Podcasts about sstv

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.

ハムのラジオ第637回の配信です。 (2025/3/16　ラジオ成田から放送) 特集「SSTV」をお送りします。 日本で運用が開始されてから、50年ほど経つ歴史のあるモードをご紹介します。 最近はデジタルSSTVモードも […]

Foundations of Amateur Radio Recently I received a lovely email from Michele IU4TBF asking some pertinent questions about the Bald Yak project. If you're unfamiliar, the Bald Yak project aims to create a modular, bidirectional and distributed signal processing and control system that leverages GNU Radio. The short answer to how I'm doing getting GNU Radio to play nice with my computer is that I have bruises on my forehead from banging my head against the wall. When I get to success I'll document it. To be clear, I'm not sure what the root cause is. I suspect it lies between the GNU Radio developers, the people making packages and the manufacturer of my computer. I'm the lucky one stuck in the middle. A more interesting question that Michele asked was, for Bald Yak, what is the A/D and D/A requirement for making GNU Radio talk to an antenna? This is a much deeper question that meets the eye and I think it serves as a way to discuss what I think that this project looks like. Ultimately in the digital realm, to receive, an analogue antenna signal needs to be converted to digital using an Analogue to Digital or A/D converter, and to transmit, the reverse uses a Digital to Analogue or D/A converter to make an electrical signal appear on your antenna. The specific A/D or D/A converter determines what you can do. The sampling rate of such a converter determines what frequencies it can handle, the sample size determines the range of signals it can handle. You can compare it with a video screen. The sample rate determines how many pixels on the screen, the sample size determines how many colours in each pixel. The sample rate of an A/D converter is measured in samples per second. If the device only has one channel, you could think of this as Hertz, but if there are multiple channels, like say a sound-card, the sample rate is likely equally divided across each channel. You might have a sound card capable of 384 thousand samples per second, or kilo-samples, but if it supports simultaneous stereo audio input and output, only 96 of those 384 kilo-samples will be allocated to each channel and only half of those will actually help reconstruct the audio signal, leaving you with 48 kHz audio. In other words, the advertised frequency response might not have a direct and obvious relationship with the sample rate. At the moment I have access to a few different A/D and D/A converters. The simplest one, a USB audio sound card, appears to do up to 192 kilo-samples at 16 bits. The next one, an RTL-SDR tops out at a theoretical rate of 3.2 million or mega-samples at 8 bits. The Analog Devices ADALM-PLUTO, or PlutoSDR handles 61.44 mega-samples at 12 bits. Now, to be clear, there are other limitations and considerations which I'm skipping over. Consider for example the speed at which each of these devices can talk to a computer, in this case over USB. I'm also going to ignore things like mixers, allowing devices like the RTL-SDR and PlutoSDR to tune across frequency ranges that go beyond their sample rate. Each of these three devices can convert an analogue antenna signal into bits that can be processed by GNU Radio. All of them can also be used to do the opposite and transmit. Yes, you heard me, several amateurs figured out that an RTL-SDR can actually transmit. Credit to Ismo OH2FTG, Tatu OH2EAT, and Oscar IK1XPV. The point being that whatever Bald Yak looks like, it will need to handle a range of A/D and D/A converters. As I've said previously, I'm aiming for this to work incrementally for everyone. This means that if you have a sound card in your computer or an $8 USB one, this should work and if you have an $33,000 NI Ettus USRP X410 lying around, this too should work. Also, if you have an X410 lying around not doing anything, I'd be happy to put it to use, you know, for testing. So, kidding aside, what about the rest of the Bald Yak experience? GNU Radio works with things called blocks. Essentially little programs that take data, do something to it, then output it in some way. It follows the Unix philosophy, make each program do one thing well, expect the output of every program to become the input to another, design and build software to be tried early and use tools rather than unskilled labour. Amateur radio transceivers traditionally use electronics blocks, but if we move to software, we can update and expand our capabilities as the computer we're using gets faster and the GNU Radio blocks evolve, and because it's all digital the computer doesn't actually have to be in the same box, let alone the same room, it could be in multiple boxes scattered around the Internet. So, the idea of Bald Yak is a collection of blocks that allow you to do radio things. You might have a separate box for each amateur radio mode, AM, FM, SSB, RTTY, CW, WSPR, FT8, FT4, Q65, but also modes like Olivia, FreeDV, SSTV, Packet, PSK31 or Thor. Instead of having to figure out how to wire these modes into your radio and your computer, the infrastructure is already there and you just download another block for a mode you want to play with. We'll need to deal with variables like which A/D and D/A converter is being used and what their limitations are. We'll also need to build a command and control layer and probably a few other things. I'm considering a few other aspects. For example, GNU Radio is mostly run with text files. We might distribute those using something like a web store. GNU Radio is proving hard to install, perhaps a LiveCD is the way to go. We'll need to come up with a base level of functionality and the documentation to go with it. I'm still contemplating how to best licence this all, specifically to stop it from being exploited. Feel free to get in touch if you have ideas. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

En este episodio de CQ en Frecuencia, exploramos el fascinante mundo de la transmisión de imágenes por radio con la modalidad SSTV. Escucharemos a Manel, EA3IAZ, quien nos cuenta cómo descubrió este modo digital y cómo le abrió una nueva dimensión en la radioafición. Además, te explico paso a paso cómo puedes decodificar una imagen SSTV con tu móvil para que experimentes la magia de las ondas por ti mismo. También hablaremos del WWA (World Wide Award), un evento internacional que está activo durante todo el mes de enero y que fomenta el contacto entre estaciones de todo el mundo. Compartimos detalles sobre cómo participar y qué puedes ganar al formar parte de este apasionante concurso. Conocemos la experiencia de un cazador, Javier, EA1FTR y de un activador, EA4D, Oscar del Nogal, coordinador de la EG4WWA. En la última parte del episodio, cambiamos a la radioescucha y el diexismo con el informe de emisiones en onda corta preparado por Pedro Sedano, presidente de la AER. Además, descubriremos una grabación de una emisora pirata, KBC, que no solo emitía voz, sino también imágenes en SSTV. ¡Dale al play y disfruta de un episodio cargado de magia, aprendizaje y pasión por la radio! ¿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/ Enlaces del episodio: • Aplicación para decodificar SSTV: Robot36 en Android / CQ SSTV en iOS • World Wide Awards (WWA): https://hamaward.cloud/wwa • Asociación Española de Radioescucha (AER): https://aer.org.es Por cierto, os dejo aquí los enlaces a los programas de logging para SWL que he comentado en el episodio: http://www.sstv1sf072.altervista.org/swlogger.html y https://shortwavelog.com/ 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.

Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day I noticed a flurry of QSL card designs come across my screen and it sparked me into action on actually creating such a card for myself. I've previously talked about what I think of the current offerings in terms of validating contacts, but having a QSL card design is step one of confirming a contact, well, technically step two, since you have to make the contact first. I'm intending to use SVG as the design platform, since it's a text file that describes an image, so I can use my favourite command line tools, like "grep", "sed", "cut" and "awk" to replace parts of the file, so I can make a personal card for every contact, but that's a story for another day. Accompanying the rush of new card designs was an intriguing hash tag, #hamchallenge. Looking into this further I discovered a project by Fabian DJ5CW with an accompanying website, hamchallenge.org. When you go there, and you should, you'll discover 52 challenges with varying levels of difficulty that you can use as inspiration to do something with your hobby. The usual suspects are there, things like week 42, receive an SSTV image, or week 50, receive an APRS message or beacon. Then there are those like week 38, make a contact on Morse code, and week 19, simulate an antenna. It goes well beyond those essential skills into important stuff like, week 14, implement and describe a backup solution for your ham radio log, and week 24, make a contribution to an Open Source ham radio software package. Not all challenges require an amateur license either. For example, week 32, listen to a broadcast station from another country, is open to anyone with a sense of wonder. The difficulty level is included in a challenge, so week 17, which VHF or UHF repeater is closest to you, is marked as easy, where week 3, work another continent on 80m or 160m, is marked as hard. There's also helpful information about a challenge, for example week 6, take part in a contest, includes a link to the contestcalendar.com website where you'll find most if not all amateur radio contests. Of course this is your hobby and it's not up to me to tell you what to do, but I have to say that the items in this list are exciting, they speak to me and I have to say that I'll be taking inspiration from this list and I recommend that you do too. Not all of the challenges will be something new to everyone. I've already built an antenna, participated in a contest, worked a 10m FM repeater and several other things on this list, but if I'm going to make a Morse Code contact, I'm sure going to have to find some time to actually, you know, learn Morse. I know this will come as music to the ears of several of my amateur friends. There will be challenges that speak to you more than others, week 21, create a GNU radio flowgraph, is right up my alley, but that might not be the case for you. If you feel inspired, week 47 encourages you to submit an idea for the Ham Challenge next year. So, thank you to Fabian for the efforts and many amateurs who have already contributed to this adventure. What a beauty. I'm off to finish my QSL card. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Dan Romanchik KB6NU, Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT, Edmund Spicer M0MNG, and Ed Durrant DD5LP to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and the episode's feature is Portable Antennas Data Review. We would like to thank our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate How Ghost Radio Signals Could Hold The Key To Finding Missing Flight MH370 YOTA Month Draws To A Close But Is Still Busy On The Air Intrepid DX Group Youth Essay Contest Announces Winners AM Bill Is Not Part of Congressional Stopgap Funding Disappointment Immediately after Liftoff Updated Equipment Can Save Lives HAMSCI Plans Conference for its 'Big Year' Holiday SSTV Experiment from the International Space Station RSGB is looking for a new Lecture Coordinator ARRL Straight Key Night 2025

GB2RS News Sunday the 1st of September The news headlines: RSGB collaborates on a special contact with the International Space Station The RSGB's Tonight@8 webinar autumn programme starts tomorrow, the 2nd The RSGB is getting ready for National Coding Week We are delighted to announce that the Radio Society of Great Britain and ARISS, in conjunction with Girlguiding Surrey West and Brooklands Museum including the Innovation Academy, have been collaborating on a special event due to take place on Saturday the 5th of October. Girlguiding President, Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh will attend a planned contact with the International Space Station as part of a visit to promote the engagement and involvement of girls and young women in science, technology, engineering and maths. Further details of the contact and the event will be announced in late September. The RSGB's autumn Tonight@8 programme starts this Monday, the 2nd of September. Brian Coleman, G4NNS will give an update on the Meteor Beacon Project which is a cooperation between the worlds of amateur radio and astronomy. The first phase of this project was completed in May 2022 when the UK meteor beacon GB3MBA went on the air from the Sherwood Observatory of the Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society. It enabled studies of meteor events over the UK using simple equipment and made possible a range of STEM projects featuring radio and astronomy. The second phase of the project, which Brian will describe in the presentation, is to develop a network of receivers streaming their data via a central server for detailed studies of individual meteor events. You can watch and ask questions live on the RSGB YouTube channel or a special BATC channel. To find out more go to the RSGB website at rsgb.org/webinars The RSGB is getting ready for National Coding Week which begins on the 16th of September. This national event is in its 11th year and encourages people of all ages to try coding, or programming as it is also called. During the next few days, the RSGB's Outreach Team will release two new coding activities for you to try on your own, with members of your local club, or at a school or other youth group. These are in addition to the seven activities the Society shared last year. This is a great opportunity to see how coding can link with your usual amateur radio activities, or for you to try something new. If you are planning an activity or an event or would like some support, please email the RSGB National Coding Week Coordinator Nigel Thrower, G3YSW via ncw@rsgb.org.uk  You can find the coding activities on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/coding The British Science Association has announced that applications for kick-start grants will open on the 17th of September 2024. The grants are provided to help schools in challenging circumstances to deliver events and activities as part of British Science Week. To find out more visit the British Science Week website and enter ‘Grant applications for British Science Week 2025' in the search box located in the top right-hand corner. If you need some inspiration on how to get involved, the RSGB is already planning for the March event. You can go to rsgb.org/bsw to find out more, as well as to view activity ideas and lesson plans from previous years. If you'd like to get involved or have any questions, you can email the RSGB British Science Week Coordinator, Ian Neal, M0KEO at bsw@rsgb.org.uk RSGB Members can ensure that they are the first to hear about the Society's online webinars and events by registering to receive updates by email. Simply log into the RSGB members' portal, select the ‘Manage Preferences' tab and click the online events option. By selecting this preference you'll be kept up to date on events such as the Tonight@8 webinars, which are already shaping up to have a brilliant programme for the Autumn. Keep an eye on your mailboxes for more news about these soon. Don't forget that the popular Churches and Chapels on the Air event, also known as CHOTA, is taking place on Saturday the 14th of September. Lots of stations will be on the air from 10 am to 4 pm so please give them a call. The operation will be focused on the 80, 40 and 20m bands. To see the list of churches and chapels taking part visit the ‘CHOTA' tab on the World Association of Christian Radio Amateurs and Listeners website at wacral.org The RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park, or NRC, will be closed for one day on Monday the 16th of September to allow time for some minor decorating and cleaning. Don't forget that RSGB members can gain free entry to Bletchley Park and the NRC by downloading a voucher from rsgb.org/bpvoucher And now for details of rallies and events Telford Hamfest is taking place today, Sunday the 1st of September at Harper Adams University near Newport, Shropshire. The doors open at 10.15 am and admission is £5. Children up to the age of 16 will be admitted free of charge. Free parking, catering, an RSGB bookstall, and a bring-and-buy area are available on site. For more details visit tdars.org.uk or email John, M0JZH at hamfest@tdars.org.uk The Caister Lifeboat Radio Rally is due to take place on Sunday the 8th of September at Caister Lifeboat station, Caister on Sea, NR30 5DJ. The doors will be open from 9 am to 8 pm and there is no admission fee. Sellers can gain access from 8 am. For more information email Zane, M1BFI via m1bfi@outlook.com or phone 07711 214 790. The Broadcast Engineering Museum near Gainsborough in Lincolnshire is new and a work in progress, so it only opens a few days each year. The next open days are coming up on Saturday the 14th and Sunday the 15th of September from 11 am to 4 pm. The Museum contains a vast collection of historic broadcasting equipment and memorabilia, some restored and working, on display in a former RAF sergeants' mess. Free parking is available on-site. For more information email contactus@becg.org.uk or visit becg.org.uk Now the Special Event news Carmarthen Amateur Radio Society is taking part in Churches and Chapels on the Air again this year with special event station GB2SCC. The station will be operating on Saturday the 14th of September from 0900 to 1500UTC on the 40 and 17m bands using SSB. Operators will also be available for VHF and UHF FM calls. For more information see QRZ.com Austin, M0MNE, who is a marine engineer in the Merchant Navy, will be operating special callsign GB0MND on the HF Bands and flying the British Red Ensign from the seafaring town of South Shields, home of the world's longest-operating marine training college. This is to commemorate Merchant Navy Day on the 3rd of September and the merchant seafarers all over the world who work tirelessly, day in and day out, keeping global trade afloat. The station will operate from the 3rd of September until World Maritime Day on the 26th of September. On the 3rd of September, Austin will be concentrating on SSB and CW on the 40, 20 and 15m bands. During the rest of the month, he will be working on all bands using SSB, CW, FT8, and digital modes such as Olivia, Domino, Hell and SSTV. More information about the station and Merchant Navy Day is available via QRZ.com Callington and District Amateur Radio Society will activate Special Event Station GB0EKF for the annual Esedhvos Kernow Festival of Cornish Culture which this year is being held in Callington, Cornwall on Saturday the 7th of September. Listen out for GB0EKF on the local repeaters, HF bands and via the QO-100 satellite. Now the DX news Domenico, IK1MNF is active as IK1MNF/IA5 from Isola d'Elba, EU-028, until the end of September. He is operating using SSB on the 20 to 6m bands. QSOs will be uploaded to Club Log and Logbook of the World. Yann, F1SMB is active as FO/F1SMB from French Polynesia until the 15th of September. His main QTH will be Tahiti, OC-046, with a side trip to Fakarava, OC-066. Usually, he operates FT8 and SSB on the 40 to 10m bands. QSL to F1SMB directly or via the Bureau, Logbook of the World or eQSL. Now the contest news The UK and Ireland Contest Club DX SSB Contest started at 1200UTC on Saturday the 31st of August and runs until 1200UTC today, the 1st of September. Using SSB on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. UK and Ireland stations also send their district code. The Worked All Britain DX Contest started at 1200UTC on Saturday the 31st of August and ends at 1200UTC today, the 1st of September. The exchange is signal report, serial number and Worked All Britain square, where applicable. Entries need to be with the contest manager by the 11th of September. Visit the Worked All Britain website for more information and to read more on the rules for the contest. Tomorrow, the 2nd, the Autumn Series SSB Contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using SSB on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Tuesday the 3rd, 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 3rd, 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 4th, the 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 4th, the 144MHz FT8 Activity two-hour Contest runs from 1900 to 2100UTC. 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 4th of September, the UK and Ireland Contest Club 80m Contest runs from 2000 to 2100UTC. Using SSB on the 80m band, the exchange is your six-character locator. SSB Field Day runs from 1300UTC on Saturday the 7th to 1300UTC on Sunday the 8th of September. Using SSB on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The 144MHz Trophy Contest runs from 1400UTC on Saturday the 7th to 1400UTC on Sunday the 8th of September. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Saturday the 7th, the CWops CW Open takes place in three four-hour sessions between 0000 and 2359UTC. Using CW on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is serial number and name. The All Asian DX Contest starts at 0000UTC on Saturday the 7th and ends at 2359UTC on Sunday the 8th of September. Using SSB on the 160 to 10m bands, the exchange is signal report and your age. On Sunday the 8th, the 5th 144MHz Backpackers Contest takes runs from 1100 to 1500UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also on Sunday the 8th, the Worked All Britain 2m QRO Phone Contest runs from 1000 to 1400UTC. Using AM, FM and SSB on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and Worked All Britain square. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Thursday the 29th of August 2024 We had a good week for HF propagation, at least until we had a Kp index of 5.67 on Wednesday the 28th. This was caused by the Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field moving into a south-pointing position. Luckily, it didn't last long and geomagnetic conditions were back to normal by Thursday. The solar flux index remains above 200 with no sign of it dropping. But solar flare activity has not diminished either with 16 M-class flares over the past seven days and more than 60 C-class events. There remains a 55% chance of a further M-class flare and a 10% chance of an X-class event. Tuesday the 27th saw some good activity on the upper HF bands with the 10m band opening up at times. VK has been heard on 28MHz in the mornings, which bodes well for the coming months. The top DX choice this week has been CY9C on Saint Paul Island near Newfoundland. The team is active on all bands until the 5th of September using CW, SSB, FT8, Super Fox and RTTY. VOACAP Online shows that the 20 and 17m bands offer the best chance for a contact and are open from 0900 to 2000 UTC. The 30m band is another strong contender from 2000 to 1000 UTC. Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will start at around 250 but could end the week at 275. As always, it estimates the Kp index will be at 2 all week, but this will depend upon coronal mass ejections, so keep an eye on solarham.com for daily updates. If a solar flare and associated coronal mass ejections do occur, expect the Kp index to rise after about 48 hours, with a lowering of the maximum useable frequency. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The autumn season usually brings thoughts of Tropo since areas of high pressure can often be a feature of this time of year. Most models predict that there will be high pressure moving in to offer Tropo conditions today, the 1st. Thereafter, the models differ, and some bring low pressure over the country for much of the coming week, while others maintain a high-pressure story and the continuation of Tropo. This is potentially useful for the 144MHz UK Activity Contest on Tuesday and Wednesday and, if it lasts, the 144MHz Trophy Contest next weekend along with the Backpackers contest on Sunday the 8th. With the uncertain feel of the forecast at the moment, we may find rain scatter is the main option on the GHz bands. Meteor scatter is again reduced to non-shower random events with just a minor shower, the Aurigids, peaking on the 31st of August. This shower has produced brief unexpected outbursts with a zenithal hourly rate of around 30 to 50 per hour in 1935, 1986, 1994 and 2019. Random meteor flux is at its annual maximum in September with relatively good rates, especially during morning hours. Pre-dawn is the best time to try. The solar conditions continue to provide chance auroras. Keep one eye on the Kp index and lock the frequency of some northern European beacons into your rig's memory. Lastly, it's the nominal end of the 2024 summer Sporadic-E season and the daily blogs on Propquest have finished. However, some years can produce surprise Sporadic-E events during the first week of September. Moon declination starts the weekend still high but falling, going negative again on Thursday the 5th. So, Moon visibility windows will also fall, as will the peak Moon elevation. Moon apogee is also next Thursday so path losses are still increasing. 144MHz sky noise is low until Monday but, shortly after moonrise that day, the Sun and the Moon become close in the sky and continue to be until after moonset on Tuesday. This means sky noise will be very high, especially at VHF, due to wide antenna beamwidths.  And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday the 2nd of June 2024  The news headlines: Nominations for IARU President and Vice President have been ratified The next RSGB Tonight@8 webinar is coming up RSGB National Radio Centre to operate D-Day anniversary special event stations   IARU member societies have ratified the nomination of Tim Ellam, VE6SH/G4HUA and Thomas Wrede, DF2OO as IARU President and Vice President, respectively, for a five-year term which began on the 9th of May 2024. On starting his 4th term as President, Tim Ellam thanked member societies for their support, congratulated Thomas Wrede on his election as Vice President, and also offered a special and heartfelt thank you to Ole Garpestad, LA2RR who retired as IARU Vice President. You can read more on this story via the IARU website at tinyurl.com/IARU2024 The RSGB Tonight@8 webinar this Monday, the 3rd of June, examines how amateur radio can be accessible and enjoyable even if you have sight, hearing or mobility difficulties. Three radio amateurs will explain how they have adapted their equipment, written software or used extra support from the RSGB or other radio amateurs, to enable them to enjoy all that amateur radio has to offer. There will also be input from Sight Matters, an Isle of Man charity helping to assist over 700 visually impaired members. The charity has recently discovered how much amateur radio can offer people with visual impairments and it has formed the Sight Matters Amateur Radio Club. This aims to encourage new people into the hobby and to help assist existing licence holders back onto the air. Whether this webinar is relevant to you, a friend or colleague, or you're in a club that is wondering how to support all radio amateurs to enjoy the hobby, make a note of the date and be inspired! You can watch and ask questions live on the RSGB special BATC channel or YouTube channel at youtube.com/theRSGB The RSGB's National Radio Centre will be operating a special event callsign GB2DAY to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings during World War Two. The station will be active between the 6th  and 9th of June. In addition, volunteers will be hosting the special demonstration station GB1SOE on Saturday the 15th of June. Don't forget that RSGB members can gain free entry to Bletchley Park and the RSGB's National Radio Centre by downloading a voucher from the RSGB website: rsgb.org/bpvoucher The RSGB Board recently spent an afternoon visiting RSGB Headquarters, meeting staff and gaining a more detailed understanding of the work of this professional team. Later that day, the Board received training from members of the senior team about their specialist areas. During the Board meeting the following day, the Board decided to continue with its chosen four strategic priorities until the 2025 AGM. These priorities are the growth of amateur radio; membership of the RSGB; spectrum and licensing; and ensuring the continued financial stability of the Society. To make further progress with the outcomes of the recent growth workshop, the Board allocated a member of its team to champion each of the seven workstreams. Each workstream champion will now create a volunteer team, prioritise work tasks, set measurable objectives, define what success looks like, list deliverables and establish reporting mechanisms and frequency. More details will be shared about these over the coming months. Do you have some spare time to support fellow radio amateurs? Are you passionate about the future of amateur radio? Do you like a challenge? The RSGB currently has volunteer vacancies for Regional Representatives in Region 7 South Wales, and Region 12 England East and East Anglia. Could you fill one of those roles? To learn more about being a Regional Representative see the RSGB website or contact the Regional Team Forum Chair, Keith Bird, G4JED via rr10@rsgb.org.uk Next week is the 40th anniversary of Volunteers' Week in the UK. As always, the RSGB will be taking part in this national event and thanking its volunteers for the great work they do for the Society and amateur radio generally. The Society will be sharing stories about some of its volunteers on its social media channels and then you'll be able to read more details on the RSGB website later in the week at rsgb.org/your-stories The May 2024 edition of RadCom Basics is now available. RadCom Basics is aimed at new amateurs and those who wish to refresh their skills and knowledge. Among others, this edition contains articles to help you learn about checking and testing components, how to keep your transmissions clean and how to build and tune an end-fed half-wave antenna for the 40 to 10m bands. Read more via rsgb.org/radcom-basics And now for details of rallies and events Spalding and District Amateur Radio Society's Annual Rally is taking place today, Sunday the 2nd of June. This year sees the event taking place at a new venue: Spalding Rugby and Football Club, Centenary Park, Drain Bank North, Spalding, Lincolnshire, PE12 6AF. The event features a free on-site car park, inside and outside traders, an RSGB bookstall and an outside boot area. General admission is £3 per person. For more information visit sdars.org.uk/spaldingrally The Junction 28 Radio Rally is coming up on Sunday the 9th of June at Alfreton Sports Centre, DE55 7BD, one mile from M1 Junction 28. The doors will be open from 10.15 am and admission will be £4. For more information visit snadarc.com or contact j28rally@snadarc.com The Worked All Britain Awards Group will be holding its 2024 AGM from 12 pm at the Junction 28 Rally. Those unable to attend in person but wishing to join online via Zoom should email the Group's secretary at m1aib@worked-all-britain.org.uk The Mendips Rally is set to take place on Sunday the 9th of June. The Rally will be held at Farrington Gurney Memorial Hall, Church Lane, Farrington Gurney, BS39 6UA. The doors will be open from 9 am to 1 pm and admission will be £2. Access for traders will be available from 7.30 am. Inside tables cost £8 and field pitches are £5 each. Free car parking and hot and cold refreshments will be available on-site. For more information contact Luke at 07870 168 197 or email mendipsrally@hotmail.com Now the Special Event News Welland Valley Amateur Radio Society will be active as GB0WVR during Market Harborough Carnival on Saturday the 8th of June. The team of operators is planning to use SSB, FT8 and some CW on the 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10m bands. There may also be activity on the 40m band, depending on the working conditions. Listen out for the callsign which will be active from 10 am until late in the evening. For more information see QRZ.com Throughout June, Stockport Radio Society will be active with the callsign GB0COL to mark the 80th anniversary of Colossus, the world's first fully electronic computer. Bands and modes to be used include FM on the 2m band, SSTV and VHF digital voice. SSB, CW and RTTY will be used on the HF bands. Operators are also planning to be active via the QO-100 satellite. For more information visit g8srs.co.uk/gb0col Next weekend, Torbay Amateur Radio Society will be active with a special event callsign GB80DCS to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day. The station will be working from Slapton Sands in Devon from the afternoon of Friday the 7th of June until approximately 1200UTC on Sunday the 9th of June. A team of operators plans to use phone and CW on the HF and VHF bands. More information is available via QRZ.com  Now the DX news Roland, F8EN is active as TR8CR from Gabon until at least the end of June. He will operate CW only and will celebrate his 96th birthday while there. QSL via F6AJA directly or via the Bureau. Roland can usually be found on the 30 to 10m bands using CW. Tosy, JA6VZB is active as JD1BQW from Chichijima, AS-031, in Japan, until the 5th of June. He plans to concentrate on the 12 and 6m bands using FT8. QSL via Logbook of the World, eQSL, Club Log's OQRS, or the Bureau. Now the contest news National Field Day started at 1500UTC on Saturday the 1st of June and ends at 1500UTC today, the 2nd of June. Using CW on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The UK Six Metre Group Summer Contest started at 1300UTC on Saturday the 1st and ends at 1300UTC today, Sunday the 2nd of June. Using all modes on the 6m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and membership number. Today, the 2nd of June, the UK Microwave Group Low Band Contest runs from 0900 to 1500UTC. Using all modes on 1.3, 2.3 and 3.4GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The ARRL International Digital Contest started at 1800UTC on Saturday the 1st and ends at 2359UTC today, Sunday the 2nd of June. Using any digital mode, excluding RTTY, on the 160 to 6m bands, the exchange is your four-character locator. On Tuesday the 4th, the 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 4th, the 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 5th, the 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 5th, the 144MHz FT8 Activity two-hour Contest runs from 1900 to 2100UTC. 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 IARU ATV Contest starts at 1200UTC on Saturday the 8th and ends at 1800 UTC on Sunday the 9th of June. Using TV on 432MHz and up frequencies, the exchange is a serial number, four-digit code and locator. More details on the rules for this contest are available at tinyurl.com/IARUATV On Sunday the 9th, the 2nd 144MHz Backpackers Contest runs from 0900 to 1300UTC. Using all modes on the 2m band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also on Sunday the 9th of June, the Practical Wireless 2m QRP Contest runs from 0900 to 1600UTC. Using AM, FM, SSB, CW and a maximum of 5W on the 2m band, the exchange is signal, serial number and locator.  Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Thursday the 30th of May 2024 Last week was characterised by relatively quiet geomagnetic conditions and a fairly high solar flux. But is that all about to change? Active region 3664 has returned. It is now named 3697 and has already emitted an X1.4-class solar flare. You may recall that it was AR 3664 that caused the aurora that was visible all over the UK around the 10th and 11th of May. As Solarham.com says, “The chances for an Earth-directed eruption will increase with each passing day as the active sunspot region turns into a better geoeffective position.” Scientists now believe that the coronal mass ejection associated with the long-duration X1.4-class flare on Wednesday the 29th may pass close enough to Earth to generate moderate G2 geomagnetic storming beginning on the 31st of May – just in time for this weekend's National Field Day! Otherwise, HF propagation has generally been good with decent F2-layer openings up to 21 and even 24MHz at times. The 17 and 15m bands look to provide the best DX, with paths to the east in the morning, and to the west during late afternoon and early evening. The 10m band is subject to Sporadic-E openings, with F2-layer openings mainly restricted to paths to South Africa and South America. Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will be in the 165 to 200 range, with quiet geomagnetic conditions. However, that is perhaps a little optimistic as active region 3697, or perhaps 3691, could easily throw a spanner in the works, with a flare and associated CME potentially sending the Kp index skywards. So, as always, keep an eye on the current state of the Sun at solarham.com, and work the bands while they are open! And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The close of the current week offers a temporary return of high pressure for this weekend. This should be good for some Tropo conditions for western parts of the UK. The weather turns a bit more unsettled going through the coming week, especially over northern Britain, but also occasionally in the south. Rain at this time of the year can often be heavy and thundery with good prospects for GHz bands rain scatter, but this may have to wait for the end of next week when a low moves north from France towards the southern UK. The early part of June is a time of several minor meteor showers. These should offer scope for meteor scatter operators as well as provide some fuel for Sporadic-E propagation which rocket measurements show consists of long-lived meteor ions. Sporadic-E propagation is often associated with the position of jet streams in the upper troposphere due to the turbulence that these fast-flowing currents of air generate. In the coming week, the jet stream pattern becomes much weaker, although still with a few options. Daily blogs are available at Propquest.co.uk  for those who are interested. Don't ignore the prospects for multi-hop transatlantic paths to the United States and particularly the Caribbean, which are usually well supported in the early part of the season before the upper winds over the Caribbean change over to high-summer slacker flow.  Equally, multi-hop Sporadic-E paths to the Far East are worth checking in the early morning following the effects of the now displaced northerly meandering jet stream flow across northern Russia. Moon declination went positive again on Saturday the 1st of June, so the coming week will see lengthening Moon windows. EME path loss is falling, reaching a minimum at perigee today, Sunday the 2nd of June. 144MHz sky noise is low apart from Thursday when the Sun and Moon are close in the sky. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

Esta semana seguimos repasando el mundo de los modos digitales en la radioafición con algunas pinceladas de diferentes modos: FT8 (FT4), RTTY, PSK31, SSTV, Packet Radio... y escuchamos su sonido para que seamos capaces de reconocerlos cuando nos encontramos escuchando las diferentes bandas. Además, empezamos con algunas fe de erratas respecto a comentarios en episodios anteriores, que siempre viene bien puntualizar algunos de los conceptos que hemos ido mencionando. Notas del episodio - FT8 https://www.todo-sdr.com/que-es-ft8-y-como-funciona/ - RTTY http://www.radioaficion.net/EA4YD/Cosas/RTTY/index.html - Varios Modos digitales https://www.ea2cdy.es/varios-modos-digitales.html - Optimizar las operaciones en FT8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJED6ti52CQ&t=101s ¿Nos apoyas para que podamos seguir haciendo este podcast y más contenidos? 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/cq-en-frecuencia-podcast/apoya/ 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 dejéis 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 19th of November 2023 The news headlines: World Radio Conference WRC-23 VHF Contest Committee survey “Taking Amateur Radio into schools” RSGB presentation released   World Radio Conference WRC-23 opens on Monday the 20th of November. Over the coming four weeks, a wide variety of agenda items will be considered, of which the 23cm band is a high-priority item for amateur radio. IARU volunteers have worked hard over the past four years in preparation for this. The RSGB will be attending as part of the Ofcom UK delegation. The RSGB's social media and special focus page at rsgb.org/wrc-23 will feature regular postings whilst the conference is underway.  Following a really productive contest forum at the RSGB Convention, and a number of suggestions generated by the committee or raised in discussions with contesters, the VHF Contest Committee would like feedback to help finalise the VHF Contest rules for next year. The survey doesn't have many questions so it shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes of your time to fill it out, but the committee would really appreciate your views. Of course, there is also an opportunity for you to give feedback outside of those specific questions. You'll find the survey at tinyurl.com/VHFCC and it will remain open until the end of the month. As part of its commitment to outreach and the growth of amateur radio, the RSGB has released a presentation from its 2023 Convention, called “Taking amateur radio into schools”. Lyall Smith GM4XID, Chris Leviston M0KPW, and Simon Harris G4WQG, share their experiences of inspiring school pupils to explore and have fun with amateur radio. Lyall set up an amateur radio club in his school whilst Chris started an afterschool club at his daughter's primary school. Simon, with the help of friends at his amateur radio club, created links with his son's technical college that have snowballed to other schools in the area. The presentation shows how individual radio amateurs and clubs can make positive and productive links with schools and will give you tips and encouragement for getting involved with your local schools. The Bath Based Distance Learning team has helped over a thousand students to pass UK amateur radio exams with pass rates consistently above the national average. The next Intermediate course will run from January to May 2024. Students will receive weekly work packages via a virtual classroom. There will be no charge for the training, but students will need to provide their own textbook, scientific calculator, electronic parts and tool kit. Students will also have to arrange their own exam at the end of the course, but advice will be provided at the appropriate time. As part of the application process, there will be some pre-course work to ensure students are able to use the online learning systems and to be sure they are ready to study in January. To receive course application details, please email Bath Based Distance Learning Team Leader Steve, G0FUW, via g0fuw@bbdl.org.uk The RSGB National Radio Centre 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 2 pm. Following the seasonal closures, the RSGB National Radio Centre will also be closed for essential maintenance works between the 2nd and 5th of January 2024. 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 rsgb.org/bpvoucher Please send details of your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk  The deadline for submissions is 10 am on Thursday before the Sunday broadcast.   And now for details of rallies and events The Coulsdon Amateur Transmitting Society Bazaar is taking place today, Sunday the 19th of November. The venue is Oasis Academy, Homefield Road, Old Coulsdon, CR5 1ES. Doors are open to the public from 10am to 2pm and the entrance fee is £3. Traders, bring and buy, club tables and car parking are available. Please forward general enquiries to bazaar@catsradio.org.uk The Wiltshire Winter Radio Rally will take place on Saturday the 25th of November from 9am to 1pm. The venue is Kington Langley Village Hall and Playing Field, Kington Langley, Wiltshire, SN15 5NJ. Entry costs £3. There is no charge for under 16s. For further information please contact chairman@chippenhamradio.club Bishop Auckland Radio Amateur Club Rally will take place on Sunday the 3rd of December. The event will be held at Spennymoor Leisure Centre, High Street, Spennymoor, County Durham, DL16 6DB. The doors open at 10.30am for visitors, with disabled access from 10 am. For more information, contact bdingle@hotmail.co.uk   Now the Special Event News Radio Club de Nice is active as TM8AB to commemorate the anniversary of the first transatlantic amateur two-way contact between Leon Deloy, 8AB and Fred Schnell, 1MO in November 1923. Listen for activity on the 80 to 10m bands using SSB, CW, FT8 and SSTV until the 10th of December. QSL via F4KJQ. Special callsign LX90RTL is in use to celebrate the 90th anniversary of Radio Luxembourg's first long-wave broadcast. It will be used by various LX operators until the end of the year. Look for activity on the HF bands using SSB, CW, digital modes, and satellite. All QSOs will be confirmed automatically via the DARC bureau. The logs will be uploaded to Club Log, Logbook of the World and eQSL on a regular basis. See QRZ.com for more information.   Now the DX news Pierre, VK3KTB and Alexey, VE1RUS are active as VY0ERC from the Eureka Amateur Radio Club station on Ellesmere Island, NA-008, until the 22nd of November. QSL via OQRS. Maurizio, IK2GZU is active again from Tanzania as 5H3MB until the 8th of December. He is operating using SSB, CW and digital modes on the 80 to 10m bands. QSL via OQRS, Logbook of the World, eQSL or via IK2GZU.   Now the contest news On Tuesday the 21st of November, the 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. On Thursday the 23rd of November, the 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 runs from 0000UTC on Saturday the 25th of November to 2359UTC on Sunday the 26th 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 16th of November 2023 We had another roller-coaster week with periods of reasonably settled geomagnetic conditions followed by more unsettled times. Luckily, it didn't get too bad, as it did when the Kp index hit seven the week before. This, coupled with a lower solar flux index of 119 on Thursday, has meant HF conditions have not been outstanding. However, we are still buoyed by the seasonal HF conditions, which are generally good in Autumn. Propquest shows that the F2-layer critical frequency is still maxing out at more than 12MHz around noon. The F2-layer critical frequency is the highest at which radio waves are returned back to Earth when sent directly up into the ionosphere. This gives us a maximum usable frequency, or MUF, over a 3,000km path of more than 40MHz. Interestingly, it also gives us an MUF over a 500km path of more than 14.7MHz. So, look out for long-distance inter-G signals around noon, or thereabouts, on the 20m band. The 30m band remains a pretty solid inter-G band from late morning to mid-afternoon. Getting back to the geomagnetic conditions, the Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field or IMF has been pointing south for long periods which is why the Kp index has been higher than normal. This means the IMF more easily couples to the Earth's magnetic field, just like two bar magnets aligned north against south. Next week, NOAA predicts the solar flux index will rise again, perhaps reaching 140 by the end of the week. However, it also forecasts unsettled geomagnetic conditions from the 22nd  to the 25th, with a forecast Kp index of up to 5. So, get your HF DXing in early next week!   And now the VHF and up propagation news The seemingly never-ending period of unsettled weather is likely to continue into the coming week. This means another week with only a limited chance of Tropo for most parts of the country. As something of a longshot, it's worth noting that southern parts of England, especially along the Channel coast, may have access to higher pressure over Biscay after the middle of next week for chance Tropo paths south into western France or northern Spain. For the rest of us, the weather pattern is rather changeable with a tendency for north-westerly winds. At this time of year, this can often mean that showers form over the surrounding seas. Rain scatter options could be worth checking for stations around the Irish and North Sea coasts. Meteor scatter is also worth considering, in view of the peak of the Leonids, on Friday the 17th and Saturday the 18th, at the beginning of this first weekend. It's quite a broad period of activity and, with the minor Moncerotids shower peaking on the 22nd, conditions could still be good throughout the new week. Lastly a thought about the chances of aurora and the busy solar activity: it's worth keeping a check on the planetary Kp index for signs of aurora – look for a Kp above six. For EME operators, Moon declination starts at a minimum but rises all week, going positive again late on Wednesday. Losses are at their lowest with Moon perigee on Tuesday the 21st. 144MHz sky noise is low all week. Perigee is when the Moon is at its closest point to Earth. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

En esta ocasión, hablamos de los indicativos de radioaficionado en España. En nuestra comunidad de CQ En Frecuencia en Telegram, donde tenemos una variedad de personas, desde aquellos con mucha experiencia en radioficción hasta aquellos que están comenzando, surgió una duda que nos llevó a crear este episodio. La duda tenía que ver con algo que escuchamos constantemente en las bandas, nuestros indicativos y los diferentes tipos de indicativos que podemos encontrar. Comencemos hablando de los indicativos de radioaficionado en España, centrándonos en nuestro país, Echo Alfa. Antes, solíamos tener diferenciaciones entre Echo Alfa, Echo Bravo y Echo Charlie, pero en la última reglamentación, se homogeneizó la entrega de indicativos, y ahora todos somos Echo Alfa. Años atrás, Echo Charlie era para aquellos nuevos en la radioafición, que permitía operar en las bandas de HF con ciertas limitaciones. Luego estaba Echo Bravo, para aquellos interesados en las bandas VHF y UHF. Echo Alfa era la categoría completa, que permitía operar en todas las bandas. A pesar de la homogeneización, todavía es posible escuchar indicativos antiguos, como Echo Charlie o Echo Bravo. Luego de las dos letras del prefijo, viene la zona. En España, estamos divididos en nueve zonas, que agrupan diferentes provincias. La zona 1 es Galicia, Asturias y Castilla, la zona 2 es País Vasco y Aragón, la zona 3 es Cataluña, y así sucesivamente hasta la zona 9, que comprende Ceuta y Melilla. Por lo tanto, nuestros indicativos serían Echo Alfa 1, ya que nos encontramos en la zona 1. Después de la zona, vienen las letras del sufijo. Normalmente, cuando obtienes tu indicativo por primera vez, tienes tres letras, como en nuestro caso, Echo Alfa 1, India, Víctor Bravo. Con el tiempo y la experiencia, puedes solicitar un indicativo con dos letras, lo que facilita las comunicaciones, y finalmente, con una sola letra después de acumular experiencia y contactos en la radioafición. Un pequeño paréntesis para mencionar que los indicativos pueden tener modificadores, indicando la situación o condiciones en las que el operador está operando. Por ejemplo, si decimos "Echo Alfa 1, India, Víctor Bravo, barra QRP," significa que estamos transmitiendo con baja potencia. Luego, hablamos sobre las estaciones desatendidas, que generalmente son repetidores, y sus indicativos que comienzan con Echo Delta seguido de la zona y sufijo, que siempre comienza con Yankee o Zulu. Estos indicativos son importantes de diferenciar de los indicativos personales que también pueden comenzar con Echo Delta. Continuamos explicando los indicativos especiales, que se pueden solicitar para concursos, festividades locales, estaciones colectivas, entre otros. Los patrones para estos indicativos varían según el evento y pueden comenzar con diferentes prefijos, como Echo Delta, Echo Echo, Echo Foxtrot, Echo Golf, Echo Hotel, Alfa Mike, Alfa November, Alfa Óscar, entre otros. Finalmente, concluimos con un avance de la revista "SelvaMar Noticias" y una conversación sobre la recepción de imágenes SSTV de la Estación Espacial Internacional, con la participación de Carmelo, EA8CAZ, del grupo Conecta Radio de Canarias, un apasionado de los satélites en la radioafición. Notas del Episodio: - Legislación y solicitud sobre indicativos especiales https://avancedigital.mineco.gob.es/espectro/radioaficionados/Paginas/solicitud-indicativos-especiales.aspx https://www.radioclubhenares.org/presentacion-y-tramitacion-de-indicativos-especiales/ 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 dejéis 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.

It is my sad duty to advise all in the wonderful world of Amateur Radio that we have lost one of our most keen and knowledgeable practitioners in the service. Jeff Stinson VK4CCF went Silent Key in Townsville on Sunday October 1st 2023 following a long battle with cancer. Despite doing the one step forward, two steps back during his fight with the big C, Jeff managed to be more active than most in Amateur Radio, on good days trying out new modes of emissions, getting back onto APRS and SSTV, trying to add to the many DX contacts he made over the years on HF, 6 metres and VHF plus getting his equipment back on air, repairing antennas and getting out of town to do portable operations. Vale Jeff Stinson VK4CCF - Silent Key. Hello, I'm Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I've been thinking. Here it is not even summer and we are seeing distressing stories on the nightly news and our news feeds on-line. October is here and the southern part of the country has been suffering fires and floods and the experts are putting the severity down to climate change. It seems to be a good example to ensure our preparedness for the coming cyclone season is as good as can be. If you are short on information on disaster type preparedness, take a look at Phil Waite's article in the current issue of Amateur Radio magazine and perhaps also check your local government web site for advice in your area. On another type of preparedness, we are often reminded that we need to recruit and retain to ensure that amateur radio continues to exist. The big issue surely is, what is there to attract people to join this recreational activity? When you look at the situation, there has been over 20 years of falling involvement in community activities and our Wireless Institute is likewise looking for people to take on volunteer roles. We, from time to time, witness spats of dissension brought about on the basis of ages and attitudes that go along with the various generations. We cling to the memories of the halcyon days, or so it seems, and the more anxious newbie show frustration at the seeming lack of ambition to grab on to and run with the world as it is today. Within the microcosm of local clubs there will tend to be a group ethos that is defined by the people that attend and the things that interest them within amateur radio. Small memberships of ageing people may find it hard to canvass the opportunities and then progress seeking candidates to join but then that is why we have a peak body, the Wireless Institute of Australia. Here is the double bind, the Institute has vacancies for people to fill and it doesn't seem to speak out to its audience showing a leadership role in promoting the joining and participation in ham radio. The perception seems to be that the club sector will take care of this but the clubs need leadership. As much as the clubs would benefit by guidance and encouragement in this direction, we, as individuals, can also benefit by being prepared to talk with people who enjoy the challenges of technology and science and the art of communication. With so much available, why is it that we seem to be left to slumber into obscurity, or is that my mistake? With a section of the community campaigning to be heard via the referendum process, are we just acquiescing to the process of ageing gracefully and disregarding the good we can bring to our families and the community generally? We need to be heard by our peak body and we owe it to ourselves and those who might miss out on the pleasures of this great recreation if all that happens is people sit on their hands and listen to the white noise of dissatisfaction. I'm Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that's what I think....how about you?

GB2RS News Sunday the 1st of October 2023 The news headlines: RSGB 2023 Convention RadCom Basics Editor retirement RSGB Director Ben Lloyd, GW4BML's SOTA challenge We're counting down to the RSGB 2023 Convention and the Society is putting the final touches to the programme. This year there will be a special, hour-long, session with the RSGB Board where the Directors will present the four strategic priorities that the Society will be focusing on until the 2024 AGM. After that, Convention attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions. This will be a positive and productive opportunity to discuss with the Board how the Society, and its members, can meet the challenges facing amateur radio today. The session will be hosted by Don Beattie, G3BJ, who is the former IARU Region 1 President as well as a former President of the Radio Society of Great Britain. The session will be recorded so if you are unable to attend the Convention but would like to hear a particular topic discussed, please email that topic with your name and callsign to comms@rsgb.org.uk before Monday the 9th of October. The discussion will include as many topics as possible but the RSGB cannot guarantee every topic will be covered. Directors will also only answer specific questions from those who attend the session at the Convention. To be part of this discussion and pose your question to the Board, book your package or day ticket to the RSGB Convention today – go to rsgb.org/convention and choose ‘Click here to book online'. Bookings close at midnight on Sunday the 8th of October. RadCom Basics Editor Lee Aldridge, G4EJB has retired. Over the past few years, Lee has been instrumental in making RadCom Basics a success. His passion for amateur radio and commitment to encouraging newcomers is infectious and has been very well received by readers. The RSGB thanks Lee for his hard work as Editor and is pleased to report that he will continue to write for RadCom Basics and provide regular technical and fault-finding articles. The new RadCom Basics Editor is Tim Hier, G5TM and the RSGB welcomes him to the role. Lee and Tim have worked together to produce the September edition of RadCom Basics. You can contact Tim with ideas or feedback for future editions via radcombasics@rsgb.org.uk  RSGB Members can access all issues of RadCom Basics by visiting rsgb.org/radcom-basics RSGB Director Ben Lloyd, GW4BML has taken on the challenge of activating ten summits during 12 days on the remote Scottish islands. He will climb some with his partner and fellow radio amateur Martha, and their two-year-old daughter Lyra. This SOTA – or Summits on the Air – challenge combines Ben's favourite hobbies of amateur radio and hiking, but it also sometimes brings with it adverse weather conditions and the need to reach remote islands by kayak! Ben is hoping that by sharing his challenge he will not only inspire radio amateurs to try SOTA, but he will also encourage people who love walking and hiking to try amateur radio. You can catch up with his adventures on the RSGB social media channels and through the special playlist of videos on the RSGB YouTube channel. Go to youtube.com/theRSGB and choose the playlist called “RSGB Director Ben Lloyd, GW4BML - SOTA challenge”. The next Tonight@8 live webinar is on Monday the 2nd of October when Lee Volante, G0MTN will give a presentation aimed at newcomers to contesting. He will explore how contesting began, explain why it is rewarding and fun, and demonstrate how anyone can take part in their first contests with equipment they have today. Watch on the RSGB YouTube channel and find out more on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/webinars The RSGB QSL Bureau reports that, due to unforeseen circumstances, well-known volunteer Roy Taylor, M0RRV is retiring from his post as volunteer sub-manager for the M1 to M7 groups. The Bureau thanks Roy for his valuable service to others and is now seeking a replacement volunteer. Expressions of interest should be emailed to qsl@rsgb.org.uk  Members are requested not to send collection envelopes to this group until further notice. IARU Region 1 will hold its next General Conference from the 1st to the 4th of November 2023 in Zlatibor, Serbia. A wide range of papers and proposals are now available online and the RSGB welcomes comments on these. Topics include: general reports; organisational and budget proposals; the new HF Bandplan; VHF, UHF and SHF changes; and consideration of WRC-23, the World Radiocommunication Conference, which follows shortly afterwards. Other themes include: strategic projects and progress, accommodating digital technologies, contests, EMC and other spectrum matters. Comments should be forwarded to the relevant HF, VHF or Microwave spectrum manager, by Thursday the 12th of October, in order to allow time to finalise the RSGB position. You can find a link to the consultation via thersgb.org/go/iaruconsult   And now for details of rallies and events The 48th Welsh Radio Rally is taking place today, the 1st of October. The venue is Llanwern High School, Hartridge Farm Road, Newport, South Wales, NP18 2YE. The doors will be open from 8am for traders and from 10am for the public. Entry is £3. Free parking, bring and buy and refreshments will be available. For more information email welshradiorally@gw6gw.co.uk  Hornsea Amateur Radio Club Rally will take place on Sunday the 15th of October. The venue will be Driffield Showground, YO25 9DW. For more information, contact Les, 2E0LBJ on 01377 252 393 or email lbjpinkney1@hotmail.co.uk Dartmoor Autumn Radio Rally will take place on Sunday the 15th of October. The venue will be Yelverton War Memorial Hall, Meavy Lane, Yelverton. Devon, PL20 6AL. There will be bring and buy, trader stands, free parking and refreshments available. The doors will open at 10am and admission will be £2.50. For more information, contact Roger on 07854 088 882 or email 2e0rph@gmail.com   Now the Special Event News The British Railways Amateur Radio Society, using the club callsign GX4LMR, is marking 185 years since the opening of Preston railway station in 1838. Mark, G1PIE will be operating during the whole month of October. Activity will be centred on the 40m band using SSB. QSL via the bureau.   Now the DX news Bob, W7YAQ and Al, K7AR are active as VK9LAA from Lord Howe Island, OC-004, until the 4th of October. They are running two stations on the 160 to 6m bands. QSL via Club Log's OQRS, Logbook of the World, or via W7YAQ. Sajid, VA3QY is active as A22EW from his homeland of Botswana until the 8th of October. He is operating on the 20 to 10m bands. He may also operate on the 6m band. QSL via eQSL. Brian, GW4DVB is active as J88PI until the 10th of October from Palm Island, NA-025, in the Caribbean. Brian is operating on the 40, 20, 17, 15, 10 and 6m bands using SSB, SSTV and FT8. QSL direct to home call.     Now the contest news The UK and Ireland Contest Club DX SSB Contest started at 1200UTC on Saturday the 30th of September and ends at 1200UTC today, Sunday the 1st of October. Using SSB on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Stations from the UK and Ireland also send their District Code. This event replaces the original RSGB DX contest. It is listed on the RSGB contest calendar and, for entrants from the UK and Crown Dependencies, counts towards the HF Championship. This international DX SSB contest also has a Teams section. Team members, with a maximum of three members, can be from different DXCCs and can enter different sections. Rules, in English and eight other languages, can be found under the "DX CONTESTS" menu at ukeicc.com The Worked All Britain DX Contest started at 1200UTC on Saturday the 30th of September and ends at 1200UTC today, Sunday the 1st of October. Using SSB on the 80 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report, serial number and Worked All Britain square. On Monday the 2nd of October, the Autumn Series CW Contest runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using CW on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Tuesday the 3rd of October, 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 3rd of October, 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 Tuesday the 3rd of October, the IRTS 80m Evening Counties Contest runs from 1900 to 2000UTC. 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 Wednesday the 4th of October, the 144MHz FT8 Activity four-hour Contest runs from 1700 to 2100UTC. Using FT8 on the 2m band, the exchange is report and four-character locator. Also on Wednesday the 4th of October, 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 Wednesday the 4th of October, the UK and Ireland Contest Club 80m Contest runs from 2000 to 2100UTC. Using SSB on the 80m band, the exchange is your six-character locator. The Oceania DX SSB Contest starts at 0600UTC on Saturday the 7th of October and ends at 0600UTC on Sunday the 8th of October. Using SSB on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Both the IARU and RSGB 432MHz to 245GHz Contests start at 1400UTC on Saturday the 7th of October and end at 1400UTC on Sunday the 8th of October. Using all modes on 432MHz to 245GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Saturday the 7th of October, the 2.3GHz Trophy Contest runs from 1400 to 2200UTC. Using all modes on 2.3GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also on Saturday the 7th of October, the 1.2GHz Trophy Contest runs from 1400 to 2200UTC. Using all modes on 1.2GHz frequencies, 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 September 2023 Another week of disrupted solar and geomagnetic conditions saw the Kp index go up and MUFs come down. A period of minor G1 geomagnetic storming was observed on Tuesday the 26th thanks to an enhanced solar wind stream containing a long-duration southward-facing Bz component. If the solar wind's Bz magnetic field points south, it more easily couples with the Earth's magnetic field, allowing solar plasma to flood in. The net result was a Kp index of 5.67 and visible aurora seen from the UK once again. It is worth reminding people that, at this point in the solar cycle, conditions are being governed more by the Kp index than the solar flux index. A high Kp index generally results in lower MUFs and poor HF conditions. During the week, the solar flux index was around 175, declining to 156 on Thursday the 28th. The number of solar flares also decreased as the week progressed. Next week NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will remain in the range 145 to 155, perhaps hitting 160 on the 7th. NOAA also predicts quiet geomagnetic conditions with a maximum Kp index of 2. As we said last week, at this point in the cycle solar flares and coronal mass ejections are very prevalent and hard to predict. So, do not be surprised if the Kp index goes up again. Otherwise, if it remains low, make the most of the good HF conditions that generally follow. Finally, as it is now October, we can expect another step up in HF conditions as we enter Autumn, so keep an eye on the 10m band, which should be opening up to the US and Canada in the afternoon. There are plenty of 10m beacons to listen for from 28.160 to 28.330MHz, as well as FM repeaters clustered around 29.600MHz.   And now the VHF and up propagation news Last week saw trans-equatorial openings on 50MHz with V51 Namibia reported all over the UK, as far north as Scotland around 1900UTC. On the tropo front, last week was fairly unsettled with a visit from Agnes, our first named storm of the season, which affected the north and west. The coming week is looking much more suitable for VHF radio with high pressure building over the country from Tuesday, bringing a good chance of Tropo as we go through the week. This may not be fully developed for the 144MHz UK Activity Contest on Tuesday the 3rd, but possibly starting to help lift conditions, in the south at least. The high pressure will become more widespread over the next week, but by the following weekend of the 7th and 8th of October, the 1.3GHz Trophy may have to deal with more disturbed conditions in western areas. However, conditions will still probably be good for eastern areas across the North Sea to southern Scandinavia. The meteor scatter prospects are improving as we move towards the October Draconids, which peak on the night of the 8th and 9th. Auroras have also featured recently so should remain in our checklist. Incidentally, although we are technically outside the main Sporadic-E season, Dourbes ionosonde data plotted on the Propquest website have shown occasional ‘blips' in the critical frequency of the Sporadic-E layer, for example to 7.5MHz around 1650UTC on Wednesday the 27th of September. This would certainly be enough for 10m and perhaps even 6m chance openings. ‘If in doubt call CQ' is the take-away message here. Moon declination goes positive on Friday the 29th of September and reaches its peak the following Thursday. This means increasing Moon elevation and lengthening Moon Windows until then. The downside being that path losses are increasing all week ahead of apogee on the 10th of October. 144MHz sky noise starts off low, increasing to 500 Kelvin next Thursday before dropping again for the weekend. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

ハムのラジオ第542回の配信です。 (2023/5/21放送) 今回の特集は「SSTVで温故知新」です。 50年前ほどから始まった、アマチュア無線の新しい映像モードSSTV。 黎明期は皆さん苦労されていたようですが、現在ではパソコンの活用で、 手軽に楽しめるようになりました。 さらにスマホでもSSTV送受信可能な今、ハンディ機と組み合わせで、 何か、新しいことが！？ 番組でご紹介したMMSSTVの […]

Did you know you can listen to the International Space Station or “Brazilian Pirates” from your backyard? With correct software, you can download weather images directly from satellites. Or, you may be able to receive Slow Scan TV images (SSTV) and earn certificates just for participating?

In this episode, we join Martin Butler M1MRB, Chris Howard (M0TCH), Martin Rothwell (M0SGL), Frank Howell (K4FMH), Bill Barnes (WC3B) and Leslie Butterfields (G0CIB) to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news, Colin Butler (M6BOY) rounds up the news in brief and in the episode's feature is MM0UKI Rockall Dxpedition. We would like to thank our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate Artemis 2 Astronauts Flying to the Moon Could Phone Home with Ham Radio High-Altitude Balloon Launch Online Ham Bootcamp - 13th May 2023 ARRL Support FCC Proposes Changes to 60-Metre Band UK Coronation Call Signs Air Travel Chaos Looms as US Leeps 5G Altimeter Refit Deadline Annual Armed Forces Day Crossband Test SSTV Transmissions from ORBICRAFT-ZORKIY

If you want to try something fun for ham radio, check out SSTV.

In this edition: 01. SSTV from ISS 02. AMSAT-UK Colloquium Videos 03. July-August 2022 Journal 04. FO-99 Schedule 05. HO-113 tips and tricks 06. HO-113 User manual 07. AMSAT Keps Link 08. AMSAT Distance Records 09. AMSAT President Club 10. Satellite Status Page 11. Satellite Status Page 2 12. FM Satellite Frequencies 13. Linear Satellite Frequencies 14. ISS pass prediction times 15. FO-29 Schedule 16. ARISS Operation Mode 17. AMSAT Getting Started with Amateur Satellites digital 18. AMSAT Getting Started with Amateur Satellites print 19. AMSAT News Service 20. AMSATs GOLF Program 21. AMSAT Hardware Store 22. AMSAT Gear on Zazzle 23. AMSAT Remove Before Flight Keychains 24. AMSAT Membership 25. AMSAT Donations 26. AMSAT on Twitter 27. and more.

QNEWS - AUGUST 14 VK4 ON AIR ---------------------------------------------------------------------* CLUBBING SUNSHINE COAST http://www.wia.org.au/clubs/vk4/SunshineCoastAmateurRadioClub/ Maleny VK4RSC 146.850 and 438.075 VK4RSN 53.7 Noosa Heads VK4RSL 146.825 and 438.175 News from the Sunshine Coast Amateur Radio Club This is Gordon VK4VP Sunshine Coast Amateur Radio Club SSTV zoom meeting, Thursday 18th August at 10.00 am Harry VK4TK will host the session as a follow up on his recent introduction to analogue SSTV which he presented after the July general meeting. It will be a session on getting started on MMSSTV and YONIQ, as these seem to be the most popular and easiest to set up. Everyone is welcome. You never know, you might have some information that someone else needs to get the best out of this system. Harry has found things by accident, he has read up on different settings, he has also been given information by other users, this he has passed on to new users himself and wishes to pass it on to all other users. How do the attendees get the information to log in? Just send an email to Harry, his email address is harryvk4tk@gmail.com SunFest 2022 is Here Sunday, September 18th at the Mountain Creek State School Hall Here is your chance to grab a bargain, catch up with folks you haven't seen for a while for an off-air rag chew, or just enjoy our famous catering. Tickets this year are still $10 to cover hall costs and door prizes. There is a raffle as well, where someone will be walking away with a Yaesu FTDX10 co-sponsored by the Sunshine Coast Amateur Radio Club and QSLCOMMS, as well as other great prizes. This year our event is on a Sunday and as a result, we are starting later, with trader entry from 8 am, while doors open strictly at 10 am, so if you're not catching a weekend away on the coast already you have time for a leisurely drive Included in your ticket cost is a lucky door prize with tickets to be drawn at 10:30, 11:00, 11:30, 12:00 & 12:30PM. Tickets can be ordered online for the main raffle which will be drawn @1pm with 3 prizes and the first prize is a brand new Yaesu FTDX10. Tickets are $10 each. Just go to Sunfest.evenentbrite.com and you can purchase tickets for the raffle, book a traders spot or just buy a general entry ticket. As usual, we will have our famous Bacon & Egg rolls and hamburgers along with tea, coffee and soft drinks. So just remember this year it is in a new location at the Mountain Creek State School Hall 51 Lady Musgrave Drive Mountain Creek This has been Gordon VK4VP ---------------------------------------------------------------------* Hello, I'm Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I've been thinking. How many clubs have had a good look at the membership that they have and compared that to the number of people who turn up to meetings and events? I can almost guarantee that the figure will be perhaps less than half the number of paid-up members who actually come to meetings. Then have we looked at the people to see what age groups are represented and what interests they have in common? If people have been sitting for licences, do they still turn up at the club and if not, has anyone bothered to ask them what would bring them along? It is one of the issues confronting amateur radio groups in many countries from what I read. Unless there is growth in numbers there is a tendency for clubs to stagnate. This can be simply that the membership has grown older and most have experienced most of what attracted them to amateur radio in the beginning. Perhaps there has been an effective takeover and a clique is running the activities the way they want without regard to the rest or maybe the old guard of members just doesn't attract interaction with younger people. Has anyone thought of sponsoring a youth section within the club where those people not invested in wheelie-walkers can be their own social group and engage in the more physical outdoor activities that people of my generation keep their arthritis from being agitated? Where ever we see an issue it is a challenge to overcome and growing a club rather than just holding it together is one that takes some creativity. Of course, there is no manual you can simply take off the shelf and follow a set of rules to ensure success like many self-help books promise. However, there is that stuff that brought us along and kept us coming to enjoy another facet of AR. That is curiosity and enthusiasm. I suppose what we need to see is the fountain spraying us with an ever-lasting sprinkle of good vibes to swell our hearts and keep us moving with smiling faces. Well, I haven't found such a mythical device but I have seen people get their heads together and think over where they see things are at and then pull together a plan to not only continue but to make things grow. Clubs can do this and they can do it better with support from their peak bodies. You see this happen in many organisations that have tried and true methods of recruiting, sustaining and engaging with members and the community. Have you thought of sharing a meeting with a successful body in the area and brainstorming what has worked for them? Too often we find that people have taken the attitude that something was tried and didn't work but no one has analysed why. If we erect an antenna and it doesn't work we want some answers so why not apply the same thinking to keeping a club running? I'm Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that's what I think....how about you? ---------------------------------------------------------------------* 2022 Social Scene VK4 - Redcliffe Club Car Boot Sale Saturday 20th August 9 am club house Macfarlane Park, Klingner Road Kippa-Ring. (vk4tfn) VK4 - SunFest Sunday 18 September 10:00 AM Mountain Creek State School (noreply email) TO SUPPLY QNEWS ITEMS:- Send SCRIPT to qnews@wia.org.au send audio to http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/upload/ QNEWS Tips to get MORE out of your weekly newscast on VK4WIA If you would like to submit club news items for inclusion in QNEWS broadcasts, please email your item in text to:- qnews@wia.org.au THEN submit audio:- To submit audio email qnews@wia.org.au and ask for the current password then read "how to submit items" in the weekly news page on http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/contribute/ Remember the sooner you submit audio material the more the likelihood of it being broadcast in the very next edition QNEWS. Each item will only be broadcast once, if you want a couple of mentions, please submit different slants to keep your event 'fresh .‘

GB2RS News Sunday the 10th of July 2022 The news headlines: ICQ Podcast talks to RSGB Special Australian station for Fleet Air Arm anniversary QSL Gallery online Recently, the ICQ Podcast team spoke with Steve Thomas, M1ACB, the RSGB General Manager and Murray Niman, G6JYB, the RSGB Spectrum Forum Chair. Steve discussed some of the behind-the-scenes work carried out by the RSGB whilst at Ham radio in Germany. This included participating in IARU meetings, covering spectrum defence and EMC. Listen from the 1-hour and 46-minute point for this news. Then Murray talked about the protection of the 23cm band. You can find the ICQ Podcast at icqpodcast.com and look for episode 380. VK75FAA is a special callsign celebrating the 75th anniversary of the formation of the Fleet Air Arm, the Royal Australian Navy's aviation branch. Activity will continue until the end of October. The callsign will be used by amateurs around Australia on a rota basis. The large collection of QSL cards on Les Nouvelles DX's website has been updated. Amongst the sixteen different galleries, there are cards for the ten ‘Most Wanted' DXCC Entities between 2012 and 2021, the 62 deleted DXCC Entities and special stations commemorating the ITU and IARU. You can view these galleries and many more at lesnouvellesdx.fr, just click on the QSL Gallery tab. Chard Auctions got in touch regarding an auction taking place on the 16th of July. Lots include a large collection of vintage radios and related equipment. The radio and test equipment items are on pages 7 to 12 of the catalogue. You can view the catalogue and other details at chardauctions.co.uk. The CQ WW VHF contest takes place between 1800UTC on Saturday the 16th of July and 2100UTC on the 17th. It uses the 50MHz and 144MHz bands as permitted by the regulator in the country of operation. The G1E team will be operating from IO90BT, using SSB, CW and FM on both bands. The exchange is callsign and your 4-character locator. There's no need to exchange a signal report. The Israel Amateur Radio Club is running two special event stations for the Maccabiah Games between the 12th and the 26th of July. The two callsigns to look out for are 4X21MG and 4Z21MG. An award is available for amateurs contacting both special event stations on at least two bands and modes and on separate days. The stations will both use CW, SSB and FT8 and operate via satellite. Qrz.com has contact details for the two stations. A date for your diary now. British Inland Waterways on the Air will take place between the 27th and the 29th of August. It is open to all amateurs who are boaters, cyclists, walkers and other users of the canals, rivers, towpaths, and riverbanks for work or recreation. Even lakes and reservoirs that are used for recreation uses are classified as an inland waterway, so there are many places for activating. Many clubs and individual amateurs on or near the UK inland waterways obtain Special Event Station callsigns. The organisers have a Facebook page with more details. And now for details of rallies and events Please send your rally and event news as soon as possible to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. We'll publicise your event in RadCom, on GB2RS, and online. Next Sunday, the 17th of July, the McMichael Amateur Radio Rally & Car Boot Sale will take place at Reading Rugby Club, Sonning Lane, Reading RG4 6ST. Doors open at 9.30 am. There will be a large car boot area and plenty of free parking for sellers and buyers. Refreshments will be available on site. Admission is £3 per person. Sorry but no dogs are allowed, except for assistance dogs, which is a site rule. Now the DX news A large group of operators will be active as T41DX from Playa Boca de Galafre on the main island of Cuba, NA-015, between the 14th and 17th of July. Activity will be on the 10 to 80m bands using SSB, CW, FT8, FT4, RTTY and SSTV. QSL via Logbook of The World or direct to RW6HS. Ed, ES2TT plans to be active from the islands of Wolin, EU-132, and Usedom, EU-129, between the 15th and the 18th of July. He will operate CW and SSB on the 40, 30 and 20m bands. QSL via Club Log's OQRS or via his home call. Bureau cards can be requested by email. Volker, DJ8VW has been active as 5P8VW from Romo Island, EU-125, since the 26th of June and will remain there until the 16th of July. He operates using SSB, CW, FT8 and FT4 on the 4 to 160m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World, eQSL, Club Log's OQRS or via his home call. Now the Special Event news Today, Sunday the 10th of July, Bishop Auckland RAC and Wearside Electronics and Amateur Radio Society are activating GB4BM from Beamish Museum at Beamish, Chester-le Street, Durham. Operations start at 10 am. If you wish to attend and assist in the event contact Ian, G7MFN at g7mfn@hotmail.co.uk. All are welcome. OE60STMK is on the air until the 31st of August for the 60th anniversary of the Styrian regional association within Austria's IARU society. QSL via the bureau to OE6WIG. Now the contest news Today, Sunday the 10th of July, the IARU HF Championship ends its 24-hour run at 1200UTC. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and your ITU Zone. For the UK this is 27. In particular, listen out for the RSGB HQ station operating as GR2HQ from ten different locations using CW and SSB. The team has a total of 35 operators and the stations will be on the air simultaneously on all the available contest bands. Today, the 10th of July, the UK Microwave Group 24, 47 and 76GHz contest takes place between 0900 and 1700UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Tuesday the 12th, the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 432MHz UK Activity Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange is the same for both events, signal report, serial number and locator. Wednesday sees the SSB leg of the 80m Clubs Contest take place between 1900 and 2030UTC. The exchange is a signal report and serial number. Also on Wednesday is the 432MHz FT8 Activity Contest running from 1900 to 2100UTC. The exchange is your report and 4-character locator. Thursday the 14th is the all-mode 50MHz UK Activity Contest between 1900 and 2130UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Saturday, the 70MHz Trophy Contest runs between 1400 and 2000UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and the first two letters of your postcode. Also starting on Saturday the 16th is the CQ World Wide VHF contest. More details are in the main news. Next Sunday, the 17th of July, the International Low Power Contest runs from 0900 to 1600UTC. It is CW only on the 3.5, 7 and 14MHz bands. The exchange is the signal report, serial number and your transmit power. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 8th of July 2022. It was a mixed bag of HF propagation last week. The solar flux index was adequate rather than outstanding and a large elongated coronal hole contributed to the Kp index hitting five on the 4th of July. However, things became more settled geomagnetically later in the week with the Kp index back down in the ones and twos. The SFI slowly climbed up to 115 by Thursday, thanks to some new spots appearing over the Sun's limb. There was some minor solar flare activity, but no coronal mass ejections were logged. The net result was quite good conditions with the MUF over a 3,000km path reaching up to 24MHz at times. This changed on Thursday, however, when the Kp index rose to five due to the incoming enhanced solar wind. Earlier in the week, there were some reports of trans-Atlantic contacts on 10 metres as well as extensive Es openings into Europe. If the Kp index can once again go low it does rather bode well for the IARU worldwide contest this weekend. Next week, NOAA predicts that the SFI will remain around 115 for a time, but may then drop back to around 108 as the week progresses. Barring any CMEs, NOAA predicts that the Kp index may remain low, at least until the 15th and 16th of July when it could rise to four again. However, a coronal hole on the Sun's equator will become Earth-facing on Saturday, so we might expect the Kp index to climb around Monday. As always, this is hard to predict. And now the VHF and up propagation news. The coming week is likely to see high pressure over southern Britain with occasional lows crossing north of Scotland with rain and stronger winds. This raises the prospect of GHz band rain scatter as the fronts move south and break up into showers over northern England and North Wales. The main feature of the next week is the high pressure and the prospects of fairly widespread Tropo. This could extend south and east into the continent and south across Biscay to Spain and beyond. Contacts with the Canaries or perhaps even farther to Cape Verde for the big stations in the southwest of the UK and Southern Ireland are possible. The high summer Sporadic-E season is in full swing although somewhat reticent compared to other years. The jet stream activity is not as widespread as earlier in the season now that summer conditions with lighter upper winds are becoming established, but there should be a preference for paths to Scandinavia and southeast Europe. The other remaining modes of aurora and meteor scatter are of course available given the right conditions. The minor Alpha-Capricornids meteor shower should be active but with a low ZHR of around five. Solar output has been affecting the Kp index recently, so check the various space weather websites for details of further events. The Moon is at minimum declination on Tuesday and perigee on Wednesday so short Moon visibility windows and low path losses are the stories for EME this week. 144MHz sky noise is high for most of the week. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

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

------------------------------------------------------------------- QNEWS - MAY 29 VK4 ON AIR 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------* THE FOLLOWING NEWS CAN BE HEARD FROM OUR AUDIO SERVICE based in BRISBANE, OLYMPIC CITY 2031, RIGHT NOW:- www.vk7ax.id.au/wianews/ OR www.wiaq.org.au Importantly remember to download from the site by COT (Close of Transmission) Mondays. Also, search QNEWS (make sure it IS the Ham Radio QNEWS) in your podcast app. ------------------------------------------------------------* CLUBBING SUNSHINE COAST www.wia.org.au/clubs/vk4/SunshineCoastAmateurRadioClub/Maleny VK4RSC 146.850 and 438.075 VK4RSN 53.7 Noosa Heads VK4RSL 146.825 and 438.175 SCARC has started an SSTV net on Saturday evenings at 18:00 local on our linked repeater system of 146.825, 146.850 and 146.975. The first net ran last Saturday and there was a little bit of activity and a bit of trial and error getting things to work properly. Pre check-ins from 17:55. There will be 2 CQs on mode PD 120 (the same mode the ISS uses) with a 2-minute listening pause for stations to respond. Set your favourite SSTV decoding program to automatic and see what happens. MMSSTV is a good program for this. There will also be a 5-minute pause every 15 minutes for any voice traffic. If no voice traffic the calls will continue for 3 cycles. Net control VK4TK Harry. Also, just a reminder that the car boot sales start at 10:00 today at the clubrooms Godfreys rd. Bli Bli Entry is free and there will be food and drinks for sale, so come along and grab a bargain. Well until next time, this is Gordon VK4VP. --------------------------------------------------------------------* Hello, I'm Geoff Emery, VK4ZPP, and I've been thinking. As we all know there are many rooms in the house that we call amateur radio and when we are in the pursuit of knowledge and experience, we like to explore. The the issue is what is the best, most exciting area in which to engross our interest? Like many areas of interest, there is the learning curve of getting familiarity with the material, the tools and the strategies that take a person from a learner onto a level of proficiency and perhaps even a stage where others regard you as an expert. This happens with on the job training as well as recreation. A good fisher needs to learn how to bait a hook to be able to catch a fish unaided and then learn the types of bait, the style of gear that works in that location and so on. Ham radio is no different. We learn to follow the rules and how to connect our gear from power supply to antenna and practice and discussion help us catch the ones that might have previously got away. Like the fisher, we have to find what is both convenient and what is satisfying. Not every person wants to sit on the bank and watch for a float to bob just as not every fisher wants the expense of a charter boat to hunt some deep-sea denizen. Similarly, not all hams want to build specialised stations or hunt the airwaves for diminishing and scarce call signs in contesting or DXing. Some people like being hands-on with building things and some like to specialise in a band or mode and these likes can expand and change as the years go by. Obviously the experiences and likes of those around us such as fellow club members will draw us in certain directions and this is a good and comforting way of socialising and broadening the range of experience in our hobby. I wonder what the feelings are of those that are enticed into some of the high profile contests where you start to feel you need to be a bush lawyer just to understand the rules? How do others feel about dipping their toe into the waters of a new mode that is still considered esoteric rather than familiar and learning the jargon is akin to being immersed in a foreign county where no one speaks our language? Perhaps these are areas that we should look at in our clubs and amongst fellow amateurs particularly where there a newly licensed or inquiring minds in the midst. We like to think that we are considerate in the practice of amateur radio but perhaps we forget others as our own familiarity with certain rooms of the house increases. What can be more considerate than asking and discussing the areas of interest of our newer members? I'm Geoff Emery VK4ZPP and that's what I think… how about you? ------------------------------------------------------------* TO SUPPLY QNEWS ITEMS:- Send SCRIPT to qnews@wia.org.au send audio to http://www.wia.org.au/members/broadcast/upload/ QNEWS Tips to get MORE out of your weekly newscast on VK4WIA If you would like to submit club news items for inclusion in QNEWS broadcasts, please email your item in text to:- qnews@wia.org.au THEN submit audio:- To submit audio email qnews@wia.org.au Remember the sooner you submit audio material the more the likelihood of it being broadcast in the very next QNEWS. Each item will only be broadcast once, if you want a couple of mentions, please submit different slants to keep your event 'fresh .‘

Dr Brian Callahan, AD2BA, discusses a proposal to embed data into SSTV images. Also, "lens" antennas for UHF and above.

Rod Fritz, WB9KMO, is a fixer and builder, who is a pioneer in amateur television, amateur television repeaters in the UHF and microwave bands, and now the Amateur Television Network, a combination of amateur analog and digital television, over RF links and the Internet.  This network allows amateurs to share video, over amateur radio, Worldwide.  Rod, WB9KMO, discusses the details of this history in this episode of QSO Today.

Thanks for joining us again on Ham Nation. This week Gordo will discuss Quartzfest this month, Randy joins us to cover the recent ISS SSTV event and show us his results. Don brings us Amateur Radio Newsline and will talk about the Marshall fire. Josh will round things out talking about his recent experience with virtual reality, can it be used for remote access to your ham radios?Huge thanks to ICOM for supporting Ham Nation on the Ham Radio Crash Course and their twice montly giveaways! http://icomamerica.com/en/amateur/hamnation/default.aspxLinks from the show!https://quartzfest.org/https://www.ariss.org/donate.htmlhttps://www.denverpost.com/2012/06/13/colorado-wildfire-colorados-amateur-radio-operators-fill-in-wildfire-coverage-gaps/Oculus Quest 2: https://amzn.to/3sYdOA3(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)Do you have questions about the state of Ham Nation? Please watch this video, we might have answered them! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgL7u-lMjQEGordon West's Study Material can be found here: https://www.gordonwestradioschool.com/Don Wilbank's Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHXqPB2Ya0yGTtZtfcO5avQRandy K7AGE: https://www.youtube.com/user/K7AGEDr. Tamitha Skove: https://www.spaceweatherwoman.com/Amateur Radio Newsline: https://www.arnewsline.org/Monthly newsletter, stickers, private content:https://www.patreon.com/hoshnasiPodcast...................► https://www.podbean.com/site/search/index?v=ham+radio+crash+courseDiscord.....................► https://discord.gg/xhJMxDTFacebook.................►https://goo.gl/cv5rEQTwitter......................► https://twitter.com/HoshnasiInstagram.................► https://instagram.com/hoshnasiSnapChat..................► @HoshnasiMusic by, Sonic D:Soundcloud.com/sncd Twitter.com/sncdFacebook.com/djsonicdCompanies can send demo products to: Josh Nass P.O Box 5101 Cerritos, Ca. 90703-5101#hamnation #hamradiocrashcourse #hamradio

GB2RS News Sunday the 26th of December 2021   The news headlines: Last News of 2021 Covid closes National Radio Centre Several days of SSTV from the ISS   This is the final GB2RS news reading for 2021 and we start with seasonal greetings to all newsreaders and listeners, both over the air and via other platforms, and not forgetting viewers of the ATV broadcast, which is available via several repeaters and kindly streamed via the batc.tv website, as well as those who receive this news via TX Factor or podcasts. We would like to take this opportunity once again to thank all those who read the news, in whatever format, for their tireless dedication to their fellow amateurs. A full GB2RS service will resume on the 9th of January. A Local News for the 2nd of January will be available on the RSGB website. In light of the rapidly increasing Covid-19 cases and the high transmission rates, the RSGB has reluctantly decided to close the National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park temporarily until further notice. The situation will be reviewed in the New Year and announcements about re-opening made via GB2RS News, the RSGB website and social media. During the closure, the RSGB Members' voucher for free entry to the NRC will be taken offline. We apologise for any disappointment or inconvenience the closure may cause, but believe it to be in the best interests of the well-being of both volunteers and visitors. During this time the NRC weekday 80m net will be reactivated. The net takes place at 1030UTC on weekdays around 3.727MHz, plus or minus interference. Martyn, G0GMB, the NRC Coordinator, and the NRC volunteers look forward to speaking to as many amateurs as possible over the next few weeks. The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station team will support Slow Scan TV transmissions from the International Space Station over the festive period. The images will be related to lunar exploration. Transmissions should be available worldwide on 145.800MHz FM, using SSTV mode PD120. Transmissions are set to start on the 26th of December at about 1825UTC and end on the 31st at about 1705UTC. The signal should be receivable on a handheld transceiver with a quarter-wave whip antenna. Use the widest filter for 25kHz channel spacing. For more information, go to ariss-sstv.blogspot.com. It is the final week of activation for GB21YOTA for Youngsters on the air. Today, the 26th, and again on the 28th, M0YTE will supervise M7FED using the callsign. On the 27th and 29th, Hilderstone Radio Society will be on the air. Then, on the 30th M0BOY will supervise M7OMY operating the YOTA callsign. Finally, on the 31st, it is M0YTE and M7FED operating on the last day of Youngsters on the Air for this year. The Sudan Amateur Radio Association supports their National Day on Saturday the 1st of January from 0000UTC to 2359UTC with amateur radio activities. Some amateur clubs team up to make a big splash with lots of actions, radios and antennas, offering a variety of modes to experience. For others, the National Day provides an opportunity to coach a smaller group of amateurs and to just have fun talking on the radio. You can email sudanamateur195662@yahoo.com for more details. RSGB HQ is closed for the holidays until 8.30 am on the 4th of January. During that time, if you need information about amateur radio, exams or RadCom you'll find lots of information on the RSGB website, www.rsgb.org. You could also contact your Regional Representative if you need local help, you can find their contact details on the RSGB website at rsgb.org/regional-team. And now for details of rallies and events Unless cancelled by Covid, the Sparkford Wireless Group Rally is due to take place on the 2nd of January at Davis Hall near Yeovil, BA22 7QX. There is free car parking; doors open from 9.30 am to 1 pm and admission is £2. Direct any enquiries to wjh069@gmail.com. Now is the perfect time to let us know your group's rally or event plans for 2022. Email radcom@rsgb.org.uk with details and we'll publicise your event for free in RadCom, on GB2RS, and online. There are already over twenty rallies on the calendar for 2022. Now the DX news Tom, OE1TRI will be active holiday style as 8Q7TR from the Maldives, AS-013, from the 28th of December to the 3rd of January. He will run 20W on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10m using SSB and FT8. QSL via OE1TRI; he does not use Club Log or Logbook of The World. Now the Special Event news Medway ARTS is putting GB6NU on the air on the 1st of January, celebrating their founder, the late Bill Nutton, G6NU. This is the first of several planned MARTS 2022 Centenary year celebrations. Further details of this event can be found on the GB6NU QRZ page. To mark 100 years of British broadcasting, the BBC will be putting on special events throughout 2022. As part of the celebrations, the staff amateur radio club, the BBC Radio Group, will be active throughout the year using the special callsign GB100BBC. Ofcom has kindly permitted operation from club members' home stations, as well as from BBC premises around the UK, and locations associated with BBC broadcasting such as transmitter sites. In addition to online QSL options, a traditional commemorative QSL card will be available via the bureau. View the GB100BBC page on QRZ.com for more information and look for GB100BBC on all bands and modes. Operations will commence on New Year's Day from the club shack in Broadcasting House, London. GB120MT is being operated by Chelmsford ARS to mark the first successful reception in Newfoundland from the Marconi transmission at Poldhu in Cornwall. The station will be on the air at various times until the 1st of January 2022. During the month of December, Welland Valley ARS is running special call signs GB1XMS, GB2XMS, GB5XMS and GB9XMS to celebrate Christmas and say farewell to 2021. QSL via operator's instructions. Now the contest news When operating in any contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following all relevant pandemic-related government rules. The Christmas Cumulatives take place between the 26th and the 29th of December from 1400 to 1600UTC each day. Using the 50 to 432MHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Today, the 26th of December, the DARC Christmas Contest runs from 0830 to 1100UTC. Using CW and SSB on the 3.5 and 7MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. German stations also send DOK (club code) or NM (non-member). The Worked All Britain Christmas Party runs from the 26th of December to the 6th of January. Using all modes on any band, the exchange is your WAB book number. On the 1st of January, the IRTS 80m Daytime Counties contest runs from 1700 to 1800UTC. Using SSB and CW, the exchange is signal report and serial number, with EI and GI stations, also sending their County. On Saturday the 8th, the CW AFS contest runs from 1300 to 1700UTC. Using the 3.5 and 7MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The first session of the EUCW 160m CW Party is also on the 8th from 2000 to 2300UTC, with the second session on the 9th at 0400 to 0700UTC. The ARRL RTTY Round-up runs from 1800UTC on the 8th of January to 2359UTC on the 9th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number, with US stations sending their State and Canadians their Province too. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Wednesday the 22nd of December Given that this report has to last two weeks it is difficult to be precise in terms of actual HF conditions. What we can say is that we are in turbulent times, with the solar flux index going up and down, and geomagnetic conditions subject to fluctuations as coronal holes and coronal mass ejections come and go. The NOAA forecast for the next two weeks is that the solar flux index may reduce as we go past Christmas, initially to the 90s and ultimately to the 80s as we head towards the 28th of December. NOAA also predicts we may have unsettled geomagnetic conditions on or around the 28th of December, possible due to the return of a coronal hole and its associated high-speed solar wind stream. This is very much a guesstimate as this recent crop of sunspots arrived with very little warning. In other words, anything could happen over the next two weeks. At the time of writing, there were two active regions on the Sun about to turn to be Earth-facing on the STEREO Ahead spacecraft imagery, but we will have to wait and see how they develop. What we do know is that mid-Winter is the best time for low-band propagation, so keep an eye on Top Band, 80 metres and 40 metres, which can all show signs of DX activity from afternoon onwards at this time of year. Meanwhile, the higher bands have come into their own with the SFI above 100. If it continues, do check on 12 and 10 metres as they can provide the lowest D-layer absorption and best DX, with some real surprises every now and again. For example, 10m has given quite a few contacts into Australia recently. And 12m has shown good conditions into the mid-west of the USA in the late afternoon before sunset. So until our regular bulletins start again in the New Year, have a very merry Christmas, a happy New Year and good DX. And now the VHF and up propagation news. The good tropo conditions just lasted until the 23cm UK Activity Contest last Tuesday, then a gradual advance of milder Atlantic air with weather fronts, rain and strong winds set the tone for the rest of the week. The general thrust of the milder air is limited and a battle between cold air to the north and mild to the south will split the country in two over the Christmas weekend. There will be snow in some places for Santa and probably not a lot of VHF propagation to distract him! As a long shot, it can sometimes be productive to beam parallel to a weather front, in this case, East to West. In the week between Christmas and New Year, there will be a period of calmer conditions with frosts and a weak ridge of high pressure; so a possible tropo window before the whole pattern returns to mild Atlantic unsettled conditions, but probably with snow on the leading edge. Finally, to restate last week's mention; this time of the year can produce surprising out of season Sporadic-E and, with some strong winter jet stream activity, it's worth a look. Favoured options are to Spain on Boxing Day and more generally to the south and south-east in the second half of the week towards the end of the month. Of course, there's always a chance of aurora and meteor scatter to keep you amused if the Sporadic-E doesn't materialise. The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks overnight from the 2nd of January to the 3rd and can produce a ZHR of 50-100 with some big fireballs. The peak of activity is extremely narrow, lasting only a few hours. The Moon still has positive declination until the day after Boxing Day and perigee is on New Year's day, bringing lowest path losses. This day also has high 144MHz sky noise so EME is a bit of "swings and roundabouts" through the holiday period. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS News Sunday the 21st of November 2021 The news headlines: IARU presents award to Don, G3BJ Make a date for Tonight @ 8 Amateur radio tops BBC News report   Former IARU Region 1 President and RSGB Past-President Don Beattie, G3BJ, was recently presented with the prestigious Michael J Owen Award by the IARU Administrative Council. The award recognises those outstanding volunteers whose exceptional service to the IARU reflect the spirit, hard work and dedication of the late Michael Owen. IARU President Tim Ellam, VE6SH offered his congratulations to Don. On Monday 6 December, Tonight @ 8 will feature Noel Matthews, G8GTZ who will be presenting on the latest developments in the ever-evolving world of amateur TV. Noel will give an overview of ATV activity in the UK and, in particular, how the use of Reduced Bandwidth signals has enabled ATV QSOs on the lower VHF bands. This free webinar can be seen on the RSGB's YouTube channel or on the special BATC stream and you'll be able to ask your questions live. Amateur radio was the lead item in a BBC News article on what made people happy during the pandemic. John Emery, 2E0HWE was pictured in front of his radio, microphone in hand, describing how he had made new friends thanks to amateur radio. You can read the full article at tinyurl.com/GB2RS-1121 Galway Radio Club is running a DMR Challenge, which is open to all DMR operators. The DMR challenge requires nine tasks to be fulfilled. There is no time limit, so you can work on it in your own time. Rules and a log sheet may be obtained from Steve, EI5DD, whose email address is correct on QRZ.com. Those interested in digital radio can download a copy of the Digital Radio Operating Manual from the Galway Radio Club web page, www.galwayradio.com. The manual is packed with information about digital modes, information about repeaters and gateways, maps, and lists of EI, GI and UK Talk Groups. It's not too late to register your interest for December YOTA Month 2021. We have been granted the callsign GB21YOTA, for allocation to youngsters to operate throughout December. To see what operating slots are still available please look up GB21YOTA on QRZ.com. You can register your interest by emailing yota.month@rsgb.org.uk. You must be a Full licence holder or have one willing to supervise the activity. Caradon Hill Repeater Group has upgraded the 70cm equipment at their site in Cornwall. GB3CH has changed to a 7.6MHz split, now operating on RU70 with 77Hz CTCSS. An Allstar node, number 43678, has been added to allow remote access. A new 70cm DMR repeater, GB7LK, has also been installed. Connected to the Phoenix DMR network, GB7LK uses channel RU65 and colour-code 5. The 2m voice repeater GB3JL continues to work well on channel RV63, using 77Hz CTCSS for access. For more information on the group and its repeaters, email gb3ch.repeater@gmail.com. And now for details of rallies and events Some rallies have been cancelled, as previously publicised, including the Bishop Auckland RAC rally, originally due to be held on the 28th of November. The next rally we have details for is the Sparkford Wireless Group Rally, due to take place on the 2nd of January at Davis Hall near Yeovil. Now is the perfect time to let us know your group's rally or event plans for 2022. Email radcom@rsgb.org.uk with details and we'll publicise your event for free. Now the DX news Ali, EP3CQ is on the air as 6O1OO from Mogadishu in Somalia until the first week in December. Activity is mostly on 40, 30 and 20 metres using FT8 and FT4, but also CW and SSB. QSL direct to his home call. Lee, DS4NMJ is QRV as DT8A as part of a scientific team on the King Se-Jong Korean Antarctic Base on King George Island, IOTA AN-010, until December 31. Activity is on the HF bands using CW, SSB and FT8. QSL via DS5TOS. John Paul, KN6NNF is QRV as 5X3Z from Kubamitwe, Uganda. Activity is on 80 to 10 metres using FT8. QSL via LoTW. Damian, G4LHT is QRV as V31HT from San Pedro Ambergris Caye in Belize until the 29th of November. Activity is on 40 to 10 metres using SSB and FT8. QSL via G4LHT. Don, K6ZO will be QRV as D60AB from Comoros, IOTA reference AF-007, from the 22nd to the 29th of November. Activity will be on the HF bands using CW and SSB. This includes an entry in the upcoming CQ World Wide DX CW contest. QSL direct to his home call. Dario, KP4DO is QRV as FJ/KP4DO on St Barthelemy, NA-146, until the 24th of November. Activity is mainly on 20 metres, but also on 40, 17, and 10 as propagation permits. QSL direct to home call. Ulmar, DK1CE is QRV as TZ1CE from Bamako in Mali until the 8th of December. Activity is on 160 to 6 metres using CW, possibly SSB, and FT8. QSL to home call. Now the Special Event news The Quantum Technology Club and Southport & District Amateur Radio Club will jointly run GB5LD to celebrate Lancashire Day on the 27th of November. The station is at St Marks Church Hall, Scarisbrick, near Ormskirk. New licensees are particularly invited to visit, bringing a copy of their licence so they can experience operating different modes. From 2.30 pm there will be a Lancashire Day net on 2m. Details are at www.quantumtech.club Special event station AU2JCB will be on the air until the 14th of December to commemorate Jagadish Chandra Bose's birthday. Activity will be on 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 metres using SSB, with FM on 10 metres and 6 metres. QSL direct to VU2DSI. AM500ESP will be active until the 27th of November to commemorate Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe. Activity will be on the HF, VHF and UHF bands using CW, SSB, SSTV and various digital modes. QSL via EA7URF. E7BOSNIA is QRV from the ancient royal cities of Bobovac, Visoko, and Jajce until the 28th of November to celebrate Statehood Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina. QSL via the bureau. Now the contest news When operating in contests, please keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe by following relevant pandemic-related government recommendations. On Tuesday the SHF UKAC takes place from 1930 to 2230UTC. Using all modes on the 2.3 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is a serial number, signal report and locator. Wednesday sees the UKEICC 80m CW contest, which runs from 2000 to 2100 UTC. Using CW only on the 80m band, the exchange is your 6-character locator. The Autumn Series continues on Thursday with the CW leg on 80m from 2000 to 2130UTC. The exchange here is a serial number, signal report and locator. Next weekend it's the CQWW DX CW contest, running from 0000UTC on Saturday until 2359UTC on Sunday. Using CW only on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is a serial number, signal report and CQ Zone, which for the UK is 14. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA, and G4BAO on Friday the 19th of November 2021. We had a week of lower sunspot activity, almost back to the days of sunspot minimum. The solar flux index ranged from 78 on Sunday 14th to 79 on Thursday 18th with a high of 80 on the 16th. So, nothing to write home about there. Geomagnetic conditions were mainly unsettled, with a maximum Kp index of four, mainly due to an enhanced solar wind from an expected coronal hole stream. There was a C-class solar flare event on the 13th, but this caused us little harm. Despite the relatively low solar flux numbers the ionosphere has been quite respectable. Propquest shows that extrapolated MUFs over a 3,000km path have continued to exceed 28MHz around lunchtime and early afternoon. Next week NOAA's space weather prediction centre has the SFI in the low to mid-80s with a maximum Kp index of two. It doesn't seem to think that we will see a rise in sunspot numbers for at least another week. Let's hope that geomagnetic conditions remain settled for the CQ Worldwide CW contest next weekend, as this offers the best chance of DX even without higher sunspot numbers. And now the VHF and up propagation news. This week is going to be one of weather contrasts, with a change to proper cold weather from midweek. We have seen some useful areas of high pressure giving some Tropo during the second half of the week just finishing. This weekend a cold front will bring colder and more unsettled weather south across the country, but soon a new high will build in from the Atlantic for the beginning of next week, so perhaps a little Tropo again. It all changes midweek as a more active weather system moves south and will introduce very much colder air, with talk of wintry weather for some areas and strong northerly winds. This could mean some rain scatter conditions are possible, but overall fairly flat conditions otherwise. With the Leonids meteor shower past its peak, all eyes will be on the upcoming Geminids, which start to build up from the beginning of December. With a ZHR of 120+, it's a big one! Until then stick to the period around dawn for the best random meteor scatter conditions. For EME enthusiasts, the Moon is at apogee today and reaches maximum declination on Tuesday so expect long Moon windows and high peak elevations reaching 64 degrees on the day. Path losses are also at maximum, getting lower as the week progresses. And that's all from the propagation team this week.  

Welcome back to Silver Screen and Television Dreams! Hello Friends. We have reached the end of season 1 of SSTV dreams! Hard to believe its already been 1 year. Come back for season 2, listen to find out when it will drop.*This podcast is a production of Ryit Media and is hosted by Guacamollie **To hear other podcasts hosted by Ryan Lehman, search "Ryit Media" on any podcast player or find the links here: Granny Shiftin': THE fast and furious podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/ipk12aZ_ Dad Reads Books: https://link.chtbl.com/q_7bYUCz Sorta Star Wars: https://link.chtbl.com/xg19Ebx1

GB2RS News Sunday 1st August 2021 The news headlines: SSTV sked from ISS New interlinked GB2RS broadcast Amateur on University Challenge   Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station are planning to transmit Slow Scan TV images on 145.800MHz FM using the SSTV mode PD-120. The transmissions will be made from RS0ISS in the Russian ISS Service module. The dates are planned as the 6th of August from 1050 to 1910UTC and the 7th of August from 0950 to 1555UTC. As always, these dates and times could change depending on operations onboard the ISS. The signal should be receivable on a handheld with a quarter-wave whip. If your rig has selectable FM filters try the wider filter for 25kHz channel spacing. You can find ISS pass times at amsat.org/track. We're always seeking new ways to bring you GB2RS each week, and now we have news of an interlinked broadcast. John, G4TRN and Sean, G7NJX have interlinked GB3ZB and GB3FI to extend their 70cm broadcast to both sides of the Mendips. Thank you to them and all the other newsreaders who bring the news to listeners week by week. Nikolas, M0IPY, who is Chair of Cambridge University Wireless Society, will be appearing in the Emmanuel College team on University Challenge. The programme airs on Monday the 2nd of August at 8.30 pm. Why not watch and cheer his team on! Nikolas also recently took part in the VHF NFD in Cambridge. You can find out more details from the BBC website. Kevin, G0PEK and Lauren, 2E0HLR will be taking part in the Megacycle DXpedition as they cycle from Lands End to John O'Groats. It starts today, the 1st of August, and they hope to be home by the 28th. They will be carrying radio equipment on the bikes and operating VHF bicycle mobile and APRS along much of the route. Some HF QRP operations may be possible too. You can follow their progress on the Megacycle DXpedition Facebook page. The British Amateur Television Club Convention will take place, on the 21st of August only, at the Midland Air Museum. This event will be a meetup, show & tell and Bring & Buy event with full test facilities. On the 16th of October, part 2 of the BATC Convention will be a day of free online talks about amateur television. You can read more at batc.org.uk. Today, the 1st of August is Yorkshire Day and for many of the participants of the Hambleton ARS daily net, it will be a double celebration. It is the 500th consecutive day of operation of their daily net on 2m FM. The net is open to any amateur or listener and was started to keep amateurs in the area in touch during the Covid lockdown. So far, 87 different stations have been logged since it started. A special Yorkshire themed ‘Cabin Fever' award is available for any station taking part in the net, issued via email by Tim, G0TYM. SWL Reports are welcome and should be sent to hambletonars2020@gmail.com. The net starts at 11 am on the 2m calling frequency and usually moves to S18 if clear. Many stations will take to the airwaves between the 2nd and 15th of August to celebrate the 4th anniversary of FT8. Commemorative stations will use callsigns with FTDMC or FTDM in the suffix. Logs will be uploaded to the Logbook of The World and eQSL systems and paper QSL cards will be available. A list of stations due to take part can be found at ft8dmc.eu/anniversary. The AMSAT Engineering and Operations Teams has announced that the satellite known as AO-109 is now open for amateur use. Users are advised to use efficient modes such as CW or FT4 for making contacts, as there are issues with the satellite that make SSB voice contacts difficult. AO-109 is an inverting linear transponder. The uplink is 145.860MHz to 145.890MHz and the downlink is 435.760MHz to 435.790MHz. Later, there will be 1200 baud PSK telemetry on 435.750MHz, but that is still non-operational. And now for details of rallies and events Before travelling to any rally or event, please check the event's website as there may be alterations or cancellations due to the current restrictions. News of a cancelled rally first. The Galashiels Rally, planned for the 24th of October, has been cancelled for this year. The Wiltshire Radio Rally, Electronics Fair & Car Boot Sale is planned for today, the 1st of August, at Kington Langley Village Hall & fields, SNl5 5NJ. Doors are open from 9 am to 3 pm and admission is free. Details are at chippenhamradio.club. Also today, the 1st of August, the radio operators of Cornwall are holding the 1st Cornwall Antenna Build-Off. This is a free event. As well as the Build-Off there are Bring & Buy tables available as well as refreshments. For details search @g5xdx on Facebook or email G5XDX@gmx.co.uk. The King's Lynn ARC radio rally will go ahead today, the 1st of August, at Gaywood Community Centre, King's Lynn PE30 4EL. Doors open at 9 am and the entry is £2.50. There will be trade stands, a Bring & Buy and car boot pitches outside. Catering is available on site. See klarc.org.uk. The Flight Refuelling Hamfest, originally scheduled for next weekend, is cancelled for 2021, as previously publicised. Now the DX news Yann, F1SMB will be active as FO/F1SMB from several French Polynesia islands in August. Between the 2nd and 6th of August, he will be on Moorea, IOTA reference OC-046, and between the 6th and the 10th, it will be Tahaa, OC-067. He will operate QRP SSB and FT8 mainly on 40m and 20m. QSL via F1SMB for SSB contacts and eQSL for both SSB and FT8 contacts. Hal, W8HC will be active holiday style as FS/W8HC from St. Martin, NA-105, until the 6th of August. He will operate CW and FT8 on the 40 to 6m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World. Massimo, HB9TUZ will be active as HI9/HB9TUZ from Las Terrenas, NA-096, in the Dominican Republic throughout August. He will operate SSB on the 40 to 10m bands. QSL via eQSL only. Now the Special Event news On the 7th and 8th of August, Welland Valley ARS will be running GB5HAW from the Harborough At War event at the Market Harborough Show Ground LE16 7QB. It is a two-day 1940s and World War II living history show. There will be trade stands, static military vehicle displays, battle re-enactments with smoke and pyrotechnics galore. There will also be a home front area that will host static displays and a marquee. This is where the WVARS will be located. They will be on air from the 6th of August when they set up. Coventry ARS is running two special event stations until May 2022 to celebrate Coventry being the City of Culture. GB1COC & GB8CCC will be running most days, with GB8CCC passing between members of the club. Dates and times will vary. Now the contest news With different parts of the UK having different lockdown restrictions, please make sure you follow the appropriate regulations. Keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe. August is the month of the traditional summer holiday so there are no RSGB HF contests this month. Today, the 1st of August, the 432MHz Low Power Contest runs from 0800 to 1200UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode. On Tuesday the 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 144MHz UK Activity Contest from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange is the same for both: signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday it's the 144MHz FT8 Activity Contest, running from 1900 to 2130UTC. The exchange is a report and your 4-character locator. Next weekend is the Machine Generated Modes contest, running for 24 hours from 1400UTC on the 7th. Using the 50 and 144MHz bands, the exchange is your report and 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 30th of July. Last week the Sun was bursting with sunspots, with a solar flux index in the high 80s. But, by Thursday, we were looking at a different picture, with zero sunspots and a solar flux index of 79. We also had a geomagnetic disturbance, thanks to the arrival of a high-speed stream from a coronal hole late on Wednesday. This pushed the Kp index to four, with the solar wind speed remaining elevated until at least late Thursday. The disruption triggered a short-lived ionospheric enhancement, with maximum usable frequencies over a 3,000km path reaching 25MHz at 2040UTC on Wednesday, according to Propquest and the Chilton Ionosonde data. But, by Thursday morning, MUFs were struggling to reach 14MHz. Propagation earlier in the week had been quite good, with extensive openings to the Far East on 17m. Rodney, G0CBO reports working a host of stations, including Japan and Kazakhstan, using just 40W FT8 to a vertical. Steve, G0KYA worked 8N8OLP, the Tokyo special event station for the Olympics, using 50W FT8 to a quarter-wave vertical on 20m. Next week, NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Centre predicts the solar flux index will remain in the mid-70s. It also has the Kp index at a maximum of two or three, reflecting the lack of solar coronal holes. There is the possibility of a geomagnetic disturbance this weekend caused by material arriving from a small coronal hole on the Sun's equator, but its effects are likely to be minimal and short-lived. And now the VHF and up propagation news. Last week provided some excellent rain scatter QSOs for GHz bands operators. The heavy showers across the South and East of the country coincided with not one, but two GHz contests. During the all-day Sunday, UK Microwave group event, many stations reported working into the North of England from the South and East Anglia via backscatter from a line of heavy showers extending from Ipswich down to Southampton. The coming week looks very similar to the last one, with an unsettled weather pattern offering further heavy showers or thunderstorms and longer periods of rain. This will favour rain scatter, while there is little prospect of any high-pressure systems returning to produce Tropo. Regarding Sporadic-E, the unsettled weather suggests there will be jet stream activity to help along any late-season interest. Remember that the season can extend into early September, so plenty of time to fill in any missing squares this year. With positive Moon declination, this week we'll have long Moon visibility windows, but with apogee on Monday, path losses will be at their highest. Random or sporadic meteor rates are still high, but there's a big shower on the way. Get ready for the largest shower of the year, the Perseids. This peaks on the 12th and 13th of August with a zenithal hourly rate of 100. Find out more about this shower next week. And that's all from the propagation team this week.  

In this episode I talk about the jamming of 40-meters in Cuba after protests took place there, the FCC allowing FM use of CB in the United States, "one four" Wednesday on the CB over here in the UK, my latest YouTube videos which also touches on SSTV, I also cover the special event station in Japan JA1TOKYO which is operational for the Olympic and Paralympic games. The feature pizza is the Chicago Town 4-cheese 6" pizza that comes in a pack of two

GB2RS News Sunday 25th July 2021 The news headlines: RadCom Basics latest issue NRC Net to close DARC reports survey results   The latest issue of RadCom Basics is now available from the RSGB website. In this edition, you can read about split frequency operation and more on logging and eLog, amongst other subjects. RSGB Members can read previous editions of RadCom Basics by going to rsgb.org/radcom-basics. You can register at the same address to receive notification of subsequent issues as they become available. As life returns, we hope, to a degree of normality, the regular weekday National Radio Centre net will cease. Instead, at 10.30 am on 3.737MHz an informal gathering will take place for those that want to call in and have a QSO. The RSGB would like to thank Nigel, G4RWI, who ran the NRC 80m net every day in 2020 and on weekdays throughout 2021. There were over 400 nets with hundreds of callers and thousands of QSOs. The German national society, DARC, has published the results of the amateur radio survey they conducted for the IARU. They had 550 respondents. The results are available via the DARC website, in German. There are some similarities with the RSGB's survey, as well as opinions on FT8 and licensing. On the third weekends of April and May, the IARU Region 1 organised the first 50MHz and 70MHz Machine Generated Modes-only contests. The official results are now published at iaru-r1.org. Congratulations to G4PLZ, who achieved top placing in both contests in the 6-hour section. His best DX on 50MHz was in excess of 1700km, and he achieved almost 1600km on 70MHz. In line with Government advice, Bletchley Park has relaxed their requirement for mask-wearing and social distancing. Their visit-booking system is still in place. Whilst the RSGB acknowledges that the legal requirement of Covid precautions has been reduced, we wish to take a more cautious approach at the National Radio Centre. As space in the NRC is restricted and there is limited airflow, the wellbeing of visitors and volunteers is paramount. This means many Covid precautions such as face coverings and social distancing within the NRC will still be required. The GB3RS station is still unavailable for visiting amateurs, but we will bring you news when this situation changes. As GB2RS continues to expand, it is a pleasure to extend a warm welcome to two new newsreaders. Leigh, M5GWH has joined the existing team in the Stoke-on-Trent area. Essex newsreaders have been joined by Richard, G0NAD. In addition to reading a brand-new broadcast on 70cm, Richard is also assisting with the 4m service in that area. And listeners in the north of England may like to note that the 145.525MHz broadcast from MM0JNL is now additionally covering Northumbria. The QSL Bureau sub-manager for the G4T-Z group is retiring and a replacement volunteer to distribute cards to this active sub-group is urgently needed. If you are an RSGB Member with time, a little space, some basic computer skills plus the desire to help your fellow members, the bureau would like to hear from you. You can find out more by emailing qsl@rsgb.org.uk. And now for details of rallies and events Before travelling to any rally or event, please check the event's website as there may be alterations or cancellations due to the current restrictions. Finningley ARS Car Boot will be outdoor only on the 25th of July, with doors opening at 10 am. It is located near M18 junction 2, Doncaster. Admission is £3. The Wiltshire Radio Rally, Electronics Fair & Car Boot Sale is planned for Sunday the 1st of August at Kington Langley Village Hall & fields, SNl5 5NJ. Doors are open from 9 am to 3 pm and admission is free. Details are at chippenhamradio.club. On the 1st of August, the radio operators of Cornwall are holding the 1st Cornwall Antenna Build-Off. This is a free event. As well as the Build-Off there are Bring & Buy tables available as well as refreshments. For details search @g5xdx on Facebook or email G5XDX@gmx.co.uk. The King's Lynn ARC radio rally will go ahead on the 1st of August at Gaywood Community Centre, King's Lynn PE30 4EL. Doors open at 9 am and the entry is £2.50. There will be trade stands, a Bring & Buy and car boot pitches outside. Catering is available on site. See klarc.org.uk. Dartmoor Radio Rally has moved to the 15th of August at Yelverton War Memorial Hall. Now the DX news Brian, GW4DVB will once again be active as J88PI from Palm Island in the St Vincent and the Grenadines Island group, IOTA reference NA-025, until the 1st of August. Activity will be holiday style on the 40 to 6m bands using CW, SSB, SSTV and FT8. He will use a Yaesu FT-991A into a 10m vertical antenna, an M0CVO HW-40HP off centre fed dipole and possibly new antennas. QSL GW4DVB direct only, g4dvb.co.uk. Laurent, HB9HKE will be active as TF/HB9HKE from Iceland until the 7th of August. His main trip will be for paramotoring, but operations will be on various HF bands using a wire antenna for 20m. QSL via Logbook of The World and eQSL. Jim, W6PQL will be active as CT8/W6PQL from Pico Island, EU-175, Azores until the 4th of September. He will operate FT8 on all bands and SSB on 20 metres. Between the 1st of August and the 3rd of September, he will operate 2m EME and Tropo. QSL via Logbook of The World, or direct to home call. Now the Special Event news Coventry ARS is running two special event stations until May 2022 to celebrate Coventry being the City of Culture. GB1COC & GB8CCC will be running most days, with GB8CCC passing between members of the club. Dates and times will vary. Now the contest news With different parts of the UK having different lockdown restrictions, please make sure you follow the appropriate regulations. Keep yourself and fellow amateurs safe. The 24-hour Islands On The Air Contest ends its run at 1200UTC today, Sunday the 25th. Using CW and SSB on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands on which contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report, serial number and your IOTA reference. Stations on the UK mainland are IOTA reference EU-005; a full list can be found at iota-world.org. The UK Microwave Group Contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC today. Using all modes on the 5.7 and 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Monday, the 6th FT4 Series will run between 1900 and 2030UTC using the 80m band. The exchange is your 4-character locator. On Tuesday the SHF UK Activity Contest takes place between 1830 and 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 2.3GHz and up bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The Worked-All-Britain 144MHz Low Power Contest will take place on Saturday the 31st of July between 1400 and 1800UTC. The input power is limited to 10 watts and the full rules are on the WAB website. Entries are to be with the contest manager by the 10th of August. Due to the easing of restrictions, the mobile and portable categories will be resumed; but the organisers ask that entrants ‘please act sensibly'. On Saturday, the Fourth 144MHz Backpackers Contest runs from 1400 to 1800UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode. The 144MHz Low Power contest also takes place on Saturday from 1400 to 2000UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode. Next Sunday, the 1st of August, the 432MHz Low Power Contest runs from 0800 to 1200UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 23rd of July Sunspot numbers were down at the start of the week but increased dramatically as the week went on. By Thursday the solar flux index was up to 94 with a sunspot number of 86. There were six active regions visible on the Sun. Although many of these sunspots were quite small and not very complex, they all contributed to the higher solar flux, which is now nudging 100. The region that was active on its last rotation, 2835, and was responsible for multiple coronal mass ejections, appears to have quietened. Nevertheless, the Sun may well be more active next week as some of the regions have produced low-level C-class flare activity over the past few days.  NOAA reports that solar cycle sunspot progression over the past several months has actually been ahead of the cycle 25 forecast. This may bode well for the future. HF propagation remains dominated by Sporadic-E, with daily openings on the upper bands. F2-layer propagation is at seasonal levels, with openings up to 14 and sometimes 18MHz being recorded. We are not seeing much in the way of 21MHz F-layer propagation, but that will kick in as we head into Autumn. Thirty metres, or 10MHz, remains a band to check overnight with MUFs over a 3,000km path typically exceeding 10MHz. Due to all this activity, NOAA has upped its forecast for the coming week. It now has the solar flux index at 85 next week, rising to 90. The geomagnetic prediction is for a maximum Kp index of 2, possibly due to a lack of coronal holes. However, it is too early to say whether we may have any solar flares and CMEs from the new regions currently rotating into view. And now the VHF and up propagation news. After some very good days of Tropo recently, it seems that the picture will look very different in the coming week. The decline of the high pressure will be complete by this weekend and heralds a week of unsettled weather with showers or longer periods of rain. On the upside, this puts rain scatter back on the agenda for the microwave operators. Sporadic-E is still a good contender for DX although heading into August usually thins out the activity. The meteor input to E layer ionisation should keep hopes alive of renewed openings. The jet stream placements are mainly favouring the path to the south into Iberia initially, before moving east later to open up other more eastern parts of Europe. Around we go again into another lunar cycle with negative, but increasing declination, this week. This of course means that we'll see the Moon for longer as each day progresses. Declination goes positive on Thursday, but losses will rise daily after last Wednesday's perigee. Random or sporadic meteor rates are approaching their annual maximum around now, and the Southern delta Aquarids meteor shower is under way. This has a broad ZHR peak of 25 running from the 26th of July through to the 31st. Note that in Europe, the shower radiant is only above the horizon during the night and early morning. There are some other minor showers peaking next week, so we should see excellent meteor scatter conditions. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

Show Notes (contains affiliate links): How to get ISS SSTV images using any budget   On this week's episode of Ham Radio Crash Course, a podcast roughly based on amateur radio but mostly made up of responding to emails from listeners, hosted by Josh Nass - KI6NAZ and his reluctant wife, Leah - KN6NWZ, we talk about ISS SSTV, top disasters in US history and logging software.    Have a drink with us! Today, we're drinking… Vodka club sodas with butterfly tea and Tito's. Having a sodastream means never having to remember to buy club soda. And butterfly tea is mood enhancer and antioxidant that turns from blue to purple when lemon or lime juice is added. Fancy stuff here folks.    Sodastream: https://amzn.to/35uCeV8   Butterfly Tea: https://amzn.to/3qnzHpa   Josh has a short tip with the Ham Radio Minute: Get a logger. New logger on the market. HAMRS for POTA logs: https://www.hamrs.app   Join the conversation by leaving a review on iTunes for Ham Radio Crash Course podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ham-radio-crash-course/id1400794852 and/or emailing Leah@hamtactical.com. Leaving a review wherever you listen to podcasts will help Ham Radio Crash Course reach more hams and future hams and we appreciate it!   What We Used This Week:  Josh has been complaining about poor sleep quality, blaming our bed as the cause. Enter the Saatva Bed: https://refer.saatva.com/Josh77 Hopefully, he'll have more energy from better sleep to play more radio and create more content. Or spend more fun time with his family. You know, priorities.    Go Box List: https://www.amazon.com/shop/hamradiocrashcourse?listId=21QFLKES0VAI2   Camelcamelcamel.com to find out whether or not that Amazon deal is a good deal. https://camelcamelcamel.com   Ham Radio Crash Course A-store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/hamradiocrashcourse   Preparedness Corner: Leah talks about the top disasters in the United States. Hurricanes top the list.    Email Correspondent's Tower: We answer emails with ham radio questions, comments on previous podcasts, T-shirt suggestions and everything in between.   Links mentioned in the ECT:   Russ recommends Byonics MicroTrack AIO for tracking kids on a bike: https://www.byonics.com/aio . His wife recommends Left Hand Brewing for stouts. http://www.lefthandbrewing.com/ Thanks for the goodies in the mail Russ!   Dirk is operating with MVARA: http://www.mvara.club/about-us.html   Josh answers the questions: How would an Icom 7300 pair with either a Chameleon Antenna F-Loop 2.0 Total Kit or a Wolf River Coils Silver Bullet 1000 Take it Along Kit? I was not sure how the 7300 would compare/perform relative to a Xiegu G-90 or Icom 705.            I noted you used a RigExpert AA-170 in your video on the Chameleon Wire Loop. My Internet searches reference an upgraded model - ZRE-230-Zoom. Would you recommend this model or have other suggestions?           The ground radials on the Wolf River setup are 33 feet. Space in my yard is limited, will there be deterioration in performance if I am unable to extend out all 33 feet? Can they be laid out in other than a straight line?           What coax would you recommend for a feed line for the Wolf River setup? Heat, humidity, and Sun are all issues here in central Florida. I am thinking 25 feet would be about the right length and cost is not much of a consideration.           Are coax connectors all generic or are their specific manufacturers (and types) I should look for?           In the most recent podcast, you mentioned an Anderson crimper tool. Any suggestions for a wire stripper tool?           Last question, would a multimeter be a wise item to have to check installation? If yes, any recommendations?   Mike is a VE: http://wx0mik.net/   Congrats Nathan on winning the last email of the week for the majority of weeks over the past month.  General License Prep: Someone suggested in the HRCC Podcast Channel in the Discord that if Leah gets more than 4 questions right, Josh has to eat a York peppermint patty. Does he eat one? Listen to find out.    Show Topic: Josh talks about how to get ISS SSTV images during this week long pass.    Tracking software: Skies above and Go sat watch for iPhone: https://gosoftworks.com/apps/gosatwatch/   App to decode. Black cat systems: http://www.blackcatsystems.com   RTL SDR dongle: https://amzn.to/3qpyPAm    Nooelec dongle: https://amzn.to/3zX7eLy   MMSSTV software for windows: https://hamsoft.ca/pages/mmsstv.php   Thank you all for listening to the podcast.  We have a lot of fun making it and the fact you listen and send us feedback means alot to us!   Want to send us something? Josh Nass  P.O. Box 5101 Cerritos, CA 90703-5101 Support the Ham Radio Crash Course Podcast: Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/hoshnasi Shop HamTactical: http://www.hamtactical.com Shop Our Affiliates: http://hamradiocrashcourse.com/affiliates/ Shop Our Amazon Store: https://www.amazon.com/shop/hamradiocrashcourse As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.   Connect with Us: Website...................► http://hamradiocrashcourse.com YouTube..................► https://www.youtube.com/c/HamRadioCrashCourse Podcast...................► https://hamradiocrashcourse.podbean.com/ Discord....................► https://discord.gg/xhJMxDT Facebook................► https://goo.gl/cv5rEQ Twitter......................► https://twitter.com/Hoshnasi Instagram.................► https://instagram.com/hoshnasi (Josh) Instagram.................►https://instagram.com/hamtactical (Leah)  

GB2RS News Sunday 20th June 2021   The news headlines: Latest rally news Ofcom updates guidance ARISS SSTV from ISS   The organisers of the Dartmoor Radio Rally have revised the date to the 15th of August. It will be held at the new venue of The Yelverton War Memorial Hall, Meavy Lane, Yelverton PL20 6AL. Doors open at 10 am. Details can be found at dartmoorradioclub.uk. The McMichael Rally Committee has announced that this year's rally is, sadly, cancelled. It was due to take place on the 11th of July. They expect to be back in 2022. Keep checking the website for the latest information. With the recent change to the Covid restrictions, the organisers of the East Suffolk Wireless Revival have decided to cancel the event for 2021. This event is popularly known as the Ipswich Rally and was due to take place on the 11th of July. Ofcom has updated the guidance document What you need to know as an amateur radio user and the Ofcom EMF calculator. The guide provides an overview of what you need to do to comply with Ofcom's EMF licence condition and is much simplified from the earlier version. Links to all of the documents and calculators can be found at rsgb.org/emf. A slow-scan television ARISS event is scheduled between the 21st and 26th of June. Transmissions from the ISS will be on 145.800MHz FM using PD120 SSTV mode. The SSTV images will be transmitted continuously. Transmissions will start at or about 0940UTC on the 21st and will end by 1830UTC on the 26th. Signals should be receivable on a handheld with a quarter-wave whip antenna. Use 25kHz channel spacing if available. Since reopening just over two weeks ago, the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park has welcomed more than 3,800 visitors. With the improved signage and Bletchley Park interactive map, the NRC is typically seeing close to 50% of the Park's footfall. The RSGB would like to thank Martyn, G0GMB and the NRC volunteers for making this possible. The NRC is open every day, except Wednesdays, to pre-booked visitors to Bletchley Park. Sad news next, particularly for those in Region 9, as Tom O'Reilly, G0NSY became Silent Key last week. Tom volunteered for the RSGB as Regional Representative 9, covering London and Thames Valley from 2016 and as a District Representative before that. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues at this difficult time. The lecture programme for the weekend of the virtual Ham Radio World Weekend has been announced for the 25th to the 27th of June. Go to www.darc.de and click on the advert for the event at the top of the page. There are lectures in English and these can be seen by their English titles. The Summer Sale in the RSGB Shop has started and will run until the 18th of July. Go to rsgbshop.org to find out more. To increase participation in the FMH Portable Operations Challenge in September, parallel regional or local group competitions are being encouraged by Ed, DD5LP. Those who would like to do this for their group or region should send an email to regionalcontestlist@gmail.com. The regional organiser's callsign and the geographic area or group of people to be covered should be in the email. Full details of the Portable Operations Challenge can be found at foxmikehotel.com. Slovenian Amateur Radio Union will celebrate the country's 30 years of independence by issuing a special award. Between the 26th of June and the 31st of December, Slovenian amateur radio stations can add the number 30 into the suffix. For example, S50ZZ would become S5030ZZ. Search for Slovenia Contest Club using your favourite search engine and click on the Union Jack flag to read all the qualifying details in English. Now the DX news Michel, F6GWV and Gildas, F6HMQ will be active as TO11A from Guadeloupe, IOTA reference NA-102, until the 5th of July. QSL via F6HMQ. Paul, G4PVM will be active as GM4PVM from the Isle of Lismore, EU-008, from the 29th of June to the 4th of July. He will operate holiday style on the 40 to 10m bands using CW and SSB. QSL via Logbook of The World and eQSL. A team will be active as 7D9BA from Lembongan Island, OC-022, between the 25th and 28th of June. They will operate CW, SSB, FT8/FT4 and some RTTY on the 80, 20, 17, 15 and 10m bands. QSL via Logbook of The World or direct to EA7FTR. Now the Special Event news Kent Weald Radio Club will be at the Headcorn Aerodrome in Kent today, the 20th, and next weekend, the 26th & 27th, for Museums on the Air. They will operate as GB1HA. Harlow and District ARS will be operating today, the 20th and on the 26th of 27th from their clubhouse for Museums on the Air. The museum is Harlow Museum and Gardens and is next door to the clubhouse. Using GB0HMG on HF and 2m, operations are expected from 9.30 am to 4 pm each day. QSL cards will only be sent out on receipt of a card. GB0UTA will be on the air until the 28th of June promoting the University of the Third Age. This special event station will be operating on behalf of the Honiton, Devon branch. GB5UTA will be on the air during the same period on behalf of the Cirencester and Tetbury branches of the U3A. See the QRZ.com entries for more information. Now the contest news With different parts of the UK having different lockdown restrictions, please make sure you follow the appropriate regulations. Several contests now accept portable entries, so please check the contest rules. Above all, please follow relevant national and local restrictions. The 50MHz Trophy contest ends its 24-hour run at 1400UTC today, the 20th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also this weekend, the All Asian DX contest ends its 48-hour run at 2359UTC today, the 20th. Using CW only on the 1.8 to 28MHz bands where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and age. The Worked-All-Britain 50MHz phone contest will take place today, Sunday the 20th of June, from 0800 to 1400UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and WAB square. Entries to be with the WAB Contest Manager by 30th of June. Due to the easing of restrictions, the mobile and portable categories will be resumed; but please act sensibly. Today, the 20th, the UK Microwave Group 122 to 248GHz contest runs from 0900 to 1700UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Tuesday the SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1830 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 2.3 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Thursday it is the SSB leg of the 80m Club Championships from 1900 to 2030UTC. The exchange is signal report and serial number. Next Sunday, the 27th, the 50MHz CW contest runs from 0900 to 1200UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The 4th 70MHz Cumulative contest also takes place on the 27th, from 1400 to 1600UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Sunday the 27th, the UK Microwave Group 5.7 and 10GHz contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The UK Six Metre Group Summer Marathon runs until the 1st of August. Just exchange your 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 18th of June. A large coronal hole returned last week and started to become Earth-facing on Monday the 14th. The high-speed solar wind stream from the hole impacted the Earth on Tuesday evening, pushing the Kp index to five. Luckily, conditions returned to normal by late Wednesday and the Kp index was down to two or three thereafter. It now looks like we are free of coronal hole effects for the time being. Sunspot-wise, region 2833 put in an appearance. Its effects on the ionosphere have been minimal with the solar flux index stuck at 76 on Thursday the 27th and the sunspot number at 11, representing one spot in one group. HF propagation has been adequate rather than outstanding, with the real talking point remaining Sporadic-E. Conditions on 10 metres have been good with long, solid openings to Europe popping up each day. Do make the most of these, as F2-layer openings on 10m may be harder to find once the Sporadic-E season ends. Next week NOAA has the SFI at around 80 and quiet geomagnetic conditions with a Kp index of two. We are still not seeing the ramp-up in sunspot activity that we would like, although fingers are crossed that this Autumn might be more positive. In the meantime, make the most of the Sporadic-E openings, particularly on the higher bands such as 12 and 10 metres. These openings can affect lower HF bands too, although it is sometimes hard to distinguish them from F2-layer openings. So please don't ignore 15 metres and lower at this time and look for short-skip contacts on these bands as well. And now the VHF and up propagation news. It looks like the majority of next week will see low pressure predominating with further periods of unsettled and potentially thundery weather. The pattern places the main area of low pressure over or just west of the UK, forcing a thundery showery southerly flow across the country. There will be some interludes when brief ridges of high pressure show up, especially in southeastern areas, but overall Tropo will not be high on the list. So, apart from some rain scatter prospects and the occasional extended sea path Tropo across the North Sea or English Channel, it will mostly be a week for chasing Sporadic-E. The northern part of Europe and Scandinavia have a good jet stream flow and this extends into northern Russia, making it worth checking those DX paths into the Far East and Japan. The other region looking well favoured with jet stream patterns is to the south into Spain and Portugal. We are in peak season for Sporadic-E, so keeping a regular routine of checking the bands mid-morning and early evening is the best procedure to follow. The Moon is at perigee on Wednesday so path losses will be at their lowest. Sadly, with minimum Moon declination on Friday, visibility windows and peak Moon elevations will also be at their shortest and lowest of the month. The June Bootids meteor shower peaks on Sunday 27th. This shower, although normally small, has a reputation for outbursts of activity. Until then, continue to look for the best random meteor scatter propagation around dawn. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

Main Event is proud to share the long-awaited return of StadiumScene.TV's Sports Stories is here!  In our first episode back, we have taken on the role of hybrid talk show and documentary by featuring a StadiumScene.TV partner helping us tell a story about a memorable or controversial experience where they have a personal experience with that story.  In our first episode back, we have our old friend and now frequent pilot regular, Ralph Schudel of ralphschudel.com talk to us about growing up in northeast Ohio and experiencing the Cleveland Browns moving to Baltimore.   This episode is the unofficial sequel of our popular "Colts Move to Indy" episode from 2017.  Ralph introduces us to the key players of the Cleveland Browns move such as owner Art Modell and minority owner, Al Learner (spoiler alert: he returns again at the end), some former Browns coach named Bill Belichick (yes, that one), and how the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium along with the Cleveland Indians leaving for Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) helped accelerate the move out of Cleveland.  In the end, as we all know, the Browns returned to Cleveland as an expansion franchise in 1999 and Ralph closes out the episode talking about how much the Browns mean/meant to the people of northeast Ohio.   Bonus question... why does legendary movie Director Richard Donner (Superman, The Goonies, Lethal Weapon series) have a bust of Abraham Lincoln in his office?  Stay tuned to the very end to find out why!   Check out Ralph's work: Website Twitter Instagram The full video for this episode can be found on our YouTube channel.  Be sure to subscribe and see much more!

Siga @guarreirosbushcraft - LIVE BUSHCAST #12 | Radioamadorismo e atividades outdoor, por que é tão importante? . Neste episódio vamos falar sobre o #radioamadorismo e sobre a importância em ter um meio de comunicação via rádio nas #atividadesoutdoor. Falaremos sobre o projeto GAR/GB (Grupo de Apoio ao Radioamadorismo - Guerreiros Bushcraft) onde apoiamos e incentivamos a prática do #radioamadorismo, não perca! . Links úteis para a livre de hj Repetidoras pelo Brasil www.repetidoras.com.br Inscrições para o Cper sistemas.anatel.gov.br - sec Provas online para o COER www.labre-ba.org.br - teste-para-radioamador Canal para aprender a usar corretamente os rádios Baofeng Canal do YouTube Baofeng UV-5Rapido Site de orientação sobre radioamadorismo em satélites www.arsatc.org Frequência da repetidora localizada na ISS Frequência de subida 145.990 subtom de 67hz Frequência de descida 437.800. Lembrando do efeito dopler as frequências de descida serão 437.810, 437.805, 437.800, 437,795 e 437. 790 sempre transmitindo em 145,990. Assim vc não perde nada da passagem. Matéria sobre a repetidora na ISS //qtc.ecra.club - crossband Frequência de SSTV da ISS 145.800 APP para de codificar ROBOT36- SSTV image decoder . . O BushCast é um dos segmentos do grupos Guerreiros Bushcraft onde abordamos assuntos relevantes ao meio bushcraft, assuntos da atualidades, apresentação de grupos do meio, além do principal motivo de sua criação, que é a divulgação e a fortificação do conceito e do estilo de #vidamateira. Nos vemos lá! . . . . Apoios/Parcerias: . Loja Javalis Outdoor @javalisoutdoor . Doisde Marketing & Designer @doisde.oficial . Sítio dos Teiús @sitiodosteius . . #bushcast #bushcastgb #guerreirosbushcraft #artesmateira #engbbushcraft #acampamento #acampamentoselvagem #maisbushcraf #maissobrevivencia #bushcraft #sobrevivencia #sobrevivencialismo #radioamador

Foundations of Amateur Radio Every community has its own language. As a member of that community you learn the words, their meaning and their appropriate use. For example, the combination of words "Single Side Band" have a specific meaning inside amateur radio. Outside of radio, those same words are random words with no relationship. Sometimes a term like "FM" can be heard across many communities with similar understanding, though not identical. It gets tricky when a word is used widely but doesn't have a common understanding at all. A word like "software" for example. A question you might hear in amateur radio is: "Can I buy a software defined radio or SDR that has digital modes built-in?" It's a perfectly reasonable question, the radio runs software, the digital modes are software, so the answer is obvious, right? What about: "Can the hundred or more computers in my car play Solitaire?" Aside from the perhaps unexpected fact that your car has computers on board, you most likely know the answer to that. No, since the computers are specialised for different tasks - and if you're driving a Tesla right now, yes, you can play Solitaire, but I'd recommend that you keep your eyes on the road instead. My point is that not all software is created equal. The software inside an SDR is essentially doing signal processing, often by several components, each running software, transforming an antenna signal into something, that can be used somewhere else, likely sound. The applications WSJT-X and fldigi, both software, use a computer running Linux, MacOS or Windows, software, to decode and encode digital modes while providing a way for you to interact with it. Software running on software. You might well argue that we should be running applications like that directly on our radio and on the face of it that sounds perfectly reasonable, except that to achieve that, you'd also need to build a system to install and update different types of applications, so you could run SSTV, APRS, RTTY, PSK31, FT8 or any of the other hundreds of digital modes and new ones as they are developed. If you did that, you'd also have to provide a way to manage the operating system, to connect to the Internet and provide security. You'd need to develop a user-interface, perhaps a keyboard and mouse solution, a screen, etc. Before long you'll have developed a whole computing infrastructure, much like the one we already have in the form of the computer on your desk or the phone in your pocket. Computers are getting faster and faster every day. This allows for the software on them to become more and more complex. The inter-dependencies are increasing by the second, but that doesn't mean that specialisation isn't useful. A software defined radio likely has a Field Programmable Gate Array, an FPGA on-board that is great at processing data in streams. It too runs software. Your microwave is running software, as is your television, your smart-watch, your battery charger, the gearbox in your car and your electric tooth brush. Making a distinction between the various types of software is helpful to understand what is possible and what is not. Being a computer nerd, I must point out that I've only barely scratched the surface of software here, in-case you're curious, microcode, firmware, hardware abstraction, the rabbit hole goes very deep. Not all software is created equal and every now and then it's a good idea to remember that when you talk about a word in one community, it might mean a completely different thing in another and sometimes the distinction is significant. As for having an SDR that runs WSPR, no. You can transmit from a computer though, but that's a whole other thing. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Foundations of Amateur Radio So, there's nothing on TV, the bands are dead, nobody is answering your CQ, you're bored and it's all too hard. You've run out of things to try, there's only so many different ways to use the radio and it's all too much. I mean, you've only got CW, AM, SSB, FM, there's Upper and Lower Side-band, then there's RTTY, the all too popular FT8, then there's WSPR, but then you run out of things. I mean, right? What about PSK31, SSTV, then there's AMTOR, Hellschreiber, Clover, Olivia, Thor, MFSK, Contestia, the long time favourites of Echolink and IRLP, not to forget Fusion, DMR, D-STAR, AllStar, BrandMeister or APRS. So far I've mentioned about 20 modes, picked at random, some from the list of modes that the software Fldigi supports. Some of these don't even show up on the Signal Wiki which has a list of about 70 amateur modes. With all the bands you have available, there's plenty of different things to play with. All. The. Time. There's contests for many of them, so once you've got it working, you can see how well you go. Over the past year I've been experimenting with a friend with various modes, some more successful than others. I'm mentioning this because it's not difficult to get started. Seriously, it's not. The most important part of this whole experiment is getting your computer to talk to your radio. If you have FT8 already working you have all the hardware in place. To make the software work, you can't go past installing Fldigi. As a tool it works a lot like what you're familiar with. You'll see a band-scope, a list of frequencies and a list of decodes. It's one of many programs that can decode and generate a multitude of amateur digital modes. If this is all completely new to you, don't be alarmed. There are essentially two types of connections between your computer and your radio. The first one is audio, the second is control. For this to work well, both these need to be two-way, so you can both decode the audio that the radio receives and generate audio that the radio can transmit. The same is true for the control connection. You need to be able to set the transmit frequency and the mode and you need to be able to read the current state of the radio, if only to toggle the transmitter on-and-off. If you already have CAT control working, that's one half done. I've spoken with plenty of amateurs who are reluctant to do any of this. If this is you, don't be afraid. It's like the first time you keyed up you radio. Remember the excitement? You can relive that experience, no matter how long you've been an amateur. Depending on the age of your radio, you might find that there is only one physical connection between your computer and the radio, either using USB or even Ethernet. You'll find that your computer will still need to deal with the two types of information separately. Notice that I've not talked about what kind of operating system you need to be running. I use and prefer Linux, but you can do this on any operating system, even using a mobile phone if that takes your fancy. Getting on air and making noise using your microphone is one option, but doing this using computer control will open you to scores of new adventures. I will add some words of caution here. In general, especially using digital modes, less is more. If you drive the audio too high you'll splatter all over the place and nobody will hear you, well, actually, everyone will, but nobody will be able to talk to you because they won't be able to decode it. If the ALC on your radio is active, you're too loud. WSJT-X, the tool for modes like FT8 and WSPR, has a really easy way of ensuring that your levels are right, so if you've not done anything yet, start there. Another issue is signal isolation. What I mean by that is you blowing up your computer because the RF travelled unexpectedly back up the serial or audio cable and caused all manner of grief. You can get all fancy with optical isolation and at some point you should, but until then, dial the power down to QRP levels, 5 Watts, and you'll be fine. A third issue that was likely covered during your licensing is the duty cycle. It's the amount of time that your radio is transmitting continuously as compared to receiving only. For some modes, like WSPR for example, you'll be transmitting for a full 2 minutes at 100%, so you'll be working your radio hard. Even harder might unexpectedly be using FT8, which transmits in 15 second bursts every 15 seconds, so there may not be enough time for your radio to cool down. Investing in a fan is a good plan, but being aware of the issue will go a long way to keeping the magic smoke inside your radio. I'm sure that you have plenty of questions after all that. You can ask your friends, or drop me an email, cq@vk6flab.com and I'll be happy to point you in the right direction. Next time there's nothing good on TV, get on air and make some digital noise! I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Foundations of Amateur Radio Over the past little while I've been experimenting with various tools that decode radio signals. For some of those tools the signals come from space. Equipment in space is moving all the time, which means that the thing you want to hear isn't always in range. For example. The International Space Station or ISS has a typical orbit of 90 minutes. Several times a day there's a pass. That means that it's somewhere within receiving range of my station. It might be very close to the horizon and only visible for a few seconds, or it might be directly overhead and visible for 10 minutes. If it's transmitting APRS on a particular frequency, it can be decoded using something like multimon-ng. If it's transmitting Slow Scan TV, qsstv can do the decoding. I've done this and I must say, it's exciting to see a picture come in line-by-line, highly recommended. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA, has a fleet of satellites in a polar orbit that lasts about 102 minutes and they're overhead at least every 12 hours. You can use something like noaa-apt to decode the images coming from the various weather satellites, or a python script and I'll talk about that at some point. There is a growing cloud of cube satellites with interesting telemetry. They're in all kinds of orbits and you can attempt to receive data from each one as it's in sight. Keeping track of what's where and when is a full time job for plenty of people. As a radio amateur I'm happy to defer to the experts who tell me where a piece of equipment is and when I'm likely to be able to receive a radio signal from the transmitter I'm interested in. Previously I've mentioned in passing a tool called gpredict that does this heavy lifting for me. It presents a map of the world and shows what's visible at my location and when the next acquisition of signal for a particular satellite might occur. It talks to the internet to download the latest orbital information. It also has the ability to control a rotator to point your antenna, not that I have one, and it can update the transmit and receive frequency of your radio to compensate for the Doppler effect that changes the observed frequency as a satellite passes overhead. All this works with a graphical user-interface, that is to say, you have a screen that you're looking at and can click on. Whilst running gpredict, you can simultaneously launch the appropriate decoding tool for the signal that you're trying to receive. If you have a powerful enough computer, you can run multiple decoding tools together. You'll have separate windows for controlling the radio and antenna, for decoding APRS, SSTV, NOAA and if you're wanting to do sunrise and sunset propagation testing using WSPR, you can also run WSJT-X or any other decoder you're interested in. There are some implications associated with doing this, apart from needing a big enough screen, needing considerable computing power and burning electricity for no good reason, the signal that comes in from your radio will be fed to all the decoders at the same time and all of them will attempt to decode the signal, even when you know that this serves no purpose. That's fine if you don't know what you're listening to, but most of the time you know exactly what it is, even if the software doesn't. Manually launching and quitting decoders is one option, but what if the next ISS pass is at 3am? Aside from the computing requirements, so far this works fine with a standard analogue radio like my Yaesu FT-857d. The only limitation is that you can only receive one station at a time. If you replace the analogue radio with an RTL-SDR dongle, you gain the ability to record and decode simultaneous stations within about 2.4 MHz of each other. Another option is to use an ADALM Pluto and as long as the stations are within 20 MHz of each other, you can record and decode their signals. If you're not familiar with a Pluto, it's essentially a computer, receiver and transmitter, all in a little box, the size of a pack of cards. This is where it gets interesting. The Pluto doesn't have a screen, or a keyboard for that matter, but it's a computer. It runs Linux and you can run decoders on it. I've done this with ADS-B signals using a tool called dump1090. You'll find it on my GitHub page. One of the sticking points in decoding signals from space was the ability to predict when a satellite pass occurs without requiring a computer screen. Thanks to a command-line tool called "predict", written by John, KD2BD and others I've now discovered a way to achieve that. My efforts are not quite at the point of show-and-tell, but I've got a Docker container that's building and running predict on its own and using a little bash script it's telling me when the ISS is overhead. You'll find that on GitHub as well. My next challenge is to do some automated decoding of actual space signals. I'm going to start with the ISS, predict and multimon-ng. I'll let you know how I go. What space signals are you interested in? I'm Onno VK6FLAB

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 24th of January 2021 The news headlines: SSTV from the Space Station this week Orlando Hamcation postponed Enter Construction Competition Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station are planning to transmit slow-scan TV images on 145.800MHz FM using the SSTV mode PD-120. On the 28th of January, the transmissions will be between 1210UTC and 1715UTC. On the 29th they will broadcast between 1310UTC and 1805UTC. Please note that these times could vary depending on the activity onboard the ISS. This year’s Orlando HamCation has been postponed. Usually held in February, there will instead be online events. Go to hamcation.com to check out all the events and webinars that will be happening. You must register for the webinars that you want to watch, but registration is free. Have you entered the RSGB’s ‘Get on the air to care’ construction competition? The deadline is the 1st of February. Send a short description of your project to gm.dept@rsgb.org.uk and include a few photographs, a video if possible and any related circuit diagrams. Nick Redmayne, G6PQW has written an engaging piece in The Telegraph about how the lockdown has reinvigorated a teenage interest in amateur radio. The piece includes a quote from RSGB General Manager, Steve Thomas, M1ACB. Well done Nick. Filmmaker Luka Vukos released his short film ISS_Overs that is available for preview until the 29th of January on Vimeo, see tinyurl.com/ISSOvers. The film will be entered for several festivals this year, and its contents could be of interest to radio amateurs. A solitary radio amateur endures Covid-19 lockdown in mid-2020. Hearing the crew of the International Space Station talking to schoolchildren as it passes over his home, he dreams of escape. Appearing to be a fly-on-the-wall documentary, ISS_Overs is actually scripted, with only Paul Thompson, GM6MEN on the screen. David, G8UOD recently contacted the RSGB about laptop donations to schools as he thought radio amateurs may have machines they no longer use. If you are interested in donating a laptop or similar to schools to aid with home-schooling, you can find many groups that will take them at the BBC website. Go to tinyurl.com/gb2rs001. We’re into the final weeks of the nominations process for the RSGB elections, which will end at 2359UTC on the 31st of January. There are a number of vacancies so for more information visit rsgb.org/election. The results will be announced at the RSGB’s online AGM on Saturday the 24th of April. Now the DX news Michael, HB9WDF will be active holiday style as 8Q7AO from the Maldives, IOT reference AS-013, from the 25th of January to the 7th of February. Activity will be on QO-100 only. QSL via Logbook of The World, eQSL, Club Log and via the bureau to his home call. Erling, LB2PG will be active again as JW/LB2PG from the weather station on Bear Island, Svalbard, EU-027 until late May. In his free time, he will operate SSB on the 80 to 20m bands. QSL via his home call. Nils, SM3UQK has been based in Greenland, NA-018, since early January, and will remain there until the 28th. In his spare time, he is active as OX/SE3A, mainly on 20 metres. QSL via SM3UQK, direct or bureau. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the contest for any new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. The RSGB strongly advises obeying your national and local government’s advice. The BARTG RTTY Sprint ends its 24-hour run at 1200UTC today, the 24th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is simply the serial number. The UK EI Contest Club DX CW contest ends its 24-hour run at 1200UTC today, the 24th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and District Code. On Tuesday the SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1930 to 2230UTC. Using all modes on the 2.3 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Wednesday sees the UK EI Contest Club 80m contest running from 2000 to 2100UTC. Using CW only, the exchange is your six-character locator. Next weekend the CQ 160m DX contest runs from 2200UTC on the 29th to 2200UTC on the 31st. It’s CW only and the exchange is signal report and your CQ Zone. Please note that American stations also exchange their State and Canadians their Province. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 22nd of January. Last week was defined by a lack of sunspots, but otherwise reasonably settled geomagnetic conditions. However, towards the end of the week, the Sun woke up with regions 2797 and 2798 becoming active. The sunspot number rose to 25 on Thursday, although the solar flux index remained in the 70s, reaching 77 on Thursday. This is good news as the Sun had remained spotless for some time. By this weekend the spots will have rotated to be more Earth-centric and we shall have to see what happens to the solar flux index. They may continue to grow or could diminish. Meanwhile, a large solar coronal hole near the Sun’s equator will also become geoeffective on Friday, which may result in an elevated Kp index at the beginning of next week. NOAA predicts the solar flux index will remain in the mid to high 70s next week and the Kp index will be in the range of two to three. This will rather depend on the interplanetary magnetic field of the solar wind, emanating from the coronal hole. If its Bz swings south we can expect it to couple more easily with the Earth’s magnetic field and the Kp index could rise further. So, HF propagation may remain subdued with little of note. However, this is a good time of year for low-band operations, with top band and 80m coming into their own after sunset and around sunrise. Signals from stations to the west, such as from North America, can peak just before our sunrise and there is often SSB activity around 3.795MHz. Why not take a look? Higher up the bands, daytime maximum usable frequencies over a 3,000km path are reaching and often exceeding 21MHz. Daytime critical frequencies are in the range 5-6MHz, which means 40m remains a band for longer-range contacts. 60 metres, or five Megahertz, would be a better HF choice for near-vertical incidence skywave, or NVIS, contacts around the UK. And now the VHF and up propagation news. The current spell of unsettled weather seems likely to continue through the coming week. This means that other issues like rain, snow and strong winds are the themes we will have to adapt to. In amateur radio terms, it will be thin pickings, primarily rain scatter on the microwave bands as active fronts and showers pass by. That said, winter rain scatter is nothing like as intense as it is in the summer, so don’t expect too much. Keep an eye on your beacons and rainfall radar maps, and make a noise on reflectors and social media if you catch rain scatter propagation. It’s hard to find any other benefits in the weather charts, and certainly no sign of high pressure and Tropo. We are also past the window of typical midwinter Sporadic-E, but that's not to say the odd path won’t appear for digital modes like FT8, since unsettled weather brings a good supply of jet streams. Moon declination reaches maximum on Tuesday so we’ll have long Moon windows and high peak Moon elevations all week. As we are past apogee, path losses will be falling. 144MHz sky noise starts moderate but dips below 180 kelvin on Thursday. There are no significant meteor showers again this week, so continue to check pre-dawn for the best random meteor contacts. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

On this week's episode of Ham Radio Crash Course, a podcast discussing amateur radio, hosted by Josh Nass, KI6NAZ and his no license wife, Leah, we cover the ISS TV events, emails about the FCC $35 fee, touch lamp schadenfreude, and MARS.    Ham Radio Minute: Get pictures from the ISS TV events by recording them, Josh tells you how.    Podcast Reviews: We, like, really like reviews. Thanks for those iTunes ratings. They help the podcast reach more people to grow the hobby!    Leah's Email Corner: We respond emails this week covering FCC new fees, the brotherhood of the traveling devil lamp, writing to your congress person about preventing the FCC fee, and some new T-Shirt ideas. Thanks for your emails!  Shoutout to Cougar Gold!  If you like cheese. https://creamery.wsu.edu/cougar-cheese/   You can email Leah if you want something discussed on the podcast at Leah@hamtactical.com.    Technician Crash Course: Leah deeply disappoints Josh multiple times with Tech questions she should already know.    Drinks: Another day, another brew from our Beery Hamfather, Grimous, who sent us some Half Acre Beer Co. treats. Big Hugs Imperial Coffee Stout with Vanilla and Benthic Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.    Show topic: Josh did some research on MARS and the history of these ham heroes.  https://www.mars.af.mil/ https://netcom.army.mil/mars/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Auxiliary_Radio_System#Missions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7GCycVrTpA   Thank you all for listening to the podcast.  We have alot of fun making it and the fact you listen and send us feedback means alot to us!     You can email Leah with shirt ideas and show ideas at Leah@hamtactical.com. Want to give use a review?     Hit us up on iTunes.  We appreciate it!  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ham-radio-crash-course/id1400794852    Ham Radio Crash Course Merch: http://www.hamtactical.com    Getting started in ham radio: https://youtu.be/bSF-q_qaqqg    Monthly newsletter, stickers, private content:https://www.patreon.com/hoshnasi    Links to products in the video: https://www.amazon.com/shop/hamradiocrashcourse As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.    Current Shack Config: ICOM 7300: https://amzn.to/2sVdpOq SteppIR 3E Yagi: https://consumer.steppir.com/shop/horizontal-antennas/3-element-antenna-products/3-element-yagi-antenna-with-30-40-loop-dipole-adder/ ICOM 2730a: https://amzn.to/2JqrASg MFJ-4230DMP: http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-4230DMP    Podcast..................► https://www.podbean.com/site/search/indexv=ham+radio+crash+course Discord...................►https://discord.gg/xhJMxDT Facebook................►https://goo.gl/cv5rEQ Twitter.....................► https://twitter.com/Hoshnasi Instagram................► https://instagram.com/hoshnasi SnapChat................► @Hoshnasi    Music by, Sonic D: Soundcloud.com/sncd  Twitter.com/sncd Facebook.com/djsonicd  Companies can send demo products to: Josh Nass  P.O Box 5101 Cerritos, Ca. 90703-5101

Foundations of Amateur Radio For decades I've been playing with every new piece of technology that comes my way. In amateur radio terms that's reflected in, among other things, playing with different antennas, radios, modes and software. One of the modes I've played with is slow scan television or SSTV. It's an amateur mode that transmits pictures rather than voice over amateur radio. A couple of months ago a local amateur, Adrian VK6XAM, set-up an SSTV repeater. The way it works is that you tune to the repeater frequency, listen for a while and when the frequency is clear, transmit an image. The repeater will receive your image and re-transmit it. It's an excellent way to test your gear and software, so I played with it and made it all work for me. In 2012 I was part of a public event where local schools participated in a competition to have the opportunity to ask an astronaut on board the International Space Station a question as part of the City of Light 50th anniversary of John Glenn's first orbit. The event was under the auspices of a group called Amateur Radio on the International Space Station or ARISS, an organisation that celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2020. Assisting with the logistics behind the scenes first hand and the amount of equipment used I'd gained a healthy respect for the complexity involved. The ISS has several radio amateurs on orbit. Among their on board activities are plenty of amateur radio friendly ones. In addition to ARISS, you'll also find repeaters, voice, packet and other interesting signals if you listen out for them. In previous years I've made abortive attempts at using my station to listen and transmit to space, with varying degrees of success. On a regular basis the ISS transmits SSTV using amateur radio. Often you'll find a series of images that commemorate an activity. During the final week of 2020 astronauts on the ISS celebrated 20 years of ARISS by transmitting a series of images on a rotating basis as the ISS orbits the earth. One of my friends made a throwaway comment about listening to the international space station and decoding slow scan television. I'd heard about this event on various social media outlets but put it in the too hard basket. Based on what I'd seen during my ARISS event, my own trials, and what local amateurs have been playing with in the way of interesting cross polarised antennas, rotators and the like, I'd decided that this was a long term project, unachievable with my current station. My station consists of a dual-band vertical antenna for 2m and 70cm on my roof at about 2m above ground level. The radio is my trusty Yaesu FT-857d. Connected to a Debian Linux laptop running three bits of software, rigctld, gpredict and qsstv. With a high level of apprehension I fired up my station, tuned my radio, updated the orbital information and radio frequencies and waited for the first acquisition of signal from the ISS. Imagine my surprise when a picture started appearing on my screen. It's a lot like the days of 300 baud dial up, getting a picture from some remote computer back in 1985. With that I managed to receive several of the images by just letting it run for the next couple of days. I'm glad my friend made their comment, because it spurred me into action to try for myself. I'll be the first to admit that the image quality isn't broadcast ready, or that I made mistakes, or that I should have started listening at the beginning of the week rather than the last few days, but all that is just noise because I can report that it works and I have the pictures to prove it! I now have most of the image series, number 2 is missing and I only have part of number 1, but there are some beauties among the 35 images I captured. I've published them on my project website at vk6flab.com, for you to have a look at and use as inspiration for your own seemingly impossible task. This leaves me wondering what else I can hear from overlying spacecraft using this set-up. What have you heard and what equipment were you using to make that happen? Are there any impossible tasks that you've avoided? I'm Onno VK6FLAB

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 27th of December 2020 The news headlines: Thanks and seasonal greetings Charity auction raises over £1000 New GB2RS News Manager appointed This is the final GB2RS news reading for 2020 and we start with seasonal greetings to all newsreaders and listeners, both over the air and via the internet recordings, and not forgetting viewers of the ATV broadcast, which is available via several repeaters and kindly streamed via the BATC.TV website, as well as those that get this news via TX Factor or podcasts. We would like to take this opportunity to once again thank all those that read the news, in whatever format, for their tireless dedication to their fellow amateurs. There will be an abbreviated news reading available for the 3rd of January, although it’s voluntary as the RSGB realises not all newsreaders will be available. A full GB2RS service will resume on the 10th of January. The RSGB is delighted that its charity auction for Get on the air for Christmas had a fantastic winning bid of £1,025.99. Ellie Orton, Chief Executive of NHS Charities Together said, “Thank you so much, Roy Bailey, for choosing to raise funds for NHS Charities Together in such a unique way. In addition, I’d like to say a huge thank you to the RSGB for kindly match-funding the winning bid. These funds mean we can continue to help NHS charities to support NHS staff, volunteers and patients at the centre of this crisis.” Get on the air for Christmas continues until the 9th of January and there are still many activities you can take part in. Go to the Society’s website at www.rsgb.org/gota4c. The RSGB Board has appointed Steve Richards, G4HPE as the new GB2RS Manager. A long-time GB2RS newsreader himself, Steve has had a lifelong career in broadcasting. He will start his new role in the New Year and can be contacted via email at gb2rs.manager@rsgb.org.uk. RAYNET groups in several coastal areas have been on active standby in the last few days. In the South East in particular, groups have been ready to act alongside Local Resilience Forums to help with the lorry chaos caused by the temporary closure of the French border. In areas where there are large ports, groups have been preparing to offer assistance with difficulties envisaged with Brexit. These include working with other voluntary agencies conducting welfare checks on lorry drivers who may be in long queues, plus helping to ensure the distribution of vital supplies including Covid-19 vaccines. Several groups have activated wide-area communications systems, including one where the local authority has installed a new PMR system that some feel may not be adequate to cope with extreme call volumes. On the 2nd of January, the RSGB National Radio Centre plans to host the special event station GB2DAY, to help promote the well-established KW activity weekend. The NRC hopes to operate on both the 80 and 40m bands using its KW2000D – an incredibly rare prototype model that never made it into mainstream production at the KW Factory. The event will be held within appropriate Covid restrictions. An ARISS Slow Scan TV event is scheduled from the International Space Station for late December. This will be a special SSTV event to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Amateur Radio on ISS. The event is scheduled to begin on the 24th of December and continue through until the 31st of December. Dates are subject to change due to ISS operational adjustments. Listen out for Youngsters On The Air stations around the world. GB20YOTA will be operating until the end of December. The full calendar is shown on the GB20YOTA page on QRZ.com. The latest ICQ Podcast contains an update on the RSGB’s Get on the air for Christmas campaign as well as a wider look at amateur radio construction. The chat with Board Director Stewart Bryant, G3YSX; Construction Competition Lockdown Category winner Roy Bailey, G0VFS; and RSGB Communications Manager Heather Parsons starts at 1:18:15 in the ICQ Podcast episode. See https://tinyurl.com/icq-gota4c-update. RSGB HQ is closed for the Christmas and New Year until at 8.30 am on the 4th of January. During that time, if you need information about amateur radio, exams or RadCom you’ll find lots of information on the RSGB website, www.rsgb.org. The RSGB’s National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park is currently closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now the special event news From the 1st to the 28th of January, GB4BLC will be operational from the QTH of G8GMU. Operation will take place on most bands and will include digital modes. This station is promoting the work of Lions Clubs International and amateur radio. Members and supporters of Denby Dale ARS are running special event stations to welcome the New Year from the end of December. They will be using callsigns GB – number – HNY. For more details see the QRZ.com entry for GB9HNY. Thurrock Acorns ARC members will be on the air as GB4XMS from the 20th of December to the 3rd of January. During the month of December, Welland Valley ARS members will be running GB1XMS, GB2XMS, GB5XMS and GB9XMS from their home shacks. QSL via eQSL and Logbook of The World. Now the DX news Kenji, JA4GXS will be active as JA4GXS/4 from Otsu Island, IOTA reference AS-117, on the 25th and 26th of December. He will operate CW, SSB and FT8 on 40, 30 and 20m bands. QSL via home call. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the contest for any new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. The RSGB strongly advises obeying your national and local government’s advice. As per tradition, December is a quiet month for traditional contests, with no RSGB HF contests, but do look out for the RSGB Hope QSO Parties. There are two series, which run from 21 December to 14 January, with a short break over Christmas. You can find out details at https://tinyurl.com/RSGB-Christmas-Hope-QSO. On Tuesday, the 29th, the 50MHz Machine Generated Modes Contest and the 144MHz Machine-generated Modes contest both run from 2000 to 2130UTC. The exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator. On the 1st of January, the IRTS 80m Daytime Counties contest runs from 1700 to 1800UTC. Using SSB and CW, the exchange is signal report and serial number, with EI and GI stations, also sending their County. On Saturday the 2nd, the CW AFS contest runs from 1300 to 1700UTC. Using the 3.5 and 7MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The first session of the EUCW 160m CW Party is also on the 2nd from 2000 to 2300UTC, with the second session on the 3rd at 0400 to 0700UTC. The ARRL RTTY Roundup runs from 1800UTC on the 2nd of January to 2359UTC on the 3rd. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number, with US stations sending their State and Canadians their Province too. The Worked All Britain Christmas party runs until the 6th of January. Using all modes on the amateur contest bands, the exchange is the WAB book number. The UK Six Metre Group Winter Marathon runs until the end of January 2021. Just exchange a signal report and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Wednesday the 23rd of December. HF conditions were not terribly good over the last week with maximum usable frequencies down in general. The best DX has been on 40m, especially around greyline times, although there has been a little winter Sporadic-E activity on 10 metres as well that has seen Italy and Spain appearing on FT8, as well as Brazil on 10m via the F2 layer. The lack of sunspots has seen the solar flux index move back down to the low 80s again. Solar matter from a coronal hole pushed the Kp index up to four late on Monday evening as predicted and on Tuesday the Kp index was still pegged at three for most of the morning. NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will remain in the 80s for the Christmas period, with active region 2794 helping to push it towards 86 over Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Unfortunately, NOAA also predicts that a high-speed solar wind stream from a coronal hole may impact Earth over the Christmas period, so we may expect the Kp index to rise again to four or even five just before Christmas with detrimental effects on maximum usable frequencies. Look out for possible pre-auroral enhancements, although these are hard to predict. This should start to settle by the 27th, with the Kp index predicted to go back down to two. So DX conditions may improve after that time. There is little other festive cheer, with the SFI remaining in the low 80s for the rest of the month and into the New Year. Let’s hope 2021 sees the return of the upward trend of Solar Cycle 25 with an increase in sunspots and HF DX. And now the VHF and up propagation news. It’s looking like a predominantly unsettled period of weather over the Christmas holidays, with a ridge of high pressure to the west of Britain soon declining to allow low pressure to move in and reside over the UK for the bulk of next week. This has a chance of providing some good rain scatter conditions on the GHz bands. Sporadic-E has a habit of appearing at this time of year. There is some work that relates the chances of Sporadic-E to disturbances in the stratosphere when the winter polar vortex breaks down in a feature called a sudden stratospheric warming, where temperatures can increase by tens of degrees Celsius over 24 hours. This disturbance in the stratosphere can produce conditions where Sporadic-E is more likely because of the changed flow pattern. Check the usual Sporadic-E bands like 10m and 6m for signs of activity, especially during the first two weeks of January, but it is probably better to focus on the period 9 am to 3 pm rather than the summer pattern of mid-morning and late afternoon. The Quadrantids meteor shower peaks between late-night on the 2nd of January until dawn on the 3rd with, a huge ZHR of 110. It is known for bright fireball meteors causing big over-dense radio meteor bursts. You have to be ready at the right time though, as the peak is very short, lasting just a few hours. This is because the shower is a thin stream of particles and the Earth crosses the stream at a perpendicular angle. The Moon reaches maximum declination this Tuesday so visibility windows are long. Today we are at apogee so losses are high but 144MHz sky noise is low, not reaching 500 kelvin until Tuesday. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 1st of November 2020 The news headlines: GNU Radio on Tonight@8 Introduction to presentations go online Yahoo Groups closes soon The next Tonight@8 is this Monday, the 2nd of November. Heather Lomond, M0HMO will give a beginners’ introduction to using GNU Radio to create simple amateur radio projects. Starting from the beginning, Heather will introduce the GNU Radio programming environment, develop a little of the theory needed to understand SDRs, and then go on to use some simple GNU Radio blocks to build a receiver based on one of the super-cheap SDRs. Finally, she will show how to build more complex radio systems and where to go to take things to the next level. Do encourage people to listen to this webinar, particularly if they are a new or returning licensee. More information is on our website at www.rsgb.org/webinars. The individual presentations from the “Introduction to…” stream at the RSGB Convention Online that took place on the 10th of October are now available to watch. You can catch up on ones you missed or take the opportunity to see again the ones you enjoyed most. Find them at www.youtube.com/theRSGB. Just a reminder for listeners who use or who have subscribed to a Yahoo group. On the 15th of December, groups.yahoo.com, or Yahoo Groups, and its list service will shut down. Many amateurs are still using Yahoo groups and not groups.io. If you want more information, go to https://help.yahoo.com/kb/groups/SLN35505.html. The RSGB sometimes receives complaints regarding incidences of deliberate jamming and foul or inappropriate language on the air and is trying to quantify the size of the problem. A Freedom of Information request to Ofcom showed only three identifiable reports submitted between the 1st of January 2015 and the 31st of December 2019. The RSGB would like to hear from radio amateurs who have reported similar problems directly to Ofcom, not the RSGB, during this period, and after following the Operating Advisory Service’s advice. For further information, including how to submit your reports to the Society, please see the RSGB website via tinyurl.com/rsgb-oas-reports. Results of the IRTS 80 metre Counties Contest held on 6th October have now been published. Band conditions were good for this contest, which kept local and overseas stations busy for the hour. 35 logs were submitted, showing participation from 22 EI and GI counties, as well as 12 overseas DXCC entities. See www.irts.ie/results for full details. The RSGB will once again be participating in the annual YOTA Month activities in December. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we will not be encouraging large group events and all participants should remain within national and local guidelines. GB20YOTA is available for Full licence holders to book an appointment slot within a set calendar shown on the GB20YOTA QRZ.com page. All operations should be focused with the intention to get young people on the air. To register your interest, or to reserve an operating slot, contact Jamie, M0SDV, via email to yota.month@rsgb.org.uk. The proceedings from the 19th of September RSGB Board meeting are now online. Of particular note is that media and public interest in amateur radio continues, RSGB Membership numbers are still rising and examination numbers are still buoyant with an increasing number of candidates progressing to the next licence level. See https://tinyurl.com/gb2rs-board. Now the special event news Members of the HCDX Group will be active as HD1X from a remaining tropical rainforest in Ecuador, grid reference FI09IV. Active until the 3rd of November at 1700UTC they will use various HF bands including 30, 17 and 12m, using SSB, SSTV and FT4/FT8. Larry, G4HLN will be active as GB4CKS between the 1st and the 14th of November. He will operate CW and some SSB on 40 to 10m, marking the 85th anniversary of the death of Australian record-setting aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, who disappeared on the 8th of November 1935 off the coast of Myanmar, then known as Burma, whilst trying to break the England-Australia speed record. QSL via G4HLN, direct or via the bureau. Pittsburgh radio station KDKA will celebrate 100 years of radio broadcasting in November, and Pennsylvania radio amateurs will run a multi-station special event. Special event stations K3K, K3D, K3A and W8XK will set up and operate at several locations in Pennsylvania during November. Stations will determine their own modes and schedules. Visit the W8XK profile on QRZ.com for information on certificates and QSLs. Now the DX news Remo, HB9SHD plans to be active as 8Q7RM from Kandolhu Island, IOTA reference AS-013, from the 2nd to the 29th of November. Activity will be holiday style on various HF bands using CW, SSB and digital modes. QSL via HB9SHD. Bob, W0YBS will be active as V31CO from Cay Caulker in Belize until the 13th of November. Activity will be on the 80 to 10m bands including 30, 17 and 12m, using CW, SSB, FT8 and RTTY. QSL via W0YBS and Logbook of The World. Robert, S53R plans to remain in the Afghan capital city working in his spare time as T6AA until mid-December. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the contest for new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. The RSGB strongly advises obeying your own national and local government’s advice first and foremost, especially in the instance of local lockdowns. The UK EI Contest Club DX Contest ends its 24-hour run at 1200UTC today, the 1st of November. This is SSB only and also has a 12-hour option. UK and EI area codes are multipliers for DX stations and all QSOs made by UK or EI stations between the hours of 0100 and 0500UTC are worth double points. For the rules and other information, follow the links from www.ukeicc.com. On Monday the Autumn Series contest runs from 2000 to 2130UTC. It’s data only on the 3.5MHz band, with the exchange being signal report and serial number. On Tuesday the 144MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 1955UTC. It is followed by the all-mode 144MHz UK Activity Contest from 2000 to 2230UTC. The exchange is the same for both, signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the UK EI Contest Club contest runs from 2000 to 2100UTC. Using the 3.5MHz band only, the exchange is your 6-character locator square. Next weekend, the Marconi CW contest runs from 1400UTC on the 7th to 1400UTC on the 8th. Using the 144MHz band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 30th of October. Last week saw more evidence that Solar Cycle 25 is definitely underway. Large sunspot group 2778 caused the solar flux index to rise to 82. And it then got even better when it was joined by active region 2779, which pushed the SFI up further to 88 on Thursday. This is the first time we’ve seen the SFI in the 80s for some time and a clear indication that things are changing for the better. Both regions were responsible for B and C-class solar flares, but nothing that impacted the ionosphere too much. In addition to the sunspots, we did have the lingering effects of a high-speed solar wind stream from a coronal hole, which saw the Kp index rise to four across the weekend. This corresponded with the SSB leg of the CQWW contest and did have an adverse impact on propagation. The elevated Kp index continued until late in the week and was still at three on Thursday, preventing the ionosphere from completely recovering. Nevertheless, Propquest.co.uk shows that over a 3,000km path maximum usable frequencies often exceeded 24 and were even 28MHz at times. Ten metre FT8 proved popular with the eastern states of the USA, Mexico, South America, Cuba, Malawi, Kenya, South Africa, as well as India, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea all of these being logged on Thursday. As for next week, the STEREO ahead spacecraft shows a couple of sunspots returning to the Earth-facing solar disk. Regions 2775 and 2777 are coming back, but it is difficult to know how active they will be. So as we enter November, NOAA predicts the SFI will be roughly 74-75 with quite calm geomagnetic conditions. The Kp index is predicted to be two by Monday, which bodes well for HF. With the seasonal improvement in ionospheric conditions, a quiet geomagnetic field and possible sunspot activity, the next seven days could be quite good for HF propagation. And now the VHF and up propagation news. We ended the previous week with very unsettled conditions bringing rain and strong winds at times. This pattern will continue into the first half of next week, so once again we expect GHz bands rain scatter to be on the propagation guest list. There is a suggestion that a ridge of high pressure will move into Scotland midweek, gradually extending its influence southwards to make Tropo a consideration. That said, the ridge may get overwhelmed by returning low-pressure next weekend. Recent unsettled weather, which is usually driven by strong jet streams, would be perfect for summer Sporadic-E, and it's worth saying that even out of the traditional Sporadic-E season, FT8 may bring the occasional surprise. Definitely worth a periodic check on 10m and up. The Moon’s declination is still rising, reaching maximum late on Thursday, so Moon visibility windows continue to be long. The Moon is just past apogee so path losses are still high. 144MHz sky noise peaks at 500K on Wednesday. Continue to keep an eye out for low-VHF auroral propagation and remember, we are just over two weeks from the peak of the big Leonids meteor shower. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

This Week in Amateur Radio Edition #1127 Release Date: October 3, 2020 Here is a summary of the news trending This Week in Amateur Radio. This week's edition is anchored by Dave Wilson, WA2HOY, Don Hulick, K2ATJ, Fred Fitte, NF2F, Will Rogers, K5WLR, George Bowen, W2XBS, and Jessica Bowen, KC2VWX. Produced and edited by George Bowen, W2XBS Running Time: 1:23:18 Download here: http://bit.ly/TWIAR1127 Trending headlines in this weeks bulletin service: 1. ARRL Seeks Changes in FCC Proposal to Delete 3.4 GigaHertz Amateur Band 2. Ulrich Rohde N1UL Receives 2020 IEEE Region One Technological Innovation Award 3. WSJT-X Beta Release Introduces Digital Protocols Designed for LF and MF Bands 4. Chinese Amateur Radio Satellite Launches Delayed Due To Pandemic 5. Former Dayton Hamvention Venue Hara Arena is Being Demolished 6. Sterling Mann, N0SSC, Named International Amateur Radio Union Region Two Liaison for Youth 7. HF Station Grounding and Microcontroller Projects are Next ARRL Webinar Topics 8. Pandemic Delayed ARRL 2019 Annual Report Released 9. Get Ready for the 15th Annual ARRL Online Auction! 10. Stuart Wolfe, KF5NIX, Appointed South Texas Section Manager 11. ARISS Invites Proposals to Host Ham Radio Contacts with Space Station Crew 12. White House Pulls Re-nomination of Michael O’Rielly To The FCC 13. Special Pricing on ARRL Five Band WAS and Triple Play WAS Award Plaque Applications 14. Applications For The 2021 ARRL Foundation Scholarship Program Are Now Available 15. Ham Radio Comes To The Aid Of A Stranded Motorist in South Dakota 16. Washington Hams Get Help From Local Hospital To Expand Emergency Communications Coverage 17. Casting Your Absentee Ballot From The International Space Station 18: The Chinese Foghorn Over The Horizon Radar Is Back On The Bands IARU Monitoring Service Reports Plus these Special Features This Week: * Technology News and Commentary with Leo Laporte, W6TWT, takes a look at computer basics this week with a talk on selecting the proper keyboard. * Working Amateur Radio Satellites with Bruce Paige, KK5DO - AMSAT Satellite News * Tower Climbing and Antenna Safety w/Greg Stoddard KF9MP, will talk about what you should do if you have to mount your antenna on the tower upside down. * Foundations of Amateur Radio with Onno Benschop VK6FLAB, says its a new day and time for a new mode..this week a look at Slow Scan Television, SSTV. * Weekly Propagation Forecast from the ARRL * Bill Continelli, W2XOY - The History of Amateur Radio. Bill returns with another edition of The Ancient Amateur Archives, this week, Bill begins a four part series that takes a look at amateur radios Fallen Flags. This weeks episode will look back at the National Radio Corporation. ----- Website: http://www.twiar.net Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/twiari/ Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/twiar RSS News: http://twiar.net/?feed=rss2 iHeartRadio: http://bit.ly/iHeart-TWIAR Spotify: http://bit.ly/Spotify-TWIAR TuneIn: http://bit.ly/TuneIn-TWIAR Automated: http://twiar.net/TWIARHAM.mp3 (Static file, changed weekly) ----- Visit our website at www.twiar.net for program audio, and daily for the latest amateur radio and technology news. Air This Week in Amateur Radio on your repeater! Built in identification breaks every 10 minutes or less. This Week in Amateur Radio is heard on the air on nets and repeaters as a bulletin service all across North America, and all around the world on amateur radio repeater systems, weekends on WA0RCR on 1860 (160 Meters), and more. This Week in Amateur Radio is portable too! The bulletin/news service is available and built for air on local repeaters (check with your local clubs to see if their repeater is carrying the news service) and can be downloaded for air as a weekly podcast to your digital device from just about everywhere, including iHeart, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, TuneIn, AnchorFM, Stitcher, iVoox, Blubrry, Castro, Feedburner, gPodder, Listen Notes, NetVibes, OverCast, Player.FM, PocketCast, Podnova, and RSS feeds. This Week in Amateur Radio is also carried on a number of LPFM stations, so check the low power FM stations in your area. You can also stream the program to your favorite digital device by visiting our web site www.twiar.net. Or, just ask Siri, Alexa, or your Google Nest to play This Week in Amateur Radio! This Week in Amateur Radio is produced by Community Video Associates in upstate New York, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. If you would like to volunteer with us as a news anchor or special segment producer please get in touch with our Executive Producer, George, via email at w2xbs77@gmail.com. Also, please feel free to follow us by joining our popular group on Facebook, and follow our daily feed on Twitter!

Foundations of Amateur Radio In 1958 The Kentucky Engineer published an award winning student article by Copthorne "Coppie" MacDonald. He described a Slow-Scan T.V. System for Image Transmission. If you get the opportunity, have a look for the link on his archived home-page which you can find from the Wikipedia SSTV page. The purpose of this narrow band television idea was to be able to send images using cheaper equipment and less bandwidth than normal television. The idea caught on and it's still in use today. In 1959 the idea of slow scan tv was used by the Luna 3 mission to transmit images from the far side of the moon. The NASA Apollo program also used SSTV to transmit images from Apollo 7, 8, 9 and from the Apollo 11 Lunar Module. In 1968 SSTV became a legal mode for radio amateurs in the United States. The International Space Station regularly uses SSTV to send images to radio amateurs across the globe. The version of SSTV in use by radio amateurs today is different from the earlier grainy black and white images coming from the moon and if you're expecting a moving image, something that TV implies, you're going to be disappointed, since the popular SSTV modes send images one at a time, taking up to a minute or so to send. With a frame-rate of one frame per minute, watching anything other than grass grow is going to be a challenge. That said, SSTV is a lovely and relatively simple way of sending images across the air. In my quest for new adventures I like to play with things I know nothing about. I suspect that it's ingrained but it does keep me off the street. The other day I received an email from a local amateur, Adrian VK6XAM, who sent a message describing a new SSTV repeater he'd set-up for testing purposes. It's a local 2m repeater that waits for an activation tone, then it expects you to transmit an SSTV image and it will replay the image back to you. If you've familiar with a parrot repeater, this is a similar thing, just for SSTV rather than audio. The repeater is running on solar power and with the 100% duty cycle of SSTV, it's only available during daylight hours. Technicalities aside, I couldn't resist. So, I fired up QSSTV, a piece of Linux software that among other things knows how to receive and send SSTV images. After turning on my radio, tuning to the correct frequency, I received my first ever SSTV picture. On a bright red background a yellow symbol appeared. At first I thought it was a hammer and sickle, but on closer inspection it was a micrometer and caliper, which absolutely tickled my fancy, having just taken delivery of some precision measuring tools - a Mitutoyo Test Indicator and a few other bits and pieces for another project I'm working on. Had to learn how to drive QSSTV, make a template so you can overlay text on an image, learn what a signal report should look like, then when I figured all that out I triumphantly hit send and it made all the right noises, but nothing was happening. More time looking at the inter-web taught me that if I want to use the rear connection on my FT-857d to send audio using FM, as opposed to SSB which is what most digital modes need, you need to set the radio to PSK mode and magically it starts to work. My first ever SSTV image was sent an hour and a half after receiving my first image and the repeater dutifully sent it back. Then I got a picture from Keith VK6WK. Of course the paint isn't even dry on any of this, so there's plenty more to learn, but the process is not too complex. I will note a few things. I had already set-up digital modes, that is, my radio was talking to my computer via CAT, that's Computer Assisted Tuning, essentially a serial connection that controls the radio and the audio was already being sent and received from the rear connector of my radio. Getting SSTV running was really an extension on those activities, so if you're going to do this, take some time to make things work. I continue to recommend that you start with WSJT-X since it helps you get your levels and connections right. Now I suppose I should start playing with SSTV over HF, but first I would like to figure out how to make the templates work better for me and how to actually seriously log an actual contact. More adventures ahead! Remember, have fun, play, get on air and make noise! I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Are you interested in listening to the International Space Station? In this episode, Phil shares what you need to know to tune into the ISS and other satellites passing overhead. Learn what equipment and software can help you, where to find the frequencies you’ll need, and how to know when the ISS will be passing over your location. What You Need To Know The ISS just launched a new amateur radio cross-band repeater. You’ll need a HAM radio license for your country in order to transmit on the repeater. No license is required to monitor the repeater The repeater is installed on the Columbus Module of the ISS The repeater is part of the IORS (Inter-Operable Radio System). In order to receive the ISS, you'll need to be aware of the doppler effect. In the doppler effect, you'll need to tune to a higher frequency as the ISS approaches you and a lower frequency as it moves away from you. Any scanner on the market can receive the ISS' new repeater. A directional antenna will be best but you can use a fixed antenna too. My favorite mode from the ISS is SSTV. SSTV is Slow Scan TV, where an image is transmitted over about 30 seconds to your computer. Sometimes the ISS has short communications with local schools, which you can hear if it’s happening near you. You can find the frequencies at ARISS.org.  To see when the ISS will pass over you, go to Heavens Above or N2YO and enter your location. If you’re on a PC, download the Orbitron satellite tracker software to your computer. Orbitron will also tell you the drift frequency of the satellite. If you connect your radio to your computer, you can set Orbitron to automatically adjust the drift on your radio. If you use Mac or Linux, download gpredict. All session notes with links to the items we talked about an be found on our website at www.scannerschool.com/session144 If you need help with your scanner and are looking for some one on one tutoring, I'd love to help you out.  Visit www.scannerschool.com/consulting to book your one hour appointment today! You can help support Scanner School by visiting our support page at www.scannerschool.com/support Don't forget to join us for our weekly net on Zello. For info, visit https://www.scannerschool.com/zello

Foundations of Amateur Radio My radio shack consists of two radios, identical, well, in as much as that they're the same model, a Yaesu FT-857d. Their memories are different, their microphones are different, but both of them are connected via a coaxial switch to the same VHF and UHF antenna. One of them is also connected to a HF antenna. Let's call these two radios alpha and bravo. Alpha is used to host F-troop and play on the local repeater. Bravo is used to do HF stuff. It's also connected to a computer via a serial cable, called a CAT cable, Computer Assisted Tuning, but really, a way to control the radio remotely. The audio output on the rear of the radio is also connected to the computer. These two connections are combined to provide me with access to digital modes like PSK31, WSPR and SSTV, though I haven't actually yet made that work. The computer itself is running Linux and depending on what I'm doing on the radio some or other software, often it's fldigi, a cross-platform tool that knows about many different digital modes. The computer is also connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi, and is used to see what various reporting websites have to say about my station, things like propagation, the DX cluster, an electronic way of seeing what other stations can hear, then there's solar radiation information and other neat tools. This shack is pretty typical in my circle of friends. I'm lucky enough to have a dedicated table with my shack on it, for others they're lucky to have a shelf in a cupboard, or at the other end of the spectrum, a whole room or building dedicated to the task. The level of complexity associated with this set-up is not extreme, let's call it in the middle of the range of things you can add to the system to add complexity. In case you're wondering, you might consider automatic antenna switching, band switches, band filters, amplifiers, more radios, audio switching, automatic voice keyers. If you look at the world of Software Defined Radio, the hardware might include many of those things and then add a computer that's actually doing all the signal processing, making life even more complex. At the other end of the complexity scale there's a crystal radio. As I've been growing into this field of amateur radio it's becoming increasingly clear that we as a community, by enlarge, are heading towards maximum complexity. There's nothing wrong with that as such, but as a QRP, or low-power operator, I often set-up my radio in a temporary setting like a car or a camp site. Complexity in the field is not to be sneezed at and I've lost count of the number of times where complexity has caused me to go off-air. It occurred to me that it would be helpful to investigate a little bit more just what's possible at the other end of the scale, at the simple end of complexity if you like. So, I'm intending, before the year is out, supplies permitting, to build a crystal radio from scratch. I realise that I have absolutely no idea what I'm getting myself into, no doubt there will be more complexity that I'm anticipating, but I'm getting myself ready to build something to be able to look at it and say to myself, look, this is how simple you can get with radio. I'm currently too chicken to commit to making the simplest - legal - transmitter, but if you have suggestions, I'll look into it. Just so you know, simplicity is an option. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

In this adventure I camp overnight at a campsite in high ground. The plan was to run some SSTV experiments on 2m with fellow operators. I used an Android tablet with DroidSSTV app plus the wolphilink adapter.WolphilinkDroidSSTVSamsung tabletFT897Slimjim antennaDX commander poleLeisure battery generic

GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 6th of September 2020 The news headlines: Latest RSGB Convention information Anyone lost a trailer mast? GB2RS Newsreader stands down after 40 years During the online RSGB Convention for 2020, you will be able to enjoy some excellent lectures. On Saturday the 10th of October, the RSGB will be putting on two streams online for everyone to enjoy. In An introduction to… we will have How to get the most out of your dealer for your part-exchange with Martin Lynch, G4HKS. After over 42 years in the amateur radio business, Martin knows a thing or two about trade-in values for equipment and accessories and he’ll explain the best method of achieving the most for your part exchange or outright sale. In the Learn more about… stream, William Eustace, M0WJE will look at DSP: Underlying Concepts. Digital signal processing is built into most new radios for the amateur market, while tools like GNURadio have enabled amateurs to assemble signal processing systems with little or no code and William plans to give an easily-understood explanation. You can find out more at www.rsgb.org.uk/convention. We received news from the Warwickshire Police Rural Crime Team regarding a trailer-mounted Strumech mast they believe may be stolen property. If you think you know where this tower belongs and can identify the mast, please contact PC Craig Purcell either by text, call or WhatsApp on 0779 059 7820. After more than forty years as a GB2RS newsreader for the northeast, Martin, G3USF has decided to retire. The RSGB would like to thank him for his many years of service to the amateur radio community. Eddie, G0VVT is standing in to keep the news readings going in the future. The RSGB’s autumn Tonight @ 8 webinar series starts this Monday, the 7th of September with Portable adventures with Summits on the Air by James, M0JCQ. Join live and ask questions on the Society’s YouTube channel or via the special BATC channel. On the RSGB website, you can find further information about the webinar series, presenters and resources to help you explore each topic more fully at www.rsgb.org/webinars. The popular event Churches and Chapels On The Air will still take place this year, despite Covid-19 restrictions. On Saturday the 12th of September, operators will be a mix of individual activities nears churches as well as operating from home. Activity is usually 10 am to 4 pm and mainly on the 80, 40 and 20m bands using SSB. Contact John, G3XYF via jhwresdell@gmail for more details. The RSGB has updated some of its web pages to reflect online remote invigilation exams and online training processes whilst physical meetings are still restricted. The Student Information section on the Society’s website has full Candidate Instructions for the remote invigilation exams, information about how to book your exams as well as a new page listing the online training providers that we are aware of. If your club is providing online training at any licence level and is not listed, please send full details to exams@rsgb.org.uk and the RSGB will add you to the new web list. For details of all the licence levels visit the Student Information web page at https://tinyurl.com/rsgb-student-information. The Portable Operations Challenge is a new kind of HF contest. It will take place on the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of October. The aim of the challenge is to create a level playing field for small portable stations against the large contest stations by using handicapping algorithms similar to that used in golf. Participants choose their own 8-hour contiguous time window within the 48-hour weekend. Find out all you need to know at foxmikehotel.com/challenge. ARISS has announced the activation of an FM cross-band repeater on the International Space Station. It has a downlink frequency of 437.800MHz. This followed the successful installation of the first element of the ARISS Interoperable Radio System. It enables new, exciting capabilities for amateur radio operators, students and the general public including a higher power radio, voice repeater, APRS capabilities and an SSTV system. Further details are at https://amsat-uk.org. In the news item about the GB2RS Podcast last week there was an error. It’s not approaching twenty thousand downloads, it’s actually approaching two hundred thousand downloads. Our apologies to all those involved in this highly successful method of distributing GB2RS. The RSGB Morse Proficiency testing service continues to operate during this time of limitations on face-to-face meetings. Many of the scheme's Assessors are experienced in offering online testing. This means there's always an opportunity for anyone to obtain a Certificate of Competency, without leaving their home, by using an online sound and video program such as Skype. Full details of the Scheme can be found in the RSGB Yearbook or on the Operating section of the RSGB website. If you want more information or to submit a Test application this can be done using email to morse.tests@rsgb.org.uk. Don’t forget any nomination for the G5RP Trophy needs to be in by 25th September. If you are an established HF DXer and want to recommend someone, send your nominations to Ian Greenshields, G4FSU by email to hf.manager@rsgb.org.uk. The RSGB 2020 Construction Competition is also open for entries. There are four categories, including one specifically for people who are new to amateur radio. The deadline for entries is the 25th of September. For more details, including how to enter, see www.rsgb.org/construction-competition. OE SOTA Day is a popular annual Summits on the Air event, organised by the Austrian SOTA Association and will still take place on Saturday 19 September, but with no social meeting. It will be a festival of SOTA activations to mark the end of summer in Europe. The day should offer a very good opportunity for chasers to amass a large number of points and unique summits worked. For more information about the SOTA scheme, please visit www.sota.org.uk. Now the special event news Since the change of regulations applying to special event stations in the UK, many activations are now able to go ahead. UK amateurs would like to thank Ofcom for their help in making this happen. Members of the Royal Air Force ARS will be operating GB80BOB from the 1st to the 28th of September to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Due to Covid-19, Ofcom are allowing this call to be operated from homes. A list of operators and postcode locations will be displayed on the RAFARS website. A special QSL card is available. Details are at www.rafars.org/GB80BOB/ and QRZ.com. Now the contest news Please remember to check before the contest for new rules due to lockdown and social distancing, which may differ around the world. The RSGB strongly advises obeying your own national and local government’s advice first and foremost, especially in the instance of local lockdowns. Three RSGB contests take place over this weekend, the 5th and 6th September. SSB Field Day runs for 24 hours until 1300UTC today, the 6th. Using the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The 144MHz Trophy is also 24 hours but ends at 1400UTC today, the 6th. Its exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The 5th 144MHz Backpacker contest runs from 1100 to 1500UTC today, the 6th. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Sadly, the HF and VHF Contest Committees have come to the conclusion that the Government guidance on Covid-19 does not yet allow the restart of multi-operator sections in RSGB contests. The rules for all RSGB Contests can be found at www.rsgbcc.org. The All-Asian DX Contest ends its 48 hour runs at 2359UTC today, the 6th. Using SSB on the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and age, with YLs sending 00. The IARU Region 1 Field Day ends its 24 hour run today, the 6th. Using SSB on the 3.5 to 28MHz bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The Worked All Britain 144MHz QRO Contest is today, the 6th, from 1000 to 1400UTC. The exchange is signal report, serial number and WAB square. The contest runs concurrently with part of the RSGB contest, and RSGB serial numbers will be accepted. Due to Covid-19, no multi-operator entries are allowed. See http://wab.intermip.net/default.php for details. It’s time to decide if you or your club would like to take part in the Autumn Series of 80m Contests, which start with an SSB event on Monday the 7th September. These are 90-minute contests that have boosted scores for Foundation and Intermediate entrants and rules designed to encourage newcomers. Running from 1900 to 2130UTC, the exchange is signal report and serial number. On Tuesday the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from 1800 to 1855UTC. It is followed from 1900 to 2130UTC by the all-mode 432MH UK Activity Contest. The exchange for both is signal report, serial number and locator. On Thursday the 50MHz UK Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2100UTC. Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The WAE DX SSB contest runs for 48 hours next weekend from 0000UTC on the 12th to 2359UTC on the 13th. Using SSB on the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Note the EU stations only work non-EU stations. The UK Microwave Group contest runs from 0900 to 1700UTC on the 13th. Using all modes on the 24 to 248GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also on the 13th, the IRTS 70cm Counties contest runs from 1300 to 1330UTC. This is followed by the IRTS 2m Counties contest from 1330 to 1500UTC. Both use SSB and FM only and the exchange is signal report and serial number with EI and GI stations also giving their county. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Friday the 4th of September. This last week was characterised by unsettled geomagnetic conditions caused by an incoming high-speed stream for a solar coronal hole. We warned of this in last week’s report, but in view of the small size of the coronal hole, we didn’t really expect its effects to be quite so severe. The solar material impacted the Earth on Friday the 28th of August, pushing the Kp index to five. Unsettled conditions then persisted through until at least Wednesday, with the Kp index peaking at four on Tuesday the 4th. Ionospheric HF conditions were adversely affected, with maximum usable frequencies over a 3,000km path struggling to get much above 14MHz at times. But by Thursday the Kp index was down to one and the ionosphere was recovering. At the time of writing, there are large coronal holes at the Sun’s poles, but any solar material may not be Earth-directed. NOAA predicts the Sun will remain spotless next week, with a maximum solar flux index of 70. The good news is it has the Kp index at two, which could bode well for better HF conditions over the next seven days. On another note, the website Propquest.co.uk has a new NVIS tab on the foF2 graphs tab for a closer look at the prospects for inter-G nets on the lower HF bands. And now the VHF and up propagation news. This will probably be the final mention of Sporadic-E in the bulletin for this summer season. The coming week might offer some good opportunities from the jet streams, the main source of the turbulence that produces atmospheric gravity waves, so don’t rule Sporadic-E out just because it’s September. With a low Kp index you might be able to get the odd FT8 path out of it, and even a chance of CW or SSB if you’re really lucky. Propquest.co.uk shows the daily jet stream maps and now we also have the Sporadic-E Probability Index, a single graphic to look at for hints of where the paths may occur. We had some decent Tropo over the last week, but it has temporarily suspended for now. Towards the end of Sunday a new high will build in from the Atlantic and, for much of the coming week, there should be some Tropo chances as high pressure dominates. It’s looking like reverting to low pressure and wet weather by next weekend. The models are showing some heavy rain in some areas, so there is a potential for strong GHz bands rain scatter events. Finally, autumn usually produces better chances of auroral propagation, and with the recently disturbed conditions, keep a check on the Kp index. Anything above four should attract attention. Aurora produces a very garbled distorted sound to SSB, so CW is best but wide-tone digimodes such as JT4G should work well. Beam north-east to the north-northwest and you could work stations via backscatter on 6m or 2m. Moon declination is positive again, meaning longer Moon windows. Today, Sunday the 6th, the Moon is at apogee so EME path losses are at their highest. 144MHz sky temperatures are moderate all week. Just one small meteor shower this week, peaking on Wednesday, the September Epsilon-Perseids with a Zenithal Hourly Rate (ZHR) of just five. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.

Welcome to the 8th episode of Star Sports TV – 15 minutes of top midweek discussion and pointers from the Star Stable. We welcome your feedback or ideas for next week’s programme – please email the team content@starsportsbet.co.uk ! Hosted by Johnny Ward this week we look ahead to: Weekend Racing ‘First Look’: Johnny looks ahead to this weekend’s action with Star’s Head of PR Luke Tarr, including the Sprint Cup & September Stakes. Johnny also checks in Stateside with Kaitlin Free to discuss the Kentucky Derby. Football: Our man Adam Russell looks at our new season handicap markets and picks out a 7/1 selection in our unique and creative goalscorer pairings special. Trader Chat: Ed Dark dials in from Star Sports HQ to reflect on the ups and downs over the last week in the trading office. Greyhound Derby: Julie Collier meets up with Rab McNair who reveals one of last years stars could well be making her return to the track with the Derby on the agenda.  Cricket: Star ambassador Ryan Sidebottom previews the upcoming series between England & Australia.  Golf: Our golf pundit Blue Horseshoe has a selection in the upcoming Fedex Cup. Politics: Our Political Analyst William Kedjanyi discusses the latest on the US Election.  Hit The Tweet Spot, WIN A FREE BET & much more!

Welcome to the 7th episode of Star Sports TV – 15 minutes of top midweek discussion and pointers from the Star Stable. We welcome your feedback or ideas for next week’s programme – please email the team content@starsportsbet.co.uk ! Hosted by Johnny Ward this week we look ahead to: Weekend Racing ‘First Look’: Johnny looks ahead to this weekend’s action with Star’s head of PR Luke Tarr, including the Snow Fairy Stakes, Celebration Mile and Winter Hill Stakes. Football: Our man Adam Russell looks at where Lionel Messi could end up after his transfer request to Barcelona and an exciting new market ahead of the Premier League season. Trader Chat: Ed Dark dials in from Star Sports HQ to reflect on the ups and downs over the last week in the trading office, and look ahead to the new Premier League season with some exciting new markets. Greyhound Derby: Julie Collier catches up with Hayley Keightley’s assistant trainer Craig Morris, to discuss his Star Sports Greyhound Derby aspirations with Hiya Boyo, who is a leading player in Saturday’s Monmore Gold Cup final. Cricket: Star ambassador Ryan Sidebottom reflects on Jimmy Anderson’s 600th test wicket and his SPOTY chances before looking ahead to the T20 series between England and Pakistan. Golf: Our golf pundit Blue Horseshoe has a 125/1 for The BMW as the FedEx Cup moves into its second week. Cycling: Cycling betting expert Ian O’Sullivan (@cyclingbetting) looks ahead to the Tour de France with picks to win the yellow and polka-dot jersey. Politics: Our Political Analyst William Kedjanyi discusses the Republican National Convention and the Presidential election markets. #BettingPeople: William Kedjanyi unveils this week’s feature interview. Hit The Tweet Spot, WIN A FREE BET & much much more…

Welcome to the sixth episode of Star Sports TV – 15 minutes of top midweek discussion and pointers from the Star Stable. We welcome your feedback or ideas for next week’s programme – please email the team content@starsportsbet.co.uk Hosted by Johnny Ward this week we look ahead to: Weekend Racing ‘First Look’: Johnny looks ahead to this weeks action at the York Ebor Festival with the Head Of PR at Star Sports Luke Tarr. Trader Chat: Flynn Goward, head of racing and on course at Star Sports reflects on the ups and downs over the last week in the trading office. Greyhound Derby: Julie Collier catches up with Pat Rosney to discuss his Star Sports Greyhound Derby contender. Boxing: Columnist Jordan Neild joins us to preview the huge fight card this weekend with Dillian Whyte & Katie Taylor both in action. Golf: Our golf pundit Blue Horseshoe has a pick for The Northern Trust as the FedEx Cup gets underway. Football: Our man Adam Russell picks out a few selections he feels could be worth siding with in the Champions League & Europa League finals. Politics: Our Political Analyst William Kedjanyi discusses the latest in UK Politics. #BettingPeople: Simon Nott unveils this weeks feature interview. Hit The Tweet Spot, WIN A FREE BET & much much more…

Welcome to the fifth episode of Star Sports TV – 15 minutes of top midweek discussion and pointers from the Star Stable. We welcome your feedback or ideas for next week’s programme – please email the team content@starsportsbet.co.uk Hosted by Johnny Ward this week we look ahead to: Weekend Racing ‘First Look’: Top action from Newbury this weekend as well as a 50/1 ante-post selection for next year's Derby with Star Sport’s Head of PR Luke Tarr. Champions League: The domestic season may be over but all eyes now turn to Europe, Adam Russell from Square in the Air picks out a few selections he feels could be worth siding with. Trader Chat: Flynn Goward, Head of Racing and On Course at Star Sports, with the latest betting news from Star HQ. Greyhound Derby: The 2020 Star Sports Greyhound Derby is nearly upon us and Julie Collier has been out and about talking to top trainer Patrick Janssen about his leading contenders.  Snooker: The World Snooker Championship continues this week and Star’s head snooker trader JB runs through the action so far as the tournament heats up. Golf US PGA Tour: Our golf pundit Blue Horseshoe looks back at the first major of the year and picks out one player at 16/1 to keep on side for this week's Wyndham Championship. Hannah Baycroft: All the advice you need to keep your horse cool when the temperature rises. Bloopers: Things don't always go to plan, good thing we're not live! Politics: in-house guru William Kedjanyi discusses the latest in UK politics including the latest on a potential second Scottish Independence referendum. The #BettingPeople: Simon Nott unveils this week’s feature interview with flamboyant bookmaker Mickey Fletcher and talks about how to keep up to date with all that's going on at a bumper Star Sports sponsored Chepstow card this Saturday. Tweet of the week, Win A Free Bet With STAR and plenty more …..

Welcome to the fourth episode of Star Sports TV – 15 minutes of top midweek discussion and pointers from the Star Stable. We welcome your feedback or ideas for next week’s programme – please email the team content@starsportsbet.co.uk Hosted by Johnny Ward this week we look ahead to: Weekend Racing ‘First Look’: Top action from Haydock and Newmarket as well as a few other fancies from across the cards with City AM’s in form racing editor Bill Esdaile and Star’s Head of PR Luke Tarr. Trader Chat: Flynn Goward, head of racing and on course at Star Sports, with the latest betting news from Star HQ. Golf US PGA Championship: Our golf pundit Blue Horseshoe takes aim at the first major of the year and tees off with a host of selections including an 18/1 shot at TPC Harding Park. Champions League: The domestic season may be over but all eyes now turn to Europe, Adam Russell from Square in the Air picks out a few selections he feels could be worth siding with. Snooker: The World Snooker Championship continues this week and Star’s head snooker trader JB runs through the action so far. Politics: in-house guru William Kedjanyi discusses the latest in Donald Trump’s US Presidential campaign. Hannah Baycroft: Racehorse training, but not as you know it. The #BettingPeople: Simon Nott unveils this week’s feature interview with legendary bookmaker Dave Phillips. Tweet of the week, Win A Free Bet With STAR and plenty more …..

Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day day I managed my first DX contact using a new mode, FT8. It wasn't very far away, all of 2600 km or so, but it evoked memories of my first ever on-air DX contact nearly a decade ago. I should say thank you to YD3YOG for my 15m contact, fitting because my first ever was also on 15m as I recall. Unfortunately I never did log my first. Recently a friend asked me how the two compared. 15m and logging aside, there's a lot of similarities, even though I'm a more experienced operator today when compared to when I made my first ever contact. The preparation and the building anticipation is what made the contact all the sweeter. A while ago I managed to connect the audio of my radio to a computer. This is pretty much the first step in starting to use digital modes. Essentially many common digital modes use an SSB transmission to generate and receive audio that in turn contains digitally encoded information. There are hundreds of modes like this, from PSK31 to RTTY, WSPR, FT8, SSTV and many more. If you've not yet dabbled in this area, I'd recommend starting with WSJT-X. The software is so far the best tool I've found to make sure that your digital levels are correct and offers several popular modes to see how your station is operating. If you're asking for a first mode recommendation, I'd start with WSPR. Just do the receive part first, then work on from there. There are many tutorials available, some better than others, so if the one you find doesn't float your boat, keep looking. A fly-over view is that there are several things that you need to get working and if they don't all work together, you'll get no result. Obviously you'll need to install the software, but that's not the whole story. For the software to be able to control your radio, change bands, frequency and set-up things like split operation, you'll need to set-up the hardware to do this, in my case a CAT cable between the radio and the computer. You'll also need to set-up control software that knows how to talk to the hardware. In my case that's Hamlib on Linux, but it could be Hamlib or flrig on MacOS or something like OmniRig on your Windows machine. The purpose is to control the radio. When you're troubleshooting, keep that in mind, hardware plus software need to work together to control the radio and this is before you actually do anything useful with the radio. Then you need to have both hardware and software to have audio go between the computer and the radio. In my case the headphone and microphone connectors on my computer are connected to the data port on the back of the radio. If your computer doesn't have access to sockets you might need to use a USB sound-card. If your radio doesn't have an easily accessible port, you might need to have an interface. The computer software in this case is likely setting the volume levels using the audio mixer in your operating system. I will add that some radios have a USB socket on the back that combines both CAT control and audio. The principle though is the same. You need to make the CAT interface work, which is essentially a serial connection, and you need to make the audio work, which is essentially a sound-card. Nothing else will make sense until you've managed to make those two work. Then, and only then, can you try to launch something like WSJT-X, point it at the various things you've configured, then you can actually start decoding signals. For WSJT-X to work properly, there's one more thing. An accurate clock is required. Likely you'll need to use a piece of software that knows how to synchronise with something called NTP or Network Time Protocol. The simplest is to point your clock tool at a time-server called pool.ntp.org which will get you global time coverage. Each operating system does this differently, but getting it right is essential before WSJT-X will actually make sense. You can visit time.is in a web browser to see how accurate your clock currently is. So, get computer control of your radio working, get audio working, set the clock, then you can run WSPR, FT8, JT65 or any other mode. I will note that I'm not attempting to give you specific computer support here, just an overview of what's needed before anything will work. If you've been contesting then CAT control might already be operational. If you've been using a computer voice-keyer, then audio might also be ready. Depending on where you are on your digital journey, these steps might be complicated or trivial. Once you've done all that you can start doing things like figuring out where satellites are or how to talk to the International Space Station, or use Fldigi to make a PSK31 contact or send a picture using SSTV or decode a weather fax. When you've made that first digital DX contact, I'm sure that you too will have a sense of accomplishment! I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Welcome to the third episode of Star Sports TV – 15 minutes of top midweek betting banter from the Star Stable. We welcome your feedback or ideas for next week’s programme – please email the team content@starsportsbet.co.uk Hosted by Johnny Ward this week we look ahead to: Weekend Racing ‘First Look’: Top action from Glorious Goodwood as well as a few other fancies from across the cards with City AM’s in form racing editor Bill Esdaile and Star’s Head of PR Luke Tarr. All change in the cricket: After brand ambassador Ryan Sidebottom tipped up England to beat the West Indies 2-1, hear his thoughts on the Ireland ODI series and an antepost tip for the new County Cricket season. Trader Chat: Flynn Goward, head of on course at Star Sports, with the latest betting news from Star HQ. Golf WGC FedEx: Our golf pundit Blue Horseshoe tees off with a host of selections including a 125/1 at Memphis. FA Cup Final: Following on from last week’s successful tip, Adam Russell from Square in the Air looks ahead to the FA Final and has a couple of fancies on who might score the pivotal goal. Snooker: The World Championship kicks off this week and Star’s head snooker trader JB runs through the likely contenders. Politics: in-house guru William Kedjanyi discusses the latest in Joe Biden’s US Presidential campaign. Hannah Baycroft: Take a tour around our flagship betting shop based in the heart of London’s Mayfair. The #BettingPeople: Julie Collier tees up this week’s feature interview with Aussie greyhound racing legend Greg Miller. Tweet of the week, Win A Free Bet With STAR and plenty more …..

Welcome to the second episode of Star Sports TV – 15 minutes of top midweek betting banter from the Star Stable. We welcome your feedback or ideas for next week’s programme – please email the team content@starsportsbet.co.uk Hosted by Johnny Ward this week we look ahead to: Weekend Racing ‘First Look’: Top action from Ascot (King George) and York under the spotlight with City AM’s in form racing editor Bill Esdaile. England v West Indies 3rd Test: Going to the wire. Brand ambassador Ryan Sidebottom on the third and deciding Test from Old Trafford. Trader Chat: Flynn Goward, head of on course at Star Sports, with the latest betting news from Star HQ. Golf 3M Open: Our golf pundit Blue Horseshoe landed some massive place bets last week and now looks ahead to the 3M Open in Minnesota. Premier League: The final day. We look ahead to the final day of the season with stats and pointers from Adam Russell from Square In The Air. Politics: in-house guru William Kedjanyi discusses the latest in the US election and also where the UK Parliament might relocate to when the builders are in. Hannah Baycroft: How Lockdown sparked the idea of videos with racing’s biggest names. The #BettingPeople: Simon Nott tees up this week’s feature interview with Australian bookmaking and punting legend Rob Waterhouse Tweet of the week, Win A Free Bet With STAR and plenty more …..

Welcome to the very first episode of Star Sports TV - 15 minutes of top midweek betting banter from the Star Stable. We welcome your feedback or ideas for next week's programme - please email the TV team content@starsportsbet.co.uk Hosted by Johnny Ward this week we look ahead to: Racing Verdict: York and Curragh top weekend races under the spotlight with Star's PR man Luke Tarr England v West Indies 2nd Test: Brand ambassador Ryan Sidebottom has forecast a 2-1 series win for England. Can they turn it around? Golf Memorial Tournament: our top pundit Blue Horseshoe looks at this week's Memorial Tournament - picks include a 150/1 shot! Politics: in-house guru William Kedjanyi discusses US Presidential Election and (absolute) state of British Politics! The #BettingPeople: Simon Nott tees up this week's feature interview with Australian pro-punter Shane Ciurleo Hello from Hannah: meet our roving reporter Hannah Baycroft Tweet of the week, WIN A FREE BET WITH STAR and plenty more .....

Foundations of Amateur Radio The other day I was getting ready to go out when rain started pelting down. Not unexpected in this part of the world at this time of year but inconvenient for my plans. I didn't particularly want to carry an umbrella and the thought of wearing a rain hood brought back memories of water trickling down my back. For reasons I'm not quite sure of, my eye fell on my hat on its hook at the door. The hat I wear in the heat of summer to keep my brain from frying, the hat I use whilst camping with my amateur radio friends, the hat I've worn whilst loading massive hay bales with a tractor and the hat I've worn swimming in the Ord River - well, a descendent, third generation if I remember correctly. I shook my head in disbelief, after donning my raincoat, put my trusty Akubra Territory on my head and stepped out into the rain. Perfect. Kept me dry, kept my glasses clear and no drips down my back. You may well wonder what this has to do with radio and that's a fair question. I will preface this with a disclaimer that you might not have this set-up in your shack just now, but perhaps it will inspire you to get started. I've been talking a lot about Software Defined Radio, and I do believe that it represents the future for our hobby, but that doesn't mean that my traditional radio, in my case a Yaesu FT-857d, is headed for the scrap heap just yet. As you might know, with some preparation you can connect your radio to a computer and control it. You can also connect both the send and receive audio to a computer using a variety of techniques which I probably should get into at some point. Assuming that you have, and I realise you might not yet have done this, but assuming for a moment that you have made this all work, you can use this to do things like JT65, FT8, PSK31, SSTV and hundreds of other modes. One thing I did during the week was use this set-up to listen to noise. Seriously, that's what I did. I picked a spot on the band with nothing but noise. No discernible signal and fired up the application WSJT-X, it's the tool you use for many weak signal modes. As an aside, as a tool, it is also helpful in getting your digital mode levels set correctly. One of the windows in WSJT-X is the waterfall and spectrum display. On it you can see the signal as it is right now and how it's been in the past. If you turn on one of the filters on your radio, you can see the display change. You can literally see what gets filtered out. On my radio I've got the standard filter, as well as a 2 kHz and a 300 Hz Collins filter. Using this technique, you can specifically see what each filter does. If I turn on the built-in Digital Signal Processor, the DSP, I can see what the adjustments do, as well as the impact of the mode on the filter. And how the various settings interact. For example, until I saw this display, I didn't know what the "DSP HPF CUTOFF" and "DSP LPF CUTOFF" specifically did and how they interacted with the other filters. Similarly what "DSP BPF WIDTH" did and how. I also didn't know that even if you set both the high and low pass filter frequencies to the same value, you still have a usable filter, even if you might think that nothing could get through. Now I do realise that your radio may not have those specific settings, but I am confident that if you pick a spot on the band, set up a frequency display and waterfall, you'll discover things about your radio that you hadn't before. I also realise that you can hear some of this by just playing with filters, but seeing it on the scope adds a whole other dimension to the experience. Just one example is to see how a narrow filter interacts with the in-built DSP, something that's difficult to hear, but easy to see. If you have a Morse beacon to hand, you can also see how various frequency shifts work and the impact of selecting filters in relation to that signal. No need to just listen to the beacon with just CW mode either. Have a look at it using SSB. Using something for an unexpected purpose can give you many great rewards. As for the hat, really, I hadn't used my hat to ward off the rain until then; you live and learn. What have you discovered recently? I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Today D.J. all by himself (Kate was out with a migraine) sits down with the host of The Michael Balko Show, Michael Balko. Michael currently works in sports and loves interviewing current and former athletes, such as legendary NFL kicker Morten Andersen! Listen in as Michael shares his passion for having a "friendly conversation" with an athlete and he shares his secrets to get them to open up and more importantly, respond to your guest requests! Give Michael a follow on Instagram @michael.balko and subscribe to his podcast wherever you download your favorite shows! This episode was also released on YouTube as a video, so go check it out: https://youtu.be/I_0PHJJn9wY

1619 HBT NETWORK

1619 HBT NETWORK

Do you really know what’s shown in a Spectrum Display? George explains. Visually observing a signal fade. Emile’s DRM SSTV exploration. Mike discovers OpenWebRX is back and more. 1:33:03

Do you really know what’s shown in a Spectrum Display? George explains. Visually observing a signal fade. Emile’s DRM SSTV exploration. Mike discovers OpenWebRX is back and more. 1:33:03

An introduction to JS8Call; SSTV is still going strong; all about arc-fault circuit breakers.

Foundations of Amateur Radio In my day to day activities as a radio amateur I come in contact with people across all parts of their amateur journey. Some who don't yet know that they're amateurs, through to those who've just passed their test and are waiting for their callsign. Then there are those who have been amateurs for a while, experimented a bit and have settled down into the comfort of being a member of an active community. Stretch that further and I also spend regular quality time with amateurs who have been licensed longer than I've been alive. Recently I received an email from a freshly minted amateur. Just like me, still pretty much wet behind the ears, keen as mustard, trying very hard to figure out what to do next and where to go. The basic gist of the email from this amateur was that they didn't know what kind of antenna they could erect at their home and failing that, couldn't decide on what radio to acquire to match the antenna that they hadn't decided on, not to mention that the antenna needed to match the radio that didn't yet exist. If you've been around this community for a while you might recognise the chicken and the egg, which comes first, the antenna or the radio? The answer is obvious, hidden in plain sight, easy to deduce, simple to understand, and completely useless. Let me help you with the answer: It depends. If that didn't test your patience, even if you've been an amateur for longer than my parents have been alive, you'll know that this is an unanswerable question. So how do you break the egg and get started? Easy. Start somewhere. As it happens I have a recommendation. It's cheap, simple and it will get your feet wet sooner rather than later. My recommendation is neither, or both, depending on your perspective. I promise, I'll get to the point shortly. The reason I'm making it last and savouring the point, some might say, belabouring it, is because it's one that happens over and over again, day in, day out, year in, year out. My recommendation is that you spend $25 on an RTL-SDR dongle and hunt around your home for a piece of wire. That's it. If you're not familiar with an RTL-SDR dongle, it's essentially a USB thumb-drive sized device that plugs into the nearest computer and paired with the correct software it has access to many if not all of the frequencies that you as an amateur are allowed to play with. Given that it's a receiver, the antenna doesn't really matter all that much, at least not initially, so any piece of conductive wire will suit. Most dongles even come with an antenna of sorts, so you can get started straight away. Resources associated with this podcast are on the vk6flab.com website where I've also collected a few links under F-troop to get you on your way with an RTL-SDR dongle. The purist radio amateurs will likely arc up at this point and mention that this isn't real amateur radio, to which I can only say: Bah Humbug. Radio is about receiving as much as it is about transmitting. Any fool with two bits of wire can transmit, but it takes finesse to receive, so start there. There are other benefits from going this way. Other than ease of entry, that's another way of saying - cheap - you can easily spot where and when there is activity. You can use all the traditional modes like CW, SSB, AM and FM, but you can also play with all of the new modes like WSPR, FT8, JT65 and investigate some of the other modes like RTTY, PSK31, Olivia, SSTV and others. All this will help you have a better idea of the landscape you're stepping into without a major purchase. To really set a cat among the pigeons, I'm also looking into a Raspberry Pi based transmitter, rpitx by Evariste F5OEO. When that bears fruit I'll let you know. In the mean time, play, learn, listen, experiment. No need to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars while you're still unsure. Even if you already have a lovely amateur station, an RTL-SDR dongle is worth every cent and then some. I'm Onno VK6FLAB

Foundations of Amateur Radio During the week I celebrated my ninth birthday. You might think that I'm quite eloquent for a nine year old and you'd be right if it was related to how I came to be born. My ninth birthday as an amateur appeared in my diary unexpectedly on a Monday and I took the liberty of telling a few people. On one forum it started a wonderful series of comments from amateurs and would be amateurs about their experience coming to our community. I've shared mine before, so instead I'd like to share some of the stories that truly show just how diverse our amateur friends really are. Floyd KK3Q says: My Dad was into CB radio (back when it wasn't so bad) and I was his antenna guy. He had black lung so I was the one who took down and put up his antennas for him. In the process I learned a lot (ask me later about a "smoke poles" and "buried 12V batteries") Well, Dad and I got into the illegal SSB frequencies and one night we visited one of the locals who happened to be using a Kenwood 520 on 11 meters. One look at that rig and I was in love. I never heard of ham radio and when I asked about it the owner said the radio was a "ham" radio and you needed a license to run one. Which she didn't have by the way. So I says, "Maybe I'll get myself a ham license and a rig like the Kenwood." She laughed at me, "You're just a stupid truck mechanic, you'll never get a ham license." I never run from a challenge, skipped over Novice and got my Tech, wanted on 20 meters so under incentive licensing I had to upgrade to General which meant 13WPM CW and me partially deaf. Next I wanted SSTV but you had to be Advanced class so I upgraded. Finally I lusted after a short call sign so I upgraded to Extra back when 20WPM CW was still required. Been a nice run, learned a LOT from a lot of elmers. Floyd has been a ham for 42 years. Bill WK2KX has been a ham for 33 years. Will be 34 this January. Licensed at age 11. He goes on to say: My dad and I did it together, but most of my family are licensed as well. My grandfather started it. His main claim to fame is that he served as general Eisenhower's radio man during ww2 for about a month. Now I have both my parents, a bunch of cousins, aunts, uncles, etc who are all licensed - enough that I've considered creating a "worked all (our last name)s" award, haha. Tyrell KD7TKJ turned 18 as an amateur in September. My stepdad wasn't a ham, but one of the kids he grew up with was... And my stepdad told me a story at a young age about how he and this neighborhood kid would go to the auto wreckers to pick up scraps to build radios out of, and then use said radios to talk to Australia... The details of said story really were never complete, and I've never met anyone since that claimed to have built a radio from car parts... But it was enough to get me to (get my mom to) get the ARRL Now You're Talking book and get licensed. I've been addicted to this more than any money making Enterprise ever since. One amateur writes: I got my license 48 years ago. In high school, every day I'd pass a door with no window, just a sign "W2CXN". When I got the courage to knock, I was met with a person I knew liked his job. So happy to help. I remember thinking, how cool is that? Peter KD2TCQ has been an amateur for 4 days and got interested because of packet radio as well as the ability to do on HF (which he needs to upgrade to do via phone but he's studying for that) Ron K7UV says: I'm at 62 years and was licensed at age of 12. My dad and I built two receivers together and I wanted to do more than listen... the rest is history. Yup, I go way back before transistors and computers and remember cycles, mmF, aerials and condensers. My original Hammarland receiver had around 13 tubes, the transmitter had 6 tubes plus the 2 meter converter had 4 tubes and my SCR522 had at least 7 tubes. It kept my bedroom quite warm in the winter and sweltering in the summer when there was no air conditioner, just fans. The weird thing... I miss those days, maybe it's just my nostalgia kicking in. But radio and my interactions with my father were essentially what led me to radio. Matt KD2MGM says: I suppose We're only 3. My brother and I put CB radios in our trucks in the summer of 16' but we quickly realized living out in the country that there weren't really any people on the air waves and that 4 watts wasn't enough to talk over the hills to each-other. These days we are not super active but still hop on the air once in a while. You can find all these stories and many more on the amateurradio sub on Reddit. For me, reminiscing over how you came to be part of this amazing community brings us all together. Our stories are not that different, we're all cut from the same cloth. Curiosity killed the cat, but it just makes amateur radio stronger. How long have you been an amateur and what got you in the door? I'm Onno VK6FLAB

In this episode, Martin M1MRB is joined by Chris Howard M0TCH, Martin Rothwell M0SGL, Dan Romanchik KB6NU and Frank Howell K4FMH to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief and this episode’s feature is The S-meter by Martin (M1MRB). ICQ AMATEUR/HAM RADIO PODCAST DONORS We would like to thank William Heckleman (KC3HZU) and Kevin Rupp (WN7Z) and our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate - FCC Asked to Allow All-Digital on AM Band - MagPi Features Ham Radio - New Packet Radio - Hamnet over 70cm - Petition Seeks to Limit Digital Modes to Open-Source Software - 2019 State of the Hobby Results - Take In National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting During Hamvention - Amateur Radio SSTV Art Expo - Successful Club Expands Training Team

Frank Bauer, KA3HDO, the international chairman of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program, is back to take your calls about ARISS! We'll talk about the latest on the equipment, SSTV, and plans for the future. Plus, you can learn all about Astro Bees!Be sure to CALL in with your questions and comments by calling 812-650-9556 live during the call-in segment of the show. You can also tweet your questions before or during the show to @HamTalkLive.

No idea what to put here other than SCOTT BAKER!!!!!!!!!

SwanPod on the road in Magaluf as we did a touch of warm weather training, many of the boys have come back refreshed and ready for action for Swansong FC

On today's episode of "Timeouts", we feature a clip from our good friends and partner, the "Bros Talking Soccer" podcast. Hosts and real life brothers Dave, Christian, and Matt Knittel host a weekly show breaking down what's going on in the world of soccer. Their podcast can be found on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, IHeartRadio, RadioPublic, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, and live on YouTube. Give them a follow on FaceBook @BrosTalkingSoccer, Twitter @BTSoccerPod, and Instagram @Bros.Talking.Soccer.

Season 3 Episode One:- Just a welcome back to the new season with a little podcast.

SsTV have been BETRAYED !!!!!!!!! #disgrace

Welcome to another incredible (and we mean "in-cred-ible") edition of The Weekender. In this episode, we talk about some upcoming QSO parties for various US states, some special event stations coming up, SSTV from the ISS, NixOS, upcoming Linux and Open Source conferences, a Lowland Scotch whisky, really good ham sandwiches and drinking pine trees. [...]

In Episode #212 of Linux in the Ham Shack, the hosts take an in-depth look at the origins and operation of Slow-Scan Television (SSTV) and the Linux-native application QSSTV which allows radio amateurs to enjoy the wonder of sending and receiving still images via radio waves. Thank you for listening and stay tuned for a [...]

In this episode, Martin M1MRB is joined by Chris Howard M0TCH, Dan Romanchik KB6NU and Ed Durrant DD5LP  to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episode’s feature is Xiegu X108G Review by Ed Durrant DD5LP. We would like to thank our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate Solar Minimum Sunspot ARRL Again Calls for Action on Symbol Rate Limits Theft of MB7TV SSTV Repeater 160m Band Wireless Power Transfer Sony to Cease Shortwave Radios Production Yaesu FT818 Kempton Rally UK QSL Bureau Volunteers Wanted The CWops Award for Advancing the Art of CW

In this episode,  Martin M1MRB is joined by, Leslie Butterfield G0CIB, Matthew Nassau M0NJX, and Bill Barnes N3JIX  to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief, and this episode’s feature is RF Safety by Bill Barnes (N3JIX). We would like to thank our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit - http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate SSTV on a Baofeng? New BT broadband service to transmit across VHF Updates Iceland Radio Regulation AO-92 Commissioned and Open for Amateur Use New Zealand get 5 MHz (60m) Signal From 'Dead' NASA Satellite InnovAntennas Releases 4/2m Dualbander 20m WSPR Balloon Travels the World WIA Want Power Increase