RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for December 12th 2021.

GB2RS News

Sunday the 12th of December 2021

The news headlines:

Lincoln hams help TV program

Exams Committee report published

WSJT-X core developer goes SK

In the December issue of RadCom, page 14, we reported on the television programme outlining the design, specification and crews of the WW2 Lancaster bomber. The production company asked Lincoln Short Wave Club to help with a CW sequence during which their anchorman, Guy Martin, would familiarise himself with the vintage Marconi R1155/T1154 and send a short message in Morse using a ‘bathtub’ key. The programme is available to view next Sunday, the 19th of December, on Channel 4 at 9 pm.

The RSGB Examinations Standards Committee has published its 2021 annual report that covers activities in 2020. Despite the challenges of Covid, the Committee was quick to support proposals for changes to the exam system, such as approving online remote invigilation and the suspension of practical assessments. This allowed people to continue to take exams and get involved in amateur radio during the lockdown. The total number of exams administered by the RSGB Exams Department in 2020 increased by 41.9% compared to the previous year. You can read the report on the Committee’s page on the RSGB website.

Sad news now. From Joe Taylor, K1JT, we learned that Bill Somerville, G4WJS, died suddenly and unexpectedly. He was only about 65 years old. Bill was the first to join Joe in 2013, forming a core development group for WSJT-X. He helped to bring the overall programme structure more nearly up to professional standards. Moreover, he devoted countless hours to programme support, patiently answering users’ questions on WSJT-related forums. You can read a fuller obituary on the RSGB website. Our thoughts are with his family and many friends.

This month marks the Centenary of the first amateur radio signals crossing the Atlantic. Signals from the USA were received by Paul Godley, 2ZE, at a specially prepared receiving setup at Ardrossan in Scotland. A commemorative sked has been organised for the 12th of December at 0155 UTC between ARRL CEO, David Minster, NA2AA as the W1AW operator, and the Ardrossan station operating as GB2ZE. RSGB President Stewart Bryant, G3YSX will be present in Ardrossan for the sked, as will be Board Director Len Paget, GM0ONX and General Manager Steve Thomas, M1ACB. The RSGB representatives will also visit the new exhibition at the Heritage Centre at Ardrossan that celebrates these transatlantic achievements. From the 1st to the 26th of December, all UK and Crown Dependency licensees may add the suffix /2ZE to their amateur callsign to mark the centenary. Learn more on the story at rsgb.org/transatlantic-tests.

The ARRL and the RSGB jointly sponsored the 160m Transatlantic Centenary QSO Party that ran between 0200 and 0800UTC today, the 12th. Certificates and prizes are available. For more details go to rsgb.org/transatlantic-tests.

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station has received schedule confirmation for an ARISS radio contact with astronauts. This will be a telebridge contact via amateur radio between astronaut Matthias, KI5KFH onboard the ISS and students in Germany. The downlink frequency for this contact is 145.800MHz narrowband FM and may be heard by listeners in Europe that are within the ISS footprint. The ARISS radio contact is scheduled for Monday the 13th of December at 0951UTC.

The RSGB has been granted the callsign GB21YOTA, for allocation to youngsters to operate throughout December for Youngsters on the air. Today, the station will be operated by the Radio Society of Harrow using G3EFX. On Friday evening, M0YTE will operate the callsign and next Saturday M0SDV will put the callsign on the air. To see what operating slots are still available please look up GB21YOTA on QRZ.com.

And now for details of rallies and events

Now is the perfect time to let us know your group’s rally or event plans for 2022. Email [email protected] with details and we’ll publicise your event for free in RadCom, on GB2RS, and online. If you don’t tell us, we can’t publicise your event.

Now the DX news

Ferdy, HB9DSP has had to postpone his December trip to Kenya and now plans to be active as 5Z4/HB9DSP around mid-January. DJ6TF and DL7BO have also had to postpone their December trip to Zimbabwe and now plan to be active as Z21A and Z22O in early February.

Celebrating Christmas and the New Year, special callsigns PH21XMAS will operate until the 3rd of January and PH22HNY will operate until the 31st of January. Both will use SSB and digital modes. QSL via the operator's instructions.

Mario, IK1MYT is active as 9J2MYT from Lusaka, Zambia until June 2022. He operates SSB on 40, 20, 17, 15 and 10 metres. QSL direct to IZ3KVD.

The S21DX operation from St Martin’s Island, Bangladesh, IOTA AS-140, has been brought forward and is now expected to take place until the 16th of December, in accordance with the operating permission granted by the licencing authority. S21AM and S21RC will run one station on the HF bands SSB and FT8; a second station will be on QO-100. QSL via EB7DX.

Now the Special Event news

Today, the 12th of December is the 120th anniversary of the very first wireless signals across the Atlantic by Marconi. Ofcom has licensed a number of special event stations to mark the event. Chelmsford ARS has been granted GB120MT, licenced up to New Year’s Day.

Special event station GB1002ZE will be operated by Crocodile Rock Amateur Group near Ardrossan. In addition to the radio celebrations, North Ayrshire Council have jointly created an exhibition surrounding this Centenary that will be hosted in the North Ayrshire Heritage Centre, Saltcoats. This exhibition is open until mid-December.

Kilmarnock and Loudoun ARC will operate GS2ZE, a commemorative station adjacent to the site of the original transatlantic experiment at Ardrossan. It will be on the air for 24 hours ending at 1200UTC today, the 12th.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the historic Transatlantic Tests of December 1921, members of the HB4FR Amateur Radio Club will be active as HB1BCG throughout December. 1BCG was the callsign of the Connecticut station whose message crossed the Atlantic Ocean to be received in Scotland. QSL via HB9ACA.

Now the contest news

When operating in contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following relevant pandemic-related government recommendations. December is a quiet month for contests, indeed there are no RSGB HF contests at all this month.

The ARRL 10m contest runs for 48 hours ending at 2359UTC today, the 12th. Using CW and phone, the exchange is signal report and serial number, with US and Canadian stations, also sending their State or Province code.

On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2000UTC. It is followed between 2000 and 2230UTC by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest. The exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator.

Thursday sees the 70MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Next weekend it’s the Stew Perry Top Band Challenge. Running for 24 hours from 1500UTC on the 18th to 1500UTC on the 19th, it is CW only. The exchange is your 4-character locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 10th of December

The predicted elevated Kp index that we talked about last week didn’t amount to much at the end of the day. The solar wind remained reasonably calm and the Kp index only peaked at three. This rapidly fell to one by Tuesday and stayed at one or two for the rest of the week.

Solar activity has also been quiet, with the solar flux index falling to the high 70s on Tuesday, where it remained until at least Thursday the 9th. In fact, on Thursday there were zero sunspots and an SFI of 77. Looking at the STEREO Ahead spacecraft data shows very little activity turning into view and, as a result, the NOAA forecast is for only a slight increase in the SFI to the low 80s, perhaps climbing to 87 by the end of next week. It is not surprising, therefore, that Propquest is showing that the extrapolated MUF over a 3,000km path is often below 21MHz during daytime.

The long-range forecast from the US Air Force is for the SFI to remain below 90, at least until the third week in January, so get used to operating in this low SFI domain for a while longer. The good news is that sunspots can appear at any time, so our forecast may be inaccurate. Let’s hope so!

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

We are fighting our way through a very disturbed weather pattern, and the unsettled pattern over this weekend will bring some rain scatter possibilities, but as it’s winter, these may not produce the DX as summer storms do. Often local rain overhead produces strong rain scatter signals from relatively local stations that seem independent of beam heading.

There are signs of high pressure returning during next week, so hopefully not long to wait for tropo now. There are signs that from Tuesday, a stronger build of pressure will occur. Initially, this will be over the south of the country but gradually extend to northern areas during the second part of the week. This will bring some good Tropo opportunities, especially into the near continent and across the North Sea to southern Scandinavia.

Meteor scatter and aurora is always worth checking, but the key one to focus upon this week will be the Geminids meteor shower that peaks on Monday night, the 13th to 14th. Expect plenty of strong bursts, especially in the early hours of the 14th.

Moon declination goes positive again on Sunday so the EME week will be characterised by lengthening Moon windows and increasing peak Moon elevations, which occur later in the evening. The Moon reaches apogee next Saturday so path losses will be at their highest. 144MHz sky noise will be low for most of the week.

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