RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for July 10th 2022.

GB2RS News

Sunday the 10th of July 2022

The news headlines:

ICQ Podcast talks to RSGB

Special Australian station for Fleet Air Arm anniversary

QSL Gallery online

Recently, the ICQ Podcast team spoke with Steve Thomas, M1ACB, the RSGB General Manager and Murray Niman, G6JYB, the RSGB Spectrum Forum Chair. Steve discussed some of the behind-the-scenes work carried out by the RSGB whilst at Ham radio in Germany. This included participating in IARU meetings, covering spectrum defence and EMC. Listen from the 1-hour and 46-minute point for this news. Then Murray talked about the protection of the 23cm band. You can find the ICQ Podcast at icqpodcast.com and look for episode 380.

VK75FAA is a special callsign celebrating the 75th anniversary of the formation of the Fleet Air Arm, the Royal Australian Navy's aviation branch. Activity will continue until the end of October. The callsign will be used by amateurs around Australia on a rota basis.

The large collection of QSL cards on Les Nouvelles DX's website has been updated. Amongst the sixteen different galleries, there are cards for the ten ‘Most Wanted’ DXCC Entities between 2012 and 2021, the 62 deleted DXCC Entities and special stations commemorating the ITU and IARU. You can view these galleries and many more at lesnouvellesdx.fr, just click on the QSL Gallery tab.

Chard Auctions got in touch regarding an auction taking place on the 16th of July. Lots include a large collection of vintage radios and related equipment. The radio and test equipment items are on pages 7 to 12 of the catalogue. You can view the catalogue and other details at chardauctions.co.uk.

The CQ WW VHF contest takes place between 1800UTC on Saturday the 16th of July and 2100UTC on the 17th. It uses the 50MHz and 144MHz bands as permitted by the regulator in the country of operation. The G1E team will be operating from IO90BT, using SSB, CW and FM on both bands. The exchange is callsign and your 4-character locator. There’s no need to exchange a signal report.

The Israel Amateur Radio Club is running two special event stations for the Maccabiah Games between the 12th and the 26th of July. The two callsigns to look out for are 4X21MG and 4Z21MG. An award is available for amateurs contacting both special event stations on at least two bands and modes and on separate days. The stations will both use CW, SSB and FT8 and operate via satellite. Qrz.com has contact details for the two stations.

A date for your diary now. British Inland Waterways on the Air will take place between the 27th and the 29th of August. It is open to all amateurs who are boaters, cyclists, walkers and other users of the canals, rivers, towpaths, and riverbanks for work or recreation. Even lakes and reservoirs that are used for recreation uses are classified as an inland waterway, so there are many places for activating. Many clubs and individual amateurs on or near the UK inland waterways obtain Special Event Station callsigns. The organisers have a Facebook page with more details.

And now for details of rallies and events

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

Next Sunday, the 17th of July, the McMichael Amateur Radio Rally & Car Boot Sale will take place at Reading Rugby Club, Sonning Lane, Reading RG4 6ST. Doors open at 9.30 am. There will be a large car boot area and plenty of free parking for sellers and buyers. Refreshments will be available on site. Admission is £3 per person. Sorry but no dogs are allowed, except for assistance dogs, which is a site rule.

Now the DX news

A large group of operators will be active as T41DX from Playa Boca de Galafre on the main island of Cuba, NA-015, between the 14th and 17th of July. Activity will be on the 10 to 80m bands using SSB, CW, FT8, FT4, RTTY and SSTV. QSL via Logbook of The World or direct to RW6HS.

Ed, ES2TT plans to be active from the islands of Wolin, EU-132, and Usedom, EU-129, between the 15th and the 18th of July. He will operate CW and SSB on the 40, 30 and 20m bands. QSL via Club Log's OQRS or via his home call. Bureau cards can be requested by email.

Volker, DJ8VW has been active as 5P8VW from Romo Island, EU-125, since the 26th of June and will remain there until the 16th of July. He operates using SSB, CW, FT8 and FT4 on the 4 to 160m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World, eQSL, Club Log's OQRS or via his home call.

Now the Special Event news

Today, Sunday the 10th of July, Bishop Auckland RAC and Wearside Electronics and Amateur Radio Society are activating GB4BM from Beamish Museum at Beamish, Chester-le Street, Durham. Operations start at 10 am. If you wish to attend and assist in the event contact Ian, G7MFN at [email protected]. All are welcome.

OE60STMK is on the air until the 31st of August for the 60th anniversary of the Styrian regional association within Austria's IARU society. QSL via the bureau to OE6WIG.

Now the contest news

Today, Sunday the 10th of July, the IARU HF Championship ends its 24-hour run at 1200UTC. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and your ITU Zone. For the UK this is 27. In particular, listen out for the RSGB HQ station operating as GR2HQ from ten different locations using CW and SSB. The team has a total of 35 operators and the stations will be on the air simultaneously on all the available contest bands.

Today, the 10th of July, the UK Microwave Group 24, 47 and 76GHz contest takes place between 0900 and 1700UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Tuesday the 12th, the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange is the same for both events, signal report, serial number and locator.

Wednesday sees the SSB leg of the 80m Clubs Contest take place between 1900 and 2030UTC. The exchange is a signal report and serial number.

Also on Wednesday is the 432MHz FT8 Activity Contest running from 1900 to 2100UTC. The exchange is your report and 4-character locator.

Thursday the 14th is the all-mode 50MHz UK Activity Contest between 1900 and 2130UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Saturday, the 70MHz Trophy Contest runs between 1400 and 2000UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and the first two letters of your postcode.

Also starting on Saturday the 16th is the CQ World Wide VHF contest. More details are in the main news.

Next Sunday, the 17th of July, the International Low Power Contest runs from 0900 to 1600UTC. It is CW only on the 3.5, 7 and 14MHz bands. The exchange is the signal report, serial number and your transmit power.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 8th of July 2022.

It was a mixed bag of HF propagation last week. The solar flux index was adequate rather than outstanding and a large elongated coronal hole contributed to the Kp index hitting five on the 4th of July. However, things became more settled geomagnetically later in the week with the Kp index back down in the ones and twos. The SFI slowly climbed up to 115 by Thursday, thanks to some new spots appearing over the Sun's limb.

There was some minor solar flare activity, but no coronal mass ejections were logged. The net result was quite good conditions with the MUF over a 3,000km path reaching up to 24MHz at times. This changed on Thursday, however, when the Kp index rose to five due to the incoming enhanced solar wind.

Earlier in the week, there were some reports of trans-Atlantic contacts on 10 metres as well as extensive Es openings into Europe. If the Kp index can once again go low it does rather bode well for the IARU worldwide contest this weekend.

Next week, NOAA predicts that the SFI will remain around 115 for a time, but may then drop back to around 108 as the week progresses.

Barring any CMEs, NOAA predicts that the Kp index may remain low, at least until the 15th and 16th of July when it could rise to four again. However, a coronal hole on the Sun's equator will become Earth-facing on Saturday, so we might expect the Kp index to climb around Monday. As always, this is hard to predict.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

The coming week is likely to see high pressure over southern Britain with occasional lows crossing north of Scotland with rain and stronger winds. This raises the prospect of GHz band rain scatter as the fronts move south and break up into showers over northern England and North Wales.

The main feature of the next week is the high pressure and the prospects of fairly widespread Tropo. This could extend south and east into the continent and south across Biscay to Spain and beyond. Contacts with the Canaries or perhaps even farther to Cape Verde for the big stations in the southwest of the UK and Southern Ireland are possible.

The high summer Sporadic-E season is in full swing although somewhat reticent compared to other years. The jet stream activity is not as widespread as earlier in the season now that summer conditions with lighter upper winds are becoming established, but there should be a preference for paths to Scandinavia and southeast Europe.

The other remaining modes of aurora and meteor scatter are of course available given the right conditions. The minor Alpha-Capricornids meteor shower should be active but with a low ZHR of around five. Solar output has been affecting the Kp index recently, so check the various space weather websites for details of further events.

The Moon is at minimum declination on Tuesday and perigee on Wednesday so short Moon visibility windows and low path losses are the stories for EME this week. 144MHz sky noise is high for most of the week.

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