RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for October 27th 2019.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 27th October 2019

The news headlines:

Check you’re back on UTC

Latest news on WRC-19

RSGB Contest Committee seeks views on rules

In the UK, the clocks went back 1 hour at 2am today, the 27th of October. This means that the UK is now on UTC timing, sometimes also still referred to as GMT.

The World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 is due to open in Egypt on the 28th of October. The meeting, which lasts four weeks, will be attended by three thousand delegates from most of the countries around the world, and will discuss and agree changes to the ITU Radio Regulations. The IARU and its member-societies will be there, representing the amateur and amateur satellite services with a team of 14 people from 10 countries. There are several items of particular interest to the amateur community and the IARU team will provide updates as the Conference progresses, see the RSGB’s social media and special focus page at www.rsgb.org/wrc-19. The Conference has a wide-ranging agenda of which the amateur issues are but a small part.

Once again, the RSGB VHF Contest Committee would appreciate your views on a number of topics to help it set the contest rules for 2020. The survey is quite short because the Committee is not considering major alterations to the rules for next year, but all your views are read and appreciated. The survey will close at midnight on Sunday the 10th of November and is available at www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/VHFCC2019. Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey.

We have started releasing videos to RSGB Members from the recent RSGB Convention 2019. Head to rsgb.org/videos to watch RSGB Board Director, Kamal Singh, M0IOV discuss The future and growth of Amateur Radio, and Examinations Standards Committee Chair, Tony Kent, G8PBH providing an update on Exams. In the Meet the Board session, Board Chair, Ian Shepherd, G4EVK, gives an overview of the RSGB Board and the Directors summarise their roles. We have also released a number of technical talks. Sam Jewell, G4DDK looks at the Icom IC-9700 and how it measures up as a VHF DX transceiver and Derek Kozel, MW0LNA talks about Digital Homebrewing and the Schematics of SDR. We apologise for the poor audio on Sam’s presentation. Additionally, the keynote presentation by Dave Sumner, K1ZZ, has been released on the RSGB YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/TheRSGB. Dave talks about Our Global Amateur Radio Community.

IARU member-societies have voted to admit the Saudi Amateur Radio Society and Seychelles Amateur Radio Association to membership. Saudi Arabia and Seychelles are located in ITU Region 1, which also corresponds to IARU Region 1. Their IARU membership became effective on the 9th of October upon completion of the voting procedure set out in the IARU Constitution.

The annual Hog Roast at Martin Lynch & sons will take place on the 30th of November at their premises in Staines, TW18 2AP. The published date in the latest RadCom is incorrect and our apologies to ML&S for the error.

Have you applied to host the callsign for this year’s Youngsters on the Air Month in December? It is a great opportunity to encourage youngsters to get on the air and to learn more about the practical side of the hobby. The RSGB has the call sign GB19YOTA and we’re looking for radio clubs, schools, Scout and Guides groups, Cadet groups and individuals to activate the call sign or host a station. Operations can be any mode or modes on HF, VHF or UHF. Each day will be split into three operating slots, running roughly from midnight to noon, noon to 6pm and 6pm to midnight. You can apply to operate more than one slot, or even just for a few hours if you wish. A log of all the QSOs is sent to a central system on ham-yota.com allowing you to compare your progress with other countries. Certificates and awards are given out by the IARU for participation in the event. To find out more go to www.rsgb.org/yota-month.

Train the Trainers is looking for clubs to host a session to support tutors in teaching the Foundation, Intermediate and Full level amateur radio courses. The one-day Train the Trainers workshop helps to build on existing subject knowledge and helps tutors apply appropriate teaching methods. Clubs with access to suitable venues are being sought to host workshops throughout 2020. There is no charge for RSGB Members to attend, although clubs may charge a reasonable sum to cover venue hire and refreshments. For full details see www.rsgb.org/trainthetrainers. For enquiries, and to book, please email [email protected].

The RSGB Youth Team is recruiting. Currently the team has a Youth Champion, Rob, G2RE, and there are ten members, based far and wide across the UK. The Youth Team is keen to hear from young people who feel they could help. You don’t need to be licenced, all you need is a keen interest in radio, be computer literate and check your emails regularly. You need to be able to work with anyone and respect everyone. Lots of the work will be planning events, attending shows and writing articles. If this sounds like you then send an email telling Rob a little about yourself and your interest in amateur radio to [email protected]

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

There are no rallies in the diary for this weekend, the 26th and 27th of October.

Next Sunday, the 3rd of November, the Bushvalley ARC Rally takes place at Limavady Football Club, Rathmore Road, Limavady BT49 0DF. Doors open 11am and admission is £3.

Plymouth Radio Club would like to inform people that this year’s rally, planned for November, will not be held. The club would like to thank all those who have supported them over the years.

Please send details of your 2020 rally and event plans as soon as possible to [email protected].

And now the DX news from 425 DX News and other sources

Members of Radio Club Melipulli will be active as XR7PNAA from the Alerce Andino National Park between the 1st and the 3rd of November. QSL via CE7RCM.

CN44MS will be active between the 1st and the 12th of November from Tan-Tan, Morocco. QSL via RW6HS.

Martin, OK1FZM and his wife Lenka, OK1WZM will be active holiday style as S79ZM from the islands of Mahe and Praslin in the Seychelles, IOTA reference AF-024, until the 31st of October. They will operate CW and SSB on the 80 to 10m bands, with main activity on 30, 20 and 17 metres. All QSOs will be confirmed via the bureau; direct cards via OK1FZM. They will not use Club Log or Logbook of The World.

The Egyptian Radio Amateurs Society for Development will be active as SU8WRC for the World Radiocommunication Conference to be held in Egypt from the 28th of October to the 22nd of November.

Jim, WB2REM and members of the 7163 DX Group will be active from Belize until the 30th of October. Look for V31CT, V31MM, V31NY, V31ST and V31ZZ operating SSB, CW, FT8, FT4 and possibly EME.

Steve, WB4GHY will be active again as ZD8SC from Ascension Island, AF-003, until the 11th of November. In his spare time he will operate mostly SSB, FT8 and FT4 on the 80 to 10m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World or direct to WB4GHY.

Now the special event news

The NHS Emergency Care Improvement Support Team led by Paul, G1SMP will be attending the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park on the 28th of October to launch a new annual special event aimed at recognising the life-saving role of community first responders. The team, along with NRC volunteers, will be operating two callsigns, GB1NHS and GB1CFR. The stations will be on the air between 1000 and 1400UTC. Frequencies and modes of operation will be posted on Twitter @GB1NHS on the day. The date corresponds with National Community First Responder day in the USA.

OL75CARBON commemorates the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the Paratroops in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia during the WWII, known as Operation Carbon. The station will be active until 30 November. For more information, please visit the OL75CARBON QRZ.com page.

OR75CLM will commemorate the Canadian Liberation March in 1944. The station will be on the air between the 1st and the 3rd of November using as many modes and bands as possible. The callsign will also be used on the 6th of November at 8.30pm local time. A special QSL card will be available. More information can be found at www.onz.be.

Please send special event details to [email protected] as early as possible so we can give you free publicity. It is a licensing condition that stations using a UK special event callsign must be open to the public.

Now the contest news

This weekend it’s the CQ World Wide DX SSB contest. It ends its 48 hour run at 2359UTC today, the 27th. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and your Zone, which is 14 for UK stations.

On Wednesday the UK EI Contest Club 80m contest runs from 2000 to 2100UTC. It is CW only and the exchange is your 4-character locator.

On Thursday, the 80m Autumn Series Contest runs from 1900-2030UTC. It is SSB only and the exchange is signal report and serial number.

Next weekend, the 2nd and 3rd of November is the Marconi CW contest. It runs from 1400 to 1400UTC. It is CW only on the 144MHz band and the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 25th of October.

The solar disturbance predicted in the last report, which was due to hit Earth last weekend, didn’t amount to anything. However, the large coronal hole that has just completed its 27-day transit around the Sun’s surface certainly did. The ACE spacecraft shows that the solar wind speed increased rapidly on the morning of Thursday the 24th to more than 500 kilometres per second. The temperature of the ions in the solar wind increased too, at the same time as the interplanetary magnetic field or Bz shifted sharply southward. As a result, the Kp index rose from one to four as the solar wind coupled to the Earth’s magnetic field, and subsequently the HF bands were affected. Initially they showed an enhancement in HF propagation, with Propquest.co.uk showing the maximum useable frequency reaching more than 21MHz, even hitting 24MHz, over a 3,000km path. Quite how this will pan out over CQ Worldwide weekend we’ll have to wait and see.

Next week NOAA shows the sunspot number remaining at 0 with the solar flux index at 66. Once the current geomagnetic disturbance has passed we should then see more settled conditions for the rest of the week. Make the most of the autumnal HF conditions, where higher maximum usable frequencies and good transatlantic propagation make a pleasant change to the HF doldrums we had over the summer.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

We entered a period of unsettled weather to end the past week, but can look forward to a new high pressure over northern Britain by midweek. In some models, this slips southeast across the North Sea into northern Europe to allow an Atlantic low to move in by next weekend. In complete contrast to this, another model takes the high west into the Atlantic and allows low pressure to develop close to southern Britain. It all sounds complicated and will certainly change between now and then; however there are some useful propagation outcomes. The period of high pressure up to midweek obviously produces a chance of Tropo, whichever way it drifts off afterwards, although it is relatively short-lived and not looking like a prime Tropo event.

The rest of the propagation options are probably pinning hopes on some strong convection over the warmer waters surrounding the UK. This is a typical late autumn phase in our weather and means the chance of rain scatter on the GHz bands from heavy showers around the coast.

Moon declination is negative now, but perigee was yesterday so losses are still low. At 144MHz, sky noise reaches a peak of nearly 2500K on Friday.

No major meteor showers this week so back to the pre-dawn morning random enhancement

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