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G4TNU > NEWS 02.11.11 19:05l 242 Lines 12016 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 06 Nov
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday 6 November 2011
The news headlines:
* Latest information on RSGB EGM
* New 2E series QSL Manager appointed
* Greek 5MHz beacon returns
The RSGB is holding an Extraordinary General Meeting on 19 November
at the NEC in Birmingham. Those not planning to attend can vote on
the resolutions using the form in November's RadCom, or by internet.
In a letter to clubs, RSGB President Dave Wilson, M0OBW has
encouraged everyone to vote on the important matters being proposed
by the Board. Remember, if you don't vote, you can't really criticise
the outcome.
The Society is keen to form a view of how many people will be at the
EGM, for planning purposes. If you plan to attend in person, please
would you go to www.rsgb.org/attend and complete the brief
information required. If you plan to arrive at Birmingham
International by train, there is a free bus to take you to EGM venue.
You will need to summon the bus using a courtesy telephone. The
phone, which has a Hilton logo on it, is inside the station arrivals
hall, next to the Subway restaurant.
The QSL bureau would like to thank everyone who volunteered for the
vacant post of 2E series sub manager, which has now been filled. John
Russell, 2E0CGT, will shortly take over from Anthony Horton, G0LKG,
who has managed the 2E0 series for 12 years. Over that time the 2E0
series grew into one of the largest sub groups .Our thanks go to him
and his XYL for their kind efforts. 2E1 callsigns, currently managed
by Lloyd Thomas, 2W0LLT are also to be re-combined, making up one
single 2E series. All cards and envelopes are currently being
transferred. Full details are in the members' area of the RSGB
website.
A 5MHz beacon from Greece is now on the air. Operating on 5398.5kHz
CW, it runs 30W into a non resonant antenna for the moment. It should
be on the air mostly between 1900 and 0600UTC. It may be off on some
days due to other HF activities at the test site, so try to listen
regularly. Details of the beacon message and timings can be found on
the IARU Region 1 website, www.iaru-r1.org.
There will be two talks on the AMSAT-UK FUNcube Dongle VHF UHF
software defined radio at the BAA Radio Astronomy Group meeting on
Saturday 12 November. The meeting is at The Humfrey Rooms, Castilian
Terrace, Northampton, NN1 1LD. Tony Abbey will talk about his
experiences of using the AMSAT-UK FUNcube and Dr David Morgan will
describe how the FUNcube Dongle raises the prospect of amateurs being
able to put together a low-cost radio telescope. Tickets for the main
event are available, with or without lunch, from
www.britastro.org/radio.
A new digital net to encourage use of these modes on 10m will be held
every Saturday and Sunday at 1800UTC. The net will gather on
28.125MHz USB, plus or minus QRM. RS ID and Call ID will be used to
help people pick out the net and modes used. Olivia 500/8 mode will
be used to call up the net but it may switch modes as needed. Check
out www.obriensweb.com/sked for online coordination during each
session.
The Colorado 6m beacon is back on the air. Having been rebuilt, the
operating frequency is 50.065MHz and the callsign is KA0CDN. Further
information can be found online at www.rmvhf.org.
And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week
The Foyle & District ARC Rally takes place today, 6 November, at the
Best Western White Horse Hotel, 68 Clooney Road, Derry BT47 3PA.
Doors open at 12 noon and there will be trade stands, the RSGB QSL
bureau and IRTS in attendance.
The West London Radio & Electronics Show, otherwise known at the
Kempton Rally, takes place today, 6 November, at Kempton Park
racecourse, Staines Road East, Sunbury on Thames, Middlesex TW16 5AQ.
Doors open at 10am and there will be trade stands, RSGB bookstall and
lectures. More information from Paul, M0CJX, on 08451 650 351.
The Rochdale & District RS Traditional Radio Rally will take place on
12 November at St Vincent's Church Hall, Caldershaw Road, Rochdale
OL12 7QL. Note that this is a Saturday rally. Doors open at 10.30am
and admission is GBP 2.50 with concessions for under 12s and senior
citizens. Attractions include a Bring & Buy. More information from
Dave, G0PUD on 07710 243 107.
The Mayo Radio Experimenters are holding their annual Radio Rally on
Sunday 20 November at the Welcome Inn Hotel, Castlebar, Co Mayo,
where the doors will open at 11am. There will be the usual range of
traders, club stands, demonstrations and extensive catering
facilities. On Saturday evening, at 7pm, Pat Fitzpatrick, EI2HX will
give a talk and demonstration on amateur television. At 9pm Dave
Deane, EI9FBB will give a talk on the ARRL DXCC Program and also on
the Logbook of the World system. He also took part in the recent T32C
DXpedition. Full details of the hotel packages, the lecture programme
and rally information are online at www.ei7mre.org.
A D-Star Digital Workshop will be held on 13 November at County Hall,
Atlantic Wharf, Cardiff CF10 4UW. Doors open from 10am to 5pm. Bring
a copy of your licence to operate the D-Star station on the day.
There will be help with operating D-Star, programming radios,
repeater and reflector use and navigating your radio. Newcomers are
most welcome. Contact Dave, 2W0RUH by e-mail to
dave.2w0ruh<at>ntlworld.com for further details.
Now for the news of special events
G0BAR will be on air on Monday 7 November between 10am and 12pm,
activating Seaview ROC Bunker on the Isle of Wight. All details are
available at www.rocbunkers.co.uk.
The Caddington Scout and Cub group are holding a communication week
starting on 14 November. Operating from Caddington Scout HQ,
Dunstable Road, Caddington, Bedfordshire as GB1CSC, they will be on
40, 20, and 2m and they are hoping for lots of contacts.
On Sunday 13 November GB4WLR will be on the air from the West Lancs
Railway as part of the Children in Need fund raising event.
And now the HF DX news compiled from 425 DX News and other sources
I0WDX will be on the air as 8Q7CC from the Maldives until 12
November. A web page for this operation is online at
dxcoffee.com/8q7cc. QSL via his home callsign, direct only.
LA9DL and LA6VM will be active from Bhutan using the callsigns A52DL
and A52VM, respectively, until 13 November. Operations will be on 10
to 80m. A52DL will be mainly on PSK and SSB, while A52VM will be
mostly on CW. QSL via their home callsigns.
DL2NUD, DL8YHR and DL9MS will be active as 8P9HP, 8P9DL and 8P9MS,
respectively, from Barbados between 7 and 21 November. Their
operation will be on the HF bands as well as 6 and 2m moonbounce. QSL
via their home callsigns.
9N7MD will be on the air from 13 to 25 November from Nepal. Details
at www.mdxc.org/nepal2011.
A CW-only trip with emphasis on 160m and 80m is being undertaken by
GM3YTS and GM0GAV. They will be on the air from Malawi until 13
November using the callsign 7Q7GM. QSLs go via GM4FDM and logs will
also be uploaded to Logbook of the World.
Easter Island will be available on the HF bands until 11 November
when LA5UF operates as CE0Y/LA5UF. This one counts as SA-001 for the
IOTA Award.
Now the contest news
The 432MHz UK Activity Contest takes place on 8 November from 2000 to
2230UTC. Using all modes within the 70cm band, the exchange is signal
report, serial number and locator.
November is the final month of this year's 80m Club Sprint series,
with the SSB leg taking place on 9 November between 2000 and 2130UTC.
The exchange is serial number and name.
The Club Calls Contest is a 160m team event in which a lot of club
stations are given an airing. Club stations are encouraged to involve
newly licensed members, especially in the latter part of the contest.
At that time they are not likely to be on the receiving end of a
pileup, so the pressure will be less. Script the QSOs or give them
cue cards, so they know exactly what to say and when to say it.
Please note that there are rule changes this year, so participants
need to make sure they've read them well in advance of the event.
This contest is now the second of this season's Super League events.
The contest takes place on 12 November from 2000 to 2300UTC using
SSB. The exchange is signal report, serial number and club code.
The RTTY leg of the WAE DX Contest takes place for the whole 48 hours
of 12 and 13 November. The CW leg was held in August and SSB leg in
September, but the rules for RTTY differ because on RTTY everybody
works everybody. Single operator stations are limited to 36 hours out
of 48. The exchange is signal report and serial number.
And now the solar factual data for the period from the 24th to the
30th October, compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS on the 31st of October.
First this week the latest smoothed monthly sunspot numbers for
January, February and March which are 31.0, 33.4 and 36.9
respectively.
The majority of the sunspot groups visible were small and quiet but
several groups were complex enough to produce small C class solar
flares. Solar activity was low every day. Only 17 C class flares took
place during the period. Solar flux levels declined from 145 units on
the 24th to 123 by the 29th. The average was 133. The 90 day solar
flux average on the 30th was 124 units, that's two units up on last
week. X-ray flux levels declined slightly from B5.4 units to B4.3.
The average was B4.6 units. Geomagnetic activity started at sub-storm
levels with the arrival of a coronal mass ejection during the early
evening of the 24th. Because of the time of arrival, Europe missed
out on the best of the auroral propagation - unlike North America.
The Ap index on the 24th and the 25th was 23 and 33 respectively.
Quiet conditions returned the following day with an Ap of only 2
units on the 28th and the 29th. The average was Ap 10 units. Solar
wind data from the ACE spacecraft saw solar wind speeds decline from
550 kilometres per second on the 25th to a slow 250 kilometres per
second by the 29th. Bz was negative by 23 nanoTeslas on the 24th and
the 25th but for the remainder of the period varied between minus 4
and plus 7 nanoTeslas.
And now the solar forecast. This week the quiet side of the Sun is
expected to rotate out of view. Solar activity should be low most
days but could increase to moderate levels occasionally later in the
week. Solar flux levels should steadily increase and be around the
140's by next weekend. Geomagnetic activity should be quiet every day
as no coronal holes are expected. However, as witnessed last week, a
filament eruption or a coronal mass ejection could suddenly increase
activity and these events are not easy to forecast. MUFs during
daylight hours at equal latitudes should be about 33MHz for the south
and 30MHz for the north. Darkness hour lows are expected to be around
10MHz. Paths this week to India should have a maximum usable
frequency with a 50 per cent success rate of about 32MHz. The optimum
working frequency with a 90 per cent success rate will be around
27MHz. The best time to try this path will be between 0900 and 1400
hours.
Last week mention was made of some very short skip propagation on
28MHz. The propagation mode is not immediately obvious, though
backscatter, sporadic-E and tropo have all been suggested. On
balance, Sporadic-E looks the most likely candidate. Although this is
most common during the summer months and around Christmas it can
occur at any time of year. This may well have been a rare
unseasonable appearance.
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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