Xref: news.cs.tut.fi uk.radio.amateur:619 rec.radio.amateur.misc:51491 rec.radio.info:5010
Newsgroups: uk.radio.amateur,rec.radio.amateur.misc,rec.radio.info
From: dave@llondel.demon.co.uk (David Hough)
Path: news.cs.tut.fi!news.funet.fi!sunic!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!demon!llondel.demon.co.uk!dave
Subject: GB2RS News 15th May 1994
Followup-To: uk.radio.amateur
Approved: rec-radio-info@ve6mgs.ampr.ab.ca
X-Mailer: cppnews $Revision: 1.40 $
Organization: last!
Lines: 225
Date: Thu, 12 May 1994 18:45:46 +0000
Message-ID: <768793546snx@llondel.demon.co.uk>
Sender: usenet@demon.co.uk

Good morning. It's Sunday the 15th of May and here is the GB2RS news
broadcast, prepared by the Radio Society of Great Britain.

First the headlines:- Israel has signed the CEPT reciprocal licence
agreement; fifteen teachers took the RAE last week and there's a vacancy
on the RSGB HF Committee.

The Radiocommunications Agency has informed the Society that Israel is
now participating in the CEPT T/R 61-01 agreement. This means that a
reciprocal licence is no longer required for UK amateurs to operate in
Israel.

The STELAR Group has reported that their first crash RAE course for
teachers was a great success. The week-long residential course was
sponsored by Trio-Kenwood UK and was held at their Watford Headquarters.
The training involved both practical and theoretical aspects of amateur
radio. Fifteen teachers took the Radio Amateurs Examination on the 9th
of May. They are expected to use amateur radio as a classroom aid.

Attention all RAE Tutors and students: the latest issue of 'How to
become a radio amateur', published by the RA, no longer contains the
licence conditions. These appear in the 'Terms, provisions and
limitations' booklet BR68 and it is important to order both booklets at
the same time. RAE candidates can obtain them from the
Radiocommunications Agency by calling 071 215 2352.

A DXpedition to the Shiant Isles, south-east of the Isle of Lewis, is
scheduled to take place from the 27th to the 30th of May. The team
comprises: GM3NIG, GM3UTQ, GM4FDM and GM4YMA. Operation will be on all
bands 160 to 10m, mainly around IOTA and WAB frequencies using the
callsign GB8SH. Primary mode will be SSB, but CW, AMTOR, Pactor and RTTY
will be available on request. Shiant is IOTA EU 112 and WAB NG49.

The HF Committee of the RSGB has a vacancy for a keen HF DXer. The
committee, which is responsible to RSGB Council for all HF matters,
meets approximately every two months in the London area. If you feel you
can help, write, with brief details of any relevant experience, to the
committee chairman, David Evans, G3OUF, P O Box 599, Hemel Hempstead,
Herts, postcode HP3 0SR.

Now some items of HF DX news from the weekly RSGB DX News Sheet which is
edited by Brendan McCartney, G4DYO.

From Ascension Island, N6TJ will be active as ZD8Z from Friday the 20th
of May, until early June.

From St Eustatius, K3UOC will sign PJ5/K3UOC from Tuesday the 24th until
Tuesday the 31st of May, mainly on CW. During the WPX CW Contest he will
sign PJ8H.

And from Marianas Islands, JA6VZB and JF6BCC will sign respectively AH0T
and KH2GR/KH0 from Thursday the 26th until Monday the 30th of May.
Activity will be on all bands 160 to 10 metres on CW, SSB and RTTY,
including participation in the WPX CW Contest.

We are very sorry to have to report the death of the founder of the DX
News Sheet, Geoff Watts, last Monday the 9th. He will be greatly missed.


Now the events for today Sunday the 15th of May:

The Dunstable Downs Radio Club Annual National Amateur Radio Car Boot
Sale is being held at Stockwood County Park, Luton, Bedfordshire, near
junction 10 of the M1 motorway. Doors open at 10am. The event features
trade stands, clubs and a car boot area. Other attractions include
admission to the Environmental Open Day, free entry to the Mossman
Collection of Horse Drawn Vehicles, craft museum and carriage rides.

The Mid-Ulster Amateur Radio Club Parkanaur Rally is being held at the
Silverwood Hotel, Lurgan, County Armagh. Doors open at 12 noon. The
event features trade stands, a bring and buy stall and an RSGB Book
stand. Refreshments are available. Talk-in is on two metres, channel
S22.

Next, the one event we know of for next Saturday 21st is the First Ipswich Computer Show which is to be held at Willis Corroon Sports and Social Club, The Street, Rushmere Saint Andrew, Ipswich. Doors open at 10am. For further details telephone 0473 272002.

And now two rallies for next Sunday the 22th of May:

The Gloucester Radio Rally is to be held at Nass Lane, Quedgeley,
Gloucester, located off the old Bristol road: look for the signs for
Quedgeley Rally. Doors open at 9am. The event features a car boot sale,
a bring and buy stall and a flea market area. Further details from Mike
on 0452 503786.

The 37th Northern Mobile Rally which is to be held at the Flower Show
Hall, on the Great Yorkshire Show Ground, Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
Entry and parking is off the Wetherby to Harrogate road and there are
separate arrangements for disabled visitors off Hookstone Wood road. The
showground opens at 10.00am and the rally doors open at 10.45am. There
are the usual trade stands, a bring and buy stall and refreshments.
Talk-in is on channel S22. Further details from Mike, G0MKK on 0423
507653, evenings only or via G0MKK at GB7CYM.

Next some dates for your diary:

The Plymouth Radio and Electronics Fair, organised by the Plymouth Radio
Club for the 29th of May, has changed venue to Coombe Dean School,
Charnhill Way, Elburton, Plymouth. This is due to circumstances beyond
the club's control. Further details available from Derek, G7ESZ on 0752
364150.

This year's RSGB Headquarters Open Day is scheduled for Saturday, the
4th of June. Further details can be found in the May RadCom.

The next RSGB Regional Meeting takes place at Brighouse in West
Yorkshire on Sunday the 5th of June. These meetings are for members and
non-members of the Society to meet Council Members, Society Officers and
staff to discuss the workings of the Society and amateur radio related
matters. For further details, contact RSGB Zonal Council Member Peter
Sheppard, G4EJP, on 0964 550397.

The Annual Conference of the World Association of Christian Radio
Amateur and Listeners takes place from the 7th to the 9th of October in
Merseyside. The notice in the May edition of RadCom was incorrect.
Further details can be obtained from Geoff Peterson, G4EZU, on 0474
533686.

HF contest news now:

The CQ-M Mixed Mode (Russian) Contest finishes today, Sunday the 15th at
2100. The contest uses CW and SSB from 1.8MHz to 28MHz but excluding the
WARC bands. See May RadCom page 20 for details.

Next some VHF contest news:

The RSGB 144MHz Single, Others and SWL Contest takes place next weekend,
from 1400 UTC on Saturday the 21st until 1400 UTC on Sunday the 22nd of
May. There are four sections, Single operator fixed, Single operator
Portable, Others and Listeners. Another category is Single operator
fixed, operating for 6 hours continuously, but starting at any hour on
the hour. See the February edition of RadCom for further details.

The first of the RSGB Back-Packers 144MHz Contests is scheduled to take
place next Sunday the 22nd of May from 1100 until 1500 UTC. This is a
new type of contest and full details can be found in January's RadCom.

Special event stations this week include:

GB0HSM which will be aired by the Worthing and District Amateur Radio
Club from High Salvington Mill today Sunday the 15th.

GB500JC will be aired from Bristol for the keel laying ceremony for a
replica of John Cabot's ship "Matthew" on Friday the 20th by the Duke of
Edinburgh, Patron of the Project. Operation will be on 80, 40 and 20
metres. See May RadCom page 6 for further information.

Two-metre repeater GB3SA, was scheduled to be switched on last Saturday
the 14th of May following a site change. The repeater is located east of
Swansea and operates on channel R3, which has its output on 145.675MHz
and input on 145.075MHz. Reports should go to the repeater keeper
GW6KQC, whose address is correct in the RSGB Call Book.

And now the solar factual data:

As expected, the period from the 2nd to the 8th of May saw magnetic
storms every day with generally poor HF band conditions. However, for
those lucky enough to catch the Sporadic-E on the 6th and 9th, both the
28 and 50MHz bands gave good contacts all over Europe. Solar activity
has remained very low; no M or X flares have been reported since
February the 27th and no active regions are at present on the disk. The
sunspot indices meaned about the 45s. Solar flux levels have averaged 74
units and hardly varied from day to day. The 90 day flux average on the
8th of May dropped to 88 units, which is now reflecting the long period
of very low solar activity.

The geomagnetic Ap indices have been up to storm levels every day,
seriously affecting the higher latitudes. The period averaged 35.7
units, and was affected by the high solar wind speed due to the passage
of repeated coronal holes. The electron fluence level which is a measure
of this activity, has been very high all the period but was starting to
decline as this bulletin was being prepared. The state has been 'nil
nothing to report' throughout the period. The daily aa indices as
supplied by the British Geological Survey for the period from the 26th
of April to the 2nd of May averaged 22.2 nanoTeslas, but the 30th was
very quiet, down to only 4.5 nanoTeslas with the pre auroral
enhancement. The levels were up to 136 nanoTeslas on the 1st of May with
the aurora. The X-Ray flux has declined again and averaged only A1.1
units, hardly varying day to day.

The monthly spot indices for April were RI 16.7 with the maximum of 40
on the 24th, and the minimum of zero on the 3rd, 6th, and 7th. The
smoothed number for October 93 is 45 +/-5. Bartells rotation 2196 starts
on the 14th May.

I'll repeat the figures. Spots - 45; Flux - 74; Ap index - 35.7; X-ray
flux - A1.1.

Now the ionospheric data for Central France:

The F2 daytime critical frequencies at Poitiers, as reported by Meudon,
have been very depressed due to the magnetic storms, with the period
average being only 6.7MHz. The level on the 7th was down to only 4.9MHz.
The darkness hour lows averaged 2.5MHz with periods of spread F, and at
times only the F1 layer was detectable.

I'll repeat the figures. Highs - 6.7MHz; lows - 2.5MHz.

Now the ionospheric data for the north:

The F2 daytime critical frequencies at Ekaterinberg averaged 4.9MHz and
the darkness hour lows 2.5MHz.

I'll repeat the figures: Highs - 4.9MHz; lows - 2.5MHz.

And lastly the solar forecast:

This week the quiet side of the sun will be looking our way. Solar flux
levels are expected to be about the 85s, and the magnetic activity is
expected to be quiet to just unsettled. Ionospheric MUFs during daylight
are expected to be about 24MHz for the south, and 21MHz for the north.
East/west paths will be difficult due to the seasonal changes now taking
effect. Darkness hour MUFs for north/south paths are expected to be
around 14MHz in the south.

And that's the end of the solar information.

Finally in the main news, SSL has informed the Society that as of last
Wednesday morning, the latest callsigns issued were in the G0 Uniform
Victor and G7 Sierra India series, and Novice calls in the 2 0 Alpha
Hotel and 2 1 Charlie Yankee series.

--

GB2RS is prepared by the Radio Society of Great Britain and is broadcast
in the 80m, 40m, 6m and 2m bands.
Tel +44 707 659015  Fax +44 707 645105