GB2CW Morse Corner 04.10.24
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Morse Classes.

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Classes will start after the Convention weekend. I am preparing to leave shortly so will not have much other news this week. We are looking forward to seeing lots of new students in the forthcoming winter term, regardless of the standard you have at present.
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Just as a final comment: Last evening in the 6m contest, the aurora produced some great CW contacts into EU. Watch for the next one, it is bound to happen!
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That's it, open the cage, play the music.
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If you have any input, please email me.

73 de Roger, G3LDI GB2CW Coordinator. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. May the Morse be with you.

Author Roger Cooke

Welcome to week one hundred and sixty of NARC’s contest news.

Results:-

On VHF

The results of the 50MHz UKAC of 12th September were released on 4th October. NARC had 7 entrants in this one and scored a total of 3224 points. This put us in 5th place in group in this one and we remain 4th overall in this series. Link to results here 

The results of the 144MHz Trophy contest of 7th September were released on 5th October. We entered using the club callsign G2N. As we predicted the severe QRM on the first day resulted in a lot of UBNs. 21 of a total of 24 in fact, resulting in a loss of some good DX. Despite this we managed a healthy second place overall. A pleasing result in the circumstances. Link to results here 

The result of the 70MHz UKAC of 19th September were release on 7th October. This was a low entry number contest for NARC with only 3 logs being submitted. We scored 1411 points coming 6th in this one but remaining 4th in the series. We need more logs if we are to hold this position! Link to results here 

The results of the 1.3GHz UKAC of 17th September came out on 9th October. Our 3 entries scored well and we came 4th in this one with 1942 points but remain 6th in the series. Link to results here 

NARC is running 10th at the moment in this year's VHF championships out of 73 clubs. Link here 

In the overall UKAC we are still running 4th out of 55 in the General clubs section. Link here

On HF

The results of the 80m Autumn series DATA contest were published on 8th October. Our team of 9 contestants scored well with 6428 points and I'm pleased to report maximum possible points in this one - a first for me. Second placed Newbury are now on 13,294 compared to our 22,745 points so it's going well so far. Link to results here 

If people are entering other contests of whose results I am obviously unaware please e-mail me to let me know the outcome and I'll mention it here.

Contests:-

On VHF

Over the weekend of 5th and 6th October the 432MHz and up contest ran. Some NARC members helped the Bittern DX club put on a station - low powered on all bands from 432 to 10GHz. Conditions were poor but the Trimingham site was not noisy this time and G6IPU/P seems to have done fairly well overall. Link to claimed scores here 

The 432MHz UKAC ran on Tuesday 8th October. Narc members managed 7 logs. with some good scores achieved. Link to claimed scores here 

The 432MHz FT8 AC ran on Wednesday 9th October. The only club member I could spot wit han entry was Terry, G0BIX. Link to climed scores here 

The 50MHz UKAC ran on 10th October. Conditions and overall interest were enhanced by the presence of a strong Aurora. Contacts were made into YL, SM, GM, and DL as well as the usual areas. At least 8 NARC members are known to have been active and at the time of writing 4 logs have been received by RSGB from us. Link to claimed scores here 

On HF

The 80m Autumn series CW contest ran on Monday 7th October. NARC members turned out well with 14 logs received however Bristol also produced 12 good logs and on paper are slightly ahead of us in this one. We await the adjudication but whatever the result will retain a good overall lead in the series. Link to logs received here 

Please let me know if you were on in any other VHF or HF contests and I'll put a summary in next week's news.

Upcoming contests in the next 2 weeks (all times in UTC):-

On VHF / UHF / SHF

Before each of the 2m and 70cm UKACs there is an FM leg starting 1 hour before for 55 minutes. I hear almost no activity in this from here but others may have more luck! Rules etc on RSGBCC site.

* Tue 15th Oct. 1900-2130 1.3GHz UKAC
* Thu 17th Oct. 1900-2130 70MHz UKAC
* Sun 19th Oct. 0000 for 47h 59m ARRL EME contest 6m to 1296MHz - Link to rules here 
* Sun 20th Oct. 0900-1300 50MHz AFS contest AFS Super League - Link to rules here 
* Tue 22nd Oct. 1830-2130 SHF UKAC

Also of interest for some on the vhf / uhf bands are the EU FT8 activity tests - see the following link for more information. These are on the first (144 MHz), second (432MHz) and third (1.3GHz) Wednesdays of each month. 1700-2000 Hrs EU FT8 series website 

On HF

* Sat 12th Oct. 0000-0800 and 1600-2400 and Sun 13th Oct. 0800-1600 Makrothen RTTY Contest - Link to rules here 
* Sat 12th Oct. 0000-2359 QRP ARCI Fall QSO Party - Link to rules 
* Sat 12th Oct. 0600 for 24h Oceania DX Contest, CW - Link to rules here 
* Sat 12th Oct. 1200 for 36h SKCC Weekend Sprintathon - Link to rules here 
* Sat 12th Oct. 1200 for 24h Scandinavian activity contest SSB - Link to rules here 
* Sat 12th Oct. 2000 for 24h PODXS 070 club 160m Great Pumpkin Sprint, PSK31 - Link to rules here 
* Sun 13th Oct. 0600-0900 UBA ON contest CW (Belgian) - Link to rules here 
* Wed 16th Oct. 1900-2030 80m Autumn series DATA
* Sat 19th Oct. 0000 for 48h JARTS RTTY contest - Link to rules here 
* Sat 19th Oct. 0000 for 47h 59m YBDXPI FT8 Contest - Link to rules here 
* Sat 19th Oct. 0001 for 47h 58m 10-10 fall contest 10m CW - Link to rules here 
* Sat 19th Oct. 1400 to SMon 21st Oct 0200 YLRL DX/NA YL Anniversary Contest - Link to rules here 
* Sat 19th Oct. 1500 for 24h Stew Perry Topband Challenge CW - Link to rules here 
* Thu 24th Oct. 1900-2030 80m Autumn series SSB

See Link to WA7BNM for other contests not mentioned above. Several QSO parties in the USA etc.

Wednesdays throughout the year, CW ops 1 hour mini tests 13:00, 19:00, Thurs 03:00 and 07:00, exchange Name and G if not a member or CWOPS number if you are a member.
See CWOPS website for more details.
Also on Fridays 2000 to 2100 and Mondays 0000 to 0100 each week CWops runs the K1USN slow speed CW contests. Any speed up to 20wpm is acceptable. For rules see :- CW OPs SST page these contests are open to anyone.

All RSGB contest rules and further details plus log submission at RSGB contest site
Look to WA7BNM’s contest calendar for other contests and links to rules etc at WA7BNM weekly contest calendar
A link to John 2E0TWQ’s site’s Narc contest history page - 2E0TWQ's NARC contest results page 

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Contesting can be great fun but I know there's a reluctance to step into unknown waters. It's a great way of improving many aspects of our hobby including one's own performance and the quality of your station. If you have any interest whatsover please call in to the contest net on Friday evening at 9pm on 145.250MHz FM or speak to any of the regular contesters on 450. Or indeed email me!
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Submissions or comments for this news to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

73 until next week,

Phil G4LPP

HF News

What a difference a week makes when it comes to HF propagation!

This last week has been characterised by solar flares, coronal mass ejections and an elevated Kp index. Put together, this has resulted in dire conditions on HF, reminiscent of a solar minimum.

A visible aurora was seen from the UK once again after the Kp index hit 7.33 on October 8th.

Numerous CMEs have hit the Earth and the solar proton flux has risen resulting in a moderate (S2) radiation storm as particles blasted away from the flare site.

This means poor trans-polar paths until the solar wind abates and the storm settles.

Maximum usable frequencies have been badly affected and struggled to get much past 14MHz over a 3,000km path on October 8th. Geomagnetic storms were also forecast for Thursday 10th and Friday 11th.

That’s a shame as before the CMEs hit HF had been humming with a lot of DX on the 28MHz band and many five-watt beacons romping in from the USA.

Next week, NOAA predicts that the solar flux index may drop back into the 170s, but it is anyone’s guess as to how geomagnetic conditions will pan out.

We have had three X-class solar flares over the past week and at the time of writing, the probability of another X-class solar flare was put at 30% and an M-class event at 75%. So it may be a case of “batten down the hatches” on HF until the storm conditions pass.

This is not uncommon at this point in the solar cycle and unsettled conditions are likely to continue as we move along the downward portion towards the solar minimum.

VHF and up

The current spell of unsettled weather is probably going to flip into high-pressure mode a couple of times during the coming week and the first of these will be on Sunday through the first half of next week.

However, by Wednesday the next change back to low pressure is with us, closely followed by another attempt to build high pressure later in the week.

This offers something for everyone with prospects for rain scatter on the GHz bands and the possibility of Tropo.

The prospects for meteor scatter are also good with October offering a number of useful meteor showers.

While 50 and 70MHz are best for the mode, look at 144.360 in MSK144 digimode or if it’s a shower peak, 144.200MHz, the SSB MS calling channel to see what’s around.

The solar conditions continue to behave like a solar max and with several recent powerful flares and CMEs to stir things up, we should continue to check the bands for signs of aurora.

The recent RSGB CW 80m Autumn Series contest last Monday October 7th, was about as auroral as it gets with strong flutter on signals and a challenging hour and a half for participants, so not just an effect for VHF.

Coming up next week; the UKAC 1.3GHz contest on Tuesday October 15th may be on the change over from high pressure to low, and Tropo might be limited to eastern areas for paths across the North Sea to northern Europe.

For EME operators, Moon declination is still negative but rising to positive by Tuesday night. Path losses are falling towards minimum at perigee on Thursday 17th.

So we have increasing peak Moon elevations and longer Moon windows with lowest loss for the coming week. 144MHz sky noise is low for the rest of the week.

As announced at NARC on Wednesday, long time member of NARC Chris G0GGF is now sadly silent key following several years of ill health.

We have sent a NARC card to his wife Judith which was signed by everyone who was at the club.

His long time friend Kim G4WUG has sent us details of the funeral:

Friday 1st November at 14.00 at St Mary's Church, Burgh next Aylsham.

Followed by the wake at the Reading rooms almost next to the church - club members will be welcome at both.

The family would appreciate an idea of how many people will be going to the wake, so please let me know if you intend going and I will pass approx numbers to them a week before the funeral. Thanks David G7URP - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Rest in Peace Chris.  

73 de, NARC

I am sure many members will be going to the RSGB Convention at Milton Keynes next weekend... If you are going please avoid the A421 around Bedford as you may have seen on the news it is closed through bad flooding and will likely be closed for many weeks. The best idea is to plot the route via AA advice etc before you go, or even better use a live dynamic map like Google Maps, Apple Maps or Waze to take you there the best way.  

If you are going to the Gala Dinner on the Saturday night then NARC reserve table(s) for members to sit together, so if you would like to do this please contact Andy M0NKR:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tammy M0TC, Kevin M0UJD and David G7URP will be there hosting a live stream from the event both days, including the keynote, a selection of some of the 'Getting Started' talks as well as interviews and you will be able to watch these live by visiting the RSGB YouTube Channel (although its not as good as being there!).

Finally if you have not booked but would like to, you only have TODAY to book in advance online (October 7th) - there are still hotel rooms from £80 at Kents Hill, or you can stay elsewhere as there are many other local hotels. But don't worry you can buy tickets on the door on Saturday or Sunday.  Full details and booking here:

https://rsgb.org/main/rsgb-2024-convention/book-now/

MORSE CLASSES FOR 2024/25 WINTER TERM AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE NARC CW NET

Both the Morse Classes and the NARC Net have been under discussion with the tutors. We have agreed to some modifications to both which can be seen in the tables, kindly produced by Jim G3YLA.
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THE NARC NET
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The NET will still be on a Monday evening starting at 8 p.m. local time. However the Net controller will call at 23 wpm instead of 18wpm. We feel that the slower speed did not attract many into the Net anyway, so increasing the speed will make it feel like a normal Net. We WILL, however, slow down if asked. If no students join in, we will then increase the speed even further to 25wpm with availability to everyone to join, including other tutors.
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We make it welcome to anybody, not just students. So, if you feel like some conversational Morse, please join in and if you are not comfortable with the speed then please ask us to QRS. The same applies to experienced operators. If you feel like a QRQ conversation then please ask again.
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There will still be a Straight Key night ( SK ) on the last Monday of the month. Obviously this will limit everybody's speed and it is very rare to hear anybody above about 18wpm. Great SK practice however and a skill that should not be neglected!
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THE NET WILL NOT START ON OCTOBER 7TH DUE TO THE RSGB AUTUMN SERIES CW CONTEST. THE FIRST NET WILL THEREFORE BE ON MONDAY OCTOBER 14TH.
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The Net does not occupy the whole evening and hopefully it will encourage oldies and newbies alike.
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MORSE CLASSES
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The Morse Classes will take the form of the table but can be varied in some cases. That depends on the student's availability. Most of the tutors are retired so that could lead to modifications if needed. Please let me know if you do have a problem and perhaps we can make arrangements to cater. The main thing to keep in mind is the fact that we will NOT broadcast to fresh air. If you want to become a good CW operator, then join a class. It is for your benefit that we run these classes in the first place and we get as much satisfaction in seeing students improve as you will in becoming a good CW operator.
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All are welcome in these classes, again experienced operators who wish to increase speed even further, together with raw beginners who know absolutely nothing. We all have to start at the beginning. DO NOT think it a good idea to go it alone. You will develop bad habits which are not easy to break.
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If you require any more information, please email any one of us, we will be only too pleased to help.
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