Topics and links of the broadcast 14-04-2024 11:00 am (CEST)

From RSGB news (by PC5D)

World Amateur Radio Day is celebrated every year on April 18. The theme for 2024 is “A Century of Connections: Celebrating 100 Years of Amateur Radio Innovation, Community and Advocacy". The global event covers all IARU regions and runs from 0000UTC on Thursday April 18 to 0000UTC on Friday April 19. All radio amateurs are invited to the to take to the airwaves to showcase their skills and abilities to the public to show. You can read more about it here

On April 11, BBC Radio 4 investigated Feedback presenter Andrea Catherwood why the Long Wave frequency is being shut down by the BBC. She interviewed RSGB President John McCullagh, GI4BWM, and in the latter program, a short clip was used in which John gives his opinion about the possible consequences for some listeners. You can listen to the Feedback show on BBC Sounds, by searching “Feedback and Long Wave" on the BBC website. The broadcast starts at 19 minutes and 55 seconds and the chairman of the RSGB is featured at 22 minutes and 18 seconds.

Propagation news (by PC5D)

Propagation news is curated by Tom PC5D. In the composition he makes other use of the information relevant to the Netherlands from the weekly Propagation News of the British radio amateur association RSGB, dxinfocentre , darc.de/der-club/referate/hf/ , Make More Miles on VHF and poollicht.be. Propagation news is also part of the radio news of the South Limburg Sunday morning round. The audio recording of this round is back listened on a22.veron.nl

HF

Last week was not very spectacular with mostly quiet to lively geomagnetism (Kp 2-3) and a somewhat increasing solar flux index. Worth mentioning is a solar flare with a magnitude of M5.35 on Thursday afternoon (1706 UTC). The source of the explosion was still behind the northeastern edge of the sun. There were already signs of this: An active region would invade the part of the sun visible to us over the weekend is. And thus become earth-oriented. The old active region 3615 on the southeastern edge of the Sun would also be visible again can become active. It caused several M flares a few weeks ago and an X-class eruption. We are dealing with the return of successive regions in two major ones sunspot groups above the eastern solar horizon. At the same time, we don't take any significant outflow from active regions above the western solar horizon. An increase of solar flux on the order of 160 units is therefore possible in the coming to dawn.

There are currently only five sunspot regions with simple magnetic configurations on them the visible solar disk. The speed of the solar wind is normal. The geomagnetic conditions are still mostly calm. The risk of solar flares will increase slightly in the coming days (M 35%, X 01%, Proton 01%). Two mass ejections will pass on Sunday and Monday and the Earth's magnetic field will increase somewhat become more active with a Kp of 4 to 5. Both CMEs are the result of filament eruptions (April 11 /0540 respectively UTC and April 12 /0020 UTC). Fast solar wind from a coronal hole can do this mix. According to the American weather agency NOAA, there is a chance of a small one over the weekend geomagnetic storms. Activity will decrease again by Tuesday, so we can go after that expect a mostly calm level depending on the intensity of the solar wind.

The propagation conditions will remain unchanged. The MUF ranges from approximately 14 MHZ in the night to 30 MHz around noon. The most stable DX signals are on the 20, 17 and 15 meter bands. Loud signals from South America can be heard in the morning on 7, 10 and 14 MHz. 12 and 10 meters are weaker in terms of intercontinental DX due to the seasonal lower MUF3000.

VHF - UHF, EME

A high-pressure area above the Alps creates some areas with increased to strong tropo along the canal and in the Bay of Biscay. However, it is only short-lived. Monday and Tuesday a low-pressure area is dominant again in our region with only opportunities for rain scatter. A few weeks ago attention was paid to lightning scatter on 1296 MHz. On the blogspot from EI7GL there is also a post of lightning scatter on 144 MHz over 277 km between Greece and Turkey see here.

Meteor scatter is worth it as we see the peak of the Lyrid shower on April 21 and 22 approaching the end of next weekend. Calmer solar conditions have pushed the aurora lower on the list, but it is still a good exercise to pay attention to when the Kp index goes above five.

The Es season is expected to start soon. You can usually tell by loud short-skip openings at 10 meters in Europe. The 6 meter band is also a good indicator, preferably in the morning and late afternoon. Southern European stations already enjoy frequent TEP openings (TEP = Trans-Equatorial Propagation; see [1]). The 40 MHz band can also be used perceived. This was released in Spain for a period of eighteen months in the frequency band 40,650 to 40,750 MHz. More information about 40 MHz can be found at [2].

[1] Trans-Equatorial Propagation here
[2] More information about 40 MHz here

There have been many notable Trans-Equatorial Propagation (TEP) openings recently on the 144 MHz band from Namibia to (southern) Europe. The problem with evening type TEP is that the signals are often very distorted at 144 MHz and modes such as FT8 often do not work. Because of this To address the problem, successful tests have been carried out with the Q65 mode. There is chosen for the frequency 144.190 MHz to perform these TEP tests. This is NOT the official Q65 frequency.

The problem now is that as news of the TEP contacts spread, European stations each start operating on 144.190 MHz with Q65. The problem with this is that they have the block weak TEP signals from Africa. The organizers of the TEP tests have moved the frequency to 144.192 MHz to prevent interference from EU to EU contacts, but the central message is that area around 144.190 MHz must remain free for only TEP contacts from Europe to Africa.
In order, Africa always broadcasts first, Europe always second.

For EME operators, the moon's declination will be at its maximum this weekend, ending on the 14th, so there will be long lunar windows. We are past perigee, so taking path losses again. 144MHz sky noise will be moderate this weekend and then low for the rest of the week.

Amateur Radio Saves Family in Death Valley National Park (by PD4Z)

Death Valley National Park is in a remote desert in southern California, where mobile phone networks are spotty at best. On Saturday, April 6, a radio amateur and his family were enjoying the park when their vehicle became stuck in mud in a dangerous area. Without access to a cell network, the ham called for help on the 10-meter band.

According to a news release from the Black Swamp Amateur Radio Club, Caleb Gustwiller, KD8TGB, jumped into action.

More info on arrl: here