RSGB GB2RS News Bulletin for May 15th 2022.

 

 GB2RS News
Sunday the 15th of May 2022

The news headlines:
Innovation 70 project for Platinum Jubilee
Youngsters On The Air contest
IARU Monitoring Service newsletter

The RSGB has launched the Innovation 70 competition as part of its Platinum Jubilee activities. The challenge is to design and build a useful piece of equipment with no more than 70 connections, or a useful piece of software with no more than 70 lines of code. A selection of the most innovative entries will be published in RadCom and on the RSGB website. The RSGB Technical Forum will judge the entries and the results will be announced at the end of the year. The closing date is the 30th of September. Go to rsgb.org/jubilee and click on the Innovation 70 section to find out more. 
The next Youngsters On The Air Contest takes place on the 21st of May between 0800 and 1959UTC. Everyone can take part and show their support for young amateurs across the world. There are eight different categories, including special ones for those under 25 years of age. Using the 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m bands, the contest is CW and SSB only. The exchange includes the age of the participating operators, which acts as multipliers. Find out more at ham-yota.com.
The IARU Monitoring Service for Region 1 has published its April newsletter. It talks about emissions that are often received on the 40 and 20m bands with a bandwidth of about 8kHz. Thoughts are that it could be a jammer where the signal is intentionally transmitted over other transmissions in order to disrupt or nullify their reception. The newsletter includes a report by Richard, G4DYA, the RSGB Intruder Watch Coordinator, that includes many radar sightings. You can read more at iaru-r1.org.
All RSGB Members who have an email address linked to their membership should have received an email in the last few days. This email explains how to set up a new password to access the updated membership portal. The email will have been sent to the email address linked to your membership account. If you are an RSGB Member and don’t think you have received an email, please do check your junk folder. If you still can’t see an email, please contact membership@rsgb.org.uk or call the RSGB during office hours on 01234 832 700 and choose option two. While the Society has been sending out the emails, access to the online members’ resources such as RadCom have been turned off, but it plans to make them accessible again early this week. 
Sad news now. Nancy Bone, G7UUR, the co-founder and long-time secretary of the Angel of the North ARC became a Silent Key last week. She was an RSGB Deputy Regional Manager for a number of years, a repeater licence holder, exam tutor and GB2RS newsreader. In everything that she did, she approached it with enthusiasm and commitment that challenged and inspired others. We are thinking of her husband Warren, G7MWB, their family and many friends at this difficult time.
Since the AGM, the RSGB Board has made two appointments. Richard Horton, G4AOJ will be the new Board Chair and Stan Lee, G4XXI has taken on the role of Company Secretary. The Board would like to record its thanks to General Manager Steve Thomas, M1ACB for carrying out the additional role of Company Secretary since June 2020.
Brickworks is a scheme run by local amateur radio clubs that have committed to helping all licensed amateur radio operators discover more about what the hobby has to offer. It was originally launched in early 2020 by the RSGB under the name of the Beyond Exams Club Scheme. When Covid struck, clubs were no longer able to meet in person and it was harder to help radio amateurs to work through the Club Scheme activities. Now life is opening up again, the RSGB is delighted that Brickworks, as it will now be called, is being relaunched. Whether you are a new licensee, returning to amateur radio or want to try something new, Brickworks has something to offer you. For more information see rsgb.org/brickworks.

And now for details of rallies and events 
Please send your rally and event news as soon as possible to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. We’ll publicise your event in RadCom, on GB2RS, and online. 
Next week the Dayton Hamvention takes place between the 20th and 22nd of May at the Greene County Fairground in Ohio, USA. Now in its 70th year, this is one of the largest amateur radio shows in the world, famous for its massive flea market. There will also be lectures, traders and a strong ARRL and RSGB presence, including a bookstall.  
Next Sunday, the 22nd of May, the National Amateur Radio Car Boot Sale organised by Dunstable Downs Radio Club will take place at Stockwood Park in Luton. Entry and car parking are £4 per vehicle and the gates open at 9 am for buyers.

Now the DX news
Irek, SP3SUX will be operating as DV8/KH7EA from Mindanao Island, OC-130, in the Philippines until the 27th of May. Activity will be during his daytime hours on the 6 to 80m bands using CW and SSB. QSL to his home callsign.
Members of the Radio Club of Haiti will be active as HH18MAI between the 18th and 23rd of May. The special callsign is for Flag Day, which commemorates the creation of the flag of Haiti in 1803. QSL via W3HNK.
Dick, K2KA will be active holiday style as V4/K2KA from St. Kitts, NA-104, until the 18th of May. QSL via his preferred method of the logbook of The World, Club Log, or direct to K2KA.
Andrey, R9YU and Gennady, R5QA are on the air as JV0YU from Mongolia until the 10th of June. Activity is on the HF and VHF/UHF bands using CW, SSB and FT8 in DXpedition mode. QSL via RW6HS.

Now the Special Event news
Northwest Group Amateur Radio Club in Londonderry are activating GB0AEL as part of the 90th Anniversary of Amelia Earhart landing in Londonderry. She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. They will activate GB0AEL until the 30th of May. More information on qrz.com under the callsign GB0AEL.

Now the contest news
Today, the 15th, the 70MHz CW contest runs from 0900 to 1200UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
The UK Microwave Group’s millimetre-wave contest runs from 0900 to 1700UTC today, the 15th. Using all modes on the 24, 47 and 76GHz bands the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
On Tuesday the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2100UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
The data leg of the 80m Club Championships runs on Wednesday from 1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is a signal report and serial number.
On Thursday the all-mode 70MHz UK Activity Contest runs between 1900 and 2130UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
Next weekend is the 144MHz May contest. It runs for 24 hours from 1400UTC on the 21st. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Note that UK stations also send their postcode.
Next Sunday, the 22nd, the First 144MHz Backpackers contest runs from 1100 to 1500UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Note that UK stations also send their postcode.

Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 13th of May 2022.
Well, it looks like the US Air Force was more accurate than NOAA with their solar flux index forecast last week. While the week started with an SFI at 117, by Thursday it had grown to 133. It has been mostly quiet from a geomagnetic point of view with a maximum Kp index of three, with mostly ones and twos. 
The only downside has been a number of solar flares, which includes an X-class flare on Tuesday the 10th. The X1.5 event was observed from sunspot region 3006 at 1355UTC and resulted in a radio blackout over the Atlantic, Africa and South America. The critical frequency, as measured by the Chilton Ionosonde, dropped below 7MHz for a time, before recovering.
Despite this short-lived phenomenon, there has been plenty of DX to be worked on the higher bands. The 15m band has seen Asia and the Far East romping in on FT8 and there have been 10m band openings to Australia and the Middle East. 
Next week NOAA predicts that the SFI will be in the range 118-122 with generally quiet geomagnetic conditions. But we give the same warning as we did last week. NASA gives a 45% chance of an M-class flare and a 15% chance of an X-class flare occurring at the moment. Any solar flare could trigger a coronal mass ejection and, if Earth-facing, we can expect a degradation in HF paths, perhaps 36 to 48 hours after the CME event as the solar plasma hits and the Kp index rises.
The better news is that the Sporadic-E season is now in full swing and plenty of low-power 10m beacons are becoming audible between 28.160 and 28.325MHz. These are often a good indicator of openings. A list of 10m beacons can be found on the RSGB website under On the Air. Just click on Beacons and Repeaters.

And now the VHF and up propagation news.
There is a typical flavour to the current weather pattern with high pressure, initially to the south, being displaced east as an Atlantic low tries to push its associated weather fronts into western Britain. This will eventually lead to unstable, thundery bands of rain spreading into the country from the southwest. It makes detail complicated, but some rules still apply. 
There will be some Tropo, especially at first and perhaps occasionally next week along the east coast and across the North Sea. However, the changing element is going to be how effectively the thundery rain areas move across the country, and they will reduce the Tropo chances and introduce some rain scatter.
There are some small meteor showers this week, the Eta Lyrids peaked on the 10th of May but the o-Cetids, peaking on the 20th of May, are the most significant. With this addition to the seasonal increase in random meteor flux, expect good conditions for meteor scatter DXing. Apart from the random meteor scatter options, the growing interest is in Sporadic-E and most days you can find something on the clusters to confirm that the new season is starting to simmer nicely.
The position of jet streams and the type of upper-air weather pattern this week suggests that the main features will slow down and leave marked meanderings north and south. Preferred directions would be to Scandinavia and the Baltic plus secondly looking south towards Spain and Portugal.
The Moon gets to minimum declination on Thursday, and today, Sunday is the perigee. The week’s trend will therefore be for shorter Moon windows until Thursday and rising path losses. 144MHz sky noise is high all week, reaching 2200K on Wednesday. 
And that’s all from the propagation team this week.