RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for February 16th 2020.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday the 16th of February 2020

 

The news headlines:

Storm Ciara prevents 40m GB2RS news reading
Get involved in British Science Week
Second mock Full licence exam available

 

Due to the awful weather conditions last weekend during Strom Ciara, Gunter, DJ2XB and Colin DJ0OK were unable to read the GB2RS news on 40m. Both readers had to take their antennas down for safety. They hope to resume a normal service today, the 16th, weather permitting.

If you or your radio club want to get involved in British Science Week, which takes place between the 6th and the 15th of March, activity packs are now available to download from https://tinyurl.com/qvyqnr8  The pack contains tips on how to run British Science Week in school or at home, easy-to-run activities, and details of the annual poster competition. Whilst there’s no details of radio activities, there's a lot to get you started on this excellent initiative and can be adapted for amateur radio use.

The RSGB has published a second mock exam paper for the Full licence this week so there are now two for each licence level. You can see all the mock exam papers on the Society’s website at www.rsgb.org/mock-exams

Amateurs in all French territories now have access to the 60m 5351.5 to 5366.5kHz WRC allocation at a maximum power of 15WERP following the publication in the French official journal. The French national society, REF, advocates the use of the IARU 60m band plan.

Mitsuo, JA1WQF successfully decoded a 47GHz signal bounced off the moon from Al, W5LUA on the 10th of February. Al posted news of the achievement on the Moon-Net email reflector saying these were only one-way tests that started out with sending single tones that were copied well. Then Al sent several sequences of calls and grid that Mitsuo was able to decode at 1146 and 1234UTC. Signal levels were -23 and -25dB. More tests are planned.

The Leicester Mercury has a story on the top-secret wartime listening station Beaumanor Hall’s crucial role in the Second World War. It was a Y station and you can read the full story at https://tinyurl.com/rhtb8tl

The IARU Monitoring System Region 1 Newsletter January 2020 is now available at www.iaru-r1.org. Richard, G4DYA is the Intruder Watch Coordinator runs the RSGB Monitoring System, part of the IARU Monitoring System. His report contains several instances of the Container over-the-horizon radar.

The RSGB Build a Radio workshop at the National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park on the 14th of March is now sold out. Details of the next event will be in a forthcoming GB2RS.

 

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

Today, the 16th, the RadioActive Rally will be held at Nantwich Civic Hall, Cheshire, CW5 5DG. There is free car parking and doors open at 10.30am. There will be a Bring & Buy, as well as traders and an RSGB book stall. A single raffle ticket is included with the entrance programme; additional tickets available. Catering is provided on site. Contact Stuart Jackson on 0788 073 2534.

Also today, the 16th, the Lomond Radio Club Bring & Buy event takes place at John Connolly Centre, Main Street, Renton G82 4LY. Doors open at 10am. There will be a Bring & Buy, traders and refreshments will be available. Contact Bill at [email protected]

Next Sunday, the 23rd, the Rainham Radio Rally takes place at The Victory Academy, Magpie Hall Road, Chatham, Kent ME4 5JB. Doors open from 10am to 4pm and admission is £3 with children attending free of charge. Talk in will be on 145.550MHz using GB4RRR. Local and national traders will be in attendance. The BRATS Interactive Zone for Kids will be available as will the BRATS Junk stand. Refreshments from the BRATS Kitchen. Contact 0782 583 8877 if you need more information.

Also next Sunday, the 23rd, is the Red Rose Winter Rally at St Joseph’s Hall, Chapel Street, Leigh WN7 2PQ. Doors open at 11am. There will be trade, individual and Club stands as well as a Bring & Buy. Details at www.wmrc.co.uk

Please send details of your rally and event plans as soon as possible to [email protected] – we give you valuable publicity online, in RadCom and on GB2RS, all for free.

 

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

Chas, NK8O will be active as 5H3DX from Zinga in Tanzania between the 16th of February and 16th of March. In his spare time, he will operate CW, PSK31, FT8 and possibly SSB on the 40 to 10m bands. QSL via NK8O direct only, see qrz.com for instructions, Logbook of The World and eQSL.

Hiro, JG1SXP will be active as 8Q7HK from the Maldives, AS-013, between the 19th and 24th of February. He will operate FT8, CW and some SSB on the 80 to15m bands, possibly also on 160m depending on local conditions. QSL via Logbook of The World, Club Log's OQRS, or direct to home call.

Brian, ND3F will be active as KP2/ND3F from St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, NA-106, until the18th of February. QSL via EA5GL.

Mike, TI5/W1USN and Bob, TI5/AA1M will be active from Costa Rica from the 20th of February to the 4th of March. They will operate CW, SSB and FT8 on the 160 to 10m bands. QSLs via Logbook of The World, or via their home calls either direct or via the bureau.

Rick, N1DC is active holiday style as N1DC/4 from Hutchinson Island, NA-141, until the 25th of February. He operates CW, FT8 and SSB on the 40, 30 and 20m bands. QSL direct to his home call and Logbook of The World.

Wolfgang, DL5MAE will be paying another visit to Laos until the 20th of February. In his spare time, he will reactivate his 3W2MAE callsign. He suffers from heavy local QRM and requests that callers bear this in mind when trying to contact him. His preferred QSL route is via the German QSL bureau.

 

Now the special event news

Members of the Bruneck section of the ARI, the Italian national society, will be using II3BIA until the 23rd of February to celebrate the Biathlon World Championships in Italy. Operations will be on all bands between 160 and 10m as well as 2m and 70cm using CW, SSB, digital modes and QO-100 satellite. QSL via IN3ZWF, by the Bureau, direct, eQSL or OQRS.

Please send special event details to [email protected] as early as possible to get your event publicised here on GB2RS, in RadCom, and online.

 

Now the contest news

This weekend the ARRL International DX Contest ends its 48-hour run at 2359UTC today, the 16th. Using CW only on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands the exchange is signal report and transmit power, with US stations also sending their State and Canadians their Province.

On Monday the first FT4 contest runs from 2000 to 230UTC on the 80m band. The exchange is your 4-character locator.

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

Next Sunday, the 23rd, is the first 70MHz Cumulative Contest. Running from 1000 to 1200UTC and using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

For 48 hours next weekend the CQ 160m DX contest take place. Starting at 2200UTC on the 21st, it ends at the same time on the 23rd. Using SSB only the exchange is signal report and CQ Zone with American stations also sending their State and Canadians their Province.

From 0600UTC on the 22nd to 1800UTC on the 23rd, the REF Contest is SSB only on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands. The exchange is signal report and serial number with French stations sending their Department number or overseas prefix.

For 24 hours from 1200UTC on the 22nd, the UK EI Contest Club DX contest is CW only on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands. The exchange is signal report and District Code.

 

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 14th of February.

Last week saw reasonably-settled HF conditions after the effects of a geomagnetic disturbance passed. But the Sun remained spotless again with a solar flux index of about 70-72 all week.

Wednesday’s 80m Club Championship contest left many amateurs feeling disappointed and with fairly empty logs after the critical frequency let them down.

At the start of the contest the f0F2 as measured at RAL in Chilton was 3.5MHz, but it then declined before finishing at 3.45MHz at 21:30hrs. As a result, long skip was the order of the day with the highest scorers being in Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden.

With a few exceptions, there were few inter-G contacts as the high-angle signals were just not being returned by the ionosphere. Hopefully, this will improve over the next few months as the series continues and the evening critical frequency or f0F2 rises.

Barring any dramatic changes, NOAA has the solar flux index at 71 this coming week. A large coronal hole should become Earth-facing on Friday the 14th, which means we may see its associated high speed solar wind impact the Earth around Sunday or Monday the 16th/17th. This could see the Kp index rise to four with characteristic disturbed conditions after a potential initial positive phase.

There are some DX nuggets to be had this week. Mike TI7/G3WPH and John TI7/G4IRN are both active in Costa Rica until 17th February. They have already been spotted on 160m and 40m, and should be taking part in this weekend’s ARRL International DX Contest. See www.rsgb.org/predtest for prediction details to Costa Rica

 

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

 

Next week’s weather is likely to continue the unsettled theme, so more strong winds at times and little real chance of significant Tropo paying a visit. There may just be a brief weak ridge close to southern England midweek, but not looking too useful for developing the inversions needed for Tropo.

In propagation terms, that leaves us with some potential for rain scatter as active fronts and showers bring useful scatter points regions for the GHz fraternity.

The shower examples may be quite a challenge since the rate of movement can be quite high in such windy weather; imagine trying to follow a target moving at 40mph! Radar displays are your friend here and can make a big difference to the outcomes.

Moon declination reaches its minimum for the lunar month on Wednesday, with the Moon appearing above the horizon for seven hours and reaching just 13 degrees elevation. Path losses are rising all week and 144 MHz sky noise is very high, peaking at around 3000 Kelvin on Tuesday.

Keep looking for random meteor scatter QSOs around dawn when the Earth is rotating towards the main meteor flux to keep the VHF DX coming.

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