Also in GB2RS this week…

| April 11, 2014

The British Amateur Radio Teledata Group is pleased to announce that major changes have been put in place for all future BARTG contests. With the help of Mike, G0GJV and Pete, G4CLA, a Robot system of log submission is now in place. Simone, M0BOX has volunteered to become the BARTG Contest Manager. It is extremely important that all entrants to BARTG contests use the Robot for log submissions as no other method will be accepted. To upload your log, go to http://bartg.rsgbcc.org/cgi-bin/hfenter.pl, where you can also find information such as the BARTG contest calendar.

NoV holders for the 5MHz band will know that these frequencies are a Secondary allocation, on the basis of non-interferences to other services. During the coming days there may be temporary increased usage of these frequencies by the Primary User. Amateurs must take particular care to ensure a frequency is not in use before calling CQ, and vacate any frequency if requested by the Primary User.

Camb-Hams will be operating GS3PYE/P from the Isle of Lewis, which is IOTA reference EU-010, from 26 April to 3 May. Thirteen operators will be active on all bands and many modes from 4m to 80m as well as 2m and 70cm for satellites and 2m and 23cm for EME. The HF bands will be covered by five simultaneous stations, while the 6m and 4m stations will have a great take-off towards the rest of the UK and Europe from the island’s northern tip in IO68 square. 2m and 23cm EME will be available with a portable low-ERP Yagi system, mainly focussed on JT modes. 2m and 70cm will be available for portable satellite operations. The group will be active on the major social networks before, during and after the trip. You can check on progress or interact with the operators via their blog at dx.camb-hams.com.

Following a 48 hour test last weekend, the FUNcube-CubeSat team have concluded that although the battery temperature does reduce slightly during full time transponder operation, it remains within specification. It has been decided that in future the satellite’s transponder should be activated at weekends. The plan is to activate the transponder between 1930-2230UTC on Friday evenings and deactivate it between 1930-2230UTC on Sundays. During the rest of the week the transponder will only be available when the satellite is in eclipse (darkness). This schedule is totally reliant on the availability of command stations, who will do their very best to ensure it is maintained.

Nobel Laureate Joe Taylor, K1JT, was the guest of honour to reopen the restored 25 metre Dwingeloo radio telescope in the Netherlands. The dish will see some amateur radio use on 23cm. With the renovation complete, the radio telescope will be used by radio amateurs, amateur astronomers and by budding researchers. It has been used for several years by Dutch radio amateurs for EME work, including during the ARRL EME Contest.

The American time station WWV is now conducting experimental broadcasts on 25MHz, a frequency they haven’t used since 1977. Details can be obtained from http://wp.me/pn3uc-2oM

Radio amateurs in Vietnam can now enjoy a wealth of new bands. Use of the 40m band has been extended up to 7200kHz and they also now have access to the 30m band. They have been permitted to use new frequencies on 80m up to 3900kHz and 160m from 1.8 to 2MHz. Finally, permission has been granted for the new 600m band, from 472kHz to 479kHz.

Category: GB2RS Headlines