Podcasts about colonies special event

Join me for this special edition Lunchtime Livestream on Tuesday, July 4, 2023. I will talk about some ongoing deals in the Ham Radio world and also about the 13 Colonies Special Event that is taking place this week.

Here are the links for today's Ham Radio Events:

GB2RS News Sunday the 3rd of July 2022 The news headlines: RSGB Regional vacancies Tribute to Zorro, JH1AJT Tonight@8 on Radio waves and antennas The RSGB has vacancies for someone to be co-opted as the Regional Representative for Region 11 until the AGM in 2023. Region 11 covers Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, South Gloucestershire and the Channel Islands. There are 13 RSGB Regional Representatives covering the whole of the UK and they must reside in the region they represent. There are also vacances for District Representatives for Dorset, North-East England and Lancashire. Details of the Regional Team can be found on the RSGB website rsgb.org.uk. If you are interested in becoming part of the Regional Team please contact David, M0MBD on 01234 481 412 or rr12@rsgb.org.uk. 3D2AJT is the special callsign that Dom, 3D2USU will be using for one month from Nadi in the Fiji Islands in memory of the late Yasuo ‘Zorro' Miyazawa, JH1AJT. Activity will end on 27 July, which would have marked Zorro's 73rd birthday. Zorro was also known for his DXpeditions and charitable work on behalf of children in Cambodia, Bangladesh, Japan and elsewhere. The special event operators will be on the air using CW, SSB, FT4 and FT8. QSL via Club Log's OQRS. You can read more on qrz.com. Tonight @8 will take place on Monday, the 4th of July. This is the final lecture before the summer break. Peter Duffett-Smith, G3XJE will be looking at Radio waves and antennas…and all that. His presentation covers a range of antenna-related information so there should be something for everyone. Tonight@8 webinars are live-streamed on the RSGB's YouTube channel, YouTube.com/thersgb. During the recent HamRadio show in Germany, the IARU Region 1 Spectrum Regulation and Liaison Committee chair took part in a joint session with the R1 Political Relations Committee. The session highlighted the connections the SRLC maintains with Region 1 regulatory bodies and the work carried out since early 2021. This included engagement in the WRC23 preparatory activities in a number of regional bodies and the detailed study work both with the ITU and CEPT. Topics affecting amateur spectrum bands were summarised with particular attention being paid to the 23cm band topic on the agenda of WRC23. The SRLC slide set can be found at iaru-r1.org. The TX5N DXpedition that took place in April from the Austral Islands, OC-114, has updated the information on QSL cards. All TX5N QSL cards were taken to the post office on the 30th of June so please allow sufficient time for the card to reach you. Bureau cards will be shipped to the individual IARU bureaux in the next bureau mailing that is scheduled for Summer 2022. QSL via M0URX. Dennis, G7AGZ has been fundraising for Cornwall Hospice Care since 1991. This year, he will be attempting a six peak Summits On The Air challenge. He will be climbing some of the most popular summits in the UK and hopes to activate an amateur radio station at the top of each summit, subject to the weather. The six peaks will be Snowdon, Scafell Pike, Old Man of Coniston, Helvellyn, Skiddaw and Ben Nevis. Keep an eye on qrz.com under the special event callsign GB0CHC. The DXCC Most Wanted 2022 list has been updated on the 28th of June. The DXCC most wanted countries are North Korea in 1st place, Bouvet Island in second place and Crozet Island in 3rd place. See clublog.org for more information. 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. Today, the 3rd, the Cornish RAC Rally will take place at Penair School, St Clement, Truro, Cornwall TR1 1TN. Doors open at 10am with a £2 admission. There will be a Bring & Buy, traders and local club stands. Refreshments are available on site. Find out more at gx4crc.com. Sunday the 3rd of July is also the date for the traditional Barford Norfolk Radio Rally at Barford Village Hall. Doors open at 9am. Most of the stands are outside but inside the village hall there is a Bring & Buy, RSGB bookstand, Morse display and refreshments. A Norfolk ARC club stand is outside the hall with a radio raffle in aid of the clubs 2022 nominated charity, Cancer Research UK. Admission is £2 per person with under 16s free. Outside selling pitches are £8 and there is no need to prebook. On Saturday, the 9th of July, the Houghton Radio Club Free Radio Rally will be held in the Dubmire Royal British Legion Club, Britannia Terrace, Fencehouses DH4 6LJ. The doors will be open between 10am and 3pm. The rally is open to trade, clubs and private sellers and exhibitors. Table space is limited. There is no charge for tables and entry is free. Donations are welcome to the Royal British Legion Club. Tea and coffees will be available and a licenced bar from 11am. Anyone wishing to book tables please contact Amanda, M6LXK at westona84@gmail.com. Now the DX news Henri, OH3JR and Pertti, OG2M will be operating as OJ0JR and OJ0MR respectively from Market Reef until the 6th of July. They are there on work assignment. Activity will be in their spare time on the HF bands using CW, some SSB, and FT8. QSL OJ0MR direct to OG2M and OJ0JR via OH3JR. Bo, OZ1DJJ will be active as OX3LX from Upernarvik Island, Greenland, NA-134, until the 11th of July. Activity will be on the HF bands with a focus on 6 metres and 4 metres. QSL via OZ0J. Paul, F6EXV and Florian, PB8DX will be active from Monaco between the 6th and 14th of July. They will be using 3A6M on 6 metres, as well as 3A/F6EXV and 3A/PB8DX on the HF bands. QSLs for all callsigns via Club Log's OQRS both direct and via the bureau, and Logbook of The World after six months. Franco, IZ5IUY will be active as IL7/IZ5IUY from San Domino Island, EU-050, until the 21st of July. He will operate SSB, FT8 and FT4 on the HF bands. QSL via his home callsign, the bureau is preferred. Rafael, NN3RP will be active holiday style as YN2RP from Nicaragua between the 5th of July and the 2nd of August. He will operate SSB, CW and digital modes on various bands, and will also be active on FM satellites. QSL via Logbook of The World, eQSL or direct to NN3RP. Now the Special Event news Durham and District ARS is participating as one of the bonus stations in the 13 Colonies Special Event. GB13COL has been issued for this event and will run from the club station until 0400UTC on Friday, the 8th of July. The primary focus of the event will be the HF bands, including VHF, UHF & Satellite for QSOs using SSB, CW, FM, and various digital modes. More information at 13colonies.us. On Saturday and Sunday the 9th and 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 10am. If you wish to attend and assist in the event contact Ian, G7MFN at g7mfn@hotmail.co.uk. All are welcome. Now the contest news This weekend is the RSGB VHF National Field Day ending its 24-hour run at 1400UTC today, the 3rd. The contest uses the 50, 70, 144 and 432MHz bands as well as 1.3GHz. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Today, Sunday the 3rd of July, the third 144MHz Backpackers contest runs from 1000 to 1500UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Monday the 4th, the CW leg of the 80m Club Contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. Tuesday sees the 144MHz FM Activity Contest run between 1800 and 1855UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 144MHz UK Activity Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange is the same, signal report, serial number and locator. The 144MHz FT8 Activity Contest takes place on Wednesday the 6th between 1900 and 2100UTC. The exchange is report and your 4-character locator. Next weekend, the 9th and 10th of July, is the IARU HF Championship. It runs for 24 hours from 1200UTC on the 9th and uses 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. Next Sunday, the 10th of July, the UK Microwave Group 24, 47 and 76GHz contest takes place between 0900 and 1700. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The UK Six Metre Group's Summer Marathon is still taking place, ending on the 2nd of August. Using all modes, stations exchange their 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 1st of July 2022. Last week was not a good one for HF propagation in general. There were many complaints from amateurs about poor conditions that can be explained by a combination of low solar flux levels and unsettled geomagnetic conditions. The SFI started the week last Sunday at 102 but then dropped to 98 the following day. It subsequently continued to drop, reaching 92 by Thursday. At the same time, the Kp index reached five and it continued to be unsettled into Monday. The effects on the ionosphere were not good, with maximum usable frequencies over a 3,000km path struggling to reach 18MHz. Conditions improved as the week went on with F2-layer MUFs back into the 21MHz region by Thursday. This is fairly typical of Summer ionospheric conditions, leaving Sporadic-E as the likely main propagation mode on 10 metres until the Autumn. Next week NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will start to climb again, perhaps peaking at 140 by the 11th of July. Geomagnetic conditions are predicted to be stable with an average Kp index of two, until the 10th when it could reach four. As long as we don't have any coronal mass ejections during this time this could mean slightly better F2-layer conditions next week. As always, Sporadic-E may provide loud short-skip signals on the upper bands. Watch out for multi-hop Es paths which are harder to predict. And now the VHF and up propagation news. With VHF National Field Day, this weekend we would all like conditions at their best, and with the Sporadic-E season still in full swing, that's a possibility. The position of the jet stream is often instrumental in defining the directions that perform for Es and this weekend it looks to be a close-by jet stream over the near continent. This means paths towards central and southeast Europe plus the Baltic and Scandinavia. You might be able to get some notion of how it's developing by Googling and looking at the ionosonde from Dourbes in Belgium for spikes in the foEs trace. With low pressure close to Scotland over the weekend, it's only southern UK under a weak ridge that will see any Tropo. This will typically be better overnight and around the coasts for paths into the continent across the North Sea or the English Channel. So unless you are on the coast, your tropo options will diminish early this Sunday morning once the solar heating starts to break down the overnight temperature inversion. The UKAC 144MHz contest on Tuesday evening looks a better prospect with high pressure nudging towards western Britain and a chance that conditions may be slightly up, even for more northern stations. With some showery episodes likely, rain scatter is always a possibility, but decaying as the high moves in later. The clusters should tell you if aurora or random meteor scatter are viable options. Just one meteor shower this week, the July Pegasids active from the 4th of July to the 14th, but its Zenithal Hourly Rate is low at around five. Meteor showers in July are at their best around the end of the month, particularly the Southern delta-Aquariids, peaking on the 30th of July. The maximum ZHR of this shower is around 25 over two days. The radiant of this shower is above the horizon in the UK during the night and early morning. Moon declination goes negative this coming Wednesday so expect lower peak elevation and shortening Moon visibility windows for EME. Path losses are dropping as we head towards perigee a week on Wednesday. 144MHz sky noise is low all week. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday the 26th of June 2022 The news headlines: RSGB joins IARU Region 1 meeting GB70D on air from the Isle of Man Tonight@8 on Monday RSGB volunteers and staff contributed to the IARU Region 1 Interim meeting at Friedrichshafen on Thursday the 23rd of June. The meeting covered topics across HF, VHF and UHF as well as Microwave and EMC matters. This included the latest state of preparations for WRC-23 where agenda item 9.1B on the protection of satellite navigation systems, such as Galileo in the 23cm band, was of prime interest. Slides showing the current state and this potentially significant threat to the radio amateur and amateur satellite services have been published on the RSGB special focus page at rsgb.org/wrc-23. The IARU, supported by the RSGB, continues to work hard to reduce any impact. The Queen's Platinum Jubilee station GB70D is based on the Isle of Man. On Tuesday the 28th, it will be based in the grounds of Government House. It is hoped that the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man and Lady Philippa will participate for several periods during the day. The station plans to operate on 2m, as well as SSB and CW on most bands from 40m up. Operations start around 9.30am. Tonight @8 will take place on Monday, the 4th of July. This is the final lecture before the summer break. Peter Duffett-Smith, G3XJE will be looking at Radio waves and antennas…and all that. His presentation covers a range of antenna-related information so there should be something for everyone. Tonight@8 webinars are live-streamed on the RSGB's YouTube channel, YouTube.com/thersgb. The 98-year-old 200kW Alexanderson alternator, callsign SAQ, will not be able to air on Alexanderson Day, Sunday the 3rd of July. This is due to difficulties in obtaining components in the ongoing maintenance work. The Alexander Association welcomes visitors to the museum on the 3rd from 10am to 4pm. Together with the World Heritage Grimeton Radio Station they will offer many activities for the whole family during the day. There will be two transmitter startups with SAQ, but without any transmission over the antenna. National society in Iceland, IRA, reports on the renewal of special authorisation to use 50MHz. Icelandic licensees have been granted increased power licenses in the 50-50.5MHz frequency range until the 31st of September. Full licensees are allowed to use up to 1kW and Novice licensees up to 100W. The 2022 AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium will be held as part of the RSGB Convention on the 8th and 9th of October at Kents Hill Park Conference Centre in Milton Keynes. The weekend event attracts an international audience that ranges from those involved in building and operating amateur radio satellites to beginners who wish to find out more about this fascinating branch of the hobby. Find out more at amsat-uk.org or rsgb.org/convention. 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. Today, the 26th of June, the Newbury Radio Rally will be held at the Newbury Showground, next to junction 13 of the M4 motorway in Berkshire. Over a hundred sellers, national societies and a demonstration marquee will be there. It is open to the public from 9am with admission £2.50. There is free parking on site. On Saturday, the 2nd of July, the Laugharne Radio Rally will be held in the Millennium Memorial Hall, Laugharne near Carmarthen SA33 4QG. Doors open 10am until 12 noon. Details from Matthew on 0739 882 5024. Next Sunday, the 3rd, The Cornish RAC Rally will take place in Penair School, St Clement, Truro, Cornwall TR1 1TN. Doors open at 10am with a £2 admission. There will be a Bring & Buy, traders and local club stands. Refreshments are available on site. Find out more at gx4crc.com. Next Sunday is also the Barford Norfolk Radio Rally at Barford Village Hall. Doors open at 9am. Visit norfolkamateurradio.org for more information. Now the DX news Eric, KV1J will be active as FP/KV1J from Miquelon Island, NA-032, from the 28th of June to the 12th of July. Plans are to operate SSB, RTTY and FT8, plus some FT4 and CW on the 6 to 80m bands. QSL via his home call either direct or via the bureau, Logbook of The World and eQSL. Joe, OZ0J will be active as HB0/OZ0J from Liechtenstein from the 28th of June to the 5th of July. He plans to operate SSB, CW and FT8 on the 6 to 40m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World, Club Log's OQRS, eQSL, or via his home call. David, DL7ZM is active as 7O/DL7ZM from Socotra Island, AF-028, in Yemen until the 3rd of July. Activity is on 10 meters using CW and FT8, and on 6 meters as well. QSL details on QRZ.com Now the Special Event news Members of The Angel of the North ARC will be running GB0UUR to celebrate the life of their late Club Secretary and RSGB ex Deputy Regional Manager, Nancy Bone, G7UUR. This event will take place during the afternoon of Saturday the 2nd of July. Durham and District ARS is participating as one of the bonus stations in the 13 Colonies Special Event. GB13COL has been issued for this event and will run from the club station from 1300UTC on the 1st of July until 0400UTC on the 8th. The primary focus of the event will be the HF bands, including VHF, UHF & Satellite for QSOs using SSB, CW, FM, and various digital modes. More information at 13colonies.us. Now the contest news Today, Sunday the 26th of June, there are three contests taking place. The CW leg of the 50MHz Contest runs between 0900 and 1200UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The second contest today, the 26th, is the fourth 70MHz Cumulatives contest runs between 1400 and 1600UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Finally for today, the 26th, the UK Microwave Group 5.7 and 10GHz contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Monday, the RSGB FT4 Contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using the 3.5, 7 and 14MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is your report and 4-character locator. Tuesday sees the SHF UK Activity Contest taking place between 1830 and 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 2.3 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next weekend, the 2nd and 3rd of July, is the RSGB VHF National Field Day. Running for 24-hours from 1400UTC on the 2nd, the contest uses the 50, 70, 144 and 432MHz bands as well as 1.3GHz. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next Sunday, the 3rd of July, the 3rd 144MHz Backpackers contest runs from 1000 to 1500UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 24th of June 2022. As predicted, the solar flux index fell back this week, but it didn't fall as low as experts predicted. On Thursday, it stood at 129, but with three sunspot groups about to rotate off the visible surface, it looks like it may now fall lower. We are now well and truly into the summer season for HF propagation, which can be characterised as providing lower maximum usable frequencies during the day, but higher MUFs at night. Sporadic-E remains the most common mode of propagation on the higher bands, with F2-layer MUFs over 3,000 kilometres generally not exceeding 21MHz for most of the day. But more on Sporadic E in the VHF segment of this report. The good news is that 20 metres stays open later, often providing paths over 3,000km up until midnight. The higher bands, that is 17 metres, 15 metres and perhaps 12 metres, may generally provide good paths to South America in the evenings, with 20-metre paths being the last to close. But we're afraid we may have to wait until September to see good reliable paths into North America on HF once again. Next week, NOAA predicts that the SFI will remain around the 100 mark, so we may expect lower MUFs again, apart from Es openings. Geomagnetic conditions should generally be quiet with a maximum Kp index of two once we get over any disturbance this weekend due to a high-speed solar wind stream. And now the VHF and up propagation news. The recent very warm and humid weather has produced some occasional Tropo with the British Isles being on the edge of high pressure, mainly over the near continent. This may still happen occasionally in the coming week, but the fundamental characteristic for next week is low pressure and unsettled weather over the UK. This will produce some rain, with thunderstorms a possibility, and rain scatter will crop up as a useful mode on the upper GHz bands at times. The many online weather radar displays will allow you to keep a track of storms as they develop. When low pressure is centred over the country the showers may be longer-lasting and not decay overnight, so this period looks more promising than the usual mainly daytime shower distribution. The Sporadic-E season is in full swing, but in a rather restrained way since openings have been fairly limited and often fleeting. The presence of jet streams on the weather charts is a good indicator of regions where Es is more likely and the coming week offers a good variety of options, so if Sporadic-E is hard to find then perhaps other parameters may not be optimal; for example, the meteor input is a crucial component in the development of Es. Check the daily conditions for jet streams on the Propquest.co.uk EPI maps and Es blog. The June meteor showers, mentioned last week, continue into early July so keep checking meteor scatter conditions between the Es. With the Moon at maximum declination on Wednesday, Moon windows are long this week. Today, Sunday the 26th of June, the Moon is at apogee, or its furthest point from Earth, so path losses are at their highest, and for around four hours after UK Moonrise on Wednesday the Sun is close to the Moon so noise will be high at that time. And that's all from the propagation team this week.    

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GB2RS News Sunday 27th June 2021   The news headlines: Covid-19 affects VHF NFD Tree-felling to interrupt National Radio Centre Durham is 13 Colonies bonus station   Covid restrictions are extending into July and this means that VHF NFD is taking place with more controls in place than the organisers were hoping for. It is still viable to run the contest on the 3rd and 4th of July, but it will require some additional precautions and control to be exercised by entrants. All entrants, group organisers and individuals involved must fully comply with all local Covid-19 restrictions and advice that apply at the time of the event. This includes, but is not limited to, social distancing, meeting people outside of their household/bubble and travel restrictions. Any enclosed operating space such as a car, caravan or a tent without two open sides is treated as an indoor location and will be subject to the tighter limits on the number of people visiting that space for the duration of the contest. The rules are different in each of the devolved nations and are regularly changing. So please satisfy yourself that you are compliant with your local rules at the time of the contest. The RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park will be closed on the 5th and 6th of July whilst a large tree is felled in the immediate vicinity. Booked entries to Bletchley Park itself are unaffected. Durham & District ARS is participating as one of the bonus stations in the 13 Colonies Special Event. The event began in 2009 as a way of celebrating American Independence with the original 13 colony States of 1776. Since the UK was a major historical player in the Revolutionary War, GB13COL from England will present an added challenge. The event will run from 1300UTC on the 1st of July to 0400UTC on the 8th. The primary focus of the event will be the HF bands, including VHF & UHF for QSOs using SSB, CW, FM and various digital modes. There is also an opportunity to exchange QSL cards with all 13 Colony State stations, plus the bonus stations. For further information go to 13colonies.us. A polite reminder now concerning the frequencies used each Sunday by the RSGB's GB2RS News service. The News is intended for all radio amateurs and listeners, and a clear frequency ensures that it may be heard as widely as possible. The national frequencies on HF are 1990, 3643, 3650, 5398.5 and 7127kHz. Some of these frequencies carry a succession of broadcasts from more than one location. On VHF and up, the principal frequencies for more localised broadcasts throughout the day are 70.425, 145.525 and 433.525MHz. Most amateurs appreciate that no individual or organisation has ownership of any frequency on the amateur bands, it has always been ‘first come first served'. But, in the case of GB2RS, there is a restriction on how far the broadcast is allowed to move to avoid interference. So, whether you're a club planning to set up a regular net, a contest station rapidly jumping frequencies, or someone just looking for a spot to call CQ, if it's a Sunday please spare a thought for the RSGB's volunteers who are trying to deliver the news. The full GB2RS frequency list and transmission times can be viewed at rsgb.org/gb2rsschedule and many webSDRs label the News spots on their waterfall displays. The RSGB would like to thank amateurs for respecting these frequencies. The Youngsters On The Air Contest's first round is complete and the claimed results have been posted on the YOTA website at contest.ham-yota.com. Worldwide participation was very good. In the YOTA-class categories, more than 100 entries were from contesters between 7 and 25 years old, and three entered as short wave listeners. There were more than 600 entries of participants above the age of 25, with the oldest participant at age 87. The next round will be on the 8th of July. Today, the 27th is the final day of the three-day Ham Radio World event. Instead of physically meeting in Friedrichshafen participants are able to listen to lectures, look at exhibiting companies and view the virtual exhibition site. Go to www.darc.de and click on the Ham Radio World advert at the top of the page, then chose the English language option for more information. The vintage Alexanderson alternator transmitter in Grimeton, Sweden, will conduct its annual Alexanderson Day transmission on the 4th of July using its usual callsign, SAQ. The CW transmission will be on 17.2kHz, CW. Startup and tuning for the first SAQ transmission will take place at 0830UTC, with a message transmission to follow at 0900UTC. Startup and tuning for the second SAQ transmission will take place at 1130UTC, with a message transmission to follow at 1200UTC. Now the DX news Loick, HB9HBY will be active again as HB0/HB9HBY from Liechtenstein from the 30th of June to the 4th of July. He will operate CW, SSB and FT8/FT4. QSL via EB7DX. Jerome, F8FKJ is active as J20EE from Djibouti until mid-July. He operates CW. QSL via Logbook of The World and eQSL. Alex, AK4AM will be active as AK4AM/P from Atlantic Beach, Bogue Banks, IOTA reference NA-112, until the 3rd of July. He will operate SSB only with a focus on the 80, 40 and 20m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World. Gerard, G3WIP will be working as a doctor on St Helena until the 30th of September. He plans to be on the air in his spare time. Now the Special Event news Coventry ARS is running two special event stations until May 2022 to celebrate Coventry being the City of Culture. GB1COC & GB8CCC will be running most days, with GB8CCC passing between members of the club. Dates and times will vary. The Boy Scouts of America Radio callsign K2BSA/8 will be on the air from the Trail To Eagle event. This takes place between the 29th of June and the 2nd of July. A QSL card is available when requested. Kent Weald Radio Club will be at the Headcorn Aerodrome in Kent today, the 27th, for Museums on the Air. They will operate as GB1HA. Harlow and District ARS will be operating today, the 27th from their clubhouse for Museums on the Air. Using GB0HMG on HF and 2m, operations are expected from 9.30 am to 4 pm. QSL cards will only be sent out on receipt of a card. GB0UTA and GB5UTA will be on the air until the 28th of June promoting the University of the Third Age. See the QRZ.com entries for more information. Now the contest news With different parts of the UK having different lockdown restrictions, please make sure you follow the appropriate regulations. Keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe. Today, the 27th, the 50MHz CW contest runs from 0900 to 1200UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The 4th 70MHz Cumulative contest also takes place today, the 27th, from 1400 to 1600UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Today, the 27th, the UK Microwave Group 5.7 and 10GHz contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Monday, the 5th FT4 Series contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using the 80m band only, the exchange is your 4-character locator. Next weekend is the RSGB VHF National Field Day. It runs from 1400UTC on the 3rd to 1400UTC on the 4th. Using all modes on the 50MHz to 1.3GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Please note that with the current Covid-19 restrictions, teams with multiple operators should ensure they are following the regulations in their area. Next Sunday, the 4th of July, is the 3rd 2m Backpackers contest. It runs from 1100 to 1500UTC. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The UK Six Metre Group Summer Marathon runs until the 1st of August. Just exchange your 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 25th of June. We had another week that was largely dominated by Sporadic-E openings. It is worth pointing out that Sporadic-E can and does have a blanketing effect on HF signals, which can prevent them from reaching the F2 layer of the ionosphere. This means that predictions created by a program like VOACAP or ITURHFPROP can often be over-optimistic. VOACAP and ITURHFPROP do not take into account seasonal Sporadic-E and, in any event, the localised and changing nature of Sporadic-E clouds means it would be very hard to make monthly median predictions. During the summer months, take computerised propagation predictions with a pinch of salt. While short-skip propagation may be better at times, longer distance signals may in fact be worse than the predictions. Sunspot region 2833 has now rotated out of view off the Sun's edge and we can expect the solar flux index to decline from the 80 reached on Thursday. The good news is that at least two returning regions, 2830 and 2831, will be turning back into view over the weekend. A lack of coronal holes means geomagnetic conditions should remain quiet over the next week. NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be in the range 76-78 with a maximum Kp index of two. Lastly, due to a major outage at the server in the States at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, there is no ionosonde data on the Propquest.co.uk website foF2 graphs at the moment. The server has been subjected to a cyber attack and restoration of the academic services rightly takes priority; the graphs will be there as soon as the server is back online. And now the VHF and up propagation news. It's another week of mixed fortunes for VHF/UHF users, with a tendency for high pressure over northern areas after the unsettled weather moves through during the tail end of this week. It eventually leaves an area of low pressure close to, or over, southern areas and this remains in place for much of the next week. Towards the end of the week, another low will drift south across eastern areas. The best chance of Tropo is over Scotland and Ireland, while unsettled and potentially thundery weather will be a good source for some rain scatter activity in southern areas. The Sporadic-E prospects are looking a bit quiet at first, but as a new upper-low moves into the southern UK and France, we should see prospects improve again into next week, particularly for paths to Iberia and the eastern Mediterranean. Moon declination goes positive again on Friday, so peak Moon visibility windows and peak elevations will increase. Path losses will rise throughout the week. The June Bootids meteor shower peaks today. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

If you still feel the need to get on the radio and make a bunch of contacts, check out the 13 Colonies Special Event that is going on right now! It started on July 1 and will run until midnight on July 7! You still have 3-4 days to make your contacts with each colony and the two bonus stations as well. Even better try to get a clean sweep! Social Media: Facebook: https://www.Facebook.com/Everythinghamradio Twitter: https://www.Twitter.com/k5clm Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everything_hamradio/ Check out my blog at https://www.EverythingHamradio.com If you liked this video and would like to help out financially, you can make some time donation through PayPal to help with the cost, simply goto http://www.everythinghamradio.com/donate DISCLAIMER: Please note that some of the links in this description may be affiliate links. Meaning that if you purchase the item or other items after clicking on the link, I get a small commission from your purchase. This does not affect the price you pay in any way.

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 5th of July 2020 The news headlines: Celebrate the NHS with Get on the air to care Contest Committee to relax Covid-19 rules IARU appoints new EMC Coordinator The RSGB’s ‘Get on the air to care’ campaign with the NHS is celebrating the NHS’ 72nd birthday today, Sunday the 5th of July. The Society is encouraging all radio amateurs to 'Get on the air to care' to mark the celebration and to use /NHS after their callsign. Share photos on the RSGB Facebook or Twitter accounts and make sure you add #GOTA2C to your message. You can also email photos to comms@rsgb.org.uk. For more info about the NHS birthday see the NHS website, www.england.nhs.uk/nhsbirthday/about-the-nhs-birthday. As we’re all aware, the changes to Covid-19 restrictions have been coming thick and fast recently, but they have also remained inconsistent across the different parts of the UK. The Contest Committee is preparing to allow Single Operator Portable entries to RSGB contests again from Tuesday the 7th of July. This is in time for the 2m UK Activity Contest and FM Activity Contest as well as the HF Low Power contest on the 19th of July. All activities must be properly socially distanced. All station activity, including station assembly, must be carried out by the operator, or only with support from people who are living at the same household. The RSGB is not opening up normal multi-operator contesting as in section ‘O’ entries at this time. Any local Covid-19 restrictions, such as any limitation on access to particular public locations, must be strictly observed. Please keep a close eye on the Contest Committee website www.rsgbcc.org for the latest updates. The IARU Administrative Council has appointed Martin Sach, G8KDF, as global Electromagnetic Compatibility Coordinator, succeeding Tore Worren, LA9QL. The EMC Coordinator’s mission is to ensure that the concerns and needs of radio amateurs are effectively addressed in international standards bodies, particularly CISPR and the ITU, as well as in regional telecommunication organisations and at national levels through IARU member societies. Assisting in the effort is a network of volunteers with expertise in the field of EMC. Martin is also the RSGB IARU EMC Liaison. RSGB General Manager Steve Thomas, M1ACB joined the Denby Dale ARC online meeting to hear Dan, KB6NU speak on Having Fun with Morse Code. After Dan’s talk and the question and answer session, the club asked Steve to do a Q&A session. There were a wide range of questions on current topics. Dan’s talk and both Q&A sessions are on YouTube at https://youtu.be/noC1pxTswg4. In the light of the Covid-19 restrictions, the IARU Region 1 Executive Committee has split the 2020 General Conference into two parts. The first part in October will be a virtual conference and the second, in-person part will be in 2021. The IARU and its Member Societies face some very significant challenges for the future to ensure that growth into amateur radio is further stimulated and that Member Societies and the IARU continue to be seen as relevant and supportive by new entrants. The 2021 part of the Conference will be run in ‘workshop’ format with active participation from all Member Societies present. Dave Wilson, M0OBW, RSGB President and Exams Quality Assurance Manager, has announced that the 1000th online invigilated exam took place on the 1st of July. He anticipated that the 1000th successful candidate will pass the exam sometime this coming week. The RSGB would like to thank all involved in this remote invigilation exam process, including Ofcom, the RSGB exams department and all those invigilating. It’s a great example of amateur radio coming together. Please note that all news items for both RadCom and GB2RS should be sent to radcom@rsgb.org.uk and to that email address only. Sending to multiple addresses just slows the process down and some old addresses, such as gb2rs@rsgb.org.uk will be closed in the near future. The deadline for GB2RS is 10am on the Thursday before transmission and the deadlines for RadCom are shown in the Around Your Region section or on the RSGB website under the Publications tab. Now the special event news Since the change of regulations applying to special event stations in the UK, many activations are now able to go ahead. UK amateurs would like to thank Ofcom for their help in making this happen. To commemorate their 3rd anniversary, special event stations will be on air during the FT8DMC Activity Days until the 31st of July. All stations will bear the FTDMC or FTDM suffix, referring to the third anniversary of the FT8 Digital Mode Club. An FTDMC Anniversary Award can be earned by working the FTDMC and FTDM stations and collecting points applicable for various award classes. See www.ft8dmc.eu for more details. Durham and District Amateur Radio Society is participating as one of the bonus stations in the 13 Colonies Special Event. GB13COL will run until 0400UTC on 8 July. The primary focus of the event will be the HF bands using SSB, CW, FM and various digital modes, but VHF and UHF will also be in use. This year’s QSL cards for GB13COL has been kindly sponsored by Martin Lynch at ML&S. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the events for new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. The RSGB strongly advises obeying your own government’s advice first and foremost. On Monday the 80m Club Championships will runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using CW only, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Tuesday the 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the all mode 144MHz UK Activity Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator. On Thursday the 50MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next weekend the IARU HF Championship runs from 1200UTC on the 11th to 1200UTC on the 12th. Using SSB only on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and ITU Zone, which is 27 for the UK. The UK Six Metre Group’s Summer Marathon runs until the 2nd of August. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is your 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 3rd of July. This week saw the beginning of a new month and continued Sporadic-E openings. Traditionally we see a slow down in the number of Sporadic-E openings in July, but while we are seeing a few periods on 10m when there are no openings, they inevitably reappear. An HF F2-layer opening to Angola occurred on Wednesday, allowing amateurs to bag Gabriel, D2EB on both 17 and 12 metres CW. Paul, G0KPH also spotted Gabriel on 40 metres CW in the evening. As we said a couple of weeks ago, the HF bands are staying open later, which is a summer phenomenon. Darren, G0TSM has found 17m FT8 to be open to Japan, the West Coast of the USA, Alaska and Hawaii until around 0200UTC. Mike, G4FHQ said 80m has been good overnight too, after he heard a string of W2s and VE3s working the Canada Day contest at 0330UTC at 57/8 on SSB. The Sun, however, remained very quiet with zero sunspots, which means our predictions are beginning to sound like a stuck record! The Kp index ranged from zero to three thanks to a high-speed solar wind stream. Next week NOAA predicts a solar flux index of 68 and a Kp index of two to three. There are no sunspots predicted, just a few bright spots on the STEREO Ahead spacecraft’s extreme ultraviolet view, which may or may not develop into spots. Mid-latitude coronal hole activity has declined recently and it does look like we are now truly at sunspot minimum. And now the VHF and up propagation news. There is a change in the weather coming along and Sunday should see a ridge of high pressure building across the south of the country, bringing Tropo back into the options. This could be particularly good for paths to the south across the Channel and Biscay as well as across the southern North Sea. This ridge gets a bit of knock-back after mid-week as a small low tracks across the north of the country. In some models this is also followed by a further weak ridge for the next weekend, so Tropo will continue to feature. The Sporadic-E season is less prolific in July, but it’s still a key month for the mode. The weather is always busy generating atmospheric gravity waves that can propagate upwards to affect the E region and trigger Sporadic-E, so hopefully some parts of the country may find the geometry is right for some VHF DX paths via Sporadic-E. These high summer weeks are often good for Sporadic-E ultra DX paths to the Far East, mostly in the early morning and on FT8, so it's well worth checking the clusters from 0600-0800UTC. With low Moon declination and no major meteor showers this week, it’s a good week to increase your square count via the satellites. QO100 and the low-Earth orbiters are always there to work the DX if the bands are flat. Finally, a thought. While we’re definitely not advocating “don’t call CQ”, you’ll increase your chances of making non-contest QSOs hugely, especially on the GHz Bands, if you announce your planned activity in advance. Use email reflectors, social media and the ON4KST microwave chat to let people know when you’re QRV. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 28th of June 2020 The news headlines: Online remote invigilation expanding Tonight @ 8: Antennas for small gardens New Propagation Studies video released The online remote invigilation of the UK Foundation amateur radio exam continues to be extremely popular, with over 800 successful candidates so far, and more than 650 already booked for future Foundation exams. The RSGB is now contacting candidates and Exam Secretaries who had previously booked for Intermediate exams before social distancing caused their postponement. Candidates will be offered online remote invigilation exam slots. It is hoped that bookings can also be opened to new Intermediate candidates in the near future, once existing bookings are cleared. Full exams will follow on in a similar manner in due course. The FAQ’s on the RSGB website, under the Training tab, will be updated shortly. The next RSGB Tonight @ 8 webinar is on the 29th of June and is a presentation on Antennas for small gardens by Steve Nichols, G0KYA. You can watch the live stream and ask questions on either the RSGB YouTube channel or the special Tonight @ 8 channel on the BATC website, https://batc.org.uk/live/RSGB. You can find out more about all the webinars at www.rsgb.org/webinars and you can also watch previous talks in the series at the same site. The RSGB has released a new VHF propagation video, created by the Society’s Propagation Studies Committee. You can watch this interesting presentation on the Society’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/theRSGB. The annual transmission by the 17.2kHz VLF Alexanderson Alternator will take place, as usual, this year on Alexanderson Day, Sunday the 5th of July. As usual, it will use the callsign SAQ. Startup and tuning begins at 0830 and 1130UTC, with the transmission of a message at 0900 and 1200UTC. You can watch both events live on their YouTube channel and, of course, listen out if you have VLF capability. Due to unforeseen circumstances, no RSGB awards information will be published between now and 22 July. If you have submitted your data for an award and have not yet received a reply, you will be contacted after that date. The Society would encourage you to keep working towards awards in the meantime – it is a great way to gain experience, especially if you’re new to amateur radio. You can find more details of the RSGB awards on the Society’s website, www.rsgb.org/awards. We understand that Bletchley Park plans to re-open on 4 July and have further details on their website, bletchleypark.org.uk. The RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park will remain closed, for the time being, but this will continue to be regularly reviewed. Due to uncertainty about large gatherings being allowed, and in recognition that many radio amateurs may not want to attend physical meetings for some time, the G-QRP Club took the unwelcome decision to cancel their Conventions for 2020. However, following a very successful survey of members, a meeting of the Standing Committee this week confirmed definitely that the G-QRP Convention for 2020 will take place as a virtual event, over the weekend of the 5th and 6th of September. There will be a series of webinars and possibly a virtual Buildathon. A small working group are now developing the detail and a number of key speakers have already volunteered. Full details will be shared as soon as they are known. Apologies to Tony, VK5ZAI for the error in his callsign last week. Tony received the Order of Australia in the Queen’s birthday honours list for significant service to amateur radio, particularly to satellite and space communication. The RSGB/NHS ‘Get on the air to care’ campaign continues to feature in the media across the world. Recently there were articles in the ARRL’s QST magazine and in the Emergency Services Times publication. You can see both on the Society’s media campaign web pages, www.rsgb.org/gota2c-media. The latest Something for the Weekend video goes out today on YouTube. ML&S looks back at the 1970s and the beginning of Amateur Radio Exchange with Bernie, G4AOG. Fund raising for Alzheimer’s Disease is part of the video. Go to https://youtu.be/fICqJM_BIfw. Now the special event news Since the change of regulations applying to special event stations in the UK, many activations are now able to go ahead. UK amateurs would like to thank Ofcom for their help in making this happen. Today, the 28th, is the Centenary of the Royal Corps of Signals. The Royal Signals Museum has a permanent special event callsign, GB100RSM, but due to the Covid-19 restrictions, they cannot run the station from the museum. The station will instead run from the home QTH of G3WZP in IO90BR. Activity will be until the end of June on the 40, 20 and 17m bands, using SSB and CW. Skeds are welcome. Another Royal Corps of Signals centenary station is GB100RS Royal Signals, operating from Bishop Auckland. It will start operating today, the 28th. Full details of the centenary stations and their operations can be found at https://rsars.org.uk/rsars-corps-celebrations-2020/. To commemorate their 3rd anniversary, special event stations will be on air during the FT8DMC Activity Days from the 1st to the 31st of July. All stations will bear the FTDMC or FTDM suffix, referring to the third anniversary of the FT8 Digital Mode Club. An FTDMC Anniversary Award can be earned by working the FTDMC and FTDM stations and collecting points applicable for various award classes. See www.ft8dmc.eu. Durham and District Amateur Radio Society is participating as one of the bonus stations in the 13 Colonies Special Event. GB13COL will run from 1300UTC on 1 July to 0400UTC on 8 July. The primary focus of the event will be the HF bands using SSB, CW, FM and various digital modes, but VHF and UHF will also be in use. This year’s QSL cards for GB13COL has been kindly sponsored by Martin Lynch at ML&S. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the events for new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. RSGB strongly advises obeying your own government’s advice first and foremost. The UK Microwave Group’s 5.7 and 10GHz bands contest runs from 0600 to 1800 today, the 28th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Also today, the 28th, the 50MHz CW contest runs from 0900 to 1200UTC. It’s CW only and the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The 7MHz Cumulative contest runs from 1400 to 1600UTC today, the 28th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The 3rd 144MHz Backpackers contest is cancelled and there is a different format contest to replace VHF NFD, for 2020 only, called ‘lockdown VHF NFD’. Only single operator fixed stations may enter this contest. The rules are available at www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/rules/2020/VHFNFD.shtml. The rules are loosely based around the UKAC and VHF AFS rules and include a team element. The UK Six Metre Group’s Summer Marathon runs until the 2nd of August. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is your 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 26th of June. After the recent excitement of a new Solar Cycle 25 sunspot, it seems the Sun has decided to go back to sleep. We have had zero sunspots since the 16th of June and the STEREO spacecraft Ahead view shows just one small bright area on the Sun, which might result in a spot in due course. Luckily, geomagnetic conditions remained quiet throughout the week, with a maximum Kp index of two. The bands were a little lacklustre, other than the continued Sporadic-E openings, which have brought almost daily fun on 28MHz. There were F-layer openings to be found on 14MHz, but these were mainly enjoyed by well-equipped stations. Ed, WA6QDQ/KH6 in Hawaii was audible at 0652TUTC on Tuesday the 23rd at G3UML’s Hendon QTH. As was William, AL7KC in North Pole, Alaska, who had a big pile up on 14.224MHz. Early morning does seem to be the best time to get on 14MHz, with Jim, E51JD on the South Cook Islands being reported again as well. But as the day goes on D-layer absorption grows and 14MHz doesn’t sound very lively at all. Fifteen metres was open to Brazil and Paraguay on Thursday afternoon, although this was mostly FT8. Otherwise, it was 10 metres and Sporadic-E contacts that continued to provide excitement, with one or two North American, South American and Caribbean openings occurring. Next week NOAA predicts more of the same, with a solar flux index hovering around 68-70 and a maximum Kp index of two. A weak solar wind stream flowing from a narrow coronal hole could reach Earth beginning on the 27th of June. A minor geomagnetic disturbance at higher latitudes may be expected. And now the VHF and up propagation news. The heatwave of midweek should be over by today, so any enhanced sea path Tropo will have weakened too. Coasts can be productive for ducts across the North Sea or the English Channel and Biscay in any quieter settled window during the week. Overall, Tropo is probably not a mode to rely upon this week, since much of the time we will have low pressure either over the UK or very close by. This will bring periods of rain or showers, many of which could have a chance of thunder and hail. This implies large convective clouds and potentially good GHz bands rain scatter. That leaves Sporadic-E, and we are still within the main part of the season, so keep up the usual procedure of checking mid-morning and late afternoon/early evening. Sporadic-E is a mode ideally suited for weak signals and digital modes can give good clues as to which directions may open later for CW and SSB as the opening develops. Make use of the good map-based clusters to see if you are close enough to where the paths cross. Ideally, the hot spot should be between about 600km and 1400km away from your station. Moon declination goes negative today but as perigee is on Monday, path losses will be at their lowest of the lunar month. 144MHz sky temperatures are low today but increasing to a peak of 2700K around midnight next Saturday. Compare this to the usual 300K cold sky temperature at 144MHz, do the maths and, you’ll see that your low noise preamps are not going to help you at this sky temperature! The June Bootids meteor shower peaked yesterday but continue looking for the best meteor scatter conditions around local dawn. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 17th of May 2020 The news headlines: More media coverage for #GOTA2C 2nd Hope QSO Party starts tomorrow New beta of WSJT-X updates FT4 & FT8 The RSGB’s national campaign ‘Get on the air to care’ in partnership with the NHS has received more media coverage this week, including two BBC radio interviews with local radio clubs and a video message from the NHS. Thank you to everyone who is showing their support by getting on the air, caring for other radio amateurs and trying new aspects of amateur radio. More details about the campaign, media coverage and stories from clubs and radio amateurs can be seen on the RSGB website at www.rsgb.org/gota2c. The RSGB Contest Committee is running a second Hope QSO Party event, starting on Monday the 18th of May. The rules are at tinyurl.com/Hope-QSO – please note that there are two rule changes for this second event. The calendar is at www.rsgbcc.org/hf. A new beta version of the WSJT-X software suite has been released. It includes the first updates since last autumn to the popular FT8 and FT4 protocols. Installation packages for Windows, Linux, and Macintosh are available on the WSJT-X Development Group web page. Scroll to Candidate Release WSJT-X 2.2.0-rc1. The WSJT-X Development Group request those using the new beta version to alert the developers and to report any bugs or improvements they have implemented, using instructions included in the User Guide. The transponder on HuskySat-OSCAR 107 has been activated and is open for use and testing. It’s fairly sensitive, and 5 to 10W of uplink power is plenty most of the time. The linear transponder is inverting, with an uplink passband of 145.910 to 145.940MHz and a downlink passband of 435.810 to 435.840MHz. The 1200-baud BPSK telemetry beacon is at 435.800MHz. The Air Defence Radar Museum at RAF Neatishead usually runs the permanent special event station GB2RAF. But, with the museum closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, G4PSH has obtained permission to operate the callsign from his home under a temporary licence. This will continue until the museum is able to open to the public again. QSL cards are available via the RSGB or RAFARS bureau, EQSL.com or direct to G4PSH with a SAE. The Radio Amateur Society of Australia has conducted a 60 metre band monitoring program over the past few months to build a picture of 60m activity during daylight and evening hours. The information will be used in a response to the latest Australian radio authority’s paper that proposes various options for sharing of the band between amateur and commercial users. Now the special event news Since the change of regulations applying to special event stations in the UK, many activations are now able to go ahead. UK amateurs would like to thank Ofcom for their help in making this happen. GB2SHS for STAY HOME SAFE will be on air until the 24th of May in support of the NHS and care workers. It will operate from the QTH of G4ISN, a member of Welland Valley ARS, on the HF bands. QSL via e-QSL. The RAF Amateur Radio Society will be activating the special event GB75VED until the 28th May. Operations will be from members’ homes. Details are at www.rafars.org/GB75VED and on QRZ.com. Dragon Amateur Radio Club and North Wales Radio Society are operating GB0GIG throughout May, named after the National Health Service in the Welsh language. The station will be active on HF, VHF and UHF using as many modes as possible. An award certificate is available and full details can be found on QRZ.com. To commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day and VJ Day, the RSGB has organised the VE/VJ Day amateur radio marathon on the HF bands and 6m using SSB, CW and digital modes. Three special UK callsigns, GB75PEACE, GB1945PE and GB1945PJ, will be on the air throughout May and again between the 1st and the 31st of August. If you wish to operate one of these stations, please email csc.chair@rsgb.org.uk. Full details are at www.rsgb.org/ve-vj-marathon. Kent Active Radio Amateurs will run GB80MQ on the 22nd and 23rd of May. This station is usually run from the vessel Medway Queen, but will be operational from operator’s home addresses instead this time. Durham and District Amateur Radio Society is participating as one of the bonus stations in the hugely popular 13 Colonies Special Event. The special callsign GB13COL has been issued for this event and will run from July 1, 2020 1300 UTC to July 8, 0400 UTC. The primary focus of the event will be the HF bands, including VHF & UHF for QSOs using SSB, CW, FM and various digital modes. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the events for new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. RSGB strongly advises obeying your own government’s advice first and foremost. This weekend, the 144MHz May Contest ends it 24 hour run at 1400UTC today, the 17th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode. Today, the 17th, is the UK Microwave Group millimetre-wave contest, running from 0900 to 1700UTC. Using all modes on the 24 to 76GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Monday the fourth FT4 series contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC on the 80m band. The exchange is your 4-character locator. On Tuesday the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Thursday it’s the 70MHz UK Activity Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next Sunday, the 24th, the third 70MHz Cumulative contest runs from 1400 to 1600UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The UK Six Metre Group’s Summer Marathon runs until the 2nd of August. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is you 4-character locator. And finally, join the fun of the next round of RSGB Hope QSO Party on weekdays. See www.rsgbcc.org/hf. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 15th of May. We had another week dominated by Sporadic-E openings. While the Sun remained quiet with zero sunspots, Sporadic-E proved to be the major mode of propagation. It offered both single and multi-hop openings, with 10m being open to Spain, Portugal and beyond on most days. Likely multi-hop paths have seen openings to Chad, Mauritania, St Lucia and further afield. On 20m and 15m there have been F2-layer openings to the Far East, Hawaii, Alaska and South America reported, although most of these have been on FT8 by well-equipped stations. An easier catch for Chris, G3SJJ was C31CT in Andorra who “popped out of the noise” on 17m. This shows the importance of monitoring the bands and watching the cluster for those elusive short HF openings. Next week NOAA predicts that the Sun will likely remain spotless with a solar flux index of 68-70. On Thursday a polar coronal hole with a long finger pointing towards the solar equator was likely releasing a high-speed solar wind stream. This could result in unsettled geomagnetic conditions over the weekend. NOAA predicts the Kp index could rise to three on Monday the 18th. And now the VHF and up propagation news. The weather models are showing a mainly high-pressure week and therefore there should be some good prospects for Tropo. Since the high does not have a great source of moist air underneath the inversion, the Tropo may be less than ideal. However, the position of the high over this weekend may allow better Tropo conditions across southern Britain and across the Channel into France. The north and west of the UK are going to be close to fronts on several occasions next week, and on Monday a weakness in the high may allow a few showers to develop and bring some rain scatter on the GHz bands. One of the models does break the high-pressure trend and bring a deepening low past northwest Britain in the second half of next week with further rain scatter possibilities. We have seen a good number of Sporadic-E days in the last week, especially for digital modes, but CW and SSB have produced results too. The position of the jet streams suggests that Scandinavia, the Baltic and northern Europe may be the preferred regions of interest next week. Check the beacons and clusters for signs of activity, and keep QSOs short, since conditions can change suddenly from an easy 5/9 to lost in the noise. We should see the start of the Arietids meteor shower this week lasting from the 22nd of May until the 2nd of July, peaking on the 7th of June. Moon declination is increasing again, going positive on Monday but this coincides with apogee, so path losses are at their highest. 144MHz sky noise is low apart from Friday afternoon where the Sun and Moon are close to eclipse. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

I worked the 13 Colonies Special Event this year on HF and I thought it would be good to make a video that shows how to export those contacts to an .adi file then upload them to Logbook of the World.Be sure to subscribe for more Ham Radio video: https://goo.gl/6hjh2JIf you want to support me, follow my Patreon link: https://goo.gl/FkESU6Be sure to support my sponsors, who make this series possible:- Gifts 4 Hams- R&L Electronics- Buy Two Way Radios

I worked the 13 Colonies Special Event this year on HF and I thought it would be good to make a video that shows how to export those contacts to an .adi file then upload them to Logbook of the World.Be sure to subscribe for more Ham Radio video: https://goo.gl/6hjh2JIf you want to support me, follow my Patreon link: https://goo.gl/FkESU6Be sure to support my sponsors, who make this series possible:- Gifts 4 Hams- R&L Electronics- Buy Two Way Radios

This Week in Amateur Radio Edition #1061 Release Date: June 28, 2019 Here is a summary of the news trending this week. This weeks edition is anchored Chris Perrine, KB2FAF, Will Rogers, K5WLR, Don Hulick, K2ATJ, George W2XBS, and Jessica Bowen, KC2VWX. Produced and edited by W2XBS. Running Time: 1:28:55 Download here: http://bit.ly/TWIAR1061 Trending headlines in this weeks bulletin service: 1. No Strong Opposition to 144 to 146 MHz Reallocation Proposal at CEPT Meeting 2. 13 Colonies Special Event to Mark 11th Anniversary this Year 3. LightSail 2 Launches, Will Transmit CW Beacon 4. Nature Article Suggest a Grand Solar Minimum Lies Ahead 5. ARRL Field Day Deemed a Hit; Entries Due by July 23! 6. HAM RADIO 2019 in Friedrichshafen Reports 14,300 Attended from 50 Countries 7. Petition for Rulemaking Asks FCC to Create a New 8-Meter Amateur Band 8. New Device Creates Electricity from Snowfall 9. Over-the-Horizon Radars Continue to Plague Amateur Bands 10. Islands On The Air anounces another new six island groups 11.Hams Assist during historic power outage in Argentina and Uragury 12. Here is your chance to become a "Legal Pirate" - Visit Radio Caroline Plus these Special Features This Week: * Technology News and Commentary with Leo Laporte, W6TWT - Special Expanded Report * Working Amateur Radio Satellites with Bruce Paige, KK5DO * Foundations of Amateur Radio with Onno Benschop VK6FLAB * Weekly Propagation Forecast from the ARRL * Ancient Amateur Archives Explores Amateur Radios Rich History with Bill Continelli, W2XOY * SPECIAL REPORT: Repacking the Airwaves: Is it Time to Rescan Your TV? (From the FCC ) ----- Website: http://www.twiar.net Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/twiari/ Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/twiar RSS News: http://twiar.net/twiar.rss TuneIn: http://bit.ly/TuneIn-TWIAR Automated: http://twiar.net/TWIARHAM.mp3 (Static file, changed weekly) ----- Visit our website at www.twiar.net for program audio, and daily for the latest amateur radio and technology news. Air This Week in Amateur Radio on your repeater! Built in ident breaks every 10 minutes. This Week in Amateur Radio is heard on the air on nets and repeaters as a bulletin service all across North America, ands all around the world. on amateur radio repeater systems, the low bands, and more. This Week in Amateur Radio is portable too! You can find us among talk radios best on TuneIn.com, or via iTunes and Google Play. We are hosted by various podcast aggregators like Stitcher too. Vist our site for details. You can also stream the program to your favorite digital device by visiting our web site www.twiar.net. This Week in Amateur Radio is produced by Community Video Associates in upstate New York, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. If you would like to volunteer with us as a news anchor or special segment producer please get in touch with us via our Facebook group. Search for us under This Week in Amateur Radio.

On this episode, we look back at the IARU Contest and the 13 Colonies Special Event. K0STH was on vacation and working portable from the First State. But, was Delaware working for K0STH? We also take a closer look at a new mode called, FT8. There's a new DSTAR Update and several license upgrades to celebrate. All of this and more on this edition of 100 Watts and a Wire.

A few weeks back in our Facebook Group, Curtis Williamson (W4HCW) mentioned he'd like to hear me do a show about the 13 Colonies Special Event.  I connected with Bob, ND7J, the webmaster for the event as well as an event operator from the state of North Carolina. I feature our conversation in this episode of HamRadio 360. The 13 Colonies Special Event is held during Independence Weekend each July and began in 2009, as a 'One Time' event.  After logging over 12,000 contacts with just 13 operators, it's founder Ken, KU2US, discovered he was onto something.  Since it's inception the event has grown exponentially with many more state operators and a network of help that spans the globe. This is one of my favorite contests to participate in each year!  Thanks to Bob for coming on to help us learn more, and I hope you all get a chance to participate and get a clean sweep!  To learn more about the Event, Logging, Certificates and more visit the 13 Colonies Special Event page at www.13colonies.net (28:30) Recently, my friend and fellow podcaster Glenn Hebert, asked if I'd join him on his Live, Daily Podcast: Horses in the Morning.  Every once in a while Glenn produces a Non-Horsey show, and I was pleased to be invited.  Segment 3 of this episode features that quick conversation as I try to explain Ham Radio in less than 7 minutes :) _______ (37:15) Hap Holly,  KC9RP, has been producing The Rain Report since the 1980's.  “From his home studio/ham shack in suburban Chicago, Hap Holly, KC9RP, produces this 10 to 15- minute weekly amateur radio program service, featuring timely interviews, occasional thought-provoking commentaries from other hams, excerpts from Hamvention Forums and other items of general interest to the ham radio community at large." The Rain Report can be heard on some local repeaters around the US as well as on-line and in your podcast player.  Hap and I caught up via Skype back before Hamvention, and he's recently released our conversation that I share here in segment 4.  I appreciate the continued effort of Hap and his dedicated support staff as they work to bring us The Rain Report.  You can find The Rain Report at the www.therainreport.com   _______ Show Notes and Mentions The Devil of a Whipping- A favorite novel of mine Culpepper Flag Randy KB3IHF QSL Cards & more DX Summit: Cluster N3FJP Logging ND7J.com Horses in the Morning The Rain Report **Bonus Show Content: Roswell Crash Special Event Info PVARC   Y'all have a Great Week! 73, Cale-K4CDN

Ham Radio at the Bay Area Maker Faire:  The Bay-Net Group has attended the last 4 years in hopes of spurring interest in the Hobby with the attendees of the Maker Faire and it appears to be working!  George, David and Beric fill in the blanks for those of us not able to attend. Raspberry Pi, SDR, APRS and Micro Controllers; it was all about Hands on Ham Radio!  A yearly event of Ham Radio Outreach that can be used as a model for all of us as we look for more ways to share our hobby with those yet to come in! In addition to Maker Faire, George also takes us into the IEEE Int'l Microwave Symposium forums with a recording detailing how University Professors are using Ham Radio in the classroom. Forum Presentations Linked Here I also announce the Brand Spanking New Workbench Podcast with George and Jeremy! the Workbench -New Show to release Next Week to compliment our Bi-Weekly show!  That's right, a Weekly Dose of HR360 is on the way! Stay Tuned.....   13 Colonies Special Event happens this Weekend! http://www.13colonies.net/ thanks for listening! 73 Y'all! K4CDN