RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for September 22nd 2019.

GB2RS NEWS

Sunday 22nd September 2019

The news headlines:

National Hamfest this week

RSGB Convention news

GB1SOE at Bletchley Park

Next Friday and Saturday it’s the National Hamfest, held at the Newark Showground, Newark NG24 2NY. On Saturday, the 28th, the National Club of the Year finalists will be announced. The competition, which is sponsored by Waters and Stanton, announced the Regional Finalists at the AGM in April. Other activities to look forward to over the weekend is a Buildathon for the new constructor, national and international trade stands, a Bring & Buy as well as car boot type area. More details are at www.nationalhamfest.org.uk

The RSGB Convention takes place in Milton Keynes from the 11th to the 13th of October. It is kindly sponsored by Martin Lynch & Sons. The provisional programme of lectures and workshops is now online at www.rsgb.org/convention. The talk Hints and Tips to get the most out of Digital Modes including FT-8 by Gavin Nesbit, M1BXF is aimed at those who are new to, or are thinking of trying, Machine Generated Modes such as FT-8, particularly on VHF. And for something a little different, Dr Bill Crofts and Professor Julia Hunter-Anderson from Warwick University will look at WUSAT-3, a novel wildlife tracking satellite. The closing date for online discount day tickets is the 7th of October. Weekend package bookings and the Buildathon can be booked until the 7th of October at www.rsgb.org/convention.

The weekend of the 28th and 29th of September is the 1940s weekend at Bletchley Park. The RSGB National Radio Centre will be open all weekend to Bletchley Park visitors and, supporting the 1940s weekend, they will host the special event station GB1SOE. RSGB Members can gain free access to the Bletchley Park museum by downloading and printing the entry voucher from the RSGB website, www.rsgb.org/bpvoucher.

Since its inception in 1998 the International Lighthouse Lightship Weekend has been held on the 3rd full weekend in August. Next year, 2020, that weekend is host to the 75th anniversary of the cessation of hostilities in the Pacific region. The organisers of the ILLW event have therefore decided it would be appropriate to temporarily move it to the following weekend, the 22nd and 23rd of August 2020.

Waters & Stanton has announced that Eric Swartz, WA6HHQ, co-founder of Elecraft, will be visiting Portsmouth to give the first UK live demonstration of the Elecraft K4 transceiver. The event will take place at 6.30pm on Wednesday the 25th of September. All visitors are welcome at Unit 1, Fitzherbert Spur, Portsmouth PO6 1TT.

The next edition of RadCom Basics will be available at the end of September. This edition will look at RSGB Awards, in particular for the Foundation licensee, Moving up to the Intermediate and Full licences, Using digital Repeaters and How and Why the HF bands come alive in the autumn. RSGB Members can read previous editions of RadCom Basics by going to www.rsgb.org/radcom-basics. You can register to receive notification of subsequent issues as they become available; they will appear at the same internet address. Each edition of RadCom Basics explores key aspects of amateur radio in a straightforward way. RadCom Basics is sent as an email alert to subscribers when each edition is published. This email provides a list of contents and a link to the articles on the RSGB website.

Three more RSGB 2018 Convention videos have been released to the RSGB YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/theRSGB. Rael Paster, M0RTP talks on Magnetic Loop Antennas; Dave Deane, EI9FBB looks at the Irish Islands IOTA Tour of 2018 and Matthew Phillips, G6WPJ examines FreeDV, Digital Voice for HF and other low SNR channels. There are now over 110 videos on the RSGB YouTube channel, check out www.youtube.com/theRSGB

There’s still time to apply to be part of the Youngsters on the Air Winter Camp in the Netherlands from the 12th to the 15th of December. The closing date for applications is the 30th of September. See www.rsgb.org/yota

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

Today, the 22nd, the Weston-Super-Mare Radio Rally will be held at The Campus, Highlands Lane, Weston super Mare BS24 7DX. Doors open 10am to 3pm and entry is £3. There will be trade stands and a Bring & Buy stall, plus excellent catering and a large car park. Enquiries to Dave Dyer on 0787 103 4206.

Today, the 22nd, the Belgium Amateur Radio & Computer Rally takes place at Louvexpo, La Louvière, Belgium. Open from 9am to 4pm, talk-in is on the local FM, DMR & D-Star repeaters. There will be trade stands from UK, Holland, Germany and France, plus a flea market. Details are at www.on6ll.be.

Next Friday and Saturday the National Hamfest takes place at Newark & Nottinghamshire Showground, Lincoln Road, Winthorpe, Newark, Nottinghamshire NG24 2NY. Everything from national and international traders to a Buildathon will be there. See www.nationahamfest.org.uk for all the details.

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

Jacek, SP5APW will be active as 3W9KJ from Dao Co To, IOTA reference AS-132, in Vietnam from the 27th of September to the 3rd of October. The main mode will be FT8/FT4, with some SSB if conditions allow. QSL via Club Log’s OQRS, Logbook of The World or via his home call.

Maurizio, IK2GZU will be active as 5H3MB from Tanzania between the 25th of September and the 28th of October, while doing volunteer work for the local hospital. In his spare time he will operate SSB, CW and RTTY on the HF bands. QSL via Club Log’s OQRS, Logbook of The World and eQSL, or via IK2GZU either direct or via the bureau.

Taka, JA8COE will be active as JA8COE/0 from Sado Island, AS-206 on the 22nd to the 24th of September. He will operate CW, FT8 and SSB on the HF bands. QSL via Club Log’s OQRS, or via JA8COE either direct or via the bureau.

Rudi, DK7PE will be active as 8R1CW from Guyana until the 28th of September. He will be active when time allows. Details will be published on his website www.rooody.de.

Kazu, JD1BNA plans to active as JD1BNA/JD1 from Minami Torishima, OC-073, between the 25th and the 30th of September. He will operate mainly CW with some SSB and FT8 on the 160 to 17m bands. QSL direct to JL1UTS.

Bo, OZ1DJJ will be active in his spare time as OX3LX from Simiutaq Island, NA-220, between the 26th and the 30th of September. Before and after going to Simiutaq he might be active from the main island of Greenland, NA-018. QSL via OZ0J, Club Log’s OQRS and Logbook of The World.

Now the special event news

Today, the 22nd, Sheffield & District Wireless Society is celebrating its 100th anniversary with GX5TO on the air from the Kelham Island Industrial Museum. Activity will be between 1030UTC and 1530UTC using 40m and 20m SSB and FT8. Call in on 2m FM.

Southgate ARC will be taking part in Railways on the Air today, the 22nd of September, from the Hoddesdon Model & Railway Club at Broxborne Meadows, using the callsign GB4HMR. Volunteers, operators and anyone interested are more than welcome to come along.

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

Today, the 22nd, the Practical Wireless 70MHz contest runs from 1200 to 1600UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Tuesday the SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1830 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 2.3 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

On Wednesday it’s the UK EI Contest Club 80m contest from 2000 to 2100UTC. Using CW only, the exchange is your 4-character locator square.

Thursday sees the 80m Autumn Series running from 1900 to 2130UTC. It’s the data-only leg so the exchange is signal report and serial number.

Next weekend it’s the CW World Wide DX RTTY Contest, running from 0000UTC on the 28th to 2359UTC on the 29th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and your Zone, which for the UK is 14.

Next Sunday, the 29th, the UK Microwave Group contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on the 5.7 and 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 20th of September.

We had a relatively settled week, with the Kp index remaining at or below four. The high-speed solar wind was the reason for the K index increase, but it didn’t significantly degrade HF propagation. We are seeing a change to more autumnal HF conditions with north to south paths opening up quite regularly. The summer doldrums are also now fading as we see an increase in daytime critical frequencies. This is probably the best month for working into the Southern Hemisphere.

A 10 metre FT8 opening at around 1500UTC on Monday saw the Falklands Islands being very workable. Mike, VP8NO and Bob, VP8LP were both active on the mode, giving many people a chance to get VP8 in their logs. South American stations active this week on 15 and 10m last week FT8 included Argentina, Brazil, Columbia and Paraguay. It does seem that a lot of DX stations have moved to FT8 and FT4 for contacts, a mode that works well under poor conditions due to its lower required signal to noise ratio. So if you haven’t tried it why not give FT8 a whirl? The Chilton ionosonde shows that daytime MUFs over a 3,000km path are now exceeding 18MHz and even touching 21MHz at times. There are also signs that limited Sporadic-E openings are still occurring on 10 metres.

Next week, NOAA predicts the solar flux index will remain pegged at about 68, with zero sunspots. Geomagnetic conditions will remain mainly settled, at least until the weekend of the 28th/29th, when the Kp index may rise to six due to a solar coronal hole making its return after its transit around the Sun’s surface.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.

The coming week is looking like almost the exact opposite of last week. The high pressure systems will move away east by the start of this weekend and allow Atlantic lows to dominate the weather over the country for much of the coming week. This means any Tropo at first to the east across the North Sea into the Baltic will soon fade and we’ll be left with unsettled, wet and rather breezy weather. As for propagation, there will be a chance of rain scatter on the microwave bands for Tuesday night’s Super High Frequency UK Activity Contest.

Other modes are always worth a look, even the odd fleeting bit of Sporadic-E on 10m perhaps. But it also worth mentioning that the autumn months are always a good time to be alert to the prospects of aurora.

The Moon reaches maximum declination tomorrow, and perigee on Friday, so EME conditions should be good all week with falling losses. Sky noise on 144MHz is mainly falling, but this coming Saturday the Sun and Moon are close together in the sky from mid morning to Moonset, so noise levels will make EME very difficult apart from for GHz band stations with very narrow antenna beam widths.

The daytime Sextanids meteor shower, with a Zenithal Hourly Rate of five, peaks this coming Saturday, but is not a very big one. Continue to check the early hours before dawn for the best random meteors.

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