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G4TNU > NEWS 25.08.11 08:41l 269 Lines 14504 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday 28th August 2011
The news headlines:
* RSGB SSB Field Day preparations
* 23rd IARU Region 1 Conference details announced
* Region 1 amateurs asked to be aware of emergency traffic
The first contest in September is a big and popular one, namely RSGB
SSB Field Day. SSB Field Day was very much introduced to be a club
event and can form a great introduction to SSB contesting for your
club's newcomers, or an opportunity for some of the operators who
have slogged away on 80m during the club championships to make some
DX contacts on the HF bands. Because HF and LF contesting is quite
different in terms of the openings that you can experience, SSB Field
Day is a super way to introduce people to the fun of HF Contest
operating. With Open and Restricted sections, it runs for 24 hours
next weekend, 3 and 4 September. If you want to give some points away
from home, it's a quick-fire exchange of signal report and serial
number. Participants will find it useful to have a suitable number
ready to give Asian stations that are taking part in the All Asian DX
Contest. The Asians will be looking for your age, rather than a
serial number, YL ops may give ‘00'.
During the 22nd General Conference of IARU Region 1, held last week
in South Africa, a new Executive Committee was elected to serve for
the next three years. The committee includes RSGB past President
Colin Thomas, G3PSM. Also announced at the conference were details of
the 23rd General Conference of IARU Region 1. It will be hosted by
the Bulgarian Federation of Radio Amateurs in Varna on the Black Sea
in September 2014.
The activation of the American Hurricane Watch Net on 22 August in
response to Hurricane Irene is a reminder that amateur radio
continues to play a part in gathering and distributing information
for the weather and emergency services each year. Radio amateurs in
Region 1 are reminded that certain frequencies may be in use by nets
in North and Central America to track and deal with the consequences
of these severe weather events. It is possible for Region 1 amateurs
to cause unintentional QRM to these nets so please listen carefully
if operating near 14.300MHz, 14.325MHz and 14.265MHz. Frequencies
used in Cuba are 3.740, 7.045, 7.080 and 7.110MHz. Frequencies used
in Central America are 3.690, 3.750, 7.060, 7.075, 7.090 and
7.098MHz. Local emergency communications groups may also activate if
a hurricane approaches their area and those frequencies would be
announced at the time.
In August, Mario Lorenz, DL5MLO, from AMSAT-DL gave a presentation on
amateur radio space communications as part of the Hacker Space
Program track at the Chaos Communication Camp 2011. The 5 day event,
held near Berlin, Germany, attracted hackers and makers from across
Europe. Building amateur radio satellites has always been challenging
and involves using technology in creative ways, so has great appeal
to the hacker community. Mario's talk was entitled, From OSCAR 1 to
Mars and beyond - Amateur Space Exploration – The last 50 years,
Now, and the Future. An hour long video of the talk, in English, is
now available on the web at http://tinyurl.com/ChaosCommsAMSAT.
Six News, the quarterly magazine from the United Kingdom Six Metre
Group is now available in three electronic formats. It has been
available in pdf format for several years but now each issue is also
published in both epub and mobi format, which are compatible with
mobile devices including Kindle. The hard copy magazine is still
posted to members but a new Internet Only discounted membership with
access to download Six News in all file formats is available at
GBP 10 per annum. Six News contains a plethora of information for
anyone interested in 50MHz with articles on antenna design,
propagation, equipment, operating, DXpeditions, data modes, EME and
detailed band reports. Details are on the internet at
http://uksmg.org.
The Dutch National Amateur Radio Society headquarters station PI4AA
is now a part of that nation's RTVS Media broadcasting. The amateur
radio report airs every last Tuesday of the month from 8 to 9pm local
Netherlands time. The broadcast area is south-east and east area of
Holland on terrestrial stations 105.3 and 107.8MHz FM. Listeners
outside of The Netherlands can tune in on the web at
tinyurl.com/dutch-hamcast.
Castles And Stately Homes On The Air will be holding a UK and Ireland
Heritage event during the month of September 2011 to coincide with
the European Heritage Month. This is an opportunity to access
locations which may previously have been inaccessible or closed to
the public. For more information on regional dates and opening go to
www.cashota.co.uk. The dates have been set for Castles And Stately
Homes On The Air annual Castles weekend in 2012. The event will be
held over 2 weekends on 18-19 May and 25-26 May. The organisers
would like to invite both last year's participants and any new
activators to apply to be an award station. More details can be found
at www.cashota.co.uk, or by contacting Chris, M0DOL on 0772 058 0968.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
Milton Keynes ARS Rally takes place today, 28 August, at Bletchley
Park, Sherwood Drive, Bletchley, Milton Keynes MK3 6EB. There will be
trade stands, special interest groups and GB2BP will be on the air.
Why not make this a family day and visit the Bletchley Park museum
too? More details can be seen at www.mkars.org.uk.
On bank holiday Monday, 29 August, Huntingdonshire ARS Rally takes
place at St Neots Community College, Barford Rd, St Neots PE19 2SH.
Doors open at 10am and admission is GBP 2. There will be trade
stands, a car boot sale, a Bring & Buy and RSGB bookstall. Contact
Clive Burchell, G3NKQ on 01480 810473 for more information.
Next Sunday, 4 September, the Telford Hamfest is taking place at the
Enginuity Museum, Coalbrookdale, Telford, TF8 7DU. Doors will open at
10.30am and the usual traders will be present. The organisers have a
large number of radio valves for sale. The Bring & Buy will be
operating as usual. This year the lecturer will be Roger G4ROJ, with
his fascinating talk and demonstration of kites and balloons used as
antenna supports. There are two sessions, 11am & 1pm. There is
limited seating so be early. The organisers recommend that, if you
come to the Hamfest from the North, East or West, use the M54 and
leave it at Junction 6. Enginuity is just 7 minutes from there. From
the South, via Much Wenlock, take the Telford road. Turn off right
for Ironbridge and then left up the hill to Coalbrookdale.
Now for the news of special events
Due to an administrative error, the table of special event stations
in the September RadCom contains details for August. A corrected
version is on the RadCom Plus website at www.rsgb.org/radcomplus. The
editorial team apologises for this error.
On the Isle of Wight, Brickfields Amateur Radio Society will be
operating GB4AC at Wolverton Manor, helping to support the charity
Age Concern on Saturday 3 September and Sunday 4 September. Contact
with GB4AC gives a point for CASHOTA G155, The Isle of Wight County
Award, IOTA EU120 and WAB square SZ48.
On 3 and 4 September, the Radio club of Binche will activate the
special event station ON4WAR to commemorate the Belgian Resistance
during WWII. Operation will be from 9am to 6pm local time on Saturday
3 September and from 8am to 4pm on the Sunday. QSL via ON7RY, either
direct or via the bureau. More details are available at www.on7ry.be.
Throughout September, Preston ARS will put GB4BOB Battle of Britain
on the air operating from the club shack. Then, on 3 September, GB0PH
will be on the air for Pontefract Heritage, operating from Pontefract
Castle. On 4 September GB4CON will be on the air from the Festival
<at> The Farm at Farmer Copleys, Ravensknowle Farm. This is a fun day
with many attractions.
And now the HF DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources
The 4W6A Timor-Leste DXpedition is now less than one month away. Top
Band operators will be pleased to hear that the team now has a
Titanex V160E vertical antenna for use on 160m that is 87ft, or 26.5m
high. Listen out for 4W6A from 16 to 26 September.
OK1XD will be active from Lichtenstein portable HB0 between 1 and 10
September. Operation will be holiday style on 10m through to 80m
using mainly RTTY and PSK31, with some SSB and CW. QSL via his home
callsign, either direct or via the bureau.
I2KRR is a volunteer technical support person to the Catholic mission
in Vanimo and will be active as P29FR in Papua New Guinea until March
of 2012. He operates on 40, 20 and 15m SSB with his time on the air
limited to the local evenings, plus Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
QSL without any IRCs to I2RFJ, either direct or by the Bureau.
George, K3GV, will be active as K3GV/VY2 from Prince Edward Island
between 1 and 30 September. Activity will be mainly on 20 and 15m.
QSL via his home callsign.
Now the contest news
The IRTS 2m Counties Contest takes place today, 28 August, from 1300
to 1500 using both FM and SSB. For stations outside EI/GI, work EIs
and GIs only, giving them a signal report and serial number. In
return you can expect to receive a signal report, serial number and
County. There are awards for the highest entrant from outside EI in
each section. This often results in them going to GI, but not always
– indeed, some sections often have no entries from outside EI. For
a list of the 32 Irish counties, see EI8IC's website at
www.mapability.com/ei8ic/contest/eicounty.php.
On 3 September the Bulgarian LZ Open Club has organised a Simulated
Emergency Situation Contest. The aim is to improve the ability of the
amateur radio operators to act independently in case of distress or
natural disasters. The contest simulates what happens when the
conventional communications and power mains are broken and there is
an immediate need of exchange of information between the place of the
disaster and the outside world. The rules are published on
http://lzopen.com/lzopenfield20/index.htm. Everybody is invited to
participate.
Next weekend, 3 and 4 September, the RSGB SSB Field Day takes place
from 1300 to 1300UTC. Operation is on all bands from 3.5 to 28MHz;
the exchange is signal report and serial number.
The 144MHz trophy also runs for 24 hours over the weekend 3 and 4
September, from 1400 to 1400UTC. There are five sections to choose
between, depending on how much time you can devote, whether you're at
home or away, and single- or multi-op. The last three hours of the
144MHz Trophy coincides with the first three hours of the fifth and
final 144MHz Backpackers' Contest, which continues for one hour
afterwards. In the Backpackers' there are 10 watt ‘Hilltopper' and
3 watt ‘Backpacker' sections. Those who operate from – or use
power from – a vehicle, can only enter the Hilltopper section. For
those unfamiliar with backpacker contesting, there are antenna and
height restrictions in both sections.
And now the solar factual data for the period from the 15th to the
21st of August, compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS on the 22nd August.
First this week the latest smoothed monthly sunspot numbers which are
for November, December 2010 and January 2011. These are 26.5, 28.8
and 31.0 respectively.
After the spotless day on the 14th, sunspot groups started to appear
the following day and again on the 16th. Both these regions produced
low strength C class solar flares. On the 20th a further group
appeared, this was the return of old region 1260 which produced one M
class solar flare on its last rotation. So far this group has
remained small and quiet. Solar flux levels increased steadily from
90 units on the 15th to 101 by the 20th and 21st. The average was 97
units. The 90 day solar flux average on the 21st was 96, that's the
same level as last week. X-ray flux levels varied little day to day
and averaged B2.1 units. On the 15th, geomagnetic activity was
slightly unsettled due to a recurring coronal hole. The remaining
days were quiet and the average was Ap 6 units. Solar wind data from
the ACE spacecraft saw solar wind speeds decline from 650 kilometres
per second on the 16th to 320 by the 20th and 21st. Particle
densities were low every day. Bz varied between minus 7 and plus 6
nanoTeslas on the 15th, which was the most disturbed day, and between
minus 3 and plus 4 nanoTeslas on the quietest day. The 19th saw some
good Sporadic-E with an opening to the UK on 144MHz.
And now the solar forecast. A lot will depend this week on how active
the returning sunspot groups are. Solar activity could be at moderate
levels on some days but only very low to low if the sunspot groups
are quiet. Likewise, solar flux levels could be as high as 120 units
or as low as around the 100 mark with a quiet Sun. Either way a
slight decline should take place towards next weekend. As always,
almost anyway, geomagnetic activity is much easier to forecast. The
coming week is expected to see a modest rise in activity towards next
weekend as a recurring coronal hole takes effect. MUFs during
daylight hours at equal latitudes should be around 22MHz for the
south and 19MHz for the north. Darkness hour lows should be about
11MHz. Paths this week to India should have a maximum usable
frequency with a 50% success rate of around 23MHz. The optimum
working frequency with a 90% success rate will be about 18MHz. The
best time to try this path will be between 1200 and 1700UTC.
Sporadic-E is still possible on some days, but as every year the end
of August signals the end of the summer sporadic-E season. Occasional
openings can still take place on the odd days up to the end of
October but no more forecasts will be made in this report. Remember
though, there is a short but reliable winter season that takes place
around the Christmas and New Year period.
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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