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G4APL > NEWS 12.01.20 04:45l 218 Lines 9888 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 12 Jan 2020
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Sent: 200112/0331Z @:GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO #:40223 [Caterham Surrey GBR]
From: G4APL@GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EURO
To : NEWS@EURO
GB2RS Main News for Sunday 12th January 2020
The news headlines:
* First Tunisian licences in 6 decades
* Intruder Watcher DK2OM retires
* IET Wiring Reg changes affect Syllabus
The IARU reports that the first three Authorisations to Operate have
been issued to three Tunisian amateurs. These are the first amateur
permits issued since 1956. 3V8HB, 3V8MN and 3V1MB will soon be on the
air from their homes, rather than being restricted to operating from
a club station. Issuing individual authorisations to operate is a new
process in Tunisia and involves a number of stages, including
equipment conformity checks. This is great news for Tunisians that
the process now exists so that radio amateurs can practice their
hobby from homes in full compliance with the Tunisian Laws. The IARU
Member Society ARAT extends its thanks to the National Agency of
Frequencies, the Ministry of Telecommunications and all involved
parties for making this happen.
After many years involvement in monitoring intruders on the amateur
bands, Wolf Hadel, DK2OM, has decided to retire at the end of 2019.
His work stretching back over 30 years first with DARC and, since
2005, for IARU Region 1, has been recognised with an IARU Diamond
Award. Region 1 Vice-Coordinator Peter, HB9CET will take up the role
on an interim basis until the Region 1 Conference in October.
Changes to The IET Wiring Regulations, BS7671, which are now at the
18th edition, affect syllabus item 8A2 in the Safety section of the
amateur radio examination syllabus. There is a notice at
www.rsgb.org/electricalsafety that explains more - and it's
relevant to all three exam levels.
Last week we told you about Ian, GM3SEK setting a new 70cm world
record distance of 4,565km on tropo on the 28th of December. The
record didn't stand for long as Nick, G4KUX worked D21CV using FT8,
establishing a new world record of 4644km. Congratulations to him.
You will be able to read more about the excellent VHF conditions in
the February edition of RadCom in the VHF UHF column. Any reports you
may have for the column can be sent to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk.
The RSGB is looking for people to step forward for election at the
RSGB AGM. There are vacancies for two elected Board Directors and six
Regional Representatives. Full details of the nominations process can
be found at www.rsgb.org/election. The deadline for your nomination
is the 31st of January.
To mark the 60th anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus members of the
Cyprus Amateur Radio Society may use the prefix 5B60 during 2020
instead of the usual 5B4 prefix.
The latest IARU Monitoring System newsletter for Region 1 is now
available from www.iaru-r1.org. It contains detailed reports from the
national coordinators within IARU Region, including the UK report
compiled by Richard, G4DYA. In his report you can see where the
Russian Kontayner Over The Horizon radar is appearing on the 40m band
and the occasional broadcast station that appeared on the wrong part
of the band.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
We have no details of rallies in January. The first couple of the
year will be the Barry ARS Table Top Sale on the 1st of February and
the South Essex ARS Canvey Rally on the 2nd of February.
Please send details of your rally and event plans as soon as possible
to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk - we give you valuable publicity online,
in RadCom and on GB2RS, all for free.
And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources
Sergey, RX3AMY will be active as 8Q7MA from the Maldives until the
23rd of January. This is a holiday-style operation and he will be
mainly on 40 and 20m SSB.
Jean, FG8NY, will be active with the special callsign TO10CWO from
Saint Claude, Basse Terre Island in Guadeloupe, IOTA reference
NA-102, between the 17th and the 31st of January. Activity is to
celebrate 10th anniversary of CW Ops Club. Operations will be on
various HF bands on CW. QSL via FG8NY.
PP2OK, PY6ZK, PU6JEL and PY6TV will be active as ZW6C from Tinhare
Island, SA-080, between the 16th and 19th of January. Activity will
be on the 40, 20 and 10m bands using CW and SSB.
Janusz, SP9FIH will be active as VK9NK from Norfolk Island, OC-005,
between the 12th of January and the 12th of April. He will operate
SSB, RTTY and FT8 in Fox & Hound mode on the 160 to 10m bands. QSL
via Club Log's OQRS or via SP9FIH.
Now the special event news
John, M0XIG will operate GB200FN until the 3rd of February to
commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence
Nightingale. QSL direct to M0XIG.
The British Amateur Radio Teledata Group is celebrating its diamond
anniversary. Members of the Group will be active as GB60ATG until
June 2020. More information can be found at bartg.org.uk.
Please send special event details to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk as early
as possible. We have not received special event station info from
Ofcom in recent months so you MUST let us know to get your event
publicised here on GB2RS, in RadCom, and online.
Now the contest news
Today, the 12th, the Datamodes AFS takes place from 1300 to 1700UTC.
Using the 3.5 and 7MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and
serial number.
On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC,
using FM only. It is followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity
Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both contests is
signal report, serial number and locator.
On Tuesday the 70MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230UTC.
The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
On Saturday the Worked All Britain 1.8MHz Phone contest runs from
1900 to 2300UTC. Using SSB only, the exchange is signal report,
serial number and WAB square.
Also on Saturday the SSB AFS contest runs from 1300 to 1700UTC. Using
SSB only on the 3.5 and 7MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and
serial number.
Don't forget that the UK Six Metre Group's Winter Marathon and runs
until the end of January. There are no specific operating modes or
periods. Just work as many locator squares as you can on the 50MHz
band.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO
on Friday the 10th of January.
Having predicted in last week's broadcast that there would be no
geomagnetic disturbances, we did in fact have two periods with an
elevated Kp index this week. The first occurred on the 5th January,
when the Kp index hit four. This was due to the impact of the solar
wind. The Kp index rose again to four on Thursday the 9th, again due
to the effects of a high-speed solar wind stream from a large
geo-effective coronal hole.
On Thursday a new spot was seen forming in the Sun's north-east
quadrant. This event, coupled with other recent reports of new solar
cycle 25 sunspots, suggest that the cycle is starting to get under
way. The next few months should give us a better idea of how it is
progressing. Andy, M0NKR reports that he has now worked more than 100
countries since January 1, so there is DX to be had on HF!
Meanwhile, ten metres was alive this week due to winter Sporadic-E.
An opening at lunchtime on the 8th saw short-skip path openings on
FT8 to Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Latvia, the Czech Republic,
Sweden, Finland and others. More on this in the VHF report.
Interestingly, there were no CW or SSB signals on the band at this
time. This just goes to show that you shouldn't write 10m off at this
time of year.
Next week NOAA predicts the solar flux index will remain around 70,
with mainly quiet geomagnetic conditions. We may have a geomagnetic
disturbance on the 14th and 15th which could see the Kp index rise to
four again. As always, look out for a pre-auroral enhancement at the
beginning of the disturbance, but as it progresses expect to see
lowered maximum usable frequencies and noisy bands.
And now the VHF and up propagation news.
As we recover from the excesses of Christmas Tropo and start a New
Year, the weather continues to provide some interest. Firstly, the
northern half of the country will be dominated by deep Atlantic lows,
which will mean strong winds at times with rain or snow in the north
and a good chance of further episodes of scatter paths on the
microwave bands. The south will, for the most part, be on the edge of
the main low track and there may just be a chance to link into the
high pressure via Tropo, but this doesn't look like a good option.
Believe it or not, there is still one more roll of the dice for upper
HF and VHF propagation and that may indirectly be the result of all
this disturbed weather. The jet stream has been very strong, which is
typical of winter months and, lying across the UK and northern Europe
into Scandinavia, has produced some out-of-season Sporadic-E on 10m
and 6m. Always worth a check, but the position of the jet stream and
its strength may not be as favourable later in the week.
Moon declination is still positive but declining, going negative
again on Thursday. Path losses are at their lowest at perigee on
Monday. This and the low 144MHz sky noise means a good week for EME.
We are now entering the winter minimum of meteor activity, with just
two more showers before the Lyrids at the end of April. Best
opportunities for random QSOs will continue to be in the early
morning around dawn.
And that's all from the propagation team this week.
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 radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk to arrive by
10:00 on the Thursday before transmission.
Our thanks to Andy G4TNU for providing this RSGB feed.
--
g4apl@gb7cip.ampr.org g4apl@gb7cip.#32.gbr.euro
http://www.theskywaves.net http://gb7cip.ampr.org
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