RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for February 27th 2022.

GB2RS News

Sunday the 27th of February 2022

 

The news headlines:

RSGB Convention survey

QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo

Amateur radio in Ukraine

 

The RSGB is planning a hybrid Convention this year that will combine the benefits of meeting in person with access to high-quality content online for those who can’t attend. The Society would like to hear your views to help shape this event. It is also looking for a Convention Chair to lead the team of people who create the 2022 Convention. For links to the survey and fuller information about the Convention Chair role, go to the RSGB website at rsgb.org/convention

Callum McCormick, M0MCX and Joseph Kasser, G3ZCZ are among the 60 plus speakers at the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo. This virtual amateur radio gathering will be live on the 12th and the 13th of March. Other names you may recognise are Gerald Youngblood, K5SDR the founder of FlexRadio, Carl, K9LA an RSGB Convention regular and Bob Heil, K9EID founder of Heil Sound. You can find out more at qsotodayhamexpo.com.

The RSGB has heard from Anatoly, UT3UY, the Vice-President of the Ukrainian national society, saying that there is a ban on the operation of amateur radio stations in the Ukraine for 30 days that started on the 24th of February. The IARU Region 1 Secretary said. “The IARU Region 1 continues to monitor the development and expects all radio amateurs to follow their national laws and regulations”.

The latest edition of “The 5MHz Newsletter” celebrates its 10th birthday. It is now available for free pdf download from the RSGB 5MHz page thersgb.org/gb2rs/016. This edition includes 5MHz news from six countries, Exercise Blue Ham 22 – 1 and the Wiki 60 Meter Band page.

The RSGB has launched a new set of web pages to draw together the RSGB's activities for Her Majesty the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. More activities are planned and we'll be adding details to this web section over the coming weeks. You can find all the information in one place at rsgb.org/jubilee.

The organisers of the Saint Patrick’s Day award have announced the launch of a new web page where visitors can learn everything they need to know about the award. On the web page, you will find the simple registration form to be completed by all participants in this year’s festivities that will be running from the 16th to the 18th of March. The new page can be accessed at stpatricksaward.com.

Are you a member of a university or college amateur radio club? Would you like to start a new club? The RSGB has an online list of names, callsigns and contact details to help university and college radio amateurs get in touch with each other. If you’re a student and not licensed but would like to learn about amateur radio, you could also use the University Corner list to find out more. Go to the RSGB website at rsgb.org/university-corner.

Following a successful 2021 season, three more Youngsters-On-The-Air contest sessions will take place in 2022. The three sessions will be taking place on the 21st of May, 23rd of July and 30th of December. More details nearer the time, but you can find out more in the News section of www.ham-yota.com/contest.

 

And now for details of rallies and events

The Lagen Valley ARS Rally will take place on the 5th of March at the Hillsborough Village Centre, 7 Ballynahinch Road, BT26 6AR. Doors open at 11 am. For further details go to www.lvars.uk.

On the 6th of March, the Exeter Radio & Electronics Rally will be held in America Hall, De La Rue Way, Exeter EX4 8PW.

Also on the 6th, the Hack Green Bunker Rally will be held at the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 8AL. There will be electronic equipment, amateur gear, components, military radio items and vehicle spares. Doors open at 10 am.

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

 

Now the DX news

Philippe, F1DUZ will be active as FG4KH from Guadeloupe, NA-102, until the 15th of March. QSL via Logbook of The World, eQSL or via F1DUZ.

Paul, G8AFC will be operational from Pereybere on the north coast of Mauritius island from now until early April using the callsign 3B8HE. He will be principally on SSB using the 7 and 14MHz bands. The antennas are an off-centre dipole on lower HF bands and a Moxon Rectangle/sleeve coupled 2 element antenna on 10 and 6metres if conditions allow. The operation will be mostly daytime as propagation dictates and occasional evenings.

 

Now the Special Event news

H32AT is the special callsign that Jose, HP2AT is using until the end of the year to mark his 32 years in amateur radio. He uploads his log to qrz.com, Club Log and eQSL on a regular basis, and will upload all QSOs to Logbook of The World at the end of the activity. Paper QSL cards will not be available.

Special event station OR100RCBE will be active from 1 March to 31 December. It is a commemorative station celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Radio Club Belge de l'Est created in 1922. QSL via ON4GDV.

 

Now the contest news

When operating in any contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following all relevant pandemic-related government rules.

Due to the current events, the Belgian national society, the UBA, has decided to cancel the UBA DX CW contest that was scheduled to take place this weekend, the 26th and 27th of February.

Today, the 27th, the first 70MHz Cumulatives Contest runs from 1000-1200UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

The FT4 Contest runs from 2000 to 2130UTC on Monday. The recommended frequencies are 3576, 3579 and 3582kHz on the 80m band, 7047.5 kHz on 40m and 14080kHz on the 20m-band. The exchange is signal report and your 4-character locator.

On Tuesday the 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC. It is followed by the all-mode UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange is the same for both, signal report, serial number and locator.

The 144MHz FT8 Activity Contest takes place on Wednesday from 1900 to 2100UTC. The exchange is a report and your 4-character locator. A serial number is not required.

Next weekend the March 144/432MHz contest runs for 24 hours from 1400UTC on the 5th of March. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

The ARRL DX contest runs for 48 hours next weekend from 000UTC on the 5th of March. Stations outside the US and Canada should work as many contiguous states and provinces as possible. Using phone only on the contest sections of the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10-meter bands, the exchange is signal report and power. US and Canadian stations will send a signal report and their state or province.

 

Now the radio propagation report was compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 25th of February 2022.

It was not an outstanding week for HF propagation with low solar flux index numbers and an elevated Kp index at times. The week started off OK with the ARRL DX CW contest. This went quite well with 15 metres open as far as the Midwest in the afternoon, even for modestly-equipped stations. But with a solar flux below 100, the bands were never going to be alight. Geomagnetic conditions were mixed as well, with two periods where the Kp index rose to five. One of these was probably due to the solar wind from an Earth-facing coronal hole, which we spoke about last week.

The trouble is there is another coronal hole on the solar surface, which will be Earth-centric on Friday. So we potentially have a geomagnetic disturbance lined up for Sunday or Monday once again.

Sunspot-wise, NOAA predicts that we may get a slight upturn with the SFI just tipping into the low 100s. But it says we can only expect a maximum of 105, so nothing to get too excited about.

But other than the aforementioned solar wind stream from a coronal hole this weekend, the prediction is for a more settled Sun with a maximum Kp Index of two.

Propquest confirms the conditions, showing that the extrapolated MUF figures (based on the Chilton ionosonde data) show a maximum of about 21MHz during the day, with very occasional openings on 24MHz at times.

We may be heading towards solar maximum, but we still have a long way to go.

 

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

The weather will turn quieter for the coming week and although there will be some unsettled weather in the north and west at first, for most southern areas this weekend will start the sequence with a weak ridge of high pressure.

After a weakening front in the first part of the week, a new high will arrive and remain in control for much of next week. This could be good news for the 144MHz UK Activity Contest on Tuesday evening. Hopefully, some Tropo will be left over for the RSGB 144 / 432MHz contest over the following weekend 5/6th March, but at the moment it looks as though the high will be displaced a little to the west, leaving a colder northerly over the country and not ideal for Tropo despite the pressure being fairly high.

Other modes are possible, for example, there’s always the chance of aurora and random meteor scatter. We are still in the closed-season for traditional Sporadic-E, and low levels of meteor activity, but it's always worth a look at the beacons and clusters, just in case.

The Moon passed perigee today, so path losses are at their lowest, but combined with minimum declination yesterday Moon windows are short but increase throughout the week. The declination goes positive again on Friday.

144MHz sky noise is low to moderate all week, but the Sun and Moon are close to eclipse from 0900hrs Wednesday until Moonset, making EME difficult, especially at VHF.

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