RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for August 2nd 2020.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday the 2nd of August 2020

The news headlines:

Intermediate Exam practical assessment abolished

RSGB creates Facebook group for new licensees

Australia increases amateur licence flexibility

The Examination Standards Committee is pleased to announce the latest syllabus revision for the amateur radio licence examinations. Following the valuable feedback from the tutor community, certain points have been clarified. There are no new learning points with this revision, version 1.4, but one very significant change is that the Intermediate practical assessment is to be discontinued with immediate effect. Some of the feedback has indicated a further syllabus revision that will involve new learning points. Further consultations will commence regarding this in the autumn with an expected publication date of January 2021, and the content examinable from July 2021. All the documents are on the Society’s website at www.rsgb.org/syllabus2019

As part of its continuing Get on the air to care initiative, the RSGB has created a Facebook group to support new Foundation licensees who have taken their exam this year via remote invigilation, plus those returning to amateur radio after a number of years. For details on how to join the group, see www.rsgb.org/beyond-exams.

The Australian comms regulator ACMA has announced a series of changes to give Australian amateurs more options and flexibility. Digital modes and shorter three-letter callsigns will now be available to Australian Foundation Licensees. In addition, regional identifiers that indicate which State any amateur is located no longer need be changed when travelling across the country. Further details are available from the Wireless Institute of Australia at https://tinyurl.com/gb2rs-au.

To commemorate the 75th anniversary of VJ Day, the RSGB has organised a VJ Day amateur radio marathon on the HF bands and 6m using SSB, CW and digital modes. Three special UK callsigns GB75PEACE, GB1945PE, GB1945PJ will be on the air from the 1st to the 31st of August. The special stations have their own QRZ.com pages with details of the activation schedule. If you wish to participate and transmit using a VJ Day radio marathon callsign, contact Ian, G0FCT via email to [email protected]. Full details of the radio marathon and the five awards are on the Society’s radio marathon web page, www.rsgb.org/ve-vj-marathon.

Around 80 papers are now available online for the IARU Region 1 Virtual General Conference that will be held in October. Several inputs on a variety of topics are by a team of RSGB volunteers, covering HF-UHF Modernisation, support for innovation and the WRC-23 challenge in the 23cm band. The RSGB band plans may also be updated to take account of the outcome in January 2021. Full information can be found at https://rsgb.org/main/rsgb-consultations/iaru-consultations.

A Facebook group promoting Special Event Stations within the UK now has over 1000 members. Any radio amateur or SWL with an interest in organising, operating or working special event stations is welcome. The group is run by Mark, G1PIE, Martyn, MM0XXW and Pam, 2E1HQY. See www.facebook.com/groups/SESUk.

Milton Keynes ARS tells us that their training team has been part of the remote invigilating of exams. Over 300 candidates have been invigilated by Francis, M0UKF and Nigel, M0NYG since the online scheme started in April. The club thanks them for their efforts. Francis is taking a well-earned break to focus on other projects.

The objective of the AMSAT-UK OSCAR Satellite QSO Party is to encourage all radio amateurs to make contacts via satellites during northern hemisphere summer. The event runs until 2359UTC on the 22nd of September. Prizes will be awarded to the leading entries. Full details are at https://amsat-uk.org.

Now the special event news

Since the change of regulations applying to special event stations in the UK, many activations are now able to go ahead. UK amateurs would like to thank Ofcom for their help in making this happen.

August sees two GB80 Special Event Stations on the air to mark the critical role that radar played in the Battle of Britain 80 years ago. GB80BRS will be operated to commemorate Bawdsey Radar Station in Suffolk, which was where radar was developed in the late 1930s and was the location of the world’s first operational radar station. Activity will be on 80m to 10m bands using SSB, CW and FT8. GB80CH will be operated from Chelmsford in Essex, which has the most complete surviving radar tower from the Battle of Britain. The BAE Systems Great Baddow Amateur Radio, club with amateur colleagues in local clubs, will be operating across the HF and 6m bands.

And now the DX news

Tony, OH1TD is active again from his summer QTH on Korpo Island, IOTA reference EU-096, until September. QSL via his home callsign, either direct or via the bureau.

Mike, XW2DX is currently active as XW2DX from Vientiane and will be staying in Laos for the next few years. He is allowed to operate on the 20, 15 and 10m bands. QSL via RM0L.

Now the contest news

Please remember to check before the events for new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. The RSGB strongly advises obeying your own government’s advice first and foremost.

Today, the 2nd, the 432MHz Low Power Contest is single operator only from 0800 to 1200UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and first two letters of your postcode.

On Tuesday the 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the 144MHz UK Activity Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator.

Next weekend is the WAE DX CW contest from 0000UTC on the 8th to 2359UTC on the 9th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, European stations work non-Europeans only. The exchange is signal report and serial number.

Next Sunday, the 9th, it’s the 5th 70MHz Cumulative contest from 1400 to 1600UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 31st of July.

The Sun showed signs of coming back to life this week with not one but two sunspot groups. The sunspot number climbed to 22, representing two spots in two separate groups, and the solar flux index rose to 73. This wasn’t really enough to make much of a difference to HF propagation though, but it is a step in the right direction. The Kp index was pegged pretty much at one or two due to a lack of coronal hole activity.

Propagation-wise, we continued to have a good run of Sporadic-E, with openings to the USA and Canada on 10m SSB and FT8, and China was reported on SSB in last weekend’s IOTA contest. Even Nand, VU2NKS in India has been reported in the UK via 10m FT8. Next week NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will decline from 72 down to 68 as the two sunspots rotate out of view. The Kp index should remain low all week as well due to a lack of coronal hole activity. Propagation will remain at seasonal lows as we enter August, with daytime F2 maximum usable frequencies grazing 17-18MHz, with Sporadic-E bringing openings up to 30MHz and beyond. Night-time maximum usable frequencies are likely to exceed 10MHz over 3,000km paths, but keep an eye on Propquest.co.uk for the odd surprise. We can’t really expect F2 layer openings to improve until September, so make the most of the Sporadic-E openings for now.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

The next week or so looks to be a mix of brief spells when high pressure might present us with some Tropo, as seen just recently at the end of the last week, due to a temporary high over the near continent. The longer-range part of the forecast also picks up another high at the end of the coming week, although for both these highs, the main areas of enhanced Tropo are for central and southern Britain across the Channel and North Sea into the continent and Baltic region.

The period in between the two high-pressure ‘bookends’ is occupied by low-pressure systems with fronts and showery troughs adding a good chance of rain scatter again on the GHz bands. The summer months are particularly good for strong thundery shower-cloud development with plenty of high-intensity rainfall or hail.

Sporadic-E has performed fairly well in the last week, particularly for FT8, but with a smattering of more traditional modes. The general advice still holds – check the bands mid-morning, late afternoon and early evening for signs of Sporadic-E. It's never too late for Sporadic-E until maybe the end of the first week in September, so it's still well worth a look.

The Moon is at minimum declination today so there will be very low peak Moon elevations and short visibility windows early in the week. This means that, despite 144MHz sky noise being low, the man-made noise from the horizon will be in the main beam of all but the largest antennas.

There are no significant meteor showers this week.

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