432MHz activity contest

Every month the RSGB organises an activity contest on the second Tuesday of the month on 70cm. Better stations were working Germans. As usual I was on with my poor voice, 10W and 2m big-wheel omni antenna.  In 40 minutes I managed 4 SSB QSOs out to 105km. .Then I gave up!

2m and 70cm activity contest results

Both the 2m and 70cm activity contest results, run every month on Tuesday evenings and organised by the RSGB, have been published. 

These show very credible scores in the low power (AL) sections, considering I usually stay on for under an hour and just use a 2m big-wheel omni antenna. No beams or rotators here!

See the RSGB contest website for details.

Beginners' licence?

For some time in the UK a couple of ideas have been considered. 

One is an exam (a bit like the old RAE) that would allow people to get a full licence with just one exam. the second is a beginners' licence to allow newcomers into the hobby easily. Some can use licence free gear, e.g. 446MHz gear in the UK without any licence, so the argument is why not a simple transition into amateur radio, perhaps only allowing use of ready built commercial gear on VHF or UHF only? 

I have mixed feelings over the latter. Yes,we badly need new blood, but are we happy to dumb down our hobby? This is a hard one.

All these were discussed at a recent RSGB board meeting. You have to be an RSGB member to read these I believe.

See https://thersgb.org/members/publications/board/5900.php

RSGB contest rule change - Dec 5th 2020

It is almost impossible to keep up with rule changes due to Covid-19 in different parts of the UK. The RSGB is taking a pragmatic approach. Basically, follow local rules for Covid.

See https://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/cv19.shtml

RSGB Convention online

Southgate News reports that the RSGB Convention talks are available online.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2020/october/rsgb-convention-videos-on-youtube.htm#.X4qS7LfTVkw

Article in RadCom

The photo shows the August edition of RadCom which has an article of mine on QRP.

See https://rsgb.org/

RSGB

The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) is the UK's national amateur radio society.  Like all national societies, they are far from perfect. Nonetheless, they represent our hobby in the UK. They produce a monthly journal called RadCom.

See https://rsgb.org/

Promoting amateur radio

From time to time we get a chance to promote our amateur radio hobby at other events. The RSGB has published some notes to help us do the right thing.

See https://rsgb.org/main/clubs/media-guide-for-affiliated-societies/

UK Foundation Licence

Southgate News reports that there has been a large increase in interest in the UK Foundation licence. For a few weeks now, the RSGB has had on-line invigilation. I guess lockdown and isolation have something to do with this.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2020/may/get-your-foundation-licence-faq.htm#.XrgKn2jYq00

The RSGB

Like the ARRL in the USA, the RSGB is the national amateur radio society in the UK. Like all organisations, it is not perfect.

However, they produce a monthly magazine for members and provide a lot of services behind the scenes. Its strength is its members.  They elect officers. I have been a member since 1962 - I must be old!!

See https://rsgb.org/

70cm activity contest

Starting at 2000z is the RSGB organised activity contest on 70cm (UKAC). As my voice is poor, I use 10W and I have no suitable antennas (I use my 2m big-wheel omni) my time is usually well below an hour. Activity levels are far better than normal on 70cm SSB and there is no compulsion to submit a log. I usually do even though I rarely work a great many stations.

Overall, it is fun. To me, this is how contests should be.  Scoring is simple and there are multipliers for new grid squares.

UPDATE 2115z: Despite my QRP and 2m omni antenna, I managed 7 QSOs in this contest. No great DX worked, but great fun for about 40 minutes.

70cm SSB stations worked this evening

2m cumulative contest results

The RSGB has published the results of the first 2m UKAC cumulative contest held on first Tuesday evenings. I am about mid-table in the low power section (AL). See the RSGB's website for details. Because of my poor voice, I am rarely on for more than 40% of the time and I only use the big-wheel omni antenna.

70cm activity contest tonight from 2000z

Although I am not really equipped for 70cm SSB, I shall have a go again using the 2m big-wheel and 10W SSB. Because of my poor voice I usually stop after about 40 minutes.

The band can be quite active, although with strong winds and rain, I expect some /P stations will stay at home! Often I manage over 100km on 70cm with this less than optimum set-up. If taking part, have fun. If you are really keen, the contest lasts 2.5 hours I think. My log is usually submitted by 2130z!

UPDATE 2100z: Well tonight with the high winds and rain, conditions were dreadful. After just 2 contacts I gave up and returned to 160m FT8 RX.

More on WRC-19

Southgate News has a further piece relaying the RSGB's blog about WRC-19 meeting on spectrum issues. This meeting is in Egypt.

See http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2019/november/wrc-19-day-15--a-long-weekend.htm#.XdJjFu2TLnE

WRC-19

As you may know, this conference in Egypt to discuss spectrum matters is well under way. Southgate News has a piece on this and links the regular updates by the RSGB.

See http://southgatearc.org/news/2019/november/rsgb-wrc-19-update--23cms-and-a-long-day.htm .

2m UKAC (activity contest) tonight at 2000z

As usual, there is an SSB (mainly) contest this evening. I usually run QRP and stop on for under a hour, although the contest lasts for 2.5 hours. Although I usually submit a log, I really come on just for the fun. This is a friendly contest and activity levels are normally high.

UPDATE 2125z: 8 QSOs with 10W SSB and the big-wheel with best DX Isle of Man. I only stayed on for 35 minutes because of my poor voice.

Stations worked this evening with 

2m QRP and the big-wheel omni antenna.

Amateur radio 71 years ago

Southgate News reports on an RSGB post on YouTube of a 1947 DF Hunt.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_LHb3wPAfE

432MHz UKAC Activity Contest

Every month, the RSGB organises an activity contest. On the second Tuesday it is the 432MHz contest. As I have no suitable antennas, I use either my 2m halo or 2m big wheel antenna and 5W from my FT817ND. Before my voice shouted "stop!" I worked 4 stations as shown on the map.

2m UKAC activity contest

For those interested, the 2m leg of the RSGB's UKAC activity contest for December is this evening starting at 2000z. It goes on for 2.5 hours, although I usually manage only about an hour.

At 2100z (ish) I expect to return to top-band FT8.

UPDATE 2110z: After about 30 minutes I went QRT.  5 QSOs with best DX G4CLA (105km). As usual, I was running 5W to the big-wheel omni antenna.

RadCom article

Much to my amazement, my short article on FT8 has been published in November RadCom. I was hoping to see it in a few months, but this took me totally by surprise!