RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for April 19th 2020.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday the 19th of April 2020

The news headlines:

Get on the air to care

Cast your RSGB election vote

SOS Radio Week to go-ahead

The Radio Society of Great Britain, working in partnership with the NHS, has launched a campaign called “Get on the air to care” to support the emotional health and wellbeing of 75,000 licensed UK radio amateurs – just some of the 3,000,000 worldwide. It linked with World Amateur Radio Day yesterday, Saturday 18 April, which also celebrates this innovative, global community. Steve Thomas, M1ACB, General Manager of the RSGB explains: “Please help to increase amateur radio activity through club and repeater group nets, chatting with your friends or just by calling CQ. If you’d like to show your support for the NHS at the same time, Ofcom is happy for radio amateurs to add “/NHS” to the end of their callsigns.” GB1NHS, the UK’s National Health Service radio communications station will be on the air as part of this campaign so listen out for it! The Society’s new “Get on the air to care” web page includes the launch video, so go to www.rsgb.org/gota2c and take a look.

Are you an RSGB Member? Have you used your vote yet? Don’t forget that voting for the RSGB elections is still open, although it closes at 9am on Thursday the 23rd of April. This is your opportunity to choose who you want to be part of the RSGB Board and help lead the Society over the next few years. The special web pages at www.rsgb.org/agm have details of the Calling Notice, Resolutions, candidate statements and information about how to vote. The voting results and trophy winners will be announced on the RSGB website on the 25th of April, when the AGM was due to be held.

SOS Radio Week will go ahead, with all participants able to operate from home using either a special event callsign issued by Ofcom, a club callsign, or an individual’s own personal callsign. The event starts at 0000UTC on the 1st of May and concludes at 2359UTC on the 31st of May. During that period, participants should make as many contacts as possible with stations at home and around the world. For further details, and to register, please visit www.sosradioweek.org.uk.

In many areas of the UK, all the HF amateur bands up to and including 20m are being blighted by interference from VDSL. This is the most widespread means of providing residential broadband internet services in the UK. Ofcom, which is responsible for investigating radio interference, says that it receives, on average, only six complaints per year on the topic and won’t take any significant action. The RSGB President has written a letter in the May edition of RadCom asking every radio amateur who suffers from VDSL interference to submit a complaint to Ofcom so that we can demonstrate the size of the problem. Please read the full RadCom feature and then look at the Society’s special web page, which outlines the process for reporting VDSL interference and offers you guidance and software to help you: it’s at www.rsgb.org/vdsl-reporting

CQ-Serenade is a weekly programme for Northern European radio amateurs transmitted in the short wave AM broadcast bands. From the UK it is recommended to listen on 6160kHz during the daytime and 3975kHz at night. The weekly English language amateur radio programme has a new summer schedule and the program is transmitted at the times listed at tinyurl.com/CQ-Serenade. If you want to get your story or information on the air there, send your submissions to [email protected].

ARISS has postponed school/group contacts in the USA as well as in South Africa and Romania. At least one contact in the UK has been cancelled altogether. In the short term, ARISS mentors will work with each school or organisation in the amateur radio contact queue to determine the way forward. It would rely on local government COVID-19 policy for guidance in deciding whether to cancel or postpone a contact or to modify the contact schedule. Several initiatives are in the works over the longer term to transform how they interact with students and host educational institutions in light of COVID-19 by engaging virtually with students and educational institutions. ARISS also is planning several slow-scan television sessions, during which images from the ISS would be transmitted to at-home students.

Some sad news now. Marc Litchman, G0TOC passed away on the 29th of March. He had been in poor health for several months. He was a well-known RSGB volunteer who had supported the Society for a number of years. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. Bob King, G3ASE has also become a Silent Key. In 1941, Bob was recruited as a Voluntary Interceptor at the age of 16, followed by four and half years in the Radio Security Service stationed at Box 25, Arkley View, Barnet. There he examined logs from our intercept stations to determine which transmissions were German Abwehr and thus wanted. His work amongst the surviving VIs is legendary, including the annual reunions at Bletchley Park. Condolences to his family at this difficult time. Another Silent Key, Henry Pinchin, G3VPE, was the RSGB Regional Representative for Region 3 from July 1975 to December 1981. He served on the RSGB council from January 1982 to December 1987. We extend our deepest sympathies to his family. Obituaries for these well-known and admired amateurs appear on the RSGB website at.

The RSGB has been adding updates to the ‘Sharing ideas’ section of its Coronavirus updates page, which you can find at www.rsgb.org/coronavirus-updates There are reports from Denby Dale ARC, Spalding ARC and Norfolk ARC, as well as news of two new technical videos on ATV and Microwave operations that the Society has added to its website. Find out what others are doing, be inspired and then email [email protected] to share how your club is adapting to the current challenges.

Now the special event news

Peter, G4XEX will be active as GB4SAH for Stay At Home until the 30th of April to help amateurs pass the time during the lockdown.

Euan, MM0VIK is active as GB1COR from his home QTH in the Shetland Islands, EU-012, until the end of April in recognition and support for the health professionals and essential key workers during the coronavirus emergency. QSL cards will not be available for this special callsign.

Ten OH0 to OH9 special callsigns with the suffix PYSYKOTONA, which is Finnish for stay at home, are active until the 3rd of July. They’re to raise awareness for social distancing and remaining at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. QSL via Logbook of The World, eQSL, or via OH3AC.

The RAF Amateur Radio Society will be activating the special event GB75VED from the 1st to the 28th May from members’ homes.

Now the contest news

Due to social distancing and movement precautions around the world, most contest organisers are not accepting entries from multi-operator groups or from portable stations. Check the rules before taking part.

The First Machine Generated Modes contest ends its 24-hour run at 1400UTC today, the 19th. Using the 50 and 144MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and your four-character locator.

The YU DX contest ends its 24-hour run at 0659UTC today the 19th. More information can be found at http://yudx.yu1srs.org.rs/2020.

On Tuesday, the 1.3GHx UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Thursday, the 80m Club Championships takes place from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using RTTY and PSK only, the exchange is signal report and serial number.

Next weekend the SP DX RTTY contest runs from 1200UTC on the 25th to 1200UTC on the 26th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands the exchange is signal report and serial number, with SP stations also sending their Province code.

Next Sunday, the 26th, the BARTG Sprint 75 contest runs from 1700 to 2100UTC. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is your serial number only.

And finally, don’t forget the RSGB Hope QSO Party on weekdays, see www.rsgbcc.org/hf for further details.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 17th of April.

Last week we said that we expected the Kp index to rise over the weekend due to incoming solar particles from an Earth-facing coronal hole. But we did warn that it was impossible to tell how severe it might be. In the end, it didn’t amount to much, as although the stream was travelling at up to 450km per second, its density was actually quite low and the Kp index topped out at a fairly low three.

The Sun remained spotless all week and the solar flux index remained pegged below 70. The only good news was that we have begun to see signs of the impending Sporadic-E season, with one or two days showing short-skip openings on 10 metres into Germany and Spain, and a probable F2 layer or multi-hop Sporadic-E opening into Paraguay and Brazil on Thursday. We expect these to increase as we head towards May, so do keep an eye on 28MHz. The FT8 frequency of 28.074MHz will likely be the first to show signs of activity but don’t rule out the CW and SSB parts of the band.

Next week NOAA has the solar flux index at or about 68-70. Conditions should remain settled until the 26th when the Kp index is predicted to rise to four, due to the return of a solar coronal hole.

Propquest.co.uk shows that the daytime critical frequency (F0F2) is often exceeding 4MHz, so 80m and perhaps 60m are still best for inter-UK contacts. Twenty metres still remains the optimum DX band during daylight, with occasional openings on 17 and even 15 metres at times. Ten-metre propagation, when it occurs, is still likely to be via short-skip Sporadic-E, with very rare F2 openings bringing DX.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

As high pressure tends to favour cooler areas at this time the year, it’s common to find highs over Scandinavia. Conversely, as the continent slowly warms, there is a tendency for low pressure to form, say, over France or Biscay. That is pretty much the typical pattern we find through next week. What this means for propagation is that the southern half of the country starts with showery rain or thunderstorms and the prospect of some rain scatter. This rain scatter option appears to last until about Tuesday.

Northern areas nearer the high over Shetland and Norway could see some Tropo. This is because another typical feature of spring is that the North Sea is often covered by a layer of misty low cloud, and that makes good conditions for Tropo. So, look for paths along the east coast from East Anglia to northeast Scotland or across the North Sea to Denmark and Germany. Most areas see some Tropo benefit in the second half of the week.

We are heading rapidly towards May, the nominal start of the Sporadic-E season. The position of the jet stream’s upper air patterns suggests that paths towards Spain and Portugal are more favoured, especially at first, with the second option of paths towards Scandinavia.

Wednesday sees the peak of the ongoing Lyrids meteor so look out for increased meteor scatter activity this week. Moon declination goes positive on Tuesday but with apogee on Tuesday, EME path losses are at their highest this week. 144MHz sky noise is low.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week.