RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for January 12th 2020.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 12th January 2020

The news headlines:

First Tunisian licences in 6 decades

Intruder Watcher DK2OM retires

IET Wiring Reg changes affect Syllabus

The IARU reports that the first three Authorisations to Operate have been issued to three Tunisian amateurs. These are the first amateur permits issued since 1956. 3V8HB, 3V8MN and 3V1MB will soon be on the air from their homes, rather than being restricted to operating from a club station. Issuing individual authorisations to operate is a new process in Tunisia and involves a number of stages, including equipment conformity checks. This is great news for Tunisians that the process now exists so that radio amateurs can practice their hobby from homes in full compliance with the Tunisian Laws. The IARU Member Society ARAT extends its thanks to the National Agency of Frequencies, the Ministry of Telecommunications and all involved parties for making this happen.

After many years involvement in monitoring intruders on the amateur bands, Wolf Hadel, DK2OM, has decided to retire at the end of 2019. His work stretching back over 30 years first with DARC and, since 2005, for IARU Region 1, has been recognised with an IARU Diamond Award. Region 1 Vice-Coordinator Peter, HB9CET will take up the role on an interim basis until the Region 1 Conference in October.

Changes to The IET Wiring Regulations, BS7671, which are now at the 18th edition, affect syllabus item 8A2 in the Safety section of the amateur radio examination syllabus. There is a notice at www.rsgb.org/electricalsafety that explains more – and it’s relevant to all three exam levels.

Last week we told you about Ian, GM3SEK setting a new 70cm world record distance of 4,565km on tropo on the 28th of December. The record didn’t stand for long as Nick, G4KUX worked D21CV using FT8, establishing a new world record of 4644km. Congratulations to him. You will be able to read more about the excellent VHF conditions in the February edition of RadCom in the VHF UHF column. Any reports you may have for the column can be sent to [email protected].

The RSGB is looking for people to step forward for election at the RSGB AGM. There are vacancies for two elected Board Directors and six Regional Representatives. Full details of the nominations process can be found at www.rsgb.org/election. The deadline for your nomination is the 31st of January.

To mark the 60th anniversary of the Republic of Cyprus members of the Cyprus Amateur Radio Society may use the prefix 5B60 during 2020 instead of the usual 5B4 prefix.

The latest IARU Monitoring System newsletter for Region 1 is now available from www.iaru-r1.org. It contains detailed reports from the national coordinators within IARU Region, including the UK report compiled by Richard, G4DYA. In his report you can see where the Russian Kontayner Over The Horizon radar is appearing on the 40m band and the occasional broadcast station that appeared on the wrong part of the band.

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

We have no details of rallies in January. The first couple of the year will be the Barry ARS Table Top Sale on the 1st of February and the South Essex ARS Canvey Rally on the 2nd of February.

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

Sergey, RX3AMY will be active as 8Q7MA from the Maldives until the 23rd of January. This is a holiday-style operation and he will be mainly on 40 and 20m SSB.

Jean, FG8NY, will be active with the special callsign TO10CWO from Saint Claude, Basse Terre Island in Guadeloupe, IOTA reference NA-102, between the 17th and the 31st of January. Activity is to celebrate 10th anniversary of CW Ops Club. Operations will be on various HF bands on CW. QSL via FG8NY.

PP2OK, PY6ZK, PU6JEL and PY6TV will be active as ZW6C from Tinhare Island, SA-080, between the 16th and 19th of January. Activity will be on the 40, 20 and 10m bands using CW and SSB.

Janusz, SP9FIH will be active as VK9NK from Norfolk Island, OC-005, between the 12th of January and the 12th of April. He will operate SSB, RTTY and FT8 in Fox & Hound mode on the 160 to 10m bands. QSL via Club Log’s OQRS or via SP9FIH.

Now the special event news

John, M0XIG will operate GB200FN until the 3rd of February to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale. QSL direct to M0XIG.

The British Amateur Radio Teledata Group is celebrating its diamond anniversary. Members of the Group will be active as GB60ATG until June 2020. More information can be found at bartg.org.uk.

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

Today, the 12th, the Datamodes AFS takes place from 1300 to 1700UTC. Using the 3.5 and 7MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number.

On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC, using FM only. It is followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both contests is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Tuesday the 70MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Saturday the Worked All Britain 1.8MHz Phone contest runs from 1900 to 2300UTC. Using SSB only, the exchange is signal report, serial number and WAB square.

Also on Saturday the SSB AFS contest runs from 1300 to 1700UTC. Using SSB only on the 3.5 and 7MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number.

Don’t forget that 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 10th of January.

Having predicted in last week’s broadcast that there would be no geomagnetic disturbances, we did in fact have two periods with an elevated Kp index this week. The first occurred on the 5th January, when the Kp index hit four. This was due to the impact of the solar wind. The Kp index rose again to four on Thursday the 9th, again due to the effects of a high-speed solar wind stream from a large geo-effective coronal hole.

On Thursday a new spot was seen forming in the Sun’s north-east quadrant. This event, coupled with other recent reports of new solar cycle 25 sunspots, suggest that the cycle is starting to get under way. The next few months should give us a better idea of how it is progressing. Andy, M0NKR reports that he has now worked more than 100 countries since January 1, so there is DX to be had on HF!

Meanwhile, ten metres was alive this week due to winter Sporadic-E. An opening at lunchtime on the 8th saw short-skip path openings on FT8 to Germany, Slovenia, Croatia, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland and others. More on this in the VHF report. Interestingly, there were no CW or SSB signals on the band at this time. This just goes to show that you shouldn’t write 10m off at this time of year.

Next week NOAA predicts the solar flux index will remain around 70, with mainly quiet geomagnetic conditions. We may have a geomagnetic disturbance on the 14th and 15th which could see the Kp index rise to four again. As always, look out for a pre-auroral enhancement at the beginning of the disturbance, but as it progresses expect to see lowered maximum usable frequencies and noisy bands.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

As we recover from the excesses of Christmas Tropo and start a New Year, the weather continues to provide some interest. Firstly, the northern half of the country will be dominated by deep Atlantic lows, which will mean strong winds at times with rain or snow in the north and a good chance of further episodes of scatter paths on the microwave bands. The south will, for the most part, be on the edge of the main low track and there may just be a chance to link into the high pressure via Tropo, but this doesn’t look like a good option.

Believe it or not, there is still one more roll of the dice for upper HF and VHF propagation and that may indirectly be the result of all this disturbed weather. The jet stream has been very strong, which is typical of winter months and, lying across the UK and northern Europe into Scandinavia, has produced some out-of-season Sporadic-E on 10m and 6m. Always worth a check, but the position of the jet stream and its strength may not be as favourable later in the week.

Moon declination is still positive but declining, going negative again on Thursday. Path losses are at their lowest at perigee on Monday. This and the low 144MHz sky noise means a good week for EME.

We are now entering the winter minimum of meteor activity, with just two more showers before the Lyrids at the end of April. Best opportunities for random QSOs will continue to be in the early morning around dawn.

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