Also in GB2RS this week…

| June 19, 2015

With the new UK amateur licence now in place, the exams need to change to reflect the current licence conditions. The RCF gave notice that the new rules will be examined from 1 October. The RSGB is now working on updates to the Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced training books and a further announcement will be made as soon as the ‘Extras’ are available. These should enable anyone preparing for an exam after 1 October to have the current rules clear in their mind. It is worth noting that the old licence conditions will continue to be examined until the end of September. If anyone has any questions about these changes, please contact Philip Willis, M0PHI, who is chair of the RSGB Training and Education Committee tec.chair@rsgb.org.uk

The RSGB Propagation Studies Committee is seeking someone to develop a web program that graphically displays HF propagation predictions. The propagation information will be obtained by running ITURHFProp and utilising its text-based output. No prior experience in propagation is expected only a good web programming background. Interested parties should contact Gwyn Williams, G4FKH at g4fkh@sky.com.

Every year, the BBC broadcasts a special programme to the scientists and support staff in the British Antarctic Survey Team. Music requests and special messages are sent to the small team of 40-plus located at various Antarctic research stations. The frequencies to be used for the BBC Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast for Sunday, 21 June are 5985kHz, 5905kHz and 9590kHz at 21.30UTC.

The next British Inland Waterways on the Air event will be held over the August bank holiday week end of the 29th to the 31st of August. The event is open to all amateurs who are boaters, cyclists, walkers and other users of the canals, rivers, towpaths, riverbanks for work or recreation. The primary band will be 40m. More details can be found on the BiWota page on the RSGB website.

On 28 June, Martin, G7MRV and Bob, M1BBV are walking the Lyke Wake Walk challenge, a 40 mile route across the North Yorkshire moors, to be completed in under 24 hours with 5,000ft of ascent. They are fundraising for MAG International, a landmine and UXO clearance and awareness education charity. As if the strenuous nature of the walk wasn’t enough, they decided to operate amateur radio en route. Ofcom has been very supportive and have issued them with a SES NoV to operate under the callsign GB0MAG on that day during they walk. The NoV is not fixed to a single operating location, but rather a 40-mile-long and 20-metre-wide operational corridor! Operation will be at quite low power on 2m FM only with an ultra-lightweight rucksack mounted antenna to increase the range. See QRZ.com.

The British Amateur Television Club is helping to organise an ATV convention at the Ham Radio exhibition in Friedrichshafen, Germany on 26 June. Entitled Digital Amateur TV: State Of The Art And Trends, it will run for four hours. It will give an overview of current ATV activity in European countries and will cover the move from analogue to digital operation by ATV operators.

Category: GB2RS Headlines