GB2RS News

News items from this week's script may be reproduced freely, provided the source - the Radio Society of Great Britain - is clearly identified.
News for GB2RS must be sent in by 0900UTC on the Tuesday before the broadcast. You can use post, phone, fax or e-mail.

GB2RS NEWS BROADCAST

Good morning / evening. It's Sunday the 15th of November [1998] and here is the GB2RS news broadcast, prepared by the RSGB and intended for all radio amateurs and short-wave listeners.

Conditions on the 136kHz band have been excellent recently with several G stations, some using quite modest antennas, working OH1TN at over 1700km. In the last two weeks, GW4ALG has made the first GW contacts with Belgium and Holland, and G3KEV had a two-way contact with HB9ASB. Last Tuesday, the first two-way contact between Italy and England was made by IK1ODO and G3YXM, using extremely slow CW and DSP receiving techniques. Both stations were running close to one watt ERP.

A New RSGB QSL Sub Manager has been appointed for the M0CAA - CZZ series of callsigns. He is Rod Ashman, G6NYC, and his address is 44 Conan Doyle Walk, Swindon, Wiltshire, post code SN3 6JB. His telephone number is 01 793 643 520.

Carlos Eavis, G0AKI, has been appointed Chairman pro tem of the RSGB Repeater Management Committee. He has taken over from Chris Goadby, G8HVV, who resigned due to increasing work commitments.

The 1998 Raynet&REG Trophy has been awarded to David Green, G8HPV, for his services to the organisation. The presentation was made at the AGM of the Radio Amateurs Emergency Network on the 7th of November.
David, a Project Controller at Marconi Communications, has been a member of Raynet&REG since 1977. In 1986 he was elected Controller of the Coventry Raynet&REG Group and has managed them through a number of exercises, events and emergencies such as the failure of the Coventry telephone exchange, the Coventry air crash and a serious fire incident.

Barry Amateur Radio Society is staging a major special event next month to mark the centenary of the first commercial ship-to-shore radio communication. On the 24th of December 1898, Guglielmo {pronounced: goo-lee-el-mo} Marconi operated from the South Foreland Lighthouse at Dover, and made contact with the East Goodwin Lightship in the English Channel.
Barry Amateur Radio Society will operate GB100SFL from South Foreland Lighthouse between the 17th and the 27th of December. On the 19th of December the club will operate GB100EGL, and will also recreate the first ever international marine distress signal on board the East Goodwin. For further details see the December issue of RadCom, which is being posted to all members next week, or call Glyn Jones, GW0ANA, on 01 446 774 522.

Special event station GB0BSM is to be operated next Friday, the 20th of November, by Steve Harley, G0FUW, the RSGB Senior Novice Instructor for Avon. The special event station will be set up at Bathwick Saint Mary’s primary school in Bath to demonstrate amateur radio, as part of a school communications project. Steve is hoping for a good response, so that children in Bath can exchange greetings messages with radio amateurs.
The station will be on the air between 1300 and 1500UTC on 2, 15, 20 and 40 metres. For more details telephone G0FUW on 01 225 464 394 or fax 01 225 423 662.

The United Kingdom Radio Society has asked us to make the following announcement concerning its Governing Body Election: UKRS Members are reminded that nominations and candidates’ acceptances must be received at UKRS Admin by landmail before Friday the 20th of November.

DX News:

From Ghana, 9G5SW, 9G5ZM and 9G5VJ will be active from the 19th until the 21st of November, using CW and possibly RTTY, on the LF and WARC bands.
From the Bahamas, N4RP/C6A will be operational from the 20th of November until the 2nd of December. This counts as NA-048 for the RSGB Islands on the Air Award.
From Minami Torishima, JL1KFR /JD1 is active until the 27th of November on 20, 15 and 10 metres. This counts as OC-073 for IOTA.
And from Marian Island, KH0/JA0SC will be operational from the 19th to the 22nd of November, using mainly SSTV but also some CW, on 10 to 160 metres.
These DX news items came from the weekly RSGB DX News Sheet, edited by Chris Page, G4BUE.

Contest News:
There are no RSGB HF Contests this weekend. The RSGB Club Calls Contest takes place on Saturday the 14th of November and not on the 7th as reported last week. The event runs for three hours from 2000UTC on 160 metres between 1870 and 1990kHz, and both SSB and CW can be used. All UK amateurs can participate - you do not need to be an RSGB member or be operating a club station to take part in this contest.
There are no other RSGB HF Contests next weekend. The Second RSGB 1.8MHz CW Contest takes place on Saturday the 21st of November, and not on the 14th. It starts at 2100UTC, and lasts for four hours.
On VHF, the RSGB 144MHz CW Marconi Contest is taking place this weekend, the 7th and 8th of November, and lasts until 1400UTC this afternoon. The Six-hour RSGB 144MHz CW Contest runs concurrently between 0800 and 1400UTC today, Sunday the 8th.
On Tuesday, the 10th of November, the third of five legs in the RSGB 432MHz Cumulative Contest takes place from 2000 to 2230UTC.
The fourth of five sessions in the RSGB 1.3 and 2.3GHz Cumulative Contests is on Friday the 13th of November between 2000 and 2230UTC.
There are no RSGB VHF Contests next weekend, the 14th and 15th of November.
The full rules of all RSGB contests may be found in the September 1997 RadCom.

LATEST CALLSIGNS

SSL has informed the Society that, as of last Wednesday morning, the latest callsigns allocated were in the M0 Bravo Charlie -- and M1 Delta Mike -- series, and Novice calls in the 2 0 Alfa Sierra -- and 2 1 Golf Zulu -- series.

PROPAGATION NEWS

{{Newsreaders: The historical Solar Factual Data to be read only by HF newsreaders. VHF / UHF newsreaders: you may read this section after the Regional News, providing you do not exceed your 30 minute time-slot.}}

And now the solar factual data for the period from the 2nd to the 8th of November, compiled by Neil Clarke, G0CAS:
Solar activity increased to moderate levels, with M class solar flares taking place most days. The largest flare of the week was a M8/2B on the 5th. Solar flux levels increased from 126 on the 2nd to 153 by the 8th. The average was 145. The 90 day solar flux average on the 8th was 132 - that's one unit up on last week. X-Ray flux levels increased from B2.4 units on the 2nd to C2.3 by the 5th. The average was B7. Geomagnetic activity started at 'quiet' levels but increased to active on the 6th and 7th. Activity continued to increase, and on the 8th were up to 'major- storm' levels with an Ap index 68. Between the 4th and 6th, four coronal mass ejections and the five M class solar flares contributed to the geomagnetic storm. The average Ap index was 20. Solar wind data showed that speeds varied between 350 and 500 kilometres per second, but an increase to 650 kilometres per second took place on the 8th. Particle densities were low but increased to above 20 particles per cubic centimetre from the 7th. Bz varied between minus 10 and plus 10 nanoTeslas except for the 8th, which saw fluctuations of plus 27 nanoTeslas.
Now the ionospheric data for Chilton in southern England. The F2 daytime critical frequencies increased to peak at 11.5MHz on the 5th. Levels remained high until the geomagnetic storm on the 8th, when they collapsed to only 7.8MHz. The average was 10.3MHz. The darkness hour lows declined from 3.1MHz on the 2nd to 2.1MHz by the 7th. The average was 2.7MHz. The daytime highs were between 1100 and 1400UTC and the darkness hour lows were between 0500 and 0600UTC.

{{Newsreaders: The Solar Forecast to be read by ALL newsreaders.}}

And now the solar forecast. This week the quieter side of the sun will be rotating into view. Therefore solar activity is expected to decline to low levels. Solar flux levels are expected to decline to the 110s. Geomagnetic activity is expected to be 'unsettled' to 'active' for most of the week. The most disturbed period should take place before midweek. MUFs during daylight hours, at equal latitudes, are expected to be 28MHz for the south and 25MHz for the north. Paths this week to Japan are expected to have a maximum usable frequency with a 50 per cent success rate of 26MHz. However, the optimum working frequency with a 90 per cent success rate will be about 21MHz. The best time to try this path is around 0800UTC.
The peak of the Leonid meteor shower takes place during Tuesday the 17th. There is a strong possibility that this year’s shower could be spectacular, with thousands of meteors per hour taking place. The maximum is expected to take place between 1400 and 2200UTC. Unfortunately, the radiant, a point in the sky from where a meteor shower appears to emanate is below the UK horizon during that period. And that’s the end of the solar information.

For more on propagation see http://www.rsgb.org/society/psc.htm