Podcasts about oqrs

GB2RS News Sunday the 7th of August 2022 The news headlines: GB22HQ moving location Welsh operators wanted for GB22GW New Special Interest Group Manager appointed For operational reasons, it is no longer possible to operate GB22HQ, the special event station for the Commonwealth Games, from the Smithfield site in Birmingham. The move to the Smithfield site had been a last-minute decision due to other calls on our original site by the Commonwealth Games organisers. It has been problematic due to lack of public access, high RF noise levels and ingress of water and dust on site. We're pleased to say that GB22HQ will continue on the air for the remainder of the games thanks to members of the Wolverhampton Amateur Radio Society and the Central Radio Amateur Circle. GB22GW is the Commonwealth Games callsign for Wales. Cath, GW4CVT is looking for volunteers in Wales to use the callsign either by CW, SSB or data modes until the 21st of August. To book a slot, visit qrz.com and search for GB22GW. There you will find Cath's email address and the slots that are available. The RSGB is pleased to announce that Philip Hosey, MI0MSO has been appointed as the Special Interest Group Manager. The primary role of the Honorary Officer for Affiliated National Societies and Special Interest Groups is to champion their interests and to develop a closer relationship between them and the RSGB, and the amateurs they represent. Sad news now. Long-time GB2RS newsreader Dr David Sadler-Lockwood, G4CLI became a Silent Key recently. He was a keen member of both the Wakefield and District Amateur Radio Society and the Denby Dale Amateur Radio Society. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. There is a new award available during August to celebrate the 200th anniversary of a Polish lighthouse. Until 31st August there will be nine special event stations on the air with SN200 or SP200 plus one letter callsigns, for example, SN200Z. Two other stations, 3Z200LHR and 3Z25ILLW, will operate only during the international lighthouse and lightship weekend, the 20th and 21st. For details on this award, go to qrz.com and look up one of the special stations involved. Canadian radio amateurs have gained access to two new bands recently. They now have access to 472 to 479kHz with a maximum of five watts EIRP, and 5.3515 to 5.3665MHz with a maximum of 100 watts EIRP. Canadian amateur radio is a Secondary radio service on these bands. The YOTA Team Croatia has created an award available for working youngsters at the YOTA Summer Camp. Each QSO with a 9A YOTA station in a different band or mode combination earns you one point. Duplicates do not count. Valid QSOs will be made from 0000UTC on the 6th to 2359UTC on the 13th of August. You may even get to contact one of the four young people the RSGB has sent to the Summer Camp. Go to iaru-r1.org and click on the YOTA Summer Camp news item for details on the award. 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 7th of August, the 2022 BATC Convention for Amateur TV will take place at Midland Air Museum, Rowley Road, Coventry CV3 4FR. It will be a meet-up, show and tell, test and fix-it, and Bring & Buy event from 10 am to 4 pm. There will be full test facilities available for equipment. Also today, the 7th, King's Lynn ARC 32nd Great Eastern Radio Rally will be held at Gaywood Community Centre, Gayton Road, King's Lynn, Norfolk PE30 4EL. Doors open at 9 am and admission is £2.50. Car parking is free. There will be trade stands and a Bring & Buy. More information at klarc.org.uk. On Friday, it is the 27th Cockenzie and Port Seton Mini-Rally Night. It will take place at the Community Centre, Main Hall, Port Seton. Doors open at 6 pm and admission is £2. Tables are on a first come first served basis. Next Sunday, the 14th, the Flight Refuelling ARS Hamfest takes place at Cobham Sports and Social Club Ground, Merley, near Wimborne, Dorset, BH21 3DA. Talk in will be on S22. Gates open between 10 am and 6 pm with entry costing £4. There will be trade stands as well as indoor and field pitches. Lectures will take place during the event. No dogs except Guide dogs are allowed as this is the landowner's condition. More from Tony, G3PFM on 0774 347 5018. Now the Special Event news GB5VAS is the callsign for the special event station that Guernsey Amateur Radio Society will be operating from the ground of the Vintage Agricultural Show this weekend, the 6th and 7th of August. QSL via GU3HFN. TM78DP is a special callsign to be aired until the 20th of August for the 78th anniversary of the beach landings in Provence during World War Two. It will operate on the 6 to 80m bands using CW, SSB and digital modes. QSL via F4GPB. Now the DX news Jonathan, 2E0KZN is now stationed at the RAF Mount Pleasant Complex in the Falkland Islands, SA-002, until early November. Whilst there he will operate as VP8TAA with a focus on SOTA activations as VP8TAA/P. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS. The DX0NE Team is operating from Spratly Islands, IOTA AS-051 until the 31st of December. They will operate on the 6 to 160m bands using CW, SSB and FT8. QSL via 4F2KWT, Logbook of The World or Club Log OQRS. DK1DKE is active as 4K7DK from Baku in Azerbaijan until the 13th of August. Activity is on the 10 to 80m bands using SSB and FT8. QSL to his home callsign. Mike, W6QT is operating as DU3/W6QT from Olongapo City on Luzon Island, OC-042, in the Philippines. He will be there until the 15th of September. QSL to his home callsign. Now the contest news Today, Sunday the 7th of August, the 432MHz Low Power Contest runs from 0800 to 1200UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and the first two letters of your postcode. On Tuesday, the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed from 1900 to 2130UTC by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest. The exchange for both is a signal report, serial number and locator. Wednesday sees the 432MHz FT8 Activity Contest from 1900 to 2100UTC. The exchange is your report and 4-character locator. The 50MHz UK Activity Contest is on Thursday the 11th of August from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next weekend is the WAE DX CW Contest from 0000UTC on the 13th to 2359UTC on the 14th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Please note that EU stations work non-EU stations only. Next Sunday, the 14th, the fifth 70MHz Cumulative contest runs from 1400 to 1600UTC. 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 5th of August 2022. Last week was characterised by a solar flux index of around 100 but reasonably settled geomagnetic conditions. The SFI had a low of 94 on Sunday and a high of 100 on Thursday. The Kp index has been in the range of one to four, with more settled conditions being experienced in the second half of the week. Daytime critical frequencies have ranged from lows of 5MHz and highs of up to 7MHz. As a result, skip distances on 40m have varied dramatically, and often very quickly. This has caught out some amateurs who have found solid inter-G conditions one minute, but fast fading as the critical frequency has dropped leaving only European stations workable. As a guide, keep one eye on propquest.co.uk for the current critical frequency and extrapolated maximum usable frequencies over different path lengths. Only then can you make sense of daytime 40m propagation. Sporadic-E is still putting in an appearance but is far less prevalent as we head into August. It may still be usable for weak signal modes like FT8, but loud SSB signals from Europe may be less prevalent. Next week, NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Centre predicts that the SFI will be in the range of 98-100 again. That is, it doesn't think we will get any rapid increases in sunspot numbers over the next week. The Kp index is forecast to be in the range 2-3, which means moderately settled geomagnetic conditions. However, a coronal hole on the Sun's equator may cause some problems just after the weekend. So daytime F2-layer MUFs over 3,000km paths may be up to 18-21MHz. Any short-skip 10m openings are therefore likely to be Sporadic-E. And now the VHF and up propagation news. The basic pattern continues unchanged with high pressure favouring southern and eastern areas and lows with their fronts affecting the northwest. Occasionally weakening cold fronts drift southeast. This will provide further tropo opportunities, particularly during the hot and humid periods and in this case, a good cloud cover near the surface is a good indicator. The preferred paths would most likely be across the North Sea to Denmark, Germany and Netherlands and across the Channel to the continent. A more extensive option could be to the south across Biscay to Spain and beyond to the Canaries and mid-Atlantic. Rain scatter is unlikely for most areas except for very isolated showery developments on the weak cold fronts over central parts of the country. The Sporadic-E season continues to trickle charge log books with occasional openings. Although the jet stream activity is relatively weak over central and southern Europe, it has been shown that it is sometimes more important that the pattern is moving, however weak. The stronger flow appears to favour paths across the north of the UK to Iceland and Greenland and towards Scandinavia and the Baltic states. Check the daily blogs on Propquest.co.uk, which continue through August, for the latest thoughts on the daily jet stream charts. Next week sees the peak of the Perseids around the 12th of August and even if you don't have the gear for meteor scatter it's hard to beat watching meteors on a warm summer evening. The Sun has continued to exhibit some marked coronal holes, a potential source of the solar wind surges that produce the aurora, so be aware of this. The Moon passes a milestone this month with perigee and minimum declination coinciding. From then onwards, perigee and maximum declination start to drift closer again, but it's not until September 2026 that they coincide. All week the Moon's elevation is low at its zenith and the Moon is only visible for a few hours out of the 24. 144MHz sky noise is high, reaching 3000 Kelvin on Monday. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday the 24th of July 2022 The news headlines: Operate a Commonwealth Games station GB2RS news readers sought Poldhu ARC Open Day For the Commonwealth Games, GB22HQ will be operating from the Birmingham NEC. There are also seven ‘Special' Special Event callsigns, one each from the four UK Home Nations and three Crown Dependencies. From the 25th of July until the 21st of August, the special callsigns will be available for activation by RSGB affiliated clubs or individual RSGB Members. To take part you must please first check the relevant Activation Schedule on QRZ.com for a slot to suit your availability. Then contact the callsign coordinator, who will be keen to help. They will book you in and update the schedule. Depending upon your location, the callsigns to look for are GB22GE, GB22GM, GB22GW, GB22GI, GB22GJ, GB22GU and GB22GD. More details at rsgb.org under the ‘on the air' tab. The RSGB is seeking one or more readers to join the team that broadcasts GB2RS on 2m FM voice at 9 am UK clock time each Sunday from south Essex. You would transmit the news occasionally as part of a schedule devised by the existing team. Your station should provide good coverage of South-East Hertfordshire, South Essex, Greater London, North-East Surrey and North-West Kent. If you would like to find out more, please contact the GB2RS Manager Steve Richards, G4HPE at gb2rs.manager@rsgb.org.uk. Poldhu Amateur Radio Club is holding an Open Day on Saturday the 6th of August from 10 am. They welcome anyone who has an interest in amateur radio, or those that are already licensed, to join them for the day. There will be an opportunity to operate the club station, have a chat and learn more. The club has a superb site on the cliffs overlooking Poldhu Cove and Mounts Bay, with a triband HF beam and multiple dipoles. The location is close to Poldhu Cove beach with its café, an ideal location for the family while you indulge your radio passion. Go to Poldhu Cove and follow the signs to the Marconi Centre, where there is a large free car park. For more information, please call Terry, G4CDY on 0776 468 1843. The RSGB is pleased to announce the publication of the new Direct to Full examination syllabus. Enrolments for the Direct to Full examinations will open in January 2023, six months after the publication of the new syllabus. More information about the changes and the full syllabus can be found at rsgb.org/direct-to-full. The biographical film about Sir Ran Fiennes' life, Explorer, has a fair number of clips of HF radio operations with his late wife, Ginny, and Laurence, GM4DMA now KL7L included. HF communications were a mainstay of many of their expeditions from the early 70s to the 2000s. The trailer for the film has a short CW message to be decoded. The film is shown at selected cinemas in the UK. The RSGB is pleased to announce the team of young RSGB Members who will be representing the UK at next month's YOTA camp in Croatia. Hosted by the Croatian Amateur Radio Association, the event will be held between the 6th and 13th of August. Dan, M0WUT is the Team leader with Peter, M0SWN; Hamzah, 2E0HXS and Povilas, MW7DKV. The RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park is looking to recruit volunteers, particularly for duties on Mondays, Thursdays and at the weekend. If you think this volunteer role is for you, or if you want more information, please contact the NRC co-ordinator, Martyn, G0GMB at nrc.support@rsgb.org.uk. 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, Sunday the 24th of July, the Finningley ARS Rally is due to take place near Doncaster, junction 2 of the M180. It will be a car-boot-style rally. Refreshments will be available on site. Entry is £3. You can find out more via the club's Facebook page. The Radio Operators Cornwall radio weekend takes place from the 28th of July to the 1st of August overlooking Mount's Bay, Cornwall. It is a weekend of camping and radio either with the club station, GX8ROC or with your own set-up. Overnight stays are restricted to ROC members, but day visitors are welcome between 10 am and 6 pm each day. New members are also welcome, please email info@g8roc.org.uk. Next Sunday, the 31st of July, the Wiltshire Radio & Car Boot Sale will be at Kington Langley Village Hall and Playing Field, Kington Langley, Wiltshire SN15 5NJ. Doors open at 9 am and admission is free. Hot and cold refreshments will be available on site. Now the DX news Ian, G3WVG will participate in the IOTA Contest as MN5A from Rathlin Island, EU-122 on the 30th and 31st of July. QSL via Club Log's OQRS and Logbook of The World. Henning, OZ2I will operate CW as EJ7EE from Bere Island, EU-121, between the 29th and 31st of July. On the 1st and 2nd of August, he will operate as EI7EE from the main island of Ireland, EU-115. QSLs via Logbook of The World, Club Log's OQRS, or via OZ2I. A team will be active as TM65M from Molene Island, EU-065, from the 29th of July to the 3rd of August. They will operate SSB, CW and digital modes on the 6 to 80m bands, with the main activity planned during the IOTA Contest. QSL via F5RAB. A large team of Bulgarian and Greek operators will be active as LZ0KP from Sveti Ivan Island, EU-181 from the 28th of July to the 1st of August. The main activity will be during the IOTA Contest. QSL direct to SV2CLJ. Now the contest news On Tuesday the SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1830 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 2.3 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Thursday sees the data leg of the 80m Club Championships run from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using RTTY and PSK63, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Saturday, the fourth of the 144MHz Backpackers Contest series runs from 1400 to 1800UTC. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and the first two letters of your postcode. The Worked All Britain 144MHz Low Power contest takes place on Saturday the 30th of July from 1400 to 1800UTC. Note that the input power for all contestants is limited to 10 watts PEP. Using AM, FM and SSB, the exchange is signal report, serial number and WAB square if applicable. For the full rules please see the WAB website. Entries must be with the contest manager by the 29th of August. Next weekend is the RSGB IOTA or Islands On The Air contest. It runs from 1200UTC on the 30th to 1200UTC on the 31st. Using CW and SSB on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report, serial number and IOTA reference. Next Sunday, the 31st of July, the UK Microwave Group's 5.7 and 10GHz contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. 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 22nd of July 2022. Last week was almost a repeat performance of the previous week. We had very disturbed geomagnetic conditions on Tuesday, with the Kp index hitting five. But then other days, like Wednesday, when conditions were much more settled. The solar flux index declined from its high of 176 last Saturday to 133 on Thursday. The Sun's surface is still peppered with spots, but they are all fairly small and innocuous. Nevertheless, there have been numerous C-class flares happening on a daily basis and two M-class flares last Saturday. The popular press has been running their usual horror stories about CMEs hitting the Earth, threatening all sorts of doom and gloom. But to be honest, for radio amateurs, it's business as usual. Sporadic-E had been most prolific earlier in the week with some relatively short-skip signals being stable over long periods. The ED4YAK beacon in Spain on 28.251MHz has often been audible for hours. Next week NOAA predicts that the SFI will remain in the mid-130s, but predicts that geomagnetic conditions may be unstable over the weekend, before settling on Tuesday. If this is the case we can expect reduced MUFs over the weekend and a general lacklustre feel to HF, until the Kp index reduces again. Make the most of the Es season while it lasts, as we may have seen the best of it, and we can't expect an upturn in F2-layer propagation until mid to late September. And now the VHF and up propagation news. It looks like a bit of a propagation mode mixture this coming week with something for everyone. It begins with a continuation of the typical summer warmth rather than the extreme conditions last week. Over northern areas, where low pressure remains close-by, we'll see a few showers that might bring GHz band rain scatter opportunities. There will be a few showers in the south too, but also with a period of the Azores high building a ridge across southern Britain. This could bring some occasional Tropo throughout the week to southern areas, interspersed with isolated rain scatter opportunities in any showery interludes. The Sporadic-E season continues apace with a bit of an uptick again last week, bringing some strong signals from south-eastern Europe. Summer jet streams are often rather scarce in more southern latitudes, but can occur fairly frequently over the UK and northern Europe. That will probably be the case in the coming week and suggests that paths towards Scandinavia, the Baltic states and eastern Europe will do best. With four minor showers peaking around the 28th to the 30th, meteor scatter is worth trying, particularly around dawn, as will aurora propagation modes in view of the current unsettled solar activity. The Moon is at maximum positive declination on Tuesday and also at apogee, its furthest point from Earth, so Moon windows are long and path losses are at their highest. 144MHz sky noise is low to moderate all week, but Thursday sees the Sun and Moon close in the sky, making EME very difficult due to sun noise in the antenna beam width. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday the 10th of July 2022 The news headlines: ICQ Podcast talks to RSGB Special Australian station for Fleet Air Arm anniversary QSL Gallery online Recently, the ICQ Podcast team spoke with Steve Thomas, M1ACB, the RSGB General Manager and Murray Niman, G6JYB, the RSGB Spectrum Forum Chair. Steve discussed some of the behind-the-scenes work carried out by the RSGB whilst at Ham radio in Germany. This included participating in IARU meetings, covering spectrum defence and EMC. Listen from the 1-hour and 46-minute point for this news. Then Murray talked about the protection of the 23cm band. You can find the ICQ Podcast at icqpodcast.com and look for episode 380. VK75FAA is a special callsign celebrating the 75th anniversary of the formation of the Fleet Air Arm, the Royal Australian Navy's aviation branch. Activity will continue until the end of October. The callsign will be used by amateurs around Australia on a rota basis. The large collection of QSL cards on Les Nouvelles DX's website has been updated. Amongst the sixteen different galleries, there are cards for the ten ‘Most Wanted' DXCC Entities between 2012 and 2021, the 62 deleted DXCC Entities and special stations commemorating the ITU and IARU. You can view these galleries and many more at lesnouvellesdx.fr, just click on the QSL Gallery tab. Chard Auctions got in touch regarding an auction taking place on the 16th of July. Lots include a large collection of vintage radios and related equipment. The radio and test equipment items are on pages 7 to 12 of the catalogue. You can view the catalogue and other details at chardauctions.co.uk. The CQ WW VHF contest takes place between 1800UTC on Saturday the 16th of July and 2100UTC on the 17th. It uses the 50MHz and 144MHz bands as permitted by the regulator in the country of operation. The G1E team will be operating from IO90BT, using SSB, CW and FM on both bands. The exchange is callsign and your 4-character locator. There's no need to exchange a signal report. The Israel Amateur Radio Club is running two special event stations for the Maccabiah Games between the 12th and the 26th of July. The two callsigns to look out for are 4X21MG and 4Z21MG. An award is available for amateurs contacting both special event stations on at least two bands and modes and on separate days. The stations will both use CW, SSB and FT8 and operate via satellite. Qrz.com has contact details for the two stations. A date for your diary now. British Inland Waterways on the Air will take place between the 27th and the 29th of August. It is open to all amateurs who are boaters, cyclists, walkers and other users of the canals, rivers, towpaths, and riverbanks for work or recreation. Even lakes and reservoirs that are used for recreation uses are classified as an inland waterway, so there are many places for activating. Many clubs and individual amateurs on or near the UK inland waterways obtain Special Event Station callsigns. The organisers have a Facebook page with more details. 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 Sunday, the 17th of July, the McMichael Amateur Radio Rally & Car Boot Sale will take place at Reading Rugby Club, Sonning Lane, Reading RG4 6ST. Doors open at 9.30 am. There will be a large car boot area and plenty of free parking for sellers and buyers. Refreshments will be available on site. Admission is £3 per person. Sorry but no dogs are allowed, except for assistance dogs, which is a site rule. Now the DX news A large group of operators will be active as T41DX from Playa Boca de Galafre on the main island of Cuba, NA-015, between the 14th and 17th of July. Activity will be on the 10 to 80m bands using SSB, CW, FT8, FT4, RTTY and SSTV. QSL via Logbook of The World or direct to RW6HS. Ed, ES2TT plans to be active from the islands of Wolin, EU-132, and Usedom, EU-129, between the 15th and the 18th of July. He will operate CW and SSB on the 40, 30 and 20m bands. QSL via Club Log's OQRS or via his home call. Bureau cards can be requested by email. Volker, DJ8VW has been active as 5P8VW from Romo Island, EU-125, since the 26th of June and will remain there until the 16th of July. He operates using SSB, CW, FT8 and FT4 on the 4 to 160m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World, eQSL, Club Log's OQRS or via his home call. Now the Special Event news Today, Sunday the 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 10 am. If you wish to attend and assist in the event contact Ian, G7MFN at g7mfn@hotmail.co.uk. All are welcome. OE60STMK is on the air until the 31st of August for the 60th anniversary of the Styrian regional association within Austria's IARU society. QSL via the bureau to OE6WIG. Now the contest news Today, Sunday the 10th of July, the IARU HF Championship ends its 24-hour run at 1200UTC. Using 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. In particular, listen out for the RSGB HQ station operating as GR2HQ from ten different locations using CW and SSB. The team has a total of 35 operators and the stations will be on the air simultaneously on all the available contest bands. Today, the 10th of July, the UK Microwave Group 24, 47 and 76GHz contest takes place between 0900 and 1700UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Tuesday the 12th, the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange is the same for both events, signal report, serial number and locator. Wednesday sees the SSB leg of the 80m Clubs Contest take place between 1900 and 2030UTC. The exchange is a signal report and serial number. Also on Wednesday is the 432MHz FT8 Activity Contest running from 1900 to 2100UTC. The exchange is your report and 4-character locator. Thursday the 14th is the all-mode 50MHz UK Activity Contest between 1900 and 2130UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Saturday, the 70MHz Trophy Contest runs between 1400 and 2000UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and the first two letters of your postcode. Also starting on Saturday the 16th is the CQ World Wide VHF contest. More details are in the main news. Next Sunday, the 17th of July, the International Low Power Contest runs from 0900 to 1600UTC. It is CW only on the 3.5, 7 and 14MHz bands. The exchange is the signal report, serial number and your transmit power. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 8th of July 2022. It was a mixed bag of HF propagation last week. The solar flux index was adequate rather than outstanding and a large elongated coronal hole contributed to the Kp index hitting five on the 4th of July. However, things became more settled geomagnetically later in the week with the Kp index back down in the ones and twos. The SFI slowly climbed up to 115 by Thursday, thanks to some new spots appearing over the Sun's limb. There was some minor solar flare activity, but no coronal mass ejections were logged. The net result was quite good conditions with the MUF over a 3,000km path reaching up to 24MHz at times. This changed on Thursday, however, when the Kp index rose to five due to the incoming enhanced solar wind. Earlier in the week, there were some reports of trans-Atlantic contacts on 10 metres as well as extensive Es openings into Europe. If the Kp index can once again go low it does rather bode well for the IARU worldwide contest this weekend. Next week, NOAA predicts that the SFI will remain around 115 for a time, but may then drop back to around 108 as the week progresses. Barring any CMEs, NOAA predicts that the Kp index may remain low, at least until the 15th and 16th of July when it could rise to four again. However, a coronal hole on the Sun's equator will become Earth-facing on Saturday, so we might expect the Kp index to climb around Monday. As always, this is hard to predict. And now the VHF and up propagation news. The coming week is likely to see high pressure over southern Britain with occasional lows crossing north of Scotland with rain and stronger winds. This raises the prospect of GHz band rain scatter as the fronts move south and break up into showers over northern England and North Wales. The main feature of the next week is the high pressure and the prospects of fairly widespread Tropo. This could extend south and east into the continent and south across Biscay to Spain and beyond. Contacts with the Canaries or perhaps even farther to Cape Verde for the big stations in the southwest of the UK and Southern Ireland are possible. The high summer Sporadic-E season is in full swing although somewhat reticent compared to other years. The jet stream activity is not as widespread as earlier in the season now that summer conditions with lighter upper winds are becoming established, but there should be a preference for paths to Scandinavia and southeast Europe. The other remaining modes of aurora and meteor scatter are of course available given the right conditions. The minor Alpha-Capricornids meteor shower should be active but with a low ZHR of around five. Solar output has been affecting the Kp index recently, so check the various space weather websites for details of further events. The Moon is at minimum declination on Tuesday and perigee on Wednesday so short Moon visibility windows and low path losses are the stories for EME this week. 144MHz sky noise is high for most of the week. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

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.    

GB2RS News Sunday the 12th of June 2022 The news headlines: Feedback on HF band changes welcome Gateways on the Air GI-QRP Convention Amateurs are reminded that IARU Region-1 is holding its Interim Meeting on the 23rd of June. As outlined in the recent June RadCom, feedback is welcomed on proposals for global HF band changes to accommodate growth in digital modes and related matters. The meeting will also consider a series of Spectrum and EMC matters. The RSGB has a consultation page with the background and document links available at thersgb.org/gb2rs/017. Feedback should be posted to the RSGB-Workshop forum groups.io/g/RSGB-Workshop by end of Sunday the 19th of June. Gateways On The Air event will be on the air between the 11th and 19th of June and is hosted on the FreeSTAR Multimode Network. The aim of the event is to promote increased RF voice communications via analogue and digital Simplex Gateways. Licensed amateurs are encouraged to go outside into the fresh air, either when portable or mobile, to work a Simplex Gateway from a location of public interest. GOTA is a “just for fun” event with two categories for both Activators and Chasers. To connect your Simplex Gateway to the event please email Oscar@freestar.network. For more information visit GOTA.org.uk. Tickets are now on sale for some of the things going on at the GI-QRP Convention; the first to take place in Northern Ireland for many years. This is being organised by members of the RSGB Region 8 team, in conjunction with the G-QRP Club. The event takes place at the Tandragee Golf Club on the 25th of June. There are talks, trade stalls and a number of Buildathon workshops. There is no need to book if you just wish to attend in person. You do need to book if you want to have a buffet lunch or join in the Buildathon at the event or join the live streaming of the talks and have access to the recordings after the event, from home. Details gqrp.com/GI_Convention.htm. A new Kenwood TM-D710GA transceiver has been installed on the International Space Station. The old amateur radio equipment was dismantled, and the new kit will be used for transmitting Slow Scan TV images on 145.800MHz FM, probably using the SSTV mode PD-120. The signal should be receivable on a handheld with a quarter-wave whip. You can get predictions for the ISS pass times at amsat.org/track. The Oscar 100 Award is an international award aimed at promoting experimental activities and radio contacts via the geosynchronous satellite QO-100. Participants should contact as many stations and DXCC Countries as possible via the satellite. The award lasts six months, ending at 23:59UTC on 31 December. Details are at arifidenza.it. The first 6m QSO in Poland was made on the 5th of June 1992 at 12:53UTC between 3Z4PAR and IK1EGC. Celebrating the 30th anniversary, 3Z30PAR will be active until the end of the year. QSL via Logbook of The World and SP4KM either direct or via the bureau. The Irish Radio Transmitters Society was founded in 1932 and this year the society celebrates its 90th birthday. To mark the occasion the society will operate EI90IRTS. The call will be activated by Irish Radio Amateurs throughout 2022. See qrz.com for QSL details. 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 12th, two rallies are on the calendar. The Mendips Radio Rally is at Farrington Gurney Memorial Hall and Playing Fields, Church Lane, Farrington Gurney, Somerset BS39 6TY. There is free parking available, and doors will be open between 9.30 am and 1 pm. Admission is £3. There will be inside tables and a large field for car boot traders. Hot and cold refreshments will be available. For all enquiries call Luke on 07870 168 197. The Junction 28 Radio Rally is taking place in Alfreton Leisure Centre, Church Street, DE55 7BD. Traders and club stands will be in the indoor hall alongside a bar and café. Admission is £3. More from Alan, M0OLT, secretary@snadarc.com. Next Saturday, the 18th of June, the 53rd Bangor & District ARS Rally will take place in Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church, 376 Belfast Road, Ballyrobert, Bangor BT19 1UH. Doors open at 11.30 am. More from Andrew, MI0OBR on 07980 846 272. Next Sunday, the 19th of June, the East Suffolk Wireless Revival will take place at Kirton Recreation Ground, Back Road, Kirton IP10 0PW. The venue is just off the A14. There is free car parking, and the doors open at 9.30 am. Admission is £2. There will be trade stands, a car boot sale, Bring & Buy, special interest groups, GB4SWR HF station and an RSGB bookstall. More from Kevin, G8MXV on 0771 004 6846. Now the DX news Ryan, K0EFW will be active holiday style as S9EFW from Sao Tome, AF-023, between the 14th and 19th of June. He will operate mainly SSB on the 40, 20, 15 and 10m bands. QSL via his OQRS account and Logbook of The World. During this trip, he will set up a contest/remote station. Len, K1NU will be active holiday style as K1JV/4 from Key Colony Beach on Shelter Key, NA-062, between the 11th and the 18th of June. He will focus on 6 metres FT8 when the band is open, and on 20 to 10m CW and FT8 when it is closed. QSL via Logbook of The World, Club Log, or direct to K1NU. Dave, G4WXJ will be active as ZC4RH from the UK Sovereign Base Areas Cyprus, AS-004, until the 15th of June. He will operate CW, SSB and possibly FT8 on the 40 to 10m bands, and hopefully also via the QO-100 satellite. QSL via Logbook of The World, or via his home call. Now the Special Event news The camp for young amateur radio operators in North, Central, and South America will operate a special event station W8Y throughout the camp taking place from the 12th to the 17th of June. The G-QRP Club Callsign will be active as GI5LOW for the first time in the lead-up to, and during, the Convention. It will go live for the first time at 0001UTC on the 17th of June, World QRP Day. Now the contest news The IARU ATV Contest ends its 30-hour run at 1800UTC today, the 12th. Using the 432MHz band and up, the exchange is the P number, serial number and locator. Today, Sunday the 12th of June, the second 144MHz Backpackers contest runs from 0900 to 1300UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also today, the 12th, the Practical Wireless 2m QRP contest runs from 0900 to 1600UTC. It is phone only and the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The maximum power allowed for this contest is 5W. On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange for both is a signal report, serial number and locator. Wednesday sees the CW leg of the 80m Club Championship running from 1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is a signal report and serial number. The 70MHz UK Activity Contest takes place between 1900 and 2130UTC on Thursday. Using all modes, the exchange is the signal report, a serial number and locator. Next weekend the 50MHz Trophy Contest runs between 1400UTC on the 18th to 1400UTC on the 19th. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The All-Asian DX contest runs for 48 hours from 0000UTC on the 18th to 2359UTC on the 19th. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and age. The Worked All Britain 50MHz contest takes place on Sunday the 19th of June from 0800 to 1400UTC. Using AM, FM and SSB, the exchange is signal report, serial number and WAB square if applicable. For the full rules please see the WAB website. Entries should be with the contest manager by the 29th of June. The UK Six Metre Group's Summer Marathon runs until the 2nd of August, with contacts on the 50MHz band exchanging your 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Wednesday the 10th of June 2022. The sunspot number on Wednesday was zero with a solar flux index of 100. Given the high flux numbers, we have been seeing this as a little disappointing. The last time the visible disk was officially spotless was December 2021. The upside is that there has been little risk of coronal mass ejections and the Kp index has remained below three for more than a week. Anecdotal reports showed that the upper HF bands have been quite quiet. A couple of potential regions are currently behind the Sun's east limb and will begin to turn into view during the next few days. NOAA predicts that the SFI will increase slightly to perhaps 110 at first and then up to 125 by the 19th of June. While F2-layer openings may be peaking at around 15 metres this month, Sporadic E should bring lots of strong short-skip openings from 14MHz to 28MHz. June is a good month for Es openings. Check out 10 metres at peak Es times of mid-to-late morning and mid-to-late afternoon. Early evening can also bring surprises as well. For novelty's sake alone, listen out for the HB9HD 10m repeater on 29.650MHz in Switzerland, complete with its musical box ident! And now the VHF and up propagation news. We start the week with high pressure over mainland Europe. The Hepburn tropo charts predict that we may see lift conditions over southern England this weekend. Paths from locations south of London may be possible into northern France and the low countries, with a slight possibility of extended tropo towards southern France. These opportunities may tend to dissipate as we head into next week. For stations in the north of England, there may be fewer opportunities for tropo DX as low pressure is predicted to pass to the northwest of the country. Microwave rain scatter opportunities may be available though. From mid-week onwards, the most likely scenario is for low pressure to the north of the UK to clear as high pressure builds from the west, which may bring tropo opportunities to northern areas. There are always Sporadic-E opportunities available in June, with many good openings reported over the last seven days. The first half of June is one of the best periods of the year for daylight meteor scatter-DXing but is often masked by Sporadic-E propagation. We have already seen the peak of two daytime meteor showers, namely the Arietids and zeta-Perseids last week, but as they are both characterised by a broad maximum and high ZHR value, they continue to be useful. The best time for them is early morning for North to North-East and South to South-West directions, and early afternoon for North to North-West and South to South-East directions. With the Moon approaching perigee, its closest point to Earth, on Tuesday, path losses for EME will be at their lowest. This sadly coincides with minimum declination on Wednesday, with short moon visibility windows and low peak moon elevation. 144MHz sky noise will peak on Tuesday and Wednesday at a little over 3100K. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday the 5th of June 2022 The news headlines: Amateur radio to be shown on television Thank you to all the Society's volunteers Platinum Jubilee activities underway The hobby of amateur radio, and portable operating in particular, will receive some television coverage today, Sunday the 5th of June. The long-running BBC Countryfile programme airs at 6 pm on the main BBC 1 channel. It will be based from Flat Holm Island in the Bristol Channel, the site of Marconi's first radio transmissions over the sea. Presenters Ellie Harrison and Matt Baker will be with leading Summits on the Air operator Ben Lloyd, GW4BML as he sets up a portable station on the island in order to contact SOTA activators on hill and mountain summits around the UK. Volunteers Week takes place between the 1st and the 7th of June every year. It's a chance for the RSGB to recognise the fantastic contribution volunteers make to the work of the Society. From news readers to the National Radio Centre, the regional teams to committees and everything in between, the RSGB would like to thank the hundreds of people who make a difference in amateur radio every week, not just during Volunteers Week. If you would like to join them, go to rsgb.org/volunteers to see what vacancies are available. The RSGB's Platinum Jubilee activities have started with the GB70 Special Event Stations up and running. The call signs to look for are GB70E in England, GB70M in Scotland, GB70W in Wales, GB70I in Northern Ireland, GB70J on Jersey, GB70U on Guernsey and GB70D on the Isle of Man. You can find out more about these special events at gb70.co.uk. Many amateurs are already using the Regional Secondary Locator, the letter Q. If you would like to join them, the free-of-charge Notice of Variation to your licence that is needed is available via the RSGB website, see rsgb.org/jubilee. If you would rather, you may use the suffix /70 to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. An NoV is not necessary for the /70 addition to your callsign. The RSGB's Tonight@8 will be live on Monday the 6th of June. Professor Ian Morison, G0DMU will give a review of the history of Jodrell Bank, one of the world's premier radio astronomy observatories. From its founding in 1945 through the completion of the Mk I radio telescope in 1957 to the building of the Merlin array in the 1980s and 1990s, Ian will discuss some of its most exciting discoveries. Due to recent poor propagation on the original 3727kHz frequency and increasing local background noise levels on the 80m band generally, the National Radio Centre net has moved to 7130kHz. The net is on air every weekday morning starting at 10.30 am on 7130kHz. The net is open to all licensed radio operators, whether to join in with the chat or just for a signal report.  Belgium's communications regulator has said 50.200MHz and 51.075MHz will be used until the 18th of June during a military exercise in Elzenborn. In Belgium, the amateur radio service has a secondary status in this band with the military services having primary status. Radio amateurs are asked to avoid the use of these frequencies if possible and to listen carefully to whether the frequency is in use if they still wish to use the frequencies concerned. 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, Sunday the 5th of June, the Spalding Radio Rally will be held at Holbeach United Youth FC, Pennyhill Road, Holbeach, Lincolnshire PE12 7PR. Doors open at 10 am, with disabled guests gaining access at 9.30 am. Entry is £3. There will be a car boot area, flea market and trade stands. Catering is available on site. A prize draw/raffle will take place. More from Graham, G8NWC on 0775 461 9701. Next Saturday, the 11th of June, the Rochdale & District ARS Summer Rally will be held at St Vincent de Paul's, Caldershaw Road, off Edenfield Road (A680), Norden, Rochdale OL12 7QR. Doors open at 10.15 am with disabled visitors gaining access at 10 am. Details from Robert, M0NVQ, m0nvq@outlook.com. Next Sunday, the 12th, two rallies are on the calendar. The Mendips Radio Rally is at Farrington Gurney Memorial Hall and Playing Fields, Church Lane, Farrington Gurney, Somerset BS39 6TY. There is free parking available, and doors will be open between 9.30 am and 1 pm. Admission is £3. There will be inside tables and a large field for car boot traders. Hot and cold refreshments will be available. For all enquiries call Luke on 07870 168 197. The Junction 28 Radio Rally will be in Alfreton Leisure Centre, Church St. DE55 7BD. Traders and clubs will be in the indoor hall alongside a bar and café. Admission is £3. More from Alan, M0OLT, secretary@snadarc.com. Now the DX news Harald, DF2WO will be active again as 9X2AW from Rwanda until the 22nd of June. He plans to operate on all bands and satellite QO-100, he will operate FT8, CW, SSB and RTTY. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS. Reiner, DL2AAZ will be active holiday style as TO2AZ from Guadeloupe, NA-102, until the 10th of June. He will operate CW and SSB on the 10 to 40m bands. QSL via home call, direct or bureau. Due to the postponement of the expedition to Rockall until June next year, five team members will conduct pre-expedition training from Goose Rock, EU-005, an uninhabited rocky islet off the coast of Newquay, between Monday the 6th and Thursday the 9th of June. Nobby, G0VJG will be testing his radio equipment and be on the air as G0VJG/P. Now the Special Event news IY4ELE will be on the air today, Sunday the 5th of June. The aim of this event is to highlight the historical value and meaning of the yacht Elettra, the floating laboratory of Marconi. The station will be set up close to the yacht. More information on the amateur activity can be found at arifidenza.it.  GB0LIZ will be on the air today, Sunday the 5th of June, to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. It will be operated by members of Guisborough & District ARC from the Lion Inn, Blakey Ridge, Kirkbymoorside YO627LQ. They will be using as many bands as possible and visitors are welcome. Wales Digital Radio group will be active using GB0JBL until Monday the 6th of June celebrating the Queen's Platinum Jubilee from the Refreshment Rooms in Cymmer, South Wales. GB2JCM will be operated by the James Clerk Maxwell Radio Society to commemorate the anniversary of the mathematician and scientist's birth on the 13th of June. They will operate from the Church at Parton in Dumfries & Galloway where Clerk Maxwell both worshipped and is buried. Should you be interested in joining with the society and taking part in the special event, please come along on the day between 9 am and 5 pm. They can be contacted via QRZ.com. Now the contest news This weekend is a busy one for contests. The ARRL International Digital Contest ends its 48-hour run at 2359UTC today, Sunday the 5th of June. Using digital modes, but no RTTY, on the 1.8 to 50MHz bands where contests are allowed, the exchange is your 4-character locator. The UK Six Metre Group's Summer Contest ends its 24-hour run at 1300UTC today, Sunday the 5th. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and membership number. Ending its 48-hour run at 2359UTC today, Sunday the 5th is the International Pride Contest. You can enter as a single operator, multi-operator or a single QRP operator. Check out the rules at prideradio.group/contest The RSGB National Field Day ends its 24-hour run at 1500UTC today, Sunday the 5th. Using CW only on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Today, Sunday the 5th of June, the UK Microwave Group's Low Band Contest runs from 1000 to 1600UTC. Using all modes on the 1.3, 2.3 and 3.4GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Monday, the 6th, the 80m Club Championships contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using RTTY and PSK63 only, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Tuesday the 7th sees the 144MHz FM Activity Contest run from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 144MHz UK Activity Contest running from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange is the same for both contests, signal report, serial number and locator. The 432MHz FT8 Activity Contest takes place between 1900 and 2100UTC on Wednesday the 8th of June. The exchange is your report and 4-character locator. Thursday the 9th of June sees the 50MHz UK Activity Contest take place between 1900 and 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The weekend of the 11th and 12th of June is another busy one for contests. Saturday the 11th is the day of the RSGB's Jubilee Tournaments. The first is the CW Jubilee Tournament which runs from 0900 to 1010UTC. Using the 3.5, 7 and 14MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number.  This is followed by the Jubilee Tournament which runs between 1400 and 1510UTC on the 144MHz band. Using phone and CW, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.  Finally, the SSB Jubilee Tournament runs between 1900 and 2010UTC. Using the 3.5, 7 and 14MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number.  Note that the three Jubilee Tournaments are 70 minutes in length in keeping with the Platinum Jubilee theme. The IARU ATV Contest runs from 1200UTC on Saturday the 11th of June to 1800UTC on the 12th. Using the 432MHz band and up, the exchange is the P number, serial number and locator.  On Sunday the 12th of June, the second 144MHz Backpackers contest runs from 0900 to 1300UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also next Sunday, the 12th, the Practical Wireless 2m QRP contest runs from 0900 to 1600UTC. It is phone only and the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The maximum power allowed for this contest is 5W. The UK Six Metre Group's Summer Marathon runs until the 2nd of August, with contacts on the 50MHz band exchanging your 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Wednesday the 1st of June 2022. What a difference a week makes! Last week we were looking at a solar flux index of 137 and a mass of sunspots. This week the SFI is standing at 101 with only three active regions visible, and one of those is about to rotate out of view. Geomagnetic conditions have been relatively stable, but a little unsettled with a maximum Kp index of three over the past few days as this report was being prepared. The solar wind stream remained elevated above 500km/s due to a coronal hole stream combined with possible weak Coronal Mass Ejections, or CME, effects. As a result, HF conditions have been a little lacklustre with the Chilton Ionosonde showing a critical frequency of between four and five Megahertz. This equates to a maximum usable frequency of around 18-21MHz over a 3,000km path. As we said, nothing to write home about. But all is not lost as the experts feel this will be a short-lived decline in solar activity and normal service will soon resume! NOAA thinks the SFI will decline a little more by the end of this week, before coming back with a roar from around Tuesday the 7th of June. It predicts the SFI could be 110 on Tuesday the 7th and then rise to 150 by the 14th. So next week could see the bands opening up again, at least for a while. Geomagnetic conditions are predicted to remain quiet with a maximum Kp index of two, at least until the 10th when it could rise to perhaps four or five.  It looks like the Jubilee weekend may offer fairly flat HF conditions, but this may improve as we head into next week. And now the VHF and up propagation news. There are no signs at the moment of really strong long-lasting areas of high pressure so any Tropo is likely to be temporary. On today's forecast charts, the only one that shows up develops over Scotland during the holiday weekend but declines as the weekend finishes. The rest of the weather story is focused upon showery activity and with the prospect of some being heavy and thundery, it bodes well for rain scatter, but could also play havoc with HF CW NFD static levels. The early days of June are regarded as prime time for Sporadic-E, and with this season getting off to a slow start, it's high time we saw some activity.  There are a few jet stream segments over Europe during the week to come, but nothing looks too strong. This may be compensated for by the increase in the background meteor input in this period and, hopefully, there will be plenty to celebrate. After the excitement of last week's “will they, won't they” Eta Aquarids meteor shower, this week is going to be something of a back to normal situation.  June is usually a slow month for meteors with no major showers. However, the daytime Arietids, which is a minor meteor shower, may provide some useful radio reflections on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 7th and 8th. Sky noise will be quite low this week with the Moon full next Tuesday, the 14th of June. Declination reduces throughout the week as the moon moves towards perigee. Path loss for Moonbounce will reduce as the week progresses. Once again, low declination will favour stations with little or no antenna elevation, potentially increasing operation time beyond that around moonrise and moonset. And that's all from the propagation team this week.  

GB2RS News Sunday the 29th of May 2022 The news headlines: Jubilee call signs go live from the 1st GB70 special event stations ATV columnist interviewed It isn't long now until the RSGB's Platinum Jubilee activities kick-off. You can start using the Regional Secondary Locator, the letter Q, on the 1st of June. The free-of-charge Notice of Variation to your licence that is needed is available via the RSGB website, see rsgb.org/jubilee. If you want to retain your usual Regional Secondary Locator you may use the suffix /70 to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. An NoV is not necessary for the /70 addition to your callsign. The GB70 Special Event Stations will be operating next weekend, including the bank holidays, and you can get a special QSL card for contact with any of the GB70 stations. The Guernsey club's use of the QO-100 satellite is causing a lot of interest. The call signs to look for are GB70E in England, GB70M in Scotland, GB70W in Wales, GB70I in Northern Ireland, GB70J on Jersey, GB70U on Guernsey and GB70D on the Isle of Man. You can find out more about these special events at gb70.co.uk. The June edition of the Raspberry Pi magazine, MagPi, features an article about amateur digital television and an interview with RadCom ATV author Dave Crump, G8GKQ. You can find out more at magpi.raspberrypi.com, issue 118. Please note that due to the long bank holiday weekend, the GB2RS script for the 5th of June will be prepared early. The deadline for news is 10 am on Tuesday the 31st of May for inclusion in that script. Thank you for your understanding. An exhibition about Marconi's famous Chelmsford wireless factory will take place at Anglia Ruskin University. Chelmsford is known as the birthplace of radio thanks to the world's first purpose-built radio factory, established in 1912 by Marconi. The year 2022 marks 100 years since the world's first regular wireless broadcasts for entertainment began from the Marconi laboratories at nearby Writtle. The exhibition will open on Wednesday the 22nd of June and will run on specific days until Friday the 15th of July. Attendees need to book their place and more information and full details of times can be found at eventbrite.co.uk. Type in Marconi into the search bar and you can select a date to visit.  Following the introduction of the RSGB's upgraded Membership Services system, the Board proceedings and reports have moved to a new location. They can now be found inside your new Membership Services portal under the ‘About' tab. 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 29th, the Durham & District ARS Radio Rally takes place at Bowburn Community Centre, Durham Road, Bowburn DH6 5AT. The organisers wish all those attending a warm welcome. Doors will be open from 10.10 am to 2.30 pm, with disabled visitors gaining access 10 minutes earlier. Admittance is £2. There will be a Bring & Buy, RSGB bookstall and trade stands. For more information, contact Michael, G7TWX, 0782 692 4192.  Next Sunday, the 5th of June, the Spalding Radio Rally will be held at Holbeach United Youth FC, Pennyhill Road, Holbeach, Lincolnshire PE12 7PR. Doors open at 10 am, with disabled guests gaining access at 9.30 am. Entry is £3. There will be a car boot area, flea market and trade stands. Catering is available on site. A prize draw/raffle will take place. More from Graham, G8NWC on 0775 461 9701. Now the DX news Take, JI3DST will be active from Shodo Island, AS-200, until the 4th of July. He will operate SSB and CW as JI3DST/5, JJ5RBH and JS6RRR/5, as well as JS6RRR/P on FT8. The QSOs will be made available for both Club Log and Logbook of The World matching on the IOTA website. Erwin, DK5EW will be operating as SV8/DK5EW from Crete, EU-015, between the 30th of May and the 10th of June. This will be a 144MHz operation with EME, meteor scatter and Sporadic-E operations. QSL direct to his home callsign.  Logs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World later. 3D2RRR will be active from Rotuma, a Fijian island, for a couple of weeks. Plans are to run two stations on CW, one on SSB, and five on FT8 using Fox & Hound mode. QSL via Club Log's OQRS.  Now the Special Event news GB0LIZ will operate on the 4th and 5th of June to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. It will be operated by members of Guisborough & District ARC from the Lion Inn, Blakey Ridge, Kirkbymoorside YO627LQ. They will be using as many bands as possible and visitors are welcome. GB1SCW, to celebrate the work of coastal communities, will be on the air until the 31st of May. More information can be found on qrz.com. Northwest Group Amateur Radio Club are activating GB0AEL as part of the 90th Anniversary of Amelia Earhart's landing in Londonderry until the 30th of May. See qrz.com. Now the contest news This weekend is the CQ World Wide WPX CW contest. It runs for 48 hours ending at 2359UTC today, the 29th. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz bands where contests are allowed, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Today, the 29th, the 70MHz Cumulative contest runs from 1400 to 1600UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also today, the UK Microwave Group High Band contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using the 5.7 and 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Monday, the FT4 Series contest runs from 1900 to 2030 UTC. Using the 3.5MHz band only, the exchange is your 4-character locator. On Wednesday, the 144MHz FT8 Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2100 UTC. The exchange is a report and your 4-character locator. Next weekend is a busy one for contests and the UK Six Metre group's Summer Marathon starts. The ARRL International Digital Contest runs from 1800UTC on the 4th to 2359 UTC on the 5th. Using digital modes, but no RTTY, on the 1.8 to 50MHz bands where contests are allowed, the exchange is your 4-character locator. The UK Six Metre group's Summer Contest runs from 1300 UTC on the 4th to 1300 UTC on the 5th. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and membership number. The group's Summer Marathon runs until the 2nd of August, again exchanging your 4-character locator. Running for 48 hours next weekend from 0000 UTC on the 4th is the International Pride Contest. You can enter as a single operator, multi-operator or a single QRP operator. Check out the rules at prideradio.group/contest The RSGB National Field Day runs from 1500UTC on the 4th to 1500 UTC on the 5th of June. Using CW only on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Next Sunday, the 5th of June, the UK Microwave group's Low Band Contest runs from 1000 to 1600 UTC. Using all modes on the 1.3, 2.3 and 3.4GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 27th of May 2022. The solar flux index remained above 130 last week, being at 137 on Thursday as this report was prepared. It peaked at 165 on Sunday and reached a massive 180 on Wednesday the 18th. All this means that DX is workable on the upper HF bands with the 3D2RRR DXpedition on Rotuma Island near Fiji being chased from the UK. A little closer to home, V51WW in Namibia has also been putting in an appearance. Sporadic-E has also seen some short-skip signals from Europe on 10 metres, but we haven't seen many rock-crushingly strong signals as yet.  The Sun remains very active with a CME associated with an M1.3 flare detected around region 3016 at 1824UTC on Wednesday, the 25th of May. The bulk of the plasma released was off the Sun-Earth line, although closer examination revealed a fainter Earth-directed component was evident and could sweep past Earth within 48-72 hours. If correct, this means the Kp index may rise this weekend. Coronal mass ejections remain a risk to HF propagation with a massive one on the far side of the Sun being observed on the 24th of May. We have been lucky last week with the Kp index generally in the ones and twos, that is, indicating settled geomagnetic conditions. But we think it is only a matter of time before we get hit with a “big one”, which could cause disruption and a general reduction in maximum usable frequencies. Next week, NOAA predicts that the SFI may decline into the 130s or even 120s. In fact, by the 5th of June, it thinks it will be at a low of 114 before rising again. Luckily, NOAA also predicts that the Kp index will remain low. This will help the ionosphere develop and should bring good conditions. However, we issue a caution that a single Earth-directed CME could put paid to low Kp indices and bring disruption. As always, keep an eye on solarham.com for updates. And now the VHF and up propagation news. The next period of weather is dominated by high pressure, although not in exactly the right place for good Tropo conditions everywhere. The main position of the high will tend to drift away to the northwest, which leaves room for a cool northerly pattern over most areas. This will probably confine the best Tropo conditions to the southwestern half of the UK. Elsewhere, the main weather type will include summer showers, possibly heavy, and likely to be of interest for rain scatter activity. Showers in a cold northerly airmass are usually strictly diurnal, so rain scatter prospects are for the afternoon and early evenings. Sporadic-E is showing good signs of coming to life and we are starting to hear limited openings for traditional CW/SSB QSOs and more widespread activity for digital modes. Some promising multi-hop paths have been seen to Asia in the mornings and the States and the Caribbean in the evenings. This week contains potentially the most exciting meteor shower of the year. The Tau Herculids shower, associated with Comet 73P and discovered in 1930, appears early during Monday night into Tuesday morning. In 1995 the comet was seen to suddenly brighten. This was discovered as being due to its nucleus starting to break up, creating a debris cloud. Comet 73P orbits the Sun at 5.4-year intervals. The Earth next crosses its orbit on the night of the 30th of May, into the morning of the 31st. It is due to peak in the UK at about 0500UTC on the 31st. Depending on how the nucleus started to eject debris, we may have a spectacular shower or something that is, at best, disappointing. As it will be light in Europe during the peak the visual display may not be very impressive, but the possibility for a radio reflection shower must be strong. This is one to look for, as a meteor scatter enthusiast.  The new Moon occurs on the 31st of May and illumination will be low all the following week. A maximum declination of +28.1 degrees occurs on the 2nd, and this also coincides with the greatest distance from Earth to Moon, which in turn means the highest path loss. From experience, this should still be a good week for EME on the microwave bands despite the path loss. The VHF EME bands will suffer noise from the proximity of the Moon to the Sun for the first few days of the week. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday the 8th of May 2022 The news headlines: Could you join the RadCom Editorial team? IARU Region 1 wants your bright ideas for the hobby RSGB Convention bookings open If you are interested in becoming part of the RSGB RadCom Editorial team, the Society is recruiting for a Managing Editor and a Technical Editor. There is further information about both roles on the Society's website at www.rsgb.org/careers. The IARU Region 1 is looking for ideas that could lead to more licensed radio amateurs. Draft proposals are welcome by the 31st of May. The best ideas will be shared with the proposing teams so they can work on a more detailed project on 10th June. Details are at iaru-r1.org. The RSGB is holding an in-person Convention again between the 7th and 9th of October at Kents Hill Park Training and Conference Centre, Milton Keynes. Booking is now open and, if you book by the 31st of August, you can take advantage of the early-bird discounts. For further information see rsgb.org/convention. Canada's amateur radio regulator has granted amateurs in Canada the right to use special callsigns in honour of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee for the period of the 14th of May to the 14th of July. For example, VE3 calls become VX3, VA7 becomes VG7 and so on. The special callsigns may also be used during the IARU World HF Championship Contest. Today, Sunday the 8th of May is the deadline for young radio amateurs to apply to represent their country and national society at this year's Youngsters on the Air, or YOTA, summer camp. The camp will be held in Croatia from the 6th to the 13th of August. To apply, you need to be a Member of the RSGB, aged between 15 and 25. For further information see rsgb.org/yota. The digital TV repeater, GB3JV, has undergone some major upgrades. A new 70cm reduced bandwidth TV input and a new repeater controller have been added. Justin, G8YTZ, the repeater keeper, hopes the upgrades will encourage more users. Listeners may be interested to know there is an article in the CQ-TV magazine, number 275, about the repeater controller. More at gb3jv.co.uk. A reminder that the RSGB's summer programme for Tonight@8 begins tomorrow, Monday the 9th of May. Mark Haynes, M0DXR will talk about contesting. He will explain how this aspect of amateur radio can not only be a good test for your station but also a great way to make lots of QSOs with many countries in a short period of time. You can watch and ask questions live on the RSGB YouTube channel or find out more on the Society's website at rsgb.org/webinars. 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 8th, the Lough Erne ARC Annual Rally will be held at the Arena @ Share Discovery Village, 221 Lisnaskea Road, Lisnaskea BT92 0JZ. Doors open at 11.30 am for the public. Facilities are available on-site for breakfast, lunches and tea & coffee. Next Saturday, the 14th, the Barry ARS Rally will take place at Sully Sports & Social Club, South Road, Sully near Barry CF64 5SP. Open to the traders from 7.30 am and to the public from 9.30 am, admission is £2.50. There is free parking on site. Now the DX news Mike, W6QT plans to be active as DU3/W6QT from Subic Bay in the Philippines until the 15th of September. He will operate SSB and FT8 on the 6 to 80m bands. QSL via W6QT. The log will be uploaded to Logbook of The World and Club Log. Ilya, R5AF and Igor, R4FCN will be active as EX/R5AF and EX/R4FCN from Kyrgyzstan until the 14th of May. They will operate CW, FT8 and some SSB on the 10 to 40m bands. QSL cards will be sent to everyone via the bureau. They also plan to upload to Logbook of The World, eQSL, HamLog and Club Log. Three operators will be active as 5P1EG from Romo Island, EU-125, until the 14th of May. They will operate CW, SSB and digital modes on various bands. QSL via SP1EG. Yuris, YL2GM will be active as VU4W from the Andaman Islands, AS- 001, until the 16th of May. Look for activity on the 10 to 160m bands CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8 Fox and Hounds mode. QSL via Club Log's OQRS or direct to YL2GN. Now the Special Event news Northwest Group Amateur Radio Club in Londonderry are activating GB0AEL as part of the 90th Anniversary of Amelia Earhart's landing in Londonderry. She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. They will activate GB0AEL from the 13th to the 30th of May. More information on qrz.com under the callsign GB0AEL. GB0SCW will be on the air from Stone Cross Windmill, East Sussex between 10 am and 5 pm on the 7th and 8th of May. They plan to use SSB on the 3.5, 7 and 14MHz bands, as well as 2m and 70cm FM. There may also be HF operations from a car parked on the windmill grounds during the evenings. See qrz.com for more details. Other special event stations to look for during the next week are GB2WTM from Woodbridge Tide Mill and GB1TLB from Torbay. GB2PHC will be operating from Macclesfield and GB5CBH from Broad Hinton. Finally, from the Ofcom data, GB2IPA will be on the air from Southwold. Now the contest news Running for 24 hours next weekend, the 432MHz to 245GHz contest ends at 1400UTC today, the 8th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also running for 24 hours is the ARI International DX Contest. This finishes at 1200UTC today, the 8th. Using CW, RTTY and SSB on the 3.5MHz to 28MHz bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Note that Italian stations will also give their Province code. Three contests are due to take place today, the 8th of May. The UK Microwave Group Low Band Contest runs from 0800 to 1400UTC. Using all modes on the 1.3 to 3.4GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also running between 0800 and 1400UTC is the 10GHz Trophy contest. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Finally, for today, the 8th, the Worked All Britain 7MHz Phone Contest runs from 1000 to 1400UTC. Phone modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and your Worked All Britain location. On Monday the SSB leg of the 80m Club Championships runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is a signal report and serial number. The 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC on Tuesday. It is followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange is the same for both, the signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday it is the 432MHz FT8 Activity Contest running from 1900 to 2100UTC. The exchange is your report and 4-character locator. Thursday sees the 50MHz UK Activity Contest taking place between 1900 and 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next Sunday, the 15th, the 70MHz CW contest runs from 0900 to 1200UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The UK Microwave Groups millimetre-wave contest runs from 0900 to 1700UTC next Sunday, the 15th. Using all modes on the 24, 47 and 76GHz bands the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 6th of May 2022. Last week was characterised by solar flares. At the time of writing, we have seen more than 50 since the 1st of May, including one high-energy X-class flare. This occurred on the 3rd of May at 1325 hours and caused a radio blackout over much of the Atlantic. Luckily, the Kp index has remained low, which has enabled the ionosphere to develop. And solar flux indices have been steadily climbing and reached 130 by Thursday. There have been many reports of good propagation. It has been a simple case of being in the right place at the right time. Ten metres has been open well into the evening at times, as well as providing paths to Australasia in the morning. At other times people have reported the band as being dead. We have also seen the beginnings of the Sporadic-E season with reports that 10 metres has been wide open to Europe at times. Hopefully, this will develop as the month goes on. Next week, NOAA predicts that the SFI may dip before climbing back into the 120s. However, the US Air Force says that it will just continue to rise, perhaps hitting 140. This seems more plausible going on past performance. Geomagnetic conditions are predicted to be quiet with a Kp index of two. However, it would only take one Earth-facing coronal mass ejection to spoil this entirely. And now the VHF and up propagation news. Starting with Tropo news, this weekend sees the new week starting with high pressure right over the British Isles. This high will drift slowly southeast into the continent by midweek, centred over the Balkans. There should be some reasonable Tropo paths, especially to the south into France and northern Spain. This will be fairly short-lived because, starting midweek, a weakening cold front brings rain to northwest Britain and breaks up into showers as it moves south. This brings the prospect of some rain scatter for a while and as per last week, this is likely to peak in the afternoon. After these showery days, another high appears by Friday to end the week, gradually transferring to the North Sea with a further chance of Tropo. Bear in mind that these weather forecasts are 10 days out so there are bound to be differences in the models. From midweek, some models retain the showery risk for longer. Summer Sporadic-E, or Es, propagation is well underway with some early reports up to 2m by Chris, G0DWV who heard an IV3 briefly on 2m before dropping back into the noise. We have had many hints of the new season, mostly on 10m and 6m. Just to remind you that Es activity tends to come in two periods, mid-morning and again late afternoon/early evening. Remember the daily blog on Propquest.co.uk, which gives the current day's prospects as well as an EPI (Es Probability Index) map to allow you to plan your shack activity. The Eta Aquariid meteor shower is tailing off now but the Make More Miles on the VHF website suggests that meteoroids released from the minor planet 2006GY2 may cause activity on the 15th of May around 1020UTC. Apparently, the stream should be dense, so worth a look. The Moon has passed peak declination and we are a week away from next Sunday's perigee. The week's trend will therefore be for shorter Moon windows and peak elevation and falling path losses. 144MHz sky noise is low this week, slowly rising and reaching 400K next Sunday. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday the 24th of April 2022 The news headlines: Two new GB2RS broadcasts Take part in SOS Radio Week VMARS nets The RSGB GB2RS News Service is delighted to announce two new broadcasts on Sundays. With a nod to how it all started back in 1955, we have introduced a transmission using amplitude modulation. This takes place in the 80m band on 3650kHz at 8 am UK time from the station of G4JBD in Bedfordshire. The intended coverage is the Midlands and the South East of England but it may be heard more widely when propagation is favourable. For those in the South West Glasgow area who are busy on Sunday mornings, we are now offering an evening broadcast on 2m. Delivered by 2M0GUI on 145.525MHz FM, the transmission is at 6.30 pm UK time. Every year thousands of people get into difficulty around our coast. Thousands of unpaid volunteers swing into action to save and rescue them. SOS Radio Week celebrates the work of these selfless volunteers. Amateur radio stations get on the air to raise awareness of the invaluable work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, National Coastwatch Institution and the many independent lifeboat and rescue organisations around our coasts. The activity starts at 0000UTC on the 1st of May and concludes at 2359UTC on the 31st. Participants are encouraged to become an official Registered Station and make as many contacts as possible, mentioning the reason for the event during their contact. For further details visit sosradioweek.org.uk The Vintage Military Amateur Radio Society will be displaying at the Blackpool Rally today. They have regular nets on 3.615MHz at 8.30 am on Saturdays using AM and at 8 pm on Wednesdays using USB to facilitate the use of ex-military equipment. On Fridays, the frequency remains as 3.615MHz at 7.30 pm using LSB. More at www.vmars.org. As part of the forthcoming Jubilee celebrations, the RSGB has announced further details of its GB70 special event station activities. The seven SES callsigns will be active across the Jubilee weekend, from the 2nd to the 5th of June, on multiple bands and modes by various clubs. After that weekend, these special callsigns will be available for activation by RSGB affiliated clubs or individual RSGB members until the 28th of June. Each callsign has a volunteer coordinator responsible for allocating operating slots in a published schedule. They will also collect the log files from those who have been activating the calls. For further information see the GB70 page in the RSGB Jubilee web section at rsgb.org/jubilee. Provisional results for the 2021 IARU Region 1 Marconi Memorial VHF Contest are available. A total of 762 logs from 27 different countries in Region 1 were received. You can read the provisional results at iaru-r1.org. This year's CDXC Convention will take place on Saturday the 7th of May at The Link Hotel, Loughborough. The AGM will take place on the same day but, for those who cannot attend, online voting will be available a few days before and instructions will be sent out nearer the time. An interesting list of speakers has been arranged and can be found at www.cdxc.org.uk. 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. The Cambridge Repeater Group Rally takes place today, the 24th. The venue is Foxton Village Hall, Hardman Road, Foxton, Cambridge CB22 6RN. Doors open at 9.30 am and admission is £3. There will be a talk in station, trade stands, car boot area and a Bring & Buy. Catering is available on site. More at cambridgerepeaters.net. Also today, the 24th is the Northern Amateur Radio Societies Association Exhibition, also known as the Blackpool Rally. It will be held at the Norbreck Castle Exhibition Centre, Blackpool FY2 9AA. More details at narsa.org.uk. The Andover Radio Club Spring Boot Sale is due to take place today, the 24th, at Wildhern Village Hall, SP11 0JE. It is open at 10 am and is organised by the Andover Radio Amateur Club. Details at arac.org.uk. Next Sunday, the Thorpe Camp Visitor Centre Radio Amateur Rally will be at Thorpe Camp, Tattershall, Thorpe, Lincolnshire. It is open to the public from 9 am till 1 pm and entry is £4 with under 12s free. There will be hot and cold food on-site and car parking inside the grounds. Contact Anthony on 07956 654481. Now the DX news Thierry, F6CUK will be active as TM8C from Brehat Island, EU-074, until the 30th of April. He will operate SSB, CW and FT8 mainly on 40, 30 and 20m bands. QSL via F6CUK either direct or bureau and Logbook of The World. Lubo, OM5ZW will be active holiday style as 3B8/OM5ZW from Mauritius, AF-049, from the 29th of April to the 6th of May. He will operate CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8 on the 10 to 80m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World and Club Log's OQRS. John, W5JON will be active as V47JA from St. Kitts, NA-104, until the 28th of April. He will operate SSB and FT8 on the 6 to 160m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World or direct only to W5JON. Now the Special Event news Flight Refuelling ARS will be operating from the club station using GB2FRA to celebrate the club's 40th anniversary. It is intended that the callsign will be used on all the bands and modes that are available from the club shack including 10GHz EME. Operations will run throughout April. Medway Amateur Receiving and Transmitting Society will operate GB5MW between the 3rd and 30th of April to celebrate the society's centenary year. QSL via eQSL. Now the contest news The SP DX RTTY contest runs for 24 hours ending at 1200UTC today, the 24th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number with Polish stations also sending their Region code. Running until 2130UTC on the 24th, the First MGM contest uses the 50 and 144MHz bands. The exchange is your report and 4-character locator. Today, the 24th, the BARTG Sprint 75 Contest runs from 1700 to 2100UTC. Using 75 baud RTTY on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is the serial number. On Tuesday the SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1830 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 2.3GHz and up bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Wednesday sees the UK EI Contest Club 80m CW contest running from 1900 to 2000UTC. Using CW only, the exchange is your 6-character locator. On Thursday it's the RTTY and PSK63 leg of the 80m Club Championships. Running between 1900 and 2030UTC, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Next weekend, the UK EI Contest Club DX contest runs from 1200UTC on the 30th of April to 1200UTC on Sunday the 1st of May. Using CW only on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Note that EI and GI stations also send their District code. Next Sunday, the 1st of May, the UK Six Metre Group Summer marathon starts. It runs until the 2nd of August. Using all modes on the 50MHz bands, the exchange is your 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 22nd of April 2022. Last week was characterised by solar flares – lots of them! There were numerous strong flares, although the majority occurred in the early hours and so didn't affect the ionosphere over Europe. Solar flare events can cause short-lived radio blackouts as the energetic photons penetrate deep into the D-layer. Solar activity during the past 30 days has increased drastically with five of the top 10 strongest flares of Cycle 25 detected during this period alone. We have also had very strong sunspot activity with the solar flux index peaking at 160 on Thursday the 21st. The current crop of four sunspot groups probably means we can expect the SFI to stay high until at least early next week. NOAA predicts the SFI will stay above 130, but we may get even higher figures for a time. It also predicts a maximum Kp index of two next week, although that could easily rise if we get hit by matter from any incoming CMEs, which are getting more prevalent as the cycle continues. The good news is that, at the time of writing, it didn't look like we will get any coronal hole activity. There have been numerous reports of good conditions on the higher bands - 21, 24 and 28MHz – including openings to TX5N on the Austral Islands. Braco, 8Q7DX, who is on holiday in the Maldives, has also been worked. There have also been some signs of early Sporadic-E with very loud openings to Spain on 10 metres. So if the SFI stays this high and we don't get many geomagnetic disturbances it could be a good week for HF. And now the VHF and up propagation news. We have a classic spring start to things with low pressure over the near continent, aided by the increasing warmth of the spring sunshine, while colder regions to the north become home to high pressure near Iceland. Between the two, we will have a strong and cold-feeling east to northeasterly wind over the UK; not really the setup required for Tropo, since the strong winds and turbulence destroy any temperature inversion. The changes come along after this weekend as the low weakens and a ridge of high pressure extends south across the country with much lighter winds and a chance of Tropo, especially overnight. It is possible that isolated showers may offer a little rain scatter, but not a high probability. It would be better to consider possible aurora and meteor scatter as your exotic modes. In this closing part of April, the best is within reach, since Sporadic-E is a serious possibility on 10m and perhaps 6m. Use the beacons and clusters to guide you, but if you start to adjust to your summer operating rule of checking for Es mid-morning and late afternoon or early evening, then Es QSOs will soon come. The Winter minimum of meteor show activity is at an end with Sporadic meteor rates increasing towards their usual maximum in late summer. The Lyrids shower has passed the peak but continues to be active until the 30th. Moon declination starts the week negative with low peak moon elevations and short visibility windows but turns positive again on Thursday. Path losses are on the increase again as we are past perigee. 144 MHz sky noise is low all week except Saturday afternoon when the Sun and Moon are close in the sky for the five hours leading up to Moonset at approximately 1900hrs. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

 GB2RS News Sunday the 10th of April 2022 The news headlines: Youngsters on the Air contest results Celebrate World Amateur Radio Day Use your vote in the RSGB elections The final results of the third round of the Youngsters On The Air Contest in 2021 are now available. They can now be found on ham-yota.com/contest. Throughout the three legs of the contest, the organisers received nearly 700 logs from all over the world, including many from those under the age of 26. In 2022 the three sessions will be taking place on the 21st of May between 0800 and 1959UTC, then on the 23rd of July between 1000 and 2159UTC. The final round takes place in YOTA month, on the 30th of December between 1200 and 2359UTC. On the 18th of April, radio amateurs worldwide take to the airwaves in celebration of World Amateur Radio Day. It was on this day in 1925 that the International Amateur Radio Union was formed in Paris. You can read more about the event and download posters and other publicity material for any special event station you may be planning, from iaru.org. Just a reminder that voting is still open in the RSGB AGM. There are three resolutions to vote for including the endorsement of two Nominated Board Directors. They have been put forward by the RSGB Nominations Committee but it is RSGB Members who choose whether or not to endorse them. The Society encourages all members to read the CVs and personal statements of the Nominated Directors and then follow the voting links to cast a vote. On the RSGB AGM web pages, you can also see the RSGB Report and Accounts and submit a question for the RSGB Board to answer at the online AGM. Go to rsgb.org/agm to find all the information and links you need. Please use your vote. The 2022 Commonwealth Games start on the 28th of July. Over 5,000 athletes will converge on Birmingham and the surrounding area from an estimated 72 hosts to compete over 12 days as part of the Games. The RSGB is organising a number of activities to support the event, including a special event station on the grounds of the National Exhibition Centre. The Society wants to showcase amateur radio to the athletes and public for as much of the Games as possible and will need a large number of volunteers to operate the station and chat with visitors. Due to the location of the station, operators will only be able to access the Games by train and participants will be security checked as part of the accreditation process. If you'd like to help operate the station during the Games, contact RSGB Region 5 Representative Neil Yorke, M0NKE: rr5@rsgb.org.uk. We have received news via Charles, M0OXO from Gennady, UX5UO, the Ukrainian QSL Printer used by many. Gennady says that he is OK and still trading. You can see more at ux5uoqsl.com. The 2nd of April 2022 marked the 40th anniversary of the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands. On that day in 1982, Bob, VP8LP, living at Goose Green, was hearing on a local VHF net that invading troops could be seen in the streets of Port Stanley. He was surprised to find that there was no mention of this by the BBC. Bob spoke to Laurie, G3UML in the BBC Ariel Radio Group radio room in the building next to Broadcasting House. This was probably the first confirmation of the invasion. Bob and Laurie have remained in touch ever since. On the 2nd of April this year, the two friends met up again on the air to relive their contact of 40 years previous, this time using the BBC centenary callsign GB100BBC. A feature about the original contact was broadcast on the 3rd of April during Radio 4's ‘Broadcasting House' programme. You can listen back to this via BBC Sounds. Laurie was also the guest presenter on last Tuesday's RSGB webinar Tonight@8 in which he talked about his historic contact with VP8LP as well the recent reconstruction. You can watch the Tonight@8 presentation at rsgb.org/webinars. Belgium's national society, the UBA, has joined other national Amateur Radio societies in banning amateurs from Russia and Belarus from their contests. See uba.be for full details. 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 10th of April, the Lincoln Short Wave Club Spring Rally will be at Festival Hall, Caistor Road, Market Rasen LN8 3HT. Entry is £2 per person. The doors open at 10 am or 30 minutes earlier for disabled visitors. There is ample free car parking and refreshments will be available. Free Wi-Fi is available on site. On the 24th of April, the Cambridge Repeater Group Rally will be held in Foxton Village Hall, Hardman Road, Foxton, Cambridge CB22 6RN. Now the DX news Max, ON5UR and Erik, ON4ANN are part of a 15-strong team operating from Svalbard, EU026, between the 19th and 26th of April. There will be five stations on all HF bands in different modes, CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8-FT4. They hope to be the first to activate EU026 on QO-100. More at dx-adventure.com. Jean-Louis, F5NHJ will be visiting Noumea, New Caledonia, OC-032, until the 11th of June. He plans to be active holiday style as FK/F5NHJ and operate CW, SSB and digital modes. The log will be uploaded to Logbook of The World and eQSL. Rick, HC1MD and Maria, HC1MM will be active as HD8MD and HD8MM respectively from Santa Cruz, Galapagos Islands, SA-004, on the 14th of April. They will operate CW, SSB, FT4 and FT8 on the 6 to 40m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World and K8LJG. Bodo, DF8DX will be active as IS0/DF8DX from the main island of Sardinia, EU-024, until the 16th of April. QSL via Club Log's OQRS, via the bureau or direct. A team of three will be active as VK9NT from Norfolk Island, OC-005, between the 14th of and 25th of April. They will operate CW, SSB and FT8 on the 10 to 160m bands. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS. Updates will be posted to VK9NT's page on qrz.com. Now the Special Event news Final preparations for GB1BB are now underway at the Isle of Wight Radio Society. A crew of three young operators will, weather permitting, operate on 70cm through GB3IW; on 2m FM simplex; and on the 80m or 40m band using SSB. This Special Event Station is highly unusual in that it will be established on the Bramble Bank, a sand bar 3km north of Cowes, which is usually underwater. Twice a year, around the times of the Spring and Autumn equinoxes, extreme spring tides uncover the bank and a small island appears for about an hour. Look out for GB1BB around 6 am or 6 pm, on Easter Sunday, Easter Monday, or Tuesday the 19th of April. Activation will occur in only one of those time slots. G4ZUP/MM and G6RTE/MM may well be heard before and after the event. For the latest information and expected operating times, check iowrs.org. Flight Refuelling ARS will be operating from the club station using GB2FRA to celebrate the club's 40th anniversary. It is intended that the callsign will be used on all the bands and modes that are available from the club shack including 10GHz EME. Operations will run throughout April. Medway Amateur Receiving and Transmitting Society will operate GB5MW between the 3rd and 30th of April to celebrate the society's centenary year. QSL via eQSL. Now the contest news Four contests are scheduled to take place today, the 10th of April. The Spring 50MHz contest takes place between 0900 and 1200UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next is the UK Microwave group Low Band contest running between 1000 and 1600UTC. Using all modes on the 1.3 to 3.4GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The Worked All Britain data contest runs from 1000 to 1400UTC and from 1700 to 2100UTC. Using the 3.5 to 14MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report, serial number and your WAB reference. Finally, the RoLo SSB contest runs between 1900 and 2030UTC. Using SSB on the 3.5MHz band, the exchange is the signal report and the locator you received. On Monday, the FT4 Series of contests runs from 1900 to 2030UTC on the 3.5MHz band. The exchange is your 4-character locator. On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest between 1900 and 2130UTC. The exchange for both is a signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday it is the 432MHz FT8 Activity Contest running from 1900 to 2100UTC. The exchange is your report and your 4-character 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. The YUDX Contest runs from 0700UTC on the 16th of April to 0659UTC on the 17th. Full details can be found by searching for YUDX Contest. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 8th of April 2022. We had another week of high-ish solar flux numbers, but this time we had relatively settled geomagnetic conditions that really allowed the ionosphere to play ball for radio amateurs. The week started well with the SFI above 140, which then declined as the week went on and was at 117 on Thursday. The maximum Kp index was four on Sunday and Monday, which then declined to one and two as the week went on, before going back to four on Thursday. It looks like the faint CME generated by a filament eruption on the 3rd of April did not reach Earth, which was a bonus. A new report from NASA has confirmed that Solar Cycle 25 is racing ahead of the official forecast and the gap is growing. Sunspot counts have now exceeded predictions for 18 straight months. The monthly value at the end of March was more than twice the forecast and the highest in nearly seven years. The Solar Cycle Prediction Panel predicted that Solar Cycle 25 would peak in July 2025 as a relatively weak cycle, but instead, the cycle is shaping up to be stronger. Conditions have been quite good with many reports coming in of DX on the HF bands. John, G4BAO reports that 10m has been rocking this week. There have been daily morning openings to Asia and Australia, plus South America and the Caribbean later in the day. And Chris, G1WSA reports 20m QSOs with N3SJL and then VK7RG. The interesting part is that Chris was only using a short Diamond HF20FX 1.2m whip on a mag mount on his car. Next week, NOAA's prediction has the solar flux at 115 for most of the time, perhaps rising to 120 as the week progresses. A small Earth-facing coronal hole might spell unsettled geomagnetic conditions this weekend, and NOAA forecasts unsettled geomagnetic conditions for the 11th and 12th with a predicted Kp index of four. So possibly more of the same next week - try to make the most of the good HF conditions. And now the VHF and up propagation news. Last week ended with a cold northerly wind, but with developing high pressure for the weekend a chance of some Tropo, although in cold and often dry air like this, it is rarely very effective. As we move into the new week a slow-moving front drifts across the country from the Atlantic with some rain and perhaps a hint of rain scatter where the front breaks up into showery bursts of rain in southern Britain. The rest of the week will be largely controlled by slack ridges of high pressure, despite a temporary weak front reaching northwest Scotland for a time. The weak ridging probably develops further into the Easter weekend with a region of high pressure over the country. Some models hold the new high farther south over France and may allow further fronts to edge into Scotland. The usual bonuses of random meteor scatter and aurora are still in play given the right circumstances, as is the arrival of some early Sporadic-E as we move into the second half of April. This could be aided by a very busy upper air pattern offering plenty of jet streams, which can be associated with Es formation regions. Check out 10m first and then 6m, especially for data modes. Moon declination is at maximum this weekend and declining as the week goes on, so again, Moon windows are long and peak Moon elevation will be high. Apogee was last Thursday so path losses will decrease throughout the week. 144MHz sky noise is low all week, reaching a minimum of 174K on Monday. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday the 27th of March 2022   The news headlines: Giles Read, G1MFG, Silent Key RSGB National Radio Centre re-opens Emergency comms in the Azores   We start with the sad news that the RadCom Technical Editor, Giles Read, G1MFG, has become a Silent Key following a short illness. Since June 2006 he has been an integral part of the RadCom and GB2RS team and will be missed by his colleagues as well as many in the wider amateur circle. An obituary is on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/sk. We will be adding to this web page and sharing a fuller tribute to Giles in the May edition of RadCom. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time. The RSGB is pleased to announce that the National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park will reopen on Monday the 28th of March. It will be open seven days per week as usual. The Society is sorry to have had to close the NRC last week due to a significant number of volunteers suffering from Covid and is grateful for your support of that decision. If you had hoped to visit last week, the RSGB is sorry for any disappointment caused and the volunteers look forward to welcoming you soon. The island of São Jorge in the Azores has suffered over 1800 earthquakes in 48 hours. The Regional Government has prepared contingency plans to protect the island's population. CT1END, the Emergency Communications Co-Ordinator for Portugal, reports that a group of nine radio amateurs are working to support emergency communications locally and back to Portugal. Radio amateurs are asked to steer clear of 3.75 to 3.76MHz overnight, 7.1 to 7.11MHz during the day and around 14.300MHz for those amateurs outside the region. All radio amateurs are encouraged to listen carefully and avoid causing any interference to emergency operations on those frequencies. More at iaru-r1.org. A brief reminder now. In the UK the clocks went forward 1 hour at 1 am this morning, the 27th of March. Voting in the RSGB 2022 AGM is now open. There are three resolutions to vote for including the endorsement of two Nominated Board Directors. They have been put forward by the RSGB Nominations Committee but it is RSGB Members who choose whether or not to endorse them. The Society encourages all members to read the CVs and personal statements of the Nominated Directors and then follow the voting links to cast a vote. On the RSGB AGM web pages, you can also see the draft accounts and submit a question for the RSGB Board to answer at the online AGM. Go to rsgb.org/agm to find all the information and links you need. Each IARU Region holds a General Conference every three years, timed so that there is one regional conference every year. The reports of past Region 1 Conferences, including the one in 2021, can be accessed via iaru-r1.org. Just go to the How IARU Works in the About IARU section. The annual School Club EU Day activity takes place on the 5th of May between 0800 and 1800UTC. The aim is to make contacts with and among school amateur radio club and training stations as well as school children with their own callsigns. A certificate of participation will be issued for stations that send an excerpt from the log of the day. Search online for Annual School Club EU Day to learn more.   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. There are no rallies in the diary for next weekend. The 36th QRP Convention will be held on the 9th of April in Digby Hall, Sherborne DT9 3AA. On the 10th of April, the Lincoln Short Wave Club Spring Rally will be at Festival Hall, Caistor Road, Market Rasen LN8 3HT.   Now the DX news Peter, DF6QC, will be active as DA0HEL from Helgoland Island, EU- 127, until the 2nd of April. A side trip to nearby Helgoland Dune is also planned when activity as DL0IH will only be during the morning and early afternoon hours. QSL via DF6QC, direct or bureau. Jean-Luc, F1ULQ will be active as TO1Q from Guadeloupe, NA-102, until the 8th of April. He will operate SSB and FT8, and possibly satellites and EME as well. QSL via Logbook of The World, via F1ULQ either direct or bureau or Logsearch on Club Log. Look for Janusz, PJ5/SP9FIH, Roman, PJ5/SP9FOW, Dariusz, PJ5/SP9MQA to be active from Sint Eustatius, NA-145, until the 7th of April. They will operate SSB, CW, RTTY and FT8 on 10 to 40m bands. QSLs via Club Log's OQRS, or via SP9FIH for both PJ5/SP9FIH and PJ5/SP9FOW and SP9MQA for PJ5/SP9MQA.   Now the Special Event news Commemorating the 150th anniversary since the death of Samuel Morse on the 2nd of April 1872, OE0MORSE will be on the air, CW only, throughout April. QSL via Club Log's OQRS, Logbook of the World or eQSL. A certificate will be available. The Isle of Wight Radio Society is planning a rather unusual special event station on a sandbank that only uncovers for a few minutes at extreme low water, twice a year. GB1BB is planning to be active over the Easter weekend, depending upon tide times. Follow the story on iowrs.org. Dennis, G7AGZ / M3DJS is running a project in two parts for the Cornwall Hospice Care organisation. The first part will be a special event station using the callsign GB0CHC that will run throughout April on all bands from 80m to 70cm from home. The second part will be a six-peak challenge that he hopes to complete in twelve days subject to weather conditions. All information is on the GB0CHC qrz.com page.   Now the contest news This weekend the CQ WPX Contest runs for 48 hours, ending at 2359UTC today, the 27th. Using SSB only on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The Gibraltar Amateur Radio Society will be active as ZB2BU in the contest with a multi-op low power entry. On Monday, the RSGB FT4 contest will run from 2000 to 2130UTC. Using the 80, 40 and 20m bands. The recommended dial frequencies will be 3.576, 3.579 and 3.582MHz, 7.0475 and 14.080MHz. The exchange is signal report and your 4-character locator. On Wednesday the UK EI Contest Club 80m Contest runs from 2000 to 2100UTC. Using CW only the exchange is your 6-character locator. Rules at ukeicc.com. On Saturday, the FT4 International Activity Day will run from 0800 to 2000UTC. Using FT4 on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and 4-character locator. Next Sunday sees the Spring 70MHz contest run from 0900 to 1200UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report was compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday 25th of March 2022. We had a good week of HF propagation with moderate solar flux index numbers and generally quiet geomagnetic conditions. The KP index has not been above three, at least by Thursday when this was written. The SFI has been hovering around the 100 mark, which was enough to stir 12 metres into action with occasional 10m openings. A proton storm was detected earlier in the week, courtesy of the LASCO instrument on the SOHO spacecraft. This was as a result of a CME on the far side of the Sun, which was luckily not Earth-directed. We now have a sense of excitement as a new sunspot group is currently turning into an Earth-facing position. Active region 2975, along with a larger Earth-sized sunspot group, appears to be in a growth phase. Both regions will likely be a threat for at least minor C-Class or moderate M-class solar flares over the next week. NOAA predicts the SFI may rise from 98 to perhaps 120 over the next seven days. Geomagnetic conditions are forecast to be unsettled around April 1st with a predicted Kp index of five. A coronal hole became Earth-facing on Thursday so there is also the chance of an elevated KP index and reduced MUFs over the weekend. Finally, with the spring equinox here this is a good time for North-South paths on HF.  Higher-band contacts into South Africa and South America have been prevalent over the last week and should continue for a few weeks.   And now the VHF and up propagation news. Through much of the coming week, we will see the high-pressure system dominating the weather charts and continuing to provide a chance of further Tropo paths on VHF and UHF. In this case, the high pressure will, at times, be centred right over the country and when this happens the temperature inversion may be too close to the ground for longer distance Tropo since it is changes in the refractive index of the air across the inversion that makes Tropo work for RF waves. To avoid problems near the high centre, it is usually better to look for paths around the side of a big high to get the best DX. There are some weather models that try to break down the high later in the week, so make the most of the better conditions when you can. There are still signs of disturbed solar conditions, so there's always a chance of some aurora to play with, or of course, any random meteors may be worth a check, especially early morning. There are reports of some strong Sporadic-E signals on 10m, so as we move into April it becomes a more regular item on the menu, say for 10m and perhaps 6m on digital modes. Moon declination is increasing and goes positive again on Friday, so Moon windows and peak Moon elevation will increase. With perigee last Wednesday, path losses are low but increase as the week progresses.  144MHz Sky noise is low all week. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday the 20th of March 2022   The news headlines: COVID closes the RSGB National Radio Centre British Summer Time starts on the 27th Events to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee   Unfortunately, it will be necessary to close the RSGB National Radio Centre for a week, starting on Monday the 21st of March. A number of NRC volunteers have Covid and the Society doesn't have enough available volunteers to welcome the hundreds of people who visit each week. The RSGB hopes to re-open the Centre on Monday the 28th of March. Please check the RSGB and NRC websites for updates before travelling. In the UK the clocks go forward 1 hour at 1 am on the last Sunday in March, which is the 27th of March in 2022. This is known as British Summer Time or BST. The clocks don't change again until the 30th of October. If you are entering contests, please check the times. The RSGB is offering a wide variety of amateur radio activities to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. From special event stations to an innovation competition, a radio tournament and an operating award, the Society hopes there is something for everyone. You can read an outline of each of the activities now and further details will follow shortly. Take a look at the April issue of RadCom or the Society's website at rsgb.org/jubilee. The RSGB Legacy Fund, thanks to the generosity of donors, has significant financial resources available to encourage and develop amateur radio. The Legacy Committee, which is a subcommittee of the RSGB Board, considers proposals for grants to be given to projects from the Legacy Fund. The RSGB is seeking members to join the Legacy Committee, preferably with experience in grant applications or experience within the charitable sector. For more information or an informal chat, contact RSGB Board Chair, Ian Shepherd, G4EVK via the email chairman@rsgb.org.uk. Now in its twentieth year, SOS Radio Week celebrates the work of the volunteers of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, National Coastwatch Institution and, in 2022, the many independent lifeboat and rescue organisations around our coasts. SOS Radio Week 2022 starts at 0000 UTC on the 1st of May and concludes at 2359 UTC on the 31st of May to coincide with the RNLI's own Mayday fundraising month. Participants are encouraged to become an official Registered Station and make as many contacts as possible, mentioning the reason for the event during their contacts. For further details please visit sosradioweek.org.uk where you can also register to take part. The RSGB is delighted to be planning an in-person convention again on the weekend of 7-9 October. The Society will also live stream some of the presentations in a new hybrid event format. Please share your suggestions for topics and speakers you'd like to hear at the event by completing the RSGB's very short survey. The deadline for responses is Thursday the 31st of March. You can find the survey at thersgb.org/go/survey.   And now for details of rallies and events The Callington ARS Rally takes place on the 27th of March. It will be held in Callington Town Hall. A date for your diary. The National Hamfest will take place on the 14th and 15th of October at the Newark Showground NG24 2NY. 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.   Now the DX news Gianpi, IK1TTD will be active as 3A/IK1TTD from Monaco between the 25th and 27th of March. Main activity will be during the CQ World Wide WPX SSB Contest. QSL via his home call, direct or via the bureau. Helmut, DF7EE will be active again as CT9/DF7EE from Madeira, AF- 014, from the 22nd of March until the 1st of April. This includes participation in the CQ World Wide WPX SSB Contest as CQ3W. QSL for both callsigns via Logbook of The World and Club Log's OQRS. Alex, DD5ZZ will be active again as OA7/DD5ZZ until approximately mid-May, including an entry in the CQ World Wide WPX SSB Contest. He will be operating on the 10 to 40m bands. QSL via his home call and Logbook of The World.   Now the Special Event news Celebrating twenty years of the Summits on the Air programme, GB20SOTA will be active from a Welsh SOTA summit until the 26th of March. QSL via the bureau, or direct to M1EYP. Frans, PC2F will be active as PF01MAX until the 20th of November, over the twenty-two Grand Prix weekends of this year's FIA Formula One World Championship. QSL via PC2F either direct or via the bureau, Logbook of The World and eQSL DARC is the German IARU Member Society and their Special Event Team will activate DA22WARD until the 30th of April in celebration of World Amateur Radio Day on the 18th of April.   Now the contest news This weekend the BARTG HF RTTY Contest ends its 48-hour run at 0159 UTC on the 21st. Using the 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m bands where contests are permitted. The exchange is serial number and time in UTC. The all-mode SHF UK Activity Contest takes place on Tuesday between 1930 and 2230 UTC. Using the 1.2 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Thursday, the SSB leg of the 80m Club Championship Contest runs from 2000 to 2130 UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. Next weekend the CQ WPX Contest runs from 0000 UTC on the 26th to 2359 UTC on the 27th. Using SSB only, on the 1.8 to 28 MHz bands where contests are permitted. The exchange is signal report and serial number. CQ Amateur Radio magazine has said it will not accept competitive entries in any of its sponsored contests by amateur radio stations in Russia, Belarus or the separatist Donbas region of the Ukraine. Future events will be considered on a case-by-case basis, depending on the situation at that time.   Now the radio propagation report, was compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 18th of March 2022. Well, what a mixed week of solar activity we have just had. Last week, we forecast that we could expect unsettled geomagnetic conditions over the last weekend but we didn't expect to see the Kp index hit six. Sunday the 13th saw ground-based magnetometers hit hard with at least 15 hours of unsettled conditions when the Kp index fluctuated between five and six. This was caused by a full halo coronal mass ejection or CME, that was observed coming off the Sun on Thursday the 10th. This had a strongly negative Bz component so more easily coupled with the Earth's magnetic field. The net result was a decline in MUFs, reports of visible aurora in Scotland and complaints about HF conditions with the ensuing G2 geomagnetic storm. Saturday wasn't too bad with lots of contacts being made during the early part of the Commonwealth Contest. Twenty-metre contacts with the New Zealand ZL6HQ station were also possible from the UK, although signals were very fluttery. The short path to ZL goes through the North pole auroral zone so it is not surprising that the signals were affected, despite the Kp index being down to one, from five, during the late morning. The solar flux index held firm at 125 on Saturday but was already declining and was down to 107 by Thursday. So, after last weekend's onslaught, what do we have in store for next week? NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Centre thinks that the solar flux will again decline, from a predicted 115 on Saturday down to 95 on Friday the 25th. The geomagnetic conditions prediction has the Kp index rising to four on Sunday but it may then decline to two by Wednesday the 23rd. The risk of an Earth-facing coronal mass ejection seems to have declined with the decrease in solar activity. So, for once, it looks like a good thing!   And now the VHF and up propagation news. High pressure will dominate the weather charts over the next week or more, centred a long way east over Poland and the Baltic but with a strong ridge extending west towards the British Isles. These large highs are usually associated with a marked temperature inversion and this is a good omen for extensive tropo. This works best if there is moisture below the inversion, so misty low cloud or fog will be a good indicator for better conditions. When the forecast is for dry sunny weather, this usually means that the Tropo may not be so reliable. Paths across the North Sea to northern Europe and into the Baltic region are worth extra attention.  It's a good time to get together a list of beacons from the region, either from the RSGB website or www.beaconspot.uk and check the various clusters for signs of activity. We are nearly there for the Sporadic-E season, but not quite yet. Aurora and meteor scatter are still worth a look though. The Moon will be waning throughout this week with the lowest declination on Friday/Saturday. However, the path loss is also at a minimum this week, so conditions should be good until the 23rd when the Moon moves into the noisier part of the sky, for several days. The early part of the week should provide opportunities for stations with fixed or limited elevation adjustment, due to the low elevation of the moon. And that's all from the propagation team this week.  

GB2RS News Sunday the 13th of March 2022   The news headlines: Saint Patrick's Day stations on the air Read about WRC-23 Looking ahead to international Marconi Day   Saint Patrick's Day stations will be running from midday on the 16th of March to midday on the 18th of March. For further information and to register as a participating station go to stpatricksaward.com. The International Telecommunication Union, ITU, has released its World Radio Conference-23 booklet. It provides easy access to the WRC-23 agenda and pertinent resolutions. It can be freely downloaded in all 6 languages of the ITU via the IARU Region 1 website at iaru-r1.org. The Cornish Radio Amateur Club will be running this year's International Marconi Day on the 23rd of April. Anyone wishing to register as an official station should please email crac.imd@gmail.com. The QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo takes place this weekend. Saturday's lectures start at 1600 and Sunday's at 1500UTC. The Expo platform will remain open until the 10th of April for viewing presentations on-demand. Go to qsotodayhamexpo.com for more information. GB3YA in Cwmbran is now operational on 145.7125MHz with input 600kHz lower at 145.1125MHz. Initial tests show that stations as far away as Bath and Newbury are able to use the repeater. The repeater keeper says, ‘please, all feel free to use it'.   And now for details of rallies and events Today, the 13th, the Hamzilla Radio Fest takes place at the Discovery Science Park, Gateway House, Ramsgate Road, Sandwich, Kent CT13 9FF. Those who bought tickets and tables for 2021 will have had their bookings carried forward to Hamzilla 2022. Tickets from £3 and tables £12. More at www.hamzilla.uk. The Callington ARS Rally takes place on the 27th of March. It will be held in the Town Hall at Callington in Cornwall. Please send your rally and event news as soon as possible to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. We'll publicise your event for free in RadCom, on GB2RS, and online.   Now the DX news Paul, G8AFC will be operational from Pereybere on the north coast of Mauritius island as 3B8HE until early April. He will principally use SSB on the 7, 14 and when propagation permits, the 28 and 50MHz bands. Operation will be mostly during the daytime as propagation dictates and occasionally in the evenings. QSL details are on QRZ.com Don, K6ZO will be operating as D60AB [ Pron: Dee Six Zero A B]  from the 16th to the 18th of March from the Comoros islands. QSL direct to his home callsign. Diya, YI1DZ will be transmitting as Z81D from Juba in South Sudan until the 11th of September. Activity will be holiday style. QSL via OM3JW.   Now the Special Event news On Tuesday and Wednesday, Humwick Primary School will be operating GB4HJS for Science Week. On Thursday and Friday, St Andrews Primary School also in Sunderland, will be operating GB2SPS for Science Week. Both stations will operate using data modes on HF as well as using the VHF & UHF bands. More on both of these special event stations from Ian, G7MFN by email to g7mfn@hotmail.co.uk. Two special event stations, GB1900HA and GB1900HW, will run throughout the year to commemorate 1900 years since the building of Hadrian's Wall. Austin, M0MNE in South Shields and Roy, M0TKF in Hexham will be operating the stations from near Hadrian's Wall and will be active on the HF and VHF bands in voice, CW and digital modes. QSL via Logbook of the World and Club Log's OQRS. See QRZ.com for more information.   Now the contest news When operating in any contest, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following all relevant pandemic-related government rules. For RSGB Contests, until further notice, all logs received from stations located in the Russian Federation or Belarus will be treated as check logs. The second 70MHz Cumulative Contest takes place from 1000 to 1200UTC today, the 13th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The RSGB Commonwealth Contest ends its 24-hour run at 1000UTC today, the 13th. This is one of the longest-running contests in the HF contesting world. It is CW only on the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands. The exchange is signal report and serial number. The 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest takes place on Tuesday from 2000 to 2230UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the CW leg of the 80m Club Championships takes place between 2000 and 2130 UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. Also on Wednesday, the 1296MHz FT8 Activity Contest runs between 1700 and 2100 UTC. The exchange is callsign and your 4-character Maidenhead locator. Thursday sees the all-mode 70MHz UK Activity Contest take place between 2000 and 2230UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next weekend the BARTG HF RTTY Contest takes place from 0200UTC on the 19th to 0159UTC on the 21st. Using the 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is serial number and time in UTC.   Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 11th of March 2022. We may not have had a large number of sunspots this week, but at least the Sun was consistent. We started the week last Sunday with a sunspot number of 116, and by Thursday it was still at 115. This sounds worse than it actually was as there were six sunspot groups active on Thursday, including newly-assigned active region 2965, which is coming into view off the east limb. As we predicted, last weekend was characterised by unsettled geomagnetic conditions with a maximum Kp index of five across Saturday and Sunday. This affected HF a little, but there were still some good UK scores put in for the ARRL DX International SSB contest, with Andy, M0NKR making 812 contacts in just seven hours on 40, 20 and 15 metres. He also reports working many USA west coast stations on 15 metres, which appeared to be the money band. NOAA predicts that next week we will have a decline in solar activity with a predicted solar flux index of 110 falling to 100 by the end of the week. From a geomagnetic point of view, it may be a repeat of last weekend. NOAA says that it predicts a maximum Kp index of four this weekend, then we may have quieter conditions next week. But then it predicts an elevated Kp index the following weekend (19th to the 21st) of up to four again. Finally, don't forget we have the Commonwealth Contest this weekend, which is a great opportunity to work some choice DX stations with no competition from non-Commonwealth entities - this doesn't happen very often! And now the VHF and up propagation news. This first weekend sees a continuation of the unsettled weather type, especially in western areas, but there is a large area of high pressure just out of reach over central Europe. This looks as though it could edge towards the eastern side of the UK as we move into the new week and may give some Tropo to the east into the Baltic regions. The problem is that there is a chance of some, much colder, air moving in from the east with a chance of some wintry showers. Although the main feature is likely to be the strength of the winds, bitter cold is not really conducive to good Tropo. The other modes can still play a role, so check the solar data for high K indices, indicating a chance of aurora, as well as the usual early morning random meteor scatter. Perhaps start to dust down your techniques for Sporadic-E as we head into the second half of the month. We are not there yet, but maybe it is worth the occasional look at 10m. The Moon's declination is positive until next Saturday, and path losses are falling with perigee still more than a week away. 144MHz sky noise is low all week, creeping to just over 300 Kelvin next weekend. And that's all from the propagation team this week.  

GB2RS News Sunday the 6th of March 2022   The news headlines: RSGB statement the Russian Federation and Belarus RSGB AGM online QO-100 Emergency comms exercise   The normal stance of amateur radio is that it is apolitical. However, it is clear that recent actions by the Russian Federation and their military have crossed a line and the RSGB cannot in this instance remain neutral. The policy of the RSGB is that we will follow the actions of the mainstream sporting bodies with regard to all activities of a competitive nature such as contests and ARDF. Russian and Belarusian radio amateurs are therefore currently ineligible to participate in any event that is organised/sponsored by the RSGB. The policy of the RSGB in commercial activities is that we will refrain from trade with Russia and Belarus until further notice. The RSGB Annual General Meeting on Saturday the 23rd of April will, once again, be held online. Members will be able to submit questions in advance for RSGB Board Directors to answer. We will announce the recipients of the RSGB annual awards and trophies as well as the winners of the Construction Competition. The RSGB President will give his review of 2021 and there will be an excellent presentation after the formal business of the day. Full details will be available in the April edition of RadCom and on the website from the 16th of March. On the 26th of February, 22 stations representing 14 countries around IARU Region 1 took part in a short notice exercise using the facilities of the geostationary satellite QO-100. This was the first of a number of smaller exercises, tests and meetings to be held by IARU Region 1 throughout the year, building on the earlier Global Simulated Emergency Tests to cover as many aspects of emergency communications as possible. The intention is to bring emergency communicators together more frequently to demonstrate how the Amateur Radio Service can work together as a global community and develop a common understanding of each other's capabilities. More information at IARU-r1.org. The RSGB has agreed to fund a 50MHz beacon specifically to study meteor events above the UK. Unlike conventional propagation beacons, this will beam vertically up using circular polarisation. The 50MHz band is particularly suitable for observing meteors by radio as they create an ionised trail strongly reflective to radio at that frequency while they burn upon entry to the Earth's atmosphere. This is a collaborative project between the amateur radio and radio astronomy communities and will enable a range of radio-based citizen science and STEM projects studying meteors. The beacon is to be located at the Sherwood observatory of the Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society, a central location for UK coverage. Radio amateurs in Ukraine appear to be diligently maintaining radio silence as the state of emergency declared there just prior to the Russian military invasion remains in effect. A Presidential decree on the 24th of February included “a ban on the operation of amateur radio transmitters for personal and collective use”. The Ukraine Amateur Radio League reported this past week that it has received many messages of encouragement from the worldwide amateur radio community. An updated document, detailing New Zealand amateur radio beacons including their active status, is now available online. This includes those beacons on the HF bands. Go to nzart.org.nz and scroll down for the news item on ZL beacons.   And now for details of rallies and events Today, the 6th of March, the Exeter Radio & Electronics Rally will be held in America Hall, De La Rue Way, Exeter EX4 8PW. Also today, the 6th, the Hack Green Bunker Rally will be held at the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker, Nantwich, Cheshire CW5 8AL. There will be electronic equipment, amateur gear, components, military radio items and vehicle spares. Doors open at 10 am. Next Sunday, the 13th, the Hamzilla Radio Fest takes place at Discovery Science Park, Gateway House, Ramsgate Road, Sandwich, Kent CT13 9FF. Those who bought tickets and tables for 2021 will have their booking carried forward to Hamzilla 2022. Tickets are available now from £3 and tables £12. More at www.hamzilla.uk. Please send your rally and event news as soon as possible to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. We'll publicise your event for free in RadCom, on GB2RS, and online.   Now the DX news Alan, G3XAQ will be active again as 5X1XA from Kampala, Uganda between the 7th and 14th of March. He will operate CW only on the 80 to 10m bands, with main activity during the RSGB Commonwealth Contest. QSL direct to G3SWH. See g3swh.org.uk and Logbook of The World. Nobby, G0VJG will be active as 8Q7CQ until the 18th of March. He will operate from the Island of Innahura, AS-013. Activity will be on the 80 to 10m bands, including 60m, using SSB and digital modes. His equipment will be an FT-450D or FT-857 with a Juma 1000-watt amplifier into an HF6V Butternut vertical for the HF bands and a link dipole. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS. Klaus, DJ9KM and Georg, DD8ZX will be active holiday style as CT9/ DJ9KM and CT9/DD8ZX from Madeira Island, AF-014, until the 12th of March. They will operate mainly FT8 and RTTY. QSLs via Logbook of the World.   Now the Special Event news Newport ARS has been granted GB4NPT to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Newport, South Wales, being granted full city status. The station will be operating throughout March. There is a QRZ page available for more information. GB80LAN in the UK, VE80LAN from Canada and VK80LAN from Australia, will mark the 80th anniversary of the first operational sortie of the Avro Lancaster. The aircraft was the mainstay of the RAF Bomber Command that was flown by British, Canadian and Australian pilots during World War II. The stations will be on the air throughout most of March. QSL via operators' instructions.   Now the contest news When operating in any contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following all relevant pandemic-related government rules. For RSGB Contests, until further notice, all logs received from stations in the Russian Federation or Belarus will be treated as check logs. The March 144/432MHz contest runs for 24 hours until 1400UTC today, the 6th of March. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The ARRL SSB DX contest runs for 48 hours this weekend ending at 2359UTC today, the 6th. Stations outside the US and Canada should work as many contiguous states and provinces as possible. Using phone only on the contest sections of the 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 metre bands, the exchange is signal report and power. US and Canadian stations will send a signal report and their state or province. On Monday the 80m Club Championships will run between 2000 and 2130UTC. Using PSK63 and RTTY, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC. It is followed by the all-mode UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator. The 432MHz FT8 Activity Contest takes place between 1900 and 2100UTC on Wednesday. The exchange is signal report as appropriate for FT8 and your 4-character locator. A serial number is not required. On Thursday the 50MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The second 70MHz Cumulative Contest takes place from 1000 to 1200UTC next Sunday, the 13th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next weekend is the RSGB Commonwealth Contest running for 24 hours from 1000UTC on the 12th to 10000UTC on the 13th. This is one of the longest-running contests in the HF contesting world. It is CW only on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted. The exchange is signal report and serial number. Now the radio propagation report, was compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 4th of March 2022. We had another pretty uninspiring week, sunspot wise, with the solar flux index struggling to get above 100, at least until later in the week when it touched 110 on Thursday. The good news is that, on the whole, geomagnetic conditions were quiet, which really allowed the F2 ionospheric layer to develop. As a result, there were reports of some good 10 metre openings at times. Members of the 10m UK Net Facebook group reported FT8 openings to the west coast of the USA, as well as openings to Malawi, Indonesia and Australia. Propquest.co.uk confirmed this, showing 10m openings over a 3,000km path throughout the day. It is worth calling CQ on 28MHz even if the band sounds closed as some openings will be fleeting and short-lived. Next week, NOAA predicts that the SFI will start in the low 100s, but then decline to the high 90s as the week progresses. Unsettled geomagnetic conditions are forecast for this weekend and next, but with only a maximum Kp index of four. Having said that, it would only take an Earth-facing coronal mass ejection to push the index even higher. These CMEs are very hard to predict, but unfortunately very common at this point in the cycle. If the Sun behaves itself, we might see more openings on 10 metres this week, so do keep a look on the band. This weekend is the ARRL International DX SSB Contest, which is another opportunity to increase the count for your Worked All States award.   And now the VHF and up propagation news. We had a fleeting distraction of high-pressure last weekend, after not quite making it during the last week, it nearly got here, but the Atlantic fronts won that battle.  So, this first weekend looks promising with another attempt to get high pressure established and a chance of some Tropo on the VHF bands. However, like last week, approaching fronts and new areas of low pressure will soon turn next week into the unsettled variety with rain and even some snow as the milder Atlantic air meets the cold south-easterly over the eastern side of the country. These fronts with big temperature contrasts can produce some temporary enhancement of Tropo parallel to the front, so it is worth checking. We're still not in the new Sporadic-E season yet, but the Propquest graphs at Propquest.co.uk do occasionally pick up the odd ‘blip', which might show up on the digital modes on 10m. As in previous weeks, don't forget to stay in tune with solar events for chance aurora should the Kp index rise, and for the early risers, some pre-dawn random meteor scatter. The Moon's declination is positive all week, but path losses are rising as we approach apogee this Thursday. 144MHz sky noise is low to moderate all week, peaking around 500 Kelvin on late Thursday and Friday. And that's all from the propagation team this week.  

GB2RS News Sunday the 5th of December 2021 The news headlines: New online EMF calculator from RSGB Sign /2ZE to mark Transatlantic Centenary Centenary stations in ARRL 160m Contest The RSGB has launched a new version of the Society's EMF calculator, v11d, that is now available in a new browser-based version as well as the spreadsheet version. The web browser version does not require you to have Excel or another spreadsheet on your computer. It also has several great new features to make compliance checking simpler and quicker. You can find both versions on the RSGB EMF web pages or you can go directly to the new web app via rsgb.org/emccalculator. This month marks the Centenary of the first amateur radio signals crossing the Atlantic. Signals from the USA were received by Paul Godley, 2ZE, at a specially prepared receiving setup at Ardrossan in Scotland. From the 1st to the 26th of December, all UK and Crown Dependency licensees may add the suffix /2ZE to their amateur callsign to mark the centenary. Learn more on the story at rsgb.org/transatlantic-tests. The annual ARRL 160m Contest began at 2200UTC on Friday the 3rd of December and ends at 1559UTC today, the 5th. This 42-hour CW-only contest is the most similar to the original Transatlantic Tests. The RSGB is planning to activate special callsigns to commemorate the centenary of the Tests. Stations from the UK and Crown Dependencies will use up to seven different prefixes such as G6XX, GD6XX, GI6XX, GW6XX and so on. One week later, the ARRL and the RSGB are jointly sponsoring the 160m Transatlantic Centenary QSO Party between 0200 and 0800UTC on the 12th. Stations participating will operate only on CW, trying to contact the two official callsign activations, W1AW and GB2ZE. At times the stations may listen for callers 1kHz above their transmitting frequency, to help those looking for them. They may also periodically ask for DX callers, only. Callsign and signal reports will be exchanged. The GMDX Group will award a quaich, which is a traditional Scottish drinking cup representing friendship, to the first stations in North America and the UK to complete contacts with both W1AW and GB2ZE during the QSO Party. A commemorative certificate will be available for download. Log submissions will not be required from participants. The official logs from W1AW and GB2ZE will be used to determine the winners and for certificates. For more details go to rsgb.org/transatlantic-tests. It's not too late to support December YOTA Month 2021. The RSGB has been granted the callsign GB21YOTA, for allocation to youngsters to operate throughout December. To see what operating slots are still available please look up GB21YOTA on QRZ.com. Today, the station will be operated by GM1DSK. On Monday, M0SCY takes over. Next Saturday, G0HRS will operate the station followed by G3EFX on the 12th. There is also an award programme available for the YOTA event. Work as many YOTA stations on as many bands and modes as possible and be eligible for your Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum award, all of which are issued for free. This programme promotes radio activity on the airwaves and shows that there is and will be activity in the future. Visit events.ham-yota.com for more information about the award rules. The Bath Based Distance Learning team has processed over 100 expressions of interest for their Intermediate course starting in January. Further details were published in the December RadCom. The closing date for applications is the 15th of December so if you are interested, please contact team leader Steve, G0FUW, for full details and an application form as soon as possible, via email to G0FUW@tiscali.co.uk. And now for details of rallies and events Now is the perfect time to let us know your group's rally or event plans for 2022. Email radcom@rsgb.org.uk with details and we'll publicise your event for free in RadCom, on GB2RS, and online. If you don't tell us, we can't publicise you. Now the DX news Ferdy, HB9DSP will be active as 5Z4/HB9DSP from Malindi, Kenya until the 16th of December. He will operate SSB and some FT8 on the 20, 15 and 10m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World and via his home call, with the bureau preferred. DL2SBY will be active holiday-style from the Dominican Republic until the 14th of December. He will operate CW, FT8 and possibly some SSB as HI7/DL2SBY from Punta Cana, IOTA reference NA-096 and Bayahibe, NA-096. QSL via Logbook of The World, or direct only to home call or Club Log's OQRS. He no longer uses the bureau. Harald, DF2WO will be active as XT2AW from Burkina Faso until the 20th of December. He will be operating on all bands and also via QO-100. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS and Logbook of The World. DJ6TF and DL7BO will be active as Z21A and Z22O from Harare, Zimbabwe until the 15th of December. They will operate CW, SSB, FT8 and FT4 on 160-10 metres. QSL both calls via DJ6TF. Now the Special Event news Special event station GB1002ZE will be operated by Crocodile Rock Amateur Group near Ardrossan. In addition to the radio celebrations, North Ayrshire Council have jointly created an exhibition surrounding this Centenary that will be hosted in the North Ayrshire Heritage Centre, Saltcoats. This exhibition is open until mid-December. Kilmarnock and Loudoun ARC will operate a commemorative station adjacent to the site of the original transatlantic experiment at Ardrossan. It will be on the air between 1200UTC on the 11th until 1200UTC on the 12th. The station, GS2ZE, will be used for the celebration except for the first hour of the 160m CW QSO Party and it will take part in the message relay as GB2ZE. GM2ZE is also expected to be operational on several bands from the station of Jason, GM7VSB, which is also adjacent to the site of the original Ardrossan experiment. An attempt will be made to re-enact Godley's original successful reception of transatlantic signals exactly at the same time and date as 100 years ago. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the historic Transatlantic Tests of December 1921, members of the HB4FR Amateur Radio Club will be active as HB1BCG throughout December. 1BCG was the callsign of the Connecticut station whose message crossed the Atlantic Ocean to be received in Scotland. QSL via HB9ACA. Now the contest news When operating in contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following relevant pandemic-related government recommendations. December is a quiet month for contests, indeed there are no RSGB HF contests at all this month. The ARRL 160m CW contest ends its 42-hour run at 1600UTC today, the 5th. Using CW only on the 160m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. W and VE stations also send their ARRL or RAC section info. During the contest, the RSGB will activate special event 1920s vintage callsigns to commemorate the transatlantic tests. Today, the 5th, sees the 144MHz AFS contest, running from 1000 to 1400UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Tuesday the 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 144Hz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator. Thursday sees the all-mode 50MHz UK Activity Contest take place from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next weekend the ARRL 10m contest runs from 0000UTC on the 11th to 2359UTC on the 12th. Using CW and phone, the exchange is signal report and serial number, with US and Canadian stations, also sending their State or Province code. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 3rd of December The last week was characterised by unsettled geomagnetic conditions, but a reasonable solar flux index of 92, falling to 86. Despite NOAA predicting that the Kp index would be around two, we had an excursion up to five on Tuesday. This was due to an enhanced solar wind stream containing a sector of southward Bz, which kicked up a minor, G1-class geomagnetic storm. The southward direction of the interplanetary magnetic field meant that it could more easily couple with the Earth's magnetic field, allowing solar plasma to flood it. This continued until the end of Wednesday, with the Kp index finally returning to one on Thursday morning. Last weekend was the CQ Worldwide CW contest and HF conditions were aided by a very low Kp index. This was beneficial, especially for signals going over the pole. As a result, many stations were able to put the North Pole Contest Group, KL7RA, in Alaska, into their logs on 20 metres, where their signal was reasonably free of polar flutter. Next week NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will start in the high 80s, but may tail off as the week progresses. Once again it predicts that the Kp index will be around two, but this is very dependent on there being no coronal mass ejections, which could add to the solar wind. A large coronal hole was Earth-facing on Thursday, which could possibly result in an elevated Kp index over the weekend and reduced maximum usable frequencies. Keep an eye on solarham.com for details. And finally, the darker and longer nights mean the low bands can start to come alive, so don't ignore 160, 80 and 40 metres. And now the VHF and up propagation news. Testing times for antennas during this current spell of unsettled weather, which looks as though it will stay with us through all of the coming week. This means periods of wet and windy weather will bring a hint of rain scatter at times, but effectively rules out any tropo opportunities. Once again, it will be down to the slim chance of aurora and reliable random meteor scatter to liven up VHF operating. The big Geminids meteor shower with a ZHR of 120+ is underway, but won't hit its peak until the morning of the 14th of December. Predictions show a ZHR of 150 at peak, as ZHR has shown a slight increase over the last decades. It has reached 140 to 150 in recent years. The Geminids peak is broad, and close-to-peak rates persist for several hours. Expect several days of good meteor scatter activity in the days up to the 14th and expect it to decay fairly quickly after the maximum. It's an inconvenient period for EME enthusiasts, especially on the GHz bands, with the current phase of lowest path loss coinciding with the lowest declination continuing. Perigee was last Friday, so path losses will increase as the week progresses. With Moon declination at its minimum today, Moon windows will be short and it will not get above 15 degrees elevation until Wednesday. 144MHz sky temperatures are high during the early part of the week and combined with the low elevation, VHF EME will be a noisy affair. In all, it's looking like a very good week to try some satellite operation! And that's all from the propagation team this week

GB2RS News Sunday the 7th of November 2021 The news headlines: RSGB co-opts Director Intermediate level distance learning course open New RSGB Conventions videos published   The RSGB Board is pleased to announce that Richard Horton, G4AOJ has been co-opted as a Board Director until the 2022 AGM. He has served as the RSGB Honorary Treasurer since 2011 and the RSGB Board is advertising for Richard's successor. Applications from financially-qualified candidates are invited and should be emailed in the first instance to board.chair@rsgb.org.uk For full details of both announcements see the RSGB Notices section of the Society's website. The next Bath Based Distance Learning course will be for the Intermediate level running from January to May 2022. The closing date is the 15th of December. All applicants must complete some pre-course work using BBDL systems. A Full licence course will run from August to December. More info from g0fuw@tiscali.co.uk The RSGB has just published the individual presentations in the ‘Learn more about' stream from its online Convention. This means that you can now see all 15 presentations in the RSGB's web video archive, or in the RSGB Convention 2021 playlist on the RSGB's YouTube channel. The presentations are getting some great feedback so do take a look at youtube.com/theRSGB. The 3Y0J Bouvet Island DXpedition team says that with its first deposit on its contract to have the SS Marama provide transportation to Bouvet, it has confirmed its plans to activate the second most-wanted DXCC entity in November 2022. You can follow the plans via the expedition's website and the 3Y0J Facebook page. At a recent meeting of the Examination Standards Committee, it was agreed that the current mock exam papers on the RSGB website should be replaced by a fresh set. There will now be one mock exam paper per licence level. These new papers are generated from the same, Exams and Syllabus Review Group-vetted, RSGB question bank as real exam papers, using the same question selection process. You can find the new mock exam papers for all three licence levels on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/mock-exams. Ofcom has agreed to the RSGB request to extend the 146/147MHz Notice of Variation for a further year. However, it is made available on a non-interference basis and applicants should note that as the band is increasingly used by other users, the NoV is subject to a 30-day notice period of change or withdrawal. Full licence holders can apply for the 146/147MHz NoV via the RSGB website at rsgb.org/nov. It's not too late to register your interest for December YOTA Month 2021. We have been granted the callsign GB21YOTA, for allocation to youngsters to operate throughout December. To see what operating slots are still available please look up GB21YOTA on QRZ.com. You can register your interest by emailing yota.month@rsgb.org.uk. You must be a Full licence holder or have one willing to supervise the activity. And now for details of rallies and events Before travelling to any rally or event, please check the event's website as there may still be alterations or cancellations due to the pandemic. The Holsworthy Radio Rally takes place today, the 7th of November, at the Holsworthy Leisure Centre, Well Park, Western Road, Holsworthy, Devon EX22 6DH. Doors open at 10 am. There will be traders, a Bring & Buy and catering will be available on site. The next rally we have details for is in 2022. The Sparkford Wireless Group Rally is due to take place on the 2nd of January at Davis Hall near Yeovil. Some rallies have been cancelled, as previously publicised. These are the Bush valley ARC rally due for the 7th of November and the Bishop Auckland RAC rally due to be held on the 28th of November. Now the DX news David, F4FKT will be active as FT4YM and FT4YM/P from Antarctica until late February or early March. In his spare time, he will operate mainly SSB on the 20 and 40m bands from various bases. Updates will be posted to the Polar DX Group's Facebook group. QSL via F5PFP. Gunter, DK2WH will be active as V51WH from Namibia between November 2021 and March 2022. QSLs via DK2WH, direct or bureau. He does not use Logbook of The World. Stan, K5GO will be active as ZF9CW from Cayman Brac, IOTA reference NA-016, until the 24th of March 2022. He operates mainly CW, with some SSB but no digital modes. QSLs via Logbook of The World, or direct to home call. Now the Special Event news OQ05PHI is the special callsign for the UBA Section de Philippeville to celebrate its 5th anniversary. It will be active until the 22nd of November. QSL via ON4PHI. Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Antarctic Treaty, OQ60ANT will be active until the 31st of December. All QSOs will be confirmed automatically via the bureau; logsearch and OQRS on Club Log. Now the contest news When operating in contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following relevant pandemic-related government recommendations. This weekend, the Marconi CW Contest ends its 24-hour run at 1400UTC today, the 7th. It's CW-only on the 144MHz band and the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange is the same for both, signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday, the SSB leg of the 80m Autumn Series runs from 2000 to 2130UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. The 50MHz UK Activity Contest takes place between 2000 and 2230UTC on Thursday. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Saturday, the Club Calls 1.8MHz AFS contest runs from 2000 to 2300UTC using CW and SSB. The exchange is signal report, serial number and your affiliated club information. Next weekend, the WAE DX RTTY contest runs for 48 hours from 0000UTC on the 13th until 2359UTC on the 14th. Using the contest bands between 3.5 and 28MHz, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Next Sunday, the 14th, the UK Microwave Group Low Band contest runs from 1000 to 1400UTC. Using all modes on the 1.3 to 3.4GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 5th of November. What a roller coaster week we had. From great conditions on HF last weekend, to a severe geomagnetic storm this week, it has been hard to predict what's coming next. The Kp index hit seven on Thursday, thanks to incoming plasma from a full halo coronal mass ejection produced by an M1.7 flare from active region 2891 on November 2nd. NOAA classed this as a strong G3 geomagnetic storm after the DSCOVR spacecraft clocked the incoming material at more than 700 kilometres per second. At this time the solar flux index had reduced from more than 100 to just 89. The Propquest website shows just what effect this storm had on the ionosphere, with critical frequencies on Thursday morning down to the mid 3MHz range. This meant maximum usable frequencies over a 3,000km path were estimated to be down to around 11MHz. The day before at the same time, they were up above 6MHz with MUFs over 3,000km above 25MHz. This probably sets the scene for the rest of this solar cycle, as explained in Steve, G0KYA's presentation Solar Cycle 25 – The good, the bad and the downright ugly during the recent RSGB conference, which is now available to view on YouTube. Next week NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will remain in the high 80s to mid-90s. Geomagnetic conditions are predicted to remain calm, with a Kp index of two. However, as we warned last week this could well turn out to be over-optimistic, as a solar flare and any associated CME could easily push this up to five or higher. The best advice is to work the DX while it is there. At this time of year, and with SFI figures up in the 90s, you can expect the upper HF bands to come into their own, but only if geomagnetic conditions remain calm. And now the VHF and up propagation news. It still looks like a changeable pattern for VHF, but there are a few chances in there. The main theme continues to be that of unsettled weather with periods of rain interspersed by brighter showery interludes. This should provide further options for rain scatter on the GHz bands. There are a few fleeting options for Tropo, as weak ridges develop from high pressure over Biscay and the near continent, particularly during this first weekend. This is most likely across southern Britain and will probably favour paths to the near continent and across Biscay to Spain. The recent solar activity gave a nice 144MHz aurora last Thursday, showing that it's always worth checking for this exotic mode by keeping an eye on the space weather sites. Meteor scatter should also be on your watch list, since we are approaching the November Leonids, which peak mid-month around the 17th/18th. Now would be a good time to get some practice sessions going with digimodes if you've not tried it before. Until the shower peak, stick to the time around dawn to maximise your chances with random meteors. For EME enthusiasts, path losses are low but rising after perigee last Friday, but with minimum declination today the Moon will be low in the sky at Zenith, getting higher as the week progresses. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday 31st of October 2021 The news headlines: Exams committee clarifies supervision Have you changed to GMT? Volunteer at the NRC   The RSGB Exam Standards Committee has clarified the licence conditions regarding the supervised operation of Foundation licence candidates. The full announcement can be found on the examination announcements page of the RSGB website, thersgb.org/gb2rs/012 Don't forget that in the UK the clocks changed to UTC or GMT today. The clocks went back 1 hour at 2 am this morning, the 31st of October. The RSGB National Radio Centre welcomes thousands of people through its doors each month. They need to expand the team of volunteers and are particularly looking for people who can be part of the team during the week. If you're interested in becoming an NRC volunteer you should enjoy meeting people and be prepared to work a minimum of one, preferably two, days per month. Full training is given. Please contact NRC Coordinator Martyn, G0GMB for further information via nrc.support@rsgb.org.uk. The RSGB online Convention's keynote presentation is now available separately on the Society's YouTube channel. This inspiring talk by Professor Cathryn Mitchell, M0IBG explores the connections between radio and space and also looks at the many ways in which everyone can get involved. The seven presentations from the Introduction to stream have also been uploaded individually so that it will be even easier to find the presentation you'd like to watch. That full day's stream has received over 5,000 views already, with some great reviews. We'll be releasing the Learn more about stream presentations next week. Go to youtube.com/theRSGB and choose the RSGB Convention 2021 playlist. The Quantum Technology Club, in West Lancashire, will be resuming Foundation licence training courses on the 11th of November. The training sessions will continue on the second and fourth Thursday of the month thereafter with a few exceptions for holidays. Different topics, as well as practical demonstrations and interactive sessions, will take place. Everyone is welcome; you do not have to be a member of the club to join. Please contact them via quantumtech.club before attending. A new QSL sub-manager has been appointed for the G4TAA-ZZZ series. You can send your C5 sized stamped addressed envelopes using 2nd class stamps to Pete Rivers, G4XEX, whose details are on the RSGB website under the On The Air tab. Please remember to put your callsign and Membership number in the top left corner of each envelope. Can you lend a generator? The Kilmarnock & Loudoun ARC Team at Ardrossan are trying to borrow a generator for an event in early December. They are looking to borrow a 240V generator with an output of 5 to 10kVA. Please email klarcinfo@gmail.com if you can help. And now for details of rallies and events Before travelling to any rally or event, please check the event's website as there may still be alterations or cancellations due to the pandemic. The Holsworthy Radio Rally will take place on the 7th of November at the Holsworthy Leisure Centre, Well Park, Western Road, Holsworthy, Devon EX22 6DH. Doors open at 10 am. There will be traders, a Bring & Buy and catering will be available on site. The next rally we have details for is in 2022. The Sparkford Wireless Group Rally is due to take place on the 2nd of January in Davis Hall near Yeovil. Some rallies have been cancelled, as previously publicised. These are the Bush valley ARC rally due for the 7th of November and the Bishop Auckland RAC rally due to be held on the 28th of November. Now the DX news Remo, HB9SHD will be active as 8Q7RM from the Maldives, IOTA reference AS- 013, throughout November. He will operate mainly FT8, with some SSB and slow CW, on the 6 to 40m bands. QSL via his home call either direct or via the bureau, Club Log's OQRS and Logbook of the World. Richard, NN2T and Linda, KN4KJC will be active as C6AHB from the Bimini Islands, NA-048, until the 3rd of November. They will operate SSB and digital modes. QSL via Logbook of The World, Club Log's OQRS, or direct to NN2T. Janusz, SP9FIH will be active as PJ7P from Sint Maarten, NA-105, until the 3rd of November. He will operate SSB, FT8 and RTTY on the 30, 15, 12 and 10m bands. QSL via Club Log's OQRS or via his home call. Now the Special Event news Until the 2nd of November, West of Scotland ARS will be running a special event station GB4GDS, celebrating 90 years of the Guide Dog Association. More information about the station can be found at www.wosars.club. OQ05PHI is the special callsign for the UBA Section de Philippeville to celebrate its 5th anniversary. It will be active until the 22nd of November. QSL via ON4PHI. Now the contest news When operating in contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following relevant pandemic-related government recommendations. The 48-hour CQ World Wide DX SSB contest ends at 2359UTC today, the 31st, using the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands. The exchange is signal report and your Zone, 14 for the UK. On Monday the data leg of the 80m Autumn Series runs from 2000 to 2130UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. Also, on Monday is the Silent Key Memorial that runs from 0600 to 0900. It's CW only on the 3.5 and 7MHz bands. The exchange is a signal report and a silent key callsign. Tuesday sees the 144MHz FM Activity Contest run from 1900 to 1955UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 144MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange is the same, signal report, serial number and locator. The UK EI Contest Club 80 contest takes place on Wednesday from 2000 to 2100UTC. It is SSB only and the exchange is your 6-character locator. Also, on Wednesday is the 144MHz FT8 Activity Contest. Running from 1900 to 2100UTC, the exchange is your report and 4-character locator. Next weekend the Marconi CW Contest runs from 1400UTC on the 6th to 1400UTC on the 7th. It's CW-only on the 144MHz band and the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 29th of October. Well, we had another topsy-turvy week, with the sunspot number going from a lowly 10 to a much more impressive 91. We started last week with a virtually spotless solar surface, but this week the Sun is peppered with spots, with five active regions in place on Thursday. The net result is the maximum usable frequencies have been climbing, with 3,000km-plus paths being reached at times on 24 and even 28MHz, according to the Propquest website. There has been plenty of DX to be worked as well, with HD8R in the Galapagos Islands, VK9DX on Norfolk Island, both on CW, and 7P8RU in Lesotho making it into many amateur's logs. The first two were on 30 metres, which is well worth a look. Special event station HS400OZ in Thailand has also been putting in an appearance on 30m FT8 and has been workable from the UK. With Solar Cycle 25 now well underway, it is always worth checking the higher bands too, such as 12 and 10 metres. Next week NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be in the range 85-96, starting the week at the higher end and then declining. Geomagnetic conditions are predicted to be quiet, with a maximum Kp index of two. However, this could change if a coronal mass ejection occurs. For example, Region 2887, which was Earth-centric on Thursday, has unleashed one M-class and several C-class flares. A large flare, accompanied by a CME, could easily disrupt the HF bands for days. And now the VHF and up propagation news. The current spell of unsettled weather will become more widespread and affect much of the country during the first half of the coming week. There had been a hint of Tropo in the southeast last week, but we'll have to wait for the second half of the week before there is a return of weak Tropo in the south as a transient ridge crosses the country. This will be replaced by further unsettled weather by the weekend. In propagation terms, this means that rain scatter on the GHz bands may be on offer again through much of the coming week. Otherwise, it is the chance of aurora or meteor scatter that could entice us onto the VHF bands. The Orionids meteor shower is coming to an end and the Taurids are in progress, but with a ZHR of not more than five, there's little to get excited about. We have to wait until mid-November for the Leonids, so stick to the time around dawn to maximise your chances with random meteors until then. For EME enthusiasts, Moon declination is high early this week, going negative on Tuesday. Path losses are at their lowest with perigee on Friday but this coincides with low negative declination, meaning the Moon will be low in the sky at zenith. This trend of lowest declination getting closer to perigee reverses in June next year, but not until June 2026 will we see maximum declination coincide with perigee. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday 24th of October 2021 The news headlines: Get on the microwave bands Become an RSGB Director SAQ Grimeton transmits today   Are you looking for a new challenge? The RSGB has just released an updated video that gives a short introduction to amateur radio on the microwave bands. It explains how microwave technology is involved in everyday life and highlights the opportunities as well as the challenges of this aspect of amateur radio. You can watch the video on the RSGB YouTube channel or on the RSGB's microwave web page at rsgb.org/microwaves The RSGB Nominations Committee includes representatives of the Board, Regional Team and the Committees who work together to select Nominated Directors to serve on the RSGB Board. The Nominations Committee is seeking a wide range of new candidates with skills that will complement the existing skills and knowledge on the Board. If you are an RSGB Member with the skills, time and energy to help lead the Society as a Board Director, please contact the Chair of the Committee via email to nominations.chair@rsgb.org.uk. Today, the 24th of October is United Nations Day and the historic Alexanderson alternator in Grimeton, Sweden, with callsign SAQ, is scheduled to send out a message on 17.2kHz using CW. The live stream on YouTube starts at 1425UTC, with tuning at 1430UTC. The transmission begins at 1500UTC. Just search for SAQ Grimeton to find out more. The RSGB QSL bureau is continuing to search for a new sub-manager for the G4T to G4Z group. Members in this call group are encouraged to check the RSGB website for the latest information and not to send further collection envelopes until a new appointment is made. If you enjoy QSL cards, have space and time, plus some basic spreadsheet skills to record and distribute around 20,000 cards a year, plus a desire to support your fellow amateurs, email your interest to qsl@rsgb.org.uk. Don't forget that in the UK the clocks change to UTC or GMT next weekend. Clocks go back 1 hour at 2am on Sunday the 31st of October. The WSJT development team has announced the General Availability release of WSJT-X version 2.5.1. This release mainly contains improvements and defect repairs related to Q65 and JT65 modes when used with non-standard and compound calls. Also included is a new feature for microwave aircraft scatter, and repairs for defects detected since the 2.5.0 release. Just type WSJT-X into your favourite search engine. Eclipse and Frequency Measurement Festivals are worldwide citizen science campaigns in which amateurs and short wave listeners measure Doppler shift from their home stations, using their regular HF receivers. As the shadow of the moon passes across Antarctica on the 4th of December, it will generate travelling ionospheric disturbances that will, in turn, affect radio propagation. Data collection will run from the 1st to the 10th of December and the results will be made available for scientific analysis. All radio amateurs and short wave listeners are invited to join in, even those located far from the path of totality. In 2020, more than 100 individuals from 45 countries took part in eclipse festivals. For more information, go to hamsci.org. The Yasme Foundation Board of Directors has announced that it will be giving a grant to the Seychelles Amateur Radio Association to establish a facility for its amateur radio club. And now for details of rallies and events Before travelling to any rally or event, please check the event's website as there may still be alterations or cancellations due to the pandemic. The Holsworthy Radio Rally will take place on the 7th of November at Holsworthy Leisure Centre. Doors open at 10 am. Several rallies have been cancelled, as previously publicised. The Galashiels Rally, scheduled to take place today, the 24th of October is cancelled. The Bush valley ARC rally due for the 7th of November has also had to be cancelled. Finally, the Bishop Auckland RAC rally due to be held on the 28th of November is now planned for 2022. Now the DX news A team of four operators will be active as C5C from Kololi, in The Gambia between the 24th of October and the 19th of November. Expect activity on all bands using SSB, CW and FT8 in Fox & Hound mode, plus the QO-100 satellite. See QRZ.com for their planned operating frequencies. QSL direct to F5RAV. Bart, PD1BAT will be working on Saba, NA-145, from the 30th of October to the 5th of November. In his spare time, he will operate as PJ6/PD1BAT on the 40 and 20m bands using FT8 and some SSB. QSL via his home call. Miguel, EA1BP will be active as FM/EA1BP from Martinique, IOTA reference NA-107, from the 27th of October to the 5th of November, including an entry in the CQ WW DX SSB Contest as TO7O.  QSL via his home call; the logs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World and Club Log. Toni, EA5RM and a large multi-national team will be active as HD8R from San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands, SA-004, from the 26th of October to the 7th of November. They will operate CW, SSB and FT8 on the 6 to 160m bands, plus RTTY on 20 metres, with at least four stations on the air simultaneously. QSL via EA5RM. Now the Special Event news From the 25th of October, British Railways ARS members Mark, G1PIE and Pam, 2E1HQY will be operating GB0LMR as part of the society's 55th anniversary year. Operations will be from Preston in Lancashire and 40m will be the main band. More at brars.info. Until the 2nd of November, West of Scotland ARS will be running a special event station GB4GDS, celebrating 90 years of the Guide Dog Association. More information about the station can be found at www.wosars.club. Cray Valley Radio Society will be active as GB75CV until the 29th of October to celebrate its 75th anniversary. QSL via Club Log's OQRS and Logbook of The World only. Now the contest news When operating in contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following relevant pandemic-related government recommendations. This weekend, the UK EI Contest Club DX SSB contest ends its 24-hour run at 1200UTC today, the 24th. Using the contest bands between 3.5 and 28MHz, the exchange is signal report, which is optional, serial number and your district code. On Tuesday the SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1830 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on the bands between 2.3 and 10GHz, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the UK EI Contest Club 80m contest runs from 2000 to 2100UTC. Using CW only, the exchange is your 6-character locator. The 80m Autumn Series runs from 1900 to 2030UTC on Thursday. Using SSB only the exchange is signal report and serial number. Next weekend is the 48-hour CQ World Wide DX SSB contest. Ending at 2359UTC on the 31st, it uses the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands. The exchange is signal report and your Zone, which for the UK is 14. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 22nd of October. After a week of sunspots and DX fun it looks like we are back in the doldrums again. The Sun currently has just one sunspot visible, meaning the sunspot number is 11. This represents one sunspot in one group. There has been DX to be had, mostly thanks to DXpeditions, including Guinea Bissau, J5T, The Kingdom of Eswatini, 3DA0WW, and Sao Tome and Principe, S90K. These have been relatively easy to work and brought much-needed excitement to the HF bands. Geomagnetic conditions have been mixed, with the Kp index hitting four on Tuesday. This was the result of a large coronal hole that was Earth-facing earlier in the week. Next week, NOAA predicts the solar flux index will climb again to the high 80s, ending the week in the low to mid-90s. This is likely due to a large active region that is visible on the STEREO Ahead spacecraft's imager and which should rotate into view over the next few days. This may bring a surge in activity again, which should be welcomed by HF operators. And now the VHF and up propagation news. After a reminder of how unsettled Autumn can be, this weekend will see a weak and transient ridge crossing the country, and a possible brief Tropo window, especially to the east across the North Sea. Apart from that, the unsettled autumn flavour continues through the whole of next week and, as we have seen recently, that can mean some pretty wet and windy weather. Rain scatter on the GHz bands is, of course, an option in these conditions, but there is little else to bring cheer unless meteor scatter and aurora come into play. Today the Moon is at apogee, so EME path losses are at their maximum. Moon declination reaches maximum positive declination again on Tuesday so we'll see the Moon reaching its highest elevations at its zenith. The Orionids shower is still active and the Leonis Minorids peaks today, so there's still some interest for meteor scatter enthusiasts. The best time for reflections is, as always, around dawn. And that's all from the propagation team this week.  

GB2RS News Sunday 17th of October 2021 The news headlines: RSGB online Convention available to re-watch AMSAT Colloquium Exercise Blue Ham underway   The RSGB is delighted that its 2021 Online Convention was watched by people across the world, many of whom have since thanked the Society for the excellent content and professional production. The streams have received hundreds more views since Saturday and people are enjoying the 15 presentations. If you weren't able to watch the event live, the two streams are available on the Society's YouTube channel. You can also see the extra content and interviews that were broadcast from the RSGB National Radio Centre between presentations at youtube.com/theRSGB. The individual presentations will be released in due course so look out for announcements shortly. AMSAT-UK will be holding their annual International Space Colloquium on Sunday the 24th of October. The online Zoom webinar will run from 10.45 am to approximately 4 pm. With speakers from the UK, Europe and North America, each 30-minute presentation will include a 5 minute Q and A session. A full programme and registration details are available at amsat-uk.org under the Colloquium tab. You don't have to be a member of AMSAT-UK to attend, and the event is free of charge. The second day of the RAF Air Cadets Blue Ham Radio Communications Exercise is today, the 17th of October. They are contacting radio amateurs on the shared section of the 5MHz bands. A Blue Ham participation certificate is available to those who contact 15 or more special Cadet callsigns during the exercise. Just search for exercise blue ham to find out more information. The next Amplitude Modulation Amateur Radio Society club net will be held today, the 17th, at the new time of 1700UTC on 3.625MHz. The control station will be Robert, GW6GBY using the club callsign GC5AMS and Andy, G4FCI will also be assisting by listening for any weaker stations depending on conditions. If you are interested in joining the group, look at the qrz.com page for G5AMS. Jamboree On The Air is an annual event in which Scouts and Guides all over the world communicate with each other via amateur radio. JOTA 2021 ends its 48-hour run at 2359UTC today, the 17th. You can find out more at jotajoti.info. On United Nations Day, the 24th of October, the historic Alexanderson alternator in Grimeton, Sweden, with callsign SAQ, is scheduled to send out a message on 17.2kHz using CW. The live stream on YouTube starts at 1425UTC, with tuning at 1430. The transmission begins at 1500UTC. They are planning to carry out some test transmissions on the 22nd of October between 1100UTC and 1400UTC. Just search for SAQ Grimeton to find out more.   And now for details of rallies and events Before travelling to any rally or event, please check the event's website as there may still be alterations or cancellations due to the pandemic. Today, the 17th of October, the Hornsea Amateur Radio Rally is at the Driffield Show Ground, YO25 3AE. Doors open at 10 am and parking is free. Admission is £2. There will be trade stands, a Bring & Buy and a car boot area. Catering will be available on site. Also today, the 17th, the Hack Green Radio Surplus Hangar Sale is at the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker in Nantwich. Doors open at 10 am and there will be equipment, components and amateur radio gear on sale. On the 20th of October, the Lothians Radio Society Surplus Sale will take place at St. Fillans Church, 8 Buckstone Dr, Edinburgh EH10 6PD. Everyone attending should be double vaccinated unless medically exempt. Doors open from 7.15 pm and the sale will begin at 8 pm sharp. Details from the club's website. Looking ahead, the Holsworthy Radio Rally will take place on the 7th of November at Holsworthy Leisure Centre. Doors open at 10 am. Several rallies have been cancelled, as previously publicised. The Galashiels Rally, scheduled to take place on the 24th of October is cancelled. The Bushvalley ARC rally due for the 7th of November has had to be cancelled. Finally, the Bishop Auckland RAC rally due to be held on the 28th of November is now planned for 2022.   Now the DX news John, W2GD will be active as P40W from Aruba, SA-036, between the 18th and 25th of October. QSL via Logbook of The World, or direct only to N2MM. A team will be active as 3DA0WW from Eswatini, or Swaziland, until the 26th of October. They will operate CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8 using Fox & Hound mode on the 10 to 160m bands. QSL via Club Log's OQRS or direct to YL2GN.   Now the Special Event news From the 25th of October, British Railways ARS members Mark, G1PIE and Pam, 2E1HQY will be operating GB0LMR as part of the 55th anniversary year. Operations will be from Preston in Lancashire and 40m will be the main band. More at brars.info. From the 6th of October through to the 2nd of November, West of Scotland ARS will be running a special event station GB4GDS, celebrating 90 years of the Guide Dog Association. More information about the station can be found at www.wosars.club. Dundee ARC will be active as part of the Jamboree On The Air weekend. They will be using HF and VHF, so if you hear them please give them a call. Cray Valley Radio Society will be active as GB75CV until the 29th of October to celebrate its 75th anniversary. QSL via Club Log's OQRS and Logbook of The World only.   Now the contest news When operating in contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following relevant pandemic-related government recommendations. This weekend, the Worked All Germany contest ends its 24-hour run at 1500UTC today, the 17th. Using SSB and CW on the contest bands between 3.5 and 28MHz, the exchange is signal report and serial number. German stations will also send DOK. Today, the 17th, there are four contests taking place. The first is the 50MHz AFS contest, between 0900 and 1300UTC, using all modes and the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Stations in the UK and Commonwealth Dependencies also exchange the first two letters of their postcode. The second contest is The UK Microwave Group 24 to 76GHz Contest runs from 0900 to 1700UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The IRTS 40m Daytime Counties Contest runs from 1200 to 1300UTC and is the third contest on the 17th. It uses CW and SSB and the exchange is signal report and serial number. EI and GI stations will also send their County code. Finally, for today, the second Rolling Locator, or RoLo, contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. It is CW-only on the 3.5MHz band. The exchange is the signal report and the rolling locator. On Monday, the eighth FT4 Series contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC on the 80m band. The exchange is a report and a 4-character locator. The 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest takes place between 1900 and 2130UTC on Tuesday. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Thursday, the 70MHz UK Activity Contest runs between 1900 and 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next weekend, the UK EI Contest Club DX SSB contest runs between 1200UTC on Saturday to 1200UTC on Sunday. Using the contest bands between 3.5 and 28MHz, the exchange is signal report, which is optional, serial number and your district code.   Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 15th of October. Last week saw a mixed bag in terms of HF propagation with good conditions at times, but horrendous conditions mid-week after a coronal mass ejection saw the Kp index shoot up to six. Matter from the CME, which was accompanied by an M1.6 solar flare on the 9th of October, hit the Earth in the early hours of the 12th. A geomagnetic storm then ensued and the widespread visible aurora was reported at high latitudes. On Tuesday MUFs were affected adversely with maxima over a 3,000km path down from 28MHz to less than 14MHz at times during the day. By Thursday, and with the Kp index back down to between zero and two, signals had recovered to near-normal levels, with a maximum daytime critical frequency of 7.125MHz being recorded on the Chilton Digisonde, which equates to more than 27MHz over a 3,000km path. This does go to show that we can expect more CMEs, and poorer conditions at times, as we head towards the solar maximum in a few years' time. Next week NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be in the range 85-90 with a maximum Kp index of four on the 19th. So make the most of the Autumnal HF conditions and work as high in frequency as you can to minimise D-layer absorption.   And now the VHF and up propagation news. The coming week's weather will change to mixed and unsettled, with little chance of Tropo propagation, caused by periods of rain, showers and strong winds. At best we can hope for some rain scatter activity. The exact time when these changes of type occur in our weather patterns is one of the hardest for the models to get right, but at the moment most suggest Sunday night into Monday. Since the autumn is typically a good season for auroras, perhaps some warbling auroral notes will return again after last week when plenty of auroral QSOs were reported on 144MHz. Sadly for the UK, they were almost exclusively for the more northerly Nordic countries. A few northern UK stations, namely G4KUX, MI0XXZ and GM4VVX reported a few auroral CW QSOs on the 12th. The 21st sees the peak of the Orionids meteor shower with a ZHR of 15. Orionids are pieces of Comet 1P/Halley, famously known as Halley's comet. Add this to two small meteor showers, the Epsilon Geminids with a ZHR of three peaking on the 18th, and the Leonis Minoris with a ZHR of two peaking on the 24th, next week should be good for meteor scatter enthusiasts. Moon declination goes positive again on Monday so we'll see the Moon reaching higher elevations at its zenith. Path losses are still increasing as we are past perigee. A seasonal reminder from the team to do your end of summer check on those antenna ropes and fixings before we see too many windy days. And that's all from the propagation team this week.    

GB2RS News Sunday 10th of October 2021 The news headlines: School ISS contact this Tuesday RSGB exam booking system is live New 2x1 callsigns for Australia   At 1112UTC on 12 October, GB4MHN will be calling the International Space Station to enable ten deaf children to speak to a NASA Astronaut. The children at the Mary Hare School for deaf children in Newbury will be assisted by Lloyd, M5LDF and other members of Newbury and District Amateur Radio Society. The children will each ask a question to the astronaut and the reply will then be interpreted into subtitles and sign language. The event is made possible by ARISS, which heads up the radio contacts for space agencies NASA and ESA. The ISS signal can be received on the 2m band or watched live at live.ariss.org. The RSGB's new exam online booking system is now live. On the first page, you choose whether you are an individual who wants to book a remote invigilation exam or a club that wants to book an exam for candidates at the club premises. Clubs will be able to choose whether to book and pay for their candidates, or just book the date and time then receive a link that candidates will use to pay for their own exams. You can find the new booking process and an FAQ to help you at rsgb.org/exam-bookings. The Australian Communications and Media Authority will commence the release of brand new 2 x 1 Australian contest callsigns at 10 am, 13 October 2021. The contest callsign template comprises the VK, VJ or VL prefix followed by one number then one letter. There are a number of rules governing the application for a short contest call and they will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. The RAF Air Cadets are planning to run the next Blue Ham Radio Communications Exercise on the 16th and 17th of October. They hope that radio amateurs can put some time aside to join in with the cadets and staff on the shared section of the 5MHz bands. A Blue Ham participation certificate is available to those who contact 15 or more special Cadet callsigns during the exercise. Just search for exercise blue ham to find out more information. As part of the day of lectures for the British Amateur Television Club CAT21 day, Ian, GM3SEK is giving a talk on the application of the RSGB-Ofcom Calculator to microwave bands and QO-100 satellite operation on Saturday the 16th of October at 1.30 pm. Registration is not required and full details of the day and how to view can be found at batc.org.uk/live/cat21. Jamboree On The Air is an annual event in which Scouts and Guides all over the world communicate with each other via amateur radio. JOTA 2021 runs for the full 48 hours of the 16th and 17th of October. You can find out more at jotajoti.info. Members of the BBC's radio club, The London BBC Radio Group, have been granted an exceptional all-year Special Event callsign to help celebrate the BBC's centenary year in 2022. Ofcom will permit GB100BBC to operate throughout the year, starting at midnight on New Year's Day, from the headquarters station in Broadcasting House, London. Operating slots will then be allocated for use by individual members and local groups of operators, from their home QTH, or BBC premises throughout the UK. And now for details of rallies and events Before travelling to any rally or event, please check the event's website as there may still be alterations or cancellations due to the pandemic. The second part of the BATC Convention for amateur TV will take place on the 16th of October. It will be a day of free online talks about amateur television. Just search for BATC CAT21 and follow the link for the live stream. Essex CW Amateur Radio Club will hold a CW Boot Camp on the 16th of October in Witham. You can find out more by searching on the internet for Essex CW ARC and clicking their Boot Camp link. On the 17th of October, the Hornsea Amateur Radio Rally is due to be held at the Driffield Show Ground, YO25 3AE. Doors open at 10 am and parking is free. Admission is £2. There will be trade stands, a Bring & Buy and a car boot area. Catering will be available on site. Also on the 17th, the Hack Green Radio Surplus Hangar Sale will be held at the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker in Nantwich. Doors open at 10 am and there will be equipment, components and amateur radio gear on sale. The Galashiels Rally, scheduled to take place on the 24th is cancelled, as previously publicised. The Members of Bishop Auckland RAC have, sadly, had to cancel their annual rally due to be held on the 28th of November. It will now be planned for 2022. Now the DX news Nobby, G0VJG has cancelled his operation from the Maldives and will be active as 3B8/G0VJG from Mauritius, AF-049, until the 16th of October. He will operate SSB and digital modes on the 80 to 10m bands. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS. Robert, 3B9FR is a resident of Rodrigues Island, AF-017, and is now active again. He operates mainly CW, with some occasional SSB and FT8. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS. Curtis, KC5CW will be active as FY/KC5CW from French Guiana until the 3rd of November. He will operate SSB, slow CW, PSK and FT8 on the 160 to 6m bands. He will upload his log to the Logbook of The World and Club Log. Alex, VE1RUS and Pierre, VE3TKB will be active from VY0ERC, the Eureka Amateur Radio Club station located on Ellesmere Island, NA-008, between the 12th of October and the 22nd of November. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS and Logbook of The World. Now the Special Event news From the 6th of October through to the 2nd of November, West of Scotland ARS will be running a special event station GB4GDS, celebrating 90 years of the Guide Dog Association. More information about the station can be found at www.wosars.club. Dundee ARC will be active over the weekend of the 16th and 17th of October as part of the Jamboree On The Air weekend. They will be using HF and VHF, so if you hear them please give them a call. Now the contest news When operating in contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following relevant pandemic-related government recommendations. This weekend, the Oceania DX CW contest ends its 24-hour run at 0800UTC today, the 10th. Using the contest bands between 1.8 and 28MHz, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Today, the 10th is the UK Microwave group's 122 to 248GHz contest. Running from 0900 to 1700UTC, it uses all modes. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the all-mode UK Activity Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator. Wednesday sees the data leg of the 80m Autumn Series running from 1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. The 50MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC on Thursday. Using all modes the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next weekend is the Worked All Germany contest running for 24 hours from 1500UTC on the 16th. Using SSB and CW on the contest bands between 3.5 and 28MHz, the exchange is signal report and serial number. German stations will also send DOK. Next Sunday, the 17th, there are four contests taking place. The first is between 0900 and 1300UTC the 50MHz AFS contest uses all modes and the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Stations in the UK and Commonwealth Dependencies also exchange the first two letters of their postcode. The second contest is The UK Microwave Group 24 to 76GHz Contest runs from 0900 to 1700UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The IRTS 40m Daytime Counties Contest runs from 1200 to 1300UTC and is the third contest on the 17th. It uses CW and SSB and the exchange is signal report and serial number. EI and GI stations will also send their County code. Finally, for the 17th, the second Rolling Locator, or RoLo, contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. It is CW-only on the 3.5MHz band. The exchange is the signal report and the rolling locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 8th of October. Solar activity has dipped a little over the last two weeks. From a solar flux high of 102 on the 20th of September, activity declined to the mid-80s and stayed there. That isn't to say that HF activity has been poor. Far from it. There are numerous reports of DX being worked, including S9OK on Sao Tome and Principe. The Czech DXpedition, off the coast of western Africa, has been logged on many bands and continues to be popular. Ten metres has thrown up SSB contacts into Brazil, Chile and Uruguay for many, and openings to the Far East at times. Autumnal HF conditions are driving the DX, rather than the solar flux index. Maximum usable frequencies over a 3,000km path are often above 24 or even 28MHz in the afternoons. Next week is looking like more of the same, with NOAA predicting a solar flux index of 85, declining to 75 later in the week. Having said that, the STEREO Ahead spacecraft is highlighting two active regions due to rotate into view that may or may not develop into sunspots, so NOAA's forecast may turn out to be pessimistic. The good news is that a decline in coronal hole activity means the Kp index may remain low, perhaps down to two, which may result in continued settled geomagnetic conditions. As always, we maintain that October is one of the best months for HF DX, so do make the most of it. And now the VHF and up propagation news. High pressure this weekend should be producing good Tropo conditions for the southern half of the country, but probably peaking on Saturday the 9th. It is likely to return at times after mid-week as high pressure becomes more dominant over the country. Remember that Tropo can be long-lasting, as opposed to brief Sporadic-E openings, and it is often better on higher frequencies, so if 2m feels good then look at 70cm and 23cm too. It is worth looking up on beaconspot.uk, checking out some of the useful beacons across DL, OZ, SM, SP, LY, YL, and ES and getting them in your rig memories. In the second part of the week Tropo is more likely to favour the western side of the UK and support paths south to France or Spain. Other modes such as rain scatter, aurora and meteor scatter are worth checking and of course, you have a number of opportunities using the low earth orbit and geostationary satellites to keep you interested. The Draconids meteor shower peaked on Friday and we have the small delta-Aurigids, with a low ZHR of two, peaking on the 11th.    For EME enthusiasts, the SV5/HB9COG DXpedition to Rhodes is now over, with the team making QSOs on all bands from 432MHz up to 10GHz with just a lightweight 1.5metre portable dish and a single Yagi. Moon declination reaches minimum on Tuesday with the Moon barely reaching 11 degrees elevation at its zenith that day. Path losses are still low but increasing. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday 26th of September 2021 The news headlines: RSGB Convention on 9 October Transatlantic centenary events Please keep emergency frequencies clear   There are less than two weeks to go before the RSGB Online Convention on the 9th of October. There will be two live streams of talks available all day with a Q&A session at the end of each talk. After the event, on the RSGB YouTube channel, you can view the lectures as many times as you wish. Allan, EA3HSO will talk about the JW0W DXpedition that was a mini-Arctic radio adventure. He is very active on the HF bands and an avid radio traveller and has taken part in several DXpeditions. He says that he loves pile-ups! Sean, KX9X is doing an Intro to Ham Radio Satellites, one of the fastest-growing areas of the hobby worldwide. It will be a beginner's guide on how the satellites function, what equipment is needed and some help to make it easier for you to get started. Questions are welcome! You can read about the other talks in the two streams at rsgb.org/convention. Whether you're new to amateur radio or have been enjoying it for years, do put the 9th of October in your diary. The RSGB and the ARRL in the USA, are jointly celebrating the achievement of transatlantic communications by radio amateurs 100 years ago. In December 1921, the ARRL sent Paul Godley, who held the US callsign 2ZE, as their representative to listen for amateur signals from North America during the Second Transatlantic Tests. Godley set up his listening equipment in Ardrossan, on the west coast of Scotland. During the morning of 12 December in Scotland, Godley received the first transatlantic message from amateur radio station 1BCG in Connecticut. These successful Transatlantic Tests, and the ones that followed in the next few years, would spur technological advances and new wireless distance records spanning the globe. There are several events celebrating these significant milestones that heralded the dawn of two-way international amateur radio communications. You can read more at rsgb.org/transatlantic-tests. The volcano on La Palmas in Spain's Canary Islands erupted for the first time in 50 years on Sunday the 19th of September. In order to facilitate communications to and from that area, EMCOM-SPAIN is asking for the Emergency Centre Of Activity frequencies to be kept clear in case the situation gets worse. The frequencies are 3.760MHz, 7.110MHz, 14.300MHz and 21.360MHz. The RSGB President, Stewart Bryant, G3YSX and Spectrum Chair Murray Niman, G6JYB attended the online IARU Region 3 Conference, hosted by the Thai National Society. One of the reasons for the RSGB attendance was to help in the preparation for the IARU Region 1 Strategic Workshop in October. The RSGB report is on the Conference website, search for IARU Region 3 Conference. Essex CW Amateur Radio Club will hold a CW Boot Camp on the 16th of October in Witham. You can find out more by searching on the internet for Essex CW ARC and clicking on the boot camp link. British Railways ARS is celebrating its 55th anniversary. During this weekend's Railways On The Air event they will be running GB0LMR and the following week GX4LMP will be on the air. There's more information on qrz.com. During the RSGB Online Convention on the 9th of October, we will be live streaming video from the National Radio Centre of real-time operations of GB3RS and GB4RS. Unlike last year when the NRC was entirely shut due to the pandemic, this year the visiting public will be able to watch proceedings. The Radio Room will need to be cordoned off due to the number of cameras and equipment required, but the public will be able to see what happens. Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society's face-to face-training will resume in October - at Danbury Village Hall CM3 4NQ. Foundation courses will be held in October and November and an Intermediate and Full course in December. See g0mwt.org.uk for full details. For 100 days, until the 23rd of December, all OH and OH0 stations may use the OF prefix to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Finnish Amateur Radio League.   And now for details of rallies and events Before travelling to any rally or event, please check the event's website as there may still be alterations or cancellations due to the pandemic. Weston-super-Mare Radio Society is holding its 6th Radio & Electronics Rally today, the 26th of September. It is in The Campus Community Centre, Highland Lane, Worle BS24 7DX, which is just off M5 junction 21. Over 60 tables have been booked and the doors will be open at 10 am. The entry fee is £3. The 3rd of October Welsh Radio Rally is cancelled, as previously publicised. The second part of the BATC Convention for amateur TV will take place on the 16th of October. It will be a day of free online talks about amateur television. Just search for BATC CAT21 and follow the link for the live stream. On the 17th of October, the Hornsea Amateur Radio Rally is due to be held in the Driffield Show Ground. Also on the 17th, the Hack Green radio Surplus Hangar Sale will be held at the Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker in Nantwich.   Now the DX news Nobby, G0VJG expects to be active as 8Q7CQ from the Maldives, AS- 013, from the 28th of September to the 13th of October. He will operate SSB and digital modes on the 80 to 10m bands. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS. Paul, G4PVM will be active as GW4PVM from Holy Island, EU-124, from the 26th of September to the 1st of October. He will operate holiday style on the 40 to 10m bands using CW and SSB. QSL via Logbook of The World and eQSL; the QSOs will be uploaded to Club Log and made available for Club Log Matching on the IOTA website.   Now the Special Event news GB8ROC will be operating from Scotland's Secret Bunker, in Fife, on Thursday the 30th of September. Further activity may take place the following weekend. This is to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the national stand-down of the Royal Observer Corps, and also to mark the 80th anniversary of the award of Royal title to the Observer Corps, in recognition of their services in the Battle of Britain. The operation will be on HF and VHF. QSL via the bureau. GB4SRM will be on the air for Railways On The Air today, the 26th of September, from Locomotion at Shildon in County Durham. All are welcome and entry to the venue is free.   Now the contest news When operating in contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following relevant pandemic-related government recommendations. The 48-hour CQ World Wide DX RTTY Contest ends at 2359UTC today, the 26th. Using the contest bands between 3.5 and 28MHz, the exchange is signal report and Zone, which is 14 for the UK. The UK Microwave group contest runs today from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on the 5.7 and 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The Practical Wireless 70MHz contest runs from 1200 to 1600UTC today, the 26th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Monday, the seventh FT4 series contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using the 80m band, the exchange is your 4-character locator. Tuesday sees the SHF UK Activity Contest run from 1830 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 2.3 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The UK EI Contest Club 80m CW contest runs for just an hour from 2000UTC. The exchange is your 6-character locator square. Next weekend there are several higher frequency contests. They all have the same exchange of signal report, serial number and locator. The 432MHz to 245GHz contest runs for 24-hours ending at 1400 on the 3rd of October. The IARU 432MHz to 245GHz contest runs for the same period. Saturday the 2nd of October sees both the 1.2GHz trophy and 2.3GHz Trophy contests run from 1400 to 2200UTC. Also next weekend is the 24-hour Oceania DX SSB contest, ending at 0800UTC on the 3rd. Using the contest bands between 1.8 and 28MHz the exchange is signal report and serial number. There are multiple categories to enter and there are new trophies this year for female operators both in and outside Oceania. Read more at oceaniadxcontest.com. The Worked-All-Britain DX contest will take place on Sunday the 3rd of October from 0500 to 2300UTC. Entries to be with the contest manager by the 13th of October. There will be a multiplier point for every DXCC country worked as well as for each WAB square worked. Contacts can be made on the 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m bands. The full rules are on the WAB website. Next Sunday, the 3rd of October, the DX Contest runs from 0500 to 2300UTC. Using CW and SSB on the contest bands between 3.5 and 28MHz, the exchange is signal report and serial number.   Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 24th of September. This week saw the Sun more active with up to five sunspot regions in place. Two of the regions are quite large, pushing the solar flux index up to 89 on Thursday with a sunspot number of 76. That should be enough to get the ionosphere up and running and we are also seeing early Autumnal HF propagation starting to take off. Gary, G0FWX reports working Central America and the Caribbean on 10 metres, namely Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Surinam. Brazil has also been logged, but we are still awaiting widespread reports of North American stations to be logged on 28MHz. Geomagnetic conditions have been variable with the Kp index hitting four on Wednesday, thanks to material from a coronal mass ejection. This sent the solar wind speed up to more than 400km per second and it was still above 300km/s on Thursday. There has been solar flare activity recently and we can expect it to continue. This could mean sudden ionospheric disturbances and HF blackouts if the flare is strong enough and occurs during daylight hours. There could also be associated coronal mass ejections to contend with. Next week NOAA predicts the solar flux index will remain in the mid-80s while the Kp index should eventually decline to two after reaching five this weekend. This is due to a coronal hole that is currently facing Earth. A high-speed solar wind stream flowing from this zone should reach Earth later this week and contribute to a geomagnetic disturbance at higher latitudes.    And now the VHF and up propagation news. As predicted last week, we had a mix of weak Tropo and rain scatter modes, with an isolated report of the Cornish 10GHz beacon GB3MCB being copied for an hour by G4DBN in East Yorkshire at 460km overland.  This coming week the Tropo conditions will take a hit as low pressure becomes the dominant pattern for the coming week. This will take the form of active fronts crossing the country together with areas of showers, so at least there will be some rain scatter potential for the GHz bands. At the moment, indications are that the return of any ridges, and hence Tropo, between the lows, will be temporary and limited in scope, so best to think of other options like meteor scatter or aircraft scatter and possibly aurora to provide the unconventional modes this week. There is one small meteor shower due to peak this week. The daytime Sextantids with a ZHR of five is due to peak on the 27th, but the timing of this peak is often uncertain. The maximum may occur even a day earlier than expected, so be alert and continue to check the early morning for the best random meteor scatter conditions. EME path losses are at their highest this week with apogee today, Sunday, but with peak Moon declination coming up on Wednesday there is plenty of Moon visibility for Moonbounce enthusiasts. The Moon is at its zenith in the early morning. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday 19th of September 2021 The news headlines: RSGB Convention on 9 October Join in with Exercise Blue Ham on 5MHz New RSGB VHF UHF award   The RSGB Online Convention is taking place on the 9th of October. There will be two live streams of talks available all day with a Q&A session at the end of each talk. After the event, on the RSGB YouTube channel, you can view the lectures as many times as you wish. Callum, M0MCX from DX Commander is no stranger to YouTube videos. He will talk about An Obsession with Antennas, covering everything from very basic antenna modelling, through antenna shapes to achieving an impossible gain. You can watch a video trailer about the Convention and read about the other talks in the two streams at rsgb.org/convention. Whether you're new to amateur radio or have been enjoying it for years, do put the 9th of October in your diary. The RAF Air Cadets are planning to run the next Blue Ham Radio Communications Exercise on the 16th and 17th of October. They hope that radio amateurs can put some time aside to join in with the cadets and staff on the shared section of the 5MHz bands. A Blue Ham participation certificate is available to those who contact 15 or more special Cadet callsigns during the exercise. Details will be on the alphacharlie.org.uk website. The RSGB has introduced a new VHF UHF award. It is intended to encourage people to use their new handheld and the substantial bandwidth we have at VHF and UHF. There are five levels of awards available for progression. Full details as rsgb.org.uk/awards Another casualty of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic is the 2021 Tokyo Ham Fair, scheduled for the 2nd and 3rd of October. Due to the latest wave of infection this summer, the Japanese national society, JARL, has reluctantly decided to cancel the Ham Fair. They hope that the Tokyo Ham Fair will be back in 2022 under safer conditions. The recently formed Amplitude Modulation Amateur Society has announced the date of its very first monthly AM net. It will take place today, Sunday the 19th of September, at 1830UTC on 3.625MHz. Robert, GW6GBY will be the net controller, using the callsign GC5AMS from the historic transmitter site at Criggion. Members and non-members are welcome to join in, using AM. More information is on QRZ.com under G5AMS. Next week, after a few months of normal eclipse periods, FUNcube-1, AO73, will re-enter full sunlight for about two months. It has been in continuous transponder mode for some time now and AMSAT-UK has decided that, during this sunlight period, FUNcube-1 should operate in continuous high-power telemetry mode. The change will be made within the next few days. FUNcube-1 has now been in orbit for almost eight years and the telemetry indicates that all systems, including the battery and solar panels, appear to be operating as well now as they did immediately after launch. The IARU Region 1 Monitoring Service newsletter, dated August 2021, is now available. Generally, August showed a very similar situation to previous months. Well-known intruders were regularly present in the 7MHz band. From time to time, an intermodulation artefact of 13855kHz and 13710kHz was heard on 14000kHz. Also, several over the horizon radar systems were active almost daily. You can read the full report, including the UK report from Richard, G4DYA, at iaru-r1.org. And now for details of rallies and events Before travelling to any rally or event, please check the event's website as there may still be alterations or cancellations due to the pandemic. Today, the 19th, the Cambridge Repeater Group Rally will be held in Foxton Village hall, Hardman Road, Foxton CB22 6RN. Please be aware that there will not be a Bring & Buy, but car boot traders are welcome. Visitors are recommended to wear face masks for the indoor section. Doors open at 9.30 am and entry is £3. Weston-super-Mare Radio Society be holding its 6th Radio & Electronics Rally on the 26th of September. It will be held in The Campus Community Centre, Highland Lane, Worle BS24 7DX, which is just off M5 junction 21. Over 60 tables have been booked and the doors will be open at 10 am. The entry fee is £3. The 3rd of October Welsh Radio Rally is cancelled, as previously publicised. Now the DX news SP9FIH and SP6CIK will be active as D60AC and D60AD respectively, from the Comoros archipelago, IOTA reference AF-007, until the 2nd of October. They will operate SSB, CW, RTTY and FT8 on the 80, 40, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10m bands. The preferred method of QSL is via Club Log's OQRS, otherwise use their home callsigns. Look for JI3DST/5, JR8YLY/5 and JR8YLY/p using FT8 from Shodo Island, AS-200, until the 23rd of September and again between the 25th and 28th September. All QSOs will be uploaded to Club Log and made available for Club Log Matching on the IOTA website. Stian, LB5SH will be active as OY/LB5SH from the Faroe Islands, EU-018, until the 20th of September. He will operate mainly SSB and FT8, possibly with some CW during the SAC Contest. QSL via Logbook of The World. Now the Special Event news Thurrock Acorns Amateur Radio Club will be operating GB2BB for the Battle of Britain until the 20th of September. Riviera Amateur Radio Club will be running GB8BB in September in commemoration of those who served in the Battle of Britain. Apologies for the error last week, this is the 81st anniversary of the Battle of Britain. GB8ROC will be operating from Scotland's Secret Bunker, in Fife, on Thursday the 30th of September. Further activity may take place the following weekend. This is to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the national stand-down of the Royal Observer Corps, and also to mark the 80th anniversary of the award of Royal title to the Observer Corps, in recognition of their services in the Battle of Britain. The operation will be on HF and VHF. QSL via the bureau. GB4SRM will be on the air for Railways On The Air on the 25th and 26th of September from Locomotion at Shildon in County Durham. All are welcome and entry to the venue is free. Now the contest news When operating in contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following relevant pandemic-related government recommendations. Today, the 19th, is the 70MHz Affiliated Clubs Contest, running from 0900 to 1200UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The IRTS 70cm Counties contest runs from 1300 to 1330UTC today, the 19th. Using SSB and FM, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Note that EI and GI stations also give their County. The IRTS 2m Counties Contest is also today, but running from 1330 to 1500UTC. Details and exchange are the same as for the 70cm contest. Finally, the BARTG Sprint PSK63 contest runs from 1700 to 2100UTC today. The exchange is just the serial number. 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. Thursday sees the data leg of the 80m Autumn Series take place from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. Next weekend is the 48-hour CQ World Wide DX RTTY Contest, ending at 2359UTC on the 26th. Using the contest bands between 3.5 and 28MHz, the exchange is signal report and Zone, which is 14 for the UK. The UK Microwave group contest runs next Sunday from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on the 5.7 and 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The Practical Wireless 70MHz contest runs from 1200 to 1600UTC next Sunday, the 26th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 17th of September. After last week's very active Sun, we have had a quieter week with little solar activity. As of Thursday, there were zero sunspots and the solar flux index had declined to 75, pretty much as predicted. The upside is that the Sun has been quiet geomagnetically with a maximum Kp index of three over the past week. This means the ionosphere has not been adversely affected. HF conditions have been adequate rather than exceptional, with FT8 F2-layer openings on 10 metres as well as some late-season Sporadic-E. Brazil has been logged in the late afternoons on 10m FT8, as have a few other stations from the Caribbean and South America. We haven't seen much of the long-awaited Autumnal trans-Atlantic DX on 10 metres, but it is still early days. We may not see this until later in the month or even early October. At the moment it isn't looking too good for next week either. NOAA predicts the SFI will be in the range 76 to 78. This could, of course, change if we have a sudden outburst of sunspots. Geomagnetically, NOAA predicts more of the same with the Kp index at two to three. Propquest shows that the predicted maximum usable frequency over a 3,000km path is likely to just touch the lower end of 21MHz at times. And now the VHF and up propagation news. The continuation of the mixed weak Tropo and rain scatter modes seems to be the way to go during the period to next weekend. At the moment the primary Tropo period comes along for the first half of next week, before being eroded from the west as Atlantic fronts move in. The preferred Tropo directions are probably east across the North Sea and south into northern France. The other modes such as meteor scatter and aurora and of course, the most reliable of DX modes, aircraft scatter, are always worth checking out. Now international air travel is getting frequent again, the dip in aircraft scatter opportunities that we had at the height of the pandemic, should be reducing, so check the beaconspot.uk website for the latest on VHF and up beacons and monitor them to see some interesting propagation, and set up some skeds on VHF and up via the ON4KST.info chat. Look on www.airscout.eu to download an excellent aircraft scatter path prediction program from Frank, DL2ALF. No meteor showers this week, and random meteor activity will be declining from the August/September peak, but keep checking in the early morning for the best random meteor scatter conditions. Time to put the EME system back in the dish for this month as we return to positive Moon declination on Tuesday. Losses are still low but increasing this week. The Moon is up from early evening to the early hours. And that's all from the propagation team this week.  

GB2RS News Sunday 12th of September 2021 The news headlines: IARU Region 1 awards medals RSGB Convention trailer released Electrojumble at Computing Museum IARU Region 1 has announced the recipients of the Region 1 Medals. They are six people who have each made a very significant contribution to the IARU Region 1's work over the years. Hilary Claytonsmith, G4JKS, is an EMC Committee member and, until recently, its Secretary for nearly 25 years. She has been an IARU representative in the European Telecommunications Standardisation Institute during discussions on power line technology. The EMC Committee is a forum for progressing the Region's work on EMC matters and much of its success is due to Hilary's early work. Hilary is also a past President of the RSGB. Dave Court, EI3IO led the Spectrum and Regulatory Liaison Committee through the period of WRC 19 that resulted in the Region-wide allocation to the amateur service of a 2MHz segment at 50MHz. Other medal recipients were Peter, HB9CET, Tore, LA9QL, Jacques, ON4AVJ and Hans, ON6WQ. You can read more about the six medallists online at iaru-r1.org. The RSGB Online Convention is taking place on the 9th of October. The Society has just released its video trailer for the event that will give you a taste of what to expect. There will be two streams of talks available all day as well as after the event on the RSGB YouTube channel. Steve, G0KYA, chairman of the RSGB's Propagation Studies Committee, will look at what we can expect from the upcoming solar maximum in his talk Solar Cycle 25 – the good, the bad and the downright ugly. He looks at the good and not so good aspects, including better propagation on the higher HF bands, but greater risks of solar flares and coronal mass ejections. You can watch the video and read about the other talks in the two streams, at rsgb.org/convention. Whether you're new to amateur radio or have been enjoying it for years, do put the 9th of October in your diary. The National Museum of Computing on the Bletchley Park site will be holding an Electrojumble on Sunday the 19th of September from 11 am to 3 pm. Although entry to the event is free, admission will be by pre-booked ticket only. For more detailed information and booking details please visit tnmoc.org and scroll to upcoming events. The early 1920s saw the dawn of international amateur radio. A series of significant milestones led, over some five years, from no amateur transmission ever having been heard on another continent, to intercontinental two-way communications becoming commonplace. The RSGB will commemorate these historic events by encouraging everyone to get on the air to make QSOs, focusing on December 2021 and December 2022. Full details of how you can participate will be published via the Society's communications channels over the coming months. There will be features and photos in RadCom but you can also read the fascinating story on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/transatlantic-tests. Last week RSGB General Manager Steve Thomas, M1ACB was invited to speak online to Stockport Radio Society members. His presentation explained the framework of the RSGB, looked back at the challenges and successes of 2020, and also highlighted the need to support the thousands of new licensees who have joined in the last year. He answered a wide range of questions and was joined by RSGB Board Director Dave Wilson, M0OBW. You can watch the presentation on the Stockport Radio Society YouTube channel. Sadly, the GENESIS-L and GENESIS-N amateur radio satellites were among several lost following the failure of the Firefly Alpha rocket during launch. An anomaly occurred about two minutes into the mission, causing controllers to destroy the launcher in flight. The anomaly has yet to be explained. This week, the RSGB passed the fantastic milestone of 4,000 candidates passing their Foundation licence via remote invigilation. In 2020 the Society implemented remote invigilation in stages for all three licence levels, to enable people to become involved with amateur radio and progress despite the pandemic. The RSGB is delighted that 1,241 candidates have since passed the Intermediate exam and 544 have gained their Full licence. Thanks are due to the small team of remote invigilators and congratulations to all those successful candidates. The DXCC Most Wanted entities list has been updated on Club Log. The full list contains 340 entities, with the top three being North Korea, Bouvet Island and Crozet Island. There have been no changes at the top of the list. And now for details of rallies and events Before travelling to any rally or event, please check the event's website as there may still be alterations or cancellations due to the pandemic. Today, the 12th, the Caister Lifeboat Rally takes place at Caister Lifeboat station, Tan Lane, Caister on Sea, Norfolk NR30 5DJ. Doors open at 9.30 am. There will be a raffle and the onsite café will be open. The museum will also be open. Also, today the 12th, the Exeter Radio and Electronics Rally takes place in America Hall, De la Rue Way, Pinhoe, Exeter EX4 8PW. Doors open at 10.30 am and admission is £2, with under-16s free. Visitors are encouraged to wear a face-covering when inside. Next Sunday, the Cambridge Repeater Group Rally will be held in Foxton Village hall, Hardman Road, Foxton CB22 6RN. Please be aware that there will not be a Bring & Buy, but car boot traders are welcome. Visitors are recommended to wear face masks for the indoor section. Doors open at 9.30 am and entry is £3. Looking ahead, the Weston-super-Mare Rally will take place on the 26th of September in the Campus Community Centre BS24 7DX. Doors open at 10 am and entry is £3. Now the DX news Gabor, HA3JB will be active as 5H1IP from Zanzibar Island, IOTA reference AF-032, between the 17th and 29th of September. He will operate CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8 on the 160 to 6m bands. QSL via Club Log's OQRS, or direct to HA3JB. Adrien, F4IHM will be back in Niger until the 22nd of October and will be active as 5UAIHM in his spare time. He operates CW and SSB on the 40 and 20m bands. QSL via F4IHM, direct or via the bureau. Harald, DF2WO will be active as 9X2AW from Kigali in Rwanda between the 13th and 28th of September. He will operate CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8 on the 160 to 10m bands. QSL via M0OXO and Logbook of The World. Klaus, DL8DZL will be active as DL8DZL/P from Usedom Island, EU-129, until the 21st of September. He will operate CW and SSB on the 40 to 10m bands. QSL via his home callsign, direct or via the bureau. Now the Special Event news International Chocolate Day is on the 13th of September. EG5DIC will be on the air to mark International Chocolate Day until the 19th of September. Using CW, SSB and FT8 on the 10 to 80m bands, and there is a downloadable award available. Thurrock Acorns Amateur Radio Club will be operating GB2BB for the Battle of Britain from the 10th to the 20th of September. Riviera Amateur Radio Club will be running GB8BB in September in commemoration of those who served in the Battle of Britain. This year is the 80th anniversary. Now the contest news When operating in contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following any government recommendations during the pandemic. This weekend, the WAE DX SSB contest ends its 48-hour run at 2359UTC today, the 12th. Using all the contest bands from 3.5 to 28MHz, the exchange is signal report and serial number. European stations work non-European stations only. Today, the UK Microwave group contest runs from 0900 to 1700UTC. Using the 24 to 76GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 432 UK Activity Contest at 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the CW leg of the 80m Autumn Series runs from 1900 to 2100UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. The 70MHz UK Activity Contest takes place between 1900 and 2130UTC on Thursday. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next Sunday is the 70MHz Affiliated Clubs Contest, running from 0900 to 1200UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The IRTS 70cm Counties contest runs from 1300 to 1330UTC next Sunday, the 19th. Using SSB and FM, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Note that EI and GI stations also give their County. The IRTS 2m Counties Contest is also next Sunday, but running from 1330 to 1500UTC. Details and exchange are the same as for the 70cm contest. Finally, for next Sunday, the BARTG Sprint PSK63 contest runs from 1700 to 2100UTC. The exchange is just the serial number. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 10th of September. What a difference a week makes! Last week we were looking at a virtually spotless Sun and we said that NOAA predicted the SFI would decline into the low 80s. But this week we have had an explosion of sunspot activity. As a result, the SFI has gone up to 100 with a sunspot number of 87. Just to recap, that doesn't mean that there are 87 sunspots, as groups count for 10 and sunspots count for one. In any event, it shows that the cycle is progressing nicely. The solar wind pushed the Kp index up to four on Wednesday, but this didn't seem to impact MUFs too much. HF conditions are definitely improving, probably by a combination of seasonal changes and the increased solar flux. There were extensive openings to South America and the Caribbean this week on 21MHz and we can expect these to improve as the month goes on. It was good to work the Dominican Republic on 15m FT8 as well as numerous Brazilian and Argentinian stations. It will be interesting to see if we get 10m openings to North America in late September, which normally requires an SFI of more than 100 to make them reliable. Next week NOAA predicts the SFI will reduce to around 85 again as active regions 2863 to 2869 rotate out of view. There are signs of another group that will come into view, but we may not get the high SFI that we have experienced this week. The good news is that geomagnetic conditions are likely to remain settled due to a lack of coronal holes, as long as we don't get any coronal mass ejections. And now the VHF and up propagation news. For newer licensees, last weekend was possibly the first experience of a decent Tropo opening coinciding with a major European SSB/CW contest. The European 144MHz contest showed what the band is capable of, without the help of a computer, with SSB QSOs from Scotland down to the Czech Republic. This week on VHF and above it's very much a little bit of Tropo, a little bit rain scatter, and a little bit flat band. The weekend is seeing the end of the unsettled conditions with high pressure returning for a while for the start of the new week. A couple of further showery incursions and rain in the northwest around midweek and just a hint that further high-pressure ridging may return at the end of the week. So, in terms of propagation interests, it feels like a mix of Tropo and some GHz rain scatter at times, with periods of no particular preference, and of course, always a small chance of some aurora or meteor scatter, so keep your options open. Random meteor activity is still high and the September Epsilon-Perseids are still active until the 21st of September, so keep checking in the early morning for the best MS conditions. With the Moon at minimum declination on Tuesday, peak moon elevations drop to 11 degrees and the Moon is only above the horizon for around six and a half hours. It reached perigee on Saturday so path losses will be low but increasing. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday 29th August 2021 The news headlines: G QRP Convention details announced RSGB releases more Online Convention info Farnham WebSDR to close   The G QRP club has released a detailed agenda for its Online Convention 2021, taking place on the 4th and 5th of September. The event comprises a series of online presentations and knowledge-sharing meetings where people can share ideas and ask questions. You can find all the details at gqrp.com. The RSGB has announced further details of its online Convention, which will be held on Saturday the 9th of October. The event will be streamed live on the Society's YouTube channel. Andrew Barron, ZL3DW will present an entertaining talk about Software Defined Radio that re-evaluates what we mean by SDR. The talk is technical, but not too technical; no maths – well, not much – no software code and no vector diagrams. It is suitable for those who want to learn more about software-defined radio. Ray Novak, N9JA from Icom is well-known in DXing circles. He will look at the question of would you like to be on a DXpedition that doesn't break the bank? He will help you get interesting ideas on how to have fun as if you were on a DXpedition to a rare entity because your next amateur adventure could be as close as your local park. Whether you're new to amateur radio or have been enjoying it for years, do put the 9th of October in your diary. You can find more information at rsgb.org/convention. The popular amateur radio WebSDR at Farnham is to close in a few weeks due to a change of site ownership. It is hoped to eventually relocate to a new site, and the operators are asking for help to identify a suitable location. More at farnham-sdr.com. Ron White, G6LTT has been co-opted as RSGB Regional Representative 9, London and Thames Valley, until the RSGB 2022 AGM. He can be contacted by email to rr9@rsgb.org.uk. Other appointments include Martin Hallard, G1TYV who takes up the role of District Representative 52, Central and East Birmingham and Leigh Preece, M5GWH, District Representative 55, Staffordshire. The Cambridge Repeater Group Foxton Rally is still going ahead on Sunday the 19th of September, however, there will not be a Bring & Buy. Car Boot traders are welcome. See cambridgerepeaters.net for details. If you are planning a visit to the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park, please note that the RSGB will continue asking visitors to wear a face mask or shield, unless exempt. This policy is in the interest of volunteer and visitor safety, as there is limited airflow and it can get crowded in the theatre and technology areas. The RSGB is actively looking to recruit additional volunteers to join the team, particularly for the weekends. If you think this could be of interest to you, contact Martyn, G0GMB via email to martyn.baker@rsgb.org.uk. And now for details of rallies and events Before travelling to any rally or event, please check the event's website as there may be alterations or cancellations due to the pandemic. As previously publicised, the Milton Keynes ARS Rally, originally due to be held on the 29th of August, is cancelled. The organisers look forward to welcoming visitors again in 2022. The organisers of the Torbay Amateur Radio Society are very pleased to be able to confirm that the annual communications rally is going ahead today, the 29th of August. The event is being held at the Newton Abbot Racecourse site. Further details are at tars.org.uk. The Huntingdonshire ARS Rally will take place on bank holiday Monday, the 30th, at Ernulf Academy, St Neots PE19 2SH. Gates open for the public at 9 pm. There is free car parking, a Bring and Buy and indoor and outdoor stalls are available. More at hunts-hams.co.uk. The online G-QRP Convention takes place on the 4th and 5th of September. See gqrp.com. The annual Telford HamFest takes place on the 5th of September, at the Harper Adams University campus near Telford, Shropshire. In addition to the usual wide range of traders and exhibitors, there will be presentations by three prominent speakers covering topics such as EME, antennas and RTTY. The event opens at 10.15 am, with talk-in via GB4THF. Details can be found at telfordhamfest.org.uk. Now the DX news A group will be active as TM3U from the Saint Marcouf Islands, IOTA reference EU-081, until the 3rd of September. They will operate CW, SSB and digital modes on the 80 to 6m bands. They also plan to be active on the QO-100 satellite. All QSOs will be uploaded to Club Log and confirmed automatically via the bureau; direct cards should be sent to ON8AZ. See eu081.be for updates. Matt, AF2F will be active again as AF2F/W4 from Hatteras Island, NA-067 until the 4th of September. He will operate CW and FT8 on the HF bands, and Q65 on 6 metres. QSL via Club Log's OQRS. Paco, EA7KNT plans to be active as D4SAL from Sal, AF-086, in Cape Verde until the 5th of September. Now the Special Event news Nigel, M0NJW will be active as GB1SAK between the 3rd and the 5th of September during the St Anne's Kite Festival. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS. This special event station will run from the beach using a long wire supported by a kite flying at a maximum of 60m above the ground. The Shropshire Linux User Group is celebrating 30 years of the Linux operating system with GB4TUX from the 4th of September. The call will be activated from the Telford Hamfest on the 5th of September. Members of Leyland & District Amateur Radio will be activating a disused 1950s passenger liner on the 4th and 5th of September. The TSS Duke of Lancaster is beached on the River Dee Estuary, North Wales. The group will operate as GB1DOL with a mixture of SSB, CW, FM and FT8 on HF and the 2m band. Details are on QRZ.com. Members of the Air Training Corps from Surrey Wing will be operating GB80ATC at their Annual Field Day at Brooklands Museum in Weybridge on the 4th of September. This marks the 80th anniversary of the Air Training Corps. The station plans to be operating on the 2m band using FM and on the 80 to 12m bands depending on conditions. Operations will be between 9 am and 4 pm. The Alabama Contest Group will operate a Special Event commemorating the victims of the 9/11 attacks. It will run from the 5th of September at 0000UTC to the 12th of September at 2359UTC. The callsign will be K4A and there will be special QSL cards available. QSL with SASE to Bob Beaudoin, WA1FCN. 9Y59IND will be on the air to celebrate Trinidad and Tobago's 59th Independence Day. Running until the 12th of September, it will operate HF SSB, FT8, EME, DMR and D-Star. A schedule of activities can be found at 9y59ind.info. Riviera Amateur Radio Club will be running GB8BB in September in commemoration of those who served in the Battle of Britain. This year is the 80th anniversary. Now the contest news When operating in contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following any government recommendations during the pandemic. This weekend is the World-Wide Digi DX contest. It runs for 24 hours from 1200UTC on the 28th to 1200UTC on the 29th. Using FT4 and FT8 on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is your 4-character locator. Today, the 29th, the UK Microwave group contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on the 5.7 and 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday, the 144MHz FT8 Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange is signal report and your 4-character locator. Also on Wednesday, the UK EI Contest Club 80m contest runs from 2000 to 2100UTC. The exchange is your 6-character locator. On Saturday, the CWops CW Open contest runs for the full 24 hours. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is serial number and your name. There are three 4-hour sessions to this contest. Next weekend is a busy one for contests. The SSB Field Day runs from 1300UTC on the 4th to 1300UTC on the 5th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The IARU Region 1 Field Day also runs for 24 hours from 1300UTC on the 4th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The 144MHz Trophy Contest also runs for 24-hours from 1300UTC on the 4th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The All Asian DX contest runs for 48 hours next weekend from 0000UTC on the 4th. It is SSB only on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands. The exchange is signal report and your age, although ladies can just send 00. The 2nd Fox Mike Hotel Portable Operations Challenge will take place on the 4th and 5th of September. Session 1 is 0800 to 1159UTC on the 4th; Session 2 is 1600 to 1959UTC also on the 4th; Session 3 is 0000 to 0359UTC is on the 5th. This contest uses the 10, 15, 20, 40 and 80m bands. CW, phone and digital contacts are permitted. Full details at foxmikehotel.com/challenge. Next Sunday, the 5th, the fifth 144MHz Backpackers contest runs from 1100 to 1500UTC. Using all modes on the 144MHz band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The Worked All Britain 144MHz QRO contest will take place on the 5th of September from 1000 to 1400UTC. The full rules are on their website. Entries to be with the contest manager by the 15th of September. Mobile and portable categories have resumed, but the organisers ask that participants please act sensibly. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 27th of August. We had another week with a quiet Sun, but it wasn't as settled as you might think. Yes, the solar flux index was in the low- to-mid-80s, but the Sun started to get very active. The first event on Sunday saw a prominence eruption off the west limb that flung a coronal mass ejection, or CME, into space. Another eruption near active region 2859 also launched a large amount of plasma into space, but luckily it was not headed towards Earth. So, by Thursday, we had two large sunspot groups visible, with perhaps region 2860 looking more and more active as it grows. Any potential CME activity occurring as a result of any solar flare this weekend will likely end up hitting the Earth. DX was a little sparse, but there were some nuggets to be had. Josep, EA3BT, on holiday in Tanzania, was workable on 15m as 5I3B and Pasi, OJ0W, on Market Reef, supplied CW QSOs for many stations on a mix of bands including 80 metres. Gary, G0FWX on the 10 metre UK Net Facebook group reported hearing Australia on 10m FT8 last week. Gary said: “I started working VKs in the middle of September on SSB last year, but this is a good sign”. Next week, NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be in the mid-70s with mainly settled geomagnetic conditions. Friday the third is the exception when the Kp index is set to rise to four. Maximum usable frequencies are starting to rise a little thanks to seasonal changes, with 18MHz and even 21MHz often open during the daytime. These openings will likely firm up as we head towards mid-September and head into Autumn ionospheric conditions. And now the VHF and up propagation news. High pressure looks very likely to dominate the weather charts for the coming week and will continue the Tropo-themed weather pattern of the last few days. Unlike Sporadic-E, Tropo tends to be long lasting but is usually better overnight and across sea paths like the North Sea or across Biscay to Spain and beyond to EA8. Don't forget to try modes other than FM and FT8, such as SSB or CW – and do call CQ if the band is quiet. Sporadic-E itself is looking less exciting as we head to the end of the current summer season. Fleeting events can still happen, and 10m will carry the most traffic with just the odd foray onto 6m on a good day. Meteor scatter via random meteors is usually at its best in August, so keep looking around dawn to benefit from the pre-dawn enhancement. This is caused by the dayside of the earth rotating into the flux of meteors in the orbital plane. There is just one small meteor shower this week, peaking on the 1st of September. The Aurigids have a low Zenithal Hourly Rate of just six. The Moon reaches apogee on Monday so path losses will be at their highest for the month. On the positive side, peak declination occurs on Thursday so we have high peak elevations over 60 degrees meaning less ground noise at VHF and long Moon visibility windows. And that's all from the propagation team this week.  

GB2RS News Sunday 18th July 2021 The news headlines: RSGB Survey results published Build Off in Cornwall New Full course from Distance Learning Team   The RSGB ran an amateur radio survey in May as part of its input to an IARU workshop. Over one thousand people responded and gave their views of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for amateur radio both currently and in the future. A summary of the responses has been published in the August RadCom. You can also read the summary on the RSGB website at thersgb.org/gb2rs/011. On the 1st of August, the radio operators of Cornwall are holding the 1st Cornwall Antenna Build-Off. This is a free event, organised by Callum, G5XDX with the support of local stations and sponsored by PJ BOX. As well as the Build-Off there are Bring & Buy tables available as well as refreshments. For details of the event and competition rules please search @g5xdx on Facebook or email G5XDX@gmx.co.uk. The Bath Based Distance Learning team is now planning another course for the Full level exam syllabus. The course will run from the end of August to December this year. Students will receive weekly work packages via a virtual classroom and will have access to weekly online tutorials. Students will also have access to one of the remote tutors who will provide feedback and additional guidance when required. There will be no charge for the training but applicants must work through a pre-course classroom and quiz to be eligible for a place. The deadline for course applications is the 4th of August. For full details, and an application form, email g0fuw@tiscali.co.uk. The QSL Bureau sub-manager for the G4T to Z group is retiring and a replacement volunteer to distribute cards to this active sub-group is urgently needed. If you are an RSGB Member, have time, a little space and some basic computer skills, the bureau would like to hear from you. You can find out more by emailing qsl@rsgb.org.uk. The callsign GB4RS is issued to the President of the Radio Society of Great Britain for the term of their office. Stewart Bryant, G3YSX is the current RSGB President and intends to use this call sign as often as possible. Listen out for him on the air. As GB2RS continues to expand, it is a pleasure to extend a warm welcome to a new newsreader. Peter, G3XDS has started a 2m simplex reading in the Mansfield area, which improves coverage and is attracting a strong new audience. Michael, 2J0SZI who has delivered many a bulletin on Jersey over the years is retiring and we wish him all the best for the future. And now for details of rallies and events Before travelling to any rally or event, please check the event's website as there may be alterations or cancellations due to the current restrictions. Finningley ARS Car Boot will be outdoor only with doors opening at 10 am on the 25th of July. It is located near M18 junction 2, Doncaster. Admission is £3. The Wiltshire Radio Rally, Electronics Fair & Car Boot Sale is planned for Sunday the 1st of August at Kington Langley Village Hall & fields, SNl5 5NJ. Doors are open from 9 am to 3 pm and admission is free. Details at chippenhamradio.club. Dartmoor Radio Rally has moved to the 15th of August at Yelverton War Memorial Hall. Now the DX news John, MM0CCC, Gordon, MM0GPZ, Keith, GM4YXI and Chris, GM3WOJ will be active as GM7V during next weekend's IOTA contest. They will operate as a Multi-2 station from Benbecula, which is EU-010. QSL via N3SL. The C6AHA DX-pedition to the Bimini Islands, IOTA reference NA-048, appears to have been postponed until October this year. However, a smaller team is currently active from Bimini using the call sign C6AHB. They will operate until 21st of July. Five operators from Cray Valley Radio Society will be active as GM3RCV from Ceann Ear Monarch Islands, EU-111, from the 22nd to 27th of July. They will take part in the IOTA Contest as MM8C. QSLs via Club Log's OQRS and Logbook of The World. 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. 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 18th, the International Low Power contest runs from 0900 to 1600UTC. Using the 3.5 to 14MHz bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report, serial number and power. 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 is the data leg of the 80m Club Championships. Running from 1900 to 2030UTC, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Next weekend is the 24-hour Islands On The Air contest. It runs from 1200UTC on the 24th to 1200UTC on the 25th. Using CW and SSB on the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and your IOTA reference. Stations on the UK mainland are IOTA reference EU-005; a full list can be found at iota-world.org. Next Sunday, the 25th, the UK Microwave Group contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on the 5.7 and 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 16th of July The solar flux index remained in the 70s last week, reflecting the lack of decent sunspots. What spots we did have were both minuscule and un-noteworthy. The high-speed wind stream from a large solar coronal hole impacted the Earth a little later than predicted. In the end, it hit us during the late afternoon and early evening of Wednesday the 14th, pushing the Kp index to four. Its effects were felt during the evening's RSGB's 80-metre club championship contest with a noisy band, fading and compromised signals. The good news is that the major outage of the server at the University of Massachusetts Lowell has now been fixed. This means that the ionosonde data on the Propquest.co.uk website for the foF2 graphs is back and all services have resumed. To recap, Propquest gives us near real-time displays of the critical frequency over the UK and from this, it also extrapolates likely maximum useable frequencies over different path lengths. Sporadic-E remains the most interesting mode for HF propagation, with extensive openings on the higher bands. Next week NOAA predicts that the SFI will be in the high 70s and might even reach 81 during the middle of the week. At the moment, it does look like the Sun may be free of coronal holes, which bodes well for a settled ionosphere. The risk of solar flares also appears to be low. Don't forget that it is the RSGB's Islands on the Air contest next weekend, which may throw up some interesting DX on HF. And now the VHF and up propagation news At the moment, you will find some lovely tropospheric ducting across the Mediterranean from east to west, typical for high-summer. Sadly, few UK visitors will be able to take advantage of it. Pascal, F5LEN produces a day-by-day Tropo ducting forecast. Just Google F5LEN Tropo to find it, and you will see that Tropo ducting is quite commonplace at this time of the year. In view of a return to high-pressure weather at home, keep a lookout for good sea paths across the Irish Sea, North Sea and the English Channel. Tropo paths overland tend to fade quickly as the sun heats things up in the early morning, but often the sea paths remain active through the day. The Sporadic-E season is still underway with occasional openings up to 2m and not just on FT8; CW and SSB are getting involved too. The jet streams are looking weaker in the coming week for European paths, but still worth checking out paths across the Atlantic later in the day or farther afield to the Far East in the early morning. As ever, check the clusters and set aside a little time late afternoon for the best chance of getting into any Sporadic-E that might present itself. May 2022 sees the point in the Lunar cycle where the closest approach of the Moon, perigee, coincides with minimum declination. It's not until September 2026 that the highest declination coincides with perigee again. This all means that for the next few years, lowest EME path losses occur with the Moon at low declination and Moon visibility windows are short. This week, declination is negative and still falling, so Moon visibility windows will shorten. Path losses will continue to fall throughout the week until perigee on Wednesday. There are no significant meteor showers until the Southern delta Aquarids at the end of this month. This shower has a broad ZHR peak of 25 running from the 26th of July through to the 31st of July. Until then, continue to look around dawn for the best random meteor scatter opportunities. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday 11th July 2021 The news headlines: RSGB Convention goes online for 2021 YOTA contest second leg National Radio Centre reopens Despite hoping to meet face-to-face again this year, the RSGB Convention in October will again be online. This major indoor event takes many months to plan and, due to continuing Covid-19 uncertainty, the Society has to make the safety of attendees, volunteers and staff a priority. We are putting together another programme of excellent presentations across two streams that will provide information and inspiration no matter how long you've been a radio amateur. Look out for more details in RadCom, GB2RS and online in the coming weeks. The Youngsters On The Air Contest is open to all radio amateurs and comprises three 12-hour sessions with the aim to boost on-the-air activity by younger radio amateurs and to support Youngsters On The Air. The second leg is on the 18th of July from 1000 to 2159UTC. In the first leg more than 100 entries were from contesters between 7 and 25 years old. Full details can be found at ham-yota.com. The tree felling adjacent to the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park was completed successfully and the NRC re-opened last Thursday as planned. It is open every day except Wednesday to pre-booked Bletchley Park visitors. In April the G-QRP Club ran a survey to gauge support for a in-person Convention in 2021. The results showed that the vast majority are not yet willing to meet in person and would prefer another virtual Convention. The G-QRP Club Convention 2021 will be a virtual event over the weekend of the 5th and 6th of September. The Committee are now working on matching up the wish lists of topics and suggested speakers. If you are having problems with interference, the EMC help desk is there to help, and can be contacted by e-mail on helpdesk.emc@rsgb.org.uk. The helpdesk, coordinated by Ken, G3SDW, operates via e-mail, calling on many years of experience of dealing with interference problems. They do not carry out home visits except in very exceptional circumstances. This service is operated by volunteers in their own time and will be provided via e-mail. Requests to correspond via the telephone, especially to mobile numbers are to be avoided. Don't forget, the RSGB do not have any powers of enforcement. If this is required you should contact the regulatory body, Ofcom. Locating the source of interference, particularly if it is outside your own premises, will require a certain amount of leg work. If you are unable to do this, you may be able to enlist the help of another amateur or local club. The Summer 2021 AM QSO Party runs from 1800UTC on the 16th of July until 1800UTC on the 18th. This is an opportunity to make some QSOs using the AM mode on all the available HF bands from 160m to 10m. Dragon Amateur Radio Club will be operating portable from the island of Anglesey for this event using GB0AMC. The operators would welcome QSOs with people far and wide, so please do listen out for them. Details of the event can be found by searching for Summer 2021 AM QSO Party online. And now for details of rallies and events Before travelling to any rally or event, please check the event's website as there may be alterations or cancellations due to the current restrictions. The East Suffolk Wireless Revival and McMichael rally & boot sale, both originally planned for today, the 11th, are not taking place this year, as previously publicised. Other rallies that have been cancelled due to the pandemic are the Rugby Rally originally planned for August, The National Hamfest planned for September and the Welsh Radio Rally planned for October. Finningley ARS Car Boot will be outdoor only with doors opening at 10am on the 25th of July. It is located near junction 2, M18 Doncaster, admission is £3. The Wiltshire Radio Rally, Electronics Fair & Car Boot Sale is planned for Sunday the 1st of August at Kington Langley Village Hall & fields, SNl5 5NJ. Doors are open from 9am to 3pm with free admission. Details at chippenhamradio.club. Dartmoor Radio Rally has moved to the 15th of August at Yelverton War Memorial Hall, PL20 6AL. Now the DX news C6AHA will be active from the Bimini Islands, NA-048, in the Bahamas between the 14th and 21st of July. A large team will operate SSB, CW and FT8 with up to five stations. QSL via Club Log's OQRS, Logbook of The World or via K4KSW. A team of six operators will be active as RI0FM from Moneron Island (AS-149) on 15-31 July, IOTA Contest included. Plans are to operate CW, SSB and FT8 on various bands with two stations. QSL via UA3A. 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. 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. This weekend the IARU HF Championship ends its 24-hour run at 1200UTC today, the 11th. Using CW and SSB on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and ITU Zone. For the UK that is 27. On Tuesday, the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest. The exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator. Wednesday sees the SSB leg of the 80m Club Championship from 1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. The 70MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC on Thursday. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Saturday, the 70MHz Trophy takes place from 1400 to 2000UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode. Next Sunday, the International Low Power contest runs from 0900 to 1600UTC. Using the 3.5 to 14MHz bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report, serial number and power. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 9th of July. As predicted, the solar flux index declined this week, ending at 76 on Thursday. This was due to the large sunspot regions 2835 and 2836 having rotated off the Earth-facing portion of the solar surface. But make a note to check the SFI around July 21 onwards when, hopefully, they will make a return. The sunspots' departure has left us back in the solar doldrums again with only a minute spot, region 2839, being visible. Luckily, geomagnetic conditions have been quite settled with a maximum planetary Kp index of three last week. This meant that the ionosphere could settle, and we could make the most of the lower levels of solar radiation. Night owls scored this week with 20m openings to the western states reported around 0500-0600UTC. Laurie, G3UML also reports working central North America on 20m from about 4 to 6.30am. Note that these were CW and SSB contacts. This year's Sporadic E season also continues to delight UK amateurs. While the best DX has been on 6m, and not part of this report, 10m is still providing a lot of activity. Make the most of it - if you don't, you'll likely regret it! Next week, NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Centre says the SFI will be around 80. Geomagnetic conditions will be mainly quiet, although a large coronal hole reaching up to the solar equator is rotating into an Earth-facing position. This will be facing us around Saturday the 10th so look for possible unsettled geomagnetic conditions, with the possibility of depressed MUFs early next week. And now the VHF and up propagation news. The current weather pattern places the British Isles in an unsettled region with heavy showers, longer periods of rain and occasional frontal rain bands crossing the country. This is clearly useful for rain scatter on the GHz bands. There are weak suggestions that there may be a return of high pressure close to southern areas in the second half of the coming week, but other models continue the unsettled theme, and it's certainly not a given at the moment. Overall, it looks like Tropo is a possibility, but mainly in the south and perhaps only briefly. That leaves Sporadic-E and, for this mode, there are some good pointers in that the main jet stream across the Atlantic is pointing right at northern Europe and this should be a reasonable orientation for Es from the UK into Europe at times. Of course, we ideally need many other elements to be right too, so as usual, the message is to check the bands, clusters and call CQ now and again. Moon declination is positive and falling, going negative again on Friday, so Moon visibility windows will shorten. Path losses will continue to fall throughout the week. There are no significant meteor showers until the end of the month, so continue to look around dawn for the best random meteor scatter opportunities. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday 4th July 2021 The news headlines: Join Monday's Tonight @ 8 NRC closure for tree felling GM0GMN to lead IPA Amateur Radio Section Don't forget to join the RSGB's Tonight @ 8 webinar on Monday evening. RSGB EMC Chair John Rogers, M0JAV will explain how to assess your station against ICNIRP EMF levels. The EMC Committee has been working hard to help all radio amateurs understand more about how to comply with the new Ofcom licence conditions. So take this chance to hear from an expert and ask questions. Tonight @ 8 will take a break in August and then will be back with another great programme for the autumn. To find out more about this and previous webinars, go to rsgb.org/webinars. The RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park will be closed on the 5th and 6th of July. This is due to the large tree in the immediate vicinity of the NRC being felled. It is planned to re-open on Thursday the 8th as usual. Note that the NRC is not open on Wednesdays. Following the very sad passing of Regional Representative Tom Reilly, G0NSY, the International Police Association has appointed James, GM0GMN to lead their UK Amateur Radio Section. James is keen to make contact with current and former members of the group and to encourage new members. To contact James, see QRZ.com. Following the update from Ofcom to their guidance What you need to know as an Amateur Radio user, the RSGB has updated its calculator to version rsgb10a. This can be found on the EMF pages of the website at rsgb.org/emf. Please treat this as a beta release and report any problems to m0jav@rsgb.org.uk. The main changes are to implement band dependent antenna gain and the low power compliance condition in line with Ofcom's change to guidance. The other changes made by Ofcom to their calculator were already in the RSGB version. Have you ever thought about taking up an awards challenge as part of your amateur radio activities? Whether you enjoy HF or VHF/UHF, the RSGB awards are open to everyone, whatever your age, licence level and personal interests. Along the way, you will learn more about propagation, experiment with equipment and make tweaks to your station to maximise performance. Awards encourage you to push yourself further. The RSGB has launched a new web page that highlights the stories of radio amateurs who enjoy chasing awards. Take a look and be inspired by them at rsgb.org/award-stories. The GB2RS service is seeking a newsreader to cover the Western Isles of Scotland. You would be joining an existing team as a reserve reader and there are opportunities for more than one applicant to broadcast the News on Sunday using HF, VHF or UHF. You should be an RSGB Member and have good coverage of the region. If you want to find out more without obligation, please contact the GB2RS Manager at gb2rs.manager@rsgb.org.uk. A date for your diary now. The popular Churches and Chapels on the Air event will take place on the 11th of September. Most activity takes place on the 80 and 40m bands. Please register your station with organiser John, G3XYF, see QRZ.com. And now for details of rallies and events We heard from several rally organisers that their events will not be taking place this year. Rugby ATS regrets that it is not able to run its rally this year, but they look forward to seeing everyone next year on Sunday the 21st of August 2022. The organisers of the Welsh Radio Rally, which was due to take place in October, have said that it will return in 2022. They would like to thank the traders and visitors that have supported them over the years and look forward to seeing everyone again in 2022. Also cancelled are the East Sussex Wireless Revival and McMichael rally & boot sale, both originally planned for next Sunday, the 11th. On a much brighter note for later this month, the Finningley ARS Car Boot bring & buy is scheduled to go ahead on Sunday the 25th of July. You can check for updates at g0ghk.com/cbr21 Finally, the Wiltshire Radio Rally, Electronics Fair & Car Boot Sale is planned to go ahead on Sunday the 1st of August. Details of this one are at chippenhamradio.club. Now the DX news Ed, ES2TT will be active as ES2TT/0 from Saaremaa Island [sar-eh-mah], IOTA reference EU-034, on the 10th and 11th of July. He will operate CW and SSB on the 30 to 20m bands. QSL via his home call, direct or via the bureau. Frank, K3TRM will be active as VP2V/K3TRM from Tortola, British Virgin Islands, NA-023, between the 4th and the 17th of July. He will operate on the 40 to 6m bands using SSB, RTTY, FT8 and satellite. QSL via Logbook of The World, Club Log's OQRS, or via home call. ZD7GB is the callsign issued to Gerry, G3WIP for use during his stay on St Helena Island, AF-022, until the 6th of September. In his spare time he will operate SSB, FT8 and FT4 on the 40 to 10m bands and via the QO-100 satellite. 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. 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. This weekend is the RSGB VHF National Field Day. It runs for 24 hours until 1400UTC today, 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. Today, 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. On Monday the CW leg of the 80m Club Championships runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. 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 the same, signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday, the 144MHz FT8 Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2100UTC. The exchange is your report and 4-character locator. On Thursday it is the turn of the 50MHz UK Activity Contest, running from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next weekend the IARU HF Championship runs for 24 hours from 1200UTC on the 10th to 1200UTC on the 11th. Using CW and SSB on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and ITU Zone. For the UK that is 27. 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 2nd of July. Well, NOAA certainly got the sunspot predictions wrong last week. It said that the solar flux index would be in the range 76 to 78 with a maximum Kp index of two. As it turned out, the SFI ended up way higher than this, peaking at 94 on Thursday. Active sunspot regions 2835 and 2836 ended up being bigger and more vigorous than predicted, pushing the sunspot number to a high of 53. This bodes well for the future and could mean that Solar Cycle 25 is now truly under way. The CDXC group has reported 10m FT8 openings to China, Japan and South Korea, plus 10m and 12m openings to the Caribbean and South America. Sporadic-E has started to tail off a little as we enter July and this is probably not helped by an increase in the Kp index to four on Wednesday night. The major IT outage at the University of Massachusetts Lowell continues. This means there is still no ionosonde data on the Propquest.co.uk website for foF2 graphs at the moment. Luckily, you can still access the live Chilton ionosonde data directly at ukssdc.ac.uk/ionosondes, although you may need to register. A check on Thursday showed that the critical frequency mid-morning over the UK was around 4 to 4.5MHz, meaning a maximum useable frequency over a 3,000km path of about 16.5MHz. Other than Sporadic-E openings, we can't expect the MUF to rise much further until the Autumn. NOAA predicts the solar flux index will decline from around 92 to perhaps 85 next week, as regions 2835 and 2836 rotate off the visible face of the Sun. Geomagnetic conditions are predicted to remain relatively calm with the Kp index at two to three. And now the VHF and up propagation news. Tropo opportunities have gradually diminished over the tail end of the week just gone. We had a super North-South duct up the East Coast on Wednesday evening allowing a close-to 700km 10GHz Tropo QSO between Keith, GM4ODA/P at IO99IV in Shetland and Neil, G4DBN in IO93NR, who's almost at sea level on the Humber estuary. We are now left with what is essentially a low pressure-driven weather pattern, with a small low crossing southern England early in the week. This will mean that periods of rain or heavy and possibly thundery showers are likely, so good for rain scatter on the GHz bands. The main development will see low pressure over the British Isles or just to the west. The accompanying upper air pattern suggests a jet stream becoming established just to the south, over the near continent. This is a perfect location for supporting Sporadic-E paths into much of Europe, should other factors be in favour. The jet stream strength also looks to be a bit stronger again, which is another good sign. Just keep in mind that the band will seem dead if you don't call CQ! Mid-morning and late afternoon to early evening are going to be the most profitable times to do that. Moon declination is positive and rising again so Moon visibility windows will lengthen. With apogee on Monday, path losses will be high. There are no significant meteor showers until the end of the month, so continue to look around dawn for the best random meteor scatter opportunities. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday 6th June 2021   The news headlines: National Radio Centre re-opens Dartmoor Rally should run in July HF radio performance on Tonight@8 The RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park reopened last week in line with current Covid restrictions. The volunteers welcomed a fantastic 1,226 visitors over the Bank Holiday weekend and that number has continued to rise during the week. One young lad came with his father and they were both inspired to start studying for their Foundation licence. The RSGB would like to thank all the NRC volunteers who are making this experience possible for so many Bletchley Park visitors. The NRC is open daily, except Wednesdays, until further notice. Visitors to Bletchley Park need to pre-book and pay via their website so at present the Society is unable to offer its free entry voucher to RSGB Members whilst that system is in place. The Dartmoor Radio Rally is due to take place on the 4th of July. In view of the uncertainties of Covid-19 restrictions that may be introduced at short notice, the organisers ask that visitors please check the website at dartmoorradioclub.uk before travelling. The next Tonight @ 8 live webinar is on Monday the 7th of June. In a change to the advertised programme, Rob Sherwood, NC0B will talk about Transceiver Performance for the HF DX & Contest Operator. His presentation will explain the process that Sherwood Engineering go through to produce detailed performance figures for a wide range of transceivers, including details on the long-awaited new Elecraft K4D. You will be able to watch and ask questions live on the RSGB's YouTube channel. For more information about this and other webinars in the series, go to rsgb.org/webinars. IARU Region 1 Spectrum Affairs Chair, Barry Lewis, G4SJH, reports that efforts continue in defending the interests of amateur radio during preparations by CEPT for the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2023. Meeting on the 21st of May, the IARU worked with CEPT regional telecommunications organisations. The IARU put forward the agreed preliminary IARU positions for agenda items that could affect amateur radio. The IARU's overall objective is to safeguard the allocations to the amateur and amateur satellite services in the co- and adjacent-frequency bands within the scope of each agenda item.  HamSCI is looking for amateurs to make recordings of time-standard stations during the June 2021 solar eclipse across the Arctic Circle as part of a citizen science experiment. Researchers will use the crowd-sourced data to investigate the superimposed effects of auroral particle precipitation and the eclipse on HF Doppler shift. The experiment will run between the 7th and 12th of June. All participants will receive QSL certificates and updates as the data is processed. For more information and setup instructions, visit the June 2021 Arctic Eclipse Festival page at hamsci.org. A date for the diary next. Electromagnetic Field will return to Eastnor Castle Deer Park in Herefordshire from the 2nd to the 5th of June next year, 2022. Tickets will go on sale later this year. Electromagnetic Field is a non-profit UK camping festival for those with an inquisitive mind or an interest in making things, including hackers, artists, geeks, crafters, scientists and engineers. The GB3CM repeater was fitted with a new antenna on the 24th of May. The first indications are quite promising with regards to coverage. The repeater is in IO71VW near Carmarthen. Signal reports will be very gratefully received, especially from those who used the repeater before the antenna change. You can send your report to Mark, GW8KCY via email to keeper@gb3cm.info. Now the DX news Bo, OZ1DJJ will be active as OX3LX from Greenland between the 8th of June and the 10th of July. He plans to operate mainly on the 6 and 4m bands from several locations along the southwest coast of Greenland. Operations will be in his spare time, which is typically around lunchtime, after dinner as well as early and late sessions at weekends. QSL via Logbook of The World, Club Log's OQRS or direct to OZ0J. Lars, SM6CUK will be active holiday style as SA6G/7 from Ven Island, EU-137, between the 7th and 12th of June. He will operate CW on the 40 to 10m bands. QSL via SM6CUK and Logbook of The World; logsearch on Club Log. Gary, NC3Z will be active as VP2V/NC3Z from Tortola, British Virgin Islands, NA-023, until the 14th of June. He will operate SSB and the FT modes. QSL via Logbook of The World. Now the Special Event news Dragon ARC is running a VHF Day on Saturday the 12th of June from 10 am until 5 pm. They will operate on the 6, 4 and 2m bands using FM, SSB or AM. Club members will be using the callsign GB0VHF from Parys Mountain on the island of Anglesey, locator IO73TI. GB0UTA will be on the air between the 6th and the 28th of June promoting the University of the Third Age. The u3a is an organisation that aims to help people learn, stay active and have fun in later life. This special event station will be operating on behalf of the Honiton, Devon branch of the u3a. See the QRZ.com entry for more information.  The Queen's official birthday is being celebrated with the callsign GB95QB from the 6th to the 13th of June. The operation will be on all available bands using CW, SSB and digital modes. The station will be run from the home of Nigel, G0GDA with assistance from members of Medway ARTS. Denmark is taking part in the European Football Championship and a special event station will be on the air between the 11th of June and the 11th of July. 5P2UEFA/xx will be active on all HF bands with CW, SSB and digimodes. The extended suffix /xx will consist of a double-digit number and will be used in connection with the application for a diploma. You can find out about QSL cards and the diploma on QRZ.com under the callsign 5P2UEFA. From 1600UTC on the 11th of June to 0800UTC on the 12th, Hawaiian amateurs will be taking part in the King Kamehameha Celebration. Using the callsign K6K, the main modes will be SSB, FM, FT-8 and Winlink. eQSLs will be available via Logbook of The World, please note no paper QSLs, please. Now the contest news With different parts of the UK having different lockdown restrictions, please make sure you follow the appropriate regulations. Several contests now accept portable entries, so please check the contest rules. Above all, please follow relevant national and local restrictions. Ending its 24-hour run at 1200UTC today, the 6th is the SEANET contest. Using CW and SSB on the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The CW National Field Day also ends its 24-hour run today, the 6th, at 1500UTC. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The UK Six Metre Group Summer Contest ends its 24-hour run at 1300UTC today, the 6th. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Today, the 6th, the UK Microwave Group Low Band contest runs from 1000 to 1600UTC. Using all modes on the 1.3, 2.3 and 3.4GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Monday, the data leg of the 80m Club Championships takes place between 1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 432MHz 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 ATV contest runs from 1200UTC on the 12th to 1800UTC on the 13th. Using the 432MHz and up bands, the exchange is picture quality, serial number, four-digit code and locator. Next Sunday, the 13th, is the Practical Wireless 2m QRP contest, which runs from 0900 to 1600UTC. Using phone only, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also, next Sunday is the second 144MHz Backpackers contest, which runs from 0900 to 1300UTC. 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 4th of June. The Sun was pretty quiet over the last week, with few sunspots and a solar flux index in the mid-70s. From a peak of 82 on Sunday, the SFI declined to 75 on Thursday when there were just two small sunspot groups visible, regions 2827 and 2929. As predicted, geomagnetic conditions have been mostly settled, with a maximum Kp index of three. The solar wind has buffeted Earth at times thanks to a string of small coronal holes on the solar surface.  As we head towards the summer solstice we are seeing the HF bands remain open later in the evening. This is due to changes in the chemical make-up of the ionosphere. The 20m band currently remains open to DX over a 3,000km path until nearly midnight. In fact, if we had a few more sunspots we could even see 14MHz open 24 hours a day at times. The main mode of interest remains Sporadic-E, with daily inter-Europe openings and occasional multi-hop openings to further afield. Make the most of these in June as conditions can decline as the season progresses. Next week NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be in the mid to high 70s again. It says that the Kp index should remain around two. We may expect disturbed geomagnetic conditions on Sunday and early next week due to a large coronal hole on the Sun's equator that became Earth-facing on Friday. And now the VHF and up propagation news. It feels like a classic ‘summer combo' this coming week, with periods where Tropo is the dominant mode as weak ridges of high pressure remain close by over the UK. Remember that the best conditions are often overnight and early morning since during the day the solar heating of the ground destroys any surface temperature inversion. In addition, you will also find that Tropo paths exist across the surrounding seas throughout the 24 hours, so /P from the clifftop or beach sounds ideal. Mixed in with this hesitant high-pressure theme are occasional periods of instability releasing heavy showers, possibly with thunder and lightning. This is good for some because summer thunderclouds produce excellent prospects for GHz bands rain scatter. Early June is prime time for Sporadic-E, and it's been simmering nicely for a while now, so perhaps more of the same. In theory, all bands up to 144MHz come into play. A point of observation regarding the jet stream patterns is that, perversely, they are not looking so favourable this coming week, which makes predicting paths very unwise. Check the daily blogs at Propquest.co.uk to see how things are developing. We start another lunar month with positive and increasing declination giving lengthening daytime visibility windows, but with apogee on Tuesday, EME path losses are at their highest. June the 7th sees the peak of the Arietids meteor shower. It actually lasts from May 22 to July 2, and with a ZHR of 30 it is one of the two most intense daylight meteor showers of the year. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 25th of April 2021 The news headlines: 400 lockdown nets for Hambleton Martin, G3YJO on Radio Four Free Contest University online   On the 22nd of April, Hambleton ARS passed the 400th consecutive day of a net on 2m FM. It was started during the Covid-19 lockdown to keep members and amateurs in the area in touch and able to summon help or assistance if required. The net starts at 11 am on the calling frequency and usually moves to S18 if clear. All amateurs are invited to join in and, so far, over 70 different stations have been logged. The net controller is usually Tony, G3MAE, who has ‘missed’ less than five days of operating during that time. A Cabin Fever award is available for any station taking part, issued by Tim, G0TYM via email, see QRZ.com. This week, Radio 4’s programme, The Life Scientific, featured Professor Sir Martin Sweeting, G3YJO. He is the pioneer of microsatellites. He talked about his progress from UOSAT 1 via Cubesats to the Surrey Satellite Technology sale to Airbus. You can hear the interview online via BBC Sounds. The Dayton Hamvention may have been cancelled for 2021, but the Contest University will still take place on the 20th of May. It will be held online, free of charge, via Zoom, starting at 1300UTC. Registration is open at contestuniversity.com. There is an IET webinar about amateur radio on the 12th of May starting at 7.30 pm. You might be interested to see how the presenter, Phil Gould, presents the hobby to the audience. It is a free lecture, entitled To the other side of the world and beyond: An appreciation of amateur radio. Go to events.theiet.org and scroll through until you reach the 12th of May. You can register via the button there. The Radio Club of Haiti’s 10m FM repeater project is now live. It operates with its transmitter on 29.620MHz and its receiver on 29.520MHz. The tone is 103.5Hz. At the moment the callsign is HH70X/R but that will be changing to HH2BM/R in honour of Bernard, HH2BM who sadly didn’t see the project go live before becoming silent key. The Youngsters On The Air Summer Camp due to be held in Croatia has been postponed until 2022 due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. News on the rearranged camp will be available nearer the new date. SOS Radio Week is an annual event that sees many amateur radio stations get on the air. The aim is to raise awareness of the voluntary work of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and National Coastwatch Institution. The event starts at 0000UTC on the 1st of May and coincides with the RNLI’s own Mayday fundraising month. For further details of the event please visit sosradioweek.org.uk. The Hungarian Amateur Radio Society will commemorate the 230th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Morse with nine special callsigns. Look for activity on CW and SSB until the 27th of April. See MRASZ.org and click on S Morse Award 2021 for all the details. Now the DX news Joe, 9H5JO will be on the air at weekends during April from Malta. Between 1200 and 1300UTC each Saturday and Sunday, he will listen specifically for Foundation licensees on, or very near to, 14.268MHz. This could be a really good opportunity to get Malta in your logbook. Matthew, M0ZMS will be seconded to the RAF station at Mount Pleasant, Falkland Islands, SA-002, from late April to late August. He will be active as VP8ZMS, hopefully using the Royal Air Force ARS club station shack. He operates digital modes, CW and some SSB. QSL via home call and Logbook of The World; logsearch on Club Log. Ali, EP3CQ will be back in Mogadishu, Somalia from the 25th of April for two months. In his spare time, he will operate mainly FT8 on various bands as 6O1OO. QSL direct to details on qrz.com. Take, JI3DST will be active as JI3DST/5 from Shodo Island, AS-200, from the 29th of April to the 5th of May. He will operate SSB, CW and FT8 on the 40 to 6m bands, and will also be on the air as JR8YLY/5. QSL via Club Log’s OQRS. Now the Special Event news 8N1MORSE is a special callsign celebrating the 230th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Morse and other significant landmarks in the history of CW. It will be on the air until the 28th of February 2022. A website is under construction at 8n1morse.org. Now the contest news With different parts of the UK having different lockdown restrictions, please make sure you follow the appropriate rules. Several contests now accept portable entries, so please check the contest rules. Above all, please follow relevant national and local restrictions. This weekend the SP DX RTTY contest ends its 24-hour run at 1200UTC today, the 25th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. SP stations also exchange their Province code. Today, the 25th, the BARTG Sprint 75 contest runs from 1700 to 2100UTC. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is just the serial number. On Tuesday the SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1830 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 2.3GHz and up bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Wednesday sees the UK EI Contest Club 80m contest run from 1900 to 2000UTC. It’s CW only and the exchange is your locator reference. On Thursday the 80m Club Championships runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using RTTY and PSK only, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Next weekend, the 432MHz to 245GHz Trophy runs for 24 hours from 1400UTC on the 1st of May. Using all modes on those bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Saturday the 1st of May sees the 432MHz trophy contest run from 1400 to 2000UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next Sunday, the 2nd, the 10GHz Trophy runs from 0800 to 1400UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next weekend, the ARI International DX contest runs for 24 hours starting at 1200 on the 1st. Using CW, Phone and RTTY on the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Italian stations also give their Province code. Next Sunday, the 2nd, the UK Microwave group Low Band Contest runs from 1000 to 1600UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The UK Six Metre Group Summer Marathon runs from the 1st of May to the 1st of August. Just exchange your 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 23rd of April. Last week was marked by solar flares, perhaps giving us a taste of things to come as the solar cycle progresses. The Kp index hit four on Monday after the weekend’s high of five. But luckily things then calmed down and we have been seeing the Kp index down to two overall. There was even one three-hour period where it was zero. We have had more sunspots this week, which are always welcome. Region 2817 has now rotated off the Sun’s visible disk, but regions 2816 and 2818 have been very active. They pushed the solar flux index to 86 on Monday, but it was back down to 78 by Thursday. The first M-class solar flare since the 29th of November 2020 was observed around region 2816 in the Sun’s southeast quadrant at 2342UTC on the 19th of April. Luckily, this occurred at night so had zero effect on the ionosphere over the UK. A coronal mass ejection, or CME, associated with this flare has been assessed as passing just behind Earth, but the Met Office’s space weather team said there was a slight chance of a glancing blow in the coming days. A long-duration C-class flare around the same region occurred at approximately 0415UTC on the 22nd and looks to have produced a possible Earth-directed CME. If this is the case, we may expect the Kp index to rise, perhaps early in the weekend, resulting in reduced maximum usable frequencies. HF conditions have been relatively lacklustre this week, although there has been some activity on 10m FT8. EA has been copied, perhaps via early-season Sporadic-E, and Bob, VP8LP on the Falkland Islands has put in an appearance during the late afternoon, as have numerous South American stations. Daytime MUFs over a 3,000km path have generally struggled to exceed 18MHz at times, although there have been the odd DX openings on 21, 24 and even 28MHz. Next week NOAA predicts the SFI will remain low, perhaps even dropping into the high 60s. Geomagnetic conditions are predicted to be generally quiet with a maximum Kp index of three. But do look out for further solar flares, which could cause short-lived disturbances on HF and the strong possibility of coronal mass ejections that could impact the Earth one or two days later, depending on the solar wind speed. And now the VHF and up propagation news. Conditions are starting out with a Tropo frame of mind into this weekend, but there are hints of a small low tracking south across Scotland at the end of this weekend, and probably across the North Sea to establish low pressure to the east of the UK after midweek. This will probably mean that the Tropo period is weakened gradually and with further lows near southern Britain at the end of the week, there is likely to be a subtle shift to rain scatter propagation for the GHz bands. We keep flagging up the forthcoming Sporadic-E season and clusters show it's just getting underway in an FT8 sense. It will no doubt start to show up with 10m or 6m beacons soon, so worth checking your favourite beacon list regularly. If you haven’t got one yet, this would be a very good time to save a list of half a dozen frequencies for each band in the rig memories to make sure you can check for openings easily. From a jet stream perspective, initially, paths to Scandinavia look promising and by midweek probably more towards southeastern Europe and Ukraine. Moon declination went negative today, so Moon windows are short and the Moon is at low elevation. The upside is that we have low path losses with perigee tomorrow (Monday). The April Lyrids meteor shower produced some good meteor scatter QSOs last week and with the Eta-Aquarids set to peak on the 5th of May, the new meteor scatter season is well underway. Look at the usual frequencies for the mainly digimode activity. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 21st of March 2021 The news headlines: Get ready for Summer time RSGB Youth Award Blue Ham this weekend In the UK, the clocks go forward one hour at 1 am next Sunday, the 28th of March. This means we will be on British Summer Time. Please note that many contests and other events often state the timings in UTC or GMT, which will be one hour behind the local clock time here in the UK. The RSGB Youth team has created a new award, aimed at younger people but it is also open for anyone to try. Called the Radio Surfer Award, it encourages experimentation with all types of radio communications. There is a list of possible activities, each with a points value. All you have to do is get the same number of points as your age. You don’t have to be licensed to take part although having a licence will give you more options. For more information about this and the RSGB Youth Award, see rsgb.org/youth-award. The Royal Air Force Air Cadets Exercise Blue Ham 21-1 is on the MoD 5MHz shared band this weekend. RAFAC and other MoD Cadet formations will be on air over the period of operation using SSB and data modes. The Exercise Blue Ham website is at alphacharlie.org.uk. Voting for the RSGB elections is now open. The Calling Notice, Resolutions, candidate statements and voting process are on the Society’s website at www.rsgb.org/agm. Voting ends at 9 am on Thursday the 22nd of April. The RSGB will be holding its AGM online this year, on Saturday the 24th of April, and will live-stream the event. RSGB Members will be able to submit written questions for Board Directors in advance through a form on the AGM web pages. The election details are also in the April RadCom, which RSGB Members will have started to receive in the last few days. The RSGB has published an update to the RSGB EMF calculator on the website at www.rsgb.org.uk/emf. This version has had the front sheet changed in response to comments and suggestions from people who have tried using it. We are grateful for all the helpful suggestions received. Further work is needed to update the frequency dependant antenna data and would appreciate volunteers to help with this exercise. It has also been updated to use the Ofcom calculator v0.1.2 published on their website. This does produce separations for frequencies less than 10MHz. We continue to work on the calculator including producing a version that works with the newer ICNIRP2020 limits. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station is once again operational, following a spacewalk on the 13th that worked on the Columbus module cabling. The Columbus amateur station, which typically uses the callsign NA1SS, is the primary ARISS amateur radio station used for school contacts and other activities. Trowbridge & District ARC and Leyland & District Amateur Radio have shared their stories of running nets during the pandemic to support their members. You can read about them on the RSGB’s ‘Get on the air to care’ clubs and groups web page, rsgb.services/gb2rs/006 Now the DX news Mats, RM2D will be active holiday style as 8Q7MS from the Maldives, IOTA reference AS-013, from the 28th of March to the 10th of April. He will operate CW with some SSB, mainly on the 40 to 15m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World, or EA5GL. Barring Covid-related restrictions, Janusz, SP9FIH will be active as TO1K from Saint Martin, NA-105, between the 22nd of March and the 5th of April. QSL via Club Log’s OQRS, or via his home call. Now the Special Event news John, MW1CFN will be active as GB1004FTS from Anglesey, EU-005, between the 25th of March and the 8th of April. He will operate SSB and digital modes on the HF bands, 6 and 2m. QSL via Logbook of The World or direct. The special callsign celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Royal Air Force’s No 4 Flying Training School, which opened on the 1st of April 1921. GB2VAX will be operational from the QTH of Andy, G4ISN of Welland Valley ARS, until the 28th. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the contest for any new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. The RSGB strongly advises obeying your national and local government’s advice. The Russian DX Contest ends its 24-hour run at 1200UTC today, the 21st. Using CW and SSB on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Russian stations will also exchange their Oblast code. On Tuesday, the SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1930 to 2230UTC. Using the 2.3 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also on Tuesday the IRTS 80m Evening Counties Contest runs from 2000 to 2100UTC. Using SSB only, the exchange is signal report, serial number and county code. On Thursday it’s the 80m Club Championships from 2000 to 2130UTC. Using SSB only, the exchange is a signal report and serial number. Next weekend it’s the CW World Wide WPX SSB contest. It runs for 48 hours from 0000UTC on the 27th to 2359UTC on the 28th. Please check the rules as there is a new multi-station category. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is a signal report and serial number. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 19th of March. We had a week of settled geomagnetic conditions, following a mixed weekend. The consensus on the Commonwealth Contest was that conditions were not too good, although plenty of amateurs managed to put VK in their logs, despite the Kp index hitting four during the event. The Sun remained fairly quiet, with a solar flux index of 81 on Saturday and 78 on Sunday. Otherwise, the DX interest has been focused on the Russian DXpedition A25RU to Botswana. They are there until the 26th of March and will be operating all modes, including CW, SSB and FT8. March is a good month for these North-South paths and Predtest.uk predictions show that 1600-1800UTC is probably the best time for a contact with Botswana on 30 to 17 metres. Next week NOAA predicts the solar flux index will remain in the mid-80s, although this weekend is likely to see unsettled geomagnetic conditions again thanks to a high-speed solar wind emanating from an Earth-facing coronal hole. Expect maximum usable frequencies to decline, after the potential for pre-auroral enhancement as the plasma hits. We expect to see the Kp index rise to four on Saturday and Sunday, although this will improve as the week goes on, bringing a more settled ionosphere and a predicted Kp index of two. Meanwhile, ionospheric conditions remain subdued due to a lack of real sunspots. Spring remains a good time for North-South paths, and we also have the Sporadic-E season to look forward to in a couple of months. And now the VHF and up propagation news. The coming week is again suggesting that high pressure will feature on the weather charts for much of the period, at least in the south and east. This gives a possibility of further Tropo opportunities for most parts of the country, at least at first. The trend thereafter is for Atlantic fronts to reach the west and north of Britain by mid-week, bringing unsettled weather conditions and putting an end to any Tropo there. But to compensate a little, it could introduce some rain scatter for the GHz bands. There are always hopes that some out-of-season Sporadic-E could crop up, and there were weak 50MHz openings for digimodes last week, but ideally, we need to be a bit further on into April before getting too excited. Moon declination is at maximum on Monday, so peak Moon elevation gets to 62 degrees in the UK and the Moon is above the horizon for more than 16 hours. As we passed apogee in the middle of last week, path losses will continue to fall as the week progresses. Meteor scatter enthusiasts will have to be content with the pre-dawn random meteor enhancement until the Lyrids meteor shower, which is still a month away. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 7th of March 2021 The news headlines: 350 days of Covid-19 net Ofcom EMF Notification news NHS lauds Get on the air to care   On Thursday the 4th of March, Hambleton ARS passed the 350th consecutive day of a daily net on 2m. It started on day one of the 2020 Covid-19 lockdown. Its aim was to keep members and amateurs in the area in touch and able to summon help or assistance if required. The net starts at 11 am on the calling frequency and usually moves to S18 if clear. The net is now looking forward to a full year of operating, which occurs on the 18th of March. All amateurs are invited to join and topics are wide and varied. So far, over 70 different stations have called in. A Cabin Fever award is available for any station taking part. It’s issued by Tim, G0TYM via email, see QRZ.com for details. On the 1st of March, Ofcom published a General Notification on their website that proposes to vary all amateur radio licences. It requires licensees to comply with the ICNIRP general public limits of EMF. Licensees have until the 18th of April to make any representations to Ofcom. They have also informed us that they are contacting all licensees, either via email or letter, to make them aware of this process. More information on the variation process and EMF conditions can be found on both the Ofcom website at ofcom.org.uk/emf, or the RSGB website at rsgb.org/emf. A report about the hugely successful RSGB and NHS 'Get on the air to care' campaign has been publicised in a blog on the NHS Networks website this week. The RSGB has committed to keeping 'Get on the air to care' running as long as the restrictions exist. The aim is to support radio amateurs and to share the benefits of amateur radio with the general public. The Society is about to launch several new initiatives and resources as part of the campaign. Look out for announcements shortly. To read the NHS Networks blog, use the link from the RSGB website at rsgb.services/gb2rs/005. Have you given your views in the RSGB’s consultation on a proposed new, Direct to Full licence exam? Over 1,000 people have responded already so make sure your voice is heard by completing the Society’s survey. The consultation closes on Sunday the 14th of March. The background to this consultation as well as links to the proposed syllabus and the survey are on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/direct-to-full. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is inviting eight members of the public to join him on a trip around the Moon. The journey, planned for 2023, will be the first civilian mission to the Moon, not to mention the first human visit for over 50 years. According to his website, dearmoon.earth, anyone can apply, and the trip will be financed entirely by Maezawa. There is no word about whether amateur radio operation will be possible on the flight, but it is an interesting possibility. Sadly, another rally has been cancelled as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Dartmoor Radio Rally, planned for Monday the 3rd of May Bank Holiday, will not take place this year. US Army researchers have built a so-called quantum sensor. It can analyse the full RF spectrum and real-world signals, a report on Physics.org says. The quantum sensor can sample the RF spectrum from 0 to 20GHz and is able to detect AM and FM radio signals, as well as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and other RF communication protocols. The peer-reviewed Physical Review Applied published the researchers’ findings. Now the DX news Bill, K9HZ Dan, W0CN and Kyle, WA4PGM will be active from St Lucia operating as J68HZ, CN and PG respectively. They will be there until the 11th of March. QSL via Logbook of The World or direct to home callsigns. Andy, DK5ON is in Curaçao until the 23rd of March. He plans to operate SSB, CW and digital modes on the 80 to 6m bands as PJ2/DK5ON. QSL via Logbook of The World, Club Log's OQRS, or via his home call either direct or via the bureau. Now the Special Event news Chris, GM3WOJ will be active as GB2CR until the 18th of March. He will operate SSB and some CW on the 80 to 10m bands using vintage valve radio equipment manufactured by the Collins Radio Company. QSL via Logbook of The World. Paper QSLs will not be available. GB2VAX will be operational from the QTH of Andy, G4ISN of the Welland Valley ARS, from the 1st to the 28th of March. Modes will be SSB / FT4 / FT8 on HF bands. Coventry is The City of Culture in 2021. GB1COC is being operated until the 13th of March on behalf of Coventry ARS by Brian, G8GMU. He will be mainly on the 80m band using SSB, 2m FM and digital speech modes. See QRZ.com. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the contest for any new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. The RSGB strongly advises obeying your national and local government’s advice. This weekend it’s the ARRL International DX Contest. It runs for 48 hours until 2359UTC today, the 7th. Using SSB on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and transmit power. American stations will also exchange their State, and Canadian stations their Province. The 144/432MHz contest also takes place this weekend. Its 24-hour run ends at 1400UTC today, the 7th. All modes are permitted. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Today, Sunday the 7th, the UK Microwave Group Low Band Contest runs from 1000 to 1600UTC. Using the 1.3 to 3.4GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The Worked All Britain 3.5MHz phone contest takes place today, the 7th from 1800 to 2200UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and WAB square. Entries should be with the QSL manager by the 17th of March. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, there will be no mobile or portable categories, and entries will not be accepted from mobile or portable stations. However, there will be a club category, with members operating from their home QTH. On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC. It is followed by the all-mode Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday it’s the CW leg of the 80m Club Championships from 2000 to 2130UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. Thursday sees the 50MHz UK Activity Contest take place from 2000 to 2230UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next weekend the longest-running RSGB contest takes place. The Commonwealth Contest runs from 1000UTC on the 13th to 1000UTC on the 14th. It’s CW only and runs on the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands. The exchange is signal report and serial number. HQ stations around the world will also send the letters HQ. Next Sunday, the 14th, the second 70MHz Cumulative Contest runs from 1000UTC to 1200UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 5th of March. We had another week of geomagnetic disturbances due to high-speed solar wind streams. Although the week started well, with a Kp index of zero to three on Sunday, it went rapidly downhill. Monday saw the Kp index hit six and Tuesday evening saw it hit five after the solar wind speed exceeded 600km per second. The strongly-negative Bz field of the solar wind meant it coupled more easily with the Earth’s magnetic field – and plasma flooded in. It was not all bad news for HF propagation though. Earlier on Tuesday, the 17m band was open simultaneously to the Far East and the Caribbean via FT8. You were able to work both South Korea and Saint Lucia at the same time, which felt novel. This may have been a pre-auroral enhancement. But by Wednesday, with the Kp index at five, conditions had taken a hit. Maximum usable frequencies were struggling to get up above 14MHz, at least in the morning. There has been little to talk about regarding sunspots. We’ve had two groups, 2806 and 2807, but they have been relatively small, generating a solar flux index of 74 and a sunspot number of 30 on Thursday. As such, HF propagation has generally been a little lacklustre, other than the event noted earlier. Next week NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be in the range 70-76. We should start the week with a relatively quiet geomagnetic field and a maximum Kp index of two. But by Friday the 12th, the Kp index is predicted to rise to four due to returning coronal hole activity. As we head towards the Spring equinox we may expect geomagnetic disturbances to increase, due to the Russell-McPherron effect. The tilt of the Earth’s axis means the Sun and Earth’s geomagnetic field and solar winds all come into alignment and therefore encourage an enhanced chance of the particles emitted from the Sun entering our atmosphere. Fingers crossed that we have better HF conditions for the Commonwealth Contest, which takes place across next weekend, the 13th and 14th. And now the VHF and up propagation news. Good to see the return of some tropospheric propagation last week. It certainly perked up the 144MHz UK Activity Contest last Tuesday evening. All is set to change in the coming week though, so make the most of any lingering Tropo this weekend. The high will decline early next week, and thereafter, the week offers a succession of fast-moving weather systems crossing the country, bringing rain and, at times, strong southwesterly winds. At the end of the week, the unsettled weather comes more from the northwest, and it will turn colder again and perhaps wintry in the north. Either way, the main terrestrial mode of interest next week to VHF/UHF operators is likely to be predominantly GHz bands rain scatter. We are in an extended period where the lowest EME path losses coincide with low Moon declination. Declination is minimum today and tomorrow so moon visibility windows and peak Moon elevations will be at a minimum. As we passed perigee last Tuesday, path losses will still be low but increasing. The Gamma Normids meteor shower is just starting, peaking on Sunday the 14th of March with a Zenithal Hourly Rate of six and lasting until the 23rd. Nothing special, so pre-dawn continues to be the best time for random meteor scatter contacts. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 17th of January 2021 The news headlines: RSGB publishes EMF Calculator New AllStar Gateway in North Lancashire Enter Construction Competitions! As agreed with Ofcom last month, the RSGB’s EMC Committee has published its EMF calculator, which incorporates the Ofcom calculator but adds a front end specifically for radio amateurs. It is currently an evaluation version, so the EMCC welcomes feedback to help it move towards a final one. You can download the calculator from the EMF page at www.rsgb.org/emf. Recently, the MB7IMB repeater came on the air in North Lancashire. It is a simplex AllStar gateway on 145.2375MHz narrow FM, with a CTCSS access tone of 110.9Hz. The North West AllStar Group has been formed, linking AllStar nodes and repeaters throughout north-west England. The group is encouraging the use of the repeater. All that’s needed is a standard 2m FM transceiver with CTCSS capabilities. If you have a node or gateway they welcome links to the system. The group has a Facebook page where you can find out more. Have you entered the RSGB’s ‘Get on the air to care’ construction competition? The deadline is the 1st of February. Your project can be hardware, software or a system and may be based on a kit. If you made something during the autumn lockdowns, over the holiday season, or are in the middle of something during the current restrictions, you could win £100 if you enter the competition. Send a short description of your project to gm.dept@rsgb.org.uk and include a few photographs, a video if possible and any related circuit diagrams. Whether you’ve just got your licence or you’ve been a radio amateur for years, you’re encouraged to take part. If you enter this competition you can also resubmit the same project to the 2021 RSGB Annual Construction Competition. Very low frequency enthusiast Joe, VO1NA reports that Stefan, DK7FC copied his 50-character EbNaut message transmitted from Newfoundland on 8.271kHz, with a radiated power of 10mW. We believe this is a new record for amateur transatlantic VLF. Joe’s tower supports a VLF rotated L, which is 10 metre average height and 100 metres long. The RSGB is delighted that 4,000 people have taken amateur radio exams via remote invigilation. This number covers exams at all three licence levels. We know that all radio amateurs will be encouraging as people progress and enjoy the diversity of amateur radio. Could you be the RSGB’s next President? Do you have the time and skills to serve on the Society’s Board of Directors? We’re into the final weeks of the nominations process for the RSGB elections, which will end at 2359UTC on the 31st of January. In addition to these two roles, there are three Regional Representative vacancies in Regions 2, 6 and 12. Each post-holder has indicated their willingness to stand for election but applications are also welcome from all RSGB Members living in these particular Regions. For more information visit www.rsgb.org/election. The results will be announced at the RSGB’s online AGM on Saturday the 24th of April. The Dayton Hamvention will not take place for a second year. Sponsored by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association, it was set to take place between the 21st and 23rd of May in Ohio. The committee said the show would return in 2022 and hinted at a QSO party for Hamvention weekend. The 80m RSGB National Radio Centre net continues to run each weekday at 10.30 am on 3.727MHz. The NRC volunteers have run 260 of these nets since March 2020 to support radio amateurs. They are keen for people to call in during the current lockdown. Get on the air and have a chat – they’d love to hear from you!   South Dublin Radio Club hosted Michael O’Connell from the I87 Astroshot Observatory to the club’s first online live lecture of 2021, via Zoom. The lecture is titled Amateur Observations of Meteors and is now available to view on the club’s YouTube channel. Michael’s presentation covers Meteors, Meteor related radio phenomena and how radio techniques are used by amateurs to detect and track meteors. Now the special event news Hull and District Amateur Radio Society is celebrating 100 years of amateur radio clubs in the Hull area with a year-long special event station, callsign GB1OOH. The station will operate most days throughout 2021 on bands ranging from 160m to 70cm and using different modes. Further details about the station and QSL options can be found on QRZ.com. During 2021, the British Railways ARS will be celebrating its 55th anniversary. They will be running the special event call GB0LMR, operated by BRARS member Mark, G1PIE from Preston in Lancashire. Bands of operation will be 40 to 10 metres using PSK-31, PSK-63 and SSB, plus VHF/UHF. Further information is on QRZ.com and www.brars.info. Now the DX news 4L1PJ is the callsign issued to Peter, 4L/G4ENL. He expects to operate SSB on various HF bands for the next few years while on work assignment in Svaneti, Georgia. QSL via N4GNR. Bo, OZ1DJJ will be active in his spare time as OX3LX from Tasiilaq Island, IOTA reference NA-151, until the 30th of January. QSL via Logbook of The World, Club Log’s OQRS or direct to OZ0J. Garry, 2M1DHG is active as ZC4GR from the UK Sovereign Base Area of Dhekelia for the next two and a half years. He operates SSB and digital modes on the 40, 20 and 10m bands, typically between 1700 and 1900UTC a few nights a week. QSL via EB7DX. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the contest for any new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. The RSGB strongly advises obeying your national and local government’s advice. On Tuesday the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Thursday it’s the all-mode 70MHz UK Activity Contest. Running between 2000 and 2230UTC, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next weekend the BARTG RTTY Sprint runs from 1200UTC on the 23rd to 1200UTC on the 24th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is simply the serial number. The UK EI Contest Club DX CW contest starts at 1200UTC on the 23rd and runs for 24 hours. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and District Code. Don’t forget, the UK Six Metre Group Winter Marathon runs until the end of this month. Just exchange a signal report and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Thursday the 14th of January. Well, no one predicted last week’s geomagnetic disturbance. In case you missed it, the Kp index rose to four on Monday the 11th January. This was caused by the arrival of an interplanetary shock wave from a coronal mass ejection on the Sun, which occurred on Thursday the 7th. NOAA had been predicting a settled Sun, which shows just how unpredictable our nearest star can be. The CME’s effects on the ionosphere were quite startling. The Chilton Digisonde data, as plotted at propquest.co.uk, shows that the predicted MUF over a 3,000km path dropped to below 14MHz by 1530UTC, although it did recover to more than 18MHz within an hour. That night there were widespread reports of visible aurora, but the ionosphere had recovered by Tuesday afternoon with the Kp index back to one by 1500UTC. Other than that element of ionospheric excitement there has been little to report, with the solar flux index down as low as 72 by Thursday the 14th with zero sunspots. The only other noteworthy event has been widespread winter Sporadic-E, which saw 12, 10 and six metres become wide open to Europe this the week. Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will remain in the mid to high 70s. The STEREO spacecraft show a coronal hole is about to rotate into view around the Sun’s eastern limb. The high-speed solar wind from this, and other polar coronal holes, may cause the Kp index to rise to four by Sunday the 17th and we may not see a recovery back down to two until the 21st. So it looks like the latter half of the week may be best for HF DX. And now the VHF and up propagation news. The current unsettled spell of weather should have taken a brief pause on Friday but may have returned this weekend, with an active front crossing the country, followed by a transient ridge in the second half of the weekend. These ridges are rarely good for widespread Tropo and the unsettled regime returns for the bulk of the coming week. Strangely enough, you can find temporary enhancements of Tropo conditions parallel to, and just ahead of, approaching weather fronts. It’s marginal but can make a difference to scores in the VHF/UHF UK Activity Contests. But GHz band rain scatter is probably a more reliable mode for the next week. The unsettled story also implies some strong jet stream activity, so it’s still worth a look at the usual Sporadic-E bands of 10m and 6m for one more week, although this is probably our last chance before the mode returns in force in April. Moon declination turns positive again on Tuesday, so we’ll have increasing Moon windows and peak Moon elevations this week. With apogee on Thursday though, path losses will be high. This trend of high declination and path loss only starts to reverse from May 2022, so get used to it! 144MHz sky noise is low. There are no significant meteor showers this week so continue to check pre-dawn for the best random meteor contacts. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 10th of January 2021 The news headlines: Happy New Year from RSGB Volunteers invited to stand for election Celebrating 200 years of Greek independence The news team and all the staff at RSGB HQ would like to wish our newsreaders, listeners and online readers a very Happy New Year. We would like to remind everyone that we always welcome your news, by email to radcom@rsgb.org.uk, and the deadline is 10 am sharp on Thursday mornings. The GB2RS script is uploaded to the RSGB website by 4.30 pm each Friday afternoon. We’re into the final weeks of the nominations process for the RSGB elections, which will end at 2359UTC on the 31st of January. The Society is looking for its next President as Dave Wilson, M0OBW will retire at the AGM. There is also a place for one elected Board Director. In addition, there are three Regional Representative vacancies in Regions 2, 6 and 12 because the current post holders were co-opted into a vacancy after the last AGM. Each one has indicated their willingness to stand for election but applications are also welcome from all RSGB Members living in these particular Regions. For more information about any of these roles, how to nominate someone or for information about the election process, visit www.rsgb.org/election. The results will be announced at the RSGB’s online AGM on Saturday the 24th of April. To commemorate the 200th anniversary, the Greek Independence Award will run throughout 2021. Anyone can take part and all mode and types of QSO are valid. The website https://sv2rck.gr/200YEARS lists a number of award stations. Get on the air for Christmas finished yesterday, Saturday the 9th of January, but you still have time to enter the construction competition. Projects can be hardware, software or a system and may be based on a kit. There is a prize of £100 and the winning entry will be featured on the Society’s website and in RadCom. The deadline for entries is the 1st of February. See the details at www.rsgb.org/gota4c. Elettra is the vessel on which Marconi conducted many experiments. The Elettra: the miracle ship award commemorates the centenary of the ship's official registration under the name of Elettra. The award period lasts the whole year and there will be a different special event callsign each month. Detail at www.arifidenza.it. Were you one of the 19,000 people who enjoyed the RSGB’s Tonight @ 8 webinars last year? The 2021 series starts tomorrow, Monday the 11th of January, when Steve Hartley, G0FUW and Pete Juliano, N6QW will talk about amateur radio construction. Despite what many people think, building your own radio equipment is still a very popular aspect of amateur radio. This presentation will share some ideas on how to get started and provide some examples of homebrew gear, using hardware and software. Watch live and ask questions on the RSGB YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/theRSGB. A QSO Party to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Marconi Club AR Loano will take place on the 16th of January. Running from 0800 to 2200UTC using the 20, 40 and 80m bands with CW only, you can find out the rules at www.ariloano.it/marconiclub. Permission has been announced for Category 1 Uzbek licensees to operate in the new WRC-15 Amateur 60m Secondary Allocation of 5351.5 – 5366.5kHz with a maximum power of 100W. Now the special event news Hull and District Amateur Radio Society is celebrating 100 years of amateur radio clubs in the Hull area with a year-long special event station, callsign GB10OH. The station will operate most days throughout 2021 on bands ranging from 160m to 70cm and using different modes. Further details about the station and QSL options can be found on QRZ.com. During 2021, the British Railways ARS will be celebrating its 55th anniversary. They will be running the special event call GB0LMR, operated by BRARS member Mark, G1PIE from Preston in Lancashire. Bands of operation will be 40 to 10 metres using PSK-31, PSK-63 and SSB, plus VHF/UHF. Further information is on QRZ.com and www.brars.info. Now the DX news Grant, VK5GR will be active as VK5KI from Kangaroo Island, OC-139, until the 22nd of January. He plans to operate holiday style on the 80 to 6m bands using CW, SSB and FT8, possibly with some RTTY and PSK. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS. Seba, SQ1SGB and Will, M0ZXA expect to be active as VP8/SQ1SGB or VP8HAL and VP8DOI from Halley VI Research Station, Antarctica until the 4th of February. In their spare time, they will operate SSB and digital modes FT8 and JT65 on 40 and 20 metres. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the contest for any new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. The RSGB strongly advises obeying your national and local government’s advice. Today, the 10th, the Datamodes AFS contest runs from 1300 to 1700UTC. The SSB AFS contest takes place on Saturday from 1300 to 1700UTC. Both use the 3.5 and 7MHz bands, and the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Monday and Tuesday, the 2nd Christmas Hope QSO Party has two sessions. The first is 0930 to 1100UTC on the 11th using FT4 on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands, with an exchange of your 4-character locator. The second is 1100 to 1230UTC on the 12th using CW on the same bands with an exchange of signal report and serial number. Tuesday sees the 432MHz FM Activity Contest run from 1900 to 1955UTC. It is followed by the All-Mode UKAC from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator. Wednesday and Thursday see two more sessions of the 2nd Christmas Hope QSO Party. The first is on the 13th from 1230 to 1400UTC using RTTY. The second session is on the 14th from 1400 to 1530UTC using SSB. The exchange is the same for both, signal report and serial number, as are the bands to be used, 3.5 to 28MHz. On Thursday, the 50MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Saturday, the Worked All Britain 1.8MHz Phone Contest runs from 1900 to 2300UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and WAB square. Don’t forget, the UK Six Metre Group Winter Marathon runs until the end of January 2021. Just exchange a signal report and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Thursday the 7th of January. We start by welcoming in 2021, and here’s hoping that it proves to be more fruitful than 2020 in terms of HF propagation. We’ve started the New Year with zero sunspots and a solar flux index back in the mid-70s on Thursday the 7th. The STEREO Ahead spacecraft is not showing anything of note around the back of the Sun, but we know that spots can suddenly appear. HF propagation has been relatively poor, but with seasonal ionospheric changes mainly being responsible for an uplift in daytime critical and maximum usable frequencies. Daytime critical frequencies have generally been in the range of 4.5 to 5.5MHz, falling to below 3.5MHz by 1930UTC on most evenings. This means that 80m is ceasing to be suitable for local NVIS contacts as the evening progresses, which is normal for this time of year. Daytime maximum usable frequencies over a 3,000km path have exceeded 18 and even 21MHz on most days, with winter Sporadic-E being the main DX mode on the higher 12 and 10 metre bands. There has been the odd F2-layer opening on 28MHz, but we will need some more sunspot activity to make band openings more reliable. NOAA predicts the solar flux index will remain in the high 70s at the beginning of next week, reflecting the lack of sunspot activity. The Kp index is predicted to reach a maximum of only two, due to a lack of coronal hole and coronal mass ejection activity. This means we may have a more settled ionosphere, which may be good for HF DX. So in summary, it's more of the same in terms of HF propagation next week, with no real highlights. But don’t ignore the lower bands, such as 1.8, 3.5, and 7MHz, which can really come into their own in mid-winter. And now the VHF and up propagation news. Despite no Tropo for a number of weeks, there has been high pressure to the west of Britain for some time. During the weekend and next week, it will become more dominant over much of the country, initially favouring Tropo for the south-western parts, but perhaps more generally later. This may be temporarily curtailed by frontal systems moving across the country around midweek and thus add some options for GHz rain scatter, but some models bring a ridge of high pressure back later in the week. As hinted at in the last bulletin, a sudden stratospheric warming did indeed develop on the 4th of January 2021. As mentioned, it can have impacts on not just the stratospheric flow but can influence weather patterns nearer the surface about a couple of weeks later. In a related note, it appears the models, after a milder next week, are hinting at a colder northerly spell again after the following weekend. Staying with the stratospheric wind flow changes, these may have a possible link to winter Sporadic-E events and it’s worth monitoring 10m and 6m for activity in the next couple of weeks or so, especially FT8, but CW and SSB are not impossible. After the excitement of the Quadrantids meteor shower we are now entering the annual quiet period in meteor activity with just two significant showers between now and the April Lyrids, so back to pre-dawn random meteors for the best chance of DX. The Moon was at perigee yesterday, so path losses are at their lowest, but it’s at minimum declination on Tuesday meaning Moon windows are short and low elevation. The Moon only reaches 12 degrees elevation on Tuesday, meaning horizon noise will be an issue all week at VHF. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 25th of October 2020 The news headlines: Back to GMT today New Zealand loses 5MHz New RSGB Convention talks on YouTube Don’t forget, in the UK, the clocks went back one hour at 2 am today Sunday the 25th of October. We will then we back to Greenwich Mean Time, or UTC until the clocks change again in March 2021. The New Zealand national amateur society NZART reports that, unfortunately, the New Zealand Defence Force has advised they are not willing to approve another renewal of their 5MHz trial allocation and licence. As a result, all use by New Zealand amateurs of the two trial frequencies, 5353 and 5362kHz, cease from midnight on Saturday the 24th of October 2020. Although the trial is over, NZART will continue to work with the regulator to see if there are other ways of providing New Zealand amateurs with access to 5MHz frequencies. The individual presentations from the Introduction To... stream at the successful RSGB 2020 Convention Online are now available on the Society’s YouTube channel. You can catch up on ones you missed, or take the opportunity to watch again the ones you enjoyed most. The keynote presentation and the individual talks in the Learn More About… stream will be released next week. Find them at www.youtube.com/theRSGB. The German town of Bad Bentheim is taking nominations for the Golden Antenna Award. For 50 years, the town has hosted German-Dutch Amateur Radio Days, during which the town stresses the importance of amateur radio as a public service. A committee headed by the mayor of Bad Bentheim will choose the winner. The recipient will be invited to receive the award on the 28th of August 2021. They would favour candidates who did something special related to the Covid-19 pandemic, but other candidates are welcome. Send nominations via email to juerriens@stadt-badbentheim.de. The new IARU Monitoring Service Region 1 Coordinator Gaspar, EA6AMM has appointed Peter, HB9CET, as Vice-Coordinator. Both have been working together in IARUMS for more than a year. More on the work of the Monitoring Service can be found at www.iaru-r1.org. The RSGB will once again be participating in the annual YOTA Month activities in December. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we will not be encouraging large group events. We do hope that smaller groups will be able to participate in the event, whilst remaining within national and local guidelines. GB20YOTA will be available for Full licence holders to book an appointment slot within a set calendar. This calendar will be available on the GB20YOTA QRZ.com page for you to choose when you want to operate. All operations should be focused with the intention to get young people on the air. To register your interest, or to reserve an operating slot, contact Jamie, M0SDV, via email to yota.month@rsgb.org.uk. Now the special event news As a tribute to Eddie Van Halen passing on the 6th of October, PA5150EVH will be on air from the 28th of October until at least the 31st of January. It will be operated by Van Halen fan Frank, PF1SCT. URE San Fernando, EA7URF, is participating in the official celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the first circumnavigation of the Earth. AM500ETS will be active from the 31st of October to the 8th of November. During fighting around Ypres in WWI, much of Sanctuary Wood, Hill 62, Armagh Wood and Mount Sorrel was taken at the expense of many casualties. The Great Reconstruction in the Westhoek is commemorated during November with the callsign OP20FENIKS. The station is located in the immediate vicinity of the memorial of Hill 62, and will be on HF and VHF using SSB, CW and some data modes. Full details are on QRZ.com Larry, G4HLN will be active as GB4CKS between the 1st and the 14th of November. He will operate CW and some SSB on 40 to 10m, marking the 85th anniversary of the death of Australian record-setting aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, who disappeared on the 8th of November 1935 off the coast of Myanmar, then known as Burma, whilst trying to break the England-Australia speed record. QSL via G4HLN, direct or via the bureau. Now the DX news Cezar, VE3LYC will be active as TX0T from one of the new IOTAs in French Polynesia, Tatakoto Atoll, OC-298, between the 29th of October and the 5th of November. He will be primarily on 40, 30, 20 and 17 metres CW and SSB. QSL via Club Log’s OQRS, or via VE3LYC. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the contest for new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. The RSGB strongly advises obeying your own national and local government’s advice first and foremost, especially in the instance of local lockdowns. The CQWW DX SSB contest ends its 48 hour runs at 2359 today, the 25th. It’s SSB-only on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands. The exchange is signal report and Zone, which is 14 for the UK. On Tuesday the SHF UK Activity Contest takes place between 1830 and 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 2.3 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the UK EI Contest Club 80m contest runs from 2000 to 2130UTC. Using CW only, the exchange is your 6 digit locator. On Thursday the 80m Autumn Series runs from 2000 to 2130UTC. Using SSB only, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The UK EI Contest Club DX Contest takes place for 24 hours beginning at 1200UTC on Saturday the 31st of October. This is SSB only and also has a 12-hour option. UK and EI area codes are multipliers for DX stations and all QSOs made by UK or EI stations between the hours of 0100 and 0500UTC are worth double points. For the rules and other information, follow the links from www.ukeicc.com. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 23rd of October. The last week was dominated by sunspot region 2776, which pushed the solar flux index to 75. Geomagnetically, it was a mixed bag though, with the Kp index peaking at four on Wednesday, but otherwise being relatively quiet and showing zero on Tuesday. The sunspots, plus the October seasonal enhancement, meant that the HF bands were quite active. There were reports of Australia being worked from the UK on 10m FT8. Alek VK6APK was worked at 0920UTC by Tony, G4HZW. Mario, FR4QT on Reunion Island was also worked on 28.380MHz SSB by Gary, G0FWX, according to the 10m UK Net Facebook group. If you like 10 metre operation the group is definitely worth signing up to. These 10-metre contacts bode well for the future and we look forward to other reports of VK/ZL as the solar cycle progresses. Next week, NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be the range 72-74. Sunspot region 2776 will have almost rotated off the visible disk by the time this report is published and there are no other spots at the moment. However, it does look like we are in for a disturbed weekend with poor geomagnetic conditions. This is due to a large polar coronal hole on the solar surface that has returned after a 27-day rotation and which could cause the Kp index to rise to five. The solar wind will likely increase in speed and density, resulting in an adverse effect on the ionosphere after a potential pre-auroral enhancement. Expect maximum usable frequencies to decline and conditions to be poor this weekend. Do look out for potential 10 metre auroral contacts though. And now the VHF and up propagation news. We are about to enter a phase of very disturbed weather with a series of deep lows dominating the charts, especially in the nearby Atlantic. Their influence will bring strong winds and periods of heavy rain or showers. At long range it’s pointless to try to time such events precisely, but nonetheless the general characteristics suggest that Tropo will again be a rare feature in the coming week other than transient weak ridges between successive fronts or lows. On the upside, rain scatter could do rather well for the GHz bands. The Moon’s declination is rising and goes positive on Thursday so Moon visibility windows will lengthen. The Moon reaches apogee on Friday where path losses are at maximum. 144MHz sky noise is low all week. With the Kp index set to rise to five thanks to the returning coronal hole, it might be worth keeping an eye out for low-VHF auroral propagation again. There are no significant meteor showers this week but get ready for the Leonids, peaking on 16th and 17th of November. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.