23 Sept 2008

A New Sunspot Emerges

Spaceweather.com reports:

For the first time in months, a significant sunspot is emerging on the sun.

It is a fast-growing active region with two dark cores, each larger than Earth. The magnetic polarity of the sunspot identifies it as a member of new Sunspot Cycle 24.

Because the year 2008 has brought so many blank suns, some observers have wondered if we are ever going to climb out of the ongoing deep solar minimum.

Today's new sunspot is an encouraging sign that the 11-year solar cycle is indeed progressing, albeit slowly.

Visit http://spaceweather.com for sunspot photos and updates.

NEWS

DX BULLETINS


SOUTH COOK ISLANDS, E5. Bill, N7OU will be QRV as
E51NOU from Rarotonga, IOTA OC-013, from September 15
to October 11. He will be active on 40 to 10 meters
using only CW. QSL to home call


3DA0JOTA & 3DA0DJ
David GI4FUM / EI4DJ will be active in a DXpedition to Swaziland
during October to revisit the
Hawane site that the Irish Radio Transmitters Society AFRI75 DXpedition were so successful from in CQWPX SSB - March 2007. They ran
a multi two station and made over 9 million points that weekend. They
will be operating as 3DA0JOTA for Jamboree on the Air over 18th &
19th October. They also should have a group of 20 Swazi scouts camping with
them that weekend. It will be their first experience of JOTA. The
following weekend
David will be operating as 3DA0DJ in CQWW SSB. They will
be using the same antenna farm as used by the AFRI75 DXpedition
which includes a four square on 40m, verticals for 80m and top band
and a log periodic on the higher bands. There may also be activity
on AO-51. The station will comprise a FT1000 plus 1kW linear on HF.
We expect to have four or five operators. The callsign 3DA0DJ will
be active on HF bands from 18th until 28th October. QSL via GI4FUM -
see 3DA0DJ details on QRZ.com


Swaziland, 18-19 October David GI4FUM / EI4DJ will be
active from Swaziland during JOTA using the call
3DA0JOTA . There will be a group of 20 Swazi scouts
experiencing JOTA for the first time. QSL via GI4FUM -
see 3DA0DJ details on “QRZ dot com”

Swaziland, 25-26 October David GI4FUM / EI4DJ will be
active during CQWW SSB from the former IRTS AFRI75
Dxpedition site & antenna farm in Hawane using the
call 3DA0DJ. The 3DA0DJ call will be active from
18-28 October QSL via GI4FUM - see 3DA0DJ details on
“QRZ dot com”


SPECIAL EVENT STATION

GB2STI ( Steam Trains Ireland ) will be operating
'Railways On The Air' the weekend commencing
Saturday 27th September, from the excursion platform
of the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland
Whitehead Co Antrim.

We intend to operate 80/40/20m and will also have a 2m
multimode station on air

The station will be operated by members and friends of
the Antril & District Amateur Radio Society as part of
the celebrations of the first steam passenger train to
operate in the British isles.

Start time on Saturday is 10am special QSL Card is
available for all contacts made during the event via
the qsl manager GI0KPF



NASA - To Discuss Conditions On And Surrounding The Sun.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/sep/HQ_M08176_Ulysses_teleconference.html

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media teleconference Tuesday, Sept. 23, at 12:30 p.m. EDT, to discuss data from the joint NASA and European Space Agency Ulysses mission that reveals the sun's solar wind is at a 50-year low. The sun's current state could result in changing conditions in the solar system.

SOHO MDI Continuum Latest Image
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/...e/mdi_igr/512/

New Cycle 24 Sunspot and SSN wavelet analysis
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/09/2...le-24-sunspot/

Source:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/09/2...-10-questions/




Invitation for 2009 DXpedition to NA-233 Aleutians (KL7)

Yuri Sushkin N3QQ would like to invite interested parties to participate in IOTA DXpedition to Gareloi Island (new-one, NA-233) located ~80nm from Adak, Aleutian Islands, Alaska, scheduled for 2nd part of July- early August of 2009.
Details:
http://www.na-234.com/contact_chugin...xpedition.html


IARUMS Region 1

Most member societies of Region 1 have been monitoring
the Incursion on this QRG After monitoring UNIFIL voice
traffic on 14.055 USB from Lebanon.

Ger EI4GXB our Region 1 Monitoring Team member has
filed a complaint to COMREG on 1st September. This
issue now seems to be resolved after OD Monitor OD5RI,
managed to get in direct contact with the UNIFIL
Authorities who have promised to cease operations on
this frequency.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------


73'S - DE - EI5IX

18 Sept 2008

RADIO NEWS

European Common Allocations Table

In February last as a result of an initiative by IRTS,
ComReg raised at the CEPT Working Group on Frequency
Management WGFM, the question of the inclusion of a
mention of allocations to the amateur service in the
region of 70 MHz in the European Common Allocations
table ECA. There had been no mention of these despite
the fact that an increasing number of countries were
giving operating facilities to the amateur service in
that part of the spectrum.

This initiative yielded results as the revised ECA
published by the European Radiocommunications Office
ERO which was open for consultation until the 16th of
August includes a new footnote EU9 which reads as
follows "In a growing number of CEPT countries, parts
of the band 70.0 to 70.5 MHz is also allocated to the
Amateur service on a secondary basis". The IRTS sent a
detailed submission to the ERO urging that this
footnote be retained and requested other IARU societies
to do likewise. The result of the public consultation
is now available and the Finnish, British, Czech
Republic, Dutch and Norwegian Societies also responded
to the ERO consultation and the proposed new footnote
is in the draft ECA table to be considered by the next
meeting of the CEPT Frequency Management Working Group
in Baku in Azerbaijan on the 22nd to the 26th of
September.

It seems that there have been no difficulties raised
about the inclusion of the new footnote so hopefully it
will be in the final frequency table. Such a footnote
will assist Societies in CEPT countries, which are
reluctant to grant allocations at 70 MHz because there
is no mention of it either in the ITU Radio Regulations
or the European Common Allocations Table.

The IRTS, RSGB, SRAL and DARC in their observations on
the draft table also raised points about the inclusion
of footnotes in the table mentioning that CEPT National
Administrations may make allocations at 500 kHz and 5
Mhz. The IRTS response in addition proposed that the
2009 revision of the frequency table include secondary
allocations at these frequencies and a possible CEPT
proposal in this regard to a World Radio Conference in
the longer term.

IRTS Web Site Links

A number of new links have been added to the IRTS web
site www.irts.ie in recent weeks and are worth
browsing.

Firstly, following a number of requests, we have added
a Photo Galleries section to the site. This section has
links to a number of galleries, showing Irish radio
experimenters in action in a number of areas including
contests, a DXpedition and a Club Field Day. The
Webmaster welcomes suggestions for additions to the
Photo Galleries section.

The Webmaster's Choice page - mentioned in this
bulletin a few weeks ago - has a number of new links.
One link of particular interest is to an article on
Good Operating Practice. This wide-randing article
covers topics such as "what to talk about in a QSO",
"how to call CQ" and "dealing with conflict
situations". The article, written by Belgian radio
amateur ON4WW, is perhaps over-prescriptive in some
areas, but is nevertheless full of useful tips and is
well worth reading.

Another new Webmaster's Choice link is to a page
listing "Invalid Operations" from a DXCC point of
view, which would be of interest to anyone chasing
DXCC awards.


Ethics and Operating Procedures

One of the Webmaster's Choice links on the IRTS web site is to an
article on Good Operating Practice by ON4WW. We have
now learned that this article has been extended and
turned into a 56-page handbook and a slide
presentation, entitled "Ethics and Operating Procedures
for the Radio Amateur". The handbook and presentation
are described as "a training aid aimed at newcomers and
a reference work to be used by old timers to improve
their behaviours on the ham bands".

Both the handbook and the presentation (which cover the
same material) are now available for download from the
Downloads page of the IRTS web site. The material is
comprehensive and well written and we feel that
students, teachers and existing licensees will find it
well worth reading.


New Radio News Editor

The IRTS Society is delighted to announce the appointment of
Charles Carolan EI8JB as the new News Editor to take
over from Mark Wall EI7IS. Charlie has been living in
Navan for a couple of years having moved there from
Dublin. Although his EI8 call is relatively recent, he
was first licensed while living in Canada as VA3IRL
about 1995, where he enjoyed working many Irish
stations on 80m & 20m from there.

As we prepare to welcome Charlie we would like to thank
Mark EI7IS most sincerely on behalf of the committee of
the Society, our readers, and listeners, for his
consistency in producing a news bulletin regularly
every week for the past eight years.


SSB Field Day

The SSB Field Day contest took place last weekend. A
number of Irish stations participated, including two
stations operating from the grounds of Garbally
College, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway.

Local group Shannon Basin Radio Club along with South
Dublin Radio Club were in Garbally for the weekend.
Both stations reported mixed band conditions. There was
little or no propagation on 10 metres, there were
openings on 15 metres on both Saturday and Sunday, 20
metres was open most of the time, though DX was in
short supply, while 40 and 80 metres provided the best
QSO rates for long periods. As usual, the majority of
the field day stations contacted were in Germany and
Britain. Field day stations in Denmark and Switzerland
also participated.

The Photo Galleries page on the IRTS web site
www.irts.ie includes some pictures of the two
Ballinasloe-based stations in operation.


DX Bulletins

SOUTH COOK ISLANDS, E5. Bill, N7OU will be QRV as
E51NOU from Rarotonga, IOTA OC-013, from September 15
to October 11. He will be active on 40 to 10 meters
using only CW. QSL to home call.

CANARY ISLANDS, EA8. Operators DL5NUA, DL3HQN and
DL1ARD are QRV as EA8/homecalls from Puerto de la Cruz
on Tenerife, IOTA AF-004, until September 19th.
Activity is on the HF bands using mainly CW. QSL to
home calls.