Friday, July 27, 2012

Contests (RSGB)

The 24 hour IOTA Contest finishes as 1200UTC today, 29 July. The exchange is signal report, serial number and IOTA reference, which is EU-005 for mainland Great Britain and EU-115 for mainland Northern Ireland.
The times given for the 80m Sprint contests in the August RadCom were incorrect. They have all been shortened to 1900-2000UTC. The 2m Backpackers on 4 August should have read 1300-1700UTC. The exchange for this 4th contest in the series is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode.
Also on the 4th, the 144MHz low power contest takes place from 1400 to 2000UTC. Using all modes the exchange is also signal report, serial number, locator and postcode.
The following day, on the 5th, the 432MHz low power contest takes place from 0800 to 1200UTC, Using all modes, the exchange is signal report, serial number, locator and postcode.
RoPoCo 2 is the first of this month’s HF contests. It takes place for 90 minutes, 0700 to 0830UTC on Sunday 5th, using CW only on the 80m band. In your first QSO you send a signal report and your own full postcode. For subsequent QSOs you send the postcode of the station you worked in your previous QSO. This contest relies on accuracy of the exchange, so if you receive a postcode that you know is wrong, eg impossible, or a corrupted version of your own, you should pass it on as you receive it, not corrected or amended.
The UK Microwave Group’s Microwave Field Day also takes place on 5 August from 0900 to 1700UTC. Using the 1.3 and 10GHz bands, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator.

Special Olympic Prefix update (RSGB)

A number of UK amateurs have asked for clarification on the applicability of the special letter O prefix. Despite being very busy with the Olympics, Ofcom has responded to the Society’s request on this matter. It has been explained that the special prefix is a temporary one that is only available to individuals and clubs where the licensee’s callsign has not been changed by a Notice of Variation, NoV. Thus, it is not applicable to Short Contest Calls or Special Event Station callsigns, as these require the use of a callsign different from that of the NoV holder. For licence variations such as the 5MHz and 500kHz NoVs it would be allowable to use the special O prefix, as the licensee’s callsign has not been varied by the NoV. Amateurs should be aware that this clarification does not affect the other terms and conditions within the licence, or a related NoV. Note too that the use of the special prefix started at 00.00BST on 21 July and finishes at 23.59BST on 9 September. Radio amateurs in the UK may still apply for an NoV to use the letter O in place of their regional identifier. Details are on the RSGB website, www.rsgb.org/olympics. Anyone logging stations using this special prefix can apply for the Olympic QSO Party Award. Again, full details are on the RSGB website at www.rsgb.org/olympics/qsoparty

Friday, July 20, 2012

Changes to IOTA Rules

The IOTA Contest takes place on 28 and 29 July and there are some important rules changes for participants. The scoring for Island-World and World-World QSOs has changed, to increase the importance of working island stations. The World Multi-op category has been discontinued. A QSY rule for Island Multi-Op stations has been introduced, because some entrants have been operating with more than one multiplier station. Finally, low power expedition entrants are now allowed to use any antenna. The 2012 rules are on the Contest Committee section of the RSGB website. All operators are asked to please be careful to use contest preferred band segments, as penalties will be applied to stations who do not observe these limits.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Transatlantic on 144Mhz

Updated news on a 2mt and 4mt transatlantic beacon.

news link

Saturday, July 14, 2012

HF propogation predictions for July 2012

Thursday, July 12, 2012

G5RV Antenna talk (Louis Varney)

I have been asked to post a link to the g5rv talks:

g5rv

Enjoy.