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M1CUK > NEWS 18.07.10 17:29l 244 Lines 12600 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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GB2RS NEWS
Sunday 18th July 2010
The news headlines
• Team UK 9th in World Radiosport Team Championship
• GB4FUN at Bedford River Festival
• Get set for IOTA contest
The World Radiosport Team Championship was held near Moscow last
weekend. The winners were the Russian team, operated by RW1AC and
RA1AIP. Team UK achieved 9th place. This is an excellent result for the
UK team, the best position ever. Team members Dave, G4BUO and Andy,
G4PIQ used the specially allocated callsign R37M. The championship takes
place every few years in a different country and 48 pairs of
participants from many countries take part. Teams use the same power and
identical antennas. The stations are also geographically close to each
other in an attempt to level the playing field as much as possible, so
that the winners can truly be said to be the best contesters in the
world. Congratulations to Dave and Andy on their achievement.
Bedford & District Amateur Radio Club will be operating the GB4FUN
demonstration vehicle at the Bedford River Festival on 17 and 18 July.
All of the vehicle's demonstration equipment will be on display and
members of the Bedford club will be enthusiastically explaining amateur
radio to visitors. Bedford River Festival is a major event and attracts
many thousands of visitors. Full details of the Festival are online at
www.bedfordevents.co.uk/river_festival.asp.
The RSGB's flagship event, the Islands on the Air Contest, takes place
over the weekend of 24 and 25 July. This is a major international
contest, but its friendly atmosphere is also appreciated by
less-experienced entrants. To encourage UK participation, particularly
from newcomers, the RSGB Contest Committee is offering a Participation
Certificate. The requirements are not stringent and details can be found
on www.rsgbcc.org/hf. There you will also find tips on equipment,
aerials and operating technique.
New digital mode ROS has been making waves around the world but it seems
that development may have been stopped. The software's author, José
Alberto Nieto Ros, announced recently via his website that he was upset
by derogatory comments posted on various news groups. He said he felt it
was not worth evolving the software further and that version 1.0 would
be the last.
Indian student satellite Studsat was successfully launched on Monday 12
July aboard an Indian polar satellite launch vehicle, PSLV C-15. Four
larger commercial satellites were on the same flight. The cubesat
carries low power beacons on 437.861 and 437.305MHz.
The Spanish radio regulator has announced an extension to 4m privileges
for EA amateurs. The segment 70.150 to 70.200 MHz can now be used by all
Spanish amateurs until July 1st, 2011.
The 25th AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium will be held on the
weekend of 31 July to 1 August at the Holiday Inn Hotel, Guildford,
close to the University of Surrey. The event is open to all radio
amateurs and SWL's. GB4FUN will be on site for the duration of the
colloquium and there will be satellite operation demonstrations as time
and satellite passes allow. AMSAT-UK and individual members contributed
the amateur satellite equipment in GB4FUN. Details of the Colloquium are
at www.uk.amsat.org/colloquium. If you can't attend in person, you may
like to know that proceedings will be streamed on the internet by the
British Amateur Television Club. To view the stream visit www.batc.tv
and click on the live events button.
A European Emergency Radio Conference is being organised in the German
town of Gross-Gerau for the weekend of 24 to 26 September. Known as
EuREC-DL, the conference aims to bring together radio amateurs and
emergency services to show how the two groups can work together to
increase the resilience of their communications. The conference is
supported by the German Red Cross and more information can be found at
www.eurec-dl.de.
Ireland's national society IRTS is negotiating with the country's
regulator ComReg to secure special high power licences for use during
specified contests. ComReg has asked IRTS to compile a list of amateurs
who would be interested in obtaining such a licence.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
The 2010 McMichael Amateur Radio Rally and Car Boot Sale takes place
today, Sunday 18 July, at Reading Rugby Club, Sonning Lane. The B4446 is
just off the A4 at Sonning; for satnav users the postcode is RG4 6ST.
Admission is £2 and gates open at 9.30am. There is a large car boot area
and plenty of free parking for buyers, as well as a snack bar and
licensed bar. Traders have an indoor area and there will be
demonstrations and displays by special interest groups. Martin Lynch &
Sons will be holding their annual Summer Party at the event. Details
from Pete, G8FRC, on 01189 695697.
QRP in the Country is a new event that is being held on Sunday18 July at
the farm of Tim Walford, G3PCJ, at Long Sutton, Langport, Somerset TA10
9NJ. Entry is free and homebrew radio is the theme. The gates opens at
10am. In the event of poor weather, all will be under cover in the
cattle sheds. More information from Tim Walford on 01458 241224.
Also on Sunday18 July, the Macmillan Northampton Hamfest takes place at
Roade Village, Northamptonshire. There is no entry fee, no traders fee,
only a request for donations to Macmillan. All refreshment monies will
go to Macmillan too. Contact G6NYH on 01604 234333.
On Sunday 25 July the Horncastle summer rally takes place at Horncastle
Youth Centre, Willow Road, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6DZ. Details
from Tony, G3ZPU, on 01507 527835.
Also on Sunday 25th is the Colchester Radio Amateurs annual rally at St
Helena School, Sheepen Road, Colchester CO3 3LE. Opening at 10am, there
will be traers, a car boot sale, bring and buy and special interest
groups. For more information contact Brian on 01206 822547.
Now for the news of special events
Special event station LY2010LRMD will be operating continuously on 23 to
25 July from the Lithuanian National Camping Hamfest. Details at
www.lrmd.lt/saskrydziai_en.htm.
GB2CPS will be operating on 80 metres to 70cm from Castle Point Show
today, Sunday 18 July.
The War and Peace Show in Kent from Wednesday 21 to Sunday 25 July sees
GB4WP operating on 80, 40, 20, 2 metres and 70cm.
Other special event calls authorised this week include GB2QV, Queen
Victoria, GB5HHD for Huey Helicopter Day, GB0YD for Yorkshire Day and
GB4SBS for Second Bracknell Scouts. Details of many of these stations
are in the current issue of RadCom.
And now the HF DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources
9A10P (Nine Alpha ONE ZERO Papa) - special event station will be active
through the end of the year to celebrate the city of Djurdjevac. A
special QSL will be issued and all of the QSOs will be confirmed
automatically via the bureau.
Members of the Dalkey Island Contest Group will be on Clare for the IOTA
Contest over the weekend of 24 to 25 July. The callsign will be EJ1DD
and the operators are Paul, EI2CA, Peter, EI7CC, Sean, EI7CD, Seamus,
EI8BP, Ger, EI8CC and Aiden, EI8CE. QSL Manager is EI7CC. The IOTA
reference is EU-121 and for the lighthouse enthusiasts the WLOTA
reference is 1935.
Strumble Head DX and Contest Group are activating Ramsey Island, IOTA
reference EU-124, using the club call MC0SHL. They will be on the air
from 22 July through to 26 or 27 July, depending on the tides. During
the IOTA contest they will sign MW9W. Three stations will be on the air,
mostly SSB but with some RTTY and CW too. All QSL requests should go via
the team manager M0URX, see www.m0urx.com.
Now the contest news
Low Power Field Day takes place on Sunday 18 July. Using appropriate and
efficient antennas is key to success, because with low power you need to
direct as much as possible of your RF at the right angle for the kind of
distances that you can expect to work. Most QSOs take place around
Britain, but on 40m in particular the Continent will be worked. Of
course you’ll need a good pair of ears for this event, because the
signals from some competing stations will be extremely weak. There are
four sections to enter, two for portables and two for fixed stations,
with a total of three trophies to be won. Starting at 0900 and ending at
1600UTC, it’s CW only and the exchange is signal report, serial number
and power.
The 70MHz Trophy on also the 18th. Traditionally this event was held in
August, but it has now been brought forward by a month to bring it into
the Sporadic-E season. With the band available to an ever-increasing
number of countries, last year just under 200 stations from twelve
countries appeared in the logs. Compare this to ten years earlier, when
nobody’s Best DX was outside of the UK. The number of entries received
has remained remarkably steady though, with 31 in 1999 and 36 in 2009.
Running between 1000 and 1600UTC, all modes may be used and the exchange
is signal report, serial number and locator.
The Worked All Britain QRO 2m Phone contest takes place on Sunday 18
July between 1000 and 1400UTC. Multipliers are WAB squares and DXCC
countries. You don’t have to be a member of the award scheme to partake
or give points away. Using all modes in the 2m band the exchange is
signal report, serial number and WAB square.
Tuesday 20 July sees the UHF UKAC from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Operation is
all mode on 23cm and 13cm; RST, serial number and locator form the
exchange.
The RSGB's flagship event, the Islands on the Air Contest, takes place
from 1200 to 1200 on 24 to 25 July. Operating modes are CW and SSB and
all contest bands from 80 to 10m can be used. The exchange is RST,
serial number and IOTA reference.
And now the solar factual data for the period from the 5th to the 11th
of July, compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS on the 12th of July.
The large single spot mentioned in last weeks continued to rotate across
the solar disc until the 8th when it rotated out of view. Interestingly,
this is the first sunspot group to transverse from one limb to the
opposite limb of the solar disc this year. On the 9th a medium sized
sunspot group rotated into view, this was more magnetically complex and
on the 8th and the 9th produced C class solar flares which increased
solar activity to low levels. Also this group was responsible for the
increase in solar flux levels, increasing from 73 units on the 5th to 83
units by the 10th. The average was 77 units. The 90 day solar flux
average on the 11th was the same level as last week at 75 units. X-ray
flux levels increased from A4.5 units on the 5th to B1.8 units by the
10th and the average was A9.2. Geomagnetic activity was quiet every day
and the average was Ap 4 units. Solar wind data from the ACE spacecraft
saw solar wind speeds decline from 520 kilometres per second on the 5th
to 250 by the 10th. Particle densities were low throughout. Bz varied no
more than minus 6 and plus 5 nanoTeslas, all the solar wind parameters
are what we would except with a quiet geomagnetic field.
And now the solar forecast.
This week the quiet side of the Sun will be rotating into view later in
the week. Solar activity could be at low levels at first but later in
the week decline to very low levels. Solar flux levels are expected to
be in the 80’s at first but by next weekend have declined back into the
70’s. Geomagnetic activity is expected to be at quiet levels until later
in the week when a recurring coronal hole is expected to arrive and last
for most of the weekend. The disturbance is not expected to be too
strong. MUFs during daylight hours at equal latitudes are expected to be
19MHz for the south and 16MHz for the north. Darkness hour lows should
be about 11MHz. Paths this week to the east coast of North America
should have a maximum usable frequency with a 50 per cent success rate
of around 18MHz. The optimum working frequency with a 90 per cent
success rate will be about 14MHz. The best time to try this path will be
between 1600 and 2200 hours. Sporadic-E is expected to take place most
days and during any large intense openings then openings could still
take place on 144MHz.
And that’s all for this week from the propagation team.
----------------------
73
Trev,
SysOp gb7fcr.#16.gbr.eu
E-Mail trev@gb7fcr.co.uk
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