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G4TNU > NEWS 23.03.11 18:10l 190 Lines 9440 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 27 Mar
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday 27th March 2011
The news headlines:
* RSGB AGM date change
* New 60m beacon in Luxembourg
* Russia to join CEPT licence scheme
Due to unforeseen circumstances outside the Society's control it has
proved necessary to defer the Society's AGM that had been planned for
Saturday 16 April. The AGM will now take place on Saturday 14 May at
the Menzies Mickleover Court, Etwall Road, Mickleover, Derby DE3 0XX.
The calling notice for the AGM is in the April edition of RadCom and
the financial and committee reports will appear in the May RadCom.
A new 60m beacon is on the air in Luxembourg. Operating with the
callsign LX0HF it has been reported to be putting a good signal into
the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe. LX0HF operates on
5205.25kHz.
At a recent meeting, the Russian State Commission for Radio
Frequencies decided that the Russian Federation will join CEPT
Recommendation TR 61-01, which is the CEPT Radio Amateur Licence.
IARU Region 1 considers this a major step forward to achieve
worldwide radio amateur roaming.
Anyone planning to take part in this year's Mills on the Air over the
weekend May 14th and 15th is asked to please register their details
on the Denby Dale ARS website www.g4cdd.net or get in touch with
Gerald, G3SDY via g3sdy<at>sky.com as soon as possible.
The BBC is ceasing its 648kHz transmissions of World Service English
language radio today, 27 March. Closure of the 648kHz service and
medium wave frequencies to Russia continues the process of
withdrawing from direct broadcasts to Europe in response to a
declining number of direct listeners. However, the BBC World Service
continues to be available in Europe by satellite, cable and online.
To commemorate the passing of one of its founding members, Hank Kohl
K8DD, the Second Class Operators Club will be holding its first SOC
CW Bash on Saturday 2 April between 0000 and 2359UTC. Any operator
can take part in the Bash and, although not a contest, the SOC will
be issuing its very own special certificates for top scorers in both
a QRO and QRP section. Full details at www.qsl.net/soc/k8dd_bash.htm.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
The Spring Militaria & Electronics & Radio Amateur Hangar Sale will
take place today, 27 March, at the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker,
Nantwich, Cheshire, CW5 8AP. Doors open at 10am and admission is
GBP 2.50. Visitors will find civil, military and vintage radio
equipment plus vehicle spares and more. Contact Rod Siebert on
01270 623353.
The South Gloucestershire Amateur Radio Rally will take place on 3
April at Avon Scouts Activity Centre, Fernhill, Almondsbury BS32 4LX,
which is at the junction of the M4 & M5. Doors open at 10am. Details
from Stan Goodwin, G0RYM on 07833 517370.
Now for the news of special events
Until 3 April, GB8HBW and GB0CMR will be on the air celebrating 85
years of Hospital Radio in the UK. GB8HBW will be operating in the
Newbury area and GB0CMR is in Hinckley for Castle Mead Radio.
Denby Dale Amateur Radio Society will be operating GB200HNC from
Tunnel End, Marsden, near Huddersfield over the weekend of 2 and 3
April. The club will be operating on all HF bands over the whole
weekend from the first floor of the Visitor Centre. The event,
organised by British Waterways, is a real family weekend featuring
tunnel legging, craft fare, canal craft demonstrations and much, much
more and will be open from 10am to 4pm each day. Full details from
Richard, M0RBG, on 07976 220126 or by e-mail to
m0rbg<at>talktalk.net.
And now the HF DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources
From 2 to 7 April, the Macclesfield & District Amateur Radio Society
will be operational from the Isle of Arran off the coast of Scotland.
The IOTA reference is EU-123. Four club members will be transmitting
on the HF bands and making as many contacts across the UK, Europe and
around the world as possible. A special QSL card has been produced.
Andy, M1LOL and Ray, M1REK, both members of Stockport Radio Society,
will be operating from the Isles of Barra and Vatersay EU-010 from 2
to 9 April 2011. Operating on the 80 to 10m bands, modes in use will
be SSB and data, mainly PSK and RTTY.
Cal, WF5W, 8P9CW, Bill, K5WAF, 8P9WF, Bob, WB5IUU, 8P9UU and Paul,
W5PF, 8P9PF will be active from Barbados (NA-021) from 24 March to 3
April. They will operate CW, SSB and RTTY, including activity during
the CQ WW WPX SSB contest. QSL for all callsigns via W5PF.
Members of the Caribbean Contesting Consortium (CCC) will activate
Signal Point Station on Curaçao between 22 March and 6 April.
Operators mentioned are W0CG (PJ2DX), N4RV, K2PLF and possibly
others. They will participate in the CQ WW WPX SSB Contest (26-27
March) as PJ2T (QSL via N9AG and LoTW), while outside the contest
they will use PJ2/homecall or their personal PJ2 calls (QSL via home
calls).
Now the contest news
This weekend, 26 and 27 March, the CQWW WPX SSB contest takes place
between 0000 and 2359UTC. On the 1.8 to 28MHz bands, the exchange is
signal report and serial number.
On 29 March the 70MHz UK Activity Contest will take place between
1900 and 2130UTC. Using all modes the exchange is signal report,
serial number and locator.
The 1st RoPoCo of the year takes place on 3 April from 1900 to
2030UTC. It is an SSB event and the exchange is signal report and
full postcode received.
On 3 April, the first 70MHz contest takes place between 0900 and
1200UTC. Although it doesn't attract a huge number of entries, this
3-hour contest traditionally enjoys strong support from portable
stations, indeed 40% of last year's entrants signed /P. There are no
multipliers in this event; it's purely a matter a trying to amass the
biggest number of total kilometres worked. The exchange is signal
report, serial number and locator.
In the 24-hour EA RTTY Contest on 3 and 4 April, single-ops can make
a single band or all-band entry, but multi-op stations can only make
an all-band entry. The timings are 1600 to 1600UTC on the 3.5 to
28MHz bands and the exchange is signal report and serial number.
Although EA stations send their Province code.
If RTTY isn't your thing, the SP DX Contest also runs for 24 hours
but from 1500 to 1500UTC. In it there are numerous entry categories,
mainly for single ops. Multipliers in this one are the 16 Polish
provinces. Using CW and SSB on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands, the exchange
is signal report and serial number with SP stations sending their
Province code.
And now the solar factual data for the period from the 14th to the
20th of March, compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS on the 21st March.
Solar activity started at moderate levels with M class solar flares
taking place on the 14th and the 15th. As the large sunspot groups
rotated out of view solar activity declined to very low levels by the
18th. Solar flux levels declined from 107 units on the 14th to 88 by
the 18th. The average was 95 units. The 90 day solar flux average on
the 20th was 94 units, that's one unit up on last week. X-ray flux
levels also declined as expected from B3.8 units on the 14th to B1.2
by the 19th. Geomagnetic activity was very quiet every day, in fact
on the 15th and the 16th the Ap index was zero on both days. The
highest daily Ap figure was only 4. The average was Ap 2 units. Solar
wind data from the ACE spacecraft saw solar wind speeds decline from
650 kilometres per second on the 14th to 320 by the 18th. Particle
densities were low every day. Bz varied no more than minus 6 and plus
8 nanoTeslas for the period and significantly less on the days that
the Ap was zero.
And now the solar forecast. Yet again this week we are waiting for
several old sunspot regions to return into view and see how active
they are. We can now keep an eye on these regions with the STEREO
spacecraft, which lets us view the Sun from all angles. Also, there
are the coronagraph images from the SOHO spacecraft showing any
coronal mass ejections taking place from the far side of the Sun,
which could suggest solar flare activity. Solar activity could
increase to moderate levels on some days. Solar flux levels should be
in the 110's or even higher. Geomagnetic activity should be quiet
today but could increase during the next few days due to a recurring
coronal hole disturbance. Activity is expected to return to quiet
levels for next weekend. MUFs during daylight hours at equal
latitudes should be around 25MHz for the south and 22MHz for the
north. Darkness hour lows should be about 9MHz. Paths this week to
South America should have a maximum usable frequency with a 50 per
cent success rate of around 30MHz. The optimum working frequency with
a 90 per cent success rate will be about 24MHz. The best time to try
this path will be between 1200 and 1800 hours. Seeing that we have
just altered our clocks earlier this morning these times are in GMT,
as always.
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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