Miscellaneous
GB2RS News Sunday 30th May 2021 The news headlines: Phillip Brooks, G4NZQ, SK RSGB to report survey results Listen for ISS on Monday We start with the sad news that following a recent illness, Phillip Brooks, G4NZQ became a Silent Key last week. For many years, Phillip worked tirelessly for the RSGB in a variety of roles, including reading the GB2RS news script every Sunday morning for almost 23 years, only retiring in 2017. He was also the RSGB Regional Manager for Region 12 for several years as well as a member of the RSGB Board and several RSGB Committees. Described as “always a gentleman, in all senses of the word”, he really will be sadly missed by many, both on the airwaves and within the RSGB. The RSGB’s amateur radio survey has now closed. Over 1,000 people took the time to reply and the Society is very grateful for their responses. Once the data has been reviewed, it will initially be used for the IARU workshop alongside that from other countries in the IARU region. However, the RSGB will also publish a summary of the responses in RadCom and on the website in due course. If you’d like to listen to a wider discussion about the strengths, opportunities, weaknesses and threats to amateur radio in the UK, the RSGB President Stewart Bryant, G3YSX was interviewed on ICQ Podcast. You can find the interview on Episode 351 and it begins at 51 minutes and 43 seconds. Go to icqpodcast.com to listen. An ARISS educational school contact is planned for Thomas Pesquet, KG5FYG with students in France. The contact is scheduled for the 31st of May at approximately 1349UTC. The link to the ISS will be operated by the amateur radio telebridge station IK1SLD, located in northern Italy. Downlink signals will be audible in Europe on 145.800MHz, narrow FM. Some of the RSGB’s GB2RS web pages have been updated recently and the Society has launched a video to explain more about the news service. The RSGB is always keen to find additional newsreaders so do get in touch if you’d like to join the team. To see the video, find out more about GB2RS or apply to be a newsreader, go to rsgb.org/gb2rs-manager. Dragon ARC is running a VHF Day on Saturday the 12th of June from 10 am until 5 pm. They are encouraging all amateurs to get active on the 6, 4 and 2m bands using FM, SSB or AM. Club members will be using the callsign GB0VHF from Parys Mountain on the island of Anglesey, locator IO73TI. The aim of the day is to create activity on the VHF bands, so please do join in! If you email a copy of your log to Simon, MW0NWM at darc.secretary@gmx.co.uk you will be sent a pdf participation certificate via email. Vinny, M0TAV, the Region Representative for Region 5, which is the West Midlands, is looking for a District Representative for area 51, Staffordshire & Warwickshire. If you are an RSGB Member living in the area and are interested in representing the RSGB and supporting local amateurs, you can find out more from Vinny via email to rr5@rsgb.org.uk. The inaugural Gateways On The Air Event takes place between the 12th and 20th of June. The main aim is to increase RF communications and portable or mobile activity over an eight-day period through linked analogue & digital simplex gateways. More details can be found at www.gota.org.uk. Now the DX news Jean-Louis, 5N7MSF is active from Nigeria until the 15th of September. He works for Doctors Without Borders and will be operating during his spare time and the weekends. QSL via eQSL. Steve, VK6SJ now plans to be active as VK9XX from Christmas Island, IOTA OC-002, until the 11th of June. Expected hours of operation are 1100 to 1500UTC and 2200 to 2359UTC on a daily basis. All FT8 operation will be Fox & Hound mode. SSB operation will be split frequency, listening 5kHz up and ±QRM. See VK6SJ on QRZ.com for updates. QSL via EB7DX. Now the Special Event news Hull & District ARS continues its GB1OOH centenary celebrations, now with over 1,500 QSOs logged from around the world. GB5UTA will be on the air between the 1st and the 28th of June promoting amateur radio among the 450,000 strong University of the Third Age members. U3A is an organisation that aims to help people learn, stay active and have fun in later life. This special event station will be operating on behalf of the Cirencester and Tetbury branches of the U3A. Look up GB5UTA on QRZ.com. On the 2nd of June, the branches will be celebrating U3A Day alongside other UK branches. More information about 2 June at u3a.org.uk. The former minesweeper HNLMS Hoogeveen will be taking part in the Museum Ship Weekend. Between 0000UTC on the 5th of June and 2359UTC on the 6th of June, PA827HGV will be on the air. They plan to use all HF bands using both CW and SSB. HNLMS Hoogeveen is moored in Den Helder, Netherlands. For more about the weekend go to nj2bb.org/museum. 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 CQ World Wide WPX CW Contest ends its 48 hour run at 2359UTC today, the 30th of May. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Today, 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. 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, signal report, serial number and locator. On Wednesday the 144MHz FT8 Activity Contest runs from 1900 to 2100UTC. The exchange is signal report and your 4-character locator. Next weekend, the CW National Field Day runs for 24 hours from 1500UTC on the 5th to 1500UTC on the 6th. Using the 1.8 to 28MHz contest bands, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Also next weekend is the 24-hour SEANET contest. This runs from 1200UTC on the 5th using CW and SSB on the 3.5 to 28MHz contest bands. The exchange is signal report and serial number. The UK Six Metre Group Summer Contest runs from 1300UTC on the 5th to 1300UTC on the 6th. Using all modes on the 50MHz band, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Next Sunday, the 6th, the UK Microwave Group Low Band contest runs from 1000 to 1600UTC. Using all modes on the 1.3, 2.3 and 3.4GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. 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 28th of May. “May you live in interesting times.” So says the ancient Chinese curse, and last week was interesting, to say the least. Sunspot region 2824 was joined by region 2826, pushing the solar flux index to 88. At the same time, a coronal mass ejection from region 2824 threatened to push the Kp index high on the 25th. The reality was that the solar matter actually struck the Earth late on the 26th, elevating the Kp index to five. The after-effects of the enhanced solar wind were still being felt on Thursday the 27th with the Kp index still fluctuating between three and four. The solar wind speed stayed above 400km per second affecting MUFs over a 3,000km path. On Thursday they were distinctly below 18MHz after an enhancement the evening before had pushed them to nearly 24MHz. The good news is that Sporadic-E was much in evidence last week with numerous multi- and single-hop openings reported. VU2XO in India was worked from the UK on 10 metre SSB, as was YI1SAL in Iraq. An unusual copy was the German icebreaker Polarstern signing as DP0POL/MM on 28MHz WSPR. The solar flux looks like it will diminish next week, according to NOAA, with the SFI in the mid-70s again. But at the time of writing, there were few signs of major coronal hole activity next week and NOAA predicts that the Kp index will hover around two. So it looks like it could be another week where Sporadic-E propagation dominates HF activity with perhaps reduced F2-layer activity, but with more settled geomagnetic conditions. And now the VHF and up propagation news. At long last, there are signs of some proper summer weather as high-pressure returns. This will mean that Tropo should appear as a good VHF/UHF mode for much of the next week. Worth noting that paths can be limited during the daytime as heating breaks down any surface night-time inversion, so the operating rule is to concentrate on evenings and overnight for Tropo paths. The Sporadic-E season is well underway but due to its sporadic nature, it was no surprise that we failed to predict the short opening on 144MHz from the UK to Italy and the Balkans last Tuesday. Late May and especially the first weeks of June usually produce something spectacular, but the jet stream positions look slightly less favourable in the coming week. Remember that optimum times for Sporadic-E are the mid-morning period and again late afternoon and early evening. Toward the end of next week, the models suggest that we may see a showery breakdown with a possibility of thunderstorms. These are ideal sources of GHz band rain scatter from the large cumulonimbus clouds. The Moon passed minimum declination yesterday, so visibility windows and peak Moon elevations will increase throughout the week. We also passed perigee last Wednesday so path losses will also increase. 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.