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G4TNU > NEWS 17.12.12 11:21l 218 Lines 10944 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 16 Dec 2012
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday 16th December 2012
The news headlines:
* GB2RS News during the holiday season
* Bath Buildathon 2013
* Two new national societies join IARU
This is the last GB2RS broadcast of 2012. There will be no news
readings on 23 or 30 December. But we will be back in the New Year,
bringing you the all the latest amateur radio news. Transmissions
re-start on Sunday 6 January. We would like to take this opportunity
to send warm season's greetings to all our listeners and wish
everyone a prosperous New Year. The RSGB HQ will close for the
Christmas and New Year holiday at close of business on 21 December.
It will re-open on 2 January. You will be pleased to know that the
National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park will continue to be open on
Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout December and January. We
would like to thank those volunteers who continue to give their free
time to keep the NRC open and on the air.
The 6th Bath Buildathon will take place on Saturday 12 January. The
event will run from 9am to 5pm. Tea and coffee, supervision, tools
and test equipment will be provided, but bring your own packed lunch.
There is just one, or maybe two, places left for the main build, the
40m Sudden Receiver kit from the G-QRP Club, and several places for
the ‘absolute beginner' build, a medium wave receiver kit. Both are
suitable for the Intermediate project assessment and the team will be
running an Intermediate exam at the end of the day. The exam is open
to anyone who has completed the practical assessments, or would
finish them by doing the Buildathon. As a result of a generous
donation, there are a few free places for young builders (under 18).
Send an email nominating worthy youngsters to Steve Hartley via
G0FUW<at>tiscali.co.uk. Steve can also supply booking forms for the
Buildathon from the same email address.
The Federation of Radio Sport of Azerbaijan and the St Vincent and
the Grenadines Amateur Radio Club, with 50 and 21 members
respectively, are the two newest members of the International Amateur
Radio Union. The IARU now has 164 members.
Following the recent news from Ofcom concerning 5MHz changes, the
Autumn/Winter edition of The 5MHz Newsletter is now available in
Google Drive Docs at http://tinyurl.com/cu3s3hx. This edition also
includes latest news on the WRC15 5MHz Agenda item preparations, a
Short Coaxial Antenna design for the band from John Pegler, G3ENI and
the 5MHz beacon spot this time features GB3RAL.
The 2012 edition of the ITU Radio Regulations, which includes the
results of WRC-12, is now available at
www.itu.int/pub/R-REG-RR-2012/en. The electronic version is free of
charge, at least until mid-2014 as per ITU Council 2012's decision.
You have to pay for the paper or DVD versions.
The January 2013 RadCom includes an article on a folding Yagi antenna
for 2m. Unfortunately, due to an editorial error, the dimensions
shown in the article are incorrect. A corrected version will be put
on the RadCom Plus website as soon as possible and the corrections
will also appear in the February RadCom.
Each year on 18 April, radio amateurs around the world celebrate
World Amateur Radio Day. On that day in 1925 the International
Amateur Radio Union was founded. In 1913, the first recorded instance
of amateur radio being used to provide communications in a natural
disaster, during severe flooding in the Midwest of the United States.
Accordingly, the theme of the event for 2013 is Amateur Radio:
Entering Its Second Century of Disaster Communications. Activities on
the occasion of World Amateur Radio Day 2013 can be a great
opportunity to spread the word about what amateurs are doing in the
field of disaster communications in the 21st Century.
Peter Martinez, G3PLX is among those to receive the Yasme Excellence
Award, given to those who have made a significant contribution to
amateur radio. Peter, along with Pawel Jalocha, SP9VRC, received the
award for the development of PSK31, a widely used digital mode
entirely invented by amateurs that is enabling many amateurs to
successfully use HF with very modest stations.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
There are no more rallies taking place this year. The first rally of
2013 is the Red Rose Winter Rally on 13 January in the George H
Carnell Leisure Centre.
Now for the news of special events
Ian, M0IAA will be operating GB1WH until 18 December. The station is
on the air to raise awareness and funds for Wakefield hospital. Ian
is hoping to work as many stations as possible. More details are on
qrz.com.
Now for a special event station with a sense of humour. According to
one of the three Mayan Calendars, the End of the World will occur on
21 December 2012. To celebrate this literally once in a lifetime
event, Special Event Station N0D, Now Zero Days, will be activated
for three days starting on 20 December. More information is available
on the official N0D website, www.nowzerodays.com.
And now the DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources
DD0VR and DE3BWR will be active from Vietnam until 4 January as
XV0VR. During their stay they also plan to operate from Cat Ba
Island, IOTA reference AS-132, from 18 to 20 December and Phu Quoc
Island, IOTA reference AS-12, from 30 December until 2 January. QSL
these operations via DD0VR.
ZS6RI will be active from Lesotho for 20 weeks beginning on 17
December using the call 7P8RI. Operations will be on all HF bands
using CW, SSB and the digital modes. QSL via details are at QRZ.com.
Ralph, H44RK will be active as 5W0KR from Apia, Samoa, IOTA reference
OC-097, until 1 March. He will operate SSB and digital modes on the
10 to 20 metre bands. QSL via NR6M.
Norman, 5B4AIF will be active as E51E from Aitutaki, IOTA reference
OC-083, South Cook Islands until 5 January. He will operate SSB and
RTTY, and possibily some QRS CW, on the 6 to 160 metre bands. QSL via
EB7DX and LoTW.
Now the contest news
18 December sees the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest takes place from 2000
to 2230UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial
number and locator.
The Christmas Cumulatives take place between 26 and 29 December on
the 6m to 70cm bands. To do well in this you'll need to be agile and
alert, because to work as many as you can in two hours you need to
keep hopping between the four bands. Running from 1400 to 1600UTC
each day, you can use all modes. The exchange is signal report,
serial number and locator.
On 1 January the 144MHz UK Activity Contest takes place between 2000
and 2230UTC. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial
number and locator.
The IRTS 80m Counties Contest takes place on New Year's Day, and it's
held at a time of day when Ireland is eminently workable from
Britain. It's an SSB-only or CW/SSB event with five sections and
awards for the leading non-EI stations. Multipliers are all 32 Irish
counties. Running from 1400 to 1700UTC the exchange is signal report
and serial number.
The ARRL RTTY Roundup will be making the datamode portions of the HF
bands busy on the weekend of 5 and 6 January. Activity is on all
datamodes. In this event you can work everyone, but bear in mind that
entrants are limited to operating no more than 24 of the 30 hours
that run from 1800 to 2359UTC. There are low- and high-power
categories for single- and multi-operator stations, but no
single-band entries. Entrants are limited to a single transmitter,
irrespective of section. Send a signal report and serial number. US
stations will send a signal report and their 2-letter State code,
while Canadian stations will send a signal report and their 3-letter
Province code.
And now the solar factual data for the period from Friday the 7th to
Thursday the 13th of December compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS on
Friday the 14th of December.
A rather quiet week all round considering the active side of the Sun
was looking our way and solar maximum is approaching. On some days
only two sunspot regions were visible but this increased to four
towards the end of the period. Solar activity was very low on the 8th
and the 11th with no C class solar flares taking place and low on the
rest of the days when only one C class solar flare took place each
day. Solar flux levels increased slightly from 97 units on the 7th to
117 by the 13th. The average was 106 units. The 90 day solar flux
average on the 13th was 119 units, that's one unit down on the
previous week. X-ray flux levels averaged B1.7 units and varied
little day to day. Geomagnetic activity was very low every day. The
most disturbed days were the 9th and the 13th with an Ap index of
only 3 units. The average was Ap 2 units. Solar wind data from the
ACE spacecraft saw solar wind speeds vary between 260 and 340
kilometres per second. Particle densities were low except for a sharp
rise to 80 particles per cubic centimetre early on the 9th. Bz showed
only slight variation every day.
And finally the solar forecast for the coming week. Two ‘active
regions' still on the far side of the Sun which are producing solar
flares are expected to rotate into view. Therefore, this week solar
activity is expected to be at low levels, however, activity could
increase to moderate levels on some days depending on how active
these regions are once they are in view. Solar flux levels could
increase to the 130's. Geomagnetic activity is expected to be mostly
quiet but could increase after midweek. 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. The short but
reliable winter sporadic-E season should take place during the
Christmas and New Year period. This leads me on to thank all the
organisations from where we receive solar data to produce these
weekly reports and to wish them the best of Seasons Greetings. Also,
the Propagation Studies Committee would like to wish all the staff at
RSGB HQ, the GB2RS news readers and the listeners a peaceful
Christmas and best DX for 2013. Finally, for those who would like to
keep up to date with the latest solar events on a daily basis can do
so by typing ‘spots and flares', as one word into your favourite
search engine.
And that's all for this year from the propagation team.
And that's the end of the main news for this week prepared by the
Radio Society of Great Britain.
Please note that there will be no RSGB News for the next two weeks;
the next scheduled bulletin will be for Sunday 6 January 2013. Items
for inclusion in that bulletin can be emailed to gb2rs<at>rsgb.org.uk
to arrive no later than 10:00 on the Tuesday before transmission.
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