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G4TNU > NEWS 25.05.11 18:04l 244 Lines 12401 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 29 May
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday 29th May 2011
The news headlines:
* Foundation Syllabus changes on 1 July
* Train the trainers session to be held in Derby
* Japan drops Morse requirement
The syllabus of the Foundation examination changes on 1 July this
year. A new question on etiquette and dealing with abuse will be
added, making 26 questions in total on each paper. The pass mark is
19 correct answers. Details are on the RCF examinations website at
www.commsfoundation.org/rce, where you will need to click on
Foundation Syllabus - current.
A Train the Trainers course will take place on 18 June at the Old
Mill Community Centre, West Street, South Normanton, Derbyshire. The
event will start at 10am and includes a free lunch as well as a
raffle. If any tutors would like to attend, please contact Jim
Stevenson, G0EJQ, by email to g0ejq<at>live.co.uk.
The Japanese radio regulatory council recently announced that the
Morse requirement for amateur radio licenses will shortly be dropped.
The move comes after a public consultation following the decisions
taken at WRC-2003. The RSGB understands that the change will be
effective from 1 October 2011.
Would all those still intending to take part in the International
Museums Weekend in June please register via the IMW website. This
includes those who are registering for the first time as well as
those who have taken part in the past and need to update their
registration. The URL is www.ukradioamateur.co.uk/imw.
The BBC Community Bus paid a visit to West Tyrone Amateur Radio Club.
Some of its members attended a 2 day radio production workshop on
board the Bus. They learned how a magazine style radio programme is
produced and gained new skills in interviewing, collecting vox pops,
scripting and presenting. If you would like to listen to the result,
go to http://wtarc.co.uk/news.aspx.
At the recent Dayton Hamvention, Sylvia Margolis was posthumously
inducted into the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame
honours those individuals, whether licensed amateurs or not, who have
made significant contributions to amateur radio. Sylvia was a
prolific author for CQ magazine in the 1960s and early 70s and was
well known for her humorous look at the hobby. She was also the first
Public Relations Officer for the Radio Society of Great Britain. Her
son, well-known DXer Laurie Margolis, G3UML, said he was "Somewhat
stunned and rather chuffed" when he heard the news.
There are three UK Buildathon events taking place this year. On 5
June the Buildathon team will be at Torbay ARC building a
Manhattan-style Sudden receiver. Booking details are on the Torbay
club's website at www.tars.org.uk. Then in July, at the QRP in the
Country event on the 17th, a Cary regenerative receiver is the
project. Finally, the G-QRP Club is planning to have a Friday night
Buildathon and social supper on 21 October, the eve of the Rishworth
Convention. Details from www.gqrp.com/rishworth.htm. All these will
be ideal for Intermediate students to build their projects and get
some of the test meter assessments signed off.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
The 21st annual Waters and Stanton Open Day will take place today, 29
May. Essex CW Club, who won the Region 12 Club of the Year award will
collect their trophy from Waters & Stanton, who sponsor both the
Region 12 Trophy and the National Trophy scheme too.
D-Star Northants and UKIT are organising a D-Star Meet and Greet Day
today, 29 May. This will be held in Northampton at Tetra
Communications, Bunting Road, Northampton NN2 6EE. The event will
include help and advice from D-Star Northants and UK IT.
Porthcurno Telegraph Museum has an open day today, 29 May. Doors open
from 10am to 5pm to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the opening of
the wartime tunnels at Porthcurno. This event is open to all, but the
museum would particularly like to hear from anyone who was involved
at Porthcurno during WW2 or who had an involvement in any other way.
Entry to the museum, including the tunnels, will be free to all on
this day.
Next weekend, 5 June is a busy day for rallies up and down the
country. The Newhaven Fort Amateur Radio Group Rally and Fort Open
Day takes place at Newhaven Fort, East Sussex, near the southern end
of the A26. Entry is GBP 2 and the doors open at 10.30am. Details
from Eddie, G0ECW on 01273 300772.
The Spalding & DARS annual rally will be held at The Sir John Gleed
Technology School, Halmer Gardens, Spalding, Lincs, PE11 2EF. There
is free car parking and the doors open at 10am. Details from John,
G4NBR, on 0794 630 2815.
The 15th Red Rose QRP Festival will take place at Formby Hall, Alder
Street, Atherton, Manchester M46 9EY. There is free car parking and
entry is GBP 2. There will be a Bring & Buy. Details from Les
Jackson, G4HZJ on 01942 870634.
Finally for 5 June, the Hull & District Amateur Radio Society Grand
Auction and Mini Rally will be held at the HADARS Club House,
Goathland Close, Hull. Doors open at 12 noon and the sale starts at
1.30pm. There will be a Bring & Buy with 10% of proceeds to the club
funds. To book any items in before the sale call Keith on
01482 217776.
Now for the news of special events
The Royal Naval Amateur Radio Society will run GB6COD at the open day
in HMS Collingwood on 4 June. The station will be operational on all
amateur bands from 1.8MHz to 440MHz. The Society headquarters station
will be open for viewing from 9.30am to 6pm on the day. Advanced
tickets will be available from Gosport and Fareham Tourist
Information Offices and Portsmouth News Offices from May 2011.
GB0VUL will be on the air promoting and celebrating the continued
flying of XH558, the world's only flying Vulcan bomber. The station
will be on the air today, 29 May, from the Air Training Corps Hall in
Newbury. This is the 3rd consecutive year this call has been run by
members of Newbury and District Amateur Radio Society. More
information can be found at www.vulcantothesky.org.
The Geoparks Communication Weekend will take place this weekend, 28
and 29 May. GB6GEO will be on again this year from Occombe Farm in
Torbay. There will be several other Geopark stations operating around
the world. There is an award available for contacting Geopark
stations. More information on qrz.com.
As part of the Imagineering stand at the Bath and West Show, Weymouth
College are putting on a special event station to demonstrate amateur
radio to visitors. The idea is to particularly allow young people to
send greetings via the HF special event station GB0BAW. If there are
any local amateurs who are planning on visiting the show and would
like to help operate the station that will be on the air for the
duration of the agricultural show between 1 and 4 June, please
contact Rob, G0ECX whose details are on QRZ.com, or telephone
01305 787120.
And now the HF DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources
Glasgow and Clyde RAYNET Group will be active on the Island of Jura,
which is IOTA reference EU008, until 2 June. The group is providing
emergency safety communications for the annual Fell Race on the 28th.
They will also be activating the island on all HF bands using group
callsign GS0RAY/P throughout the week. Reports are most welcome. For
further details please contact group controller Paul Lucas on
07768 271736 or by e-mail to mm3ddq<at>yahoo.co.uk.
VE7/DK6AO will stay on Quadra island in British Columbia between May
30 and June 7. QSL via his home callsign either via the bureau or
direct.
Jan, PA4JJ will be active holiday style as 9A/PA4JJ from Porec on the
Croatian mainland between 6 and 24 June. He will operate RTTY and
PSK31 most of the time. QSL via his home callsign.
I2VGW, IZ2LSC and IZ3EZV will be active as HB0/homecall from
Liechtenstein between 2 and 5 June. They plan to operate holiday
style CW, SSB and RTTY, with main focus to be given to 12, 17 and 30
metres and the upper HF bands. They will also give 6 metres a try.
QSL via their home callsigns.
Now the contest news
On 31 May, the 70MHz UK Activity Contest takes place from 1900 to
2130UTC. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number
and locator.
CW NFD is the first HF event of the month on 4 and 5 June. With HF
propagation much improved this year, smart competing stations will be
keeping a very careful listen on 10m. When it opens there will be a
real feeding frenzy because, like 160m, QSOs on 10m are worth double
points. Running from 1500 to 1500UTC and using all bands from 1.8 to
28MHz, the exchange is signal report and serial number.
The UK 6m Group's Summer Es Contest also takes place for 24 hours
over the weekend of 4 and 5 June. You can participate and give points
away even if you're not a member. Send a report, serial number and
your locator, and expect to receive the same plus a membership
number. Remember that many members of UKSMG are experts on 6m, so
they're likely to hear you even if your station is far from ideal for
the band. The contest runs from 1200 to 1200UTC.
And now the solar factual data for the period from the 16th to the
22nd of May, compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS on the 23rd of May.
Solar activity was very low every day except for a C2 class solar
flare that took place on the 18th from a sunspot group that was in
the process of rotating out of view around the west limb. The solar
disc had a number of sunspot groups visible every day with 5 on the
18th. All of the groups were small and magnetically simple. Solar
flux levels reflected this and declined from 92 units on the 16th and
the 17th to 84 by the 19th. The average was 87 units. The 90 day
solar flux average on the 22nd was 108. That's two units down on last
week. X-ray flux levels also declined as expected from B1.4 units on
the 17th to A6.8 on the 21st. The average was A9.4 units. Geomagnetic
activity started at just unsettled levels with the Ap index of 12 and
10 units on the 16th and the 17th respectively. Quiet conditions then
prevailed to the end of the period as the effects of the coronal hole
declined. The average was Ap 6 units. Solar wind data from the ACE
spacecraft saw solar wind speeds decline from 600 kilometres per
second on the 17th to 310 by the 21st. Particle densities remained
low throughout. Bz varied between minus and plus 7 nanoTeslas on the
16th, which was the most disturbed day, and between minus 4 and plus
3 nanoTeslas on the quiet days.
Sporadic-E was reported daily on 28 and 50MHz, with double-hop
propagation on 50MHz on several days. 70MHz was also open across much
of Europe on several days. During the 21st an opening took place on
144MHz but it would appear only affected the Mediterranean area.
And now the solar forecast. This week solar activity is expected to
be very low to low. However, the latest STEREO spacecraft images show
a large active region that will be rotating into view today or
tomorrow. How active this region will be only time will tell. Solar
flux levels should be around the 100 mark but could be much higher if
this region is still active. Geomagnetic activity is expected to be
unsettled today and tomorrow due to the effects of a coronal hole but
then activity is expected to be quiet for the rest of the week. 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
12MHz. Paths this week to South Africa should have a maximum usable
frequency with a 50 per cent success rate of about 29MHz. The optimum
working frequency with a 90 per cent success rate will be around
22MHz. The best time to try this path will be between 1100 and 1500
hours. Sporadic-E is expected to take place most days. During the
more intense openings double hop events could take place along with
openings on 144MHz.
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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