DATE: AUGUST 2015 |
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PREVIOUS NEWSLETTERS:
2014 -- January, February, March, April, April special, May, May special, June, July, August, September, October, October special, November, December, December upissue. 2015 --
January,
February,
March,
March special,
April,
May,
June,
July.
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| Saturday | 1st August 2015 | 144MHz Low Power Contest | 1400 - 2000 UTC |
| Saturday | 1st August 2015 | 4th 144MHZ Backpackers Contest | 1300 - 1700 UTC |
| Sunday | 2nd August 2015 | ROPOCO CW (3.5MHz) | 0700 - 0830 UTC |
| Sunday | 2nd August 2015 | 432MHz Low Power Contest | 0800 - 1200 UTC |
| Tuesday | 4th August 2015 | 144MHz UK Activity Contest | 1900 - 2130 UTC |
| Sunday | 9th August 2015 | 70MHz Cumulative Contest #5 | 1400 - 1600 UTC |
| Tuesday | 11th August 2015 | 432MHz UK Activity Contest | 1900 - 2130 UTC |
| Wednesday | 12th August 2015 | 80m Club Sprint Contest (CW) | 1900 - 2000 UTC |
| Wednesday | 18th August 2015 | 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest | 1900 - 2130 UTC |
| Tuesday | 25th August 2015 | 50MHz UK Activity Contest | 1900 - 2130 UTC |
| Tuesday | 25th August 2015 | SHF UK Activity Contest | 1900 - 2130 UTC except 2.3GHz 1930 - 2130 UTC |
| Thursday | 27th August 2015 | 80m Club Sprint Contest (SSB) | 1900 - 2000 UTC |
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| Tuesday | 1st September 2015 | 144MHz UK Activity Contest | 1900 - 2130 UTC |
| Saturday-Sunday | 5th-6th September 2015 | SSB Field Day (SSB, 3.5/7/14/21/28 MHz) | 1300 - 1300 UTC |
| Saturday-Sunday | 5th-6th September 2015 | 144MHz Trophy Contest | 1400 - 1400 UTC |
| Sunday | 6th September 2015 | 5th 144MHZ Backpackers Contest | 1100 - 1500 UTC |
| Tuesday | 8th September 2015 | 432MHz UK Activity Contest | 1900 - 2130 UTC |
| Wednesday | 9th September 2015 | 80m Club Sprint Contest (SSB) | 1900 - 2000 UTC |
| Tuesday | 15th September 2015 | 1.3GHz UK Activity Contest | 1900 - 2130 UTC |
| Sunday | 20th September 2015 | 2nd 70MHz Contest | 0900 - 1200 UTC |
| Tuesday | 22nd September 2015 | 50MHz UK Activity Contest | 1900 - 2130 UTC |
| Tuesday | 22nd September 2015 | SHF UK Activity Contest | 1900 - 2130 UTC except 2.3GHz 1930 - 2130 UTC |
| Thursday | 24th September 2015 | 80m Club Sprint Contest (CW) | 1900 - 2000 UTC |
| Tuesday | 29th September 2015 | 70MHz UK Activity Contest | 1900 - 2130 UTC |
The full 2015 RSGB contest calendars and rules for the above contests are available
here (HF)
and here (VHF).
Provisional HF and VHF calendars for 2016 are available here (HF)
and here (VHF).
OTHER UK VHF/UHF CONTESTS IN AUGUST 2015 (by John G3XDY & Dave G7RAU)
The following UK Microwave Group contests take place this August:
| Sunday | 16th August 2015 | UK Microwave Group 24/47GHz Contest | 0900 - 1700 UTC |
| Sunday | 30th August 2015 | UK Microwave Group 5.7/10 GHz Contest | 0600 - 1800 UTC |
Also, for those who enjoy drinking at the Last Chance Saloon, don't forget that your final opportunity to participate in the UKSMG 2015 Summer Marathon is rapidly approaching, as the Marathon finishes on the first Sunday (2nd) August at 2359 UTC! The rules can be found here.
OTHER EUROPEAN VHF/UHF CONTESTS IN AUGUST 2015 (by John G3XDY & Quin G3WRR)
A co-ordinated calendar of IARU Region 1 VHF Contests for 2015 is available
here.
With thanks to Leon ON5WL, the rules of the 2015 ON Contest are given below:
Rules for non-ON stations.
The Mechelen (MCL) Club of the UBA invites all amateurs to take part in the ON Contest 2015.
Dates and times : some times have changed:-
* 27 September 2015: 7 to 10 UTC : 6 m Fone and CW
* 4 October 2015: 6 to 10 UTC :80 m SSB
* 11 October 2015: 6 to 9 UTC :80 m CW
* 18 October 2015: 6 to 10 UTC : 2 m Phone and CW.
Rules:
* Only contacts with ON stations are permitted
* Exchange : RS(T) + serialnumber starting at 001
* ON stations also give their club code. e.g. 59001 MCL
* Each QSO with ON counts 3 points
* Each club worked gives one multiplier
* In each part of the contest the winners from each country receive an award, if they made at least 25 valid QSOs
* Cabrillo logs preferred
* Send your logs not later than 3 weeks after the contest to:
Welters Leon ON5WL
Borgstraat 80
B 2580 Beerzel
Belgium.
e-mail : ubaon@uba.be
OTHER HF CONTESTS IN AUGUST 2015 (by Quin G3WRR)
For more data on a wide range HF contests, the SM3CER website is a very useful source of information.
Another useful source of HF contest information is at http://www.hb9dhg.ch , which can be reached by clicking
here, and clicking on "Contest Calendar".
RECENT RESULTS (by Quin G3WRR & John G3XDY)
The following results have been published or updated since
the previous Newsletter:
50MHz UKAC
144MHz UKAC
432MHz UKAC
1.3GHz UKAC
SHF UKAC
Overall UKAC
70MHz CW
May 144MHz
70MHz Cumulatives #3
50MHz CW
70MHz Cumulatives #4
80m CC (CW)
80m CC (SSB)
80m CC (data)
VHF Championship
VHF CW Championship
MINUTES OF CC MEETINGS (by Quin G3WRR)
Readers may wish to note that the minutes of the most recent CC meeting are now available, along with minutes of previous meetings,
on the CC website here.
OUTPUT FROM PRESIDENTIAL REVIEW OF CONTESTING (by Quin G3WRR)
The formal output from the Presidential Review is now available on the RSGB website here.
As expected, comments on the Review output are now appearing on the UK HF and VHF Contest reflectors (and perhaps elsewhere). Readers are reminded that, as explained in the May 2015 Newsletter, these reflectors are independent of the CC, and therefore if there is a matter you wish to raise for which you would like a CC reply, it should be raised with the CC direct - either with the appropriate CC member or by default with the CC Chairman at chairman@rsgbcc.org. This will become increasingly important because the CC workload will be significantly increased as we work through the Review recommmendations, and less time will be available for scanning external organs such as the reflectors.
The CC intends, as part of the process of documenting and publishing the outcome of the Review follow-up work, to provide a commentary on the rationale behind the decisions made and to publish a second White Paper for consultation on the elements of the Review that directly affect the rules for 2016.
RETURN OF TROPHIES (by Jacqui G6XSY)
Please could anyone who has not yet returned their trophy to HQ please do so immediately to the
address below:
RSGB F.A.O. Joy Burrells
3 Abbey Court, Priory Business Park
Fraser Road
BEDFORD
MK44 3WH
Many thanks, Jacqui G6XSY, RSGBCC Trophy Administrator (trophies@rsgbcc.org).
CLOSING DATE FOR COMMENTS ON 2015 WHITE PAPER (by Ian G0FCT)
Readers are reminded that the closing date for comments on the 2015 White Paper which will determine the changes to be incorporated in the rules for 2016 RSGB contests (7th August) is rapidly approaching! If you have any comments to make, please make them by then! The White Paper, which includes the e-mail address to which comments should be returned, is available here.
REQUEST FOR FIELD DAY PICTURES (by Quin G3WRR)
John G8IYS, the author of the VHF NFD article for RadCom, is requesting entrants' pictures from the event for potential inclusion in the article to accompany his words. Anyone with suitable pictures is asked to e-mail them to him at g8iys@rsgbcc.org.
And I'll be opportunistic and thank those who have already sent me pictures from their HF NFD stations in June, but add that further pictures are always welcome to provide as broad a spread of candidate pictures as possible for inclusion in the HF NFD Radcom article. In the case of HF NFD of course, there is the added carrot that the more pictures are included in the article, the less of my prose you will have to read.... Pictures to g3wrr@rsgbcc.org please.
VHF FREQUENCIES TO AVOID (by Quin G3WRR)
This topic has been raised in a couple of recent issues of the Newsletter. This month's item updates previous threads and adds some new information:
* VHF General Rule 1(b) has now been updated to refer to "centres of activity" as well as "calling channels"
* following recent e-mail exchanges between adjudicators and entrants regarding the 6m DX window, it appears that there may be some misinterpretation
of the term "intercontinental", perhaps due to uncertainty over the meaning of the prefixes "intra-" and "inter-": the former means "within" and
the latter "between". Thus a contact between a G and an F would be an international contact but not an intercontinental one, as both G and F are within Europe:
conversely, a contact between DL and EA8 (in Europe and Africa respectively) would be both an international and intercontinental one
* John G8IYS, who is overall coordinator for the VHF NFD entry for North East Surrey Contest Group (NESCG), was keen to ensure that the group did not
transgress the rules regarding frequencies that must be avoided. Accordingly he provided each of their stations with an information sheet reminding
entrants of VHF General Rule 1(b), but went a step further by including an explicit list of frequencies to be avoided. The text of this information
sheet is given below:
"For those who do not take the RSGB Contest Committee (CC) Newsletter, I draw to your attention the following clip from the July issue:
It is important that particular attention is paid to VHF General Rule 1(b) relating to the need to respect band plans. For convenience, the
current wording of this rule is given here: "Entrants must abide by their licence conditions and observe the RSGB/IARU band plans. On bands
where the RSGB band plan specifies a calling frequency, this frequency, +/- 5 kHz, must not be used for contest QSOs or any other contest
related communications. GB2RS and GB2CW frequencies (+/- 5 kHz) must not be used during the period of a scheduled transmission from these
stations. On 50MHz, entrants must not call CQ within the DX window (50.100 to 50.130MHz) unless they only conduct QSOs with stations
located in other continents (i.e. inter-continental QSOs only)". However, as noted in the May Newsletter, this rule should have read
"....calling frequency or centre of activity...." rather than "....calling frequency..." and entrants should act accordingly.
End of quote.
To spell this out:
50 MHz. Avoid:
* 50.100 to 50.130, unless making intercontinental QSOs and very definitely avoid 50.110 +/- 5kHz (Intercontinental Centre of Activity)
* 50.150 +/- 5kHz (International C of A)
* 50.305 +/- 5 kHz (PSK C of A).
70 MHz. Avoid:
* 70.200 +/- 5 kHz (CW/SSB C of A)
* 70.260 +/- 5 kHz (AM/FM Calling)
* 70.270 +/- 5 kHZ (MGM C of A)
144 MHz. Avoid:
* 144.050 +/- 5 kHz (CW C of A)
* 144.138 +/- 5 kHz (PSK31 C of A)
* 144.250 +/- 5 kHz (if occupied by a GB2CW practise session or a Sunday morning GB2RS transmission in
the locality)
* 144.300 +/- 5 kHz (SSB C of A)
* 144.370 +/- 5 kHz (MGM C of A)
432 MHz. Avoid:
* 432.050 +/- 5 KHz (CW C of A)
* 432.088 +/- 5 kHz (PSK C of A)
* 432.200 +/- 5 kHz (SSB C of A)
* 432.700 +/- 5 kHz (FSK44 C o A)
There are others, but likely to be outside where you would want to look and call for contacts anyway.
Sorry to be tedious, but not everyone loves contests and RSGB/IARU has (rightly, IMO) agreed this warning."
This seems like a good idea which other groups might wish to consider, modified as necessary to reflect their local situation (eg. the above
realtes to the bands used by NESCG) particularly in a Field Day environment where things have a habit of going awry, and non-VHF operators
may be manning the station! And, depending on how familiar with the frequencies in question you are, it might even be
worth putting up a copy in the shack!
That's all for this month - good contesting to you all!
73, Quin G3WRR
For RSGB Contest Committee