Merry Christmas 2013!!

Health and Happiness to all Friends and Family.

Please do spare a thought, or do something for those less fortunate than ourselves.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas! :-)


73's

Pat

EI5IX - M0XII

ANOTHER X-FLARE!

Earth-orbiting satellites detected an X1-class solar flare from sunspot AR1875 on Oct. 28th at 0203 UT. This is the 3rd X-flare since Oct. 25th, which means solar activity is still high.

X-ray Event exceeded X1

Begin 0141 UTC

Max 0203 UTC

End 0212 UTC

X-ray Class: X1.0

Optical Class: 2n

Location: N04W66

NOAA Scale: R3 -Strong

Not great news for HF but might be good for VHF / UHF bands! Time will tell....

I'll be looking for you on the Bands! :)

CQ WW SSB Contest

This weekend is the SSB part of the CQ Worldwide Contest, it is a great contest with many stations all over the planet participating. I find this contest a great way to increase your Country DXCC on certain bands if your into chasing any awards etc. I hope to be on air over the weekend to give away a few points for CQ Zone 14 but I won't be active for the entire contest. All the information you need for this contest is here on the CQ WW DX website.

http://www.cqww.com/index.htm

Here is also a list of stations to look out for that will be active over this weekend; http://www.ng3k.com/misc/adxo.html

So time to get the shack together and some antennas up and tested looking at the SFI / SSN numbers today they are looking reasonably okay nothing amazing but better than previous weeks let's hope it gets better by the weekend. I will look forward to working you on the air, enjoy the contest.

Good luck to all,

73's

Pat 

- Posted from my iPhone - 73's DE EI5IX

UKAC 432Mhz 8th October Contest

Entered the UKAC 432Mhz Contest last night (Tuesday 8th of October) under my UK Callsign M0XII/P.

I was portable from locator IO91MP with Jason M1PRO and John G0KLX. We ended the contest with a total of 89 QSO's and 14 Square Multipliers and a total score of 189,574. The furthest contact was GM4CXM - 527Km on Flat conditions, QSB on the 70Cm band was deep at times but we really enjoyed the activity on 432Mhz.

Setup was an FT847 & 100 Watt Linear Amplifier.

The Antenna was a Tonna 21 Element Yagi and of course the good old Arm Strong Rotator.

I must say these Tonna Yagi's have a very narrow beam width but work quiet well.

Map of Qso's made during the contest from 19:00UTC - 21:30UTC

Thanks to all the stations that called through it was much appreciated and made time fly by especially when your out portable on top of a cold hill. I look forward to the next UKAC Contest hope to hear you on the bands.

Best 73's 

Pat 

September UKAC 432 Mhz Contest.

Entered the UKAC 432Mhz Contest tonight and really enjoyed it, I was active from 2E0JJM John's QTH in Locator IO91TM. I was using an Icom 9100 with 60 watts output into an 19 Element Cushcraft. The QSB was very deep at times but great activity on the 70Cm band. I ended the contest with 51 QSO's and 11 Multipliers with a total of 77,165 points. Below is a map of the QSO's made.

Thanks to all who gave me the points tonight look forward to the next contest.

73's to all.

And were Back!!!

Well the nightmare has finally ended, for the last 2 months I have been trying to renew my EI5IX domain. The website has been down this last while and I was having major difficulty getting this Blog to publish under another .NET domain name also it was costing too much money to maintain.

So here is the new site publishing under http://ei5ix.blogspot.co.uk/ themselves.

Its free and no hassles with renewals or server space etc. Happy blogging :-)

Anyway rant over...

I hope to be active from EI over the next coming weeks, planing to be active on 6M, 4M & 2M - SSB/CW
Ill also try and get an antenna up for HF might hear some of you on the bands.

Best 73's
Pat

RSGB Centenary VHF National Field Day 2013

1400 UTC Saturday 6^th July 2013 until 1400 UTC Sunday 7^th July 2013.

This weekend you can catch me on air with the Middlesex DX Group under the callsign 

M0MDG/P from Locator JO00EW.

We will be active on 6 meters, 2 meters and 70 Cms, looking at various DX and propagation charts this weekend looks great for the contest including the Weather.

If you hear us on the bands do give us a shout, I look forward to working you on-air.

73's

Duhallow Repeater Group..

The Duhallow Repeater Group in County Cork in the South of Ireland have set up a FM Simplexer for the Four Meter band. The callsign of this simplexer is EI4SMR and operates on 70.375MHz FM.

It's located on Musheramore Mountain, in north County Cork. The device was installed on Wednesday 11th June to enhance FM activity on the 4M band. Also back on air over the recent months is the Duhallow UHF repeater operating from the same site with a new antenna installed. 
EI7SMR operates on RU74, 430.925mhz, input is 438.525mhz (7.6mhz split) and requires a ctcss tone of 103.5Hz.

New GB3WGI 144MHz Transatlantic beacon

A New GB3WGI 144MHz transatlantic beacon goes live with G2FKZ legacy funding.
The GB3WGI Transatlantic 144MHz amateur radio beacon went live at 1600 GMT on the 4th of June in time for the peak of the 2013 Sporadic E season.
The beacon runs 100 Watts EIRP in CW and JT65b modes on 144.487MHz and is located in the West of Northern Ireland (IO64bl). The plan is to apply for an increase in EIRP in due course.
The beacon's function is to provide an early warning of 144MHz Transatlantic propagation on the Europe to USA path as a complement to the existing 144MHz Transatlantic beacon network in the USA which provides alerts on the USA to Europe path.
It also aims to encourage participation in the IRTS Brendan Trophy and to further study the propagation path using weak signal digital modes (WSJT) developed by Nobel Laureate Professor Joe Taylor K1JT.
It is hoped that the project will benefit radio amateurs interested in 144MHz long distance weak signal working as well as those generally interested in digital modes, and could provide the first real evidence of transatlantic propagation from the US to North West Europe.
Current 144MHz European transatlantic beacons are much further to the South and/or East in Cornwall, France and the Azores. GB3WGI has a clear sea takeoff to the eastern seaboard of the USA.
The beacon was supported by a number of amateur donations including The City of Belfast Radio Amateur Society, but the major donation of £500 was made by the RSBG Propagation Studies Committee from the legacy left by the late Charlie Newton G2FKZ. The bulk of this went on the beacon, the remainder to fund beacon driver development for future beacons. Charlie Newton, wrote the definitive book on radio auroras, and was acknowledged as one of the leading experts on the topic of VHF propagation. He was for many years a leading light in the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) Propagation Studies Committee.
Acknowledgements also go to Brian WA1ZMS who inspired the concept of GB3WGI, Andy G4JNT who designed and built the driver, Powabeam Antennas and The DX Shop who supplied parts for the antenna system, to James G3RUH who provided a GPSDO reference, to Murray G6JYB for Ofcom liaison, to John GI4BWM and Dave GI4SNA and of course to beacon keeper and site manager Gordon Curry GI6ATZ who really drove the project through to completion.
From John Worsnop G4BAO
Source:Southgate Amateur Radio News
- Posted from my iPhone - 73's DE EI5IX

CQ WPX last minute Preparations!

All the very best result to all participants this year in the CQ WPX contest! Let's have fun.

Contest on.

Here's some last minute resources to help you judge the bands for the weekend,

WM7D's Solar Resource Page click here.
SunSpotWatch click here.
NOAA / Space Weather Prediction Center click here.
Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) Radio User's Page click here.
NOAA Ovation Aurora (Test Product) click here.
HAARP Spectrum Monitor 1-30 MHz click here.

Enjoy the Contest.
M0XII - Pat

- Posted from my iPhone - 73's DE EI5IX

M5-CLASS EXPLOSION:

The ongoing radiation storm got started on May 22nd when the magnetic canopy of sunspot AR1745 exploded. The blast produced an M5-class solar flare and hurled a magnificent CME over the sun's western limb:

Credit: the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO)

The movie of the CME is very "snowy." That is caused by high-energy solar protons striking the CCD camera in SOHO's coronagraph. Each strike produces a brief snow-like speckle in the image. This hailstorm of solar protons is what forecasters mean by "radiation storm."

Although the explosion was not squarely Earth-directed, the CME will likely be geoeffective. The expanding cloud appears set to deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on May 24th around 1200 UT. According to NOAA forecast models, the impact will more than double the solar wind plasma density around Earth and boost the solar wind speed to ~600 km/s. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

Solar wind flowing from this coronal hole should reach Earth on May 23-24. 

Credit: SDO/AIA.

QRP from the Garden

Today I decided to setup my Chameleon V1 antenna in the garden in London City and work some CW QRP 10w.












Conditions are reasonably okay on the Bands but the noise in the city here is a tough battle to fight at the best of times on the bands.
I had my first CW contact on 5MHz (60m) QRP today with GW3UEP - Ron on 5.260MHz at 16:22UTC the QSB was deep at that time, both reports of 559 raised an eyebrow for me with regards to the 60m propagation. Thanks to Ron for my first QSO on a new band for me and also for his patience with the QSB during our QSO.
I'm looking forward to exploring more conditions on the 60 meters band as it has very interesting propagation characteristics, just lying approximately halfway between 80 meter (3.5 MHz) and 40 meter (7 MHz), the 60 meter (5 MHz) band forms a communication bridge when propagation effects make use of the 80m or 40m impossible for local-to-medium distance communications. The 5Mhz band is apparently less affected by D-Layer absorption than on the 80 meter band, the 60 meter (5 MHz) band is an ideal candidate for the Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS), the most commonly used technique capable of providing seamless local-to-medium distance HF communications.
Here is a simple QRP setup that I'm running at the moment in West London.




I'm going to test a Loop antenna and a Dipole if I get the time over the next few days so I hope to work some of you on the key on 60 Meters 5MHz band.
Best 73's
Pat
M0XII/QRP
- Posted from my iPhone - 73's DE EI5IX

March 144/432 MHz 2013 - Results

Results from the RSGB Contest results website;

M0MDG/P - The Middlesex DX Group done well this year, the group managed to strike up a 3rd Place position overall within the Section Open of this radio contest with a total of 1419 points.
The group came in 2nd place on the 144Mhz Open Section and 3rd on 432Mhz Open Section of the contest.

This year the MDG group were rewarded with excellent conditions on both bands VHF and UHF from Locator: JO00EW, Possibly the best conditions at that location were on the Saturday and not as great on the Sunday but I'm really pleased and had a fantastic weekend of radio. Looking forward to more great conditions and fantastic contests like this on VHF and UHF bands over this summer, might even get to hear some of you on the air.

I'd like to take this opportunity to Thank John G0KLX, Jason M1PRO, Carl 2E1IDC, Simon 2W0VAG and Steve G1OFW for a really enjoyable weekend I'm already looking forward to the next one.


73's 

Pat EI5IX / M0XII

RSGB March -144 432MHz Contest Weekend

Hi all,
Just to give you a quick heads up, there's a VHF / UHF contest throughout the UK this weekend (2nd & 3rd March) that I will be taking part in with the Middlesex DX Group under the callsign - M0MDG/P
This is a 24 hour contest where we will be active from Locator: JO00EW 
If you hear us feel free to give us a call. 

I'll also be bringing a HF rig with me when things get quiet ill be jumping over and hopefully working some of the conditions for the ARRL DX Phone contest also this weekend, I hope to catch some of you throughout the weekend either in the contest or on the HF Bands under my UK Callsign M0XII/P.

Look forward to hearing you on the air.... Best 73's

EI5IX / M0XII - Pat

Solar Cycle 24 is peaking!!!

Came across this very interesting article there yesterday all about Solar Cycle 24 peaking.
As KD8SAV mentioned;
"It sure looks like we might be heading for an improvement.
We're suddenly at almost 200 sunspots, and if this holds up for several months, we'll have some pretty good propagation."
The Sun seems to be waking up as it approaches the peak of its roughly 11 year cycle.
Here is the Link if anyone is interested in reading it;
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/MAweatherboy1/comment.html?entrynum=58
I hope you enjoy the conditions this peak brings... I know I certainly will enjoy the DX! :)
- Posted from my iPhone - 73's DE EI5IX

Worldwide 5 MHz Amateur Allocations Chart update & announced changes on 472KHz.

The 'Worldwide 5 MHz Amateur Allocations' chart has been updated to optimally include the new UK Frequency Blocks. This has necessitated a major re-work and some changes will be noticed, although the essential information still remains in place.

It can be viewed at;

http://tinyurl.com/82rwq2b

472 kHz Amateur Band and 5MHz (Experimental) Band announcements

Ofcom have announced changes that will allow holders of the UK Full Amateur Licence to take advantage of the new amateur band at 472 kHz and enhanced access on channels near to 5 MHz. 

The Society has been working on both matters for some years. Gaining 472 kHz needed first international agreement within IARU and support from DARC to encourage the German regulator to propose it for the WRC-12 agenda, and then countless hours of committee time by IARU representatives and many national societies, including the RSGB, to reach a successful WRC-12 outcome. We acknowledge and thank Ofcom for their support within CEPT and ITU during this preparatory work. Discussions with Ofcom in 2010, on improved access around 5 MHz, resulted earlier this year with proposals from the Primary User that were discussed with UK amateurs through an RSGB consultative process.

May I take this opportunity of wishing everybody all the best DX for 2013 and Good Luck on the new 472 kHz and 5MHz (Experimental) UK  frequencies.

Irish Radio amateurs get a new MF allocation!

The Irish Radio Transmitters Society have been informed by ComReg that the band segment 472 to 479 kHz becomes available to all licensed radio
amateurs in Ireland, on a secondary basis, and has been in effect since Today the 1st of January.

The maximum power is 5 watts (7 dBW) and the modes available are CW, QRSS, and narrow band digital modes.

Stations in the Amateur service operating in this band shall not cause harmful interference to, or claim protection from, stations of the aeronautical radionavigation service or stations of the maritime service. The amateur service shall ensure that no harmful interference is caused to the frequency 490 kHz which is used exclusively for the transmission
by coast stations of navigational and meteorological and urgent information to ships.

This announcement arises from a decision taken at WRC-12 and was the
result of a number of years of lobbying by the IARU and its Member Societies worldwide. The Test Licence held from ComReg by IRTS under which a number of licensed amateurs were given permission to operate in the band segment 501 to 504 kHz expires on the 2nd January 2013.

Licensed amateurs who had received such permission must cease operation on 501 to 504 kHz as and from Wednesday, tomorrow the 2nd of January at the latest.

The Society appreciates that ComReg has made this new allocation available to licensed radio amateurs from the earliest date possible under the WRC-12 decision.

May I take this opportunity of wishing everybody all the best DX for 2013 and Good Luck on the new 472 kHz Amateur Band.

Happy New Year 2013

May you have the hindsight to know where you've been, the foresight to know where you're going and the insight to know when you're going too far.....
Happy New Year! :)
- Posted from my iPhone - 73's DE EI5IX / M0XII