Podcasts about qsos

Hello and Welcome to the DX Corner for yourweekly Dose of DX. I'm Bill, AJ8B.The following DX information comes from Bernie, W3UR, editor of the DailyDX, the WeeklyDX, and the How's DX column in QST. If you would like a free 2-week trial of the DailyDX, your only source of real-time DX information, just drop me a note at thedxmentor@gmail.com5X - Uganda – Richard, HB9FHV,is currently in Uganda for a brief visit with basic radio equipment until February 28, 2026. He plans limited activity as 5X4TA almost daily on the 10, 15, and 20 meter bands between 1500Z and 1600Z.  TZ - Mali - Ulmar, DK1CE, should be QRV as TZ1CE until March 1.  He will be doing mostly FT8 and SSB and says when he's on FT8 he gives stations outside Europe precedent at alltimes.  He plans special attention to 160M FT8, 80M FT8 and 6M and will update daily on Club Log, the LoTW log will be after the operation. FJ - St. Barthelemy – On February 12, Andreas, DK6AS, began his February/March 2026 FJ/DK6AS operation from St. Barts. He'll be QRV on CW, FT4 and CT8 on 3.5 through 50 MHz, including participation in the ARRL International DX CW Contest. QSL via DK6AS either direct or via the bureau.VP5 - Turks and Caicos Islands - The Russell family (WD5JR, N5VOF and KJ5CMP) are in the Turks and Caicos Islands until February 23. They have an IC-7300 and KX2 running 5 to 100 watts into a 17 foot whip with coil and EFHW. They are active as VP5/HC on 7 through 50 MHz on SSB and CW. They areuploading videos to their YouTube channel Radio Roamers and Facebook page Radio Roamers.  QSL via their home calls with SASE.  J5 - Guinea-Bissau - The J51A DXpedition team, heading for Bijagos Archipelago (AF-020) in the February-March time frame giving the following update.  "J51A on QO-100: We were asked to be active on QO-100 satellite, too. We learnt that J5 has NEVER been active on QO-100 before.So, we decided to give it a try for a lot of ATNO contacts on SSB, CW and FT8. However, none of us has operated over  satellite before. Please bear with us if we do something stupid or unexpected. Just let us know by E-Mail ( j51a@gmx.de ) and we'llfix any misbehavior  A.S.A.P. Technically; we will use 50 MHz as the IF band. It means that we  cannot do 50 MHz when on QO-100, and vice versa. QO-100 operation will start a  couple of days after the other bands. Please watch the "News" sectionon  www.qrz.com/db/J51A for more info." OX – Greenland - From February 17th to March 9th, 2026, Bo, OZ1DJJ, will be active as OX3LX from Aasiaat City/Island (GP38NQ, NA-134) during this period. Please note, this is nota DXpedition but rather a business trip, so activity may be limited. 8Q - Maldives – Alex, OE5AUH, is planning a holiday operation as 8Q7AH from Rasdhoo Atoll March 1-10.  RI1F - Franz Jozef Land - The Russian DX Team is preparing a major DXpedition to Franz Josef Land (RI1FJL), The Arctic Ocean archipelago, ranked 44th globally and 26th in North America. The operation will feature at least five high-power radio stations running continuously on all HF bands for 15 days in September 2026, aiming to contact as many stations as possible, including those in distant areas.The total budget for this trip is close to $80,000, making it their most expensive expedition yet, and financial support from DX clubs and individuals is crucial for its success. Donations are encouraged and can be made through the team's website - https://www.rudxt.org/ri1fjl or directlyvia PayPal un7jid@mail.ru. In addition to the previously mentioned KP5/NP3VI interview, the DX Mentor podcast will be with Hal, W8HC. Hal will bediscussing the 9U1RU DXpedition that logged almost 180,000 QSOs. Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

GB2RS News Sunday the 22nd of February   The news headlines: RSGB 2026 Elections – Nominated Director candidates announced A year in numbers 2025 – a celebration of RSGB achievements Former RSGB President Colin Thomas, G3PSM, is now a Silent Key  In this year's RSGB elections, there are vacancies for two Nominated Directors. Following a rigorous selection process, the Society's Nominations Committee has chosen to put forward Graham Smith, G4NMD, and Patrick Wood, 2E0IFB, for endorsement. RSGB members will be able to vote to endorse these candidates when voting opens on Wednesday, the 18th of March. To help you learn more about the candidates, the RSGB has published two videos. The candidates weren't given the questions in advance and were interviewed separately. You can watch their in-depth answers in a single easy-to-view video, whilst the two-minute video provides their brief thoughts on RSGB membership. You can watch them on the RSGB YouTube channel and on its website at rsgb.org/candidates Amateur radio continues to evolve, and the RSGB, in turn, develops how it supports current radio amateurs and reaches out to new audiences. The RSGB General Manager, Steve Thomas, M1ACB, wrote his annual feature called ‘A year in numbers' for the March issue of RadCom. In it he shared some of the year's great achievements in which RSGB HQ staff have often led the way. Read the full feature and view the infographic on page 48 of the March edition. You can also see the highlights in a brief video on the RSGB YouTube channel at youtube.com/theRSGB It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Colin Thomas, G3PSM. Colin worked tirelessly for the RSGB and was President from 2008 to 2009. He made a great contribution to the acquisition and defence of the radio spectrum. Within Region 1, he played a leading role in the acquisition of additional bands, including 136kHz, 472kHz, allocations at 5MHz and the expansion of 7MHz. He also led the successful defence of existing allocations. IARU Region 1 radio amateurs owe him a huge debt. Colin was an Honorary Life Vice-President and a recipient of the Founder's trophy in recognition of his work both for the Society and for the IARU. A full tribute to Colin is being prepared for the RSGB website and for RadCom. The RSGB is reminding radio amateurs that the frequencies at 5MHz are only available on a secondary basis to holders of a UK Full amateur radio licence. Foundation and Intermediate licence holders are not allowed to operate on 5MHz. You can find details about this in the OFW611 amateur radio licence terms and conditions booklet, which is available from ofcom.org.uk, and there is also more information about operating on this band at rsgb.org/5mhz Are you passionate about attracting older people to amateur radio, while retaining and engaging our valued senior members? The RSGB is seeking an enthusiastic individual to take on the role of Honorary Mature Members' Officer. This volunteer leadership role will champion the inclusive ethos of amateur radio and promote how the hobby can be enjoyed by all, irrespective of age. You will help to ensure that mature members feel supported, valued and actively involved and build a small team to develop initiatives that strengthen engagement across our community. If you are an RSGB Member and are committed to helping others remain active and involved in the hobby they love, visit rsgb.org/volunteers to read the full role description and find out how to apply. Time is running out to submit your entry to the RSGB 2026 Construction Competition. The deadline is Sunday, the 1st of March. You'll need to email a short description of your entry and up to four photographs. It is also recommended to send a link to a video that demonstrates your entry working. More details on submitting your application can be found via rsgb.org/construction-competition. The results of the competition will be announced during the RSGB 2026 Annual General Meeting on Saturday, 18th of April. To encourage activity on the 2m band, the 145 Alive team has introduced 145 Alive 50. The trial period for this initiative runs until the 18th of April. The rules are simple. Call CQ on the calling channel and have at least one QSO per day on the 2m band. Record your contacts and send your log for 50 or more days, in ADIF format, to 145aliveuk@gmail.com. Electronic certificates will be supplied by the 145 Alive team to successful applicants. Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. The deadline for submissions is 10 am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week.  And now for details of rallies and events On Sunday, the 1st of March, the Exeter Radio Rally will take place at The Kenn Centre, EX6 7UE. The rally will include a bring-and-buy area, disabled facilities, catering and free car parking. The entry fee is £3. Traders can gain entry from 8 am, and the doors open to the public at 10 am. For more information, email Bill, G7AKJ via billwrench213@btinternet.com On Sunday, the 22nd of March, Callington Radio and Electronics Rally will be held in the Town Hall, New Road, Callington, Cornwall, PL17 7BE. The doors will be open to the public from 10 am until 1 pm. Entry is £2 each with no charge for those under the age of 16. A comprehensive selection of traders, clubs and societies from the southwest will be present along with a bring-and-buy stall and the usual catering service. Pre-booking is essential, so please contact Alastair, M0KRR, via alastair.kerr1@btinternet.com or by phone on 01503 262 755 with your requirements as soon as possible. Visit callingtonradiosociety.org.uk for more information. Now the Special Event news Today, Sunday the 22nd, Hartlepool Amateur Radio Club will be operating using special callsign GB100HG for World Thinking Day on the Air. Listen for activity on the 40, 20 and 10m bands, mainly using SSB and possibly CW and FT8. FM contacts will also be possible on the 2m and 70cm bands. The operators are keen to make as many contacts as possible. If you hear them, please give them a call. Celebrating World Radio Day, the VIC Amateur Radio Contest DX Club is operating as 4UNR until the 28th of February using CW, SSB and digital modes. QSL via OQRS. Now the DX news Michael, OZ6ABL, is active as 5Z4/OZ6ABL from Watamu in Kenya, until Saturday, the 28th of February. Activity is on the 80 to 6m bands using CW, SSB, FT8 and FT4. QSL via Logbook of the World, OQRS, or via Michael's home call. Ulmar, DK1CE, is active as TZ1CE from Bamako in Mali until Sunday, the 1st of March. He is operating mainly FT8 on the HF bands. SSB contacts are also possible. QSL via Club Log and Logbook of the World. Now the contest news Today, Sunday the 22nd of February, the UK Microwave Group EHF Band Contest runs from 0800 to 1700 UTC. Using all modes on 76 to 241GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The REF Contest started at 0600 UTC yesterday, the 21st, and runs until 1800 UTC today, Sunday the 22nd of February. Using SSB on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number.   The ARRL International DX Contest started at 0000UTC yesterday, the 21st, and finishes at 2359 UTC today, Sunday, the 22nd of February. Using CW on the 160 to 10m bands, the exchange is signal report and transmitter power. American stations also send their state, and Canadian stations send their province. Tomorrow, the 23rd of February, the RSGB FT4 Series Contest runs from 2000 to 2200 UTC. Using FT4 on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is your report. On Tuesday, the 24th of February, the RSGB SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1930 to 2230 UTC. Using all modes on the 13cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday, the 25th of February, the United Kingdom and Ireland Contest Club 80m Contest runs from 2000 to 2100 UTC. Using CW on the 80m band, the exchange is your six-character locator. On Thursday, the 26th of February, the RSGB 80m club Championship runs from 2000 to 2130 UTC. Using CW on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The CQ 160m DX Contest starts at 2200 UTC on Friday, the 27th of February and runs until 2200 UTC on Sunday, the 1st of March. Using SSB on the 160m band, the exchange is signal report and CQ zone. American stations also send their state, and Canadian stations send their province. On Sunday the 1st of March, the Worked All Britain 3.5MHz Phone Contest runs from 1800 to 2200 UTC. Using SSB on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and your Worked All Britain area. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday, the 19th of February. We had a week of relatively low solar flux indices and mostly settled geomagnetic conditions. While the solar flux index fell to the 117 to 129 range, the Kp index was mostly in the twos and threes. This was after the weekend's geomagnetic disturbance, due to a large coronal hole that expelled solar plasma in a stream that moved past Earth at nearly 700 kilometres per second. As a result, HF conditions have been quite good with plenty of DX being worked. The KP5/NP3VI Desecheo Island DXpedition near Puerto Rico has been a struggle for many, due to its popularity and use of solar-powered batteries and low power. One quick hint: try FT8 on the 40m band around 7 to 7.30 am. You get a greyline enhancement at sunrise, but for much of Europe, the band is closing, which means there is little competition. Let us know how you get on. Other DX this week includes 8R1WA in Guyana. This is an Italian team operating until Friday, the 27th of February. Chuck will be active as VP2MCV on Montserrat and will be active in the ARRL DX CW Contest until the end of the month. Finally, a German team will be operating as J51A in Guinea-Bissau until mid-March. Another large solar coronal hole became Earth-facing on Friday, the 20th of February, so we may expect unsettled geomagnetic conditions from today, the 22nd. Next week, the Space Weather Prediction Centre forecasted a low solar flux index of 105 for yesterday, the 21st, before rising again to potentially reach 165 by the end of this month. Unsettled geomagnetic conditions are forecast for the 24th and 25th with an estimated Kp index of 5. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th of February saw afternoon openings on 50MHz to TZ1CE in Mali to generate DX interest. However, as expected, it was stations much further south that benefited from the best propagation, with just a few stations in the southern areas of the UK making QSOs on FT8. The present spell of unsettled weather remains the main theme for the period up to the end of the coming week. The pattern is controlled by a strong Atlantic jet stream, so ‘changeable' is the watchword with periods of heavy rain alternating with brighter showery interludes and, of course, quite strong winds at times. In terms of propagation, rain scatter is a clear favourite, although in one cloudy period in mild air around Tuesday the 24th, some possible tropo may show up for southern areas of the UK.  The meteor scatter options are again subject to random activity since we are still some way off the next important shower, the Lyrids, in late April.   The auroral prospects have, at best, been gently simmering at low values of the Kp index, mostly less than 5. Stay tuned, though, because we may see an uptick around Tuesday the 24th. So watch for signs of fluttery signals on the LF bands and then check for auroral tones on 10m and up through the 6 to 2m bands. These events are always a bit of a long shot, but should be worth checking this time. The sporadic-E season is still some way off, although a strong jet stream pattern is always a positive. For EME, Moon declination is positive and rising, meaning longer Moon windows and higher peak elevation. Path loss continues to fall as we approach perigee on Tuesday, the 24th. 144MHz sky noise starts the coming week low, rising to moderate towards the end. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

We have two operations from J5 - Guinea-BissauFirst - DA1DX, Ben, the organizer of the J51A DXpedition to Guinea-Bissau in February/March 2026, shares several updates. The ARRL has approved the J51A license for DXCC, and the LoTW certificate has been received. After clarifying frequency and mode permissions with the national authority and confirming alignment with IARU Region 1 Band Plans, all standard bands and modes-including 160m, 60m, WARC bands, and 50 MHz-are confirmed valid for DXCC, IOTA, and other awards. The DXpedition is entirely privately funded, with RF-POWER lending five amplifiers and all other equipment privately owned. Ben invites donations via Club Log OQRS and provides a link for more information. https://www.qrz.com/db/J51A Secondly, J52EC is on until February 28th by operator IZ3BUR, Livio. He has an IC-7410, 100 watts, to a 3-element Yagi on 20, 15 and 10.TL - Central African Republic & TT – Chad - TJ1GD, Darek, has established permanent amateur radio stations in the Central African Republic and in Chad, which are maintained locally. These stations (TL8GD and TT1GD), licensed to Darek, operate periodically-often remotely using FT8, CW, and SSB. QSL confirmations are available via LoTW and Club Log.KP5/NP3VI, Desecheo Island - KP5/NP3VI is now 2 weeks into its planned 30-day operation. Their latest published statistics are as follows: Over 55,000 QSOs are in the log, with 91.1 percent of the QSOs with North American and Europe. CN - Morocco - F6FYD, Yannick, expects to return to Morocco next week. In early March he also has plans to go to Mogador Island (AF-065), Agadir, and El Jadida and has the callsign CN2YD.FG – Guadeloupe - TF1OL, Olafur, will be live from Guadeloupe starting Wednesday next week for approximately seven days. No word on what callsign he will be using. Following the stay in Guadeloupe, plans to visit other islands are pending permission to operate.TZ - Mali - The next TZ1CE by DK1CE, Ulmar, is February 10 to March 1. He will be doing mostly FT8 and SSB and says when he's on FT8 he gives stations outside Europe precedent at all times. He plans special attention to 160M FT8, 80M FT8 and 6M and will update daily on Club Log, the LoTW log will be after the operation, and in Mali 60M operation is not allowed.FG - Guadeloupe - FG/F6HMQ, Tildas, and FG/F6GWV, Mike, are there for another week or so, with a pair of IC-7300 radios, to vertical wires. "Holiday style," they are 60-10M SSB, FT4 and FT8. LoTW confirmations will be available within a few days. YU – Serbia - This year is the 170th anniversary of Nikola Tesla's birth. Stations in the Amateur Radio Union of Serbia are authorized to use callsign YT170TESLA through the end of this year.XU - Cambodia - DL7BO, Tom, will once again be QRV as XU7O from February 7-21, reports DX News.S9 - Sao Tome & Principe – S53BV is QRV as S9BV until February 20, holiday style "from a quiet location," Borut, will be on with an IC-7000 to verticals and dipoles. He plans to be on 60, 40, 30 and 15 CW and SSB. On 30, 40 and 60M CW, target frequencies are 10110, 7005 and 5351.5. Direct QSLs will be answered when he's back home. Club Log OQRS will be available, with limited internet access while there and "postal challenges." He will apparently give special instructions later.Until next week, this is Bill, AJ8B saying 73 and thanks to my XYL Karen for her love and support. I Hope to hear you in the pileups! Have a great DX week!

The following DX information comes from Bernie, W3UR, editor of the DailyDX, the WeeklyDX, and the How's DX column in QST. If you would like a free 2-week trial of the DailyDX, your only source of real-time DX information, justdrop me a note at thedxmentor@gmail.comV4 - St. Kitts - The 425 DX News reports that V47JA by W5JON is QRV from the island until February 3, SSB andFT8 on HF.  QSL direct to W5JON, or  use Logbook of the World. TL - Central African Republic & TT –Chad - TJ1GD, Darek, has established permanent amateur radio stations in the Central African Republic and in Chad, which are maintained locally. These stations (TL8GD and TT1GD), licensed to Darek, operate periodically-often remotely using FT8, CW, and SSB. QSL confirmations are available via LoTW and Club Log.J5 - Guinea-Bissau – Livio, IZ3BUR, is once again QRV as J52EC starting January 24. He has been reported on SSB on 10 and 15 meters. Numerous sources report he is there until March. QSL direct only via IZ3BUR. C2 - Nauru – Phil, FK1TS, is back on Nauru Island and expects to be active as C21TS on FT8 by the weekend, after setting up his vertical antenna. He will operate until July 2026, and Club Log Livestream will indicate when he is on the air. KP5/NP3VI, Desecheo Island - KP5/NP3VI is now 2 weeks into its planned 30-day operation. Their latest published statistics are as follows: 29,418 QSOs with 8,291 unique callsigns; ATNO for 1,66 stations. Six continents are represented in the log, with 91.1 percent of the QSOs with North American and Europe. However, North America contacts continue to decrease in percentage as they increase activity with other regions.  C5 - The Gambia - C5SP, Przemyslaw and C5MB, Magdalena are QRV from Sanyang, Gambia (Grid Square IK13pf) until March 2026. QSL cards are available via SP3PS Direct, but not through LoTW.H4 - Solomon Islands - DL2GAC, Bernhard now in the Solomon Islands as H44MS until mid-May.  He departed India last Wednesday, arriving in the Solomons' capital on Friday.  He is renewing his H44MS license, which was scheduled to expire in early February.  He will move to his "usual QTH" there tomorrow or Wednesday.  He has taken with him a Hexbeam that covers 20-6, to replace his old tri-bander that covered 20-10.  He says the weather is poor, lots of rain, no sunshine.  He plans to mostly be on 40M this time, with a dipole 20M high in a palm tree near the ocean.

Hello and Welcome to the DX Corner for yourweekly Dose of DX. I'm Bill, AJ8B.I mentioned previously that I would be addressing two issues, as I do at the beginning of each year. The first is my goals for 2026. We accomplished that last week. The second issue was to share those contests that I have participated in over the years. I have found them to be excellent opportunities to improve your skills, garner you some new band slots and potentially some ATNOS. The dates that I am referring to include the State QSO Parties, international DX contests, and regional DX contests. I have worked many normally difficult entities during contests and found it very easy (sometimes) to get them in the log. I have about 90 dates that I would suggest that you keep in mind. However, you don't need to write them down. I have created two items to make it easy for you. There is a list of dates andcontests in both .pdf and Excel format. Both files can be found at www.aj8b.com/files. Let me know if you have any questions. If you are somewhat skilled with Excel, you can create a CSV file from the Excel workbook and import it in to your personal calendar.The following DX information comes from Bernie, W3UR, editor of the DailyDX, the WeeklyDX, and the How's DX column in QST. If you would like a free 2-week trial of the DailyDX, your only source of real-time DX information, justdrop me a note at thedxmentor@gmail.comKP5/NP3VI, Desecheo Island, makes history  - At its four-day mark, KP5/NP3VI has made over 10,000 QSOs on all continents. Their goal is to make over 100,000 QSOsduring their 30 days on the air. J5 - Guinea-Bissau - Bavarian Contest Club members will be operating J51A from Guinea-Bissau in February/March 2026. The location is on the island's northern shore with an unobstructed view over water, using generator power 24/7 due to lack of public electricity. Their  main goal is to provide contacts from Guinea-Bissau, which is ranked as number  85 worldwide, and number 53 in Asia. QSL cards and LoTW confirmations will be managed through Club Log OQRS, and donations are welcome via Club Log.H4 - Solomon Islands - DL2GAC, Bernhard now in the Solomon Islands as H44MS until mid-May.  He departed India last Wednesday, arriving in the Solomons' capital on Friday.  He is renewing his H44MS license, which was scheduled to expire in early February.  He will move to his "usual QTH" there tomorrow or Wednesday.  He has taken with him a Hexbeam that covers 20-6, to replace his old tri-bander that covered 20-10.  He says the weather is poor, lots of rain, no sunshine.  He plans to mostly be on 40M this time, with a dipole 20M high in a palm tree near the ocean. V6 - Federated States of Micronesia - Yesterday afterarriving on Chuuk (OC-011), JA1XGI (Haru) reports his amplifier was likely damaged during airport transport. Nevertheless, he has been active as V6CU25, operating FT8 and CW on 160, 40, 30, 20, and 15 meters. S21WD – Bangladesh 2026: Project Update - The NextGeneration DX Club is pleased to announce a major milestone for its upcoming Bangladesh DXpedition: the callsign S21WD has been officially issued for the project. The DXpedition will be active for 12 days and operate on 160 through 10 meters, including 5 MHz (60 m), using CW, SSB, RTTY, and FT8. In addition, activity via the QO-100 satellite is planned using CW, SSB, and FT4. I mentioned that the KP5 DXpedition to Desecheo was racking up record numbers and they were working all continents. If you would like to learn more about this DXpedition, check out the DX Mentor podcast and YouTube channel. AJ8B and W8GEX had a great discussion with team leader, Otis, NP4G, about all aspects of the DesecheoDXpedition. Give it a listen and let me know what you think!  Until next week, this is Bill, AJ8B saying 73 and thanks to my XYL Karen for her love and support. IHope to hear you in the pileups! Have a great DX week! 

Hello and welcome to episode 86 of The DX Mentor – a discussion with Otis, NP4G regarding the KP5/NP3VI Desecheo DXpedition.If this is the first time you are joining us, Welcome! We have a back catalog covering many aspects of DX in both podcast and YouTube format. Please check us out.  If you like what you find, please subscribe to always be notified about upcoming episodes!     If you have a comment or a question, please drop me a note at thedxmentor@gmail.com Joe and I have done 85 episodes, but we have never had someone on during a DXpedition. Tonight, we have Otis, NP4G, who will give us an update on Desecheo, what they are doing, how they are doing, and how they are doing it. We will also join Otis as he logs some QSOs at the end.75% of this episode is good for the podcast feed. However, the last 255 is very video driven. We did our best to describe what we were seeing, but you may want to check out the YouTube portion to get the full effect.

GB2RS News Sunday, the 18th of January 2026 The news headlines: RSGB announces important changes to its QSL Bureau Service RSGB Regions 6 and 7 launch a new challenge for February Could you be the RSGB Youth Activities and Engagement Champion? The RSGB is pleased to announce the next stage in developing its QSL Bureau Services following the retirement of the RSGB QSL Bureau Manager Richard Constantine, G3UGF. After a comprehensive review of long-term options, the Society has entered into a formal Contractual Agreement with the German National Radio Society, Deutscher Amateur Radio Club, to process all incoming and outgoing RSGB QSL cards. DARC operates a modern, high-capacity QSL bureau. Its systems already support several national societies and offer industrial-scale reliability, digital processing capability and long-term resilience. This partnership will provide a robust and effective QSL bureau service for RSGB members. Volunteers remain central to the RSGB QSL Bureau Service, and the RSGB extends its thanks to all sub-managers, whose dedication forms the backbone of the service. The new arrangements are designed to support volunteer involvement, not replace it, and to ensure volunteers have a strong infrastructure behind them. The new service preserves the traditional bureau structure but will offer additional options for RSGB members who send cards. Find out more about these developments on the newly updated QSL Bureau pages on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/qsl RSGB Regional Representatives in North and South Wales have launched a new challenge. The 40 Metre Challenge encourages radio amateurs to make as many QSOs as possible on the 40m band between the 1st and 28th of February. The event has six categories to enter and is open to individual RSGB members living in Wales and members of RSGB-affiliated clubs located in Wales. Certificates will be awarded to the top station in each category, as well as a 7MHz Challenge Trophy for the RSGB Affiliated Club with the most QSOs submitted by its membership. Find out more by searching ‘40 Metre Challenge' in the search bar on the RSGB website at rsgb.org Have you got ideas for activities that will inspire and engage young Foundation licence holders? The RSGB is looking for an enthusiastic and innovative person to become its volunteer Youth Activities and Engagement Champion. The role will take the lead on youth-focused activities and help in promoting and supporting events such as YOTA Month and the annual IARU YOTA Summer Camp. Read the full details on this exciting role and how to apply at rsgb.org/volunteers The RSGB is seeking to appoint a new Advertising Agent to take over from the current contractor upon their retirement. This is an exciting opportunity to work with the UK's national amateur radio society and manage advertising sales across a diverse portfolio of respected publications and digital platforms. If you are a contractor or agency and can support the development of RSGB advertising and contribute to the growth of its publications and digital platforms, this opportunity could be for you. Go to the RSGB website at rsgb.org/careers to find out more. Applications are closing soon, so don't delay if you're interested! YOTA Month took place in December and was full of young radio amateurs having fun on the air. If you were involved with the event, don't forget to share your experience by featuring in a YOTA Month special in the March edition of RadCom. To be included, email your photos and a short report to radcom@rsgb.org.uk by the 23rd of January at the latest, and please make it clear if the photos can also be used on social media. A reminder that the RSGB will stop offering the Intermediate 100 award and the VHF/UHF Activity award at the end of 2026. Anyone working towards these awards will have until the end of the year to complete the necessary QSOs. The RSGB has numerous other awards for you to chase, so get started by going to rsgb.org/awards The Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys is having a ‘What is my STEM future' conference for Canterbury school pupils aged between 10 and 13. The event aims to give students a sense of what Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics is, and to help them plan for their futures. The conference programme includes four workshops, one of which will be on amateur radio and Morse. Under supervision, students will have the opportunity to operate the school's amateur radio club callsign, G3OSL. Listen out between 10 am and 1 pm on Wednesday, the 21st of January, when pupils will be active using CW on the 40 and 20m bands. Read more about the event via rsgb.org/school-zone Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. The deadline for submissions is 10 am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week.  And now for details of rallies and events On Sunday, the 25th of January 2026, the Lincoln Short Wave Club Winter Radio Rally will be held at Festival Hall, Caistor Road, Market Rasen, LN8 3HT. This is an indoor event with ample free parking. The doors will be open from 10 am, and admission is £3. Tables cost £10. To book tables, or for more information, contact Steve, M5ZZZ on 07777 699 069 or email m5zzz@outlook.com The Red Rose Winter Rally, organised by West Manchester Radio Club, will take place on Sunday, the 8th of February at Mather Hall, Mather Lane, Leigh, WN7 2PJ. Exhibitors can gain entrance from 8.15 am, and the doors open to visitors at 10 am. A large car park, catering, bring and buy, raffle, improved disabled access and a seating area will be available on site. For more information and booking, visit wmrc.co.uk Now the Special Event news The Royal Association of Radio Amateurs in Morocco is active as CN35CAN during the 35th Africa Cup of Nations. The competition sees African national football teams compete against each other every two years. Recently, the station was worked on the 20m band using SSB. For more information, visit QRZ.com The Straight Key Century Club's Straight Key Month is currently underway. The annual on-air event commemorates the Club's founding in 2006 and celebrates the original instruments of early radiotelegraphy, including straight keys, bugs and ‘cootie' keys. Listen out for the K3Y callsign, which is being aired from the ten USA call areas. Information on the event and QSL instructions can be found at tinyurl.com/skcc2026 Now the DX news Jonathan, W5GI, is active as VP2V/W5GI from Anegada in the British Virgin Islands, NA-023, until Tuesday, the 20th of January. He operates SSB and FT8 on the 40 to 10m bands. QSL via Logbook of the World. Andre, ON7YK, is active as C5YK from The Gambia until Sunday, the 25th of January. He operates using SSB, digital modes and some CW on the 20 to 10m bands. QSL via Logbook of the World, eQSL or directly to Andre's home call. Now the contest news Tomorrow, the 19th of January, the RSGB FT4 Series Contest runs from 2000 to 2200UTC. Using FT4 on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is your report. On Tuesday, the 20th of January, the RSGB 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230UTC. Using all modes on the 23cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The CQ World Wide 160m DX Contest starts at 2200UTC on Friday, the 23rd and runs until 2200UTC on Sunday, the 25th of January. Using CW on the 160m band, the exchange is signal report and CQ Zone. American stations also send their state, and Canadian stations send their province. The British Amateur Radio Teledata Group Sprint starts at 1200UTC on Saturday, the 24th and runs until 1200UTC on Sunday, the 25th of January. Using RTTY on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is your serial number. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 15th of January 2026 The Solar Flux Index increased a little last week, but it was never exceptional. We started at 111 on the 11th of January and ended at 127 on Thursday the 15th – hardly much to get excited about. The 11th of January also marked the most geomagnetically disturbed day of the week, with the Kp index hitting 5.33. Luckily, the rest of the week was more settled, with the Kp index not getting above 3 for the three days up until Thursday, the 15th. The Sun also produced two M-class solar flares during that time, but there were no X-class events. This has meant reasonable HF propagation, with the maximum usable frequency over 3,000km climbing steadily after sunrise, often reaching more than 30MHz at times. But it has been choppy, with many falls below 25MHz during the day. So, if you are a 10m band operator, stick with it, as you may find conditions improve after 10 minutes or so. Nighttime maximum usable frequencies are still falling to around 7 to 9MHz over a 3,000km path, often dropping further, leaving the 40m band closed to many. A quick check of the NCDXF IBP beacon chain around midday on Thursday, the 15th, showed that the 24.930MHz beacons were probably the most active, but DX signals were still a little watery. The lower bands are still coming up with the goods, though, with Hong Kong being reported on 80m using CW. 3D2USU in Fiji has also been worked on the 20m band using CW, according to the CDXC Slack Group. The KP5/NP3VI Desecheo Island DXpedition has been another sought-after entity this month. The station has been reported as being worked from Europe on the 30m band using FT8, on the 80m band using CW and on the 40m band using USB. Next week's DXpeditions include 9X2AW in Rwanda, 5H3DX in Tanzania, P40AA in Aruba, and PJ2ND on Curacao Island. Also reported to be active are VE3VSM/HR9 on Roatan Island in the Caribbean, Z81D in South Sudan, H44MS on the Solomon Islands and FT4YM in Antarctica. If you work any of them, send your reports to radcom@rsgb.org.uk Next week, the solar flux index is predicted to climb slightly, perhaps peaking at 140, before heading back down to the 120 to 130 range at the end of the month. Geomagnetic conditions are forecast to be settled next week, before becoming unsettled again on the 28th of January. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The current unsettled pattern looks likely to continue for the next week with low pressure nearby for much of the time, driving a series of rain-bearing fronts across the country.  This will provide some opportunities for rain scatter, although these fast-moving winter systems may need some delicate rotator work to keep track of them. Tropo seems unlikely to feature much, if at all, during the period. The prospects for meteor scatter are best for random meteors around dawn since we are now entering a long period between important meteor showers. This will last through to the Lyrids in late April.  The solar conditions may be interesting due to a large sunspot group moving into view as the previous week closes, so don't abandon hope of potential auroral activity and, as usual, monitor the Kp index for enhanced values above 5, ideally reaching 7 or better. A final note about Sporadic-E, which, last week, provided some mid-winter QSOs, including on the 4m band. This was encouraged by the stronger winter jet streams, although we are now moving out of that traditional winter window of activity.  Check the foEs trace on the propquest.co.uk  graphs to be sure you don't miss any final throes of the winter Sporadic-E season. For EME operators, Moon declination is at minimum over this weekend and negative all next week, going positive again on Friday the 23rd. Path losses are falling, and the Moon window length and peak elevation are increasing. 144MHz sky noise was high from Friday the 16th, and the Sun and Moon are close in the sky today, the 18th. Sky noise will be low from tomorrow, the 19th, onwards. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

Hello and Welcome to the DX Corner for yourweekly Dose of DX. I'm Bill, AJ8B. The following DX information comes from Bernie, W3UR, editor of the DailyDX, the WeeklyDX, and the How's DX column in QST. If you would like a free 2-week trial of the DailyDX, your only source of real-time DX information, justdrop me a note at thedxmentor@gmail.com LZØA, South Shetland Islands - LZ1AAW, Ivo, is onhis way to the South Shetland Islands where he will be working during the 34th Bulgarian Antarctic expedition. He plans to be QRV in his spare time as LZØA. The dates are from December 28 to February 16, plus or minus two days. Ivoexpects to be on 20M, and possibly other bands, on SSB and FT8/FT4. This initiative continues the long-standing tradition of Bulgarian presence and activity in Antarctica.  XU - Cambodia – DL7BO, Tom, will be on the air as XU7GNY, December 22 to January 18.  Tom will be on 160-6 CW, SSB and FT8, concentrating on the lower bands.  QSL direct to DJ4WK or use LoTW, Club Log or eQSL. 4K – Azerbaijan – 4K/DL4XT, Jan, will on 40 and 20-10M SSB, CW and FT8 December 26 to January 3.  He will be on the air casually, aka "holiday style."  For a QSL it's LoTW, Club Log OQRS and QRZ. TL - Central African Republic -  CR7BNW, João Salvador Correia, is set for his six-month TL8BNW operation in Bangui. His first activity has already begun using SSB and FT8 on 40, 20, 15, and 10M. QSOs will be uploaded to LoTW, QRZ Logbook, and via the Portuguese QSL bureau.FY - French Guiana - F4GPK, Peter, will be on as TO2FY December 22 to January 15 from  Kourou. C5YK, The Gambia – Andre, ON7YK, is QRV from The Gambia until January 25. He is operating as C5YK on SSB, RTTY, PSK,FT8, FT4, and some CW on 20, 17, 15, 12, and 10M. QSL only via LoTW, eQSL, or direct to ON7YK. He posts his logbook on his website.   VP8 - South Shetland Islands - LZ1AAW, Ivo, isheading to the Bulgarian Antarctic Base "St. Kliment Ohridski"on Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands (IOTA AN-010). He plans to operate as LZ0A during his free time from late December 2025 to mid-February 2026. The base, located at 62¯38'S, 60¯21'W in the eastern part of Livingston Island, has been permanently staffed since December 11, 1993. Darren, K4DMN will be active in ‘holiday-style' from December 23 until January 1 from St. George Island, NA-085. Activity from 80 to 10 metres using mainly FT8. Side trip to Dog Island and St Vincent is possible. QSL via LoTW, Club Log.TG, GUATEMALA -   Todd, AF4CZ, will once again be operating as TG9/call from December 7 until January 5, 2026. Operation during his spare time from 40 to 10 metres using mainly FT8 and FT4. QSL via LoTW.3A, MONACO -  Col MM0NDX and Steve MM0SAJ will once again be QRV as 3A/MM0NDX and 3A/MM0SAJ during December 30 and January 3. QRV on various bands and modes. Main focus on low bands in their evenings. QSL both calls to EB7DX (LoTW also).D4 - Cape Verde Islands – Beni, HB9HNT, will operate under the call sign D4NT until January 1, 2026. OX - Greenland - Michael,call sign OX3MC, operates out of Pituffik Space Base in northwest Greenland. His upcoming assignment runs from December 29, 2025, to February 25, 2026. Michael is most active on weekends starting around 0400Z and sometimes works radio in the evenings after 2100Z. Michael works HF SSB (160-10 meters). QSL is via the Danish OZ Bureau, and he does not use electronic  logging.  4K - Azerbaijan - The 4K0T DX-Pedition and Contest Team, with the Azerbaijan Radio Amateurs Society (ARAS), will conduct the first Parks on the Air (POTA) activation from Shahdagh National Park (AZ-0006) in Azerbaijan. The event takes place from December 29 to 31, 2025, on the 17-meter band (SSB) from grid square LN41CH.

GB2RS News Sunday, the 28th of December 2025 The news headlines: Dr Julian Gannaway, G3YGF, is now a Silent Key Become a member of the RSGB Legacy Committee The RSGB 2026 Convention planning team opens the call for proposals It is with great sadness that we share the news that Dr Julian Gannaway, G3YGF, is now a Silent Key. He volunteered for the RSGB over many years, most recently on the RSGB Examination Standards Committee and as a corresponding member of the Spectrum Forum. He was made an RSGB Honorary Life President after serving as RSGB President in 1989. Julian's contribution to amateur radio was widespread, and we will share a fuller tribute in due course. The RSGB Legacy Fund has resources available to encourage and develop amateur radio. It is overseen by the Legacy Committee, which is a sub-committee of the RSGB Board. The Legacy Committee considers applications from individuals and groups and advises the RSGB Board in reaching its funding decision. It is currently looking for a new member to support this important work to help amateur radio move forward. To find out more, go to rsgb.org/volunteers Have you been involved in some research or been part of a project that will take amateur radio to new audiences? Maybe your organisation is working to encourage young people into STEM careers and support the radio engineers of the future? Perhaps you have discovered something new in amateur radio or have helped to make the hobby more inclusive and accessible. The Society has started planning its 2026 Convention and is offering radio amateurs the opportunity to propose a presentation or a practical activity and be part of the weekend's programme. Submit your proposal on these, or any other topics, by sending the title and at least a one-paragraph summary of your suggestion to convention@rsgb.org.uk Time is running out to be part of two exciting opportunities to make an impact with the RSGB. The Society is seeking a full-time, highly motivated Operations Manager to be part of its senior leadership team, based at the RSGB HQ in Bedford. It is also looking for a new contractor or agency to work with, to support the development of RSGB advertising and contribute to the growth of its publications and digital platforms. If you are professional, proactive and excited by either of these opportunities, go to the RSGB website at rsgb.org/careers  to find out more. The application deadline for both is the 4th of January 2026. A reminder that RSGB HQ is closed over the festive season and opens again for business at 8.30 am on Monday, the 5th of January 2026. The exams booking system will remain open at rsgb.org/exampay  during the festive season so you can book exams to take on the 5th of January onwards. The RSGB National Radio Centre will be operating reduced opening hours and will shut its doors at 2 pm on New Year's Eve and remain closed on New Year's Day. In addition to this, it will be shut for essential maintenance works on the 5th and 6th of January. Outside of these times, volunteers look forward to welcoming visitors as usual. Youngsters on the Air Month 2025 has been filled with some brilliant activity from young people using the special callsign GB25YOTA. Before the year ends, there is still time to listen out for operators from the RSGB Outreach Team, Bushvalley Amateur Radio Club, the 2nd Marlborough Scouts, Hilderstone Radio Society and Jon, M0NOJ. View the operating schedule at rsgb.org/yota-month  The RSGB would like to thank everyone who has been involved with YOTA Month, from supervising young radio amateurs to making QSOs with them. If you have been involved with the event and would like your activity to be in a special feature in the March edition of RadCom, email your photos and report to radcom@rsgb.org.uk  by the 23rd of January 2026. Give something back to the amateur radio community in 2026 by becoming an RSGB volunteer. The Society has several opportunities to suit different interests and experiences. If you would like to use your skills to help strengthen the future of amateur radio and to provide services for other radio amateurs, go to rsgb.org/volunteers Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. Please note there will be no GB2RS broadcast on Sunday, the 4th of January 2026, but many newsreaders will be holding informal nets in their usual broadcasting slots. And now for details of rallies and events Sparkford Radio Rally is taking place today, Sunday the 28th of December at Davis Hall, Howell Hill, West Camel, near Yeovil, BA22 7QX. The doors are open from 9.30 am, and admission costs £2. Refreshments and free parking are available on site. For more details, contact Luke on 07870 168 197 or email luke@mymixradio.co.uk On Sunday, the 25th of January 2026, Lincoln Short Wave Club Winter Radio Rally will be held at Festival Hall, Caistor Road, Market Rasen, LN8 3HT. This is an indoor event with ample free parking. The doors will be open from 10 am, and admission is £3. Tables cost £10. To book tables, or for more information, contact Steve, M5ZZZ on 0777 7699 069 or email m5zzz@outlook.com Now the Special Event news A series of special event stations is on the air from the Netherlands during the festive period. Recently, the PD25HOHOHO station was worked on the 20m band using SSB. More information about this station, and the others in the series, can be found at QRZ.com Special callsign GB70RS is in use to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the RSGB's weekly news service GB2RS, which has been running continuously since the 25th of September 1955. A team of amateurs is using the callsign on a variety of bands and modes. QSL via the Bureau, Logbook of the World and eQSL. For more information, visit the GB70RS page at QRZ.com Now the DX news Todd, AF4CZ, is active as TG9/AF4CZ from Guatemala until the 5th of January. He is operating mainly using FT8 and FT4 on the 40 to 10m bands. QSOs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World, eQSL and Club Log. Yannick, F6FYD, is active as CN2YD from Marrakech, Morocco, until the 31st of March 2026. You can find him using SSB on the 20 to 10m bands. QSL via F6FYD directly or via the Bureau. Now the contest news The Stew Perry Top band Challenge started at 1500UTC yesterday, the 27th, and ends at 1500 UTC today, the 28th of December. Using CW on the 160m band, the exchange is your four-character locator. Today, the 28th of December, the RSGB 70MHz Christmas Contest runs from 1500 to 1700 UTC. Using all modes on the 4m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Tomorrow, the 29th of December, the RSGB 144MHz Christmas Contest runs from 1500 to 1700 UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also, tomorrow, the 29th of December, the RSGB Youth team will be active with the GB0Y callsign during the IARU Youth on the Air Contest. The exchange is a signal report and operator age. More information about the contest is available at ham-yota.com/contest On Tuesday, the 30th of December, the RSGB 432MHz Christmas Contest runs from 1500 to 1700 UTC. Using all modes on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Saturday, the 3rd of January, the RSGB 80 and 40m CW Contest runs from 1300 to 1700 UTC. Using CW on the 80 and 40m bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Saturday, the 3rd of January, The Marconi Club's QSO Party runs from 0700 to 2100 UTC. Using CW on the 80, 40 and 20m bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Listen for operators calling ‘CQ MCD'. Now the radio propagation report compiled by G0KYA and G3YLA on Thursday, December 23rd, 2025. We have had some solar ups and downs over the past week. A high-speed stream from a large coronal hole has kept the Kp index high at times, plus the solar flux index has been relatively low due to a lack of sunspots. The coronal hole has been massive, covering from the Sun's south pole right up to and past the solar equator. Nevertheless, there has been DX about, including PZ3OZ in Surinam on 80m FT8 and 40m CW, ZS7ANF in Antarctica on 30m CW, and TG9ADM in Guatemala on 10m CW. Also spotted have been some of the ‘12 Days of Christmas stations in the US', including W2R/5 in Arizona on 15m CW. Let's take a look at HF propagation over the next two weeks. According to NOAA, we may be in for a bumpy ride. The Kp index is predicted to rise to six on the 30th of December and stay high until early January. Meanwhile, at the same time, the SFI is predicted to rise to 170. The best time for HF may be after the 3rd of January, when the Kp index is predicted to fall to a more reasonable two to three, while the SFI remains in the 150-160 range. There should be plenty of activity on HF, with the G-QRP club's Winter Sports running up until the 1st of January, and a whole range of contests, from the RSGB's AFS CW Contest from 1300hrs UTC - 1700hrs UTC on the 3rd of January, to the Marconi Club ARI Loano QSO Party from 0700hrs UTC - 2100hrs UTC, also on the 3rd of January. Keep an eye on www.contestcalendar.com for updates. We hope you have a happy New Year and look forward to bringing you more HF propagation news in 2026. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO. The Christmas week saw a brief cold easterly around Christmas Day, then milder air returned around the top of the large area of high pressure. We go through the next week with the high pressure just to the north or west of Britain, and this will bring a more northerly flow across the country and, although initially milder, will become much colder again for the second half of next week. Since it is primarily a high-pressure week, there's always a chance of Tropo, but not everywhere. It's suggested you look for regions of cloud and fog for the best paths since it shows there is moisture under the inversion … a good thing for Tropo. The solar conditions are likely to offer prospects for aurora, and since this period is between two meteor showers, with the second one, the Quadrantids, peaking on the 4th at the end of the week.  Finally, a note to follow up on last week's heads-up for mid-winter Sporadic-E. It's certainly worth checking for digital modes and quite possibly for SSB/CW on 10m and 6m if there are signs of activity. For EME operators, Moon declination is rising again, and path losses are decreasing as we head towards perigee on the 2nd of January, the point where the Moon is closest to Earth. 144 MHz sky noise remains low until the 14th to 18th of January. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

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The following DX information comes from Bernie, W3UR, editor of the DailyDX, the WeeklyDX, and the How's DX column in QST. If you would like a free 2-week trial of the DailyDX, your only source of real-time DX information, justdrop me a note at thedxmentor@gmail.com First, the bad news S2 – Bangladesh - S21AM and S21RCsay their planned IOTA AS-127 operation has been postponed until sometime next year.  Cited are logistical challenges  and operational constraints in the region and "adequateresource availability concerns." Now, the Good News U.S. amateurs to receive expanded 60-meter privileges - TheU.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has authorized expanded use of the 60-meter band for U.S. amateur radio operators, following rules adopted at the World Radiotelecommunication Conference 2015 (WRC-15). The new regulations, including a 15-watt effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP) power limit (not effective radiated power, or ERP), will take effect 30 days after they are published in the Federal Register. Use of this band remains on a secondary basis. The full FCC Report and Order is available online, and ARRL provides more details on its website.  XU - Cambodia – DL7BO, Tom, will be on the air as XU7GNY, December 22 to January 18.  Tom will be on 160-6 CW, SSB and FT8, concentrating on the lower bands.  QSL direct to DJ4WK or use LoTW, Club Log or eQSL. 4K – Azerbaijan – 4K/DL4XT,Jan, will on 40 and 20-10M SSB, CW and FT8 December 26 to January 3.  He will be on the air casually, aka "holiday style."  For a QSL it's LoTW, Club Log OQRS and QRZ. A6 - United Arab Emirates – A60QATAR will be December 18-22 to join in Qatar's celebration.  Some Individual ops in UAE may use that call and add /1, /2, and similar. TL - Central African Republic -  CT1END, Carlos, reminds us CR7BNW, Joao, will be operating as  TL8BNW from Bangui, Central African Republic, for six months starting in December 2025. His first activity will take place from December 20-25, 2025, using SSB and FT8 on 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters. QSOs will be uploaded to LoTW, QRZLogbook, and via the Portuguese QSL bureau.FY - French Guiana - F4GPK, Peter, will be on as TO2FY December 22 to January 15 from Kourou. TG – Guatemala - TG9/AF4CZ willbe on the air "holiday style," December 7 to January 5, mostly digital modes on 40-10.  He will upload his log to LoTW, eQSL and Club Log. Z8 - South Sudan - YI1DZ (akaZ81D), Diya's, contract with UN-WFP in South Sudan runs until March 10, 2026, with a possible 11-month extension pending approval. Due to frequent travel and a rotating work schedulethat includes leave every six weeks, radio activity is limited tofree time, mostly on weekends. The author is currently in Istanbul and will return to Juba on December 15 and could be very active as Z81D the following weekend.C5YK, The Gambia – Andre, ON7YK, is QRV from The Gambia until January 25. He is operating as C5YK on SSB, RTTY, PSK, FT8, FT4, and some CW on 20, 17, 15, 12, and 10M. QSL only via LoTW, eQSL, or direct to ON7YK. He posts his logbook on his website.  “may be a little unreliable.” Manual log upload will be every several days. Borut says to not send cards through the bureau “as they will not find my home.” He will send direct cards once he is home in Slovenia, “via OQRS only.”  OQRS.   YU – Serbia - In celebration of IARU Region 1 Young Radio Operators Month, Serbian amateurs may use the special callsigns YT25YOTA and YU25YOTA throughout December 2025.

GB2RS News Sunday the 7th of December 2025 The news headlines: Become an RSGB Regional Representative in your area Keep up to date with how technology can be used in amateur radio 5MHz – an important reminder about FT8 use within allocated frequencies Do you want to make a difference to the amateur radio community in your region? The RSGB has three Regional Representative posts that are available for nominations in the upcoming 2026 elections. These are for Region 2, which covers Scotland North and the Northern Isles, Region 7, which represents South Wales, and Region 9, which covers London and the Thames Valley. As a Regional Representative, you will lead the team of District Representatives in your area and not only represent the Society but also support your fellow radio amateurs. Find out more about what it takes to succeed in this role by reading the candidate pack at rsgb.org/elections  The deadline for applications is the 31st of January 2026. An increasing number of modern technologies are being used in different ways within amateur radio. From artificial intelligence that helps you to write software, to a 3D printer that you can use to create amateur radio equipment. The RSGB has gathered some of these together in a web section called ‘Emerging technologies' and has now added to it an overview of the new monthly RadCom column ‘Experimenters' Corner'. The column was introduced in November and is written by RSGB Board Director Mark Jones, G0MGX. The column covers everything from setting up your own TinyGS project at home to experimenting with Meshtastic. Go to rsgb.org/emerging-technologies  and be inspired. The RSGB reminds all radio amateurs that they must only operate within the UK allocated bands for each mode. Ofcom has noticed that, increasingly, radio amateurs are using FT8 outside of the UK 60m allocations. It is monitoring usage and will write to you if it observes your callsign operating outside of this band. Please ensure the configuration of your FT8 software limits your transmissions to frequencies and bandwidth that are fully within the UK allocation. For example, when using WSJT-X for digital modes at 5357kHz, it is imperative that the transmitted signal is never above 5358kHz. Using 'Hold TX Freq' can help with this. The Society works hard to protect the spectrum for all radio amateurs to use, but that work will be made more difficult if radio amateurs continue to stray outside of the allocated bands. The Ofcom OFW611 Amateur Radio Licence Terms and Conditions document includes an explanation of all the frequencies available to radio amateurs in the UK. You can find this on the Ofcom website or via the UK amateur licensing link on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/licensing The RSGB National Radio Centre, located at Bletchley Park, will be closed on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day. There will be reduced hours on New Year's Eve when the Centre will be closing at 2pm. In addition to this, it will also be closed for essential maintenance works on the 5th and 6th of January 2026. Outside of these times, volunteers look forward to welcoming visitors as usual. Remember that RSGB members can download a free entry voucher for Bletchley Park from the RSGB website at rsgb.org/bpvoucher Youngsters on the Air Month is well underway with multiple groups scheduled to host special event station GB25YOTA this week. Today, Sunday the 7th of December, you'll be able to work operators from Cray Valley Radio Society, as well as the 2nd Marlborough Scouts. The Scout group will also be active tomorrow, Monday, the 8th of December. Buckie High School in Scotland will be operating on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, so listen out and encourage young operators in making what could be their first ever QSO. On Tuesday, the 9th of December, Hilderstone Radio Society members will be supervising students from St. Peter ' s-In-Thanet Junior School. On Wednesday, the 10th of December, students from Sunderland College will be on the amateur bands with supervision from Ian Bowman, G7ESY. Looking ahead to next weekend, the RSGB National Radio Centre will be welcoming young people to operate as GB25YOTA. Details of operating times, bands and modes can be found at rsgb.org/yota-month There have been a number of changes to the Region 1 team, which covers Scotland South and the Western Isles. To ensure you are contacting the correct representative, go to rsgb.org/regions  and click the team name from the right-hand menu, followed by ‘Meet the Region 1 team'. And finally, a date for your diary. The next in the popular 145 Alive series will take place on Saturday, the 7th of February, from 12 pm to 3 pm. The event will include the addition of 144MHz SSB stations with vertical polarisation. For more information, visit the 145 Alive Facebook page. Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk  The deadline for submissions is 10am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week.  And now for details of rallies and events Today, the 7th of December, the Mid Devon Amateur Radio and Electronics Fair is taking place at Winkleigh Sports and Recreation Centre. The doors will be open from 9 am to 1 pm. Entry costs £3 per person, and there is no charge for partners and under-16s. For more details, contact Phil, G6DLJ, on 07990 563 147 or email wrg2024@hotmail.com Sparkford Radio Rally is due to take place on Sunday, the 28th of December at Davis Hall, Howell Hill, West Camel, near Yeovil BA22 7QX. The doors will be open from 9.30 am, and admission will cost £2. Refreshments and free parking will be available on site. For more details, contact Luke on 07870 168 197 or email luke@mymixradio.co.uk. Now the Special Event news Celebrating the city of Chemnitz, one of the European Capitals of Culture for 2025, a number of special event callsigns are active in Germany until Monday, the 15th of December. All QSOs will be uploaded to eQSL, Logbook of the World and Club Log. To read more, including information about certificates that are available for working the stations, visit 2025c.de The first French satellite, named Asterix, was launched into orbit on the 26th of November 1965. To mark the 60th anniversary, members of the Wingles Radio Club, F4KLR, are active as TM60ATX on Friday the 12th and Saturday the 13th of December, and again between the 19th and 23rd of December. All CW and SSB QSOs will be confirmed automatically via the Bureau. FT8 QSOs will be confirmed via eQSL. Now the DX news Vlad, OK2WX and Paula, OK2YL, are active as HP3/OK2WX and HP3/OK2YL from Panama until Wednesday, the 10th of December. They are operating CW and SSB with a focus on the 160, 80 and 40m bands. See QRZ.com for more information. Pierre, VK3KTB, is active as VY0ERC from the Eureka Amateur Radio Club station on Ellesmere Island, NA-008, until Wednesday, the 10th of December. He operates CW, SSB and FT8 on various bands. QSL via OQRS and Logbook of the World. Now the contest news The ARRL 160m Contest started at 2200 UTC on Friday, the 5th and ends at 1559 UTC today, Sunday, the 7th of December. Using CW on the 160m band, the exchange is signal report. American and Canadian stations also send their ARRL or RAC section reference. Today, the 7th of December, the RSGB 144MHz Affiliated Societies Contest runs from 1000 to 1400 UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Tuesday, the 9th of December, the RSGB 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955 UTC. Using FM on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also, on Tuesday, the 9th, the RSGB 432MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230 UTC. Using all modes on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday, the 10th of December, the RSGB 432MHz FT8 Activity four-hour Contest runs from 1700 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 70cm band, the exchange is a report and four-character locator. Also, on Wednesday the 10th, the RSGB 432MHz FT8 Activity two-hour Contest runs from 1900 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 70cm band, the exchange is a report and four-character locator. Stations entering the four-hour contest may also enter the two-hour contest. On Thursday, the 11th of December, the RSGB 50MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230 UTC. Using all modes on the 6m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The ARRL 10m Contest starts at 0000 UTC on Saturday, the 13th of December and ends at 2359 UTC on Sunday, the 14th of December. Using CW and phone on the 10m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. American and Canadian stations also send their state or province code. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 4th of December The prediction made for last week was for the solar flux index to increase, possibly reaching 155 by the 1st of December and 175 by the 6th. In fact, it hit 196 on the 1st and 200 on the 2nd. This was no doubt aided by three large sunspot groups in the Sun's southern hemisphere. We also said that the Kp index could hit 5 on the 3rd of December, and it actually hit 6.67. So well done to the Space Weather Prediction Centre for its forecast. On Thursday the 4th of December, the solar wind speed gradually increased from around 360 kilometres per second to 475 kilometres per second, thanks to the onset of an enhanced solar wind from a very large coronal hole. The Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field has also been pointing sharply south at times, which means it more easily couples with the Earth and the Kp index goes up as solar plasma floods in. Maximum useable frequencies, or MUFs, have been affected, but not too much. The MUF over a 3,000km path was still above 28MHz on the 3rd of December, at least until sunset. Nighttime MUFs are now characteristically below 14MHz, leaving only 10MHz and below open to DX. As reported by CDXC's Slack group this week, recent DX included the YJ0GC DXpedition to Vanuatu and OX7AM in Greenland on the 10m band using CW. 5R8IC in Madagascar was noted on the 15m band using FT4. And SU8YOTA in Egypt was worked on the 20m band using SSB. Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will stay in the 180 to 190 range, and the good news is that the Kp index is predicted to remain low, at least until Saturday, the 13th of December, when it is forecast to rise once again to 5. So, get your HF DXing in during the daytime over this coming week! And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The weather charts for the coming week or more show a very unsettled pattern with some deep areas of low pressure, strong winds and heavy rain at times. Tropo is unlikely in the traditional high-pressure sense, but sometimes a strong maritime south-westerly wind can bring a brief, slight improvement for parts of southeast Britain in the windy warm sector of the depression. Watch out for this on Tuesday, the 9th of December. Rain scatter remains a good option since there will be numerous bands of rain and showers available as scatter elements. The Margate 24GHz WebSDR has seen the Flanders beacon ON0HVL for a number of days due to rain over the southern North Sea, but the lack of active 24GHz stations on the east coast made this a frustrating watch on a WebSDR. Aurora is a possibility during the coming week. Look for a Kp index above 5 to generate a good radio response. The evening of the 3rd of December saw classic fluttery HF signals on the 80m and 40m bands, supported by a Kp index of 6.67 and reported auroral QSOs on 70, 144 and 50MHz. Lastly, a consideration of the meteor scatter prospects is more promising as we are now in the broader period for the Geminids, which is due to peak on Sunday, the 14th of December. This shower has a maximum hourly rate of 120, so it ranks as a joint second after the August Perseids. For EME operators, Moon declination reached a maximum yesterday, the 6th of December, meaning long Moon windows and high peak elevation. Path losses are at their lowest but increasing during the week. 144MHz sky noise is low for the coming week. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday, the 30th of November The news headlines: The RSGB has launched its official Instagram profile Listen out for GB25YOTA for Youngsters on the Air month TX Factor releases part two of its Hamfest special The RSGB has launched its official Instagram profile! This addition to the Society's social media presence will help it to connect in a new way and showcase the exciting world of amateur radio and STEM. Through Instagram, the RSGB aims to support youth activities and highlight opportunities for young radio enthusiasts. It wants to engage with like-minded organisations that promote STEM education and innovation, and to inspire the RF engineers of the future by sharing stories, projects and events. It will also be a great platform for connecting with other groups that enjoy practical activities. If you're on Instagram, the RSGB invites you to follow its profile, like its posts and join the conversation as it builds a new community. Search for ‘theRSGB' and get involved! Youngsters on the Air Month has officially begun. Listen out for special event station GB25YOTA throughout the month as young radio amateurs get on the amateur bands. Sandringham School and the 2nd Marlborough Scout Group start the event on Wednesday, the 3rd of December. On Friday, the 5th of December, Bracknell Amateur Radio Club will host GB25YOTA, as well as Jon, M0NOJ, who will be operating later in the afternoon. Cambridge University Wireless Society will be hosting the callsign on both Friday and Saturday. Also on Saturday, the 6th of December, you'll be able to work South Durham Radio Club, who are active using the GB25YOTA. Looking forward to Sunday, the 7th of December, listen out for the 2nd Marlborough Scouts and Cray Valley Radio Society. Details of operating times, bands and modes can be found at rsgb.org/yota-month. Take the time to encourage a young radio amateur by having a QSO with them. TX Factor is back with part two of its National Hamfest special, which completes the coverage of news from that event. The episode is full of informative updates on the RSGB, including an interview with RSGB Board Chair Stewart Bryant, G3YSX, on the work of the Emerging Technology Coordination Committee. TX Factor presenter Bob McCreadie, G0FGX, also speaks with RSGB President Bob Beebe, GU4YOX, about the importance of RSGB membership and the vital work the Society does on protecting the spectrum. In addition, you'll find an interview focusing on the RSGB communications strategy and how it is helping to bring amateur radio to new audiences, as well as an update from the RSGB Maker Champion Tom Wardill, M9TWM. Watch all this and more by going to txfactor.co.uk A reminder that the last Tonight@8 webinar of 2025 will be live tomorrow from 8 pm via the RSGB's YouTube channel and special BATC channel. The presentation will feature young RSGB members who travelled to Paris earlier this year for the Youngsters on the Air summer camp. As well as hearing about their experience, you'll receive an update from the RSGB Youth Team on its plans for 2026. If you're a young radio amateur or you're interested in encouraging young people to get involved in amateur radio in the coming year, this webinar is not to be missed. Find out more at rsgb.org/webinars Remember that if you're interested in the role of RSGB Nominated Director, the deadline for applications is the 5th of December. Nominated Directors are selected by the Society's Nominations Committee, and then the RSGB membership votes to endorse them at the AGM. Go to rsgb.org/elections  and follow the instructions on that page to apply or to have a chat about the role. Following the Ofcom changes to the Intermediate licence callsign series, the RSGB is updating its guidance to members. RSGB members with M8 or M9 callsigns who wish to receive QSL cards via the RSGB Bureau should send envelopes to the same QSL sub-manager who handles the corresponding 2x callsign series. The list of QSL sub-managers has been updated accordingly, so please check on the website before posting. You can find the list in the QSL Bureau section of the RSGB website at rsgb.org/qsl Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk  The deadline for submissions is 10 am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week.  And now for details of rallies and events Today, the 30th, Bishop Auckland Radio Amateur Club's Rally is taking place at Spennymoor Leisure Centre, County Durham. Traders, catering, ample parking and disabled facilities are available on site. For more information, visit barac.org.uk. The Mid Devon Amateur Radio and Electronics Fair 2025 will be held on the 7th of December at Winkleigh Sports and Recreation Centre. The doors will be open from 9 am to 1 pm. Entry costs £3 per person, and there is no charge for partners and under-16s. For more details, contact Phil, G6DLJ, on 07990 563 147 or email wrg2024@hotmail.com Now the Special Event news Special event station OZ90NRAU is active until the 7th of December to celebrate the anniversary of the establishment of the Nordic Radio Amateur Union. For more information, including details of awards that are available for working the station, visit QRZ.com Datta, VU2DSI, is active as AU2JCB until the 15th of December to commemorate the birthday of Indian physicist and radio pioneer Jagadish Chandra Bose. Listen for activity using SSB on the 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m bands. QSL directly to Datta's home call. Now the DX news Gabriele, HB9TSW, is active as Z68BG from Slatina Air Base near Pristina, Kosovo, until the 10th of December. He is operating using CW only. QSL via Logbook of the World, eQSL, or via his home call. Red, DL1BUG is active as TY5FR from Cotonou, Benin, until the 11th of December. He is using CW and SSB on the 80 to 10m bands. QSL via DL1BUG directly or via the Bureau. QSOs will be uploaded to Club Log. Now the contest news The CQ World Wide DX CW Contest started at 0000UTC on Saturday, the 29th, and ends at 2359 UTC today, Sunday, the 30th of November. Using CW on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and CQ zone. The UK is in Zone 14. On Tuesday, the 2nd of December, the RSGB 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955 UTC. Using FM on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also on Tuesday, the 2nd of December, the RSGB 144MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230 UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the 3rd, the RSGB 144MHz FT8 Activity four-hour Contest runs from 1700 to 2100UTC. Using FT8 on the 2m band, the exchange is a report and four-character locator. Also on Wednesday the 3rd, the RSGB 144MHz FT8 Activity two-hour Contest runs from 1900 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 2m band, the exchange is a report and four-character locator. Stations entering the four-hour contest may also enter the two-hour contest. The ARRL 160m Contest starts at 2200 UTC on Friday, the 5th and ends at 1559 UTC on Sunday, the 7th of December. Using CW on the 160m band, the exchange is signal report. American and Canadian stations also send their ARRL or RAC section reference. On Sunday, the 7th of December, the RSGB 144MHz Affiliated Societies Contest runs from 1000 to 1400 UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 27th of November Last week was a mixed bag in terms of solar activity. Yes, we had geomagnetic disturbances, but they were never really that bad, with a maximum Kp index of 5, and that was for only one three-hour period. This was mainly due to two large coronal holes on the Sun, which saw the solar wind speed increase to around 700 to 740 kilometres per second. There have been coronal mass ejections, but these have been on the far side of the Sun and so didn't affect us. Meanwhile, the solar flux index has continued its downward trend, being in the range of 116 to 121 over the week. However, there has been DX to be worked. The CDXC Slack group reports ZD7VJ on St Helena Island has been logged on the 40m band using CW. 3G0YR on Easter Island, was also worked on the 40m band using CW. Many other stations have been setting up for the CQ World Wide CW Contest over the last week, so there have been plenty of DX stations around. The DXSummit website reports 3B8/E70A in Mauritius on the 15m band using FT8, VR2KF in Hong Kong on the 10m band using CW, and S21RW in Bangladesh on the 10m band using SSB. Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will pick up, perhaps hitting 155 by the 1st of December and 175 by the 6th. Only time will tell if this prediction is correct. Meanwhile, the Kp index is forecast to start the coming week at 2, but then increase to 5 by Wednesday the 3rd. Quiet geomagnetic conditions were forecast for the duration of the CQ World Wide CW Contest. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The recent unsettled weather is continuing to dominate the big weather picture for the coming week or two. But with such a complex weather pattern, it is hard to be precise as to the predicted upcoming weather events and their timings. It's worth keeping a watch on forecasts from day to day to pick the bigger storms out in time and make sure your antennas are secure. Having said that, in propagation terms, this type of pattern is poor for any tropo prospects, and the best benefit is likely to be potential rain scatter from heavier rain. Last Wednesday saw some interesting dry-weather 24GHz propagation over the North Sea. At the Margate 24GHz WebSDR, the newly-repaired Flanders beacon ON0HVL was copiable all day until around 2000UTC, until a band of humid air hit the path from the West, taking out both ON0HVL and GB3PKT. The latter returned to normal on the morning of Thursday, the 27th.   We are now exiting the broader span of the Leonids meteor shower with a gap driven by random meteors until mid-December when the Geminids arrive. There have been a few minor auroral moments, although not particularly noteworthy in a radio sense. But in the absence of any tropo, perhaps it's still worth keeping an eye on the Kp index going above 5 to provide a little excitement. Lastly, we had some more out-of-season Sporadic-E on 50MHz last week, so keep an ear open for that. For EME operators, Moon declination is rising and went positive again on Saturday, the 29th. That means more Moon time and higher peak elevation in the coming week. Path losses are low and falling further as we approach perigee on Thursday, the 4th. 144MHz sky noise is low all week, climbing to moderate at the end of the week And that's all from the propagation team this week.

In this episode of Running Stitch, host Janneken Smucker talks with quilt educator and entrepreneur HollyAnne Knight about how technology is transforming the way quilters learn, connect, and create. Drawing on a 2022 Textile Talks interview, they explore Holly Anne's path from new mom making her first T-shirt quilt to founder of String & Story, a thriving online hub for free-motion and longarm quilting instruction. Alongside excerpts from the QSOS archive, they dig into long-standing tensions between hand and machine quilting, the importance of community—whether around a frame or on Zoom—and how quiltmakers navigate tradition, innovation, and the joy that keeps them stitching. Learn more about Running Stitch at www.quiltalliance.org/runningstitch Visit HollyAnne online at www.stringandstory.com/

GB2RS News Sunday, the 23rd of November The news headlines: Could your skills and experience support the RSGB Board? Let the Society know your plans for British Science Week 2026 The RSGB is looking for a volunteer Accessibility Champion Do you have skills and experience that would make you an asset to the RSGB Board? The RSGB elections process has begun, and there are two routes to becoming a Board Director. This week's focus is on Nominated Directors, and there are two vacancies this year. Nominated Directors are selected by the Society's Nominations Committee, and then the RSGB membership votes to endorse them at the AGM. The closing date for these vacancies is the 5th of December 2025, so don't delay! There is no functional difference between a Nominated or Elected Director, and all serve the Board in the same way for a three-year term. If you'd like to know more about what is required of an RSGB Board Director, the first step is to read the candidate pack for Elected Directors on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/elections  After that, if you'd like to express your interest in being a Nominated Director or would like an informal chat, email the RSGB Company Secretary, Stephen Purser, GW4SHF via company.secretary@rsgb.org.uk Preparations for British Science Week 2026 are already well underway. RSGB British Science Week Co-ordinator Professor Ian Neal, G7IGN, is working on guidance and activity suggestions that you could use to get involved. The annual event is a celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths and is run by the British Science Association. It has chosen ‘curiosity' as its theme for 2026, which fits perfectly with amateur radio. This campaign is a brilliant opportunity for radio amateurs to share their passion with others. This could be through organising an open day for the local community, setting up a buildathon for a club evening, operating a special event station from your local library or even supervising your friends and family in making their first QSO – the options are endless. If this has piqued your interest, and you would like to share your thoughts, ideas and plans with Ian, get in touch via bsw@rsgb.org.uk. You can see what other people did last year and find the RSGB's resource bank at rsgb.org/bsw The RSGB is looking for a proactive and knowledgeable volunteer to serve as its new Accessibility Champion. This important role will focus on ensuring that people with disabilities can fully participate and enjoy everything that amateur radio has to offer. Key responsibilities of the role will be engaging with the amateur radio community, serving as a point of contact and signposting people to resources that can help them, as well as raising awareness of the challenges faced by individuals and sharing inspiring stories. If you have a strong understanding of accessibility issues, ideally with personal experience or professional expertise, and are passionate about inclusion within amateur radio, the Society would love to hear from you. If you're interested in finding out more, including having a chat about the role, please firstly read the full role description on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/volunteers  and then contact RSGB Board Director Nathan Nuttall, 2M0OCC. Did you see the Meteor Beacon Project presentation by Brian Coleman, G4NNS, at the RSGB Convention or on the Convention livestream? Would you like to explore the science that the project supports and be involved in the technical research and activities? Brian is creating a small group to contribute to the ongoing development of the project and will start to record, classify and analyse the data the system can already gather. If you'd like to know more about the project, you can watch Brian's presentation on the RSGB YouTube channel at youtube.com/theRSGB  If you'd like to be part of the ongoing development group, please contact Brian via brian@brcg4nns.org  for a chat about what would be involved. Today is the last day to give the RSGB HF Contest Committee your comments to help shape the rules for HF contests in 2026. The online survey includes questions on ‘Self-Spotting' and ‘Slow speed CW'. You can find the survey online via tinyurl.com/hfcontests Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. The deadline for submissions is 10am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week.  And now for details of rallies and events On Sunday, the 30th of November, Bishop Auckland Radio Amateur Club's Rally is taking place at Spennymoor Leisure Centre, County Durham. Traders, catering, ample parking and disabled facilities will be available. For more information and downloadable trader forms, visit barac.org.uk The Mid Devon Amateur Radio and Electronics Fair 2025 will be held on the 7th of December at Winkleigh Sports and Recreation Centre. The doors will be open from 9 am to 1 pm. Entry costs £3 per person and there is no charge for partners and under-16s. For more detail,s contact Phil, G6DLJ on 07990 563 147 or email wrg2024@hotmail.com Now the Special Event news Special event station GB130WRD is active until the 30th of November to mark the 130th anniversary of the discovery of X-rays. Recently, the station was spotted using FT8 on the 40m band. QSL directly to M0KZT. See QRZ.com  for more information. Special callsign GB70RS is in use to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the RSGB's weekly news service GB2RS, which has been running continuously since the 25th of September 1955. A team of amateurs is using the callsign on a variety of bands and modes. QSL via the Bureau, Logbook of the World and eQSL. For more information, visit the GB70RS page at QRZ.com Now the DX news Phill, C21TS, is active from Nauru, OC-031, until the 30th of November. The station is often spotted on the HF bands using FT8. QSL via Logbook of the World or OQRS. Darek, TJ1GD, is operating as TL8GD from the Central African Republic until the 30th of November. He is using CW, FT8 and SSB on the HF bands. QSL via Club Log's OQRS, Logbook of the World or via SP3EOL. Now the contest news On Tuesday the 25th, the RSGB SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1930 to 2230UTC. Using all modes on the 13cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the 26th, the UK and Ireland Contest Club 80m Contest runs from 2000 to 2100UTC. Using CW on the 80m band, the exchange is your six-character locator. On Thursday the 27th, the 3.5MHz RSGB Autumn Series CW Contest runs from 2000 to 2130UTC. Using CW on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The CQ World Wide DX CW Contest starts at 0000UTC on Saturday, the 29th and ends at 2359UTC on Sunday, the 30th of November. Using CW on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and CQ zone. The UK is in Zone 14. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 20th of November After the solar mayhem we reported in last week's GB2RS News, the Sun has been relatively quiet over the past week. The maximum Kp index we saw was 4, on Monday, the 17th of November, but otherwise it was often below 1 or 2. The result is that the ionosphere has been more stable and DX has been more forthcoming. Unfortunately, this coincided with a drop in sunspot numbers, and the solar flux index fell from 163 on the 12th to 123 on Thursday, the 20th. However, 123 is still enough to get things moving, and we have seen some good DX being worked. CDXC's Slack chat group has reported several impressive contacts. VK9DX on Norfolk Island was worked on the 15m band using CW; ZL7/LZ1GC on the Chatham Islands was logged on the 40m band using CW; and S79/OK6RA in the Seychelles appeared on the 10m band using CW. Another interesting spot was JA7BXS on the 80m band using CW on the morning of Thursday, the 20th, showing that the low bands are becoming more interesting as we head into winter. DX on the 80m band has little to do with the solar flux index but can be influenced by geomagnetic disturbances; hence, these quieter periods have allowed the 40 and 80m bands to shine. For the coming week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index may decline even more, perhaps down to 105 or 110. However, it does look like our run of quiet geomagnetic indices may come to an end, with a Kp index of 5 predicted for the 24th to the 27th of November. In fact, we could have unsettled geomagnetic conditions until the end of the month. So, this may be a good time to start concentrating on the lower bands, such as 40 and 80m. You never know, they might surprise you! And don't forget, the CQ World Wide CW Contest is taking place during the weekend of the 29th and 30th – always a good opportunity for DX. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The current spell of unsettled weather is very much in a cold phase, but although it continues to be unsettled, it will be milder and wetter in the coming week. Perhaps more important is that at times it will be very windy with gales in some areas. For propagation, this means that the one feature absent from the present charts is any high pressure to bring tropo conditions. This means that other modes take on more importance. Auroras have provided some recent interest and, although there's nothing dramatic in the immediate future, keep a watching brief for a rising Kp index. A good guide for impending activity is if the Kp index increases above 5. The rain scatter prospects are likely to be good during the coming week as several active frontal systems cross the country. Notably, the evening of Wednesday the 19th saw trans-North sea propagation visible on the Margate 24GHz WebSDR. This extended into the morning of Thursday the 19th, but unfortunately, no coastal stations were around to make QSOs. While rain scatter is a GHz band activity, on the lower band,s you may find some increase in static levels due to lightning activity or even snow static before the weather turns milder. There is not expected to be a strong showing of Sporadic-E in the coming week since we are well out of season. Southern UK stations should continue to watch out for fleeting F-layer DX openings on 50MHz, especially to Africa and Asia. For EME operators, the Moon's declination is at its lowest and negative all week, so Moon window lengths are short and peak elevation is low. We passed apogee on the 20th of November, so path losses are decreasing again. 144MHz sky noise is high today, the 23rd, but will become lower as the week progresses. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday, the 16th of November 2025 The news headlines: Nominations for the RSGB 2026 Elections are now open The RSGB National Radio Centre to host ‘Build your own radio' workshops Ofcom has agreed to the RSGB request to extend the 146-147MHz NoV for a further year Could your skills and experience help to shape the RSGB's activities? The Society's year starts and ends at the AGM, and it is seeking proactive and enthusiastic members with the right skills who would like to become a Director of the Society or a Regional Representative. There are vacancies for two Nominated Directors, two Elected Directors and three Regional Representatives. Nominated Directors are selected by the Society's Nominations Committee, and then RSGB members vote to endorse them as part of the AGM voting. The closing date for these vacancies is the 5th of December 2025. If you're interested in either the Elected Director or Regional Representative roles, you can find the candidate packs and application forms on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/elections. The application deadline for the elected roles is the 31st of January 2026. If you'd like to find out more about any of these vacancies, please email the RSGB Company Secretary, Stephen Purser, GW4SHF at company.secretary@rsgb.org.uk  The RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park is hosting another of its popular ‘Build your own radio' workshops. Morning and afternoon sessions will be held on Sunday, the 23rd of November and will offer young people aged between 12 and 18 years the opportunity to learn more about amateur radio and electronics. The workshops will use simple tools for participants to build their own VHF FM broadcast receiver, which they can take home with them. Attendance at the workshop costs £11. To find out more and to secure a place, visit bletchleypark.org.uk  and search for ‘Build your own radio'. Ofcom has agreed to the RSGB request to extend the 146-147MHz Notice of Variation for a further year. It is available on a non-interference basis and is subject to a 30-day notice period of change or withdrawal. Ofcom's objective in making this spectrum available is to encourage amateurs to experiment and test new communications schemes and systems. The RSGB VHF Manager would therefore welcome reports of innovative use of the spectrum to support future discussions. Please email him via vhf.manager@rsgb.org.uk. Full licence holders can apply for the 146-147MHz NoV on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/nov Listeners may also be interested to know that Ofcom has released a video that aims to guide how to use its recently updated licence portal. As well as other topics, the video contains information on how to change your amateur radio callsign and how to apply for a special event station NoV. You can watch the video at tinyurl.com/2025ofcom  The RSGB VHF Contest Committee is currently planning the rules for the 2026 VHF contests. Following some discussion at the RSGB Convention, the committee members have some questions on which they would appreciate feedback from contestants. The survey will close at 11.59 pm on Sunday, the 23rd of November. You can find the survey online via tinyurl.com/vhfsurvey December is all about encouraging young radio amateurs to get on the amateur radio bands. The month will kickstart on Monday, the 1st of December, when members of the RSGB youth team will give Tonight@8 viewers an insight into what a Youngsters on the Air summer camp is like. Team members will talk about some of the activities they enjoyed and how they will be encouraging other young people to get involved in amateur radio in the coming year. They will be joined by RSGB Board Director, Ben Lloyd, GW4BML and RSGB Youth Chair and School Youth Champion, Chris Aitken, MM0WIC, who will give an overview of recent youth activities and engagement and outline the RSGB Youth Team's plans for 2026. December is also your opportunity to support young radio amateurs. One of the ways you can do this is by hosting special callsign GB25YOTA, which will be active throughout the month. The special event station can be hosted by individuals, clubs, schools and universities or youth groups such as Scouts, Girlguiding and Cadets. This is a brilliant opportunity to show young people what amateur radio has to offer. Get involved now by going to rsgb.org/yota-month  to reserve your operating slot. The Bath-based Distance Learning team is planning to run a new Intermediate licence training course in January with exams in June. The training is free, but applicants must work through some pre-course material and complete a quiz before Christmas to be eligible for a place. This work focuses on the new Foundation topics that have been introduced to the exam since September 2019. The deadline for applications is Friday, the 5th of December. To request full details and an application form, email BBDL team leader Steve, G0FUW, at g0fuw@bbdl.org.uk Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. The deadline for submissions is 10 am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week.  And now for details of rallies and events On Sunday, the 30th of November, Bishop Auckland Radio Amateur Club Rally is taking place at Spennymoor Leisure Centre, County Durham. Traders, catering, ample parking and disabled facilities will be available. For more information and downloadable trader forms, visit barac.org.uk Mid Devon Amateur Radio and Electronics Fair 2025 will be held on Sunday, the 7th of December at Winkleigh Sports & Recreation Centre. The doors will be open from 9 am to 1 pm. Entry costs £3 per person and there is no charge for partners and under-16s. For more details, contact Phil, G6DLJ on 07990 563 147 or email wrg2024@hotmail.com Now the Special Event news Special callsign GB50AUK is active until the 28th of November to celebrate the 50th anniversary of AMSAT-UK. QSOs will be uploaded to at least eQSL, Logbook of the World and the QO-100 DX Club. To find out more, visit amsat-uk.org To celebrate the 39th anniversary of the European DX Foundation, several special callsigns are active until the 30th of November. To view a list of participating stations and read information about an award that is available for working them, visit tinyurl.com/eudxf39 Now the DX news Maurizio, IK2GZU, is active as 5H3MB from Tanzania until the 20th of November. He is operating using CW, digital modes and SSB on the 80 to 10m bands. QSL via OQRS, Logbook of the World, eQSL, or directly to IK2GZU. Stan, LZ1GC is active as ZL7/LZ1GC from the Chatham Islands, OC-038, until the 20th of November. He is operating CW, SSB, FT4 and FT8 on the 160 to 10m bands. QSL via OQRS is preferred, or via LZ1GC directly. For more information and updates, visit c21gc.com Now the contest news Tomorrow, the 17th, the RSGB FT4 Series Contest runs from 2000 to 2200 UTC. Using FT4 on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is your report.                        On Tuesday the 18th, the RSGB 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230 UTC. Using all modes on 1.3GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Thursday the 20th, the RSGB 70MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230 UTC. Using all modes on the 4m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.   Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 13th of November 2025 Last week saw one of the most dramatic auroral events of this cycle. Three X-class solar flares, which sparked coronal mass ejections, joined together to give us a peak Kp index of 8.67, with a solar wind speed in excess of 950 kilometres per second. The result was extensive visible aurora in the US and Canada, although clouds prevented much of its visibility in the UK. The good news from a radio point of view was that the solar wind's Bz, or interplanetary magnetic field, mostly pointed north or was neutral in the latter stages. This saved the Earth from a lot of its effects. The next day, HF propagation appeared to be almost normal with maximum usable frequencies, or MUFs, over a 3,000km path still exceeding 24MHz at times. By Thursday the 13th, it was mostly over 28MHz, although there were times it dropped dramatically, and signals were weak and watery at best. You could tell that there had been some disruption to HF by a lack of spots on the CDXC Slack group. While Stan, ZL7/LZ1GC on Chatham Island had been spotted on the 11th, there was very little to report the next day as the Kp index rose to 5. Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux will remain in the 160 to 170 range. However, we can expect a repeat of unsettled geomagnetic conditions this weekend, possibly due to a large coronal hole that became Earth-facing on the 13th. Likewise, the 20th and 21st of November may be unsettled, with a predicted maximum Kp index of 4. After the following weekend, we can also expect more unsettled conditions, especially around the 24th to the 27th, which could see the Kp index rise to 5 or even higher. Expect decreased MUFs and less HF activity if this is the case. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The current spell of unsettled weather is likely to continue into the coming week. High pressure is always being kept at arm's length, so there is no real tropo flavour to proceedings. The rain prospects are very strong, with, if anything, too much rain in some areas. During the coming week, colder northerly air will mean that some snow is possible on the northern hills. So there remains a possibility of rain scatter on the GHz bands. After the recent auroral activity, the prospects are worth considering, although it would be surprising if a repeat of the exceptional event of last week were to happen. Nonetheless, stay alert to the Kp index going above 5 and check for activity on the 10, 6, 4 and 2m bands. The event of last week was triggered by three successive days of X-class flares, so for an early ‘heads-up' start with the Sun. The foEs graphs on propquest.co.uk  were interesting for the evening of the Autumn Series contest on the 12th of November. There were some rapid changes in propagation as paths were affected by the F2-layer one minute and Sporadic-E the next.  It is occasionally worth examining the graphs now and again to relate perceived conditions from the radio speaker to actual measurements of the ionosphere. Of course, the data from Dourbes is not necessarily what would have been recorded over the UK, but it gives a good flavour. The takeaway message is that although we think of Sporadic-E as a summer phenomenon, it can play a role outside the main season. Meteor scatter is certainly in the frame this week since the Leonids meteor shower peaks tomorrow, the 17th of November. Since meteors also play a part in Sporadic-E propagation, there is another reason to check the foEs graphs for out-of-season activity. For EME operators, the Moon's declination went negative again on Saturday, the 15th, so Moon window lengths and peak elevation fall accordingly. Path losses are increasing to a maximum at apogee on the 20th of November. 144MHz sky noise is low during all of the coming week except for the whole of Thursday, when the Sun and Moon are close in the sky. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

Hello and Welcome to the DX Corner for yourweekly Dose of DX. I'm Bill, AJ8B.I had mentioned previously that our DX club, the Southwest Ohio DX association, had just published a special edition of the October newsletter dedicated to 160M. Scott, N4JN, Dave, K3BQ, and Ken, NS7V, each dropped me a note and are now reading the newsletter. You can get a copy as well by emailing me at thedxmentor@gmail.com. The following DX information comes from Bernie, W3UR, editor of the DailyDX, the WeeklyDX, and the How's DX column in QST. If you would like a free 2-week trial of the DailyDX, your only source of real-time DX information, just drop me a note at thedxmentor@gmail.com9U - Burundi We have now been QRV for 4.5 days running up to 10 HP stations 6m - 160m.  Per our 9U1RU Club Log Expedition chart: https://clublog.org/charts/?c=9U1RU#r,  we are currently at43,500 QSOs from this mountainside QTH 2,340m ASL.  All operators are doing well and in great spirits with the focus on achieving team objectives. Please keep in mind that the plan for the 9U1RU DXPedition calls for us to be QRV until November 20. Please consult our website for additional information: https://www.rudxt.org/9u1ru 8R- GuyanaPY1SAD, Aldir, is back in Guyana and QRV once again from Georgetown as 8R1TM until December 7. During the week listen for him on CW, SSB and digital modes on 1.8 through 50 MHz between 2300 and 0200Z. Over the weekends watch for him to be on more often. QSL direct to PY1SAD, via LoTW, QRZ or eQSL. CP- Bolivia Members of the YaguaretÇ DX Group have announced their plans to go back to Tarija (grid locator FG87pl), Bolivia as CP7DX from October 31 to November 10. They plan to be active on 160, 80, 60, 40, 20, 15, 12 and 10 meters. QSL via LU1FM. TL - Central African RepublicTJ1GD, Darek, began operating TL8GD on Saturday November 1.  Over the weekend he was reported on 20, 15, 10 meters FT8.  Darek plans to be QRV in his spare time on HF on FT8, FT4, SSB and CW until the end of the month.  QSL via LoTW and Club Log. 4K- AzerbaijanCalls 4K8N and 4J8N will be in use for"Victory Day," QRV to November 15. The actual day is November 8.  This is for the "2020 Patriotic War," a 44-day campaign where Azerbaijan's Army retook their historical boundaries from 30 years earlier.  As seen in the news, Azerbaijan and Armenia made peace recently.  QSLs for this operation, they say it is paper QSLs direct only. 5V- Togo 5V7RU is QRV until November 19, with RA1ZZ and R9LR operating.  They say it is unrelated to the 2022 operation under that callsign.  This will be holiday style, using HF CW, SSB, FT8 and the QO-100 satellite, with a focus on 160 and 80. Direct OQRS requests and all donors will get a fast LoTW confirmation.  Paper QSLs will be Club Log OQRS with donations of 10 USD or more.  Log corrections and questions are via ra1zz@mail.ru 7Q- Malawi Upon reviewing his 6-meter 7Q6M log, Don (K6ZO) notes that, based on historical propagation data, conditions on the Magic Band are likely to be favorable for openings between Malawi and North America in the coming days. On Monday, 7Q5BM was heard on 6 meters FT8 in the central and eastern US between 1340 and 1800Z. North American operators should monitor for this opening. Gerry Hull (W1VE) will operate remotely as 7Q2T on 6M CW at 50.090 MHz, self-spotting on the DX network, typically between 1500 and 1900Z, although activity will depend on the reliability of AC power in Embangweni. S2,BANGLADESHThe Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has officially granted special authorization for the upcoming DXPedition program to be held at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Sundarbans, from 11–17 November 2025. All radio operations during this period will be conducted under the special event callsign S21SDX. QSL via I8KHC.

Hello and Welcome to the DX Corner for yourweekly Dose of DX. I'm Bill, AJ8B.Each week I try to focus on those entities that will be available in the next 7 days. There is so much data to sift through that I thought a focus on the next week might be helpful. Here is what you should find QRV when you tune the bands. The following DX information comes from Bernie, W3UR, editor of the DailyDX, the WeeklyDX, and the How's DX column in QST. If you would like a free 2-week trial of the DailyDX, your only source of real-time DX information, justdrop me a note at thedxmentor@gmail.comWe have a 6O3T - Somalia Update -   “Good morning, everyone, we'd like to thank you all for the affection and patience you've shown towards our 6O operation. Despite the high noise level, we're moving forward with great personal satisfaction, sometimes at the expense of the usual CW/SSB modes, but often it's a necessary choice. We're enjoying good openings on the 6 meters band toward Europe, around 11:00 GMT, with a few shorter ones toward Asia as well. In the afternoon, around 15:00 GMT, the SIX band will open again. We've been transmitting for the second night in a row on 80 and have logged several nice QSOs. In the coming days, we'll likely make some tests on 160m, though without too many expectations.Finally, we've been receiving many emails about call corrections and typing errors, our apologies, but this is not the right time. All such requests will be handled once we're back home.” ThebPJ6Y Adventure is QRTAfter an amazing weekend participating inbCQWW SSB 2025, the PJ6Y adventure is coming to a close. Our Young Operators team achieved an incredible milestone — over 55,000 QSOs! “On behalf of the PJ6Y 2025 team, I would like to thank all of you who took the time to work us,” said Gregg, W6IZT. A special thanks goes out to our sponsors and supporters — this expedition would not have been possible without your generous help and encouragement. 5R, MADAGASCAR The Italian Dxpedition Team led by Silvano, I2YSB announce a new activity from Madagascar until November 12 as 5R8TT utilizing CW, SSB, and RTTY and as 5R8XX on FT8. A team will be operating with 4 stations from 160 to 6 meters. QSL via I2YSB. https://www.i2ysb.com/idt/ 9L, SIERRA LEONE  The ex-3C2MD managed to plan another DXPedition as 9L8MD until November 10. The team will be active as 9L8MD from 160 to 6 metres using CW, SSB, RTTY. QSL via IK2VUC. 9U, BURUNDI  Members of the Russian DX Team with Vasily R7AL as team leader will be active as 9U1RU until November 20. Plan is to be active with 7 stations from 160 to 6 meters using high power. QSL via Club Log. https://www3rudxt.org/9u1ru Z6,KOSOVO  Look for S58MU and S50X as Z66IPA until November3. They will be operating from 160 to 10 meters. QSL for all calls via S58MU. VU4, ANDAMAN ISL  The World DXPedition team will be QRV until November7 from 3 POTA locations. ‘Needless to say, the support of corporate and private sponsors are essential to make this DXPedition a success. The Team priority will be to make as many QSOs as possible and offer the highest exposure as possible for sponsors. Corporate or Club sponsors (donating $1,000 or more in cash or equipment) will be recognized on our QSL cards and website. '  The DX Mentor features a new Podcast episode this coming weekend – The Yasme foundation and the great contributions of Ward Silver, N0AX. Check it out and let me know what you think!If you want to follow all the latest DX Podcasts and YouTube releases, you should check out the DX Mentor Facebook page and subscribe to be kept up to date on all of the DX activities.If you would like a copy of the special SWODXA Newsletter for October that has over 100 pages of articles about 160M, just drop me a line and I will send it to you.   Until next week, this is Bill, AJ8B saying 73 and thanks to my XYL Karen for her love and support. I Hope to hear you in the pileups! Have a great DX week! 

GB2RS News Sunday, the 2nd of November 2025   The news headlines: The RSGB National Radio Centre wins the 2025 Sir Arthur Clarke Education and Outreach Team Award The RSGB releases two panel discussions from its recent Convention Learn how to improve speech clarity with DSP in November's Tonight@8 At a glittering awards ceremony in London this week, the RSGB National Radio Centre team beat two other finalists to win the 2025 Sir Arthur Clarke Education and Outreach Team Award. The NRC team was recognised “For inspiring all Generations about Amateur Satellites by providing a unique insight into the world of radio communications”. The awards are organised by the British Interplanetary Society. The award was accepted by RSGB General Manager Steve Thomas, M1ACB; NRC Coordinator Martyn Baker, G0GMB; and NRC Volunteers Patrick Wood, 2E0IFB and Brian Hardy, G4BIP. In his acceptance speech, Steve Thomas thanked Martyn and the 65 volunteers for the work that they do in welcoming over 80,000 visitors to the NRC each year. He also said that through the Society's public outreach and STEM activities, it aims to help generate and support future RF engineers who may one day work in the space or related industries. Congratulations to the whole NRC team for this fantastic recognition of the great work you do! Have you ever considered how to engage more girls and women with amateur radio? This question was discussed by a panel of female radio amateurs at the RSGB Convention last month. The group touched on topics including accessibility to in-person activities, support and encouragement, as well as the potential obstacles to attracting more women into amateur radio. The discussion is now available to watch in the RSGB 2025 Convention playlist on the RSGB's YouTube channel via youtube.com/thersgb, and it would be great to use for a club night to start conversations and to help inspire new plans. You can also see the “How to encourage thriving clubs” panel discussion in the same playlist, where four clubs shared the activities that are helping them to gain members. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel to be the first to hear about new videos when they are released. Tomorrow, the 3rd of November, join Graham Somerville, M3ZGS, owner and managing director of DSP noise cancellation specialists bhi Ltd, for November's Tonight@8 webinar. The presentation will give viewers an insight into how to improve speech clarity with Digital Signal Processing technology and which products are best suited to specific applications and setups. Graham will also explain how noise-cancelling will help those with hearing loss to enjoy amateur radio more. You can join the webinar and ask questions via the live chat on both the RSGB YouTube channel and special BATC channel. To find out more go to rsgb.org/webinars If you are planning a visit to the RSGB National Radio Centre, please note that it will be closing at 4pm over the winter months, in line with Bletchley Park's operating hours. Volunteers from the Centre look forward to welcoming visitors. Remember that RSGB members can download a free entry voucher for Bletchley Park at rsgb.org/bpvoucher The Memorial Day QSO Party is an activity providing participants with an opportunity to honour amateur radio operators who are now Silent Key. The event is being sponsored and managed by the First Class CW Operators' Club and is open to all licensed amateurs. The event began at 0900UTC yesterday, the 1st, and ends at 0859UTC today, the 2nd of November 2025. More information is available by following the ‘On Air' tab at g4foc.org Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. The deadline for submissions is 10 am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week.  And now for details of rallies and events Rochdale and District Amateur Radio Society Winter Rally is taking place on Saturday, the 15th of November at St Vincent de Paul's Hall, Norden, Rochdale, OL12 7QR. The doors open at 10 am and entry costs £3. Traders, catering and plenty of free parking will be available on site. For more information, email rally.radars@hotmail.com On Sunday, the 30th of November, Bishop Auckland Radio Amateur's Club Rally is taking place at Spennymoor Leisure Centre, County Durham. Traders, catering, ample parking and disabled facilities will be available. For more information and downloadable trader forms, visit barac.org.uk Now the Special Event news Members of the Latvian Radio Amateur League are active with special callsign YL100LR to mark the centenary of Latvijas Radio's first broadcast on the 1st of November 1925. Today, the 2nd, is your last chance to put the callsign in your log. Look for activity on the HF bands using FT8. QSOs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World, eQSL, QRZ.com and Club Log. The East Midlands Electronics and Radio Group will be on the air with the GB1BK callsign to commemorate Remembrance Sunday. Operators expect to be active on at least the 8th and 9th of November during daylight hours. The team may also be active on Armistice Day, the 11th of November. The station will operate from the former RAF Binbrook in Lincolnshire. Listen for activity on all bands, but in particular, the 40 and 20m bands using SSB, and the 2m band using FM. Now the DX news The 5K0UA team is active from San Andres Island, NA-033, until tomorrow, the 3rd. Operators are using CW, FT8 and SSB on the 160 to 10m bands. QSL via OQRS and Logbook of the World. For more information, visit imdx.org Edgar, K2IN is operating CW with the HC8M callsign from San Cristobal in the Galapagos Islands, SA-004, until Tuesday, the 4th of November. QSL via OQRS. Now the contest news The United Kingdom and Ireland Contest Club DX SSB Contest started at 1200 UTC yesterday, the 1st, and ends at 1200 UTC today, Sunday, the 2nd of November. Using SSB on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. UK and EI stations also send their district code. For full details, including the team competition and area codes, visit ukeicc.com or rsgbcc.org. Scores from RSGB members operating within the UK and Crown Dependencies will be included in the HF Championship. The Worked All Britain DX Contest started at 1200 UTC yesterday, the 1st, and ends at 1200 UTC today, Sunday the 2nd of November. Using SSB on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report, serial number and Worked All Britain area. The RSGB 144MHz CW Marconi Contest started at 1400 UTC yesterday, the 1st, and ends at 1400UTC today, the 2nd of November. Using CW on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Tomorrow, the 3rd, the RSGB Autumn Series Data Contest runs from 2000 to 2130 UTC. Using RTTY and PSK63 on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Tuesday the 4th, the RSGB 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955 UTC. Using FM on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also, on Tuesday the 4th, the RSGB 144MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 2000 to 2230 UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the 5th, the RSGB 144MHz FT8 Activity four-hour Contest runs from 1700 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 2m band, the exchange is a report and four-character locator. Also, on Wednesday the 5th, the RSGB 144MHz FT8 Activity two-hour Contest runs from 1900 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 2m band, the exchange is a report and four-character locator. Stations entering the four-hour contest may also enter the two-hour contest. Also, on Wednesday the 5th, the United Kingdom and Ireland Contest Club 80m Contest runs from 2000 to 2100 UTC. Using SSB on the 80m band, the exchange is your six-character locator. The Worked All Europe DX RTTY Contest runs from 0000 UTC on Saturday, the 8th to 2359UTC on Sunday, the 9th of November. Using RTTY on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Saturday the 8th, the RSGB 1.8MHz Affiliated Societies Contest runs from 2000 to 2300 UTC. Using CW and SSB on the 160m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and your club information. On Sunday the 9th, the UK Microwave Group Low Band Contest runs from 1000 to 1400 UTC. Using all modes on 1.3 to 3.4GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 30th of October Last weekend saw HF shine as stations took part in the CQ World Wide SSB Contest. Geomagnetic conditions remained settled and DX was plentiful, with contacts possible as far afield as Alaska to the west and China to the east. Given the unsettled conditions we have had recently, it was a welcome break as radio amateurs filled their logs with far-flung DX. As we enter November, we can still expect the fine autumnal conditions that made October so good. However, as the month progresses, we can also anticipate improvements in LF band DX. So keep an eye on the 80 and 40m bands. The solar flux index has declined somewhat and is now standing at 118. This is still enough to get the 10m band humming, but it is a far cry from the 200-plus we saw at sunspot maximum. Nevertheless, get on the bands and work the DX while you can. Two large coronal holes, one in the Sun's northern hemisphere and one in the southern hemisphere, have been the sources of a fast solar wind stream. We may expect more geomagnetic disturbances today, the 2nd. Also, active region 4246 is now coming around the Sun's limb again and could be worth keeping an eye on. It has been emitting solar flares while behind the Sun, so look out for more activity upon its return. For the coming week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index could increase, perhaps starting the week at around 135 and increasing to 150 by the 9th of November. The first half of the week should be quiet geomagnetically, but we may expect more unsettled geomagnetic conditions around the 7th to the 9th of November, when the Kp index could increase to 5. Expect maximum usable frequencies to be depressed until the Kp index recovers. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The current spell of unsettled weather remains the focus for the foreseeable future. Previous model runs had suggested the possibility of high pressure returning by the end of the coming week, but this is no longer the case. The RSGB 144MHz CW Marconi Contest, which ends at 1400UTC today, the 2nd, looks to be under the influence of low pressure rather than any tropo-producing highs. With the unsettled pattern continuing, the optional modes might be rain scatter for the GHz bands, but not tropo. The chances of aurora are there, and after a very auroral-sounding 40m band on Wednesday, the 29th of October, when the Kp index hit 4, we should remain alert to changed conditions on the high HF and VHF bands. However, it probably needs something higher, like a Kp index between 5 and 7, before getting excited about radio effects.  The meteor scatter options look reasonable as we move into November, but the next important shower, the Leonids, doesn't peak until the 17th. We do, however, enter the edge of the stream later in the coming week. A final note of caution is that this unsettled type of weather pattern can produce rapidly developing lows and bring damaging winds to some parts of the country. So, take the opportunity on the quieter days to check that antennas are secure. For EME operators, the Moon's declination is negative and rising, going positive today, the 2nd of November. So, Moon window lengths and peak elevation are both rising. Path losses are still falling as we approach perigee on the 5th of November. 144MHz sky noise is low all week, rising to medium by next weekend. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday, the 19th of October 2025 The news headlines: · Ofcom implements Phases 2 and 3 of the amateur radio licence review · Share your feedback on the RSGB's 2025 Convention · The RSGB releases a video to help members make the most of its mobile app Following the introduction of the current amateur licensing framework in February 2024, Ofcom has now implemented most of the remaining changes associated with Phases 2 and 3. Ofcom updates its online Licensing Portal to accommodate applications for new M8 and M9 Intermediate callsigns, more flexible special event callsigns, and other changes, including easier revalidation. It also starts a gradual move to single personal call signs. For example, the revocation of lower licence callsigns is automatically triggered by a new application. Both Ofcom and the RSGB have released guidance for radio amateurs about these changes. You can see both documents by going to rsgb.org/guidance-resources. Please also note that the Ofcom licensing portal now requires longer and stronger passwords, so you may need to reset yours first before you can make any changes. The RSGB's 2025 Convention took place last weekend and brought together hundreds in person, as well as many more from across the globe who watched via the livestream. The Society is already receiving an overwhelming amount of positive feedback. If you did attend the Convention and haven't yet completed the feedback form, please go to rsgb.org/feedback  and share your thoughts. If you were unable to attend in person and watched the livestream, the RSGB would also love to hear your feedback. Please visit rsgb.org/livestream-feedback  and let the team know what you thought of the online event. The feedback forms will be closed at the end of October. The livestreams for both days will remain available for everyone to watch on the Society's YouTube channel via youtube.com/thersgb. Whether you want to sit back, relax and enjoy the whole programme or use the timestamps to watch a particular topic, you'll find something to enjoy. As well as talks from the weekend, you'll find exclusive interviews and pre-recorded videos. The RSGB has released a short video explaining how to get the most out of its new mobile app. The Society has received great feedback about the new app and wants to ensure everyone enjoys the full functionality. You can find the video via rsgb.org/radcom  or on the RSGB YouTube channel. If you'd like to watch a behind-the-scenes chat with RSGB General Manager Steve Thomas, M1ACB about the lead up to the app launch, you can see that on the RSGB Convention Saturday livestream recording at 4 hours, 27 minutes and 30 seconds. The Tonight@8 webinar series continues on Monday, the 3rd of November, with Graham Somerville, owner and managing director of DSP noise cancellation specialists bhi [B-H-I] Limited. During the presentation, he will look at the types of DSP noise cancelling available for improving audio quality and which products are best suited to specific applications and setups. Join him live on the RSGB YouTube channel or special BATC channel and ask questions via the live chat. To find out more go to the RSGB website at rsgb.org/webinars Today, the 19th, is the last day of Jamboree on the Air, also known as JOTA. The event promotes friendship and global citizenship and is a brilliant celebration of amateur radio among the Scout Association. The Society has compiled a list of Scouting groups that are involved with the annual event and has shared it on its website. The list is available by going to rsgb.org/jota  and choosing the ‘JOTA Stations on the Air' link on the right-hand side of the page. If you've been involved with JOTA this year, the RSGB would love to hear from you. There will be a special JOTA report in the January edition of RadCom, so please send details and photos from your event to radcom@rsgb.org.uk by the 14th of November. RAF Air Cadets Exercise Blue Ham will be operating on the 60m band from 0700 to 1600UTC today, the 19th of October. To operate, you must be a Full Licence holder. More details can be found on the alphacharlie.org.uk  website. Schools and youth organisations interested in setting up an ARISS radio contact with an astronaut on board the International Space Station are invited to submit an application and an educational project. Applications can be submitted until the 24th of October 2025. The school selection will take place in December 2025. The space conversation will be scheduled in the period extending from July to December 2026. You can find out more at tinyurl.com/ARISS-2026 And now for details of rallies and events Carrickfergus Amateur Radio Group Rally will take place on Saturday, the 25th of October at Elim Church, North Road, Carrickfergus, BT38 8ND. The doors open at 9.30 am for traders and at 11.30 am for visitors. Disabled access and free car parking will be available. For more information, email Tim, MI0TBL, via carg@hotmail.co.uk On Sunday, the 26th of October, Galashiels Radio and Computer Rally will take place at The Volunteer Hall, St John's Street, Galashiels, TD1 3JX. The doors open at 11 am and admission costs £3. Disabled access will be available from 10.45 am. For more information, visit galaradioclub.co.uk The Thirteenth Scottish Microwave Round Table GMRT will take place at the Museum of Communication in Burntisland, Fife, Scotland, on Saturday, the 1st of November, from 10.30 am to 5 pm. An interesting programme of speakers has been arranged, and microwave test facilities will be provided. There will be an opportunity to buy components and microwave-related items. An optional dinner will be held in the evening at a local hotel. Further information and online registration are available at gmroundtable.org.uk. The event has a maximum capacity of 50 people, and there are limited places left. Book now to avoid disappointment. Advance notice now that the 79th Annual Orlando HamCation event will take place between the 13th and 15th of February 2026 at the Central Florida Fairgrounds and Expo Park. HamCation is the second-largest amateur radio convention in the world, with the inaugural event dating back to 1946. For more information, follow HamCation on social media channels or visit hamcation.com Now the Special Event news To celebrate the 75th anniversary of DARC, the national amateur radio society in Germany, four special callsigns are active until the 31st of October. For more information, including details of a certificate that is available for working the stations, visit the DC75DARC page at QRZ.com  QSL via the bureau, or directly to DL2VFR. Members of the Haiti Radio Club are active as 4V1SB until the 31st of October. The callsign is in use to commemorate Simon Bolivar, who led several South American countries to independence. Recently, the station has been worked using FT8 on the HF bands. QSL via N2OO.ow the DX news Phill, C21TS, is active on the island of Nauru, OC-031, until the 30th of November. The station is spotted regularly using FT8 on the HF bands. QSL via Logbook of the World or OQRS. See QRZ.com for more information.  Mike, VE2XB, is active as VY0ZOO from Coral Harbour on Southampton Island, NA-007, until the 18th of December. Listen for the station on the 80 to 10m bands using CW and SSB. QSL via VE2XB. Now the contest news Today, the 19th, the RSGB 50MHz Affiliated Societies Contest runs from 0900 to 1300UTC. Using all modes on the 6m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Tuesday the 21st, the RSGB 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 23cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the 22nd, the IRTS 80m Evening Counties Contest runs from 2000 to 2100UTC. Using CW and SSB on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. EI and GI stations also send their county code. On Thursday the 23rd, the RSGB Autumn Series SSB Contest runs from 1900 to 2030 UTC. Using SSB on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The Worked All Germany Contest started at 1500 UTC yesterday, the 18th, and ends at 1500 UTC today, the 19th of October. Using CW and SSB on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The CQ World Wide DX SSB Contest starts at 0000UTC on Saturday, the 25th and runs until 2359 UTC on Sunday, the 26th of October. Using SSB on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and CQ Zone. The UK is in Zone 14. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 16th of October Conditions over the past week have been reasonable with a relatively high solar flux and lower Kp indices. This resulted in a maximum usable frequency, or MUF, over a 3,000km path, in excess of 35MHz. This is just what October was meant to be like! But all good things come to an end and there are a few flies in the ointment coming up. On the 14th, the latest coronal mass ejection, or CME, tracking model from NOAA and the Space Weather Prediction Testbed showed three weak CMEs possibly passing Earth over the next few days.  Although none of them is expected to deliver a large impact to the Earth's geomagnetic field, a combined passage could generate minor G1 to isolated moderate G2 geomagnetic storming.  We are now well and truly into autumn and, with a daytime critical frequency of more than 9 to 10MHz, the 40m band is ideal for QSOs around the UK during the daylight hours. At night, the critical frequency is generally around 5MHz in the early part of the evening, dropping to 3.5 to 3.6MHz as the night progresses. This means that the 80m band is remaining open around the UK for longer, but it may fade out, perhaps towards midnight. October is a great month for HF with the potential for worldwide openings on the higher bands. Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will be in the 140 to 150 range. Unsettled geomagnetic conditions with reduced MUFs are forecast for the 20th of October and then again on the 25th and 26th, when the Kp index could hit 5. Incidentally, these are the same dates as the CQ Worldwide SSB contest. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO This next period offers a marked contrast to our recent spell of Tropo weather under high pressure. Today, the 19th, sees a change to a much more unsettled weather type with rain, areas of low pressure, strong winds and showers. This will take Tropo off the agenda for the coming week, and its replacement is likely to be rain scatter for those on the GHz bands. There is no point in trying to time each individual low and front coming through this far ahead, and there is no real scope for any significant intervening areas of high pressure between the lows. So, there is no hint of Tropo next week. The recent solar conditions have again suggested that it's worth looking at the Kp index for signs of aurora, should it go above 5. Next, a few words about meteor scatter, which is gearing up for the Orionids, peaking on Tuesday, the 21st. However, they can have a broad spread with a minor peak preceding the main event. Either way, it's worth checking up on meteor scatter techniques and frequencies before the shower, rather than wondering what to do when it happens. For EME operators, the Moon's declination is falling again and becomes negative today, the 19th, so Moon window lengths and peak elevation follow suit by falling. Path losses are still rising as we approach apogee early on the morning of the 24th.  As we move through 2026, we reach a ‘sweet spot' in June where perigee and the highest declination coincide. This means the lowest path losses occur when we have the longest Moon windows. This cyclic event last occurred in 2018 and will not occur again until 2035.  144MHz sky noise starts the week low until Tuesday, the 21st, when the Sun and Moon are close in the sky. This brings noise problems for Yagi-type antennas with their high beam width. After that, the noise rises too high again for the weekend beginning the 25th of October. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

This show has been flagged as Clean by the host. Hello again. this is Trey. This is part 2 in my Cheap Yellow Display (CYD) Project series. You can find Part 1 in episode 4472 . We previously left our handy hero learning about the technology of the CYD, but without a compelling reason to begin using one. As we rejoin the topic, it was Winter Field Day 2025 (Jan 25 & 26, 2025). Winter Field Day is an annual event where amateur radio operators from around the world gather some portable radio equipment and setup somewhere away from their normal base of operations. It is designed to encourage operators to practice their emergency preparedness skills in unfavorable weather. Usually, they will run their equipment using batteries or generators. I chose this day because I knew there would be a good amount of radio traffic. I had just finished tuning my first handmade inverted-V dipole antenna for use on the 10 meter amateur radio bands. These span 28 MHz to 29.700 MHz. I had the antenna connected to a 10 meter transceiver to listen in on the radio traffic. Yes, I will include pictures of the antenna in the show notes. Scanning through the lower end of the band resulted in receiving a number of very strong continuous wave signals. Continuous wave, is abbreviated CW in amateur radio circles, and it stands for morse code signals transmitted over radio frequencies. The tones indicating dots and dashes of Morse code were clearly audible through the radio's speaker. "WAIT! STOP! Time out!!" I can hear you shouting as you listen. "This is supposed to be a discussion of the ESP32 CYD. What does this have to do with amateur radio?" You are absolutely right. Now hold your horses and we will get there. I barely learned Morse code as a child, and I used it a bit as an aviator in the '90s (while always being able to reference a visual representation of the Morse beside the actual letters). Thus, I never became proficient. Shortly after Winter Field Day 2025, I began taking lessons on Morse code, with the goal of becoming proficient at both sending and receiving at around 20 words per minute. This training may be a topic for another episode in a different series, as my journey advances. Scanning further up the band, I also identified some digital transmissions (Probably FT-8) and many voice transmissions. The antenna was working, at least for receiving. For a little back history, I have held an amateur radio license since 2016, and quickly progressed all the way to an Extra Class, giving me permission to use all of the amateur radio frequencies allowed within the United States in the High Frequency (HF), Very High Frequency (VHF), and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) bands. However, to this point, I have only operated in the VHF and UHF bands, and have done so using mobile and handheld transceivers. I inherited some HF equipment from a close friend who went silent key in 2023, and I was only now trying to use it. You can learn more about my friend, and about the term "Silent Key" in episode HPR3922 https://www.hackerpublicradio.org/eps/hpr3922/index.html ) On field day, there was far too much traffic, and it was too intimidating for me to make my first attempt at transmitting on the HF bands. This would have to wait until later. But I did need to determine how well my antenna would transmit. I began to ponder my options. I really did not want to talk to anyone until I had listened to more QSOs and I could implement proper practices. The term QSO the amateur radio term for radio conversations. I also have no interest in digital modes (yet). I like the simplicity of voice and CW. There I am, back at Morse code again. What if there was a way that I could transmit a signal in Morse code and get reliable feedback on signal propagation, without the need to try to reply to any responses? It would need to be an accurate, repeatable, properly structured and timed Morse code transmission, more than my training (at that point, or even this point) could accomplish. This was something to think about. And think about. And think about... Tune in to the next episode in the series to learn where these thoughts led me, and how all this relates to my CYD project. Provide feedback on this episode.

Hello and welcome to episode 81 of The DX Mentor – a discussion with Gregg Marco, W6IZT, about the upcoming DXPedition to Saba Island, PJ6Y. I'm Bill, AJ8B.  If this is the first time you are joining us, Welcome! We have a back catalog covering many aspects of DX in both podcast and YouTube format. Please check us out.  If you like what you find, please subscribe, like, and share to always be notified about upcoming events!     Another way to keep in touch and to see what we are up to is via the DX Mentor Facebook page. I will be posting about upcoming podcasts as well as other DX events so please follow us.    You can check the show notes for any of the information that we discussed today.   In addition to Greg, Joe, W8GEX will be joining us. Gregg has been a guest before, and we are very appreciative that he was able to fit us in as the DXPedition leaves in 7 days!  Before we connect with Gregg and Joe, I would like to pass this along. You may recall that we previously did a podcast with Bob, WB2UBW, and a discussion about the Western KY DX Association DX Workshop. I was there and it was terrific. I had several listeners stop by to say hello and offer suggestions and appreciation for the DX Mentor Podcast. These included Chuck, W0CRB, KD4MJR. Ariella, and Mike, N4JRO. I had excellent in person QSOs with each of them and really enjoyed the discussion.  DXPedition Website: https://pj6y2025.com/News Articles: https://www.dx-world.net/pj6y-saba-island-dxpedition/Q5 (W1DED) YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@q5hamradio K3LR YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@DXEngineering Southwest Ohio DX Assoc. https://www.swodxa.orgDaily DX https://www.dailydx.com/DX Engineering https://www.dxengineering.com/Icom https://www.icomamerica.com/ IC-905 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-905/ IC-9700 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-9700/ IC-7610 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7610/ IC-7300 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7300/ 

GB2RS News Sunday, the 12th of October 2025 The news headlines: Introducing the RSGB mobile app Join the RSGB 2025 Convention livestream Get involved with Jamboree on the Air The Society is excited to announce the launch of the RSGB mobile app. This fantastic new members' benefit allows you to enjoy RadCom, RadCom Basics and RadCom Plus wherever you are. Complementing the RSGB's existing web app, with the new mobile app, you can save editions to read offline, bookmark articles to enjoy later, and have seamless access to extra digital content. With easy-to-use navigation, the app is your one-stop shop for RSGB publications. You can download it now via the Apple App and Google Play stores or go to rsgb.org/radcom  for the links. The second day of the RSGB 2025 Convention is well underway with a great line-up of presentations. If you have been unable to attend in person, you can catch up with the livestream on the Society's YouTube channel via youtube.com/thersgb. The livestreams for both days will remain available for everyone to watch and offer a programme full of engaging speakers to help you discover, learn and progress within amateur radio. Presentations include Radio Communications Foundation Trustee, Andy Webster, G7UHN, who explains how you can use radio technology to engage and inspire non-radio amateurs. Hans Summers, G0UPL of QRP Labs, talks about polar modulation, and you can also watch a fascinating panel discussion in which representatives of four amateur radio groups or societies discuss what they have been doing to help their club thrive. Whether you've attended the Convention in person or watched the livestream, the Society would love to hear your feedback. Share your thoughts on the event by going to rsgb.org/feedback  for those who have attended the event and rsgb.org/livestream-feedback  for those who watched the event online. Thank you to everyone who has responded to the RSGB's call for Jamboree on the Air participation. Samuel McCutchion, M0UEL, is the RSGB Youth Champion for Scouts, Cadets and Guides and has compiled a list of Scouting groups that are involved with the annual event. To view the list, go to rsgb.org/jota  and select the ‘JOTA Stations on the Air' link on the right-hand side of the page. If you are planning to get involved with JOTA and would like to be added to the list, please get in touch via youthchampion.scouts@rsgb.org.uk  with a summary of your station name, callsign and any other relevant information. The RSGB would love to see your photos of Scouts getting involved with JOTA, so tag @theRSGB and also use #JOTAJOTI to be involved in the conversation on social media. If you're not involved with a JOTA station, do listen out for them on the air and encourage the young operators. This year's event is taking place between the 17th and 19th of October. Volunteers at the RSGB National Radio Centre had a particularly busy weekend at the end of September. It was 1940s weekend at Bletchley Park for which the Centre set up the GB1SOE station, and over the weekend, RSGB volunteers welcomed almost 1,100 visitors through the doors. If you'd like to be part of this engaging and motivated team, the NRC Coordinator is currently looking for a volunteer specifically to join the Friday team. If you'd like to find out more about this role, email Martyn Baker, G0GMB via nrc.support@rsgb.org.uk RAF Air Cadets Exercise Blue Ham will take place on the 60m band from 0700 to 1600UTC over the weekend of the 18th and 19th of October. To operate, you must be a Full licence holder. More details can be found on the alphacharlie.org.uk  website. The RSGB wishes to record, with sadness, the passing of GB2RS Newsreader Peter Valentine, G0NQZ, at the grand age of 101. Age was no barrier to Peter. At a mere 96, he walked 96 miles for his local hospital charity, and he was still broadcasting GB2RS from Eastbourne in his 100th year. He was described by a fellow Newsreader as a true ambassador for amateur radio. Peter had a wonderfully distinctive voice on the air, and for many years, he also read a talking newspaper for the blind. Our thoughts are with Peter's wife, Heather and family. Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. The deadline for submissions is 10 am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week.  And now for details of rallies and events Today, the 12th of October, the Autumn Dartmoor Radio Club Rally is taking place at Yelverton War Memorial Hall, Meavy Lane, Yelverton. The doors open at 10 am and admission is £3. For more information, email 2e0rph@gmail.com Also today, the 12th, Hornsea Amateur Radio Club's Annual Rally is taking place at Driffield Showground in East Yorkshire. Exhibitors can gain access from 8 am, and visitors are welcome from 10 am. For more information, email lbjpinkney1@hotmail.co.uk The next Essex CW Amateur Radio Club Bootcamp will take place on Saturday, the 18th of October. It will be held at the 3rd Witham Scout and Guide HQ. Places are limite,d so email info@essexcw.org.uk  as soon as possible to book your place. Now the Special Event news Special callsign AT25GOA is active to celebrate HamFest India 2025. Look for activity on the 80 to 10m bands using CW, FT8, FT4 and SSB. QSOs will be uploaded to QRZ.com  and Club Log. See QRZ.com  for more information. The International Amateur Radio Club at ITU HQ in Geneva is active with the 4U0ITU callsign until the end of the year. The station is operating in celebration of the 160th anniversary of the International Telecommunication Union. QSL via Logbook of the World, Club Log's OQRS, or directly to the International Amateur Radio Club. Now the DX news Today, the 12th, is your last chance to work Harry, JG7PSJ, who is active as WH0RU from Saipan, OC-086, on the Northern Mariana Islands. He usually operates CW and SSB on the 40 to 10m bands. QSL via Logbook of the World or directly to JG7PSJ. Bo, OZ1DJJ, is active as OX3LX from Greenland, NA-018, until the 21st of October. The station is spotted regularly on the HF bands using FT8. QSL via Logbook of the World, Club Log's OQRS or via OZ0J. Now the contest news On Tuesday the 14th, the RSGB 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855 UTC. Using FM on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also on Tuesday the 14th, the RSGB 432MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the 15th, the RSGB Autumn Series Data Contest runs from 1900 to 2030 UTC. Using RTTY and PSK63 on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Thursday the 16th, the RSGB 70MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 4m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Sunday the 19th, the RSGB 50MHz Affiliated Societies Contest runs from 0900 to 1300 UTC. Using all modes on the 6m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The Oceania DX CW Contest started at 0600 UTC on Saturday, the 11th and runs until 0600 UTC today, the 12th of October. Using CW and SSB on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The Worked All Germany Contest runs from 1500 UTC on Saturday, the 18th, to 1500 UTC on Sunday, the 19th of October. Using CW and SSB on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Wednesday the 8th of October We finally got rid of the high-speed solar wind stream, which caused havoc on the HF bands. But we are not out of the woods yet! Last week saw the Kp index hit 6.67 on the 2nd of October, and it was often up around 4 or more. Even though the Kp index eventually reduced, the ionosphere took its time to recover, and things were not back to near normal until Tuesday, the 7th. Meanwhile, the solar flux index decreased to 131 by the 8th, so the HF bands were hardly humming by this time. DX on the 10m band was hard to find. Openings to Europe were commonplace, but longer paths were not so good, with only weak North American stations being heard later in the day. A minor G1 geomagnetic storm watch was in effect for 48 hours from the 7th of October, when at least one faint coronal mass ejection was predicted to pass the Earth. Only minor C-class solar flares occurred during the week, but that didn't help too much. CDXC members were reporting DX, such as V85T in Brunei on 15m and A52G in Bhutan on 20m – both using CW. However, there was not much to work on the higher bands. Southerly paths were a little better with 5X2I in Uganda reported on the 17m band using FT8. Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will be in the range of 130 to 140, but it is also predicting geomagnetic disturbances today, the 12th. After that, the Sun may quieten a little with a maximum Kp index of 2 for the rest of the coming week before more geomagnetic disturbances. The Kp index is forecast to be 4 or 5 during the weekend of the 18th and 19th. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The coming week is dominated by high pressure, either over the UK or near enough to influence the propagation and provide a prolonged period of Tropo weather. It's probably worth mentioning a few ground rules about Tropo operating. Firstly, large areas of high pressure can produce widespread lift conditions due to the strength of the elevated temperature inversion 1 to 1.5km above the ground. The longer the high lasts, the lower this descends, so limiting the maximum distance across the centre of the high. Try beaming around the edge rather than across the centre. Secondly, there may be surface temperature inversions at night or in foggy weather, and these will provide temporary enhancements. Thirdly, the clue for a good ‘radio' temperature inversion is the presence of fog or layers of cloud, which give a better moisture contrast and ducting prospects. One last point. Try other modes like SSB or CW rather than sticking to repeaters which can get very crowded in lift conditions. There is no rain scatter in the frame this week, and the Draconids meteor shower has just passed, so back to random activity on that front. On the 8th of October, the Sporadic-E graphs at propquest.co.uk  showed that there had been occasional spikes up to 5MHz or so. This may liven up the 10m band if we get any more. There have been a few weak auroral events, but nothing too exciting. For EME operators, the Moon's declination is still increasing, reaching its peak today, the 12th, so long Moon windows and high peak elevation continue. Path losses are rising again after perigee on the 8th. 144MHz Sky noise will be moderate to low for the coming week. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

Master the exciting world of ham radio satellites with our step-by-step guide! Learn how to work amateur radio satellites, from choosing the right equipment to tracking and communicating via low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Perfect for beginners and seasoned ham radio enthusiasts, this video covers antenna setup, frequency selection, Doppler shift correction, and tips for successful QSOs. Boost your ham radio skills and connect with operators worldwide! #HamRadio #AmateurRadio #satellitecommunicationsSupport the ARRL Teachers Institute - https://arrl.org/30daysFollow Rob's Channel for more Satellite Ham Radio videos  @digital.rancher Equipment in this video:Elk Antenna - https://www.gigaparts.com/2m-440l5-dual-band-directional-yagi-antenna.htmlICOM IC-2730 - https://www.gigaparts.com/icom-ic-2730a-dual-band-mobile-radio.htmlEberlestock MultiPack - https://eberlestock.com/products/multipack-accessory-pouchBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ham-radio-2-0--2042782/support.

GB2RS News Sunday, the 5th of October 2025 The news headlines: Don't miss out – book now for the RSGB 2025 Convention! Join October's Tonight@8 webinar for a fascinating talk on a Marshall Islands DXpedition The RSGB is helping to promote JOTA activities in October Today, Sunday the 5th of October, is the last day for you to buy your RSGB 2025 Convention and dinner tickets. The online ticketing portal closes at 11:59 p.m. tonight, so please act quickly to ensure your attendance. You will be able to purchase a Convention ticket at the door, but not at the reduced rate currently available. The event is taking place between the 10th and 12th of October in Milton Keynes, and this year's theme is “Discover, Learn, Progress”. To start planning your weekend, go to rsgb.org/convention  and download the Convention programme and speaker information. You'll also be able to view the menus, as well as see what forums and drop-in sessions you can attend. Click on ‘What else is happening at the Convention?' to find details on the AMSAT-UK Colloquium, Special Interest Groups, as well as information on Friday's tour of Bletchley Park and the RSGB National Radio Centre. Don't forget that if it is your first time at the event, pop along to the new ‘Welcome desk' that will be set up in the bar on the Friday evening. If you're going to the Convention, remember to make sure you have your QR code ready to collect your badge at the conference centre. This can either be on your mobile or as a printed copy. The QR code can be found in your purchase email, as well as in the reminder email, which will be sent out this week. If you are unable to travel to the Convention, the RSGB will be livestreaming a selection of lectures. Find out how to join the livestream via rsgb.org/livestream  If you have tickets for the Gala Dinner on Saturday and wish to reserve a table with friends, send your name and callsign details to radcom@rsgb.org.uk Jamie Williams, M0SDV, will be talking you through a DXpedition to the Marshall Islands for the RSGB's next Tonight@8 webinar tomorrow, the 6th of October. In February 2025, the V73WW team made 103,864 QSOs using CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8. The team of six came from four countries, with the operators having an average age of only 28. Jamie is a 24-year-old radio amateur who has been involved with the hobby since 2015 and has been busy with contests and DXpeditions ever since. The Tonight@8 webinars are livestreamed for free on the RSGB's YouTube channel and special BATC channel, allowing you to watch the presentations and ask questions online. Go to rsgb.org/webinars  for more information. Jamboree on the Air, also known as JOTA, is taking place between the 17th and 19th of October. The event promotes friendship and global citizenship and is a brilliant celebration of amateur radio among the groups within the Scout Association. Samuel McCutchion, M0UEL, is the RSGB Youth Champion for Scouts, Cadets and Guides, and he is compiling a list of JOTA stations which will be shared on the RSGB website. Sam is encouraging everyone to get involved either by putting a station on the air or listening out for the JOTA stations. If you are part of a Scouting group and are planning to get involved with JOTA, then please contact youthchampion.scouts@rsgb.org.uk  with a summary of your station name, callsign and any other relevant information. The RSGB is offering four awards for GB2RS news broadcasts that were logged between the 1st of August and the 30th of September. The awards are part of several activities that have been taking place to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the weekly news broadcast. Applications for awards should be submitted no later than the 31st of October 2025, and should be sent to the RSGB Awards Manager via awards@rsgb.org.uk. The certificates are free of charge and will be supplied as a PDF. Find out more via rsgb.org/gb70rs On Wednesday, the 8th of October, YouTuber James, M0GQC, will be broadcasting his next live episode from the RSGB National Radio Centre. James will be active from approximately 6.30 pm on the 40m band using the GB3RS callsign. His channel @HamRadioOnline is an interactive show where people can call in or simply watch the station live on YouTube. If you haven't already got the Centre's callsign in your logbook, this is a great opportunity to do so. The next Essex CW Amateur Radio Club Boot Camp will be held on Saturday, the 18th of October 2025. Due to cancellations, a few places have become available. If you would like a day practising and improving your CW skills in a friendly, supportive atmosphere, then email Steve, G4OCP at info@essexcw.org.uk before the 7th of October. And now for details of rallies and events Today, the 5th, the 50th Welsh Radio Rally is taking place at Llanwern High School, Hartridge Farm Road, Newport in South Wales. The doors are open for traders from 7 am and for the public from 9.30 am. Admission costs £3. For more information, email welshradiorally@gmail.com On Sunday, the 12th of October, the Autumn Dartmoor Radio Club Rally will take place at Yelverton War Memorial Hall, Meavy Lane, Yelverton. The doors open at 10 am and admission is £3. For more information, email 2e0rph@gmail.com Also on Sunday the 12th, Hornsea Amateur Radio Club's Annual Rally will take place at Driffield Showground in East Yorkshire. Exhibitors can gain access from 8 am, and visitors are welcome from 10 am. For more information, email lbjpinkney1@hotmail.co.uk Now the Special Event news To celebrate 130 years since the birth of radio and 100 years since the formation of the International Amateur Radio Union, lots of special event stations are active from Italy. You can see live updates on all of the stations and their most recent contacts via the II1IARU page at QRZ.com Special callsign GB70RS is in use to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the RSGB's weekly news service GB2RS, which has been running continuously since the 25th of September 1955. A team of amateurs is using the callsign on a variety of bands and modes. QSL via the Bureau, Logbook of the World and eQSL. For more information, visit the GB70RS page at QRZ.com Now the DX news Nine operators are active with five stations as V6D from Chuuk, OC-011, in Micronesia until tomorrow, the 6th. The station is active on the 160 to 6m bands using CW, SSB, FT8 and RTTY. QSL via Club Log's OQRS is preferred, or via DL4SVA. See v6d.mydx.de  for more information. Bernhard, DL2GAC, is active again as H44MS from Malaita Island, OC-047, in the Solomon Islands until the 25th of November. Listen for activity on the 80 to 6m bands using SSB and FT8. QSL directly via Bernhard's home call or the Bureau. Now the contest news Both the IARU and RSGB 432MHz to 245GHz Contests started at 1400 UTC yesterday, the 4th, and end at 1400 UTC today, the 5th of October. Using all modes on 432MHz to 245GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The UK Microwave Group 24 to 76GHz Contest runs from 0900 to 1700 UTC today, the 5th of October. Using all modes on 24 to 76GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The RSGB Autumn Series CW Contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC tomorrow, the 6th. Using CW on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Tuesday, the 7th of October, the RSGB 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855 UTC. Using FM on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also on Tuesday, the 7th of October, the RSGB 144MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday, the 8th of October, the RSGB 432MHz FT8 four-hour Activity Contest runs from 1700 UTC to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report and four-character locator. Also on Wednesday, the 8th of October, the RSGB 432MHz FT8 two-hour Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report and four-character locator. On Thursday, the 9th of October, the RSGB 50MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 6m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The Oceania DX CW Contest starts at 0600 UTC on Saturday, the 11th and ends at 0600 UTC on Sunday, the 12th of October. Using CW and SSB on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 2nd of October 2025 Last week was characterised by very unsettled geomagnetic conditions with a Kp index that reached 7.33 on the 30th of September and was often above 5. This is not good for HF propagation! But what caused this? A high-speed solar wind stream at around 750 kilometres per second, coupled with the Bz component of the Sun's magnetic field pointing south, led to the disruption. But there didn't seem to be any particular solar event that triggered the high-speed solar wind stream. The Russell-McPherron effect is probably to blame. This is a phenomenon where the alignment of the Earth's and the Sun's magnetic fields, during the equinoxes around March and September, allows charged particles from the solar wind to more easily penetrate the Earth's magnetosphere. This enhanced connection leads to more intense geomagnetic storms and increased aurora activity as the Bz aligns favourably with the Earth's magnetic field at these times. This may pass as we get further into October. As a result of the geomagnetic storm, maximum usable frequencies, or MUFs, have often been lower than normal. A quick listen on 28MHz on Wednesday, the 1st of October, confirmed the poor conditions. It's a shame, as October is normally a fantastic month for HF DX. The solar flux index peaked at 187 on the 30th of September, having been above 170 since the 28th of September. Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will remain above 150 to 160 all week. The good news is that geomagnetic conditions are forecast to improve, with a maximum Kp index of 3. If that comes to pass, we can expect HF to be better after a day or two, and we might be able to make the most of the autumnal conditions for DX. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The current spell of unsettled weather, mainly over northern areas, is typical of the season, but it's also common to find high pressure passing by in between the deeper lows. In the current pattern, the highs are mainly for the southern half of Britain. This will bring some good Tropo conditions at times for the VHF and UHF bands.  As we head into autumn, these lifts may linger through much of the morning on some days before the temperature rise breaks down any temperature inversion. A good clue is that it's usually over when the overnight fog clears. On the other hand, there will probably be some good rain scatter opportunities on the GHz bands as the active lows push fronts across the country, especially in the north. There are signs that we may return to high pressure over the country during the RSGB 2025 Convention weekend from the 10th to the 12th of October. We have a meteor shower to play with during the coming week. The Draconids peak on Wednesday, the 8th of October, but the shower stream is spread over the whole of the week. Lastly, there have been some reasonable auroral events recently, so, as usual, keep a watch on the Kp index going over 5 since, as we said earlier, these autumn months are very much favoured for auroral activity. For EME operators, the Moon's declination is increasing and goes positive tomorrow, the 6th, so lengthening Moon windows and increasing peak elevation is the story for the coming week. Path losses continue to fall as we approach perigee on the 8th of October. 144MHz sky noise will be low for much of the next seven days. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday, the 28th of September 2025 The news headlines: What are your must-see presentations at this year's RSGB Convention? The RSGB invited the MP for Buckingham and Bletchley to the RSGB National Radio Centre for a private visit Listen out for today's special 70th anniversary GB2RS broadcasts Before we begin today's news bulletin, we would like to share a special message from the RSGB President Bob Beebe, GU4YOX, to mark the 70th anniversary of GB2RS. Bob says, “It is with a profound sense of respect and appreciation that today we mark the 70th anniversary of the GB2RS News service. Since 1955, volunteers have given their time and their voice to keep our radio community informed, connected, and inspired. For many of us, GB2RS has been a constant and familiar presence in our radio lives. On behalf of the RSGB, I extend my heartfelt thanks to all who have played a part in this remarkable story for the last seventy years. Today, we honour their legacy and reaffirm our commitment to the values and spirit that the GB2RS News service so proudly represents.”  And now we move to today's news items. The programme for this year's RSGB Convention has nearly 50 presentations for you to enjoy, including leading industry speakers such as Mike Walker, VA3MW from FlexRadio and Hans Summers, G0UPL from QRP Labs. There will also be well-known names such as Neil Smith G4DBN, RadCom Technical Editor Peter Duffett-Smith GM3XJE, Brian Coleman G4NNS and Walt Hudson K4OGO, known to many as ‘Salty Walt'. This annual RSGB event is your only opportunity within the UK to have access to this level of knowledge, learning and networking opportunities. As well as a packed full lecture programme, there will be nearly 20 special interest groups in attendance, so if you are thinking of pursuing a different area of the hobby, this is the perfect time to explore your options. To guarantee a place, you will need to purchase a ticket online via rsgb.org/convention before advance sales close on Sunday the 5th of October. Buying your ticket online not only guarantees your place, but it also saves you money when compared to on-the-door ticket prices. If you are arriving on Friday, why not join a private tour of Bletchley Park at 2.30 pm, which has been arranged especially for Convention attendees. In addition to this, and new for this year, RSGB National Radio Centre volunteer Patrick, 2E0IFB, will be running an informal introduction on getting started with low-earth orbiting satellites. The RSGB Convention takes place from the 10th to the 12th of October at Kents Hill Conference Centre in Milton Keynes. The RSGB was pleased to welcome Callum Anderson, MP for Buckingham and Bletchley, to the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park last week. Callum enjoyed seeing the history of radio, watching live CW contacts and listening to his voice coming back from space, having been relayed via a satellite. Callum was invited to meet a small group of senior RSGB representatives who emphasised the important role of amateur radio in encouraging young people into an engineering career. Getting involved in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths activities gives a great foundation that could lead some young people to follow in the footsteps of radio amateur pioneers who led the development of many wireless technologies that we rely on today. Most importantly, the visit gave the RSGB an opportunity to show the problems that ElectroMagnetic Disturbance can cause to wireless reception. Examples of EMD include household appliances, Broadband FTTC and green energy from solar panels and windfarms, where the signal levels are thousands of times stronger than the expected levels given in ITU recommendations. EMC Chair John Rogers M0JAV and Board Chair Stewart Bryant G3YSX explained that unless the year-on-year increases in background noise are stopped, many critical services and infrastructures could be impacted soon, just as the amateur radio bands are today. The RSGB looks forward to meeting again with Callum, who is the Parliamentary Private Secretary for Science, Innovation and Technology. Don't forget to listen out for three special one-off broadcasts from the RSGB National Radio Centre today. The broadcasts are part of the celebrations, which are taking place to mark the 70th anniversary of GB2RS. Listen out at 1 pm, 2.30 pm and 4 pm. Go to rsgb.org/gb70rs  for details of frequencies and newsreaders. All listeners are welcome to join the pre- and post-News nets, which will be operating using the special event station GB70RS. The RSGB LoRa high-altitude balloon launch took place on Saturday, the 20th of September and was a great success despite tricky weather conditions, which included rain and high winds. The balloon soared at a peak altitude of 48,556 feet before landing in a remote location in the Thursden Valley. Winners of the competition to win a £200 Moonraker voucher will be announced at the RSGB 2025 Convention on Sunday, the 12th of October. If you're wondering what you can do with your LoRa tracker now that the RSGB challenge has finished, go to rsgb.org/lora-balloon for a handy guide on how you can continue the fun. If you took part and would like to be included in a special feature in the December edition of RadCom, send your photos and a short summary of your activity to comms@rsgb.org.uk by Wednesday, the 1st of October. The Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games will be held from the 23rd of July to the 2nd of August 2026. The organisers are looking for amateur radio operators to volunteer and assist with radio, spectrum and other technical tasks. To register as a radio volunteer, email spectrum@glasgow2026.com to be sent a code that you can enter into the volunteer booking portal. For more information and to apply to become a volunteer, visit the ‘Volunteering' tab at glasgow2026.com Wednesday, the 1st of October, sees the launch of UKBOTA's second annual celebration of the work carried out by the volunteers of the Royal Observer Corps. Activate or hunt any UKBOTA ROC bunker reference during October to qualify. More details are available at ukbota.org Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. The deadline for submissions is 10 am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week.  And now for details of rallies and events Carmarthen Amateur Radio Society is holding a surplus equipment sale on Saturday, the 4th of October, at the Cwmduad Community Hall. The doors will be open from 8.30 am for traders, 9.30 am for disabled access and from 10 am for all visitors. All radio amateurs and shortwave listeners are welcome. Limited parking is available outside the hall, and more is available on the main road. For more information, or to book a table, contact Andy, GW0JLX, on 07768 282 880. On Sunday, the 5th of October, the 50th Welsh Radio Rally takes place at Llanwern High School, Hartridge Farm Road, Newport in South Wales. The doors open for traders from 7 am and for the public from 9.30 am. Admission costs £3. For more information, email welshradiorally@gmail.com On Sunday, the 12th of October, the Autumn Dartmoor Radio Club Rally takes place at Yelverton War Memorial Hall, Meavy Lane, Yelverton. The doors open at 10 am and admission is £3. For more information, email 2e0rph@gmail.com Also, on Sunday the 12th, Hornsea Amateur Radio Club's annual rally takes place at Driffield Showground in East Yorkshire. Exhibitors can gain access from 8 am, and visitors are welcome from 10 am. For more information, email lbjpinkney1@hotmail.co.uk Now the Special Event news Paul, VK5PAS, is active as VI8POL until tomorrow, the 29th, to celebrate Australia's annual National Police Week. Recently, the station was spotted using FT8 on the 20m band. QSL via VK5PAS, Logbook of the World and eQSL. Eight special call signs are in use until the 12th of October to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Swedish Amateur Radio Association. Look for activity on the 160 to 6m bands using CW, SSB and digital modes. For details of an award that is available for working the stations, visit tinyurl.com/ssa-100 Now the DX news The Salamis Radio Team is active as SX8AJX from Salamina Island, EU-07, until Tuesday, the 30th of September. Operators are using CW, SSB and digital modes on the HF bands and via satellite. QSOs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World and Club Log.  Janusz, SP9FIH, is active as VK9/SP9FIH from Christmas Island, OC-002, until Friday, the 3rd of October. Look for activity on the 30 to 10m bands using SSB and FT8. QSL via Club Log's OQRS. Now the contest news The CQ World Wide DX RTTY Contest started at 0000 UTC yesterday, the 27th, and ends at 2359 UTC today, the 28th of September. Using RTTY on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and CQ Zone. The UK is in Zone 14. Also, today, the 28th, the UK Microwave Group 5.7 and 10GHz Contest runs from 0600 to 1800 UTC. Using all modes on 5.7 and 10GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday, the 1st of October, the RSGB 144MHz FT8 Activity four-hour Contest runs from 1700 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 2m band, the exchange is report and a four-character locator. Also, on Wednesday the 1st, the RSGB 144MHz FT8 Activity two-hour Contest runs from 1900 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 2m band, the exchange is report and a four-character locator. Stations entering the four-hour contest may also enter the two-hour contest. Also, on Wednesday the 1st, the United Kingdom and Ireland Contest Club 80m Contest runs from 2000 to 2100 UTC. Using SSB on the 80m band, the exchange is your six-character locator. The Oceania DX SSB Contest runs from 0600 UTC on Saturday, the 4th to 0600 UTC on Sunday, the 5th of October. Using SSB on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Saturday, the 4th of October, the RSGB 2.3GHz Trophy Contest runs from 1400 UTC to 2200 UTC. Using all modes on the 13cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also, on Saturday the 4th, the RSGB 1.2GHz Trophy Contest runs from 1400 UTC to 2200 UTC. Using all modes on the 23cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Both the IARU and RSGB 432MHz to 245GHz Contests run from 1400 UTC on Saturday, the 4th, to 1400 UTC on Sunday, the 5th of October. Using all modes on 432MHz to 245GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Sunday, the 5th of October, the UK Microwave Group 24 to 76GHz Contest runs from 0900 UTC to 1700 UTC. Using all modes on 24 to 76GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 25th of September Last week was good for HF propagation for a number of reasons. Firstly, we are now entering autumn, which offers better propagation prospects than summer. Secondly, the solar flux index has remained high at up to 184 as of last Thursday, the 25th. We had a week of near-normal geomagnetic conditions, with a low Kp index, no Earth-directed coronal mass ejections, and a relatively quiet solar wind. These have all combined to give excellent HF propagation, including openings on the 10m band using FM and transatlantic 10m contacts being possible in the afternoon. The maximum usable frequency, or MUF, over a 3,000km path, according to Propquest, has mainly been in excess of 30MHz during daylight hours. The KQ2H repeater in upstate New York, with an output frequency of 29.620MHz, has been loud at times in the afternoon and is a good indicator of HF propagation. Expect it to get better as we enter October. Other US stations have also been heard on the 10m band using FM, including one in Ohio. Steve, G0KYA, was surprised to hear the GB3XMB 10m beacon on 28.287MHz from Waddington, Lancashire this week. Steve remarked that it is 175 miles to Norfolk as the crow flies. He said that the signal didn't sound like backscatter, so that's quite a distance for 10m ground wave. Another DX worked, according to CDXC, included FP5KE, the St. Pierre and Miquelon DXpedition. The station could be heard on everything from Top Band to 10m. V6D in Micronesia has been worked on the 40 and 17m bands using CW. Other highlights include D2USU in Fiji on the 12m band using FT8, and 9Y49R in Trinidad and Tobago on the 10m band using FM. Next week, NOAA predicts the solar flux index may fall to the 159 to 170 range. Geomagnetic conditions are predicted to be poor tomorrow, the 29th, with a Kp index of 5, and again between the 3rd and 5th of October, also with a predicted Kp index of 5. Expect decreased MUFs for a few days until the ionosphere recovers. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The next week or so looks to be typical for autumn. It will be a mix of Atlantic weather systems bringing lows and their fronts, which may offer some rain scatter for those on the GHz bands. The other side of the coin is areas of high pressure or mostly weak ridges, in this case mainly affecting the south and east of the country. This is the point where Tropo operators can move in with paths probably favouring the North Sea and Scandinavia up to this weekend and then across to the continent and down to Spain during the coming week. It is worth remembering that Tropo can exist throughout the 24 hours across water and along coasts like the North Sea and English Channel, although the portion of a path overland can weaken during daytime. The meteor scatter prospects remain in the random territory, so they are best in the early morning. Recent activity with geomagnetic disturbances suggests that aurora should continue to be part of the operating list in the coming week. Check for a hollow note or warble on HF signals and for a Kp index greater than 5, then consider turning your VHF arrays to the north. For EME operators, Moon declination reaches its minimum tomorrow, the 29th, so from then on, we will see lengthening Moon windows and increasing peak elevation. The Moon's distance from Earth started to decrease after apogee on Friday, the 26th, meaning path losses are falling. 144MHz Sky noise will be high today, the 28th, and peaks at around 2800 Kelvin tomorrow, the 29th, before dropping back to low for the rest of the week. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

Discover the excitement of the Amateur Radio Lighthouse Society (ARLHS) and learn how to activate a lighthouse with ham radio! Join us as we explore the thrill of setting up a portable radio station at a lighthouse, making global contacts, and earning awards. Perfect for amateur radio enthusiasts and lighthouse lovers alike, this video dives into the ARLHS's mission, the activation process, and tips for successful QSOs. Subscribe for more ham radio adventures! #HamRadio #LighthouseActivation #ARLHSSupport the ARRL Teacher's Institute - https://arrl.org/30daysEquipment in this video:Yaesu FTX-1 Optima - https://www.gigaparts.com/yaesu-ftx-1-optima-hf-all-mode-sdr-100w-portable-transceiver.htmlEarn Double Points with code KC5HWBTarheel Antenna - https://tarheeldesigns.com/M&P Coax - https://tarheeldesigns.com/mobile-antennas(use code HR2CABLES to save 10%) World Radio League Logging Software - https://app.worldradioleague.com/?via=jason(use code JASON10 to save 10%)Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ham-radio-2-0--2042782/support.

Join me for an exciting recap of our US Islands QSO Party activation! Watch as we set up our ham radio station on a stunning US island, chase contacts, and share tips for successful QSOs. Perfect for ham radio enthusiasts and contest chasers looking to explore island activations, antenna setups, and radio fun! #HamRadio #USIslandsQSOParty #AmateurRadioU.S. Islands Website - https://usislands.org/Donate to ARRL Teacher's Institute - https://ARRL.org/30daysBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ham-radio-2-0--2042782/support.

GB2RS News Sunday the 31st of August 2025 The news headlines: Plan your RSGB Convention weekend with the newly released programme Volunteer for the RSGB as the Honorary Mature Members' Officer RSGB representatives and practical activities at the National Hamfest  Have you bought your ticket for this year's RSGB Convention yet? The weekend's draft programme has just been released, detailing all the inspiring speakers that the Society has lined up for your enjoyment. If you want to improve your technical knowledge, be sure to add the presentation by Hans Summers, G0UPL from QRP Labs, to your must-see list. Hans will introduce the concept of polar modulation SSB, along with the story of the practical implementation of polar modulation SSB in the QRP Labs QMX and QMX+ transceivers. Perhaps you'd like to get some operating tips? In which case, Walt Hudson, K4OGO, is one to add to your weekend schedule. Walt, also known as ‘Salty Walt', will discuss different types of antennas and his experience with them when operating portable. If you'd like to discover something new within amateur radio, then join Kjetil Vinorum, LB4FH, for a presentation on ‘elmering' in an online world. In addition, Mike Walker, VA3MW, will present an exclusive look at the new Aurora transceiver from FlexRadio Systems and will showcase how the Aurora pushes the boundaries of software-defined radio. With a wide-ranging programme to spark your interest, three exciting workshops, the Special Interest Groups room, GB3HQ and much more, this year's Convention is one not to be missed. The event takes place between Friday the 10th and Sunday the 12th of October at Kents Hill Conference Centre in Milton Keynes. Tickets are selling fast, so to view the full programme and book, go to rsgb.org/convention  The RSGB has announced an exciting new volunteer role, which will be tasked with attracting older people to amateur radio. The Honorary Mature Members' Officer will also be responsible for retaining and engaging with our existing senior members. The individual will research organisations or groups with memberships that include older people who may be interested in amateur radio as a hobby. They will also help to identify ways the RSGB can support lifelong enjoyment of amateur radio, including accessibility, training and social engagement. If you are an RSGB member and interested in this role, go to rsgb.org/volunteers  to read the full description. If you'd like to apply or have a chat about the role, email the Nominations Committee Chair, Will Richardson, 2E0WYA via nominations.chair@rsgb.org.uk The RSGB will have a large presence at the National Hamfest at Newark Showground on Friday, the 5th and Saturday, the 6th of September. In addition to an extensive book stall and membership stand, the Society will be running a range of exciting practical activities and demonstrations. These include a semi-interactive display of the CubeSat and a web-based dashboard from a Tiny Ground Station running remotely. There will be the opportunity to play ‘MORSE', a minimalist, wave-based strategy game operated with just two controls. You can also have your CW skills tested at a range of speeds. On Saturday, there will be an opportunity to get hands-on, building a Kanga FM receiver kit. The activities are all free of charge, and there is no need to book in advance. Members of the RSGB Board, staff and representatives from specialist committees and teams will also be in attendance and are looking forward to meeting you, answering your questions and offering support. If you know an up-and-coming HF DXer who has made rapid progress in the last year and has some real achievements to show, you have until Friday, the 12th of September, to nominate them for the RSGB's G5RP Trophy. The award is not limited to youngsters or the newly licensed but is open to anyone who has recently discovered and made significant progress in HF DXing. Please email your nominations to Ian Greenshields, G4FSU, via hf.manager@rsgb.org.uk Worked All Britain's new Summer Saunter award is being extended to include an Autumn Amble. There is now a rota of volunteers to act as regular net controllers from 10.30 am UK time on the 40m band. Other nets will run on an ad hoc basis, whenever activity is planned. To find out more, visit the Worked All Britain website.  And now for details of rallies and events Telford Hamfest is taking place today, Sunday, the 31st of August, at Harper Adams University Sports Hall. The doors open at 10.15 am. Admission is £5, but young people up to the age of 16 will be admitted free of charge. Lots of fascinating titles are available at the RSGB bookstall on site. More details are available at tinyurl.com/tdars25 On the 14th of September Caister Lifeboat Radio Rally will be held at Caister Lifeboat Station, Caister-on-Sea, NR30 5DJ. The doors will be open to visitors from 9 am to 2 pm, and there is no entrance fee. For more information, email Zane, M1BFI via m1bfi@outlook.com Now the Special Event news Members of Central Uusimaa Radio Amateurs Association, OH2AP, are active throughout 2025 as OF60AP to celebrate their club's 60th anniversary. QSL via Club Log's OQRS. For details of a certificate that is available for working the station, see tinyurl.com/oh2ap25 Special callsign GB70RS is in use to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the RSGB's weekly news service GB2RS, which has been running continuously since the 25th of September 1955. A team of amateurs is using the callsign on a variety of bands and modes. QSL via the Bureau, Logbook of the World and eQSL. For more information, visit the GB70RS page at QRZ.com Now the DX news Antonio, IK7WUL, is active as TY2AA from Benin until the 7th of September. Recently, the station was spotted on the 10m band using SSB. For more information, visit the TY2AA page at QRZ.com Domenico, IK1MNF, is active as IK1MNF/IA5 from Isola d'Elba, EU-028, until the end of September. He is mainly using SSB on the 20 to 6m bands. QSL via Domenico's home call. QSOs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World and Club Log. Now the contest news The World-Wide Digi DX Contest started at 1200 UTC on Saturday, the 30th and ends at 1200 UTC today, Sunday, the 31st of August. Using FT4 and FT8 on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is your four-character locator. On Monday the 1st, the RSGB Autumn Series SSB Contest runs from 1900 to 2030 UTC. Using SSB on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Tuesday the 2nd, the RSGB 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855 UTC. Using FM on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also, on Tuesday the 2nd, the RSGB 144MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the 3rd, the RSGB 144MHz FT8 Activity four-hour Contest runs from 1700 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 2m band, the exchange is a report and four-character locator. Also, on Wednesday the 3rd, the RSGB 144MHz FT8 Activity two-hour Contest runs from 1900 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 2m band, the exchange is a report and four-character locator. Stations entering the four-hour contest may also enter the two-hour contest. Also, on Wednesday the 3rd, the UK and Ireland Contest Club 80m Contest runs from 2000 to 2100 UTC. Using SSB on the 80m band, the exchange is your six-character locator. The All Asian DX Contest starts at 0000 UTC on Saturday, the 6th and ends at 2359 UTC on Sunday, the 7th of September. Using SSB on the 160 to 10m bands, the exchange is signal report and your age. On Saturday the 6th, the CWops CW Open takes place in three four-hour sessions between 0000 and 2359 UTC. Using CW on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is serial number and name. The RSGB 144MHz Trophy Contest starts at 1400UTC on Saturday, the 6th and ends at 1400UTC on Sunday, the 7th of September. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Both RSGB SSB Field Day and IARU Region 1 Field Day start at 1300 UTC on Saturday, the 6th and end at 1300 UTC on Sunday, the 7th of September. Using all modes on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Sunday the 7th, the Worked All Britain 2m SSB Contest runs from 1000 to 1400 UTC. Using SSB on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and Worked All Britain Square. This year, the QRO and QRP contests are combined. The full rules are available on the Worked All Britain website. On Sunday the 7th, the 5th RSGB 144MHz Backpackers Contest runs from 1100 to 1500 UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 28th of August 2025 This week saw a change in HF propagation with a perceptible move towards more autumnal conditions. The 10 and 12m bands have started opening up to the USA, at least on FT8. As we move into September, this will improve further. Also, as we head towards the Autumnal Equinox, we can expect better conditions on north-south paths, such as the UK to South Africa. The week saw the solar flux index climb to 226 on Thursday, the 28th, thanks to a host of sunspots, mainly in the Sun's southern hemisphere. Over the last seven days, the Sun also provided us with 12 M-class solar flares. Any associated coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, were not Earth-directed, so these had little effect, and the Kp index stayed firmly at 3 or below. The latest updates suggest that there is only a ten per cent chance of a strong X-class solar flare. FT8 continues to be the preferred HF mode, or so it seems, with stations in China, Japan, Indonesia and Cameroon making their way into UK logs on the 12m band. The 10m band has also been humming with South America rolling in during late afternoon and early evening. This can only get better as we move into September and October. NOAA predicts that the coming week will start with a solar flux index of 155 tomorrow, the 1st. This may be a little pessimistic, but we'll see. It also predicts that the solar flux index will drop off as the week progresses, ending the week at 125. Geomagnetic conditions are forecast to be good for the first half of the week, but then decline from the 4th of September. Batten down the hatches as a Kp index of 6 is forecast for the 5th, with unsettled conditions lasting until the 10th of September. Check for auroral HF signals on the 5th, or even the possibility of visible aurora from the UK. We recommend you get your HF DXing in early next week! And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO Last week saw some lovely late-season Sporadic-E on the 6 and 4m bands, including Spain, Italy, and east into Ukraine. There was an opening to Brazil on the 24th that reached as far as East Anglia, but, as usual, stations on the south coast and west of the country had the best of the transatlantic QSOs.   This is the last bulletin in the nominal 2025 Sporadic-E season, which lasts from May to August. However, last week was a good reminder not to give up too soon, as there were several CW and SSB paths showing up, particularly on the 10 and 6m bands. There were also a few reports on the 4m band. The daily Sporadic-E blogs on propquest.co.uk  come to an end today, the 31st, but the site will continue to provide the maps as usual. To help you, notes on how to interpret the maps are available on the website. Thanks to all the Sporadic-E operators who have submitted logs to the various clusters this year. The change over to unsettled weather is now complete, and we will see rain and thunderstorms in most areas from time to time. It's a good period to check out rain scatter propagation if you are set up for the gigahertz bands. The heavier rain is well-captured by the many online rain radar displays to help you track the most active scattering volumes, which move with the stronger winds quite high up in the atmosphere. Speeds of 30 to 60 miles per hour are common. There is one note of contrast with the model evolution after midweek. One branch sticks with low pressure to the following weekend, while another outcome tries to bring in a ridge of high pressure and a chance of Tropo propagation. If the latter turns out to be the actual evolution, it may prove useful for the 144MHz Trophy and Backpackers Contest next weekend. However, it may not have arrived in time for the 144MHz UK Activity Contest on Tuesday. The solar conditions are still providing some interest for auroral propagation, but with a Kp index less than 3, nothing of use radio-wise. Look for a Kp index increase beyond 7 for that. Meteor activity is currently between major showers, so expect random activity, which suggests early mornings for checking out meteor scatter prospects. Moon declination is negative, reaching a minimum on Monda,y the 1st. So, it's a week to check out your equipment rather than to operate. With the Sun still high in the sky, it's easy to check system performance with Sun noise. Path losses started to fall after apogee on Friday the 29th. 144MHz sky noise is close to 3,000 Kelvin on Monday, dropping back to moderate on Wednesday. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday, the 17th of August 2025 The news headlines: Read daily updates from the RSGB's YOTA summer camp team ‘Women in amateur radio' panel to be held at RSGB Convention in October The RSGB Awards Manager announces a new awards series This year's Youngsters on the Air summer camp begins tomorrow, Monday, the 18th of August, and the RSGB is sending a team of four young members to take part. YOTA camps are an amazing opportunity for young people to operate the latest amateur radio equipment, take part in construction activities and make international friendships. The Society will be keeping you up to date with the group's progress by sharing daily updates and photos. This year's camp is taking place near Paris and is being organised by REF, the French national amateur radio society, and the IARU. Read the daily blog updates by visiting rsgb.org/yota-camp  and selecting ‘YOTA Paris 2025' from the right-hand menu. The Society will also be sharing updates via its Facebook and X channels. If you'd like to get involved with getting young people on the air, why not participate in YOTA Month in December 2025? If you'd like to host special callsign GB25YOTA or if you'd like to find out more, email the YOTA Month Coordinator, Jamie, M0SDV via yota.month@rsgb.org.uk The list of confirmed speakers for this year's RSGB Convention continues to grow, with a further round of names released. If you haven't already purchased your tickets, be sure to book online now to secure your place and watch Dan McGraw, M0WUT, explain PCB design for low-voltage switched-mode power supplies. You'll also be able to get an insight into what has been learnt from Solar Cycle 25, with a presentation by the Chair of the RSGB Propagation Studies Committee, Steve Nichols, G0KYA. The Society has also confirmed that RSGB RadCom Technical Editor Peter Duffett-Smith, GM3XJE, will be presenting a lecture on the importance of understanding the input impedance of your transmitter. The IRTS Youth Officer Ana Cañizares, EI5IXB, will be sharing her experience of getting young people in Ireland involved in amateur radio. In addition, the RSGB has announced that it will be holding a ‘women in amateur radio' panel discussion. This exciting session will highlight five women who enjoy different aspects of amateur radio and will discuss the various opportunities, challenges and potential barriers that may exist in engaging more girls and women with amateur radio. Find out more about these thought-provoking presentations by going to rsgb.org/convention  and selecting RSGB 2025 Convention speakers from the right-hand menu. The Convention takes place between the 10th and 12th of October and is a must-do on every radio amateur's calendar. The RSGB Awards Manager has introduced a new awards series for amateur radio contacts with stations across all UK country and Crown Dependency prefixes. The Worked All UK and Crown Dependency Prefixes Award offers several different sub-sets, with the rules varying slightly for each. The idea for the award was put forward as a way of encouraging, or tapping into, intra-UK activity as well as encouraging contact with UK amateurs. Get involved with this new award by going to rsgb.org/awards  and selecting ‘Worked All UK and Crown Dependency' from the right-hand menu. You can find details of other awards offered by the Society using the same link. National Coding Week takes place during the third week of September, and the RSGB is dedicating the whole of the month to amateur radio and coding activities. This year, the Society has created two new activities for you to try. Both build on worksheets it shared in previous years; however, you don't have to have done those first. The Python Pocket Morse activity has been developed by the RSGB Maker Champion Tom Wardill, 2E0JJI and is a low-cost opportunity to learn some Morse and programming together. The exercise will cover using a BBC Micro:bit V2 and the ‘more advanced' Python programming instead of the previous block programming mode. It is intended as a gentle introduction to both Python and small computer programming and can be done without any previous knowledge of the micro:bit. You can download the full instructions by going to rsgb.org/coding  and selecting ‘Python Pocket Morse' from the right-hand menu. The other new activity is the LoRa balloon challenge. As well as the manual, which guides you through the process of building your own LoRa tracker and seeing how far your signal can reach, the Society has released a video in which Fraser, MM0EFI, demonstrates the process. Find both on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/lora-balloon International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend started at 0001UTC on Saturday, the 16th and ends at 2400UTC today, the 17th of August. The event usually attracts more than 500 lighthouse entries located in over 40 countries. To find out more and to view a list of participating stations, visit illw.net This year's British Inland Waterways on the Air event will run from Saturday, the 23r,d until Monda,y the 25th of August. The event is open to amateurs who use canals, towpaths, rivers, lakes or reservoirs for work or recreation. To find out more, visit Nunsfield House Amateur Radio Group's website at nharg.org.uk  and follow the ‘BIWOTA 2025' link. Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. The deadline for submissions is 10 am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week.   And now for details of rallies and events Today, the 17th, Finningley Amateur Radio Society Rally opens its doors at 10 am. More details are available at g0ghk.com Also today, the 17th, the West Manchester Radio Club Red Rose Summer Rally is taking place at Mather Hall, Mather Lane, Leigh, WN7 2PJ from 10 am. More information is available by following the ‘Red Rose Rally' tab at wmrc.co.uk On Sunday, the 24th the Milton Keynes Amateur Radio Society Rally is taking place at Heron's Lodge Guide Activity Centre, Bradwell Road, Loughton Lodge, Milton Keynes. Free on-site parking, catering and disabled facilities will be available. The entrance fee is £3. The doors open to the public from 9 am. For more information, visit mkars.org.uk/mkrally Also on Sunday the 24th, the Torbay Amateur Radio Society Rally is taking place at Newton Abbot Racecourse. The doors open at 10 am and entry costs £3. You can find out more via torbayars.org Now the Special Event news Leicester Radio Society is active as GB8OVJ until tomorrow, the 18th, to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day. The station is operating on the HF, 2m and 70cm bands. Operators are using CW, phone, FT4, FT8, SSTV and RTTY. More information is available at QRZ.com 4U0ITU is the callsign in use by the International Amateur Radio Club at ITU HQ in Geneva. The station is active in celebration of the 160th anniversary of the International Telecommunication Union. QSL via Logbook of the World and OQRS. Now the DX news Steve, ZL2KE, is active as E51KEE from Rarotonga, OC-013, on the South Cook Islands until tomorrow, the 18th of August. He is operating CW and some SSB on the 40 to 10m bands. QSL directly to IK2DUW. QSOs will be uploaded to Club Log and Logbook of the World. Phill, C21TS, is active in Nauru until September 2025. He has made over 83,000 QSOs so far and hopes to reach 100,000 contacts before leaving the island. Recently, the station was spotted on the HF bands using FT8. QSL via Logbook of the World and OQRS. Now the contest news On Tuesday the 19th, the RSGB 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 23cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Thursday the 21st, the 70MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 4m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Sunday the 24th, the UK Microwave Group 5.7 and 10GHz Contest runs from 0600 to 1800 UTC. Using all modes on 5.7 and 10GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 14th of August Last weekend was characterised by unsettled geomagnetic conditions caused by a massive coronal hole on the Sun. At one point, the Kp index got up to 6, with a corresponding decrease in maximum usable frequencies, or MUFs. The Dourbes Digisonde failed to record much at all over six hours. Luckily, that disruption had passed by Monday the 11th as the ionosphere started to get back to normal. Meanwhile, the solar flux index reached a peak of 153 on the 10th, before dropping back to 140 on Thursday, the 14th. There have been numerous C-class solar flares and ten M-class events over the past five days, but nothing of note. The MUF over a 3,000km path exceeded 24.9MHz at times, but has generally been between 21 and 24MHz. Another coronal hole is Earth-centric at the moment and could cause some disruption, with increased Kp indices by tomorrow, the 18th or Tuesday the 19th. HF DX has been good at times, with the stand-out station being T30TTT in Western Kiribati. The station has been worked on many bands, including 20, 15 and 10m using CW, as well as FT4 and FT8. After two weeks, there will be just one operator who is there until mid-September. So you have plenty of time to work him. Stanley, AH6KO, in Hawaii, has also been spotted on the 15m band using CW. This is a relatively rare opportunity and good for anyone chasing their Worked All States award. A little closer to home is Henri, OJ0JR on Market Reef, who has been easily workable on the 30m band using FT8. Get in quick, though, as he is only there until tomorrow, the 18th. Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will remain in the 140 to 150 range. Unsettled geomagnetic conditions are forecast for tomorrow, the 18th, until Wednesday the 20th, probably caused by the coronal hole mentioned earlier. Better conditions are predicted for the 23rd to the 27th with a maximum Kp index of 3. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO Last week's propagation highlights were SSB and CW QSOs between the UK and Las Canarias on both the 23 and 13cm bands between G4GLT, EA8DMF, ED8BRZ and EB8AYA.  There may be more Tropo next week with high pressure close to, or over, the British Isles. However, at this time of the year, any Tropo will be due to temperature inversions. These can be at the surface and are especially persistent over water, so look for marine paths across the North Sea or up the east coast to Scotland. Other potentially good marine paths might be across the Channel or Biscay to Spain and beyond. The hot days of high summer break down these surface inversions over the land during the day so, if your station is inland, your best chances of Tropo in summer will often be overnight and until mid-morning. Inversions can also be elevated in the region of the high pressure, say between 1 and 2km above ground, giving good DX prospects that are not affected by the heating of the summer day. In this high-pressure period, it is much more likely to be a surface inversion that drives the Tropo. There will be little rain in prospect except for parts of Ireland, South Wales and southwest England, where a few thundery showers are possible. However, these will not be particularly good for rain scatter. There continue to be some aurora alerts, so monitor the Kp index and if it is rising to, say, 6, try beaming north on the 10, 6, 4 and 2m bands in turn to see if any genuine auroral signals are coming back. Lastly, the Sporadic-E season is coming into its closing weeks. 10m is a good band to check first. If Sporadic-E is very short-skip there, try moving up to 6m or beyond for a strong event. Digital modes are best, so use these to get clues as to where the CW and SSB paths might show up next. Meteor scatter operators have been very busy during the Perseids meteor shower. The Perseids should still provide some activity in the coming week. Moon declination is positive and rising until Tuesday the 19th, so Moon window lengths and peak elevation will follow suit. Path losses are rising again as we are now past perigee. 144MHz sky noise is low to moderate all next week. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

Foundations of Amateur Radio One of the many challenges associated with being a radio amateur is actually being able to listen to weak signals. If you're like me and more than half the planet, you live in an urban area, which comes with the benefits and pitfalls of having neighbours. From a radio perspective, there's plenty of noise that drowns out weak signals, so more and more amateurs are finding new and interesting ways to deal with this. Over the years I've talked plenty about so-called web-sdr, or internet accessible software defined radios. Essentially a radio receiver, preferably in a radio quiet area, hooked up to some software that allows you to listen in using a web browser. There's thousands of internet based services across the globe, the most popular of those are websdr.org and kiwisdr.com. As a new amateur you might have visited one or more of these and tuned around to listen to various radio stations and QSOs or contacts between amateurs, on bands that you can't access because you don't have the gear, or frequencies that are drowned out locally by your neighbour's pool pump, air conditioner, LED lighting, solar power inverter, television, motor home, cycle, or whatever else they seem to have an endless supply of behind closed doors. As a crusty amateur, and after about 15 years, I'm probably one of those, you might have started experimenting with building your own, or you might be blissfully unaware of these internet marvels. Either way, one restriction you run into is the ability to do anything other than listen. You might get the option to pick between Upper and Lower Side Band, or AM, sometimes even FM, but generally that's your lot. This means that trying to use such a tool to decode WSPR, or FT8, or RTTY, CW, PSK31, or whatever else takes your fancy becomes a challenge. It occurred to me that if you're able to capture the raw signal from a web browser, you could feed that into your decoder of choice. It would also mean that you wouldn't need any local hardware to start playing. Before you get all hot and bothered like I did. This is a non-trivial process that several others have attempted to wade through with varying levels of success. Much of the documentation I've discovered revolves around virtual audio cables and loop back software, and even the idea that you physically plug your computer's speaker output into your line input, or even hold a microphone up to your speakers. Aside from the lack of elegance associated with such contraptions, they require that you install all manner of weird software, and in many cases deal with permissions, since microphones are generally locked for good privacy reasons. Prompted by the webserial tool by Phil VK7JJ, it occurred to me that if we can talk to actual physical hardware within a web browser, then we can probably use a web browser as an audio source for local decoding software. Before you start hunting for the source code, there is none. I've spent the past few days playing around and although I made a waterfall display inside GNU Radio that used the audio from websdr.org, the results were not amazing, and I created a proof of concept by using a tool called BlackHole on the Macintosh I was using at the time. It's essentially doing shenanigans with audio mapping, not something which I really want to do, but it gives me a pretty picture, or not, as the case may be. More interesting is the progress being made over in the KiwiSDR community, where there is already an I/Q button, in other words, the raw data needed for processing further down the line. I came across projects that link the KiwiSDR to other tools, but it's unclear if that's the hardware, or the web client, I suspect it's the hardware, but I might be mistaken. If you're not sure what this might mean, think about listening to the same frequency at the same time across the globe using multiple web browser tabs, and comparing the signals in real time, or decoding them, or using them for comparing signal strengths, or propagation, or any number of things that are currently only possible with a vast network of radios under your own control. If you need to nerd out on the technicalities, the idea is that if you can access an SDR via a web browser, it would be cool if we could decode the stream coming back without needing to install software on the computer. There appear to be tools that do this kind of thing to get the audio into "ffmpeg". If that's gobbledegook to you, ffmpeg is a tool that allows you to do all kinds of cool stuff with audio and video. Using something called WASM, or webassembly, it's possible to link web browser audio to ffmpeg. I suspect it's possible to use the same mechanism to send audio to GNU Radio, or any other decoder, for processing. There also appears to be a thing called a Web Audio API AudioBuffer where the raw audio gets sent to, so perhaps that's accessible in some way. The point being, that I think this is doable, so much so, that I suspect that someone already did this. If you know of anything that fits the bill, let me know. In case you're wondering, this is tangentially linked to the Bald Yak project I've been working on, mainly because I need incoming RF into my shack and my HF antenna situation at present is really not up to the task, urbanite and all. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

GB2RS News Sunday, the 10th of August 2025 The news headlines: Three fantastic workshops have been announced for the RSGB Convention The RSGB National Radio Centre has won a prestigious award Ensure that Ofcom has your correct contact details Discover new skills at this year's RSGB Convention in October by securing your place in one, or all three, of the workshops that will be taking place. On Friday, the 10th of October, the RSGB is giving you the opportunity to build on the basics of Arduino programming with a six-hour workshop that will cover programming Direct Digital Synthesis for RF generation. This session will also include how to use generative AI tools such as ChatGPT to write software. You are welcome to book this workshop even if you're not able to attend the whole Convention this year. If programming is new to you, then Saturday's two-hour workshop is a great place to get started. This session will introduce you to microcontroller unit programming through a short presentation followed by practical exercises. Alternatively, on Sunday, you can book into a two-hour antenna building workshop that will guide you through the process of constructing a 49:1 balun for use in a QRP end-fed long-wire antenna. Spaces for the workshops are limited, and pre-booking is essential. The workshops are subsidised by the RSGB Legacy Funds, and every attendee will also receive a £5 RSGB book voucher. Find out more and guarantee your place by going to rsgb.org/convention  and selecting ‘Workshops' from the right-hand menu. Book your Convention tickets using the same link. Early-bird pricing closes tomorrow, Monday, the 11th of August, so ensure you book now to get the best available price. The Society is proud to announce that the RSGB National Radio Centre has been recognised in Tripadvisor's Travellers' Choice Awards for 2025. Winners of this award are among the top 10% of listings around the world on Tripadvisor. The award is based on genuine feedback from anyone in the community who has visited and left an authentic, first-hand review on Tripadvisor over 12 months. The award reflects the passion and dedication of the RSGB's volunteers, and the fantastic role they play in promoting amateur radio. Start planning your visit to the NRC by going to rsgb.org/nrc. If you're an RSGB member, download your free entry voucher at rsgb.org/bpvoucher The RSGB is encouraging radio amateurs to check that their contact details registered with Ofcom are up to date. As well as confirming your home address and email address are correct, you can also select your communication preferences. Ofcom will use these details to contact radio amateurs about the implementation of phases two and three of its planned updates to the amateur radio licensing framework. This stage will include changes to new intermediate callsigns and rules for Special Event Stations. Find out more about licensing in the UK via rsgb.org/licensing Peter Duffett-Smith, GM3XJE, is retiring as the Editor of RadCom Plus. Peter is staying on in the role of RadCom Technical Editor, which has been keeping him very busy for the last few years. If you are interested in applying for the role of RadCom Plus Editor, please email radcom@rsgb.org.uk International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend will run from 0001UTC on Saturday, the 16th, to 2400UTC on Sunday, the 17th of August. The event usually attracts more than 500 lighthouse entries located in over 40 countries. To register for the event and view a list of participating stations, visit illw.net The Thirteenth Scottish Microwave Round Table GMRT will take place at the Museum of Communication in Burntisland, Fife, Scotland, on Saturday, the 1st of November, from 10.30 am to 5 pm. An interesting programme of speakers has been arranged, and microwave test facilities will be provided. There will be an opportunity to buy components and microwave-related items. An optional dinner will be held in the evening at a local hotel. Further information and online registration is available at gmroundtable.org.uk. The event has a maximum capacity of 50 people, and over 20% of the tickets are already sold. So, book now to avoid disappointment.  Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. The deadline for submissions is 10 am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week.  And now for details of rallies and events Flight Refuelling Amateur Radio Society Hamfest is taking place today, the 10th, at Cobham Sports and Social Club Ground, Merley, near Wimborne, Dorset. The doors are open from 9 am to 4 pm. Admission, which includes parking, is £5. Talk-in is on 145.550MHz. For more information, visit frars.co.uk/hamfest-2025 Also today, the 10th, the Rugby Amateur Transmitting Society Annual Radio Rally is taking place at Princethorpe College, Princethorpe, Rugby, CV23 9PY. More information is available at rugbyats.co.uk On Sunday, the 17th, Finningley Amateur Radio Society Rally will begin at 10 am. The details are available at g0ghk.com Also on Sunday, the 17th, the West Manchester Radio Club Red Rose Summer Rally is taking place at Mather Hall, Mather Lane, Leigh, WN7 2PJ. The doors open at 10 am. More information is available by following the ‘Red Rose Rally' tab at wmrc.co.uk Now the Special Event news Special event station GB1HAF will be active on Saturday, the 16th of Augus,t in support of SSAFA, the Armed Forces Charity. Operators will be working on the 40m, 20m, 10m, 2m and 70cm bands using SSB and, possibly, data modes and CW. The East Midlands Electronics and Radio Group will be on the air to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VJ Day between the 15th and 17th of August. Using the callsign GB1BK, the Group will operate from the former RAF Binbrook, Lincolnshire. Operators expect to be available on the 40 and 20m bands using SSB. They will also be working on the 2m band using FM. If you hear them, give them a call. Now the DX news Don, KW7R, is active as V73KW from the Marshall Islands. He is there on a work assignment until September 2025. In his spare time, he operates CW and FT8 on various bands. QSL via Logbook of the World. George, VU2DGR, is active as AT44I from the Bharati Research Station. He is a member of the 44th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. The station was heard recently on the 20m band using SSB. QSL via George's home call. Now the contest news The Worked All Europe DX CW Contest started at 0000 UTC on Saturday, the 9th and ends at 2359 UTC today, Sunday, the 10th of August. Using CW on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The RSGB Machine Generated Modes Contest started at 1400 UTC on Saturday, the 9th, and ends at 1400 UTC today, Sunday, the 10th of August. Using machine-generated modes on the 6 and 2m bands, the exchange is your report and four-character locator. On Tuesday, the 12th, the RSGB 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855 UTC. Using FM on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also, on Tuesday the 12th, the RSGB 432MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the 13th, the RSGB 432MHz FT8 Activity four-hour Contest runs from 1700 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 70cm band, the exchange is a report and a four-character locator. Also, on Wednesday the 13th, the 432MHz FT8 Activity two-hour Contest runs from 1900 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 70cm band, the exchange is a report and a four-character locator. Stations entering the four-hour contest may also enter the two-hour contest. On Thursday, the 14th, the RSGB 50MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 6m band, the exchange is a report and four-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 7th of August Over the last week, we had nearly ideal solar conditions for HF propagation. These included low geomagnetic indices and a reasonable solar flux index, hovering around the 150 mark. Other solar events of note included six M-class solar flares. The only stumbling block is the time of year, with summer seeing lower maximum usable frequencies, or MUFs, and poorer propagation due to changes in ionospheric chemistry. We will have to wait another month or so to see conditions pick up. The main HF DX this week has been T30TTT from Western Kiribati, mainly on FT8 and CW and focusing on the 20 and 17m bands. TJ1GD from Cameroon was worked on the 17m band using FT8. E51KEE on the South Cook Islands was logged on the 17 and 15m bands using CW. And finally, AH6KO in Hawaii was worked on the 15m band using CW. But this may all be set to change. A coronal mass ejection observed on Tuesday, the 5th, may deliver a glancing blow to the Earth's geomagnetic field. This may also coincide with an expected high-speed stream from a very large coronal hole on the Sun's surface. NOAA predicts that the Kp index could rise to 5 or 6. The hole is so large and elongated that we could see unsettled conditions occurring in the coming week. NOAA predicts unsettled geomagnetic conditions from the 11th to the 14th of August. It also predicts more unsettled conditions from the 18th to the 22nd, with a maximum Kp index of 5. Expect reduced MUFs and poor HF conditions, especially for paths over the poles. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The main setting for the weather pattern over the next week is a tendency for high pressure in the south and lower pressure to the north of Britain. There may be some input from a low over France around the middle of the week. This might introduce some thundery showers and a chance of rain scatter on the GHz bands. Meanwhile, occasional weak frontal systems will bring patchy rain to the far northwest, but probably not so good for rain scatter opportunities. The Tropo at this time of year can be very good around the coasts and occasionally inland overnight. However, it tends to weaken inland during the heating of the day. Out at sea, temperatures remain fairly constant and maintain an ideal cool, moist layer at the sea surface overlain by a layer of warm, dry air from the land. This provides Tropo 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Mid-August is good for meteor scatter with the peak of the Perseids on the Tuesday night of the 12th and 13th. Apart from digital-mode QSOs, it's good for late summer evening sky watching. It is fascinating to listen to the VHF SSB meteor scatter frequencies while watching to get the full experience. It's a broad shower, so don't worry if you must pick a night either side of the peak. The chances of an aurora are not zero, with further minor alerts to remind us that it's worth checking. The main mode for DX is probably still going to be Sporadic-E, which has roughly another four weeks to run. Don't expect something every day, as it tends to become more random towards the latter part of the season. Moon declination is negative, but rising again, so Moon window lengths and peak elevation will increase. Path losses are also falling, reaching a minimum at perigee on Thursday, the 14th of August. 144MHz sky noise is low to moderate all next week. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday the 27th of July The news headlines: RSGB confirms more speakers for its Convention in October Get involved with the RSGB LoRa high-altitude balloon challenge The RSGB releases a high-contrast logbook to improve accessibility  The RSGB has shared details of more presentations that you can enjoy at its Convention in October. If you'd like to broaden your technical knowledge, you'll enjoy presentations by Bob Burns, G3OUU, on ‘Getting the most from an oscilloscope' and ‘Ladder crystal filter design'. As part of the Society's focus on supporting modern amateur radio operating practices, Paul Galwas, M0WLG, will be discussing ‘Can we ‘DX' over an IoT mesh?'. The comprehensive programme of speakers also includes Dr Marcus Walden, G0IJZ, who will explain the numerical modelling of the historical Grimeton VLF antenna, and Paul Beaumont, G7VAK, who will take ‘A brief look at Number Stations: 1950 to the present'. With even more captivating and thought-provoking speakers already confirmed, you'll need to purchase a ticket to guarantee attendance. Buy your tickets before Monday, the 11th of August, to ensure you receive early-bird ticket pricing. Tickets are available to purchase via rsgb.org/convention National Coding Week takes place in the third week of September, and the RSGB is once again dedicating a whole month to amateur radio and coding activities. As part of the Society's strategy to encourage practical skills development, it is inviting you to take part in its LoRa high-altitude balloon challenge. The project has been developed by the RSGB Outreach team and takes place on Saturday, the 20th of September. The balloon will be equipped with a LoRa digipeater, and your challenge is to follow the instructions provided and build a LoRa tracker. If your tracker build is successful, it will beam up packets to the airborne relay, which will transmit them to a local i-gate. Your goal is to get your signal the furthest distance from the launch. Anyone can enter, but to win one of the prizes, you need to be an RSGB member. Get involved as a single operator or as a team in your RSGB-affiliated club. The RSGB is delighted that Moonraker is sponsoring this event and will award a £200 Moonraker voucher to the winner of each category. Find out how to get involved with this exciting LoRa event by going to rsgb.org/lora-balloon The RSGB is proud to announce the release of a new high-contrast logbook designed to support amateur radio operators with visual impairments or learning difficulties. Responding to feedback from members and accessibility advocates, the RSGB developed the logbook with wider spacing and a high-contrast black-and-yellow design to improve ease of use. This release reflects the RSGB's wider commitment to improving accessibility across all areas of the Society and amateur radio as a whole. The organisation continues to explore ways to make the hobby more inclusive and user-friendly for all participants. This version will be available through Amazon and is expected to be a useful addition for both seasoned operators and newcomers looking for a more accessible logging option. As part of its long-term vision, the RSGB is looking to recruit a dedicated team to assess and enhance accessibility throughout the Society and help shape a more inclusive future for amateur radio. If you're interested in contributing to this important initiative, please email RSGB Board Director Nathan Nuttall, 2M0OCC, via 2m0occ@rsgb.org.uk Since the launch of its DMR project in May, the RSGB Outreach team is delighted that four schools and one homeschool have signed up. The project aims to help young people get on the air and build their confidence in making QSOs. Each of the successful applicants will be loaned a TYT DMR handheld radio and a Pi-Star-based hotspot. The RSGB Youth Chair and Youth Champion for Schools, Chris Aitken, MM0WIC, is supporting two new school amateur radio clubs that have chosen this as an entry-level activity for their club members. DMR is particularly useful in a school club scenario where antenna placement is a challenge and can be easily deployed, giving young people access to the world. During the summer holidays, the DMR handsets will be used at the West Sussex International Jamboree with Regional Representative 10, Simon Harris, G4WQG, attending the event and Wick High School Radio Club member Jacob, MM7IFL, supporting remotely via DMR. Listen out for further updates after the summer when the RSGB plans to get a youth net operational on Brandmeister Talk Group 23554. The net aims to encourage young operators to get on the air and become comfortable with QSO structure and general rag-chewing. If you want to start a school club or are interested in being part of the DMR project, email Chris via youthchampion.school@rsgb.org.uk The prospect of a USA constellation of 240 commercial satellites that would use 430 to 440MHz for wideband control and telemetry has prompted an unprecedented response from the amateur radio community to a Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, consultation. FCC Proceeding 25-201 would see AST SpaceMobile utilise much of 430 to 440MHz for downlinks, as well as a series of ground stations around the world. The RSGB and several other IARU member societies, along with the ARRL and over 2,000 individuals, have submitted comments to this consultation. The IARU itself has also issued a statement on the matter. Links for this, including the RSGB response, can be found on the RSGB website. Go to rsgb.org/spectrumforum and then choose the ‘Papers and consultations' option in the right-hand menu. Following the main submission deadline of the 21st of July, the FCC process has further phases to go through. Amateur radio operators are invited to take part in a special operating event in August, celebrating the rich history of the UK's wartime and Cold War airfield bunkers. AFB25 – that's Airfield Bunkers 2025 – is a nationwide activity taking place from Friday the 1st to Sunday the 31st of August. Organised by UK Bunkers on the Air, or UKBOTA, the event encourages amateurs to activate historic airfield sites with known bunker installations. All bands and modes are welcome. Special recognition awards will be given for activators, hunters and shortwave listeners' efforts. To learn more, including how to participate and which locations qualify, visit tinyurl.com/AFB-2025  And now for details of rallies and events Wiltshire Radio Rally is taking place today, Sunday the 27th, at Kington Langley Village Hall, Church Road, Kington Langley, SN15 5NJ. The doors open for traders at 7 am and 9 am for visitors. Refreshments are available on site. You can find out more by visiting chippenhamradio.club Part 1 of the BATC Convention for Amateur TV 2025 is taking place on Sunday, the 3rd of August at Midland Air Museum in Coventry. The doors will be open from 10 am to 4 pm. The Convention will include show and tell, test and fix-it, and bring and buy. Also, on Sunday, the 3rd of August, King's Lynn Amateur Radio Club Rally is taking place at Gaywood Community Centre, PE30 4EL. The doors will open at 9 am and the entrance fee will be £2.50. An outdoor trader's stall costs £8, and an indoor one is £10. To book, email rally.klarc@gmail.com or call 07709 074 951. Now the Special Event news Special callsign 5P0TA will operate from Bornholm Island, EU-030, from the 31st of July to the 3rd of August in connection with this year's European Ham Radio Show meet-up event. Both presenters and viewers of The European Ham Radio Show on YouTube will gather with the goal of activating all of the POTA parks on Bornholm Island within four days. Both 5P0TA and the participants' own call signs will be used. They are aiming to use as many modes and bands as conditions allow. Attending from the UK are Charlotte, 2M0LVY and Steve, M1SDH. If you hear them on the air, give them a call! Throughout 2025, José, HP2AT, is using the special callsign H82AT to celebrate his 35th anniversary in amateur radio. Recently, the station has been spotted on the HF bands using CW, FT4 and FT8. All QSOs will be uploaded to QRZ.com, Club Log, eQSL and Logbook of the World. Paper cards will not be available. Now the DX news Today, the 27th, is your last chance to catch the IP1X team, which is active from Gallinara Island, EU-083. The team is using CW and SSB on the 80 to 10m bands. QSL via OQRS, via the Bureau or directly to IU1JCZ. More information is available at QRZ.com Red, DL1BUG is active as TY5FR from Cotonou, Benin, in West Africa until the 6th of August. He is operating using CW and SSB on the 80 to 10m bands. QSL via Club Log's OQRS, Logbook of the World or via Red's home call. Now the contest news Today, the 27th, the UK Microwave Group 5.7 and 10GHz Contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on 5.7 and 10GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The RSGB IOTA Contest started at 1200UTC on Saturday, the 26th and ends at 1200UTC today, Sunday, the 27th of July. Using CW and SSB on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report, serial number and IOTA reference. On Monday, the 28th, the RSGB FT4 Series Contest runs from 1900 to 2100UTC. Using FT4 on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is your report. On Saturday, the 2nd of August, the EU HF Championship runs from 1200 to 2359UTC. Using CW and SSB on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and the last two digits of the year you were first licensed. Also on Saturday, the 2nd of August, the RSGB 4th 144MHz Backpackers Contest runs from 1400 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and two-letter postcode. On Saturday, the 2nd, the 144MHz Low Power Contest runs from 1400 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Sunday, the 3rd, the 432MHz Low Power Contest runs from 0800 to 1200UTC. Using all modes on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and two-letter postcode. The UK Six Metre Group Summer Marathon started on Saturday, the 3rd of May and ends on Sunday, the 3rd of August. Using all modes on the 6m band, the exchange is your four-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 24th of July It was a bit of a mixed bag last week. The first half saw settled geomagnetic conditions, but from the 22nd of July, we had a disturbance thanks to output from a solar coronal hole. This saw the Kp index rise to 4.67 and ultimately 5. The stream from the Sun reached around 730 kilometres per second, while the Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field, or IMF, was mostly neutral with a few brief periods when it pointed slightly south. So, its effects were perhaps not as bad as they could have been. The coronal hole has now rotated out of view, so we may have some better days. Meanwhile, the solar flux index has been in the range of 140 to 150, which is pretty good. There were no M-class or higher solar flares over the past week, which is unusual. So overall, HF propagation was humming, at least until the Kp index hit 5. Maximum useable frequencies, or MUFs, over a 3,000km path during daylight continue to be around 21MHz, but often dip to 18MHz at times. Nighttime conditions can be variable. If the 14MHz band isn't open for you, try 10MHz. Earlier in the week, some daytime tests with WSPR on the 20m band saw stations logged from Australia and the far west of Canada. DP0POL, the Polarstern research vessel doing work in the Artic, was also logged. Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index may decline slightly to be in the range of 130 to 135. Geomagnetic conditions are predicted to be settled until the 1st of August, when the Kp index could rise to 4. This period of unsettled conditions, with reduced MUFs, could last until the 4th of August. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO We will see the return of a weak ridge of high pressure today. This will last until the middle of the coming week. The second half of the week will be a little more unsettled with some occasional spells of rain. This suggests that some Tropo is possible, before a gradual swap over to rain scatter. However, high pressure near the Azores may still influence the western side of Britain. This week will see the peak of two meteor showers, the Alpha Capricornids and Delta Aquariids. These are worth checking out, if only to get your practice time in before one of the major showers of the year – the Perseids on the 12th and 13th of August. Barely a day passes without some auroral alert, and this can be an exciting mode. Several good indicators are available, such as when the Kp index is above 5, or watery-sounding signals on the 40 and 20m bands. If you hear these, try looking north on the 6, 4 or 2m bands. Sporadic-E continues to be mentioned on the clusters somewhere in Europe on most days. But remember that it's a very localised mode and is rarely available for everyone at the same time. The best way to track it down is to use the clusters and a good list of beacons, to see who your ‘locals' are working on FT8. It's a very hit-and-miss mode. Meteor activity is a good indicator, whereas a high Kp index is a bad one. Whether it happens is often a balance between many opposing components. So, even a potentially good day may not be good where you are. The good news is that the last openings of the summer can occur into the first week of September. Moon declination is still positive but going negative again on Tuesday, the 29th. Moon windows and peak elevation will reduce. Path losses are rising now as we are past perigee. 144MHz sky noise starts the coming week low but will rise to moderate by the weekend. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

En este primer episodio especial de verano exploramos la línea gris en radioafición: ¿qué es, cuándo ocurre y por qué es tan beneficiosa para los contactos DX? Hablamos de su impacto en la propagación y cómo aprovechar este fenómeno natural en nuestras transmisiones. También escuchamos fragmentos del Concurso de Su Majestad el Rey, organizado por URE, comentamos su dinámica y compartimos algunos de los contactos realizados. Además, nos vamos al aire libre con una activación POTA desde las impresionantes Islas Cíes, en pleno Parque Nacional Marítimo-Terrestre de las Islas Atlánticas de Galicia. Revivimos la experiencia, los retos, y por supuesto, ¡los QSOs! Antenas listas, log encendido y ¡dale al PTT! Todo esto y más, en CQ en Frecuencia. ¿Nos apoyas para que podamos seguir haciendo este podcast? Puedes apoyarnos en QRP con 1,99€ al mes o un poco más de potencia en QRO, con 5,99€ al mes aquí: https://cqenfrecuencia.com/apoyar/ Envía tus preguntas, propuestas de temas o lo que quieras: https://cqenfrecuencia.com/contacto/ O en nuestro canal de Telegram: https://t.me/cqenfrecuencia Y no olvidéis de visitar nuestra web: https://cqenfrecuencia.com No olvides el like, subscribirte y/o darle a la campanita para no perderte ningún episodio de nuestro podcast! Nos encontrarás también en Spotify y Youtube.

GB2RS News Sunday the 29th of June 2025 The news headlines: Royal Signals Museum offers discounted entry to RSGB members Watch two more 2024 Convention videos and then book for this year's event A reminder about the RSGB Band Plans  Don't forget that the RSGB has partnered with some fantastic museums to offer its members discounted entry in 2025. The Society has recently added the Royal Signals Museum in Dorset to the list of museums offering reduced prices for RSGB members. The interactive Museum is located within an active Army camp and brings to life the vital role of military communications. Visit rsgb.org/partner-museums  for more information and to download your personalised discount voucher for six exciting partner museums. Whether you're heading to West Wales, Cornwall, West Sussex, Suffolk, Dorset or Milton Keynes, you'll be able to save between 20% and 50% on standard admission prices. Start planning your summer adventures now! Are you thinking about attending the RSGB's Convention this year? Be inspired to book your place by watching two videos released by the RSGB from its 2024 Convention, which provide comprehensive updates on EMC and EMF. The first video is a presentation from members of the RSGB Electromagnetic Compatibility Committee. EMC Chair Dr John Rogers, M0JAV, together with Peter Zollman, G4DSE and Ian White, GM3SEK, summarise reports to the EMC helpdesk and highlight two of the most commonly raised topics. This includes advice on how to find and minimise the impact of the sources of RFI. In the second video, RSGB General Manager Steve Thomas, M1ACB, interviews the trio as they explain how the work they have been doing has helped not only RSGB members but the wider amateur radio community. They also explain how their work has supported the new power levels in the latest licence conditions. Watch both videos by going to youtube.com/thersgb The RSGB Band Plans for 2025 were published in the March 2025 issue of RadCom and are also available on the RSGB website in a variety of formats. The RSGB would like to remind all radio amateurs to consult the Band Plans before operating and to refer to the master files on the Society's website. To ensure you are using the correct data, please do not copy it onto other websites or use versions that you find elsewhere. You can find the Plans at rsgb.org/bandplans The Board has appointed Will Richardson, 2E0WYA, as the new Nominations Committee Chair. If you are interested in joining the Board as a Nominated Director and have the skills and experience to help move the Society forward into its next chapter, please contact Will via nominations.chair@rsgb.org.uk  The Society would like to increase the diversity of its Board, and is also looking particularly for radio amateurs who have knowledge of the science and technology of amateur radio, and the spectrum it uses. The International Amateur Radio Union is engaging with member societies to explore potential changes to its future structure. The RSGB has contributed to this consultation by raising several concerns and offering constructive suggestions across a range of topics. Throughout these discussions, the Society has prioritised the development of amateur radio and the interests of its members. Further updates will be shared with members in due course. The famous Grimeton Radio Station will be celebrating its 100th anniversary on Wednesday, the 2nd of July. The unique Alexanderson alternator, with the callsign SAQ, is scheduled for two transmissions on 17.2kHz using CW. At 0830UTC, the alternator will be started up, and at 0900 UTC, the first transmission will take place. A second transmission is scheduled for 1300UTC. You can read more about the event and the historic transmitter at alexander.n.se Finally, advance notice that the popular Churches and Chapels on the Air event will take place on Saturday, the 13th of September, between 10 am and 4 pm. If you are planning to put a station on the air, please let John, Wresdell, G3XYF know by emailing jhwresdell@gmail.com And now for details of rallies and events The Cornish Radio Amateur Club Rally is taking place today, Sunday the 29th of June, at Penair School, St. Clement, Truro, TR1 1TN. The doors open at 10.30 am. For more information, contact Ken, G0FIC on 01209 821 073. Saffron Walden Radio Ham and CB Club Rally will take place from Friday, the 4th to Sunday, the 6th of July. The venue will be Lovecotes Farm, Chickney Road, Henham Village, Bishop's Stortford, CM22 6BH. You can camp on the field from Friday to Sunday and have a table for £15. If you are camping, you can arrive from 6 pm on Friday. To book a camping pitch or arrange tables, email g8swr1.5@gmail.com Barford Norfolk Radio Rally will take place on Sunday, the 6th of July at Barford Village Hall and Green, Barford, Norwich, NR9 4AB. The doors open at 9 am for visitors. The event features trade stands, car boot sales, bring and buy, a charity raffle, repeater groups, catering and free car parking. Entry costs £3 per person, but under 16s will be admitted free of charge. Outside pitches cost £8 and are available from 8 am on the day. Inside tables cost £10 and must be pre-booked. For more details visit tinyurl.com/Barford2025  or email David, G7URP at radio@dcpmicro.com Now the Special Event news Tomorrow, the 30th of June, the 2458 RAF Cadets Air Training Corps will be on the air from the Cadet Centre in Baildon, West Yorkshire. The squadron will have the opportunity to operate an HF and Low Earth Orbit satellite amateur radio station under the supervision of Simon, M0YKS. The Cadets already have experience operating their own VHF radio equipment and will now be able to expand their knowledge and experience within the world of radio communication and amateur radio. The callsign used by the cadets during the evening event will be GB0ATC. The station will be active between 7 and 9 pm. The operators are hoping to contact as many radio amateurs as possible during the event. So, listen out for activity which will mainly be on the 40m band and any FM satellites in range during the event. A series of special event stations is on the air to celebrate the Deutsche Amateur Radio Club's 75th anniversary. Four special call signs are active until the 31st of October. You can find details about the stations, as well as information on a diploma that is available for working them, at tinyurl.com/DARCIS75. An English version of the information can be found by scrolling down the web page. QSL via the Bureau or directly to DL2VFR. Durham and District Amateur Radio Society is participating again as one of the bonus stations in the popular 13 Colonies event. Special callsign GB13COL has been issued for the occasion and will run from the club station at 1300UTC on the 1st of July until 0400UTC on the 8th of July. Listen out for the station on the HF, VHF and UHF bands, and on the amateur satellites. Operators will be using SSB, CW, FM and various digital modes. And finally, don't forget to listen out for all the amateur stations that will be on the air today, Sunday the 29th, for Museums on the Air. Find out more by visiting tinyurl.com/IMOTA2025   Now the DX news Aldir, PY1SAD is active as 8R1TM from Guyana until the 8th of July. He operates CW, SSB and digital modes on the 160 to 6m bands and via satellite. During weekdays, he is available between 2300 UTC and 0200 UTC. QSL via Logbook of the World, eQSL, QRZ.com Logbook or directly to Aldir's home call. Domenico, IK1MNF, is active as IK1MNF/IA5 from Isola d'Elba, EU-028, until the end of September. He is mainly using SSB on the 20 to 6m bands. QSL via Domenico's home call. QSOs will be uploaded to Logbook of the World and Club Log. Now the contest news Today, the 29th, the UK Microwave Group 5.7 and 10GHz Contest runs from 0600 to 1800 UTC. Using all modes on 5.7 and 10GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also, today, the 29th, the RSGB 50MHz CW Contest runs from 0900 to 1200 UTC. Using CW on the 6m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Tuesday the 1st, the RSGB 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855 UTC. Using FM on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also, on Tuesday the 1st, the RSGB 144MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the 2nd, the RSGB 144MHz FT8 Activity four-hour Contest runs from 1700 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 2m band, the exchange is report and a four-character locator. Also, on Wednesday the 2nd, the RSGB 144MHz FT8 Activity two-hour Contest runs from 1900 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 2m band, the exchange is report and a four-character locator. Stations entering the four-hour contest may also enter the two-hour contest. RSGB VHF National Field Day starts at 1400 UTC on Saturday, the 5th and ends at 1400 UTC on Sunday, the 6th of July. Using all modes on the 6m, 4m, 2m, 70cm and 23cm bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The RSGB VHF Fixed Station Contest starts at 1400UTC on Saturday, the 5th and ends at 1400 UTC on Sunday, the 6th of July. Using all modes on the 6m, 4m, 2m, 70cm and 23cm bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Sunday the 6th, the 3rd 144MHz Backpackers Contest runs from 1100 to 1500 UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.  Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Wednesday the 25th of June. Last week was good from a geomagnetic disturbance point of view. Up until Wednesday the 25th, the Kp index had not been higher than 3.67 and had mostly been in the ones and twos. This helped HF propagation to a great extent. Sunspots have been present with the solar flux index sitting at 120 on Wednesday, the 25th. A look at the visible disk at solarham.com  shows five sunspot groups facing Earth. None are ground-breaking, but they are at least helping to keep the solar flux index relatively high. Daytime F2 MUFs over a 3,000km path have been reaching 18MHz and even 21MHz at times, with 14MHz being more reliable. Sporadic-E continues to make 28MHz a useful band for short-skip, with much of Europe being workable mid-morning on the 25th, at least using FT8. Estonia, Germany, Poland, and Finland were all easily worked on FT8, but nothing was heard on the usual 10m CW and SSB frequencies. Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will be in the 140 to 150 range. Unsettled geomagnetic conditions are forecast for the 1st to the 3rd of July, when the Kp index could reach 4. And conditions may become unsettled again on the 6th and 7th, again with a predicted Kp index of 4. But in the meantime, make the most of the Sporadic-E on the 10m band, as it won't last forever! And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The more traditional summer weather, with patchy rain and showers, is likely to continue for a bit longer. The more persistent rain is likely in the north, closer to low pressure near Iceland, whereas the rain may be more intermittent in southern areas, closer to high pressure over France. This probably rules out any significant Tropo in northern Britain over the coming week but does allow for the occasional enhancement in the southern half of the country. Most areas will have some rain scatter opportunities for the GHz band operators, although perhaps fewer in the south than in the north. The solar conditions have quietened down a little in terms of aurora recently but as we said last week, don't forget to look north in the twilight sky for signs of the pale noctilucent cloud. This is a high-summer phenomenon. See if you can detect any wave patterns, like ripples on a sandy beach, in the cloud. The month of June tends to be quite good for meteor input, and the last of the set, the June Bootids, peaked on Friday the 27th. So, there should be some good chances for hearing the odd ping or two or even seeing one in the evening sky after dusk. The primary mode of interest is still Sporadic-E, which is in full swing and doubtless being topped up by the Bootids meteors, which produce the main ingredient of Sporadic-E propagation – long-lived ions as they ablate, or burn up, upon entering the atmosphere. In terms of the usual search for the placement of Sporadic-E events geographically, the main jet stream interest is likely to be across the northern part of Europe for the coming week. This suggests trying paths to Scandinavia and the Baltic states, whereas for triggers due to upper air ridge patterns, use the more southern routes. The Moon has passed perigee for this month, so path losses are rising. Moon declination is still high, not going negative until Tuesday, the 1st of July. 144MHz sky noise is low, increasing to moderate by next weekend. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday, the 22nd of June 2025 The news headlines: Introducing the RSGB's team of young radio amateurs for YOTA Paris The RSGB celebrates International Women in Engineering Day The RSGB Exam Standards Committee publishes its annual report The RSGB has announced the team of young members who will be representing the Society at this summer's Youngsters on the Air camp. The event, hosted by the French national amateur radio society and the IARU, will take place at the historic Château de Jambville near Paris between August 18th and 25th. The team is comprised of team leader Leon, 2E0VUF, and team members Sophie, M7IJG, and Emily, M7HPU. You can read more about the camp and the team on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/yota-camp The RSGB knows that amateur radio is a great foundation for careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM as it is often known. That's why, for International Women in Engineering Day tomorrow, Monday the 23rd of June, the Society is sharing stories of female radio amateurs involved with STEM. From a young radio amateur who was inspired by an ARISS contact, through to a Professional Transmitting Engineer at Woofferton Transmitting Station, each one of them has a love for amateur radio and STEM activities and the career opportunities they present. Read more about them on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/inwed. The Society will also be sharing the profiles on its X and Facebook pages throughout the day tomorrow, the 23rd. Get involved by liking and sharing these motivational stories. The RSGB Examinations Standards Committee, or ESC, has published its annual report, relating to activities in 2024. The report shows that overall candidate numbers have increased to above pre-pandemic levels and are well above the extrapolation of the declining trend over the decade before the pandemic. The ESC believes that this is probably due to the availability of remote invigilation for online examinations taken at home and the increase in provision of distance learning courses, making the hobby much more accessible than in the past. You can read the full report on the RSGB website by going to rsgb.org/esc  and choosing the ‘Minutes, papers and reports' option in the right-hand menu. Whether you are just starting to learn Morse code or are already an experienced operator, the GB2RS Morse Practice web page is just what you need to brush up on your skills! Created by GB2RS Newsreader Graham, G4JBD, you can select different sections of the latest RSGB news, which are then played in Morse code at the pitch and speed of your choosing. What makes this resource unique is that you can also add in different degrees of man-made noise and natural band noise, which gives you a very realistic experience of copying Morse code under poor propagation or contest conditions. Graham has recently updated the page with more options. One of these is the Farnsworth timing, which can play the individual characters at a selectable speed while allowing separate adjustment of the gap between the characters. The new version works well on smartphones and displays the text with a real-time pointer as the Morse code is sent. The GB2RS Morse Practice page can be found at tinyurl.com/gb2rsmorse Bath Based Distance Learning's next Full licence course runs from August to December, with exams in January. There is no charge for the training, but applicants must work through some pre-course material and complete a quiz to be eligible for a place. To request full details and an application form, email Bath Based Distance Learning's Team Leader, Steve, G0FUW via g0fuw@bbdl.org.uk           The next in the popular 145 Alive series will take place on Sunday, the 20th of July. The event will run from 12 pm to 3 pm. There will be nets on the 2m band operating in most Maidenhead Squares across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. To take part on the day, all you need to do is call into a local net and make contact with others. The organisers are looking for more net controllers. If you are interested, email 145aliveuk@gmail.com. You can find more information, including details of the nets, the operators, their locations and operating frequencies on the 145 Alive Events Facebook page. Today, the 22nd,  is the last chance to take part in Gateways on the Air 2025. Whether you're a seasoned operator or just love the thrill of the chase, Gateways on the Air is your invitation to step outside, power up your gear, and connect via simplex gateways from a park bench, hillside, or anywhere that captures your sense of adventure. To find out more, visit gota.org.uk Don't forget to listen out for all the amateur stations that will be on the air during Museums on the Air today, the 22nd. Remember that the fun doesn't stop today as the event continues on Saturday, the 28th and Sunday, the 29th of June. For more information, visit tinyurl.com/IMOTA2025 And now for details of rallies and events The Cornish Radio Amateur Club Rally will take place on Sunday, the 29th of June at Penair School, St. Clement, Truro, TR1 1TN. The doors open at 10.30 am. For more information, contact Ken, G0FIC on 01209 821 073. Saffron Walden Radio Ham and CB Club Rally will take place from the 4th to the 6th of July. The venue will be Lovecotes Farm, Chickney Road, Henham Village, Bishop's Stortford, CM22 6BH. You can camp on the field from Friday to Sunday and have a table at a cost of £15. If you are camping, you can arrive from 6 pm on Friday. To book a camping pitch or arrange tables, email g8swr1.5@gmail.com Barford Norfolk Radio Rally will take place on the 6th of July at Barford Village Hall and Green, Barford, Norwich, NR9 4AB. The doors open at 9 am for visitors. The event features trade stands, car boot sales, bring and buy, a charity raffle, repeater groups, catering and free car parking. Entry costs £3 per person, but under 16s will be admitted free of charge. Outside pitches cost £8 and are available from 8 am on the day. Inside tables cost £10 and must be pre-booked. For more details visit tinyurl.com/Barford2025  or email David, G7URP at radio@dcpmicro.com Now the Special Event news Special event station 9A2025HWC is active until the 30th of June to celebrate the 29th World Men's Handball Championship. The station was spotted recently on the 80 and 40m bands using SSB. QSL via Logbook of the World. QSOs are also uploaded to QRZ.com, Logbook and Club Log. As part of International Museums on the Air Weekend 2025, the Grampian Hilltoppers Contest Group is operating special event station GB2KDR from the Keith and Dufftown Heritage Railway in Moray, Scotland. The station is active on the HF bands using SSB and digital modes, as well as via the amateur satellites when conditions permit. QSL via OQRS. For more information, visit the GB2KDR page at QRZ.com  Now the DX news Nobby, G0VJG, is active as FO/G0VJG from Bora Bora, OC-067, in French Polynesia until Thursday, the 26th of June. He is operating using CW, FT8 and SSB on the 80 to 6m bands. QSL via M0OXO's OQRS and Logbook of the World. Bob, ZL1RS is active as YJ0RS from the island of Efate, OC-035, until Saturday, the 28th of June. Bob is mainly operating on the 6m band using FT8. There may also be some activity on 10m when the 6m band is closed. QSL via Logbook of the World, Club Log, or via Bob's home call. More information is available on the YJ0RS page at QRZ.com Now the contest news The All Asian DX Contest started at 0000UTC on Saturday, the 21st and ends at 2359UTC today, Sunday, the 22nd of June. Using CW on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and your age. The RSGB 50MHz Trophy Contest started at 1400UTC on Saturday, the 21st and ends at 1400UTC today, Sunday, the 22nd of June. Using all modes on the 6m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Today, the 22nd, the Worked All Britain 6m Phone Contest runs from 0800 to 1400 UTC. Using SSB on the 6m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and Worked All Britain square. On Tuesday the 24th, the RSGB SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1830 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on 2.3 to 10GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the 26th, the RSGB 80m SSB Club Championship runs from 1900 to 2030 UTC. Using SSB on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Sunday the 29th, the UK Microwave Group 5.7 and 10GHz Contest runs from 0600 to 1800 UTC. Using all modes on 5.7 and 10GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Sunday the 29th, the RSGB 50MHz CW Contest runs from 0900 to 1200 UTC. Using CW on the 6m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 19th of June 2025. Last week, we mentioned a large coronal hole on the Sun that might cause problems. The hole is so large that it is still Earth-centric seven days later. We had expected the hole to increase the Kp index due to the solar wind emanating from it. However, as of Thursday, the 19th of June, conditions remained quiet with a Kp index of 2. As geomagnetic conditions have remained calm this past week, it has been quite good for HF. 15m has been one of the better bands, with openings to both the east and west, depending on the time. As is the way nowadays, most of the activity has been on FT8, but it has opened up opportunities to work the Far and Middle East, as well as South America. The solar flux index has generally been in the range of 130 to 150, with a peak of 161 on the 15th of June. The Sun has been active, with a near X-class solar flare being observed around sunspot region 4114. This peaked at 1805 UTC on the 15th of June. There was also an X-class solar flare at 21:49 UTC on the 17th of June. This latter event was late in the evening, so it had little impact on the UK, other than to potential paths to the west. Maximum usable frequencies, or MUFs for short, declined a little during the past week, with openings on 21MHz becoming a little scarcer. It is useful to operate as close to the MUF as possible to minimise the effects of D-layer absorption and maximise the chances of working DX. Next week, NOAA predicts the solar flux index will be in the range of 125 to 145. Unsettled geomagnetic conditions are forecast for the period from the 24th to the 27th of June, with a maximum predicted Kp index of 5. If the Kp index is low, then we have a good chance of 21 MHz openings to South America in the evening. As we pass the summer solstice, we may even expect 14 MHz to remain open to DX throughout the night. We can also expect Sporadic-E to continue to provide short-skip openings on 28 MHz, and even the lower HF bands, such as 14, 18, 21, and 24 MHz. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO After a week of high pressure, this weekend returns to something more normal with showery rain and a series of weather fronts and showery interludes in the coming week. This will mean that rain scatter on the GHz bands is worth considering. Also, since we are into the summer season, the chances of some rain being heavy and thundery is a good signal for rain scatter. This sequence of low-pressure weather suggests that high pressure and Tropo will be less likely to make a big impact on the coming week's operating log. Any sign of high pressure will tend to be towards the south of the UK and over the continent. In very hot weather, the conditions can be good for low-level surface ducts across cooler seas. So, if you are tempted, then go for coastal or maritime paths up the east coast or across Biscay, for example. Meteor scatter may benefit from the late June Bootids, which peak on Friday, the 27th of June and the daytime Beta Taurids, which peak on the 28th of June. These are small showers, but they can also be important for contributions to long-lived metallic ions, which are the building blocks of Sporadic-E propagation. Aurora continues to appear with occasional radio events, but there is too much daylight for anything visual. As an alternative, you might see glimpses of noctilucent clouds low down on the northern horizon. These form in the mesosphere, at about 80km, as ice crystals form on meteor dust and can exhibit complex wave patterns. These are both good omens for Sporadic-E. The summer Sporadic-E season is well underway now. It is advisable to check the usual cluster maps and the propquest.co.uk  website for daily updates. It's also worth making use of the longer daylight and weather patterns over the polar regions for paths to the Far East. The Moon reaches perigee, its closest point to Earth, tomorrow, the 23rd, so path losses are low. Moon declination also reaches a maximum positive value on the 25th of June. This will mean that there are long Moon windows. 144MHz sky noise is moderate, increasing to high by tomorrow, the 23rd. The New Moon is on the 25th of June, so expect high noise levels due to its proximity to the Sun. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

This is Allan VK4HIT with news from Ipswich and District Radio Club. Another month and another business meeting was held on May 26 at the clubhouse, with others joining via Zoom. From Ipswich WICEN, a reminder that the biggest event of the year is the annual Guzzler on July 19 and 20. Currently, there are about 14 volunteers, but 24 is the number needed to cover all safety checkpoints. The club receives a substantial donation from the organisers, which goes straight to offsetting costs for the club and clubhouse. Hi - I'm John VK4JPM, Secretary of the Darling Downs Radio Club, and thanks for joining us for this week's QNews. What could be better than a Sunday lunch? Maybe Sunday lunch with the gang you just talked to? You can join us from midday for our bimonthly informal gathering, and this month we're at the Highfields Tavern... in Highfields. Hello, I'm Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I've been thinking. Well, we have been getting a bonus from the solar weather in the form of glorious eye candy in the south of the State. Some of the photos that I have seen from south of the border display an almost kaleidoscope of colour and movement. This is one of the benefits of the sunspot cycle, even though radio conditions have suffered the effects of radiation in the upper atmosphere. The cool fingers of winter have been reaching farther north, and the past week has reminded many of us what frost and chill winds are all about. With the bands being contrary, it has been a good time to stay indoors or gather around a fire pit and relax. No doubt for many, there is the chance to get onto projects that will advance things for being an amateur. Here is where the individuality of amateur radio gets to shine. I can virtually guarantee that no two hams will have the same equipment, interests and skills. The choice of radios can be determined by personal finances and projected use, and even when two hams make the same choices, how things work out may be entirely different. This is how clubs get to be a place of sharing when people with special interests and knowledge can demonstrate these things in a technical presentation. The thing is whether the club members who organise these events become aware of the hidden skills waiting to blossom before an audience. How many clubs have attempted to gather the information, I wonder? A simple questionnaire can do two things. It can collect the details of what people wish to learn about, and it can, in another section, get the details of the special interests and projects of members. The great thing is that the range of activities that cluster under the mantle of amateur radio is very, very wide. I remember enjoying a presentation on Dxpeditions, something that I have never been involved in and getting a sense of the thrills that culminated in thousands of QSOs from distant locations. There are the crafts of building and design of things related to radio and electronics, and the mysteries of programming and coding, then there are the adventurous outdoors exploits of getting contacts from parks, hill tops and lighthouses, to name a very few. Microwave operations and ATV, moonbounce and satellite operations can all be part of the mix that makes our pursuit so interesting, and chances are that someone else would like to understand what is involved and how to participate. The trick is to bring it together. Publicising these events allows visitors to join in and other groups to learn how to organise a presentation. For the guest presenter, it is an opportunity to share what is interesting and what they have been investing their time in learning and practising. How about we make it a project to get more clubs involved in holding technical presentations? You never know, it might attract more people to come through the door for meetings. I'm Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and that's what I think. How about you?

GB2RS News Sunday, the 8th of June 2025   The news headlines: The RSGB releases a video to celebrate Volunteers' Week Get involved with the GR2HQ contest challenge Join the RSGB Regional Team   As Volunteers' Week comes to a close, the RSGB would like to thank its volunteers once again for all they do. As part of the week-long event, the Society released a video about the volunteer team at the RSGB National Radio Centre. These volunteers welcome over 80,000 visitors to the Centre every year and share amateur radio with them. Watch the video to discover the variety of things that they do as well as what they enjoy most about their role. You'll find the video at rsgb.org/volunteers-week, and on that web page, you'll also be able to read about several volunteers in other RSGB roles. If their stories have inspired you and you would like to give some time to support the RSGB and amateur radio, look at the vacancies on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/volunteers The RSGB Contest Committee is looking forward to the IARU HF Championship contest on the 12th and 13th of July. This is a great opportunity for both individuals and clubs to get involved. During the contest, Headquarters Stations represent their countries, and the RSGB's station GR2HQ will be run by a network of about a dozen stations around the UK and its islands. Building on the success of last year's GR2HQ Challenge, the RSGB Contest Committee has made some changes to encourage individual stations to work the GR2HQ station on each band-mode slot. Sharing your QSOs for scoring has also been made easier. The contest is open to both individuals and clubs, so why not encourage your club members to take part, whether they are regular contesters or not? Last year, thanks in part to those entering the GR2HQ Challenge, the RSGB Contest Committee improved its position from third to second and would like to improve that result even further. Could you take part and make a difference? For the full rules, go to the GR2HQ Challenge page on the Contest Committee website via rsgbcc.org The RSGB has several volunteer vacancies within the Regional Team. If you are passionate about the future of amateur radio and support the work of the Society, then apply now. These rewarding roles are an opportunity to support fellow radio amateurs in your area. Vacancies include District Representative positions in Staffordshire, Oxfordshire and Dorset. To view the full list of regional team volunteering vacancies, go to rsgb.org/volunteers. If you have questions about the District Representative roles, contact the Regional Representative in that region, or you can contact Board Liaison Nathan Nuttall, 2M0OCC, for a chat via 2m0occ@rsgb.org.uk A special interactive spy event is taking place on Father's Day, Sunday the 15th of June, at the RSGB National Radio Centre. You'll have the opportunity to become a spy hunter and, using your special gadget, will be tasked with finding hidden transmitters located around Bletchley Park. You'll need to decode Morse signals and uncover the location of the secret spy base. Two time slots are available, however, spaces are limited to 12 groups for each. Secure your place and treat your Dad, Grandad, or a father figure to a fascinating day out by going to bletchleypark.org.uk  and selecting the ‘What's on' option in the main menu. The activity is free to take part in, however, entry to Bletchley Park is required. Don't forget that RSGB members get free access to the historic site as a membership benefit. Download your voucher via rsgb.org/bpvoucher  BunkerFest 2025 is taking place on the 14th and 15th of June. This exciting international festival will bring together amateur radio operators from over 13 national Bunkers on the Air schemes. For rules and activation details, visit wwbota.org/bunkerfest25 The British Inland Waterways on the Air event will take place between Saturday, the 23rd and Monday, the 25th of August. The event is open to amateurs who use canals, towpaths, rivers, lakes or reservoirs for work or recreation. Registration for the event is now open. To sign up, visit Nunsfield House Amateur Radio Group's website at nharg.org.uk  and follow the ‘BIWOTA 2025' link. Are you called Nigel? If so, you can join other amateur Nigels who are making plans to operate a special event station at what is hoped to be the largest ever gathering of Nigels in the world. The event will run from the 20th to the 21st of September in Worcestershire. Details on how to get involved are on the GB1NN page at QRZ.com And now for details of rallies and events Mendips Radio Rally is taking place today, the 8th of June, at Farrington Gurney Memorial Hall, Church Lane, Farrington Gurney, BS39 6UA. The doors open at 9.30 am and refreshments and free parking are available on site. For more details, contact Luke on 07870 168 197 or email luke@mymixradio.co.uk On Saturday, the 14th of June, Rochdale and District Amateur Radio Summer Rally will take place at St. Vincent de Paul's Hall, Norden, Rochdale, OL12 7QR. The doors open at 10 am and entry costs £3. The usual traders and caterers will be on site, and plenty of free parking will be available. For more information, contact Martin Shore on 07587 709 006 or email rally.radars@hotmail.com The East Suffolk Wireless Revival, also known as ‘The Ipswich Radio Rally', is due to take place on Sunday, the 15th of June at Kirton Recreation Ground, Back Road, Kirton, IP10 0PW. The doors open at 9.30 am and the entry fee for visitors is £3. The venue has free car parking. Visitors will be able to enjoy trade stands, a car-boot sale, a bring-and-buy area and special interest groups. An HF station will be operating with the callsign GB4SWR. Catering and an RSGB bookstall will be available on site. For more details, contact Kevin, G8MXV, on 07710 046 846 and visit eswr.org.uk Now the Special Event news The A.R.I. Fidenza Radio Club is operating today, the 8th, as IY4RXO. The station is active to raise awareness of the historical value of Guglielmo Marconi's steam yacht ‘Elettra'. A number of important radio communication experiments were conducted on board the vessel. For more information, visit IY4RXO at QRZ.com Members of The James Clerk Maxwell Radio Society will be active with special callsign GB2JCM, from Parton Kirk near Castle Douglas in Dumfriesshire, on the 14th and 15th of June. The station will be active to commemorate the birth of the Society's namesake. Operators will be waiting for your call on the 40 and 20m bands. For more information, visit the GB2JCM page at QRZ.com Now the DX news Martin, MW0BRO, is active again as ZC4GW from Dhekelia on Cyprus until tomorrow, the 9th.  He is operating using CW and some SSB on the 40 to 6m bands. QSL via M0URX's OQRS. Remo, HB9SHD is active as V51/HB9SHD while touring Namibia until the 15th of June. He is using SSB and digital modes on the 40 to 6m bands. QSL via Logbook of the World. Now the contest news RSGB National Field Day started at 1500 UTC on Saturday, the 7th and ends at 1500 UTC today, Sunday, the 8th of June. Using CW on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Today, the 8th, the UK Microwave Group Low Band Contest runs from 0900 to 1500 UTC. Using all modes on the 23, 13 and 9cm bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.  On Tuesday the 10th, the RSGB 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855 UTC. Using FM on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also, on Tuesday the 10th, the RSGB 432MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the 11th, the RSGB 432MHz FT8 Activity four-hour Contest runs from 1700 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 70cm band, the exchange is a report and four-character locator. Also, on Wednesday the 11th, the RSGB 432MHz FT8 Activity two-hour Contest runs from 1900 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 70cm band, the exchange is a report and four-character locator. Stations entering the four-hour contest may also enter the two-hour contest. On Wednesday the 11th, the RSGB 80m CW Club Championship runs from 1900 to 2030 UTC. Using CW on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Thursday the 12th, the RSGB 50MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 6m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The IARU ATV Contest starts at 1200 UTC on Saturday, the 14th and ends at 1800 UTC on Sunday, the 15th of June. Using TV on the 70cm band and up, the exchange is picture quality, serial number, four-digit code and locator. On Sunday the 15th, the 2nd 144MHz Backpackers Contest runs from 0900 to 1300 UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also, on Sunday the 15th, the Practical Wireless 2m QRP Contest runs from 0900 to 1600 UTC. Using AM, FM, SSB and CW on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Note that 5W is the maximum power allowed in this contest. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 5th of June Last week's HF propagation was heavily influenced by unsettled geomagnetic conditions. This was caused by a combination of coronal mass ejections and a strong solar wind from a coronal hole. The coronal mass ejection, or CME for short, followed a solar flare from sunspot 4100 on the 31st of May at 0005 UTC. The explosion lasted more than three hours. Type 2 radio emissions from shock waves within the CME cloud suggested it was travelling at 1,938 kilometres per second, or 4.3 million miles per hour! Eventually, the Bz swung south. This meant that the interplanetary magnetic field more easily coupled with the Earth's magnetic field. The result was that the Kp index got up to 7.67 on the 1st of June. The auroral effects were reported as being due to a co-rotating interaction region, or CIR – a region in space where fast and slow solar wind streams collide, creating a compressed area with enhanced plasma and magnetic fields. The Kp index was 7 or more for four three-hour periods. This pushed the maximum usable frequency over a 3,000km path below 14 MHz at times, which wasn't conducive to good DXing. On Thursday, the 5th of June, it looked like we were past the worst, and the Kp index was back to a more reasonable 2.33. Meanwhile, the solar flux index declined from a recent high of 164 on the 31st of May to a low of 134 on the 5th of June. HF propagation was being driven by the geomagnetic conditions, with a general lowering of the maximum usable frequency. Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will start the week at around 155 and remain around 150. More worryingly, geomagnetic conditions are again predicted to be unsettled after this weekend, with a maximum Kp index of 6 on the 13th of June. So, unsettled geomagnetic conditions, plus the HF summer doldrums, mean HF DX via F2-layer propagation may be hard to find. So, make the most of the 10m Sporadic-E short-skip openings instead! And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO Last week offered an example of what a good Sporadic-E season should look like. On Tuesday, the 3rd of June in particular, the 6m band sounded like the 20m band and, at its peak, activity extended all the way up to the 2m band. This coming week has an unsettled flavour with several areas of low pressure and weather fronts involved, together with heavy showers in between. This means rain scatter will be a supported mode on the GHz bands. There is a slight hint of a slow improvement during the week, but not really any high pressure showing up until right at the end of the coming week. So, there is a chance of Tropo propagation for the 2nd 144MHz Backpackers Contest on Sunday, the 15th. Meteor scatter is always interesting in June, with four showers to play with during the month. The early ones are the Arietids, which peaked on Saturday, the 7th of June – good news for the 50MHz UK Activity Contest on Thursday the 12th. The Zeta Perseids peak tomorrow, the 9th of June, and there will be a couple of other showers later in the month. This is probably also why the Sporadic-E prospects improve about now. Aurora has also been much in evidence recently. Despite the light summer evenings and short nights, the chances of radio aurora continue to be important, so monitor for high Kp values above about 5. The advice for some who have not yet worked Sporadic-E is to check the 6m band around teatime. There are, of course, usually two primary periods when Sporadic-E is more likely: one in the morning, and the second in late afternoon and evening. A morning opening may repeat in the afternoon in similar locations, although usually the weather trigger may have moved a little in the meantime. Check the jet stream charts at propquest.co.uk  by following the Sporadic-E blog tab. The daily commentary will highlight the important directions each day. You can hopefully test out the system on Thursday, the 12th of June, in the 50MHz UK Activity Contest. EME path losses were at their maximum with apogee, when the Moon is at its furthest from the Earth, on Saturday, the 7th of June. Declination reaches a minimum on Wednesday, the 11th, so Moon windows are short and peak elevation is low. 144MHz sky noise peaks around the 11th and 12th of June. EME conditions were classed as poor this weekend and are classed as poor-to-moderate on the 14th and 15th of June. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday, the 18th of May 2025   The news headlines: The RSGB announces new Convention Chair for 2025 RSGB members can now read over 300 RadCom editions in the RSGB web app Become a volunteer at the RSGB National Radio Centre RSGB General Manager, Steve Thomas, M1ACB, is delighted to announce the appointment of Pete Joyce, M0OFM, as the new volunteer RSGB Convention Chair. Pete is a regular attendee at RSGB Conventions and has a keen interest in balancing the different needs of attendees through a varied programme. He also understands the importance of making the Convention accessible to everyone, both in person and online. Pete brings to the role a range of experience in planning and managing events for other organisations. The RSGB Convention planning team look forward to supporting Pete as he takes on this challenging and important role. The RSGB is excited to announce that more RadCom editions have been added to its web app. RSGB members are now able to browse back to January 2000, which is over 300 magazines! Go to rsgb.org/radcom to explore all the RadCom content from this millennium. You'll need your RSGB membership portal details to access the editions. If your RSGB membership is due for renewal soon, why not swap to a digital membership? You'll still get all the great benefits of being a member, and you'll save money as well as RadCom storage space. If you're not yet an RSGB member, there's never been a better time to join the Society. Take out a digital membership and choose to read RadCom via our app, and you'll have easy access to 25 years of RadCom editions. The RSGB will be releasing mobile versions of the app soon, so you'll be able to download copies of its publications and read them on the go.   Volunteering at the RSGB National Radio Centre is a wide-ranging and highly rewarding role. Thanks to the variety of visitors and the number of events and activities that the Centre is involved with, no two days at the NRC are the same. If you'd like to join the friendly and dedicated team, the NRC is currently looking for new volunteers. Full training is given, including the operation of the GB3RS radio station. NRC volunteers also enjoy numerous benefits associated with volunteering at Bletchley Park. If all of this sounds like something you'd like to be a part of, and you can volunteer for one or two days per month, please email NRC Coordinator Martyn Baker, G0GMB, via nrc.support@rsgb.org.uk. You can find out more about the RSGB National Radio Centre by going to rsgb.org/nrc The RSGB Outreach Team is offering qualified amateur radio operators under the age of 18 the opportunity to take part in a new DMR project. The project's aim is to help young people get on the air and build their confidence in making QSOs. The Team has nine DMR handheld transceivers and hotspots available to borrow for three months, completely free. As part of the offering, the Outreach Team will be hosting regular youth nets that you would be welcome to join. You can apply for the DMR kit as an individual or as a school group, as long as one member of the group is licensed. Another part of the project is to support teachers who would like to take their amateur radio licence and set up a school club. In collaboration with the Radio Communications Foundation, the RSGB is offering to pay the licence exam fee for nine teachers to help get them and their school club started. If you're a teacher who is interested in discovering more about amateur radio and sharing that excitement with your students, get in touch. Once you have your licence, you can apply for the free DMR kit on loan for three months to help set up your club. If you are interested in applying for a DMR kit, fill out the application form by going to tinyurl.com/DMRyouth. If you are a teacher interested in starting your own radio club, please email RSGB Youth Chair Chris Aitken, MM0WIC, via youthchampion.school@rsgb.org.uk As we come to the end of Mental Health Awareness Week 2025, let's remember to show the very best of amateur radio and make sure we are there for one another. Let's listen to each other, share our appreciation for our fellow radio amateurs and celebrate kindness within our community. You can read how amateur radio helped Lee Aldridge, G4EJB, in the July 2023 edition of RadCom. You can access mental health support by going to mentalhealth.org.uk Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk The deadline for submissions is 10am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week. And now for details of rallies and events The East Midlands Ham and Electronics Rally is taking place on Saturday, the 24th of May at Beckingham Village Hall, Southfield Lane, Beckingham, DN10 4FX. Traders can set up from 7 am, with doors open to the public between 9.30 am and 3 pm. There will be hot food and refreshments available. Free parking is located behind the hall. For more information and to book, please go to emerg.uk/rally The Durham & District Amateur Radio Society Radio Rally is taking place on Sunday, the 25th of May at Bowburn Community Centre, Bowburn, County Durham, DH6 5AT. Doors will be open from 10.10 am to 2.30 pm, with disabled visitors gaining access at 10 am. Entry is £3. There will be a bring-and-buy sale, trade stands, special interest groups and an RSGB bookstall. Catering will be available on-site. For further information, please call Michael Wright, G7TWX, on 07826 924192 or email dadars@gmx.com Now the Special Event news Special event station GB0SAR is active until the 30th of May in support of SOS Radio Week. The station will mostly be using FT4 on the 20m band, but you might also catch it on the other HF bands using phone. For more information, visit QRZ.com Humber Fortress DX Amateur Radio Club is once again raising awareness for men's mental health through amateur radio. Club members will be operating special callsign GB0MMH. Other special call signs will also be active. The station is active today, Sunday the 18th of May, as well as the weekend of the 21st and 22nd of June. Please listen out for the operators and give them a call. Your support will help raise awareness of men's mental health. If you would like further information, please contact secretary@hfdxarc.com The International Amateur Radio Club will be active as 4U0ITU until the end of 2025. The club is celebrating the 160th anniversary of the International Telecommunication Union. QSL is available via Logbook of the World, Club Log, or direct to P.O. Box 6, 1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland. Now the DX news Antonio, DL4EA, will be active as FY/DL4EA from French Guiana between the 19th and 21st of May. Antonio plans to be active on QO-100 and RS-44 and maybe some HF QRP. Emir, E77DX will again be active as D4DX in Cape Verde on the 24th and 25th May for the CQ World Wide WPX CW Contest. He'll be operating as Single Operator All Bands in the high-power category. QSL is available via E73Y and Logbook of the World.  Morten, LA9GY will be active from Eswatini between the 22nd of May and the 2nd of June. He plans to be operating holiday-style as 3DA0GY mainly on CW but also some SSB. QSL is available via his home call LA9GY. Now the contest news Tomorrow, Monday, the 19th of May, the FT4 Series Contest runs from 1900 to 2030 UTC. Using FT4 on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is your report. On Tuesday, the 20th of May, the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on 1.3GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday, the 21st of May, the 80m Club Championship data leg runs from 1900 to 2030 UTC. Using data modes on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The CQ World Wide WPX CW Contest starts at 0000 UTC on Saturday, the 24th of May and ends at 2359 UTC on Sunday, the 25th of May. Using CW on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Sunday, the 25th of May, the UK Microwave Group High Band Contest runs from 0600 to 1800 UTC. Using all modes on 5.7 and 10GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 15th of May 2025 This week, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Solar Cycle 25 maximum is now over. With a reduced solar flux index and an almost blank Sun, there was little to get excited about. By Thursday, the 15th of May, the SFI was 122, but previously, on the 12th, it had been down to 116, which is the lowest it has been for some time. There is still a lot of solar activity going on, but most of it is not conducive to good HF propagation. Over the past week, we have had two X-class solar flares and five M-class events. The X-class events were associated with coronal mass ejections, but these appear to have been directed away from Earth. A fast solar wind has resulted in the Kp index standing at four for a lot of the time, namely on the 9th and 10th of May and again on the 14th and 15th. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon at this point in the solar cycle and adds some evidence that we are now in the declining phase of Cycle 25. Next week, NOAA predicts that things may improve with the SFI set to rise from the 19th of May. It forecasts the SFI will start the week around 115, but then will climb steadily, reaching 145 by the 1st of June. After a brief rise on the 19th with a Kp of four, things then become more settled with a Kp of two between the 22nd and the 28th of May. A large elongated coronal hole became Earth-facing on 16th May, which could cause raised K indices and lower MUFs from today, the 18th of May, onwards. It looks like the best HF F2-layer conditions may occur between the 22nd and 28th of May. And don't forget, despite the HF doldrums, we are now well into Sporadic-E season with short-skip occurring, predominantly on 10m. But more of that shortly. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The prolonged spell of high pressure is likely to remain until near the end of this week, so there is plenty of time to get some more Tropo in the log. Cloudier and cooler air over eastern Britain at the end of last week may enhance the Tropo by adding moisture under the inversion. For most places, the strongest Tropo conditions will be overnight and early morning, then they will degrade as the daytime heating destroys the surface temperature inversion. Meteor scatter is declining a little, apart from a few stragglers from early May showers, so it's probably better to keep to the early morning period as your go-to time for meteor scatter to focus on any random input. Rain scatter is unlikely until next weekend, but it might be worth thinking about the GHz bands from this Friday, the 23rd of May, onwards. Aurora is a different matter, and the solar activity is likely to keep things interesting as a large sunspot group rotates into an Earth-facing position. Strong Es opened on Wednesday, the 14th of May, so it's definitely the season to be checking the upper HF and lower VHF bands for Sporadic-E. In this recent opening, the Dourbes ionosonde peaked at an Es critical frequency of 14 MHz, which is a very high value, even for mid-season. There were strong signals from the central Mediterranean on 6m CW, and some may have even got some 2m digital mode action from the brief opening. Check the Propquest NVIS tab for the day to see the details of this event. Although weak jet streams were present, the opening may well have been helped by some very intense, slow-moving thunderstorms over France. Remember to start checking on 10m and, if it's open, look to the higher bands of 6m, 4m, up to 2m. EME path losses are still falling. Moon declination ended last week at minimum but goes positive again this Thursday, the 22nd of May. Moon windows and peak elevation are again rising. 144MHz sky noise is high this weekend, falling back to low as the week progresses. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

Danielle Gallagher is the CEO of Eagle One FCU in Claymont, DE. She has been involved with credit unions since college and worked her way up to be named CEO in 2020. Danielle and Mark take a deep dive into her journey, what's new at the credit union, and look at a crystal ball for the future of small credit unions.IN THIS EPISODE:(00:00) Introduction(02:02) Danielle Gallagher's professional background, leading her to Eagle One FCU(05:40) A snapshot of services Eagle One Credit Union provides(10:47) Danielle Gallagher's experience of taking on the role of a long-tenured CEO(14:25) Discussion of being a CDFI (Certified Development Financial Institution)(20:05) Working with QSOs and what's working well at Eagle One(23:29) Danielle Gallagher advises credit unions regarding succession planningKEY TAKEAWAYS: Danielle Gallagher's career at Eagle One Federal Credit Union began during college breaks, influenced by her mother's role there. She progressed from a member service representative to gaining experience in marketing and finance and eventually becoming CEO. Her grandfather also worked for the credit union under its former name, highlighting a family connection to the institution.Eagle One is a small but "mighty" credit union with about $85 million in assets and four branches. It serves around 9,000 members and particularly values its relationships with USPS and Philadelphia Gas Works employees. Despite its size, Eagle One offers a wide range of services and prioritizes member service. The staff wears multiple hats due to its smaller team size.Danielle emphasized the importance of succession planning, noting that Eagle One's smooth transition was due to months of preparation. She contrasts this with the trend of credit unions merging due to a lack of future leadership. Eagle One is a certified development financial institution that helps serve underbanked communities.RESOURCE LINKS:Mark Ritter - WebsiteMark Ritter - LinkedInDanielle Gallagher - LinkedIn

GB2RS News Sunday the 4th of May 2025 The news headlines: The RSGB's Tonight@8 series continues with HamSCI Learn about radar through an RSGB Convention presentation and a new members' benefit RSGB club insurance and beacon and repeater insurance have been renewed On Monday the 12th of May, Dr Nathaniel Frissell, W2NAF and RSGB Propagation Studies Committee member Gwyn Griffiths, G3ZIL will be delivering a Tonight@8 webinar on “Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation: Space Weather We Can Do Together”. Since the 2017 Solar Eclipse QSO Party, HamSCI has been bringing together amateur radio operators and professional space scientists. They have been developing new and innovative ways to study space weather and its impacts on the ionosphere and radio propagation. In the presentation, Nathaniel will show results from the 2023 and 2024 HamSCI Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science. Gwyn will explain why he enjoys the HamSCI experience, from exchanges with scientists to learning from students while pursuing his studies on HF propagation. They'll also talk about what's next for the organisation and how you can participate. Find out more by going to rsgb.org/webinars In the latest RSGB 2024 Convention video to be released by the Society, Graham Murchie, G4FSG presents “Radar - the eyes of the few”. In the talk Graham gives a brief history of early radar, events leading up to the development of a viable system and the establishment of the world's first operational radar station at Bawdsey. Watch the video by going to youtube.com/@theRSGB  If you're interested in learning more about Bawdsey Radar Museum then check out the new benefit for RSGB members, which offers a 20% discount off the usual entrance price. Go to rsgb.org/partner-museums  to find out more! RSGB club insurance, and beacon and repeater insurance have now been renewed for the year to April 2026. Club insurance certificates can be downloaded via rsgb.org/repeaterinsurance. You will need to log in to obtain your certificate. Beacon and repeater insurance certificates are available for an admin fee of £15 from the RSGB shop.  Please allow a couple of days after renewal for your certificate to be dispatched. The RSGB Contest Club has recently exceeded one million QSOs. These have been made by RSGB members activating historic RSGB callsigns and special event callsigns, either in contests or in radio marathon activations. The QSOS have all been uploaded to Logbook of the World. The most prolific callsign has been G6XX with over 154,000 QSOs, and the most recent has been GB0IARU which was active in April to celebrate 100 years of the International Amateur Radio Union. Find out more about the RSGB Contest club, including how to join, by going to the RSGB website and selecting Contest Club from the ‘on the air' menu. Celebrations for the 70th Anniversary of GB2RS are well underway. To find out how you can get involved with special event stations and awards go to rsgb.org/gb70rs . The RSGB has recently updated the web page to add a selection of newsreader stories, which you can access by clicking ‘GB2RS Newsreader Stories' from the menu on the right-hand side. If you've ever wanted to learn more about the voice behind your weekly GB2RS broadcast, this is your chance. More stories will be added throughout the year. On Saturday the 10th of May, RSGB volunteers will be attending a regional Girlguiding event at Ardingly in West Sussex. Amongst other activities, Girlguiding members will have the opportunity to operate special event callsign GB25MAY via the QO-100 satellite. The volunteers would welcome contacts via QO-100 between 10.30 am and 3.30 pm on the day. Put the date in your diary and make time to encourage these youngsters as they try amateur radio! The German amateur radio society, DARC, is once again hosting the traditional HamCamp for youngsters during the HAM RADIO fair in Friedrichshafen  between the 26th and 29th of June. It is open to participants under 27 years old and includes three nights at HamCamp, three breakfast vouchers and a three-day ticket for the HAM RADIO fair. The package price is €80 and the deadline for registration is the 8th of June. You can find further information via tinyurl.com/hamcamp25 Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk  The deadline for submissions is 10am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week. And now for details of rallies and events The Dartmoor Radio Rally is taking place tomorrow, Monday the 5th of May, at the Yelverton War Memorial Hall, Meavy Lane, Yelverton, Devon, PL20 6AL. Free parking is available. There will be the usual Bring and Buy as well as trader stands and refreshments. Doors open at 10am and admission is £3. For further details, please call Roger on 07854 088882 or email him via 2e0rph@gmail.com The popular Mills on the Air event is taking place on the weekend of the 10th and 11th of May. There are currently 35 stations taking part, with registrations still being accepted. Find out more by going to tinyurl.com/millsontheair or by visiting the Mills on the Air Facebook page. Now the Special Event news The Ramsbury Amateur Radio DX Group will be active on the 3rd, 4th and 8th of May using special callsign GB1VE to celebrate VE day. The group will be operating on 20m and 40m using CW, SSB and digital modes. The Vintage and Military Amateur Radio Society will be commemorating VE Day on Thursday the 8th of May. Members will be controlling a number of nets on varying frequencies between 7 am and 2 pm. They will be using vintage military equipment dating from the WWII period and beyond. The full programme of events can be found via vmars.org/news Worthing Radio Events Group are planning to operate GB8OFP for the anniversary of VE Day on the 8th of May. Operation will take place on the seafront at the Ferring Pillbox, Patterson's Walk, West Sussex. Members will be active between 10 am and 2 pm on the 40m and 20m bands using SSB. The East Midlands Electronics and Radio Group will be on the air between the 8th and 11th of May to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. Using the callsign GB1BK, the group will operate from the former RAF Binbrook in Lincolnshire. Members expect to be operational on at least 40m, 20m and 2m, using SSB and possibly some FT8 and SSTV. Guernsey Amateur Radio Society will be operating special event radio station GU80LIB between the 9th and the 11th of May in celebration of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Guernsey at the end of World War Two. See QRZ.com for more information. Special event station GB0SAR will be operating between the 3rd and the 30th of May to support SOS Radio Week. The station will mostly be working using FT4 on the 20m band but you might also catch it on the other HF bands using phone. For more information, visit QRZ.com  Now the DX news A team of radio amateurs is active as TX9A from Tubuai in the Austral Islands, IOTA reference OC-152, until Wednesday the 7th of May. The group will operate on the HF bands. QSL is available via DK8ZZ. For all direct requests, use Clublog OQRS. Further information is available via austral2025.com Yuris, YL2GM is active as ZS8W from Prince Edward and Marion Island, IOTA reference AF-021, until Friday the 16th of May. Yuris will be on Marion island as a radio engineer and member of the SANAP station communication equipment maintenance team, and he hopes to find good periods of time to be operational.  Now the contest news The ARI International DX Contest started on Saturday the 3rd of May and ends at 1159UTC today, Sunday the 4th of May. Using CW, RTTY and SSB on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Italian stations also send their province. The 432MHz to 245GHz Contest also started on Saturday the 3rd of May and ends at 1400UTC today, Sunday the 4th of May. Using all modes on 432MHz to 245GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The 10GHz Trophy runs today, Sunday the 4th of May, from 0800 to 1400 UTC. Using all modes on 10GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The May 144MHz Contest also runs today, Sunday the 4th of May, from 0800 to 1400 UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also today, the 144MHz Backpackers Contest runs from 1100 to 1500 UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. UK stations also send their postcode. Today, Sunday the 4th of May, the UK Microwave Group Low Band Contest runs from 0800 to 1400 UTC. Using all modes on 1.3 to 3.4GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The Worked All Britain 7MHz Phone Contest runs today, Sunday the 4th of May, from 1000 to 1400 UTC. Using SSB on the 40m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and Worked All Britain Square. On Tuesday, the 6th of May, the 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. Using FM on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also on Tuesday, the 6th of May, the 144MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday, the 7th of May, the 144MHz FT8 Activity four-hour Contest runs from 1700 to 2100 UTC. Using FT8 on the 2m band, the exchange is a report and a four-character locator. Also on Wednesday, the 7th of May, the 144MHz FT8 Activity two-hour Contest runs from 1900 to 2100UTC. Using FT8 on the 2m band, the exchange is report and four-character locator. Stations entering the four-hour contest may also enter the two-hour contest. On Thursday, the 8th of May, the 50MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130 UTC. Using all modes on the 6m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 1st of May 2025 After the previous week's geomagnetic disturbances, as described in last week's GB2RS, the last seven days have been relatively quiet. The Kp index has mostly been in the ones and twos, however the rise to a Kp value of four on Thursday the 1st of May could herald a return to unsettled conditions. The solar flux index peaked at 170 on the 24th of April, before declining to 148 at the end of the month. HF conditions have been acceptable rather than outstanding and many stations struggled to work DX at times during International Marconi Day on the 26th of April. Nevertheless, there is DX about including ZS8W Marion Island, TX9A Austral Islands and HD8G Galapagos Islands. A look at the Proppy propagation prediction tool will help you work out the best times for making a contact with each station and on each band. You can find it by going to rsgb.org/propagation-tools Looking ahead, a large sunspot has rotated into view. Now designated 4079, this region has returned and was previously sunspot region 4055. It has already emitted an M-class solar flare, and we may expect greater activity as it becomes more Earth-centric over the next week. NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will climb again in the coming week, perhaps rising to between 160 and 165. Geomagnetic disturbances are also due to rise, with the Kp index forecast to reach five on the 5th and 6th of May. If this becomes a reality, expect lowered MUFs and poorer HF paths, especially over the poles as the Kp index rises. And finally, this week traditionally marks the start of the Sporadic-E season so keep an eye on 10m and 12m for short- and medium-range openings to Europe. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The current spell of high-pressure Tropo weather weakened a little as last week ended and we'll see the return of unsettled conditions with showery rain, perhaps even the odd thunderstorm. This is unlikely to lead to a total removal of high pressure and Tropo will still be worth looking for, especially over the western side of the UK. Some models place a new high just west of Britain during the coming week. This means that the rain prospects are not great, although probably just enough for a hint of rain scatter in any isolated heavier showers. The HF bands sounded a bit ‘watery' at times last week, which is a classic sign of potential aurora to explore on the higher bands. Look out for aurora in the coming week if the Kp index climbs above five. Meteor scatter is worth thinking about and, after last week's Lyrids, we now have the Eta Aquariids shower peaking in the early hours of the 6th of May. Remember that Sporadic-E ionisation is largely composed of long-lived meteor ions, so be on watch for Es openings. From now onwards through to mid-September, Sporadic-E will dominate the lower VHF bands, so check the clusters for signs of activity. Remember that Es starts on 10m and moves HF as an opening develops, even reaching 2m in the peak summer. Unlike Tropo, Es events are often fleeting, so the best you can do is monitor conditions as the Es intensifies and be ready when it reaches the band you want. Don't forget to check the daily Es blogs on www.propquest.co.uk which discuss the potential links between location of jet streams and Es formation. EME path losses are increasing, but apogee is still a week away. Moon declination passed maximum last Thursday so Moon windows are shortening along with reducing peak elevation. 144MHz sky noise is low all week. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

I'm Mark Ritter, and this is Credit Union Conversations. Today, I'm joined by Austin Wentzlaff from Nook to discuss how credit unions can evolve beyond competitive rates and traditional relationships by using digital tools to deepen member engagement. We'll explore how Nook takes a fresh approach—focusing on lifestyle topics like travel, health, and relationships—to build trust and naturally drive financial product adoption. Plus, we'll dive into the role of venture capital in fintech, the challenges early-stage companies face, and what it really takes to bring innovation to the credit union space.IN THIS EPISODE:(00:00) Introduction(01:50) Austin shares his professional journey(07:36) Austin explains Nook's purpose and how it operates(13:39) How is the industry responding to the premise of Nook's purpose(17:44) What is in Nook's future and Austin explains the roots of FinTech Accelerator(25:16) Discussion of venture capital KEY TAKEAWAYS: The credit union industry has thrived on competitive rates and strong member connections, but digital tools now deepen engagement. By focusing on lifestyle topics over direct financial discussions, this approach builds trust and drives natural product adoption.Successful early-stage fintechs and QSOs must be innovative, not just marginally improving existing solutions. They should be in a pilot phase with limited clients and employees, and they must be genuinely committed to the credit union industry rather than just exploring it as a potential revenue stream.While venture capital provides diversification and reduces risk for credit unions, it can also create a disconnect. Historically, credit unions invested in QSOs they were already working with, ensuring strategic alignment. The shift toward aggregated investment funds may weaken direct relationships between credit unions and fintechs, potentially impacting strategic collaboration.RESOURCE LINKSMark Ritter - WebsiteMark Ritter - LinkedInAustin Wentzlaff - Nook - LinkedInNook - WebsiteAustin's EmailBIOGRAPHY: Austin Wentzlaff is the Co-Founder & CEO of Nook and brings 10+ years of credit union industry, CUSO, and Fintech startup leadership experience.Prior to starting Nook, Austin was the Founder and CEO of Fintech Accelerator, a consulting firm focused on bringing new technologies to the credit union industry, whose client list included CUSOs, RenoFi and Illuma, among other successful startups. Prior to founding Fintech Accelerator, he was the Chief Revenue Officer overseeing sales and marketing efforts at OnApproach, a CUSO acquired by Trellance in 2019. He has spent the entirety of his career in the credit union industry, where he has worked exclusively for Fintech startups from the earliest stages of growth through exit. Austin has extensive experience working with Fintech startups as an early employee (joining OnApproach, Illuma, and RenoFi all with less than 10 employees) and a key contributor, instrumental in their early success. Austin is an alumnus of Gustavus Adolphus College, where he received a degree in Financial Economics.

GB2RS News Sunday the 13th of April 2025   The news headlines: Apply to be in the RSGB team for YOTA Camp 2025 Be part of the RSGB Exam Tutors Review Panel Catch up with the RSGB 2025 AGM on YouTube If you are aged between 16 and 25 and are passionate about amateur radio, then this news is for you. This year's Youngsters on the Air Summer Camp will take place between the 18th and 25th of August at the historical Château [SHA-TOW] de Jambville [ZHOM-VIL] near Paris in France. The event is being organised by the French national amateur radio society, REF, and the IARU. It is a chance of a lifetime for young RSGB members to represent their country and their national society. If you are ready for exciting experiences, would like to make new friends and want to help shape the future of amateur radio, then the RSGB would love to hear from you. If you'd like to find out more about what's involved and to submit an application, go to rsgb.org/yota-camp The closing date for applications is the 2nd of May for Team Leader and the 16th of May for Team Members. Apply today and don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity. The RSGB is looking to recruit volunteers from the exam tutor community to help pre-screen documentation prior to public release as part of the process of improving the quality of documents issued by the Exam and Syllabus Review Group (ESRG). The Exam Tutors Review Panel is intended to be an informal group of approximately six tutors who are currently involved in providing training for amateur radio licence exams at any of the three current levels. Panel members will be asked to use their skills to help improve the quality of the syllabus, the questions in the published question bank and other published documentation. They will receive advance copies of documents that are due to be published, and they will be expected to return any comments within an agreed timescale, which typically will be two weeks. The ESRG is not obliged to accept the recommendations from panel members, but if they do not accept a recommended change, they will explain why. All documents and additional correspondence sent to panel members will be under an embargo until the final versions are released to the public. The Exam Tutors Review Panel is intended to run for an initial six months and will then be reviewed. If you are interested in becoming a member of this panel, please email Board Director Len Paget, GM0ONX via GM0ONX@rsgb.org.uk The RSGB would like to thank everyone who joined the RSGB 2025 AGM which was held yesterday, the 12th of April. If you missed the live event, you'll still be able to watch the full livestream on the Society's YouTube channel. As well as the formal AGM business, the Board answered questions from RSGB members on a wide range of topics. You'll also be able to watch the President's review of 2024, delivered by John McCullagh MBE, GI4BWM, who was the RSGB President at the time. The AGM also included a presentation about the Society's strategy. Led by Board Director Mark Jones, G0MGX, there were contributions from Board Director Ben Lloyd, GW4BML; Spectrum Forum Chair Murray Niman, G6JYB; and the current President Bob Beebe, GU4YOX. Timestamps will be available in the video summary on YouTube, allowing you to skip to any particular section you may want to watch. Go to rsgb.org/agm to find out more about every aspect of the AGM, including personal statements from the new President, Board Directors and Regional Representatives. Don't forget that as part of the celebrations of the centenary of the International Amateur Radio Union, the RSGB will be activating the callsign GB0IARU throughout this month. A Commemorative QSL Card is available for QSOs made during the period from the 1st of April to the 30th of April 2025. On qrz.com you can find full details of the special event station, how to apply for your commemorative card, and a spreadsheet showing who is activating the callsign. World Amateur Radio Day 2025 is taking place on Friday the 18th of April, and coincides with the centenary of the International Amateur Radio Union. This year's theme is “Entering the Next Century of Amateur Radio Communications and Innovation”. All radio amateurs are invited to take to the airwaves to show their skills and capabilities to the public. You can read more about the event on the IARU website via iaru.org Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk The deadline for submissions is 10am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week. And now for details of rallies and events The Moray Firth Amateur Radio Society Surplus Equipment Sale is taking place on Saturday the 19th of April at Roseisle [ROSE-ISLE] Village Hall, near Burghead. Doors open to traders at 10am, and to the general public between 11am and 4pm. There is ample parking on site and catering will be available. Entry is £5, and tables for sellers are £10. Find out more by going to mfars.club The Cambridge Repeater Group Rally is taking place on Sunday the 27th of April at Foxton Village Hall, Hardman Road, Foxton, Cambridge, CB22 6RN. Doors open at 7.30am for traders and 9.30am to the general public. The entrance fee is £4. The event will include a car-boot sale, trade stands, a bring-and-buy area, catering, disabled facilities, an RSGB Bookstall and a free marshalled car park. A cash and card burger van will open at 8am. The venue rules state strictly no dogs except assistance dogs on the field. Go to cambridgerepeaters.net for further details and bookings. Now the Special Event news The Experimental Danish Radioamateurs association, also known as EDR, will be celebrating World Amateur Radio Day on the 18th of April with special event station 5P0WARD. The group is also operating special callsign OZ100IARU between the 19th of April and the 27th of April to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the IARU. More information can be found at QRZ.com The Polish Amateur Radio Union is celebrating 95 years since its founding, as well as the centenary of the International Amateur Radio Union. To mark the occasion, ten special event stations are active until the 25th of April. Full details of the event, as well as available awards, can be found via Hamaward.cloud The Spanish national society, URE, will also be on the air to mark the 100th anniversary of the IARU. Members will be active on 160m to 6m between the 15th of April and the 30th of April with ten different special event stations, including AO100IARU. Special awards will be available, as well as medals for the top participants from each continent who achieve the highest number of contacts with the stations on different bands and modes. Go to ure.es for further details. Now the DX news Paul, GW0NGA will be active from Jamestown in St Helena as ZD7PG from the 12th of April until the 19th of April. He will be active on the HF bands during his spare time. QSL via his home callsign and possibly eQSL. Aldir, PY1SAD is active again from Georgetown in Guyana [GAI-AA-NUH] as 8R1TM until the 26th of April. Aldir will be operating on all bands using CW, SSB, digital and satellite. QSL via eQSL and Logbook of The World. DA1DX, DK9IP, DM6EE and DL8LAS will be active from Anegada [A-NE-GA-DA] Island in the British Virgin Islands as VP2VI from the 10th to the 27th of April. Full details via QRZ.com Now the contest news On Tuesday the 15th of April, the 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 23cm band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the 16th of April, the 80m Club Championship runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using SSB on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Thursday the 17th of April, the 70MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using All modes on the 4m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.   Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 10th of April 2025 A fast solar wind caused some disruption last week, often sending the Kp index up to five, with many three-hour periods in excess of four. The solar wind speed was in the 600-700 kilometres per second range, which caused a moderate, G2, geomagnetic storm and visible aurora at higher latitudes mid-week. Glancing CMEs that left the Sun on the 9th of April brought a small chance of enhanced geomagnetic activity at the end of the week. Meanwhile, the solar flux index declined slightly from a high of 184 on the 5th of April to 167 on Thursday the 10th. There have been quite a few C-class solar flares, but only two M-class flares and no X-class events over the past seven days. This geomagnetic activity has taken its toll on HF propagation, with lower critical frequencies at times and lower MUFs. This, coupled with the start of a change to summer ionospheric conditions, has meant that MUFs over a 3,000km path have often struggled to get past 19.7MHz at times. We have probably seen the best of the long-range 10m propagation until the autumn. But we will have Sporadic-E and its associated short skip from next month to make up for it. Next week NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will fall further, perhaps to between 135 and 140 by the 15th of April. Geomagnetic conditions are also likely to improve with a Kp index of two to three, forecast for the period after tomorrow, the 14th of April. We may expect more problematic geomagnetic conditions, with a predicted Kp index of four, from the 21st to the 24th of April.   And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The long spell of fine settled weather and strong Tropo is leaving us for a while, starting this weekend, and the high pressure is giving way to slow-moving areas of low pressure with cloud and rain for the coming week. Although it won't rain all the time it will be considerably wetter than recent weeks, with some heavy spells of rain at times and good prospects for rain scatter on the GHz bands. It is possible that there could be some thunder in the heavier rain, so it's now the season to be aware of lightning risk. The meteor scatter prospects are staggering towards the 22nd of April Lyrids, which peak on Tuesday of the following week, so we're still probably relying on random activity for most of this coming week, but with improving chances. The solar conditions have been feeding low-level auroral activity and it remains a good time of the year when some effective auroral conditions can appear - so stay alert to the state of the Kp index, just in case. The good news at this time of the year is that Sporadic-E will eventually make an appearance, usually on 10m or 6m, and is quite often first picked out on the digital modes. It will be into late April before we need to get too excited about this, but there is no harm in getting a set of beacons in mind for tracking an opening. Remember the main characteristic of Es is that it starts on the lower frequencies like 10m, and works up through 6m to 4m and then finally 2m in a high-summer opening. EME path losses are at their maximum at apogee this evening, the 13th, and Moon declination is negative and falling further. Moon windows will continue to shorten with peak elevation reaching only eight degrees at the end of next week. 144MHz sky noise starts the week low but will increase during the week to more than 2300 Kelvin on Friday. And that's all from the propagation team this week.  

This is The DX Mentor podcast. I hope to help those hams trying to move up the DXCC ladder as well as those that at on the DXCC Honor Roll. As fast as technology is moving, no one can keep up on it all. I am here to help. #DX #HamradioOur guests today are Max, ON5UR, Ron PA3EWP, and Joe, W8GEX. All three are experienced, passionate DXers and the conversation should be lively and informative. The best description of the upcoming DXPedition comes from Bernie, W3UR. He wrote “The DX-Adventure team is embarking on a DXpedition to the Andaman Islands (AS-001) as VU4AX from March 10th to March 20th, 2025. The team, consisting of 12 experienced operators, will be active around  the clock on multiple bands from 10m to 160m, including WARC + 60m, using CW, SSB, and DIGI modes. They will operate six stations, transporting 1,150kg of meticulously prepared equipment to ensure the best possible experience. The DXpedition aims to provide a rare opportunity for QSOs, especially for USA operators, as VU4 ranks #28 for the USA and #53 worldwide. The team is supported by three experienced Pilot Stations: W2IRT Peter, E21EIC Champ, and ON9CFG Bjorn. They will closely monitor propagation conditions to maximize the chances of contacts with stations across the United States. Updates and contact details for the Pilot Stations can be found on the DX-Adventure website - https://www.dx-adventure.com  The DX-Adventure team looks forward to making a QSO with you from VU4 South Andaman.  Resources mentioned include:DX Adventures https://www.dx-adventure.com/en/home-eng/Southwest Ohio DX Assoc. https://www.swodxa.orgDaily DX https://www.dailydx.com/DX Engineering https://www.dxengineering.com/Icom https://www.icomamerica.com/ IC-905 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-905/ IC-9700 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-9700/ IC-7610 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7610/ IC-7300 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7300/

Hello and Welcome to the DX Corner for your weekly Dose of DX as part of Ham Radios oldest Ham Radio Magazine on the air, “This week in amateur radio.” I'm Bill, AJ8B. I am not sure how many of you are interested in 60M, but overall interest is growing. One of my best friends, Joe, W8GEX, produces a 60-meter newsletter. Joe is considered by many as the godfather of 60m. With almost 250 entities confirmed on 60, I can understand why. New Zealand stations ZL4OL and ZL2CC have been heard around 0700z. Watch your 60m packet cluster for these advid 60M operators. 4U1UN has been on 60m recently. Keep an eye out for that one also. Some of the rare DX on 60 meters recently has included A51AE, 7Q6M, and T77C.Don't forget to have a look at our website 60metersonline.com. There are details about our DXCC and WAS Awards for 60 meters. . Thanks, Joe, for letting me use this information. You can learn more about 60 meters by checking out the DX Mentor podcast, episode 24. (https://youtu.be/Mq7YN6euHHM ) Just go to YouTube or your podcast app and search for The DX Mentor. Episode 24 will give you all the details about getting on 60 meters. This section of DX News comes from Bernie, W3UR, editor of the DailyDX, the WeeklyDX, and the How's DX column in QST. If you would like a free 2-week trial of the DailyDX, your only source of real-time DX information, just drop me a note at thedxmentor@gmail.com Inveterate DXpeditioner IV3FSG, Elvira, will operate D68Z from March 3 until at least March 18. Elvira is currently QRV. She will be operating on 160-6M CW, SSB, RTTY, FT8, and FT4. Elvira will use three ICOM IC-7300 radios, with one dedicated to 6M (grid locator LH18og) operational around the clock. The antenna setup will include a 6M delta loop, a DX Commander vertical for 30-10M, and an IWØRGN multiband vertical for 160-10M. To minimize duplicate QSOs, please verify Club Log online and Club Log LiveStream. For digital QSOs, monitor D68Z on PSK Reporter. IKØXBX, Francesco, will be the pilot station for this DXpedition. QSL cards are available via OQRS and LoTW. The VK9XU team ended their Christmas Island operation on Tuesday at 0257Z with around 58,000 QSOs, surpassing expectations. They thanked everyone for their discipline in the pileups. The team is now heading to Cocos (Keeling) Island. Arriving after sunset, they will start limited activity the first night and set up antennas the next day. They look forward to working everyone as VK9CU on Cocos. The DX-Adventure team is embarking on a DXpedition to the Andaman Islands (AS-001) as VU4AX from March 10th to March 20th, 2025. The team, consisting of 12 experienced operators, will be active around the clock on multiple bands from 10m to 160m, including WARC + 60m, using CW, SSB, and DIGI modes. They will operate six stations, transporting 1,150kg of meticulously prepared equipment to ensure the best possible experience. The DXpedition aims to provide a rare opportunity for QSOs, especially for USA operators, as VU4 ranks #28 for the USA and #53 worldwide. The team is supported by three experienced Pilot Stations: W2IRT Peter J. Dougherty, E21EIC Champ, and ON9CFG Bjorn. They will closely monitor propagation conditions to maximize the chances of contacts with stations across the United States. Updates and contact details for the Pilot Stations can be found on the DX-Adventure website - https://www.dx-adventure.com The DX-Adventure team looks forward to making a QSO with you from VU4 South Andaman. The DX Mentor podcast recently interview the DX-Adventure team. When that is available, I will let you know, or you can subscribe to the DX Mentor podcast and YouTube Channel to be updated.Until next week, this is Bill, AJ8B saying 73 and thanks to my XYL Karen for her love and support. I Hope to hear you in the pileups!

SCRIPT:Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2471 for Friday, March 7th, 2025 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2471 with a release date of Friday, March 7th, 2025 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.The following is a QST. A survey reveals some important trends in Brazilian amateur radio. Huntsville's new museum of communications and technology is open -- and the founder of the Hurricane Watch Net becomes a Silent Key. All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2471 comes your way right now.** BILLBOARD CART**SURVEY GIVES DETAILED SNAPSHOT OF HAM RADIO IN BRAZILPAUL/ANCHOR: Our top story takes us to Brazil where a recent survey is providing a detailed look at trends among hams in South America's largest nation. Jeremy Boot G4NJH shares some of its findings.JEREMY: An important snapshot of the state of amateur radio in Brazil has provided the national ham radio society and the telecommunications regulator with insights into relevant trends. The sampling of 940 hams in 27 states and 350 cities was conducted in May of 2024 by Guillermo Crimerius, PY2BIL, a member of the board of the Sao Paulo chapter of LABRE, the Liga de Amadores Brasileiros de Rádio Emissão. Guillermo told Newsline that the findings are also being shared with the regulator ANATEL.He said that the findings held no surprises but many details were nonetheless significant. Brazil's ham radio community remains predominantly male, with women comprising only 2 percent of the hobby. Survey results also showed that hams are an aging population in Brazil: 72% are between 40 and 70 years old, with most of them between 40 and 60. While new licensees continue to join Brazil's ham community every year, there is low membership in clubs and associations, giving little opportunity for the networking and skills training usually provided by them. Guillermo writes: [quote] "This scenario has had an impact on new generations of hams,who face difficulties in learning the essential technical matters and especially the operational and cultural activities." [endquote]For a full copy of the report, which is downloadable, visit the link in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.orgThis is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.(GUILLERMO CRIMERIUS, PY2BIL)**NOMINATE THE NEXT "YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR"PAUL/ANCHOR: We remind our listeners that young hams who live in the continental United States have an opportunity to make news, if they aren't already doing so, by being a recipient of this year's Amateur Radio Newsline Bill Pasternak Memorial Young Ham of the Year Award. Consider nominating an amateur radio operator 18 years of age or younger -- someone who has talent, promise and a commitment to the spirit of ham radio. Find application forms on our website arnewsline.org under the "YHOTY" tab. Nominations are now open. We are accepting nominations through May 31st.**BRANDMEISTER DMR PHASING OUT SOME RADIO IDSPAUL/ANCHOR: Certain Radio IDs that have been in use on the Brandmeister DMR network are going away later this year. Sel Embee KB3TZD explains.SEL: The Brandmeister DMR network has announced that it is phasing out its support of certain Radio IDs that do not comply with the Mobile Country Code, or MCC, numbering system. This means that by June, radio operators with certain DMR IDs will need to request new numbers to be assigned to their radios. The first phase of these changes will begin on the 1st of June, when Brandmeister will stop supporting five-digit CAP+ IDs. Starting on the 1st of January, 2026, radios with seven-digit personal radio IDs that begin with the numeral 1 will also stop working on the network. In making this announcement, Brandmeister assured repeater operators that it will continue indefinite support of repeaters that have six-digit radio IDs.Brandmeister said in its announcement in late February that this an effort to address improperly numbered Radio IDs – something Brandmeister has been trying to contain for seven years. It said on its website: [quote] The Brandmeister DMR platform is a constantly evolving system, requiring regular optimizations and maintenance to ensure its efficiency, reliability, and alignment with global open standards.” [Endquote]New IDs can be obtained through Radio ID (Radio Eye Dee) dot net (Radioid.net).For further instructions visit the Brandmeister link that appears in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.orgThis is Sel Embee KB3TZD.[DO NOT READ: news.brandmeister.network](NEWS.BRANDMEISTER.NETWORK, AMATEUR NEWS DAILY)**3 IRISH "KILMOLIN CLUSTER" BEACONS GO QRT TO RELOCATEPAUL/ANCHOR: A trio of beacons in Ireland have been taken out of service in preparation for being moved, as we hear from Jeremy Boot G4NJH.JEREMY: In Ireland, three beacons that have been operating from a site south of Dublin have gone QRT to allow for their relocation. The EI4RF, EI1KNH and EIØSIX beacons have been part of what is known as the Kilmolin cluster. They had been hosted by Paddy Geoghegan, EI5HS, who became a Silent Key last year.The beacons, which have a new owner, went off the air in mid-February and are expected to slowly come back. According to reports on groups.io and the SWLing Post blog, the EI4RF 4-metre beacon is expected to be the first to return, perhaps by May just as sporadic-E season begins. The EIØSIX beacon is expected to follow sometime afterward on 6-metres. It was unclear how and when service will be restored on the EI1KHN beacon, which operated on 40 and 60 MHz. It is also unclear whether this beacon will need to be assigned a new callsign.This is Jeremy Boot GF4NJH.(EI7GI BLOG, QRZ.COM, SWLING POST)**UNIVERSITY IS W. BENGAL'S 1ST TO HAVE HAM CLUB STATIONPAUL/ANCHOR: Students and faculty in India are celebrating the establishment of the first state-of-the-art shack on a West Bengal state university campus. Graham Kemp VK4BB tells us more.GRAHAM: Aliah University, a state university that created for the education of many of India's minority populations, is about to become the first university in West Bengal with its own state-of-the-art ham radio club station.The announcement was made in late February in connection with a seminar held on the Kolkata campus introducing students and faculty to various aspects of amateur radio. The one-day session, held on the 24th of February, covered emergency communications and radio technology and included hands-on experience for the estimated 250 attendees. It was led by members of the West Bengal Radio Club, the Indian Academy of Communication and Disaster Management and organized by the school's Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering. A number of other schools have hosted similar amateur radio workshops throughout the region, which is a coastal area subject to violent storms and other natural disasters that rely on alternate forms of communication. This is Graham Kemp VK4BB.(MILLENNIUM POST)**BROADCAST TRADE SHOW DROPS RECEPTION FOR HAMSPAUL/ANCHOR: Hams will no doubt be among those visiting the National Association of Broadcasters annual trade show again this year but something will be missing, as we learn from Ralph Squillace KK6ITB.RALPH: The annual trade show of the National Association of Broadcasters is welcoming industry professionals once again this year to Las Vegas in April. One traditional event will be missing from this year's show, however: There will be no separate reception for amateur radio operators.Hams, of course, are still welcome. Indeed, many broadcast professionals - especially those on the engineering side - enjoy an active and robust time on the air on the amateur bands. A posting on the Radio World website said that this year's ham reception was not on the schedule. The reception had been hosted for a long time by Bob Heil K9EID, who became a Silent Key last year.The article said that organizers are hoping to [quote] "reinvent the event for next year by exploring fresh partnerships and innovative ideas." [endquote]In the meantime, licensed hams who work in the industry can still look forward to the usual opportunities for networking and learning about new technology. The NAB Show takes place between April 5th and 9th at the Las Vegas Convention Center.This is Ralph Squillace KK6ITB.(RADIO WORLD)**BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world including the WB3GXW repeater in Silver Spring, Maryland and simultaneously on EchoLink Conference Server Node 6154 on Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 7 PM Eastern time.**DX INDIA FOUNDATION PREPARES FOR DXPEDITIONNEIL/ANCHOR: In India, there's a new DX foundation that has lots of energy and ambition - and plans for a rarely activated island. We learn more from Jason Daniels VK2LAW.JASON: It's still early in the game for the newly organized not-for-profit DX India Foundation but the team has already announced ambitious plans to increase India's presence on the DX map. As part of its mission to activate rare IOTA islands, conduct DXpeditions and provide DX and POTA chasers with a chance to work different entities in India, the team has its sights set on Arnala Island, IOTA number AS-169, which is near Mumbai. According to an announcement from the team, the island has had no amateur radio activity since 2006. Hams from the DX India Foundation have applied to use the callsign AU2M and hope to be on the air from the 29th of May through to the 1st of June. Later plans include a 10-day adventure to the Lakshadweep archipelago off the coast of Kerala [CARE-ruh-luh] in southern India.The DX India Foundation has also established an online forum in groups.io to encourage a sense of international community for chasers and activators. In between trips, the foundation's activity will be focused on training and mentoring other radio operators.This is Jason Daniels VK2LAW.(DX INDIA FOUNDATION)**HUNTSVILLE'S ‘SIGNALS' MUSEUM OPENS IN ALABAMAPAUL/ANCHOR: Huntsville, Alabama, home of the Huntsville Hamfest, has a new way to celebrate technology and, of course, amateur radio. To welcome the museum and honor the spirit and advancements made in technology, Newsline is departing from the norm this week. This report is being read via artificial intelligence and a correspondent known as AI-Drew.AI-DREW: On March 1st, the SIGNALS Museum of Information Explosion opened its doors to what founders hope will be an immersive and hands-on environment for visitors. The museum, housed a short drive from where the Huntsville Hamfest is held each year, has an array of exhibits devoted to communications technology in all its forms throughout history. Amateur radio operators who are visiting will be particularly interested in the ham shack, a welcoming space for regional radio clubs and other radio operators to meet or work on building equipment. The museum also has an on-site radio tower.Whether you live in the area or plan to visit Huntsville this year, the museum will welcome you. Visit their website at signals hyphen museum dot org. (signals-museum.org)This is AI-Drew.(SIGNALS MUSEUM)**SILENT KEY: GERRY MURPHY, K8YUW, FOUNDER OF THE HURRICANE WATCH NETPAUL/ANCHOR: Atlantic hurricane season is still a few months away but hams and forecasters will be going forward into this year's season without the man who created the Hurricane Watch Net 60 years ago. He has become a Silent Key, as we hear from Randy Sly W4XJ.RANDY: It can be said that the seeds of the Hurricane Watch Net were planted in 1965 as Hurricane Betsy raged its way through the Bahamas, making landfall in the US that September. Gerald Murphy, K8YUW, who was stationed by the US Navy in Rhode Island at the time, was also handling messages and phone patches for the Intercontinental Amateur Radio Net. When hurricane-specific traffic started to overwhelm the regular net's messages on their 20m frequency, Gerry suggested that those messages be handled 5 kHz higher. Marcy Rice, KZ5MM, who was in the Panama Canal Zone QSY'd with him up to 14.325 MHz and that was the genesis of the Hurricane Watch Net.The net has become the backbone of a robust communications system during storm season. Trained hams share advisories, data and post-storm damage information in affected areas with national hurricane centers in the US and, when needed, Canada.Gerry, who became a Silent Key on the 25th of February at the Ohio Veterans Home in Sandusky, leaves behind this vibrant legacy. He served as net manager from September of 1965 until February of 1988, staying on afterward as assistant net manager. Health issues compelled him to retire from the net in March 1991.The Hurricane Watch Net has been planning an on-air special event in September to mark its 60th anniversary. Net manager Bobby Graves,KB5HAV, told Newsline [quote] "I was hoping and praying Jerry would make it to see his creation's 60th Anniversary this coming Labor Day....We will endeavor to make it even more special." [endquote]Gerry was 88.This is Randy Sly W4XJ.(BOBBY GRAVES, KB5HAV; EDDIE MISIEWICZ, KB3YRU)**WORLD OF DXIn the World of DX, Chris, WA7RAR, is on the air until the 16th of March from Barbados, IOTA Number NA-ØØ21. He is using the callsign 8P9CB, operating SSB and CW on 20-10 metres. Some of his locations are POTA sites. See QRZ.com for QSL details.Rockwell, WW1X, is using the callsign VP5/WW1X from Providenciales, IOTA Number NA-ØØ2 in the Turks and Caicos Islands from the 8th through to the 15th of March. This is a QRP operation using only SSB, although Rockwell has not ruled out occasional use of FT8. QSL via LoTW.Listen for Aldir, PY1SAD, who is using the callsign 8R1TM from Georgetown, Guyana, between the 11th of March and the 26th of April. Aldir is using CW, SSB and the digital modes on the HF bands. He is also operating via satellite. See QRZ.com for QSL details.Members of the Korean Amateur Radio League are on the air in March and April to celebrate the centenary of the International Amateur Radio Union. They are using the callsign HL1ØØIARU. See QRZ.com for QSL details.(425 DX BULLETIN)**KICKER: ECHOES OF A DIFFERENT WAY TO LEARN CWPAUL/ANCHOR: We end this week's report with an alternate way in which some hams in New Zealand got to learn and practice CW while having real QSOs. We'll let Jim Meachen ZL2BHF explain how it happened.JIM: If you've ever wondered whether Echolink is a viable mode for teaching or learning CW, just ask Ted ZL1BQA, who is proud to have logged a respectable number of CW contacts during the recent Jock White Memorial Field Day in New Zealand. Studying CW for almost a year with the Franklin Amateur Radio Club, Ted was able to restart his long-ago code skills in sessions led by the club president Peter Henderson ZL1PX. It was done over Echolink.Ted had enrolled last May along with three younger members who were first-time learners - Francois, ZL4FJ, Steve, ZL1TZP and Steve ZL1SPR. With only Ted able to copy Peter's signal over HF, the club followed a suggestion made by Gary ZL1GAC: try Echolink, a computer-based ham radio mode that incorporates VoIP technology. Loading CW software onto his computer, Peter was able to send the code intended for each session, confident that everyone had an equal chance of copying clearly.Weekly sessions soon expanded to twice a week as the students concentrated on letters, then numbers - and eventually basic punctuation.After a break in the action, the club is back on Echolink with CW sessions three nights a week. As for Ted, he's on a roll. Peter told Newsline in an email that he has resumed making CW contacts on a daily basis on HF using the Vibroplex that once collected dust instead of QSOs.This is Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.(QUA, Peter Henderson, ZL1PX)**Have you sent in your amateur radio haiku to Newsline's haiku challenge yet? It's as easy as writing a QSL card. Set your thoughts down using traditional haiku format - a three-line verse with five syllables in the first line, seven in the second and five in the third. Submit your work on our website at arnewsline.org - each week's winner gets a shout-out on our website, where everyone can find the winning haiku.NEWSCAST CLOSE: With thanks to Amateur News Daily; Bobby Graves, KB5HAV; Brandmeister; David Behar K7DB; DX India Foundation; Eddie Misiewicz, KB3YRU; EI7GI Blog; Guillermo Crimerius, PY2BIL; Millennium Post; Peter Henderson, ZL1PX; QRZ.com; QUA Newsletter; Radio World; shortwaveradio.de; SWLing Post; Wireless Institute of Australia; and you our listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. We remind our listeners that Amateur Radio Newsline is an all-volunteer non-profit organization that incurs expenses for its continued operation. If you wish to support us, please visit our website at arnewsline.org and know that we appreciate you all. We also remind our listeners that if you like our newscast, please leave us a 5-star rating wherever you subscribe to us. For now, with Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT at the news desk in New York, and our news team worldwide, I'm Paul Braun WD9GCO in Valparaiso Indiana saying 73. As always we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2025. All rights reserved.

Welcome to our first edition of TEHRSOTA. We will all be doing digimodes, and we will try to get every one of you in the log. Is FT8 better than CW? Absolutely, if we used CW we can't get on tangents while having QSOs.Participants in this stream will be all of the European cast of TEHRS and Sean W9FFF will join in for you North Americans to have someone to get in the log.Please join our discord over at https://hamshow.eu/discordTEHRS is: @LB4FH @labcat73 @LB4FH @COASTALWAVESWIRES @LB0FI And sometimes @HAMRADIODUDE #hamradio #amateurradio #amateurfunk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello and welcome to episode 54 of The DX Mentor Discussion with 9M8HAZ. Thank you for joining us. I'm Bill, AJ8B. If this is the first time you are joining us, Welcome! We have a back catalog of over 50 episodes covering many aspects of DX in both podcast and YouTube format. Please check us out. If you are new to DXing, I would really recommend episode 1 as it was recorded with several world class DXers. You will get a feel of the excitement that goes with chasing DX!       If you like what you find, please subscribe, like, and share!   If you have questions or comments, please email me directly using thedxmentor@gmail.com. Our guest today is 9M8HAZ, Marz, W3UR, Bernie, and W8GEX, Joe.   From the 9M1Z website, I found this: This DXpedition serves as a critical training exercise, laying the groundwork for a successful “Pre-DXPEDITION OF 9M0-SPRATLY ISLAND” in 2025 or 2026. As you know, Spratly Island is currently closed for maintenance, but we're hopeful it will reopen to the public by then. Our primary goal for this Borneo DXpedition is to gather valuable experience and knowledge to ensure a smooth operation when we set up our future DXpedition from 9M0 using the 9M0 callsign (assuming all goes well and the island is operational).   A huge congratulations to all the stations who managed to contact us during the DXpedition. We are incredibly impressed to announce a total of 36,169 QSOs logged! This is a fantastic testament to the dedication and skill of both our team and all the participating stations.”   Without any further delay, let's get started.                

This is The DX Mentor podcast. I hope to help those hams trying to move up the DXCC ladder as well as those that at on the DXCC Honor Roll. As fast as technology is moving, no one can keep up on it all. I am here to help. #DX #Hamradio The W8S DXpedition to Swains took place October 4th to the 17th, 2023. The 10 operators made almost 90,000 QSOs on 160 – 6 meters on CW, SSB, RTTY, and FT8. Our guests today are Adrian, KO8SCA, Johannes, PA5X, and Joe, W8GEX. This past weekend, the W8S DXpedition was recognized as the 2023 SWODXA DXpedition of the Year! At that time of this recording, we did not know that this group would be the DXpedition of the Year. "From October 4, 2023 until October 17, 2023 an international team of 10 operators will be active from Swains Island as W8S. QRV on all HF bands in CW, SSB, FT8 and RTTY with 6 stations from 2 separated camps." Introductions W8GEX – Joe went to Swains in 2012. He is the co-host. I think this will be a great conversation. KO8SCA – Adrian PA5X - Johannes Video of Adrian getting the first 6 M QSO with AJ7QVI Story of Johannes trying to get a spot Swaines Island – 10/4 to 10/17 Why Swains? What was the Island Like? The Team How many stations? Preparation Challenges that you did not expect? Anything you would do differently? Overall thoughts? Success? Goals - 90K QSOs Fund raising - How can listeners contribute? What were your expectations? How can hams donate? What's next? Swains Website https://www.swains2023.com Southwest Ohio DX Assoc. https://www.swodxa.org Daily DX https://www.dailydx.com/ DX Engineering https://www.dxengineering.com/ Icom https://www.icomamerica.com/ IC-905 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-905/ IC-9700 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-9700/ IC-7610 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7610/ IC-7300 https://www.icomamerica.com/lineup/products/IC-7300/

Credit Union Conversations: The Role of MBFS in Strengthening Credit Unions and Business LendingIn this episode of with flying colors, host Mark Treichel speaks with Mark Ritter, CEO of Member Business Financial Services (MBFS). Ritter sheds light on his journey in the industry, starting from establishing a business lending program at a Central Pennsylvania Credit Union, which grew into one of the top ten in the nation. He shares the challenges and learning incidents related to commercial lending from his extensive experience. MBFS has made a significant impact by helping countless credit union members get the financing they need for business and investment. Ritter underscores the importance of relationship-building, focusing on diverse portfolio strategies, and the advantages of collaboration in the industry. He also encourages credit unions to leverage programs like the SBA lending for their growth.00:00 Introduction and Guest Background03:13 The Journey of Commercial Loans in Credit Unions18:32 The Role of QSOs in Credit Unions20:38 Future of Commercial Lending in Credit Unions24:43 Closing Remarks and Contact Informationhttps://www.mbfs.org/strategic-partners.phphttps://markritter.com/podcasts/