RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for January 23rd 2022.

GB2RS News

Sunday the 23rd of January 2022

The news headlines:

Call signs get Q for Queen’s Jubilee

University amateur radio clubs

National Radio Centre to re-open

Ofcom has kindly agreed to an RSGB request that radio amateurs licensed by Ofcom may celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty The Queen by using the special regional secondary locator letter Q. This will be available for use throughout June 2022 and will require a Notice of Variation that will be available shortly via the RSGB website. The Society is also working on other events and activities that it hopes will appeal to a wide range of people. Further details will be released over the coming weeks.

Are you a member of a university amateur radio club? Would you like to find one to join? Or are you keen to revive or even start a new one? The RSGB has created a web page to help university radio amateurs contact each other. You could also use the page if you’re interested in learning more about amateur radio while you’re at university. To see the list and find out how to add your details, visit the RSGB website at rsgb.org/university-corner

The National Radio Centre will re-open to visitors, commencing on Monday the 31st of January. It is planned to open 7 days a week. Visitors will be encouraged to wear face masks, though this will not be mandatory, and the number of people accessing the radio room will be limited. We regret that for the time being visiting amateurs will not be able to operate the GB3RS station. The voucher system for RSGB Members to gain free admission to Bletchley Park is being reinstated and there is no longer a necessity to book an arrival time at the Park.

The RSGB Board is pleased to confirm the appointment of Chris Wood, GD6TWF as Honorary Treasurer, with immediate effect. Chris is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and has spent many years as a senior accountant within the banking industry, with roles including director level responsibilities and audit. Chris lives on the Isle of Man and continues to enjoy his long interest in yachting as a volunteer with the Isle of Man Sailing for the Disabled Charity. He joined the RSGB and became licenced whilst still at school and has maintained his interest since.

Jonathan Groves, M0VRI has been co-opted to the RSGB Board until the AGM 2022 to carry out a three-month review of RSGB youth activities and opportunities. He has been an active member of the Examinations and Syllabus Review Group for some time and will be presented to the membership for endorsement as a Nominated Director at the forthcoming RSGB AGM.

Sad news now. We learned this week that the founder and President of the Bangladesh Amateur Radio League, Saif D Shahid, S21A / KF6WJZ / G1NWJ, has become a silent key at the age of 73.

Over in the USA, the Federal Communications Commission has announced that amateur radio operations in the upper 500MHz of the 9cm band must cease on the 14th of April. The affected spectrum, 3.45 to 3.5GHz, was auctioned for around 22 billion dollars and will be used for 5G.

And now for details of rallies and events

The Red Rose Rally, originally planned for the 6th of February, has, unfortunately, had to be cancelled.

Please let us know your rally and event news as soon as possible. Email details to [email protected] and we’ll publicise your event for free in RadCom, on GB2RS, and online. The deadline for the March RadCom is tomorrow, the 24th of January.

Now the DX news

Matthias, DK4MN will be active from Aruba as P4/DL4MM from today until the 1st of February. He will focus on the low bands and WARC, operating CW, FT8 and SSB. QSL via DL4MM.

Thomas, DL1TPA will soon be active as 8Q7TP from Raa Atoll in the Maldives. He will be running very low power on 20 & 10m and be on the air until the 29th of January 2022. QSL via his home call.

Rag, LB3RE will be on the air on CW from the Svalbard Club Station JW5E from the 28th to the 30th of January. QSL via his home call.

Paul, 3B8HE/G8AFC will be operational from Pereybere on the North coast of Mauritius island until early April. Activity will be mostly daytime, principally on 7 and 14MHz SSB, with 28 and 50MHz when propagation permits. QSL details are on QRZ.com.

Look also for YC5YC/7 today and tomorrow, where EA7FTR will be operating from Kalimantan, Borneo Island. Activity will be HF SSB and digital modes. QSL via home call, Club Log or LoTW.

Now the Special Event news

A special event station, GB1900HA, will be on the air from the 24th of January to the 23rd of December. It marks 1900 years since the building of Hadrian’s Wall, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Operations will be generally from 10 am to 4 pm on weekdays, with the schedule published on the QRZ.com page for GB1900H.

Members of the SSAB Raahe Amateur Radio Club are operational as a special event station OF60RR from Pattijoki until the 1st of March to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the start of the construction of the Rautaruukki steel mill. QSL direct to OH8DR.

Now the contest news

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

On Tuesday the SHF UKAC takes place from 1930 to 2230UTC. Using all modes on the 13- to 3cm bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

The UKEICC 80m CW contest takes place on Wednesday from 2000 to 2100UTC. Using CW only on the 80m band, the exchange is your 6-character locator.

The Australia Day contest takes place from 2200UTC on Wednesday to 1000UTC on Thursday. Operations are on the 160 to 10m contest bands, plus VHF and UHF, CW and phone. The exchange is a signal report plus the number of years licensed.

The CQ 160m CW contest starts at 2200UTC on Friday and runs to 2200UTC on Saturday. Using CW only on the 160m band, the exchange is signal report and CQ zone.

Next weekend, the REF CW contest takes place from 0600UTC on Saturday to 1800UTC on Sunday. Using CW only on the 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number.

Also, next weekend, commencing at 1300UTC on Saturday and running to 1300UTC on Sunday is the UBA SSB DX contest. Using SSB on the 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday 21st January 2022.

We had a bit of a geomagnetic roller coaster ride this week. The Kp index was down as low as one, and up as high as six, which sparked visible aurora at northern latitudes. This was caused by a solar wind stream, which reached nearly 600km per second and contained a significant southward Bz component. This meant that it more easily coupled with the Earth’s magnetic field, allowing the plasma to flow in.

With regard to sunspots, we had a decline in sunspot numbers as the week progressed as the more active regions rotated off the visible disk. So ionospheric propagation was a mixed bag last week, buoyed by sunspots, but adversely affected by the raised Kp index. However, there were 10m openings to Australia and Malaysia reported by CDXC members, and other 10m openings into Europe were noted on Monday the 17th. Indonesia also put in an appearance on 10m FT8 on Tuesday, according to Chris, 2E0EEY on the 10m UK Net Facebook group. As always, keep an eye on the upper bands, where you may get the odd surprise.

Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will continue to decline, perhaps starting at 102 and potentially finishing in the low 90s. But geomagnetic conditions are predicted to be more stable, with a maximum Kp index of two or three for most of the week.

And finally, there appears to be a problem with the data feed for the Propquest foF2 critical frequency graph data from the USA. The graphs will return as soon as we start receiving information again.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

The coming week once again looks dominated by high pressure over the country, with some good Tropo prospects. Also, like last week, the high centre may become displaced just to the west to allow a showery northwesterly across Scotland and eastern England, thereby reducing the Tropo for the eastern side of the country at times. As a general rule, long-lasting highs can provide some good options for DX Tropo 1,000 to 2,000km along the side of the high-pressure area, but aiming through the centre may be risky since the temperature inversion often descends to the surface and ducts the signal into the ground.

Other propagation modes are also worth a look, or at least it’s worth getting a list of useful beacon frequencies at the ready. If activity is low, check what’s doing on FT8 or MSK144 meteor scatter by calling CQ and using the PSKreporter website – which you can easily find via Google – to see how far you are getting.

As we are in the annual low period of meteor activity, random meteor scatter will be hard going unless you stick to the pre-dawn period. In view of the solar activity recently, perhaps there’s a chance of an aurora.

Moon declination goes negative again today, so Moon windows will shorten. With perigee a week away, path losses are low and falling so that’s good for GHz bands EME, but Moon time will be limited due to the negative declination. For VHF EMEers, 144MHz sky noise starts low this week, but increases, hitting a peak of over 3,000 Kelvin next Saturday.

And that’s all from the propagation team this week