GB2RS News
Sunday the 5th of February 2023
The news headlines:
- RSGB feature in The Times
- RSGB Convention videos
- British Science Week
The RSGB was delighted to see the feature in The Times on Saturday the 28th of January about amateur radio. It was a great opportunity to highlight both amateur radio and the Society in the mainstream media. Heather Parsons, the RSGB Communications Manager, spent a week liaising with Rhys Blakely, the Science Correspondent, and coordinating the interviewees. She put forward a whole range of ideas and possible interviewees and the RSGB would like to thank everyone who supported this opportunity, even though some contributions didn’t make it into the final piece. An external media monitoring agency has confirmed that the potential online audience for this feature was over 42 million. The feature is called “Ham radio tunes in to a new generation” and you can still read it online. Go to thetimes.co.uk and search for amateur radio.
The RSGB has just released another presentation from its 2022 Convention. Brian Coleman, G4NNS talks about The UK Meteor Beacon Project which is a collaborative project between the amateur radio and radio astronomy communities. The aim is to collect data on meteor events over the UK and Phase one was to establish a transmitting beacon. Phase two is to create a network of receivers to monitor the radio echoes from meteors and to stream data over the internet to support the study of meteor events and their impact on the ionosphere. The Project has received RSGB Legacy funds to help make this great idea happen. You can see the presentation on the RSGB YouTube channel and you can find out more about the RSGB Legacy funds on the Society’s website at rsgb.org/legacy
British Science Week, run by the British Science Association, is an annual event celebrating science, technology, engineering and maths. It provides a platform to support teachers, STEM professionals and the public in delivering STEM activities and events across the UK. This year’s theme is Connections, which lends itself perfectly to wireless communication and amateur radio-related activities! The RSGB has put together a set of activities suitable for children in Early Years, Primary and Secondary school. Several radio clubs from across the UK have already planned activities for British Science Week and the RSGB hopes its resources will inspire you to get involved too. Find out more on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/bsw
Edition 32 of RadCom Basics is now available. The edition contains articles on antenna performance comparison and basic fault finding, among others. RadCom Basics can be downloaded via rsgb.org/radcom-basics
On the 26th of January 2023, some students from the University of Glasgow met and formed the Glasgow University Wireless Society. The Glasgow University Wireless Society Net takes place on Monday evenings around 145.525MHz from 6 pm. Those who are interested in joining the Society can make contact via mm0wsg@neotes.uk A list of universities with amateur radio clubs can be viewed on the RSGB website via rsgb.org/university-corner
Widnes and Runcorn Amateur Radio Club is running its first face-to-face Foundation training course since Lockdown happened in March 2020. The course will take place over the weekend of the 18th and 19th of February at Lostock Sports and Social Club, Works Lane, Northwich, Cheshire, CW9 7NW. The online Foundation exam will take place on Sunday afternoon. Prior registration, before Wednesday the 8th of February, is essential. For further details, and to book a place, please contact Dave Wilson, M0OBW either by phone on 07720 656 542 or by email at dwilson@btinternet.com.
And now for details of rallies and events
The Canvey Rally takes place today, Sunday the 5th of February, at Cornelius Vermuyden School, Dinant Avenue, Canvey, Essex, SS8 9QS. The Rally is expected to be the usual hive of activity with plenty of traders and an indoor boot sale. Hot food and drinks will be available. Contact sears.enquiries@gmail.com for further information.
The Mid Cheshire Amateur Radio Society Radioactive Fair will be held next Sunday the 12th of February. The venue will be Nantwich Civic Hall, Market Street, Nantwich, CW5 5DG. Doors open at 10 am and admission is £5. A wide variety of trader stalls, a bring-and-buy platform and refreshments and snacks will be available. Parking is immediately adjacent to the hall. For more information visit radioactivefair.co.uk
West Manchester Radio Club’s Red Rose Rally will take place on Sunday the 26th of February. The event will be held at St. Joseph’s Hall, Leigh, WN7 2PJ. Free parking, café services and a raffle are among the attractions on offer. For further information visit: wmrc.co.uk/rally.htm
Andover Radio Amateur Club has unfortunately had to cancel its boot sales this year. The sales were due to be held on the 23rd of April and the 3rd of September.
Now the Special Event News
Special event station GB0CFG will be active from the 16th of February. The station will be operated by Itchen Valley Amateur Radio Club to mark World Thinking Day on the air. The event provides an opportunity for local Girl Guides to talk to other members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Scouts all over the world via amateur radio. Several other special callsigns will also be active in February to take part in the event. These include Easingwold Girl Guides, who will be operating with special callsign GB2EGG from the 17th of February, and Milton Keynes Girlguiding who will be active with special callsign GB0MKG from the 18th of February.
Today, the 5th is the last chance to log special callsign TM25PVJ. The station is active to celebrate the festival of the Opening of the Yellow Wine which, this year, takes place at Voiteur, Jura in France. QSL via F8GGZ.
Now the DX news
Emmanuel, F5LIT plans to be active as HS0ZPU from Thailand until Monday the 6th of February. QSL via Logbook of the World or directly to his home call.
Jeff, VA3QSL will be active as P4/VA3QSL from Aruba, SA-036, until the 8th of February. He will be operating SSB, CW and digital modes on the 40 to 6m bands. QSL via Logbook of the World, the bureau or his home call.
Andre, ON7YK will be active from Bijilo, Gambia until the 24th of February. He will be operating as C5YK on the 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10m bands using SSB, CW and digital modes. QSL via eQSL, Logbook of the World or directly to his home call.
Francis, F6BWJ will be active as FM/F6BWJ from Martinique, NA-107, until the 10th of March. He will be operating CW, PSK and RTTY on the 80 to 10m bands. He will upload his log to Logbook of the World and Club Log.
Gerard, F2JD will be active as HR5/F2JD from Copan, Honduras until the 13th of March. He will operate CW, SSB and digital modes on the HF bands. QSL via F6AJA directly or via the bureau.
Now the contest news
Today, Sunday the 5th, the 432MHz Affiliated Societies Contest runs from 0900 to 1300UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
On Monday the 6th of February, the 80m Club Championship runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using SSB, the exchange is signal report and serial number.
On Saturday the 11th of February, the First 1.8MHz Contest runs from 1900 to 2300UTC. Using CW, the exchange is a signal report and serial number.
On Tuesday the 7th of February, the UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
Also, on Tuesday the 7th of February, the 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC. Using FM only, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
On Wednesday the 8th of February, the 432MHz FT8 Activity four-hour Contest runs from 1700 to 2100UTC. Using FT8, the exchange is a report and four-character locator. Also on Wednesday the 8th of February, the 432MHz FT8 Activity two-hour Contest runs from 1900 to 2100UTC. Using FT8, the exchange is a report and four-character locator. Stations entering the four-hour contest may also enter the two-hour contest.
On Thursday the 9th of February, the 50MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number, and locator.
Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Thursday the 2nd of February 2023
Well, what a difference a few weeks make. On the 15th of January, the solar flux index was at 234 and the Sun was peppered with spots. This week, on Thursday, the SFI was at 134 and the solar surface looked like it was at sunspot minimum again.
The Sun has also been mainly geomagnetically quiet, with a maximum Kp index of 3.67 on Thursday, due to an elevated solar wind speed with a southward pointing Bz. We have only had relatively minor C-class solar flares to contend with.
Meanwhile, there is DX to be worked, especially on 10m which continues to shine.
The good news is that this lull in solar activity should come to an end, although the Space Weather Prediction Centre predicts that the SFI may only go up to 155 next week. Unfortunately, it also predicts disturbed geomagnetic conditions, especially from the 7th to the 10th.
With the daytime critical frequency, as measured at Chilton, reaching almost 9.7MHz at times, we are virtually guaranteed good conditions on all of the upper HF bands with 10m predicted to be open for contacts over 3,000km for most of the day. Night-time highs are set to reach 9 to 9.5MHz over 3,000km. So, all frequencies, except 7MHz and below, are likely to be closed to DX.
80m may also close to short-range or near vertical incidence skywave skip at night, leaving only continental and longer paths, such as southern England to Scotland, open. This should improve as we head into Spring.
And now the VHF and up propagation news
There is a continuing tendency for high pressure to dominate the weather charts and keep tropo on the agenda for much of the coming week, but with some caveats.
The position of the high is such that, as we end the current week, it’s over France and this puts us in a mild westerly flow with reasonable tropo propagation.
After this weekend, some weather models suggest a modest cold-air Atlantic high will arrive and will probably link with an intense high of more than 1050 millibars over western Russia. This may lead to a very cold easterly weather pattern over southern Britain by midweek with a chance of wintry weather and snow showers over eastern areas coming in from the North Sea.
This could be a good time to experiment with scatter propagation on the GHz bands. Note that winter showers generated over the sea are often twenty-four-seven phenomena rather than the traditional daytime showers used for rain scatter in the summer.
Keep trying other modes such as meteor scatter around dawn and aurora when the Kp index is high, but the high-pressure-driven modes will be the primary focus.
For EME operators, Moon declination is still high, not going negative again until Thursday. So, EME Moon availability windows will shorten and path losses will decrease as the week progresses. 144MHz sky noise is low all week, only reaching 350 Kelvin next Sunday.
And that’s all from the propagation team this week.
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