Details from Martin, M0MWS on 01980 612070.
Also on today, 25 April, is the 26th Yeovil QRP Convention which takes
place at Digby Hall, Hound St, Sherborne, Dorset. Digby Hall adjoins the
central shopping car parking. Talk in will be on S22. There is ample car
parking and the doors open at 9.30am. There will be lectures as well as
trade stands and a Bring & Buy. Details from Robert on 01935 706715.
Church Island Amateur Radio Group will be holding a rally on Friday 30
April at Bellaghy Community Hall, Ballynease Road, Bellaghy BT45 8JS,
which is located beside St Marys Church. Doors will open to the public
at 8pm. Anyone wishing to book a table or for further information can
contact John, MI0MIO on 0771 910 0595.
On 2 May, the Dambusters Hamfest will be held at Thorpe Camp Visitor
Centre, Coningsby, Lincs LN4 4PE. Talk in will be on S22, GB4FR & GB3FJ.
Admission is £3 with under 12s admitted free. Pitches are free but the
size of the pitch will be limited if not pre-booked. Car parking is free
too. There is a WWII museum on site. More details from Tony, G3ZPU, on
01507 527835.
The Dartmoor Radio Rally takes place on Bank Holiday Monday at Tavistock
College, Crowndale Rd, Tavistock, Devon PL19 8DD. Doors open at 10.15am
for disabled visitors and 10.30am for others. There will be trade stands
as well as a Bring & Buy. Details can be obtained from Peter, M1AYI on
01822 860277.
Now for the news of special events
GN4KPT/P will be on the air on 2 and 3 May from Shanes Castle for the
Steam Rally. This is a joint venture between Antrim & District Amateur
Radio Society & Ballymena Amateur Radio Club. The station will be on the
air on 2 May between 1400 and 1700 and 3 May 1000 to 1600.
From 24 to 27 April there will be an IOTA activation from The Isle of
Eigg on the west coast of Scotland. This is a joint activation by
members of Kilmarnock and Loudoun ARC and South Cheshire ARS. The
callsign will be GM6TW/P, the club call of SCARS. Info is at QRZ.com.
QSL via Paul, G0UZP.
To mark the 10th anniversary of the closure of the world's largest
maritime radio station, Portishead Radio, GB10GKA is being activated
from 30 April to 27 May. Hours of operation will be dependent on
individual operators' free time and operation will be primarily on CW.
Rick, G3YEC will operate 30 April until 6 May from this QTH near
Colchester. Special Anniversary QSL cards will be produced to mark this
historic event. eQSL will also be used. Certificates for contacting
GB10GKA on more than four HF bands will be available. Contact Tony
Roskilly, G3ZRJ by e-mail to g3zrj.morsekey<at>btinternet.com
On 30 April, GG100GCC will be on the air for the Gordon Centenary Camp
in
Tarves, Aberdeenshire and GG100LNG will be on the air for Lincolnshire
North Guides in Market Rason.
And now the HF DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources.
ZL7J will be on the air from Chatham Island between 28 April and 3 May.
All bands from 1.9MHz to 28MHz will be used with SSB and CW. QSL via
JH1HRJ.
Members of the F6KOP Team will be active as IS0R from Isola Rossa,
Sardinia, which is IOTA reference EU-024, between 7 and 15 May. Activity
will be on 160 to 6 metres, using 3 stations on HF and 1 station on 6
metres. They plan to use CW, SSB and RTTY. Each station will be a FT450
with an Acom 1010 using Micro Ham and PC.
The Camb-Hams are the social side of the Cambridgeshire Repeater Group
and the third annual DXpedition will be from 1 to 15 May on the Isle of
Harris, which is IOTA reference EU-010. They plan HF using voice and
data, 6m, 4m and VHF/UHF satellite operation. Experienced IOTA
DXpeditioner Martin Atherton, G3ZAY, will be joining the trip. More
information can be found at http://dx.camb-hams.com.
Geoff, M5GAC and his wife will operate as MM5GAC/P from Skye from 8 to
22 May. They will probably be active early mornings and late evenings on
80 and 40, and on 20 at times during the day.
Now the contest news
On 27 April, the 50MHz UK Activity Contest & Club Championship takes
place between 1900 and 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal
report, serial report and locator.
On Saturday 1 May the 432MHz Trophy Contest and the 432MHz to 248GHz
contest start simultaneously at 1400UTC. The 432MHz Trophy Contest ends
at 2200, while the 432MHz to 248GHz Contest continues for 24 hours. The
exchange in both events is the same, signal report, serial number and
locator.
The first international contest in May is the ARI International DX on
1st and 2nd between 2000 and 2000UTC. Work anyone on CW, SSB or RTTY and
give them RS(T) and a serial number. Expect Italians to give you a
2-letter Province code instead of the serial.
Now the solar factual data for the period from the 12th to the 18th of
April, compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS on the 19th of April.
The latest smoothed monthly sunspot numbers are available and are for
July, August and September 2009 and are 3.6, 4.8 and 6.1 respectively.
Only one small sunspot group was visible until the 14th then the solar
disc became spotless for the rest of the period. Solar activity was very
low.
Several coronal mass ejections could be seen from over the west limb but
they were not Earth directed. Solar flux levels remained steady at 75
units except for the 17th which was 74. The 90 day solar flux average on
the 18th was 82 units. That's one unit down on last week.
X-ray flux levels varied little day to day and averaged A2.5 units.
Geomagnetic activity started at 'active' levels with an Ap index of 22
units on the 12th. The disturbance was probably due to a coronal mass
ejection from the 8th. The remainder of the period was quiet and the
average was Ap 7 units.
Solar wind data from the ACE spacecraft saw increase from 360 kilometres
per second to 530 by the 15th. Particle densities were low except for a
brief increase to 16 particles per cubic centimetre during the afternoon
of the 16th. Bz varied between minus 11 and plus 7 nanoTeslas on the
12th and between minus 4 and plus 5 nanoTeslas on the quiet days.
One of the biggest news stories of the past week was the volcanic
explosion in Iceland. Some listeners have wondered whether this carried
any implications for radio propagation. The provisional answer is that,
while many places have enjoyed spectacular sunsets, as yet no
radio-related reports have come to hand. On balance, it seems unlikely
that any will. But if there were to be any they seem most likely to
occur at UHF.
And finally the solar forecast. This week solar activity is expected to
be very low with only a small chance of a C class solar flare taking
place, providing that no new large sunspot group emerges, as sometimes
happen. Solar flux levels are expected to be in the high 70's for most
of the week.
Geomagnetic activity should be quiet everyday. MUFs during daylight
hours at equal latitudes should be around 20MHz for the south and 17MHz
for the north.
Darkness hour lows are expected to be around 10MHz. Paths this week to
Australia should have a maximum usable frequency with a 50 per cent
success rate well be about 21MHz. The optimum working frequency with a
90 per cent success rate will be around 17MHz. The best time to try this
path will be between 0700 and 1100 hours.
And that's all for this week from the propagation team....
and for this Main news packet bulletin
-----------------------------------------------------
73
Trev,
SysOp gb7fcr.#16.gbr.eu
E-Mail trev@gb7fcr.co.uk
Packet Radio <-> InterNet Gateway
RF & Telnet access
BBS Web Site http://www.gb7fcr.co.uk
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