RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for January 19th 2020.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 19th January 2020

The news headlines:

Volunteer as a Regional Representative

New member of Exam & Syllabus Review Group

Teams section launched on RSGB website

Are you an RSGB Member living in Regions 2, 5, 7, 11, 12 or 13? If you want to make a difference in your Region and volunteer as a Regional Representative, remember that you need to submit your application before the 31st of January. This applies to those who are standing for re-election as well as Members who want to apply for the first time. Further information about all roles in the RSGB elections can be found on the Society’s website at www.rsgb.org/election.

At the end of last year, the RSGB announced the formation of the new Examination and Syllabus Review Group, the ESRG, and three vacancies within that Group. The Society is now pleased to announce that Tony Jones, G7ETW, has joined the group. Tony is an experienced tutor and will also be known to readers of Practical Wireless as a regular contributor to training-related articles. There are still two vacancies to fill; you can find out more from the RSGB website ESRG pages or the volunteers page, www.rsgb.org/volunteers

In the October 2019 RadCom, Board Director Philip Willis, M0PHI explained how the RSGB was updating the way in which staff members and volunteers work together to carry out the activities of the Society and to achieve its Strategy 2022 priorities. The Society has grouped these activities and specialist volunteers into five new teams and has launched a new section on its website for them: Innovation, Operating, Learning, Representation and Support. Go to www.rsgb.org/teams to find the right people to contact for help and advice.

An AM QSO Party takes place between 0600UTC on the 25th and 1200UTC on the 26th of January. This is not a 5/9 contest and aims to encourage QSOs and conversation, however points can be gained and certificates awarded. Full details of the AM QSO Party can be found at https://amqsoparty.wixsite.com/mysite

Key messages from the RSGB Volunteer Leadership Team meeting on the 16th of November are now online at tinyurl.com/GB2RS-1901A

Following updates to the Amateur Radio Regulations in the Falkland Islands, there is a need to revalidate all Falkland Island amateur radio callsigns. In order to do that, all users will be required to reapply for authority to use Falkland Island callsigns.

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

Roland, F8EN will be active as FR/F8EN from Reunion Island, IOTA reference AF-016, from the 23rd of January to the 18th of February. He will operate CW only on the HF bands. QSL via F6AJA either direct or via the bureau.

Janusz, SP9FIH will be active from Norfolk Island, OC-005 until the 12th of April. He will use the callsign VK9NK on SSB, RTTY and FT8. QSLs go via Club Log OQRS.

Jean-Pierre, F6ITD will be active as FG/F6ITD and TO7D from La Desirade, Guadeloupe, NA-102, until the 9th of March. He plans to operate SSB and digital modes on all bands. QSLs are preferred via Logbook of The World.

Dirk, WA4DT will be active as WA4DT/HR9 from Roatan Island, NA-057, until the 2nd of February. He will operate CW and FT8 on the 40 and 30m bands. QSL direct to his home call.

Slovenian operators S50X, S51V, S52P, S54W, S56DX, S56N, S57DX and S59A will be active on all bands and modes as IG9/homecall from Lampedusa Island, AF-019, between the 21st and 27th of January. QSL via home calls.

Rich, W4GKR will be active holiday style as TI5/W4GKR from Costa Rica until the 4th of February. He will operate digital modes and possibly slow CW on the 160 to 6m bands. QSL via his home call.

Now the special event news

Members of the Russian Robinson Club will operate the special event station R200ANT to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the discovery of Antarctica. The station will be on the air until the 31st of March. Listeners are asked to note that the event station is located in Russia and not Antarctica.

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

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.

Next weekend, the CQ 160m DX contest runs from 2200UTC on the 24th to 2200UTC on the 26th. It’s CW only on the 1.8MHz band and the exchange is signal report and CQ Zone. Note that US stations also send their State and Canadians send their Province.

The BARTG RTTY Sprint contest runs from 1200UTC on the 25th to 1200UTC on the 26th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands the exchange is simply the serial number of the contact.

Don’t forget that the UK Six Metre Group’s Winter Marathon 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 17th of January.

We had another pretty uneventful week with zero sunspots, but no major geomagnetic disturbances. The K index rose to three on Thursday morning due to the effects of the solar wind, but the ionosphere was otherwise calm geomagnetically.

We said last week that there had been some winter Sporadic-E, which had livened up 10 metres. We also said there had been no SSB activity of note on the band and was promptly corrected by Tony, M0IQD who sent a copy of his log. This showed that he made more than 15 SSB contacts on the 8th of January, including Norway, Sweden, Poland, Germany and even VO1FOG in Newfoundland. Keep an eye open around 28.450 to 28.495MHz for SSB openings. He also suggested that the Facebook group 10 Metre UK Net was a useful tool for 10m operators. We’re only too happy to pass that information on.

Next week NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be in the range 70-72, reflecting the current state of the solar cycle. It also predicts quiet geomagnetic conditions all week, so the ionosphere should be settled and showing seasonal norms in terms of propagation.

According to Propquest, daytime critical frequencies as measured by the Chilton digisonde are generally in the range 4.1 to 5.3MHz. This suggests that 80m remains best for inter-G contacts, with 40m being restricted to longer paths such as G to GM. Night-time critical frequencies are generally around 3.1 to 3.6 MHz, so 80m propagation may be marginal over shorter distances, but better over 500km or more.

Daytime F2 layer openings are generally up to 18MHz, with the 20-metre band being more reliable.

Weather charts show that the jet stream will remain strong over the UK and Europe next week, which may be an indicator for winter Sporadic-E, although the season may be ending – more of this in the VHF section.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

High pressure has started to reassert itself over southern Britain and improved Tropo conditions will probably kick in from today into early next week. Paths into the continent and south past Portugal towards the Canaries might be worth a look, in view of recent performances. This positive Tropo pattern could hold into midweek, but thereafter the models show a collapse of the high back towards the Azores, allowing room for a colder north-westerly to bring stronger winds and a risk of some wintry weather across eastern areas. But other models confine the cold outbreak to the northern half of the UK only.

There is always scope for some winter Sporadic-E and the jet stream pattern may favour paths into Western Europe and the western Mediterranean, particularly for digital modes like FT8, but it could also be worth checking for CW and SSB on 10m too.

The cold northwesterly with its wintry showers may excite the GHz fraternity towards the latter part of next week as heavy showers move down the North Sea and the Irish Sea, bringing some rain scatter propagation. The good thing about winter rain scatter is that the showers are not diurnal like in summer and usually maintain activity throughout the day and night.

Moon declination is negative and reaching a minimum on Thursday. Path losses continue to rise all week, and the very high 144MHz sky noise midweek means it’s a poor week for EME.

There are no major meteor showers this week, so continue to look for random QSOs in the early morning around dawn.

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