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G4TNU > NEWS 05.01.11 18:32l 173 Lines 8519 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 09 Jan
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday 9th January 2011
The news headlines:
* RSGB Questionnaires being analysed
* New look for UK repeater website
* Has your local radio club entered the Club of the Year competition?
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.
The RSGB Questionnaire on the status of amateur radio within the UK
closed on 31 December 2010. Over 3,000 responses were completed, well
in excess of expectations, so the Society is very grateful for those
who gave their time to have a go at the Questionnaire. It was
particularly good to get feedback from several hundred lapsed members
as well as a sizeable number of people who had never joined the
Society. The analysis task has now started. Whilst there are some
statistics that can be established quickly and easily some of the
data, particularly the textual comments will take many hours to
gather, categorise and collate. The timetable for the analysis is to
complete the analysis by the summer so that the key findings can
influence our longer-term planning for the Society.
The UK repeater website been given a fresh look for the New Year,
making it easier to find information. There are improved search
facilities with separate database and document searching. The
document search gives a more effective search of previous committee
minutes and other reference material, while the database search
allows for searching various repeater data fields for example keeper
callsign, frequency, channel and mode. The site lists all UK FM,
D-Star and ATV repeaters. A new RSS news feed and Twitter are now
available. See www.ukrepeater.net.
The search for the 2010 RSGB Club of the Year, sponsored by Waters
and Stanton, is well underway. Entries for the Regional heats have to
be submitted to your Regional Manager by midnight on 25 January. All
the Regional winners then go forward to the National final, the
winner of which receives a cash prize of GBP 1,000 and a trophy.
Entry forms can be found at www.rsgb.org/cluboftheyear.
GB3JB, the 2m repeater located on the borders of Wiltshire, Somerset
and Dorset, was powered by wind and solar power. The solar panel has
been stolen from the site and so GB3JB was switched off on 3 January.
The repeater keeper will be checking the site for damage to the
batteries or the wind turbine.
Advance notice now. The usual date for International Marconi Day in
2011 would have fallen on the Easter Weekend, so the organisers have
changed the date to Saturday 30 April. Details of events will appear
on the website www.gb4imd.org.uk in due course.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
The first rallies of 2011 will be on 16 January.
Dover Radio Rally will be held at Whitfield Village Hall, Dover
CT16 3LY which is on the A2 just outside of Dover. The event was
revived last year and was such a success that they have hired extra
space for the rally this year. The focus will be on radio related
items not other electronic bits and bobs. The website
www.doverradiorally.com has all the usual information required.
The Red Rose Winter Rally will be held at the George H Carnall
Leisure Centre, Kingsway Park, M41 7FJ. There is free car parking
available and doors open at 11am. There will be trade stands, a Bring
and Buy as well as an RSGB bookstall. Details from Steve on
07502 295 141.
Now for the news of special events
Midland Amateur Radio Society is celebrating the club's 80th
anniversary. The special event station GB8OTH will be active each
Wednesday between 7 and 9pm throughout January.
And now the HF DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources
Cezar, VE3LYC and Johan, PA3EXX will attempt a very challenging
expedition to the Wollaston Islands and Diego Ramirez Islands between
7 and 22 January. The plan is to operate for four days from each
group. However, weather and sea conditions can significantly
influence this schedule.
Francis, F6BLP will be on holiday in Senegal from 8 to 21 January and
will take the opportunity to get on the air as 6W7SK. QSLs go via the
home call and also via Logbook of the World.
Eddy ON4AFU will be in Thailand for the next three months and will
activate HS0ZJF. While there he hopes to do some island trips and
operate as HS0ZJF/8 from IOTA AS-101 and as HS0ZJF/9 from IOTA AS-126.
Now the contest news
Today, 9 January, the CW AFS contest takes place from 1400 to 1800UTC
on the 3.5MHz band. This event counts towards the new AFS Super
league. Expect the competition to be tough in this one, but expect
the competition to be even tougher in SSB AFS on Saturday 15th. The
exchange on the 9th is signal report and serial number.
The 432MHz UK Activity Contest takes place on 11 January from 2000 to
2230UTC. Using all modes on the band the exchange is signal report,
serial number and locator.
One of the 80m Club Championships SSB events takes place on 12
January between 2000 and 2130UTC. Remember the maximum power allowed
in Club Champs is 100 watts, but for Foundation licensees and those
who enjoy low power operation there's also a 10 watt category. The
exchange is signal report and serial number.
Saturday 15 January sees the SSB AFS contest taking place between
1400 and 1800UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number.
And now the solar forecast. This week we mainly take a look at the
coming year, but first a very brief look at conditions over the
Christmas and New Year period, compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS on the
4th of January.
Solar activity was very low and the geomagnetic field was mostly
quiet over the Christmas and New Year period. The solar disc was
spotless on some days and on others several sunspot groups were
visible. This will be typical for the coming year. At times the solar
disc will be spotless. However, these days will be few and far
between, but when they do occur several spotless days could take
place consecutively. Solar activity will be predominately very low
but on occasions will increase to moderate levels. No X class solar
flares have taken place so far during this sunspot cycle but there is
a good chance that this will be rectified later in the year as the
larger sunspot groups become more complex and active. Solar flux
levels should vary between the 80's and, at times, up to the 120's.
The 90 day solar flux average should continue to rise steadily and by
the end of the year to around the one hundred mark. Geomagnetic
activity will be at quiet levels on most days. Coronal hole
disturbances will diminish as the year goes on. Therefore, most of
any magnetic storms will result from coronal mass ejections. These
type of storms tend to be larger than coronal hole type disturbances,
but do not repeat month after month every 27 or 28 days.
So how will all this effect propagation? In general, HF conditions
will gradually improve but will have to wait until after the summer
months and into next autumn to witness a real improvement. By then
28MHz should be open to most continents on a regular basis. Remember
that the F2 maximum usable frequencies are not as high in the summer
as they are during the winter months. Also, during the summer months,
the daily highs take place during the evening unlike the winter
months that occur around local noon. The summer Sporadic-E season
normally take place from the end of April to the middle to late
August. Even though it takes place at any time during the day and
occasionally at night, the most favoured times are mid-morning and
again in the early evening. Higher up in frequency, at the VHF part
of the spectrum, the usual well forecasted meteor showers will take
place. Any prolonged weather patterns with a high pressure over the
UK then tropospheric propagation can be expected to take place and
including the UHF bands. Obviously, these can not be predicted weeks
or months in advance but some of the largest and intense openings
have occurred during the autumn.
And that's all for this week from the propagation team.
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 gb2rs<at>rsgb.org.uk to arrive by
09:00 on the Tuesday before transmission.
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