RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for April 24th 2022.

GB2RS News

Sunday the 24th of April 2022

The news headlines:

Two new GB2RS broadcasts

Take part in SOS Radio Week

VMARS nets

The RSGB GB2RS News Service is delighted to announce two new broadcasts on Sundays. With a nod to how it all started back in 1955, we have introduced a transmission using amplitude modulation. This takes place in the 80m band on 3650kHz at 8 am UK time from the station of G4JBD in Bedfordshire. The intended coverage is the Midlands and the South East of England but it may be heard more widely when propagation is favourable. For those in the South West Glasgow area who are busy on Sunday mornings, we are now offering an evening broadcast on 2m. Delivered by 2M0GUI on 145.525MHz FM, the transmission is at 6.30 pm UK time.

Every year thousands of people get into difficulty around our coast. Thousands of unpaid volunteers swing into action to save and rescue them. SOS Radio Week celebrates the work of these selfless volunteers. Amateur radio stations get on the air to raise awareness of the invaluable work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, National Coastwatch Institution and the many independent lifeboat and rescue organisations around our coasts. The activity starts at 0000UTC on the 1st of May and concludes at 2359UTC on the 31st. Participants are encouraged to become an official Registered Station and make as many contacts as possible, mentioning the reason for the event during their contact. For further details visit sosradioweek.org.uk

The Vintage Military Amateur Radio Society will be displaying at the Blackpool Rally today. They have regular nets on 3.615MHz at 8.30 am on Saturdays using AM and at 8 pm on Wednesdays using USB to facilitate the use of ex-military equipment. On Fridays, the frequency remains as 3.615MHz at 7.30 pm using LSB. More at www.vmars.org.

As part of the forthcoming Jubilee celebrations, the RSGB has announced further details of its GB70 special event station activities. The seven SES callsigns will be active across the Jubilee weekend, from the 2nd to the 5th of June, on multiple bands and modes by various clubs. After that weekend, these special callsigns will be available for activation by RSGB affiliated clubs or individual RSGB members until the 28th of June. Each callsign has a volunteer coordinator responsible for allocating operating slots in a published schedule. They will also collect the log files from those who have been activating the calls. For further information see the GB70 page in the RSGB Jubilee web section at rsgb.org/jubilee.

Provisional results for the 2021 IARU Region 1 Marconi Memorial VHF Contest are available. A total of 762 logs from 27 different countries in Region 1 were received. You can read the provisional results at iaru-r1.org.

This year’s CDXC Convention will take place on Saturday the 7th of May at The Link Hotel, Loughborough. The AGM will take place on the same day but, for those who cannot attend, online voting will be available a few days before and instructions will be sent out nearer the time. An interesting list of speakers has been arranged and can be found at www.cdxc.org.uk.

And now for details of rallies and events

Please send your rally and event news as soon as possible to [email protected]. We’ll publicise your event in RadCom, on GB2RS, and online.

The Cambridge Repeater Group Rally takes place today, the 24th. The venue is Foxton Village Hall, Hardman Road, Foxton, Cambridge CB22 6RN. Doors open at 9.30 am and admission is £3. There will be a talk in station, trade stands, car boot area and a Bring & Buy. Catering is available on site. More at cambridgerepeaters.net.

Also today, the 24th is the Northern Amateur Radio Societies Association Exhibition, also known as the Blackpool Rally. It will be held at the Norbreck Castle Exhibition Centre, Blackpool FY2 9AA. More details at narsa.org.uk.

The Andover Radio Club Spring Boot Sale is due to take place today, the 24th, at Wildhern Village Hall, SP11 0JE. It is open at 10 am and is organised by the Andover Radio Amateur Club. Details at arac.org.uk.

Next Sunday, the Thorpe Camp Visitor Centre Radio Amateur Rally will be at Thorpe Camp, Tattershall, Thorpe, Lincolnshire. It is open to the public from 9 am till 1 pm and entry is £4 with under 12s free. There will be hot and cold food on-site and car parking inside the grounds. Contact Anthony on 07956 654481.

Now the DX news

Thierry, F6CUK will be active as TM8C from Brehat Island, EU-074, until the 30th of April. He will operate SSB, CW and FT8 mainly on 40, 30 and 20m bands. QSL via F6CUK either direct or bureau and Logbook of The World.

Lubo, OM5ZW will be active holiday style as 3B8/OM5ZW from Mauritius, AF-049, from the 29th of April to the 6th of May. He will operate CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8 on the 10 to 80m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World and Club Log's OQRS.

John, W5JON will be active as V47JA from St. Kitts, NA-104, until the 28th of April. He will operate SSB and FT8 on the 6 to 160m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World or direct only to W5JON.

Now the Special Event news

Flight Refuelling ARS will be operating from the club station using GB2FRA to celebrate the club’s 40th anniversary. It is intended that the callsign will be used on all the bands and modes that are available from the club shack including 10GHz EME. Operations will run throughout April.

Medway Amateur Receiving and Transmitting Society will operate GB5MW between the 3rd and 30th of April to celebrate the society's centenary year. QSL via eQSL.

Now the contest news

The SP DX RTTY contest runs for 24 hours ending at 1200UTC today, the 24th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number with Polish stations also sending their Region code.

Running until 2130UTC on the 24th, the First MGM contest uses the 50 and 144MHz bands. The exchange is your report and 4-character locator.

Today, the 24th, the BARTG Sprint 75 Contest runs from 1700 to 2100UTC. Using 75 baud RTTY on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is the serial number.

On Tuesday the SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1830 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 2.3GHz and up bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Wednesday sees the UK EI Contest Club 80m CW contest running from 1900 to 2000UTC. Using CW only, the exchange is your 6-character locator.

On Thursday it’s the RTTY and PSK63 leg of the 80m Club Championships. Running between 1900 and 2030UTC, the exchange is signal report and serial number.

Next weekend, the UK EI Contest Club DX contest runs from 1200UTC on the 30th of April to 1200UTC on Sunday the 1st of May. Using CW only on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Note that EI and GI stations also send their District code.

Next Sunday, the 1st of May, the UK Six Metre Group Summer marathon starts. It runs until the 2nd of August. Using all modes on the 50MHz bands, the exchange is your 4-character locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 22nd of April 2022.

Last week was characterised by solar flares – lots of them! There were numerous strong flares, although the majority occurred in the early hours and so didn’t affect the ionosphere over Europe. Solar flare events can cause short-lived radio blackouts as the energetic photons penetrate deep into the D-layer. Solar activity during the past 30 days has increased drastically with five of the top 10 strongest flares of Cycle 25 detected during this period alone.

We have also had very strong sunspot activity with the solar flux index peaking at 160 on Thursday the 21st. The current crop of four sunspot groups probably means we can expect the SFI to stay high until at least early next week.

NOAA predicts the SFI will stay above 130, but we may get even higher figures for a time. It also predicts a maximum Kp index of two next week, although that could easily rise if we get hit by matter from any incoming CMEs, which are getting more prevalent as the cycle continues. The good news is that, at the time of writing, it didn’t look like we will get any coronal hole activity.

There have been numerous reports of good conditions on the higher bands - 21, 24 and 28MHz – including openings to TX5N on the Austral Islands. Braco, 8Q7DX, who is on holiday in the Maldives, has also been worked.

There have also been some signs of early Sporadic-E with very loud openings to Spain on 10 metres.

So if the SFI stays this high and we don’t get many geomagnetic disturbances it could be a good week for HF.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

We have a classic spring start to things with low pressure over the near continent, aided by the increasing warmth of the spring sunshine, while colder regions to the north become home to high pressure near Iceland.

Between the two, we will have a strong and cold-feeling east to northeasterly wind over the UK; not really the setup required for Tropo, since the strong winds and turbulence destroy any temperature inversion.

The changes come along after this weekend as the low weakens and a ridge of high pressure extends south across the country with much lighter winds and a chance of Tropo, especially overnight.

It is possible that isolated showers may offer a little rain scatter, but not a high probability.

It would be better to consider possible aurora and meteor scatter as your exotic modes. In this closing part of April, the best is within reach, since Sporadic-E is a serious possibility on 10m and perhaps 6m. Use the beacons and clusters to guide you, but if you start to adjust to your summer operating rule of checking for Es mid-morning and late afternoon or early evening, then Es QSOs will soon come.

The Winter minimum of meteor show activity is at an end with Sporadic meteor rates increasing towards their usual maximum in late summer.

The Lyrids shower has passed the peak but continues to be active until the 30th.

Moon declination starts the week negative with low peak moon elevations and short visibility windows but turns positive again on Thursday. Path losses are on the increase again as we are past perigee. 144 MHz sky noise is low all week except Saturday afternoon when the Sun and Moon are close in the sky for the five hours leading up to Moonset at approximately 1900hrs.

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