Amateur radio in West Sussex - Training, Exams, Contests and Special Event Stations

Weekly Bulletin 10 Feb. 2017

WEEKLY BULLETIN  10 February  2017

 

THE PAST WEEK  – 

 

Sat. net via GB3WO was….. Spartan.!

 

Sunday net on 80m:  just a few hard core faithful. The stalwarts think it should move to 160m in order to, at very least,  discuss small-space-antenna  experimentation.

 

Sunday breakfast about 7% of club members turned up to eat and had a small but lively meeting with discussions including “the real-man’s motor-bike I had when I was 23 was faster then the cissy motor-bike you had when you were 23 ………”  One longed for Bodie to show up and  tell us how, for only 6000 quid, we could send a self-driving robot motor-bike out for a ride all by itself while staying in bed watching it in HD on a qPad via GreenTeeth or some such.

 

Wednesday

 

AlanGNX spoke of a possible new So***wick HQ (with an unspeakable ex-bar) [ GVB thinks ..”Ah Ha ! The Pilot?” ], which was recently visited by the  committee and which is so secret that nobody is allowed to know anything about it.  Speculation is rife!  Room 40 in the Cricketers ? Southwick Green underground bunker?  Clandestine aerial over the lock-gates. Small back room in Carats Cafe? Secret war-time  rooms deep inside the Lighhouse?

 

Confession: “I thought arduino was a tough alcoholic from ‘ackney ” until I met Jonathan ………G1EXG that is,  giving an llluminating talk about the new small and cheap BBC Computer  Or to be more precise the Programmable Integrated Circuit now associated with the BBC . One would have hoped the very first application to be demonstrated would be its use as a hearing aid , but no such luck. TLA’s flew fast and furious …one needs a DDS – and that’s not a degree in dental surgery – but a cunning device to generate accurately , any sub-multiple of 125 MHz  – or so the guru tells me. Some will know that I have a broad-banded IC 7000 which receives happily on 70 MHz but not transmit. It does transmit on 50 megs however. and even I can take 50 from 70 to come up with 20 to be generated by the Dentist (sorry; the DDS )  and, working split with the IC7000. and a simple mixer and mini-linear would see me on 4 metres . [Yes Bodie , I know I can buy a ready-made plug’n play machine for only  £x00 but ……………? Aw! what’s the use …?]

 

On the reflector….keep up instant reporting of any unusual stations  as and when you hear them.

 

 

**************

 

Rallies this weekend.

 

12 February 2017  Harwell Radio & Electronics Rally


Didcot Leisure Centre, Mereland Road. Didcot, Oxon. OX11 8AY
3 miles from A34 between Oxford and Newbury
Entry £3 (under 12s free). Talk-in by GX3PIA 145.550 MHz.

Easy parking.
Disabled facilities (including lift). All-day refreshments (sandwiches,
homemade cakes and hot drinks). Well signposted. Trade exhibitors.
Details: Ann Stevens, ann.stevens@btinternet.com

 

Go there. !

 

*********************

 

THIS WEEKEND ON THE Radio

 

The CQ World Wide RTTY WPX Contest,

SARL Field Day Contest,

Asia-Pacific CW Spring Sprint,

SKCC Weekend CW Sprintathon,

KCJ Topband CW Contest,

Dutch PACC Contest,

OMISS SSB QSO Party,

FISTS Winter Unlimited CW Sprint,

AWA Amplitude Modulation QSO Party and the :

Balkan HF Contest will certainly keep contesters busy this upcoming weekend.

 

WADARC SUNDAY MORNING 80 m NET ON SUNDAY  – really ! who writes this stuff ? –  February 12 will conduct a REFERENDUM about unilaterally declaring itself to be the Sunday morning Top Band net.  Be there to express your views.

 

The ARRL School Club Roundup runs from February 13 to 17.
The CQC Winter CW QSO Party is scheduled for February 13.
Male chauvinism or dedicated ‘ham’ ? 

The PODXS 070 Club Valentine PSK31 Sprint is scheduled for February 14.

( aw gee !  How romantic can one get )

 

See the ARRL and WA7BNM contest web sites for details

 

ISLANDS

 

NN7A will be QRV as V31JZ/p from:

South Water Cay, IOTA NA-180, from February 15 to 21. Activity will be on 160 to 10 meters, including the newer bands, using mostly CW. This includes being a Single Op/All Band/Low Power entry in the upcoming ARRL DX CW contest. QSL direct to home call.

 

 

EASTER ISLAND, German Michael, DF8AN is QRV as CE0Y/DF8AN until February 17. Activity is on the HF bands using CW and various digital modes.

 

MACAO, XX9. A group of operators will be QRV as XX9D from February 13 to 26. Activity will be on 80 to 10 meters, and 160 and 6 meters if local conditions permit, using CW, SSB and RTTY with up to three stations active. QSL via DL4SVA.

 

ARUBA, P4. John, W2GD is QRV as P40W from Santa Cruz until February 20. Activity is on the HF bands, including the newer bands, using CW and SSB. This includes being a Single Op/All Band entry in the upcoming ARRL DX CW contest. QSL direct to N2MM.

 

MALTA, 9H. Nobuaki, JA0JHQ is QRV as 9H3NH from Slima until February 12. Activity is mostly on 40, 30 and 20 meters using CW and RTTY. This includes an entry in the CQ World Wide RTTY WPX contest. QSL to home call.

 

ABACO ISLAND (Bahamas) Operators Tim, N4UM, Mike, K4RUM and Bob, N4BP will be QRV as C6ARU, C6AUM and C6AKQ, respectively, from Abaco Island, IOTA NA-080, from February 7 to 21. Activity will be on 160 to 6 meters using CW and some RTTY. This includes an entry in the upcoming ARRL DX CW contest. QSL via operators’ instructions.

 

**********

 

Programme of club events 

 

*************

The Sun (remember it ? )

HAS BEEN :

 

Average daily sunspot numbers dropped from 31.6 to 21.3 last week, and average daily solar flux declined from 78.2 to 73.5. The sunspot number was zero on February 8, but recovered to 15 on February 9, with the appearance of one new sunspot group.

Average planetary A index went from 15.6 to 12.9, and average mid-latitude A index from 11.4 to 9.9.

 

Will be : 

Predicted solar flux is 74 on February 10-12, 78 on February 13-17, 80 on February 18-19, 82 on February 20-21, 81 and 79 on February 22-23, 77 on February 24-25, 75 on February 26 through March 1, 74 on March 2-3, 73 on March 4, 72 on March 5-9, 75 on March 10-13, then 76, 77 and 78 on March 14-16, 80 on March 17-18, 82 on March 19-20 then 81 and 79 on March 21-22.

 

Predicted planetary A index is 5 on February 10-13, 10 on February 14, 8 on February 15-18, 5 on February 19-21, then 10, 15, 10 and 10 on February 22-25, then 5, 25 and 30 on February 26-28, then 25, 20, 15 and 12 on March 1-4, 10 on March 5-7, 8 on March 8, 5 on March 9-12, 15 on March 13, 10 on March 14-15, 8 on March 16-17, 5 on March 18-20, and 10 and 12 on March 21-22. The index then jumps to 25 on March 26.

F.K. Janda, OK1HH sends this geomagnetic activity forecast for the period February 10-March 9, 2017:
“Geomagnetic field will be:
Quiet on February 10-11, 13-14, 21, 23-24, 26, March 8-9 Mostly quiet on February 12, 15, 19, March 7 Quiet to unsettled-sometimes, hardly to be forecasted Quiet to active on February 17, 20, 22, 25, 27, March 3-6 Active to disturbed on February 16, 18, 28, March 1-2

“Amplifications of the solar wind from coronal holes are expected on February 16-21, (22,) 26-27.

 

 

**************

Weekly Comment

 

Only 2 weeks to go to the world-wide 160m SSB contest. Are you top-band-antenna-ready ?

 

Next weekend is big event ARRL WW CW contest. Get beer in ready.

 

                                                      

****************************************

The weekly message:

 

A few snowflakes are falling as I write so:

 

FOC Operator  available at 10 minutes notice to be general dogsbody on any DXpedition south of latitude 30 N or north of latitude 30 S. No pay or food  required,  just Beer.

 

 Apply to :

BryanGVB