telephone number is 0603 629150. RLOs hold a wide range of information
and they are available to help any RSGB member seeking advice.
Now some items of HF DX news from the weekly RSGB DX News Sheet which is
edited by Brendan McCartney, G4DYO.
From Spratly Islands, a group of East Malaysian and Japanese operators
is active using the callsign 9M0A from Layang-Layang Island, from now
until Wednesday the 6th of April. Operation is on 160 - 10 metres on CW
and SSB.
From St Vincent, DL7FT will sign J87BZ from now until Friday the 8th of
April. Check these frequencies: 3.789, 7.075, 14.195, 18.128, 21.290,
24.932 and 28.490MHz
From Trindade Island, PY1UP will sign PY0TUP from now until August on
all bands using CW and SSB.
And from Nigeria, DL9GMM will be active as DL9GMM/5N0 from now until
December 1994. Activity will be on all bands 10 - 80 metres, on CW using
wire antennas.
Rally news now:
We know of the following event(s) for today, Sunday the 3rd of April:
The 8th Launceston Amateur Radio Rally is being held at the Launceston
College. Doors open at 10.30am. The event features trade stands and a
bring and buy stall. Refreshments and hot snacks will be available and
talk-in will be on channel S22.
The 28th White Rose Amateur Radio Society Rally is being held at the
Allerton High School, Links Lane, Leeds. The event features the usual
trade stands and a bring and buy stall.
Tomorrow, Easter Monday, the 4th of April, the Centre of England Rally
and Satellite, Computer and Electronics Show takes place. This is to be
held at the Sports Connection Centre, Leamington Road, Ryton which is on
the Dunsmore to Coventry road, the A45/A423. Doors open at 10.30am. The
event features over 80 trade stands and a bring & buy stall.
Refreshments will be available all day and talk-in will be on channel
S22.
Next the Rallies for Sunday the 10th of April:
The Leiston Amateur Radio Club Car Boot Sale is to be held at the Solar
Car Park, off Sizewell Road, Leiston, Suffolk. Doors open at 10am. This
event is a radio-oriented car boot sale. Further details can be obtained
from G3MYA who address is correct in the RSGB Call Book.
Also on the 10th, the Lough Erne Amateur Radio Club Mobile Rally is to
be held at the Killyhelvin Hotel, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh. Doors open
at 12 noon. The event features trade stands and a bring and buy stall.
Talk-in will be on channel S22 by GI0LEC. Further details from GI6JPO,
Tel: 0365 87761.
The third event on the 10th is the Swansea Amateur Radio Society Rally
which is to be held at the Swansea Leisure Centre, situated on the
Swansea/Mumbles coast road, the A4067. Doors open at 10.30am. The event
features trade stands, repeater group stands, operational HF and VHF
multi mode stations and a bring and buy stall. Refreshments will be
available. Talk-in by GB2SWR is on channel S22. For further details
contact Roger, GW4HSH on 0792 404422.
Now a date for your diary:
The RSGB National Mobile Rally is to be held at its usual venue on
Sunday the 7th August at Woburn Park, Bedfordshire. For further
information contact Norman Miller, G3MVV on 0277 225563.
HF contest news now:
The SP DX SSB Contest is taking place this weekend and will finish at
1500 UTC today, Sunday the 3rd, after 24 hours. Bands are 1.8 to 28MHz,
excluding the WARC bands.
The Holyland Contest is also active this weekend and is scheduled to
finish at 1800 UTC today, Sunday the 3rd. Entrants may use CW or SSB and
the contest covers 1.8 to 28MHz, excluding the WARC bands. The HF News
column in the March edition of Radio Communication carries further
details of both of these events.
The first in this years series of RSGB QRS (Slow Morse) Cumulative
Contests will take place next Tuesday the 5th of April from 1900 to 2030
UTC between 3.540 - 3.580MHz. See April RadCom page 8, for further
details and January's RadCom, page 83 for the rules.
The RSGB RoPoCo-1 Contest will take place next Sunday the 10th of April
from 0700 to 0900 UTC between 3.520 - 3.570MHz, CW only. The contest
exchange is rather complicated so participants are advised to consult
the rules which can be found on page 93 of the March RadCom.
Next some VHF contest news:
The next RSGB contest is the 1.3 and 2.3GHz Fixed Station and Listeners
Contest which takes place next Sunday the 10th of April from 1700 to
2100 UTC. See February RadCom, page 83 for further details.
Now a progress report on the South Yorkshire VHF repeater, GB3NA, which is currently off the air. Before the repeater can return to service, a number of matters need to be resolved. To this end, the RSGB is meeting with the Radiocommunications Agency in the very near future. Further information can be obtained from the RSGB Zone A Council Member Peter Sheppard, G4EJP whose address is correct in the current RSGB Call Book.
The Blandford 70 centimetre repeater GB3DT, became operational again on
Saturday the 12th of March after being out of service since last August
during essential repair and renovation work on the antenna tower. The
repeater is located at Blandford Camp in Dorset and operates on channel
RB0, which has its output on 433.000MHz and input on 434.600MHz. Further
details and/or reports should go to the repeater keeper G8BXQ, whose
address is correct in the RSGB Call Book.
The Hornsea 70cm Repeater, GB3HA, area on channel RB6 is temporary off
the air. For further details contact the repeater keeper Richard, G4YTV,
whose address is correct in the RSGB Call Book.
The 2 metre Repeater, GB3TP, covering the Keighley, West Yorkshire area,
on channel R5 is now non operational due to a fault. For further details
contact the repeater keeper G3RXH, whose address is correct in the RSGB
Call Book.
The RSGB makes the GB2RS Main News available on a premium rate telephone
line for anyone unable to listen to the news in any other way. The
number is 0336 707394. From last Friday, the cost of calls went up to 39
pence per minute at cheap rate and 49 pence at all other times. Full
details of the GB2RS transmission schedule can be found in the latest
edition of the RSGB Call Book.
And now the solar factual data
The period from the 21st to the 27th of March, has seen only a very slow
recovery with solar activity very low in most parameters. No flares have
been reported, but magnetic activity, though considerably reduced, is
still very unsettled. The only event of note during the period is the
continuation of the stratospheric warming which now covers central and
southern Europe extending to the pole at levels above 10 hecto pascals,
about 30 kilometres. Sunspot indices have meaned about the 41s, not
varying much day to day. The solar flux has also been almost steady and
averaged 90 units. The 90 day mean flux on the 25th was 105 units.
The geomagnetic activity levels have declined but the passage of coronal
holes is still keeping geomagnetic levels very unsettled, the Ap indices
were up to sub-storm levels of 27 units on the 21st, but had declined to
just unsettled levels of 12 units by the 27th, giving an average of 17
units for the period. The state has been 'Strat Warm' throughout the
period with otherwise nothing to report. We have now caught up with the
aa indices, so here are details for the 8th to the 14th of March. Due to
the passage of coronal holes, levels on the 8th to 12th were up to
'storm', with periods up to 115 nanoTeslas, K6. The daily averages for
the period were 60.2 nanoTeslas, about K4. The period from the 15th to
the 21st has seen the magnetic disturbances decline from a daily level
of 60.9 nanoTeslas on the 15th, to 23.2 nanoTeslas by the 20th. The
weekly average was 40.4 nanoTeslas, about K4 'just unsettled'. The X-Ray
flux levels are slowly recovering and rose from A5.4 on the 21st up to
B1.0 by the 25th. They declined again to A6.7 units by the 27th, giving
an average of A8.3 units for the period.
I'll repeat the figures. Spots - 41; Flux - 90; Ap index - 17; X-ray
flux - A8.3.
Now the ionospheric data for Central France:
The F2 daytime critical frequencies at Poitiers, as reported by Meudon,
averaged 7.9MHz, with the darkness hour lows averaging 3.3MHz. The 24th
was a good day with levels up to 9.4MHz, otherwise there was little
variation from day to day.
I'll repeat the figures. Highs - 7.9MHz; lows - 3.3MHz.
Now the ionospheric data for the north:
The F2 daytime critical frequencies at Ekaterinberg averaged 6.3MHz and
the darkness hour lows 2.4MHz.
I'll repeat the figures: Highs - 6.3MHz; lows - 2.4MHz.
And next the solar forecast:
This week, the active side of the sun will be rotating away. Solar flux
levels are expected to be the 95s. Geomagnetic levels are expected to be
very disturbed with Ap indices up to the 50s. Scottish type aurora could
well occur on the 5th and 6th; levels are expected to remain at
sub-storm all the week. For the south, ionospheric levels are expected
to be affected by the magnetic activity. MUFs during daylight are
expected to be around 18MHz, with darkness hours down to around 7MHz.
Northern stations are expected to be well down on these levels. It will
not be a good week at all.
At present all ground based solar and radio patrol data and synoptic
charts are apparently under review. Unless it can be proved that they
are indispensable for research purposes and funding can be guaranteed;
the USA Air Force, which has maintained these services for many years,
is likely to close them down. It is not known whether the 2,800MHz solar
flux data will be affected as it is supplied by Penticton Canada, but
information concerning all of the other frequencies from microwaves to
VHF are likely to be affected.
And that is the end of this week's 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
Quebec and G7 Sierra Golf series, and Novice calls in the 2 0 Alpha
