A live, off-air, half-hour recording of the BBC World Service special Antarctic Midwinter Broadcast on 21 June 2023 beginning at 21:30 UTC. The broadcast, hosted by Cerys Matthews, featured messages and music for the 37 members of the staff of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) overwintering in Antarctica at the Rothera (Antarctic Peninsula) and King Edward Point and Bird Island (South Georgia) research stations. In addition to personal messages from family and friends, there were interviews withProfessor Dame Jane Francis, Director of BAS and Nadia Frontier, a marine biologist from BAS and former winterer. The transmitter came on the air with a test tone (1108 Hz plus harmonics) about a minute before the program started. As sometimes happens, the first few words of the introduction were missed.
The recording is of the transmission first on a frequency of 12005 kHz but after a few minutes it was switched to 13810 kHz due to interference (QRM) on the former frequency. Both frequencies were from the BBC's Woofferton, England, transmitting station. The sender of the 12005 kHz frequency had a registered power of 300 kW with antenna beam 182 degrees, while that for 13810 kHz was registered as 250 kW with an antenna beam of180 degrees. The transmission was received on a Tecsun PL-880 receiver with a Tecsun AN-03L 7-metre wire antenna outdoors in Hanwell (just outside Fredericton), New Brunswick, Canada, in AM mode with 2.3 kHz RF filtering. Reception on 13810 kHz was quite good with little noise or fading and very good signal strength. The additional parallel frequency of 7255 kHz from Dhabbaya, United Arab Emirates was not heard.
John McCullagh, GI4BWM (RSGB President), Stewart Bryant, G3YSX (Board Chair) and Steve Thomas, M1ACB (General Manager) were interviewed by ICQ Podcast’s Martin Butler, M1MRB/W9ICQ over the weekend at HAM Radio, Friedrichshafen. They discussed the Ofcom consultation, Updating the Amateur Radio Licensing Framework, which opened on Friday (23 June). You can watch the interview on the ICQ […]
John McCullagh, GI4BWM (RSGB President), Stewart Bryant, G3YSX (Board Chair) and Steve Thomas, M1ACB (General Manager) were interviewed by ICQ Podcast’s Martin Butler, M1MRB/W9ICQ over the weekend at HAM Radio, Friedrichshafen. They discussed the Ofcom consultation, Updating the Amateur Radio Licensing Framework, which opened on Friday (23 June). You can watch the interview at: www.icqpodcast.com/…/uk-amateur-radio-licence… […]
NEWS FOR SCOTLAND & CLUB NEWS (GB2RS) Extracts inc Additions
GB0SSB
Glenrothes and District Radio Club’s Tuesday and Thursday multi-speed CW practice sessions and natter nets continue at 7.30pm on 145.425MHz FM. The Club station located at Scotland’s Secret Bunker near Crail will be operating using the callsign GB0SSB today (Sunday), the 25th of June. Eric, GM4FQE, 01333 450 75
GB3AG NETS
Dundee Amateur Radio Club holds open nets on Sundays and Wednesdays from 7.30pm via the GB3AG repeater. Further details are available on the events page of the club’s website. The club welcomes visitors. Martin, 2M0KAU, 07763 708 933
SCOTTISH BORDERS TECH SUPPORT
On Wednesday, from 8pm to 9pm, George, MM0JNL will be hosting his DR16 Support Net via the GB3BT repeater. The net is open to anyone, within range, who has any radio-related issues and needs assistance or guidance, and as an open session with the local RSGB representative for Members and non-Members alike. dr16@rsgb.org.uk
POTA
On Wednesday, Inverness and District Amateur Radio Society will be taking part in a Parks on the Air event. Invernessradiosociety@gmail.com
BAR-B-QUE
On Wednesday, Lothians Radio Society will be enjoying its Summer Barbecue event at Bates Motel. Andy Sinclair, MM0FMF, secretary@lothiansradiosociety.com
FURTHER NEWS ITEMS
TONIGHT@8
The next RSGB live Tonight@8 webinar will take place at 8pm on Monday the 3rd of July, with Eric P. Nichols, KL7AJ presenting “Receiving antennas are different”. Eric, who has written numerous amateur radio and electronics articles over the past 30 years, says that almost every ham radio station can benefit from a separate receiving antenna. Effective receiving antennas are optimised for best signal-to-noise ratio, not necessarily the greatest gain. Tune in to the RSGB YouTube channel or special BATC channel to hear Eric discuss the countless interesting means of building high signal-to-noise ratio receiving antennas. You can find out more at rsgb.org/webinars
OTHER CLUB NETS AND MEETINGS
Details of club activities can usually be found on the individual club’s website. A summary of activities, Nets, Contacts and Links in Scotland can also be found at wosars.club/radio-nets
To have your net listed on the WoSARS website or to report any changes, contact Tony, MM0TMZ by email to rr1@rsgb.org.uk. Please also keep GB2RS updated via email to radcom@rsgb.org.uk
An Ofcom consultation called Updating the Amateur Radio Licensing Framework opened on Friday, 23 June 2023. According to Ofcom, the proposals set out in the consultation aim to “provide greater operating freedom for radio amateurs; and make the process of getting and using a licence simpler, clearer and more responsive.” The closing date for responses […]
Tap or click the link below to download this week’s GB2RS news script GB2RS News Script for 25 June 2023 (24-page/499KB Microsoft Word document) Problems downloading the GB2RS news script? Try this alternative link
The next RSGB Tonight @ 8 live webinar takes place at 20.00 on Monday, 3 July 2023, with Eric P. Nichols, KL7AJ presenting Receiving Antennas are Different. Eric—who has written numerous amateur radio and electronics articles over the past 30 years—says that almost every ham radio station can benefit from a separate receiving antenna. Effective […]
The Fly Your Satellite! programme, initiated by the European Space Agency (ESA), presents an exciting challenge for radio amateurs and space enthusiasts worldwide to establish communication via the LEDSAT CubeSat digipeater. This unique opportunity invites participants to connect with the ESA Education Office ESTEC ground station in the Netherlands through the satellite digipeater, with a […]
It was with profound shock and sadness that the RSGB learnt of the untimely loss, at the age of 49, of Mr Alexandre ‘Sasha’ Kholod, Chairman of the CEPT WRC-23 Conference Preparatory Group. Alex was head of international frequency planning for the Swiss regulator and was widely respected and influential in CEPT and ITU. Of […]