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G4TNU > NEWS 02.02.11 18:41l 256 Lines 12926 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 06 Feb
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday 6th February 2011
The news headlines:
* Kuwaiti amateurs to use special prefix
* Medium wave tests from the US
* Canada Games special prefix
Look for amateur radio operators in Kuwait using the special prefix
9K50 until 28 February. Activity is to celebrate the 50th anniversary
of Kuwait's independence. Also, 9K50NLD will be on the air between 24
and 28 February. Activity will be from the members of the Kuwait
Amateur Radio Society.
If you are an SWL or an amateur with a good medium wave receiver, on
Saturday 12 February at 0700 and 0800UTC, radio station KHMO on
1070kHz in Missouri will conduct a DX test for SWLs worldwide. The
test will be with Morse code, sweep tones and voice announcements.
Transmissions will be made for five minutes at 0700 at 5kW into the
station's three-tower, day antenna pattern. At 0800 they will transit
the same material at 1kW using the six-tower, night time pattern.
Then from 0900 to 1000UTC, WLIQ on 1530kHz in Illinois will conduct a
DX test of its own. WLIQ will test for twenty minutes using Morse
code, sweep tones, voice announcement, special music, sound bites and
the like at its 1.4kW, non-directional, day power. Then WLIQ will
test for twenty minutes at 290W non-directional, critical hours
power. Finally, for the last twenty minutes of the hour, they will
test at 3W, non-directional, night power. If you would like to
receive a QSL you can send a written report, or a cassette or CD to
the Chief Engineer of these stations by following the rules and
sending reports to Gary Glaenzer, c/o the name of the station whose
DX test your are reporting, 325 East Douglas Avenue, Jacksonville,
Illinois 62650. For more information, type KHMO February DX tests
into your favourite search engine.
Amateur radio operators in the Province of Nova Scotia will be
permitted to use special prefixes CJ1 and CK1 throughout the month of
February to celebrate the 2011 Canada Games to be held in Halifax.
VA1 stations will be allowed to use the special prefix CJ1, while VE1
stations will use the special prefix CK1.
The BBC has confirmed plans to close five of its 32 World Service
language services. The Macedonian, Albanian and Serbian services will
be axed, as will English for the Caribbean and Portuguese for Africa.
The World Service will also cease short wave transmission of six more
services in March 2011, these will be Hindi, Indonesian, Kyrgyz,
Nepali, Swahili and the Great Lakes service for Rwanda and Burundi.
The T32C Five Star DXers Association DXpedition to Kiritimati in the
Northern Line Islands between 28 September and 26 October has
announced the winner of the sponsored young operator position with
the team. Michael Zurch, DG1CMZ is an experienced contest and
DXpedition operator and is currently working towards a PhD at the
University of Jena.
Amateur radio repeaters GB3NL and GB3LV, both located in north
London, have been returned to service after a brief outage. The two
repeaters, which are co-sited at Enfield Civic Centre, had been off
air following a power outage in Enfield. IRLP node 5600 and Echolink
node 155403, which both operate via GB3LV on 70cm, are also working
again.
The ARISSat-1 space craft has been mounted in the Progress vehicle at
Baikonur and the hatch is now sealed. Due to the newly announced
launch date of shuttle flight STS-133, the space walk to deploy
ARISSat-1 has been moved up to 16 February.
As part of the Midland Amateur Radio Society's 80th anniversary
celebration, an award is being issued to amateurs who work/hear a
certain number of MARS members during 2011. Full details on QRZ.COM
under GX3MAR.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
The 26th Canvey Radio & Electronics Rally will take place today, 6
February, at The Paddocks, Long Road, Canvey Island, Essex SS8 0JA.
This is at the southern end of the A130. There is free car parking
and the doors open at 10.30. Admission to the rally is GBP 2 and
refreshments will be available. More details from Dave, G4UVJ, on
01268 697 978 in the evenings.
Also today, 6 February, the Radio-Active Rally will be held in the
Civic Hall, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 5DG. Doors open at 10.30am and
there will be a Bring & Buy. More details from Simon Chettle G8ATB,
on 01270 841506.
Ballymena Amateur Radio Club will be holding its annual Winter Bring
and Buy sale on Friday 11 February from 6.30pm onwards at the
Ahoghill Community Centre, same hall as last year. For directions and
map go to http://GI3FFF.synthasite.com or for any other information
contact Hugh Kernohan, GI0JEV, on 0282 587 1481.
The Harwell Radio and Electronics Rally will take place on 13
February at Didcot Leisure Centre, Mereland Road, Didcot OX11 8AY.
Talk in will be on S22 and car parking is free. Entrance is GBP 2.50
and accompanied under 12s are free. Doors open at 10.30am and there
will be trade stands, special interest groups and refreshments
available. Details from Ann, G8NVI on 01235 816379.
The Northern Cross Rally returns to its former home at Thornes Park
Sports Centre, Horbury Road, Wakefield, WF2 8TY on Sunday 13
February. There is plenty of parking, an RSGB Bookstall and all the
usual traders. There will also be several club and group stands.
Refreshments are available on site at reasonable prices and admission
is GBP 3. Doors open at 10.30am with disabled access from 10.15.
Bring & Buy Booking In is also from 1015. More information from
www.northerncrossrally.org or contact Ken Quinn, 2E0SSQ on
07 900 563 117.
Now for the news of special events
GB1OOD, Golf Bravo 1 Oscar Oscar Delta, has been issued as a special
event callsign by Ofcom for all of 2011. It will be used throughout
the year to celebrate the 100 years of the Derby Wireless Club, the
oldest continually active local wireless club, now incorporated
within Derby and District Amateur Radio Society. Until 25 March the
station will be operating from the Silk Mill Museum located in the
City Centre of Derby alongside the River Derwent. The station will
have restricted operation due to the museums opening hours and so
will be on the air mostly at weekends. QSL information as on QRZ.Com.
North Cork Radio Group will be active using the call EI1NC/P on 19
and 20 February from the Blackrock Castle Observatory. Operations
will be from 1000 to 1700UTC both days. The venue is a 16th century
castle, located 4km from the heart of Cork city on the banks of the
river Lee. The Castle has seen many uses in its long history and now
houses an observatory.
And now the HF DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources
IK1PMR and PA3LEO are now operational portable EA8 from the Canary
Islands. They will be there until 8 March but their activity on the
air will be holiday style on 160 through 6 meters. QSL via PA3LEO or
Logbook of the World.
Andrew, G7COD, a member of the Yorkshire Dales Contest Group will be
operational every day from Embudu Island in Kaafu Atoll the Maldives,
which is IOTA AS-013, using the call 8Q7AK until 18 February. He will
be using SSB and CW on the 80 to 10 metre bands including WARC
frequencies. For comprehensive details of operating times, suggested
frequencies and QSL information etc, please check 8Q7AK on QRZ.COM
and www.8q7ak.freewebspace.com.
Look for 3B8/SP2JMB and 3B8/SP2FUD from the Island of Mauritius until
24 February. They will be operational using CW, SSB and RTTY. From 18
to 22 February they plan to do a side trip to Rodrigues Island, which
is IOTA AF-017, where the prefix in their calls will change to 3B9.
During a holiday in the Dominican Republic, Claudio, HB9OAU plans to
operate as HI7/ HB9OAU until 18 February. If he can manage one-day
trips to some of the offshore islands he will put on HI2/HB9OAU from
IOTA NA-122.
Now the contest news
The 70cm AFS contest takes place today, Sunday 6 February, between
0900 and 1300UTC. During the first decade of the 2000s this contest
generally attracted about 30 entries per year, but in 2010
participation surged to 63. Now that it is the final match in the new
Super League series, it will be interesting to discover what effect
that has on participation. Using all modes, the exchange is signal
report, serial number and locator.
February is the second month of the 2011 80m Club Championship
series. As is traditional, the mode sequence is rotated each month,
so this month we have SSB on the 7th between 2000 and 2130UTC. The
exchange is signal report and serial number.
The 432MHz UK Activity Contest takes place on 8 February from 2000 to
2230UTC. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number
and locator.
The First 1.8MHz Contest takes place for four hours on the evening of
the 12th between 2100 and 0100UTC on the 13th. This used to be a
CW-only event, but it now contains CW, SSB and mixed mode sections.
Exchange a signal report, serial number and District code, which are
the first two letters of your postcode. Postcodes that begin with a
single letter, for example S for Sheffield are padded out to two
letters. A full list of District codes can be found in the RSGB
Yearbook or on the Contest Committee website.
Over the full 48 hours of the weekend of 12-13th the CQWW WPX RTTY
contest will keep the data portions of the bands busy. Exchange a
signal report and serial number. Multi-two and multi-multi entrants
use separate serial number sequences per band, while all others use
just the one. In parallel with it the CW and SSB portions of the
bands will also be busy, because the PACC (VERON) contest takes place
for 24 hours. Send a signal report and serial number, but expect to
receive a report and a 2-letter Province code from Dutch stations.
And now the solar factual data for the period from the 24th to the
30th of January, compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS on the 31st of
January.
The latest smoothed monthly sunspot numbers are available and for
April, May and June 2010 are 14, 15.5 and 16.4 respectively.
This week, solar activity increased to moderate levels when a rather
unexpected M1 solar flare took place on the 28th. A sunspot group
that produced a C1 solar flare on the 24th rotated out of view on the
28th, in the process it produced the first M class solar flare since
the 6th of November last year. In total, five C class solar flares
took place during the period. Solar flux levels remained almost
stationary at 81 units every day except for the 26th, which only
declined one unit, and the 30th when it increased to 83. The 90 day
solar flux average on the 30th was yet again at 84 units. X-ray flux
levels showed little variation day to day and averaged A6.6 units.
Geomagnetic activity was very quiet every day, the highest daily
figure was only Ap 4 units. The average was Ap 3 units. So far in
January, up to the 30th, there was only one day when the Ap index was
in double figures, that was the 7th with an Ap index of 11 units.
Solar wind data from the ACE spacecraft saw solar wind speeds decline
from 410 kilometres per second on the 24th to a very slow 270
kilometres per second by the 30th. Particle densities were low except
for a brief increase to 17 particles per cubic centimetre on the 25th
and another brief increase to 15 particles per cubic centimetre on
the 28th. As a result of a quiet magnetic field Bz showed only modest
variations of no more than minus and plus 6 nanoTeslas throughout the
period.
And now the solar forecast. This week solar activity is expected to
be at very low levels. There is a chance however that activity could
increase to low on the odd day. Solar flux levels should be around
the 80 mark or slightly above for most of the week. Geomagnetic
activity is expected to be quiet every day. MUFs during daylight
hours at equal latitudes should be around 23MHz for the south and
20MHz for the north. Darkness hour lows should be about 8MHz. Paths
this week to the west coast of North America and California should
have a maximum usable frequency with a 50 per cent success rate of
around 17MHz. The optimum working frequency with a 90 per cent
success rate will be about 13MHz. The best time to try this path will
be between 1600 and 1800 hours. This is a difficult path to work with
the path getting close to the polar region and subject to
attenuation. You may find that the path does not open at all on some
days.
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
10:00 on the Tuesday before transmission.
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