Ham Radio Update

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Southgate ARC – Masa, JA0RQV, will once again be active as A35JP from Tongatapu Island (OC-049) between November 24th, 2019, and November 2020

Southgate ARC – The WIA DX Awards Committee is pleased to announce the very popular GRID SQUARE Award is being re-launched

Southgate ARC – The Sandton and Hammies ARCs are hosting the 2020 SARL 95 National Convention over the weekend of 3 to 5 April 2020 at the Wanderers Club in Illovo, Johannesburg

Southgate ARC – The DARC reports some amateurs have been operating in the 5 MHz band when visiting Portugal but such operation is only permitted with a special authorization

Southgate ARC – Ham College episode 58 is now available for download. General Amateur Radio Exam part 29. General questions pool updates 1 of 3

Southgate ARC – For a generation of teenagers, it was the radio station that let them listen to pop music in the days when the stuffy BBC rationed such treats

Southgate ARC – Members of the UK National Health Service Emergency Care Improvement Support Team (ECIST) will launch a special event operation starting on Monday, October 28, from the RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park

Southgate ARC – DXtreme Software™ has released a new version of its popular logging program for radio monitoring enthusiasts – DXtreme Monitor Log 12 – which lets listeners and DXers log the stations they’ve heard using features that enhance their monitoring experiences

Southgate ARC – According to the Amateur Radio Cluster Network for the week of Friday, 18th October, through Friday, 25th October there were 219 countries active

Southgate ARC – The IEEE magazine Spectrum reports on a new Amateur Radio digital mode, New Packet Radio (NPR)

Southgate ARC – Weekly IOTA News – compiled by Tedd Mirgliotta, KB8NW, editor of the Ohio/Penn DX Bulletin

ICQ Podcast -In this episode, Martin M1MRB is joined by Chris Howard M0TCH, Martin Rothwell M0SGL, Frank Howell K4FMH, Ed Durrant DD5LP and Bill Barnes N3JIX to discuss the latest Amateur / Ham Radio news. Colin M6BOY rounds up the news in brief and this episode’s feature is Grow, Merge or Disband your Amateur Radio Club!

ICQ AMATEUR/HAM RADIO PODCAST DONORS

We would like to thank our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit – http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

– PACTOR Developer SCS Announces Monitoring Software – Can Online Ham Radio Exams Improve Accessibility? – Inspiring Youth with Science in Space – Michigan State University Amateur Radio Club Celebrates Centennial with Second-Century Special Event – New ARRL Online Groups for More Direct Communications – Amateur Radio Operator Faces Fine for Blocking Other Amateurs – RSGB Youth Team Recruiting – December is YOTA Month

Southgate ARC – Over the past week, on Monday, October 21, 10.7 cm solar flux sunk to possibly the lowest level in recorded history. Solar flux was 64, which is even lower than the 64.4 value recorded way back on July 2

Southgate ARC – WIA Secretary Peter VK8ZZ reports that Dale VK1DSH has been nominated by the Wireless Institute of Australia to attend the ITU World Radio Conference in 2019 (WRC-19) at Sharm El Sheik, Egypt

Southgate ARC – WIA Board Director Greg VK2GPK notes there’s no need to have special call signs that highlight holder has a Foundation license – call signs should be for life and not change on progression to a different license class

Southgate ARC – Devon Live reports on an out of this world lesson for Bampton as pupils use amateur radio to make contact with a NASA astronaut

Southgate ARC – NewsWest for Sunday 27 October 2019, is the contesting edition, and we’ll tell you about local and international contests coming up

Southgate ARC – First Solo – The other day I looked in my diary and noticed that it was the anniversary of my first solo flight. If that’s not familiar to you, it means I got in an aeroplane on my own for the first time, taxied to the end of the runway, made a radio call to warn all the other pilots, took off, flew a circuit and landed safely. All the essentials for flying a plane

ARRL -The ARRL Foundation has announced for additional recipients of scholarships that it manages.

The Albemarle Scholarship was awarded to Dalton Southerland, W1DGS, of Louisburg, North Carolina; the Atlanta Radio Club Scholarship was award to Emily Wilbourn, KM4JXB, of Buford, Georgia; the Cordel Scholarship was awarded to Collin Pike, KJ4AXB, of Roanoke, Alabama, and the Winscot Scholarship was awa…

ARRL -Members of the UK National Health Service Emergency Care Improvement Support Team (ECIST) will launch a special event operation starting on Monday, October 28, from the Radio Society of Great Britain’s National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park. GB1NHS and GB1CFR will recognize the life-saving role of community first responders.

The date corresponds with National Community First Responder Day in t…

ARRL -Listen to the new episode of ARRL Audio News on your iOS or Android podcast app, or online at http://www.blubrry.com/arrlaudionews/. Audio News is also retransmitted on a number of FM repeaters. Click here and then scroll down to see the list.

ARRL -During October and corresponding with the ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET), Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) members will be reaching out to the amateur radio community to continue building working relationships and improving interoperability. As part of this effort, MARS will be promoting the use of a serial phase-shift keying protocol, Military Standard 188-110 (M110), on the 60-mete…

ARRL -The contact count for the VP6R Pitcairn Island DXpedition was approaching 50,000 as of October 24. Stormy weather put a bit of a damper on things, however.

“Late yesterday, we were hit with a tropical storm with torrential rain and gale force-plus winds,” DXpedition leader Glenn Johnson, W0GJ, reported on Thursday. “We had several antennas come down, but they are repairable and will be back up w…

ARRL -The Egyptian Radio Amateur Society (ERASD) and Egypt’s National Telecommunications Radio Authority (NTRA) have announced a special event for World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19). SU8X and SU8WRC will be on the air from Sharm el-Sheikh in southern Egypt, the venue of WRC-19. Operation will begin October 26 UTC as SU8X participates in the CQ World Wide DX Contest SSB. Special event s…

ARRL -Over the past week, on Monday, October 21, 10.7 cm solar flux sunk to possibly the lowest level in recorded history. Solar flux was 64, which is even lower than the 64.4 value recorded way back on July 2, 1954 at the start of solar cycle 19, by far the biggest solar cycle ever recorded. I understand that solar flux dipped to 64.2 in 1906.

The average solar flux this past week was lower than the …

Southgate ARC – The World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 is due to open in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Monday, October 28

Southgate ARC – Cadets at the US Military Academy at West Point had the opportunity to talk to the ISS using amateur radio

Southgate ARC – On the occasion of Princess Elisabeth’s eighteenth birthday, from October 25 to December 25, 2019, more than thirty UBA club stations will use the special prefix OR18. The UBA also offers a commemorative Award

Southgate ARC – A blue plaque will be unveiled this morning Friday 25th October at 10am at 38 Hertford Street, London W1. This was the London base of Radio Luxembourg. Expect some celebs to attend

Southgate ARC – As of 0000Z on 25th October, we have approximately 47,000 contacts in the log. Late yesterday we were hit with a tropical storm with torrential rain and gale force plus winds. We had several antennas come down, but they are repairable and will be back up when it is safe to go outside, probably not until tomorrow morning

Southgate ARC – The following ISWL club callsigns will be used throughout the month of November 2019

Southgate ARC – Edition 24 of the free HackSpace magazine features a 4 page article ‘Making and tuning antennas’ by Jo Hinchliffe MW6CYK

Southgate ARC – Ofcom has today published its annual report on the BBC, and the findings of our review of BBC news and current affairs. Ofcom’s annual report on the BBC assesses the corporation’s performance over the period April 2018 to March 2019

Southgate ARC – The American Radio Relay League’s round-up of the forthcoming week’s DX activity on the amateur radio bands

ARRL -Member-societies of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) have voted to admit the Saudi Amateur Radio Society (SARS) and Seychelles Amateur Radio Association (SARA) to IARU membership. SARS was founded on June 25, 2018, and is legally registered and recognized to represent the amateurs of Saudi Arabia. As of January 2019, there were 66 members out of a total of 479 radio amateurs in the …

ARRL –Tick-tock! Time is running short to bid on the more than 230 Amateur Radio items on the block in the 14th annual ARRL Online Auction. Bidding ends at 10 PM EDT on Thursday, October 24 (Friday, October 25, at 0200 UTC).

Auction items include lab-tested QST “Product Review” gear, vintage books, used equipment, and one-of-a-kind items. Some of the premier “Product Review” items on the block includ…

ARRL -World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19) opens on Monday, October 28, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. WRC-19 is sponsored by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Some 3,000 delegates from most countries around the world will attend the international meeting, which lasts 4 weeks, and will discuss and agree to changes to the ITU Radio Regulations.

The International Amateur Radio Un…

Southgate ARC – Ofcom has today published a consultation on a proposed variation to talkSPORT’s national analogue radio licence

Southgate ARC – The IARU member-societies have voted to admit the Saudi Amateur Radio Society (SARS) and Seychelles Amateur Radio Association (SARA) to membership

Southgate ARC – On Friday 11 October our engineers made a long planned visit to our 648 transmitter site to give the equipment a general tuneup and service

Southgate ARC – Things are going well with the remaining team and the propagation has been wonderful to just about everywhere. We have had a lot of activity on 12M and some on 10M, including more EME contacts. We now have about 35,000 contacts in the log after 4½ days of operation

Southgate ARC – The Loop Antenna Amplifier from Cross Country Wireless contains all the electronics needed for home DIY construction of an active loop low noise receiving antenna covering 10 kHz to 30 MHz

Southgate ARC – The UK doesn’t impose any fees for the amateur radio licence but other countries such as the Netherlands are not so fortunate

Southgate ARC – What is AM Amateur Radio Europe? AM Amateur Radio Europe is a growing Facebook community of European radio amateurs

Southgate ARC – A large hole in the sun’s atmosphere is facing Earth and spewing a stream of solar wind in our direction

Southgate ARC – A dismal week lifted only partly by Saturday and Sunday. Most sought after DX 5T5PA (Mauritania), T88UW (Palau), FY5KE (French Guiana) , 5K0K (San Andres), T30GC (Kiribati) and more, well just a couple more

ARRL -Eric Tichansky, NO3M, and Roger Crofts, VK4YB, are claiming a new world distance record on 630 meters. They worked each other on October 14 at 1032 UTC using JT9 mode. Tichansky said the contact represented the culmination of 2 years of effort around every equinox since September 2017.

“Hopes were wearing thin as we were moving away from the recent equinox on September 23,” he said. “Even when t…

ARRL -The third International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 2 (the Americas) Emergency Communications Workshop took place earlier this month in Lima, Peru, immediately following the 20th IARU Region 2 General Assembly. The workshop was sponsored by the Executive Committee of IARU Region 2, and hosted by Radio Club Peruano.

Region 2 Emergency Coordinators and subject-matter experts discussed recent…

ARRL -The FCC has denied a Petition for Rule Making to amend Part 97 station identification rules to better accommodate and simplify station identification during emergency nets, drills, or activations. ARRL member Robert A. Dukish, KK8DX, of Canfield, Ohio, had sought a change to Section 97.119(a) of the rules to allow a single point of transmission for station ID on those occasions. He proposed per…

Southgate ARC – Members of the Cambridge University Wireless Society (CUWS) will be active as ZC4UW from UK Sovereign Base Area on Cyprus (AS-004) between January 2-7th, 2020

Southgate ARC – Upcoming DXpedition to Swains Island (OC-200) will take place between March 10-25th, 2020

Southgate ARC – The ham world and the music world have lost a major talent. Fans of classic Southern rock bands Lynyrd Skynyrd and 38 Special are very familiar with the sound of the big man on the bass, Larry ‘LJ’ Junstrom

Southgate ARC – I wanted to announce that I placed a new CW/FT-8 2 meter beacon on the air in Hot Springs, Arkansas using the RFzero board. 144.275

Southgate ARC – The ARRL has created new Online Groups where all radio amateurs — ARRL members and non-members alike — can discuss issues and topics in two-way conversation with ARRL leadership

Southgate ARC – There are two ARISS contacts scheduled for this week

Southgate ARC – Bletchley Park is well known as the home of the RSGB National Radio Centre and the site played a key role in code breaking during the 2nd World War

Southgate ARC – The National WWI Museum and Memorial is teaming with area amateur radio operators to host special event station WW1USA

Southgate ARC – Videos of the presentations given at the AMSAT-UK International Space Colloquium, which was held as part of the RSGB Convention in Milton Keynes, October 12-13, 2019, are being made available on YouTube

Southgate ARC – Radio amateurs in Austria took part in this year’s Civil Protection Day on October 5 and made use of the amateur radio transponder on the QO-100 geostationary satellite

Southgate ARC – NASA highlight the role of amateur radio in letting young people speak directly with astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station

Southgate ARC – The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has shut down a number of community-run radio stations across the country

ARRL -Pitcairn Island DXpedition leader Glen Johnson, W0GJ, reports the VP6R team arrived at the South Pacific island on October 17, after the m/v Braveheart anchored offshore. After clearing customs and immigration, the team was transported to the home of Andy Christian, where the DXpedition’s equipment had been shipped well in advance.

“The steep dirt roads were very muddy from lots of recent rains…

ARRL -A transmission from the vintage Alexanderson alternator in Grimeton, Sweden, will complement activities marking United Nations Day on October 24. Transmitter startup for the 17.2 kHz transmission will take place at around 1630 UTC, with a peace message transmission beginning at 1700 UTC. A live stream will be available on the Alexanderson website. No QSL cards will be sent, and no list of repor…

ARRL -The Michigan State University Amateur Radio Club (MSUARC) turns 100 this month. The club, which holds the call signs W8MSU and W8SH, celebrated its centennial with a special event station on October 19.

“We’re celebrating a milestone,” said Faculty Advisor Gregory Wierzba. “The club has been a licensed ham radio station for a century. It’s been on the air almost as long as radio licenses have be…

Southgate ARC – Can an Apple-1 computer decipher a message encrypted with an Enigma cyphering machine in a reasonable time?

Southgate ARC – The Braveheart anchored just off Pitcairn Island at dawn, Thursday, October 17th. After customs and immigration, the team was transported to the home of Andy Christian where all of the equipment was waiting for us. This equipment arrived about 6 weeks prior to our arrival

Southgate ARC – For many years the licence fee in Norway has been linked to ownership of a television. This will all change from 2020

Southgate ARC – Earth is entering a stream of debris from Halley’s Comet, source of the annual Orionid meteor shower

Southgate ARC – In this episode, Martin Butler (M1MRB/W9ICQ) discusses Propogation Tools with Steve Nicol G0KYA and finds out how the RSGB has modernised the adjudication of RSGB Contests for faster, more accurate results with Simone Wilson M0BOX

Southgate ARC – On November 3, from 08:00 to 12:00 UTC, it will be held the next edition of the “sprint contest” version of the same name Award, devoted to the “Radio Clubs of the World”

Southgate ARC – An International Space Station school contact has been planned for Luca Parmitano KF5KDP with participants at : I.I.S. ‘Ciampini-Boccardo’ , Novi Ligure, Italy and I.T.I.S. ‘Magistri Cumacini’, Como, Italy

Southgate ARC – An International Space Station school contact has been planned for Luca Parmitano KF5KDP with participants at Liceo Scientifico Teresa Gullace, Rome, Italy and I.S.I.S. ‘Zaccagna Galilei’ sede ‘G. Galilei’, Carrara. Italy

Southgate ARC – The JARL reports Tokyo’s Amateur Radio Ham Fair 2019 welcomed a total of 42,000 visitors in two days. This was the highest number of visitors since it became a two day event

Southgate ARC – In this weeks Board Comment WIA Director Mike VK8MA says “We need to replace silent keys with young vibrant youth enthusiasm”

Southgate ARC – SARL News reports the CQ WW is the largest Amateur Radio competition in the world. Over 35 000 participants take to the airwaves on the last weekend of October (SSB) and November (CW) with the goal of making as many contacts, with as many different DXCC entities and CQ Zones, as possible

Southgate ARC – Ganesh Subramaniam, VU2TS, began his ham radio journey in 1959 trying to find someone, anyone, somewhere in his native Bangalore, India, who could provide basic information about the amateur radio service in India

Southgate ARC – SARL News reports next week South Africa will send the largest ever delegation to attend the ITU World Radio Conference in Egypt

Southgate ARC – Poland’s Health Ministry is reported to be working on a draft regulation that is feared will set new restrictions on levels of electromagnetic fields (EMF), this appears to have arisen due to misguided concerns about 5G

Southgate ARC – The 37th Annual AMSAT Space Symposium and General Meeting has begun, and will continue through Sunday, October 20, 2019, at The Hilton Arlington in Arlington, Virginia. Sessions are being live streamed

ICQ Podcast -In this episode, Martin Butler (M1MRB/W9ICQ) discusses Propogation Tools with Steve Nicol G0KYA and finds out how the RSGB has modernised the adjudication of RSGB Contests for faster, more accurate results with Simone Wilson M0BOX.

ICQ AMATEUR/HAM RADIO PODCAST DONORS

We would like to thank Jim Thompson (2E0FOA) and our monthly and annual subscription donors for keeping the podcast advert free. To donate, please visit – http://www.icqpodcast.com/donate

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Southgate ARC – Solar activity remains very low. At the bottom of the sunspot cycle, any sunspot activity is fleeting. Again, another week passes with no sunspots at all. Spaceweather.com reports no sunspots for the past two weeks, and the total number of spotless days this year is now 213 days, or 73%, matching the percentage of spotless days in 2008

Southgate ARC – The New Zealand Net (NZ Net) is an 80-metre CW net operating every Monday-Friday evening

Southgate ARC – DX-World.net reports that operators Johannes PA5X (5T5PA) and Evert PA2KW (5T2KW) will be active from a special location somewhere in Mauritania between the evening of October 19th until the morning of the 26th

Southgate ARC – The Can-Am DXpedition Team will arrive in French Polynesia on November 3rd. While in Tahiti (FO), there will be some activity – including low bands — for a couple of days/nights….

Southgate ARC – This year JOTA celebrates 62 years of connecting scouts and guides by radio. A few things to note, with the change of DMR talk groups for JOTA this weekend, the Tasmania Wia news is on TG3807 this weekend at 9:30 am advises VK7ZCR

Southgate ARC – World Wide Radio Operators Foundation – The other day I accidentally learnt something new. I know, it’s crazy, sometimes I surprise myself

Southgate ARC – Brazilian radio amateurs participated in a Science Fair at Gonçalves Dias School, Boa Vista on October 16

ARRL -Solar activity remains very low. At the bottom of the sunspot cycle, any sunspot activity is fleeting. Again, another week passes with no sunspots at all. Spaceweather.com reports no sunspots for the past two weeks, and the total number of spotless days this year is now 213 days, or 73%, matching the percentage of spotless days in 2008.

Average daily solar flux during the week of October 10-16 w…

Southgate ARC – The number getting their UK Foundation licence has slumped in the past 13 years. In this YouTube video RSGB VHF Manager John Regnault G4SWX discusses his proposal for a Beginners Amateur Radio Licence

Southgate ARC – Scouts in Sweden have got an appropriate call sign for this weekend’s Jamboree On The Air (JOTA) – it’s SC0UT

Southgate ARC – I experienced a sudden and relatively severe, acute illness and was hospitalized for a number of days. I am recovering at home, but the risk of compromising the DXpedition to Pitcairn Island is too great for me to make the trip with the team. My friend Glenn, W0GJ, will take on my responsibilities and the DXpedition will proceed as otherwise planned. Ralph K0IR

Southgate ARC – The URC, AMSAT-F, DR@F, VE-France, FFBRA and REF met on September 22 and October 13 in Nanterre to define the working methods and priorities of the Inter Associations Radioamateur Group (GIAR)

Southgate ARC – ARRL is launching a new magazine, On the Air, in January 2020. To be published on a bimonthly basis, On the Air will offer new and beginner-to-intermediate-level radio amateurs a fresh approach to exploring radio communication

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