RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for December 15th 2019.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 15th December 2019

The news headlines:

RSGB Christmas opening times

RadCom Basics out now

Happy birthday GB3BS

RSGB HQ will close for the Christmas and New Year period from 12 noon on the 24th of December. It opens again at 8.30am on the 2nd of January. During that time, if you need information about amateur radio, exams or RadCom you’ll find lots of information on the RSGB website, www.rsgb.org. Last UK orders from the RSGB shop for delivery in time for Christmas is 10am on Friday the 20th of December. The deadline for overseas orders has passed. Don’t forget to use your RSGB Members voucher against any purchase. The RSGB’s National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park will be closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. Visitors should also note that the NRC will close early, at 3pm, on New Year’s Eve.

A new edition of RadCom Basics is now out. RSGB Members can read it today by going to www.rsgb.org/radcom-basics, where you can also register to receive notification of subsequent issues as they become available.

Repeater GB3BS is celebrating its 10th year at the Lansdown site, IO81TK. After more than 30 years of continuous operation at Cossham Hospital, it was moved on the 19th of December 2009 to make way for a multi-million-pound refurbishment of the Grade 2 listed hospital building that had been its home for so long. GB3BS is also celebrating its 43rd year of operation serving Bristol and surrounding area. The GB3BS repeater group believe it was ether the second or third UHF repeater to be licensed in the UK, so happy birthday GB3BS!

YOTA Month is in full swing and thanks to local clubs, schools and Scout groups it has already introduced large numbers of youngsters to amateur radio. Flight Refuelling ARS in Wimborne had seven young people involved in their activation. Two were already licenced and they hope at least two of the visitors will be future Foundation candidates. This weekend, the 14th and 15th of December, the RSGB’s National Radio Centre is hosting the callsign. Do take young family or club members to take part in this event. RSGB Members can download their free Bletchley Park entrance voucher from www.rsgb.org/bpvoucher. On Tuesday and Thursday, M0WHP will operate from 1800 to 2359UTC and G0MFR will do the same on Wednesday. On Friday and Saturday, a multi young operator activity, supervised by M0SDV, will take place over 48 hours. Next Sunday, the 22nd, the Royal School of Signals will operate from 1200 to 1800UTC.

The reports, presentations and minutes from the recent 2019 RSGB Spectrum Forum annual meeting are now available. The material provides a unique overview on a wide range of topics from EMC, HF to VHF and microwaves from both the Society and Nationally Affiliated Groups. This year’s meeting included an overview of the results of the 2019 World Radio Conference and recent changes and concerns regarding callsigns and licence revalidation. The reports are online at www.rsgb.org/sfmeeting2019.

There will be no GB2RS news script for Sunday the 29th of December. Newsreaders are of course free to run a net under their own callsign on their normal transmission slot. An abbreviated script will be prepared for Sunday the 5th of January for those newsreaders who are able to read on that day. Normal service will resume on the 12th of January. The RSGB would like to take the opportunity to thank all the GB2RS news reading volunteers for their service to the amateur community throughout the year.

Two more videos from the 2019 RSGB Convention will shortly be released to Members. First is a recording of Dean Pesnell speaking via Skype about the Solar Dynamics Observatory, SDO, the Sun and the Ionosphere. The second video is RSGB EMC Committee members John Rogers, M0JAV and David Lauder, G0SNO delivering an EMC workshop. Both will be available at rsgb.org/videos, where you will already find many more from this and previous RSGB Conventions.

Over the Christmas period there are fewer contests than usual so you may like to take part in Worked All Postcodes, sponsored by Moonraker and assisted by several other dealers. The idea is simple – work as many different postcode areas as you can on 4m, 2m, 70cm and 23cm. Activity nights are on Wednesdays but contacts on any day are valid. The award website is www.amateur-radio.co.uk.

And now for the details of rallies and events for the coming week

We have no more rallies or events listed for 2019. Please send details of your 2020 rally and event plans as soon as possible to [email protected].

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Tony, 3D2AG expects to be active as 3D2AG/p from Rotuma, IOTA reference OC-060, starting around the 17th of December and continuing until mid-January 2020. He plans to operate CW, RTTY, FT8 and SSB on the 160 to 6m bands. He will have no internet access while on the island. QSL direct to 3D2AG or Club Log’s OQRS for FT8 only.

Rudi, DB1RUL will be active holiday style as FK/DB1RUL from Ouvea Island, OC-033, in New Caledonia from the 18th to 21st of December, and from Ile des Pins, OC-032, from the 23 to the 27th of December. QSL via home call, either direct or bureau and Logbook of The World.

Joshua, W9HT will be active as HC5JLT from Ecuador between the 15th and the 21st of December. He will operate SSB, CW and digital modes on the HF bands and 6m. QSL via home call.

Ron, PP2RON will be active holiday style as PY6/PP2RON from Itaparica Island, SA-023, from the 20th of December to the 1st of January. He will operate SSB, CW and maybe FT8 on the 80 to 6m bands. QSL via his home call.

Seba, SQ1SGB expects to be active as VP8HAL from the Halley VI Research Station, Antarctica until the 8th of February 2020. In his spare time he will operate SSB plus FT8 and JT65 on the 40 and 20m bands. QSL via EB7DX.

Now the special event news

CN19JIM will be active on the 21st and 22nd of December from Imlil in the High Atlas mountain range of Morocco. The callsign’s suffix translates to International Mountain Day. QSL via RW6HS.

DL250BTHVN will be active from Bonn on the 16th and 17th of December 2020, helping mark Beethoven Anniversary Year.

Please send special event details to [email protected] as early as possible. We have not received special event station info from Ofcom in recent months so you MUST let us know to get your event publicised here on GB2RS, in RadCom, and online.

Now the contest news

The 2nd Machine Generated Mode contest ends its 24 hours at 1400UTC today, the 15th. Using the 50 and 144MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and your 4-character locator.

The ARRL 10m contest ends its 48-hour run at 2359UTC today, the 15th. The exchange is signal report and serial number, with USA stations sending their State code and Canadians their Province code.

On Tuesday the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Thursday it’s the turn of the 70MHz UK Activity Contest, also from 2000 to 2230UTC. It’s also all modes with the exchange signal report, serial number and locator.

The UK Six Metre Group’s Winter Marathon and runs until the end of January. There are no specific operating modes or periods. Just work as many locator squares as you can on the 50MHz band.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 13th of December 2019.

This week NOAA and NASA produced their latest forecast for the upcoming solar cycle. It predicts that we will be at solar minimum in April 2020, plus or minus six months. We should therefore begin to see a slow rise in new cycle sunspots towards the end of 2020. It says the next cycle is likely to be similar to the last one and will peak in July 2025, plus or minus eight months, with a smoothed sunspot number of 115. This is not exactly exciting, but is roughly line with how solar cycle 24 performed. Cycle 24 peaked in April 2014 with an average sunspot number of 82. More importantly it says there is no indication of an approaching Maunder-type minimum.

This last week was characterised by quiet geomagnetic conditions with a maximum Kp index of three. There were no sunspots and the solar flux index hovered between 70 and 72. Next week NOAA predicts unsettled geomagnetic conditions between the 18th and the 21st due to coronal hole activity. Needless to say the solar flux index will remain around 70, reflecting a lack of sunspots.

Daytime critical frequencies as measured by the Chilton Digisonde are currently in the range of 4.8-6.1MHz, which makes 40m difficult for short skip. Maximum usable frequencies over a 3,000km path are reaching 18MHz at times, with occasional openings up to 21MHz. But you may find the 14MHz band more reliable.

Eighty metres should remain open to both short-skip and DX during the night, after a short dip just after sunset. By 1830 UTC the F layer should stabilise and the band may become more usable, especially for paths over 100km.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

The coming week shows that we once again have predominantly low-pressure systems over the UK, mostly centred over the north of Britain or even further to the north. This will mean several occasions when there could be some rain scatter on the microwave bands to chase down.

For completeness we need to consider Tropo, but with a total absence of high-pressure areas, it is unlikely to feature much during the next week.

Something of a wild card next. Winter Sporadic-E is not unknown, and with a strong set of jet streams over the country during the first part of the week, it is just possible that a check on the clusters may reveal some unseasonal Sporadic-E on bands like 10m and 6m, particularly on the digital modes like FT8. It may also lead to some good days on the HF bands for short-skip paths on, say 20m, and perhaps give some boosted local net propagation on LF bands like 80m, long after the foF2 has dipped below 3.5MHz.

We are now just past the peak of the Geminids meteor shower on Saturday night, but there may still be some activity for the meteor scatter folk into the coming week as the shower tails off. That is until the Ursids shower starts to become dominant from around the middle of the week, peaking on the Sunday through Monday. Although not a large shower, there have been occasional meteor numbers beyond that normally expected, so it might be worth waiting up for.

Now to EME. The moon will be waning throughout this week. As the moon also moves closer to perigee by mid-week, its closest point to the Earth, this will mean low path loss. Sky noise also reaches its lowest at mid-week, so with low libration, the overall prospects for EME operation look very good.

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