Miscellaneous
GB2RS NEWS Sunday the 23rd of May 2021 The news headlines: Final details on EMF from Ofcom Cathryn, M0IBG inducted into the CQ Hall of Fame RSGB National Radio Centre re-opens Ofcom has updated its web page at ofcom.org.uk/emf stating its final decision on EMF. The RSGB is updating its advice so check rsgb.org/emf. You will find revised guidance and the RSGB calculator has been updated in line with the Ofcom calculator changes. The 2021 Inductees to the CQ Amateur Radio, Contesting and DX Halls of Fame have been announced. Of particular interest to UK radio amateurs is the inclusion of Cathryn Mitchell, M0IBG into the Hall of Fame. Catheryn is the Academic Director of the University of Bath Doctoral College and recipient of the 2019 Edward Appleton Medal. She is also one of the trustees of the RCF amateur radio charity and a corresponding member of the RSGB’s propagation committee. Congratulations. The RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park will re-open on Friday the 28th of May. It will be open each day, other than Wednesdays, until further notice. The RSGB is delighted to support Bletchley Park as it welcomes visitors again. Visitors to Bletchley Park need to pre-book and pay via their website so the Society is unable to offer its free entry voucher to RSGB Members whilst that system is in place. Visitor and volunteer safety is the priority so whilst the radio room will be open for the demonstration of amateur radio, visitors won’t be allowed inside the radio room. Only NRC volunteers will be permitted to operate the GB3RS station. The RSGB looks forward to welcoming visitors to the National Radio Centre again. The RSGB Awards Manager has reviewed the current 50MHz awards offered by the Society. It was decided that the existing 50MHz Two-Way Countries and 50MHz DX Countries awards are significantly duplicating each other. The plan is to amalgamate these two awards into one single 50MHz Countries award, whilst keeping all the incremental levels of award. If you’ve been working towards either of the current 50MHz awards you will have until the end of the year to complete them. A new award for 50MHz operating will be launching soon. GB7LA has moved to a new location new the centre of Lancaster. It is now operational on 439.3625MHz output and 430.3625MHz input. The CTCSS tone is 82.5Hz. The repeater is analogue FM only at present and is connected to the North West Allstar Group. Reports are welcome. In 2020, thousands of new people gained their Foundation licence and many progressed through the licence levels. RSGB Membership is at its highest for ten years. How do you think we should support new licensees at every level and retain this momentum of people enjoying amateur radio? The RSGB’s survey ends at midnight today, Sunday the 23rd of May. Please take a few minutes to add your voice to the 900 people who have already given their views at rsgb.org/survey. Now the DX news Ennio, IW1RBI and his team will be active as 3A/IW1RBI from Monaco between the 27th and 30th of May. They plan to operate on the 30 to 6m bands using FT8 in Fox and Hound mode. SSB and CW will also be used. QSL via Logbook of The World, direct to IW1RBI or via logsearch on Club Log. Daniel, 5R8RP has moved to Nosy Be, AF-057, an island off the northwest coast of Madagascar. His current setup includes a vertical multiband antenna for 40-6 metres. Phil, F5TRO and his wife Ann, F5BSB are relocating permanently to Reunion Island, AF-016. Their new callsigns are FR8UA and FR8TZ respectively. They will operate mainly SSB and CW, with plans to be equipped for 80m to 23cm. QSLs via Logbook of The World or direct. Anders, OZ3ACB will be operating as SM7/OZ3ACB from Ven Island, EU-137, at various times during the summer, especially during the weekends. QSL via Logbook of The World, logsearch on Club Log, eQSL or direct to his home call. Now the Special Event news Today, the 23rd of May, Worthing & District ARC will operate GB1SCW as part of SOS radio week. The station will be on HF, VHF and UHF bands using various modes. Details are on QRZ.com. 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. Today, the 23rd, the third 70MHz Cumulative contest runs from 1400 to 1600UTC. 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’s the CW leg of the 80m Club Championships. Running from 1900 to 2030UTC, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Next weekend it’s the CQ World Wide WPX CW Contest. It runs for 48 hours ending at 2359UTC on the 30th of May. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz bands the exchange is signal report and serial number. Next Sunday, the 30th, The UK Microwave Group High Band Contest runs from 0600 to 1800UTC. Using all modes on the 5.7 to 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. The UK Six Metre Group Summer Marathon runs until the 1st of August. Exchange your 4-character locator. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA & G4BAO on Friday the 21st of May. We had another wild week with Sporadic-E bringing most of the excitement on the upper HF bands. Transatlantic multi-hop Es brought USA contacts to many UK stations, mainly on CW and FT8, although there were some SSB ones too. The Sporadic-E action is always welcome on the HF bands during this time of year as activity can be otherwise low. So, make the most of the Es this month as it can tail off as the season goes on. The Sun refused to play ball last week with the solar flux index firmly in the mid-70s with few sunspots. Region 2824 is now on the Sun's visible disk. However, it is not too complex and should only be a threat for an isolated C-Flare in the short term. Geomagnetic conditions have been generally relatively settled with a maximum Kp index of three. On Thursday it rose to five due to the solar wind from a coronal hole. The solar wind speed increased to 400km/s and the Bz went sharply south. Next week, NOAA predicts the solar flux index will remain in the mid-70s. Geomagnetic conditions are predicted to remain quiet with a maximum Kp index of two. This could all change though if we have any solar flare activity with associated CMEs. Daytime F2-layer maximum usable frequencies are struggling to get above 18MHz, although this is compensated by the extensive Sporadic-E openings. Hopefully, these will continue to bring inter-G action, and short-skip from Europe and even further afield. And now the VHF and up propagation news. Struggling temperatures and deep lows crossing the country means that the next week is likely to see a continuation of the unsettled conditions with showers or spells of rain, together with quite windy conditions at times. It also points to the mode of choice moving towards rain scatter again. However, there are hints of a change coming after midweek with high pressure moving into the western side of Britain, but leaving a chilly northerly over much of the country, perhaps a few showers. The high does not look particularly strong for Tropo since it forms in cold air, to begin with anyway. That leaves the Sporadic-E prospects to discuss and with the jet stream picture remaining favourable, there should be opportunities, but it's probably optimistic to expect it to be as good as the week just past, where the US was workable on CW with a modest antenna at times. The Moon declination is negative again, so shorter visibility windows and lower peak Moon elevations are the order of the day. This is compensated by path losses falling to a minimum as we reach perigee on Wednesday. No significant meteor showers this week so continue to be active around dawn for the best random meteors. And that’s all from the propagation team this week.