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G4TNU > NEWS 06.04.25 02:46l 279 Lines 13714 Bytes #999 (0) @ EU
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Subj: RSGB Main News - 06 Apr 2025
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GB2RS Main News for Sunday the 6th of April 2025
The news headlines:
* Last chance to submit your question ahead of Saturday's RSGB
AGM
* Tom Wardill, 2E0JJI has been appointed as RSGB Maker Champion
* Reduced exam slots over Easter weekend
The RSGB 2025 AGM is taking place at 10am next Saturday, the 12th of
April. The Society is encouraging RSGB members to take the time to
vote for the two resolutions that need your approval. During the AGM,
Board members will be answering your questions. Whether your question
is about the RSGB, the Board, any of the RSGB services or even the
future of amateur radio, your contribution to the discussion is
important. Priority is given to questions submitted live by Zoom or
by the Society's web form, so get in touch now rather than waiting
for the live chat option on the day. The Zoom question deadline is
9am on Monday the 7th of April and the deadline for submitting a
written question is when voting ends at 0900 on Thursday the 10th of
April. Following the formal business of the AGM, the RSGB is
delighted that RSGB President John McCullagh, GI4BWM will be sharing
his review of 2024. There will also be announcements of trophies and
awards, the construction competition results, as well as a
presentation about the Society's strategy, which will be led by Board
Director Mark Jones, G0MGX. There will be contributions from Board
Director Ben Lloyd, GW4BML; Spectrum Forum Chair Murray Niman, G6JYB;
and Bob Beebe, GU4YOX who at that point will be the new RSGB
President. Make sure you don't miss out by putting the date in your
diary now. Go to rsgb.org/agm to find further information.
The RSGB is pleased to announce that Tom Wardill, 2E0JJI has been
appointed as the RSGB Maker Champion. In his role, Tom will assist
the RSGB to take amateur radio to new audiences in the hackspace and
makerspace communities. Tom will also investigate opportunities to
encourage crossover in both directions, offering new areas of
experimentation to more traditional licence holders. If you have any
ideas you'd like to discuss with Tom, or would like to congratulate
him on his appointment, please email him via
maker.champion<at>rsgb.org.uk
A reminder that the RSGB remote invigilation team will be taking a
break over the Easter weekend. You will be able to book to take an
exam on Friday the 18th and Saturday the 19th of April, however no
exam slots will be available on Sunday the 20th or Monday the 21st of
April. Exam bookings will resume as normal after that.
The next webinar in the RSGB's Tonight<at>8 series will be live
tomorrow, Monday the 7th of April. Nick Wood, M0NTV will show you how
to use a regular glue stick housing in a rather novel way to form the
basis of a variable tuning inductor in a homemade 40m receiver. Nick
has a lifelong fascination with radio and electronics, and an
insatiable curiosity to discover how things work. His passion is for
designing and building his own radio equipment, particularly SSB
transceivers, and has just completed his sixth. Visit
rsgb.org/webinars to find out more. Join the presentation live on
the RSGB YouTube channel or special BATC channel and ask questions
via the live chat.
The GB3WR VHF Repeater, located on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, was
switched back on at 12:30pm on the 16th of March 2025. The Group is
delighted to report that it is working as well as before. It covers a
wide area of the South West, and the Bristol Channel area. Amateur
stations are regularly heard from the south of the Midlands, South
Wales and as far south as Swanage and Basingstoke to the east. The
Mendip Repeater Group would like to express its thanks for the
generosity of all who have made it possible to put GB3WR back on the
air. Find out more via gb3wr.uk
One of the GB2RS newsreaders is retiring from reading the news ahead
of his upcoming 101st birthday this Saturday, the 12th of April.
Peter Valentine, G0NQZ from Eastbourne remains an active radio
amateur and operates daily, as well as taking part in regular nets
such as ISWL and RAOTA. The Society would like to thank Peter for his
dedication to GB2RS and wishes him a very happy 101st birthday!
Please send details of all your news and events to
radcom<at>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 Yeovil Amateur Radio Club QRP Convention is taking place on
Saturday the 12th of April at Digby Hall in Sherborne. Doors open at
9.30am. The convention will include traders, bring and buy, club
stalls and a café. For more information, please visit the club's
website via yeovil-arc.com
The Holsworthy ARC Spring Radio Rally is taking place on Sunday the
13th of April at the Holsworthy Livestock Market, New Market Road,
Holsworthy, Devon, EX22 7FA. There will be traders and a
bring-and-buy. Catering will be available. Doors open to traders from
8am and to the public from 10am. Entry costs GBP 3 per person. The
venue has disabled access.
Also taking place on Sunday the 13th of April, is the Northern
Amateur Radio Societies Association Exhibition, or NARSA for short.
It is also known as the Blackpool Rally. The event will take place at
Norbreck Castle Exhibition Centre, Blackpool, FY2 9AA. For further
details, please go to narsa.org.uk or contact Dave, M0OBWÂ on
07720 656542, or via email using dwilson<at>btinternet.com
Now the Special Event news
The Royal Air Force Amateur Radio Society, also known as RAFARS, has
started its popular Airfields On The Air event. RAF Stations are
active this weekend as well as on the 12th and 13th of April. More
information can be found via rafars.org/rafaota
The Polish Amateur Radio Union is celebrating 95 years since its
founding, as well as the centenary of the International Amateur Radio
Union. To mark the occasion, ten special event stations will be
active between the 11th and the 25th of April. Full details of the
event, as well as available awards, can be found via Hamaward.cloud
Now the DX news
The Toshiba Fuchu [FOO-CHOO] Amateur Radio Club, JA1YVT, is
celebrating its 60th anniversary and, as part of the celebration,
team members are staging a DXpedition to the Ogasawara
[OH-GAH-SAH-WAH-RAH] Islands. They will be QRV as JA1YVT/JD1 until
Thursday the 10th of April. The operating schedule, frequencies and
QSL information are available via QRZ.com
DA1DX, DK9IP, DM6EE and DL8LAS will be active from Anegada
[A-NE-GA-DA] Island in the British Virgin Islands as VP2VI from the
10th to the 27th of April. Full details via QRZ.com
Now the contest news
The FT4 International Activity Day started at 1200UTC on Saturday the
5th of April and ends at 1200UTC today, Sunday the 6th of April.
Using FT4 on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the
exchange is your report.
The SP DX Contest started at 1500UTC on Saturday the 5th of April and
ends at 1500UTC today, Sunday the 6th of April. Using CW and SSB on
the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is
signal report and serial number. SP stations also send their province
code.
Today, Sunday the 6th of April, the UK Microwave Group Low Band
Contest runs from 1000 to 1600UTC. Using all modes on 1.3 to 3.4GHz
frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.
Also today, Sunday the 6th of April, the Worked All Britain Data
Contest runs from 1000UTC to 1400UTC and from 1700 to 2100UTC. Using
FT8, FT4, JS8, RTTY and PSK on the 80, 40 and 20m bands, the exchange
is signal report, serial number and your Worked All Britain square.
Club and multi-operator stations can only score points in one of the
two operating periods. Entries need to be with the contest manager by
the 17th of April. The full rules are available on the Worked All
Britain website.
On Monday the 7th of April, the IRTS 70cm Counties Contest runs from
1300 to 1330UTC. Using FM and SSB on the 70cm band, the exchange is
signal report and serial number. EI and GI stations also send their
country.
Also on Monday the 7th of April, the IRTS 2m Counties Contest runs
from 1330 to 1500UTC. Using FM and SSB on the 2m band, the exchange
is signal report and serial number. EI and GI stations also send
their country.
On Monday the 7th of April, the 80m Club Championship runs from 1900
to 2030UTC. Using CW on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report
and serial number.
On Tuesday the 8th of April, the 432MHz FM Activity Contest runs from
1800 to 1855UTC. Using FM on the 70cm band, the exchange is signal
report, serial number and locator.
Also on Tuesday the 8th of April, the 432MHz UK Activity Contest runs
from 1900 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on the 70cm band, the exchange
is signal report, serial number and locator.
On Wednesday the 9th of April, the 432MHz FT8 Activity four-hour
Contest runs from 1700 to 2100UTC. Using FT8 on the 70m band, the
exchange is report and four-character locator. Also on Wednesday the
9th of April, the 432MHz FT8 Activity two-hour Contest runs from 1900
to 2100UTC. Using FT8 on the 70cm 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 10th of April, the 50MHz UK Activity Contest runs
from 1900 to 2130UTC. 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 3rd of April 2025
We had a week of mixed solar conditions, but it ended with an SFI of
182 and a Kp of 3.67 on Thursday the 3rd of April.
The geomagnetic field declined to quieter levels following a
prolonged period of active, Kp4 conditions earlier on Wednesday due
to solar wind enhancements. This impacted propagation, with the
critical frequency struggling to get much above 7MHz on Wednesday.
Compare this with the following day, when the critical frequency hit
10.4MHz by 0830UTC. Nevertheless, there was DX to be worked on
Wednesday with FT8 allowing signals from Australia, Japan, Indonesia,
China, and Surinam to get into the UK on 21MHz.
The solar proton flux was also high on Tuesday the 1st of April,
affecting signals passing through the polar regions, but this had
declined by Thursday and was heading back to normal levels. This was
due to a large CME observed off the east limb of the Sun on Friday
the 28th of March. If it had been Earth-directed, we may have seen a
massive aurora.
Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index will stay in the
175-185 region. A Kp of six was forecast for yesterday, Saturday the
5th of April, followed by a further period of unsettled geomagnetic
conditions due to an enhanced solar wind.
If this is the case, we may not get more settled conditions until the
14th to the 16th of April.
Nevertheless, this remains a good time for North-South HF paths, such
as the UK to South Africa, and UK to South America.
And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO
The old forecasting maxim that the ‘longer a high lasts, the longer
it will last' is built upon the presence of blocked upper air weather
patterns. When the jet stream gets so distorted into a high amplitude
north/south wave, its lateral movement, from west to east, becomes
very slow.
On the upper air charts this takes the shape of the Greek letter
omega, and this is the current set-up. It means that the weather
associated with it also lasts a long time.
In this case it's the high pressure and its spell of fine weather
that is likely to last for the whole of the coming week. The position
of the high will change though, starting over the North Sea and
ending over the UK and nearby Atlantic. This means that Tropo will be
the mode of choice for the coming period, which includes the 70cm UK
Activity Contest on Tuesday and the 6m UK Activity Contest on
Thursday.
Rain scatter is unlikely during this extended period of dry weather.
The meteor scatter options are still mainly driven by random meteors
for the coming period into next week, but the next important shower,
the Lyrids, peaks on the 22nd of April. The auroral alerts continue
to come through, raising interest. As usual, the clue will be
fluttery sounding signals on the bands, particularly noticeable on
CW, but they can also be pronounced on speech transmissions. Monitor
the Kp index for values above Kp5.
There have been a few trans-equatorial openings to Southern Africa on
50MHz digital modes for the fortunate few who live in the extreme
south and southwest of the UK, but it did extend up to Cambridgeshire
and Suffolk briefly on some days last week.
The long drought of Sporadic-E will soon be over, but we're still in
the realms of very isolated events for 10m and 6m, which will be
short-lasting. The jet stream, which can be a good clue as to
potential locations, suggests looking to Scandinavia, the Baltic and
northern Europe.
EME path losses are falling again, but Moon declination has been at
its highest this weekend, so we have long Moon windows. 144MHz sky
noise is low throughout the coming week.
And that's all from the propagation team this week.
And that's the end of the main news for this week prepared by the
Radio Society of Great Britain. Items for inclusion in subsequent
bulletins can be emailed to radcom<at>rsgb.org.uk to arrive by
10:00 on the Thursday before transmission.
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