Good morning and a Happy New Year. It's Sunday the 1st of January and 
here is the GB2RS news broadcast, prepared by the RSGB and intended for 
all radio amateurs and short-wave listeners. 

Before the review of the second half of 1994, there are a few news 
items:

Firstly, some HF DX news from the weekly RSGB DX News Sheet which is 
edited by Brendan McCartney, G4DYO.

From the Cayman Islands, JH1ROJ is active as ZF2RO until Thursday the 
5th of January on all bands 160 to 10m, SSB and CW.

From Belize, AE0Q will sign V31RYfrom now until Monday the 9th of 
January, taking in the ARRL Data Contest on the 7th and 8th of January.

We have no rally news for you this week as the next event notified to us 
is not until Sunday the 22nd of January.

Now for the HF contest news:

The ARRL Data Contest takes place from 1800 UTC on Saturday the 7th 
until 2359 UTC on Sunday the 8th, on all bands 80 to 10 metres, but 
excluding the WARC bands.

The RSGB Affiliated Societies Team Contest takes place next Sunday, the 
8th of January, from 1400 to 1800 UTC. The rules can be found in the 
December edition of RadCom.

Next some VHF contest news:

The next RSGB VHF Contest is the 144MHz CW Single Operator, Fixed / All 
Others, from 1000 to 1600 UTC on Sunday the 15th. See January RadCom 
page 81 for further details.

GB2GP will be operating next weekend from Gilwell Park during the Scouts 
Winter Camp weekend, from Friday the 6th until Sunday the 8th. Operation 
will be on HF and VHF. Further details from G6OLK on 01256 843782.


And now for the second part of our traditional Review of the Year. We 
are grateful to newsreader Vic Kusin, GM4HCO, for researching and 
compiling it.

In July, congratulations were due to a couple of the youngest candidates 
ever to pass the RSGB 12WPM Morse test. The two, both girls, were 
successful at their first attempt at the test. Nine-year-old Jannelle 
lives in Portadown, Northern Ireland and is the daughter of GI0UJG. 
Diane, who lives in Standon, Staffordshire is ten years old and her 
parents are G0UUM and G0UUN. Later in the year Katie Cannon passed her 
5WPM Novice Morse test at the age of only seven, being one of the 
youngest people ever to have passed this test.

The Amateur Licences were amended by the Radiocommunications Agency in 
July - power restrictions on 1.81 to 1.85MHz and 50 to 51MHz were 
removed, allowing the full 26dBW to be used. The ERP and antenna height 
restrictions on the whole of the 50MHz band were also lifted. Holders of 
all amateur licences were required to notify their local RIS office of 
unattended digital operation and to agree suitable close-down 
procedures. Changes were also made to computer logging requirements.

On the 17th of July, Raynet member, Ron Oswald, G7PIP of Hastings, 
helped a yacht in distress to contact the coastguard. He heard a Mayday 
transmission from the yacht ''Aida'' which had lost its rudder. Dover 
coastguard was unable to hear the stricken craft so Ron proved to be 
their only lifeline, relaying messages via the telephone. He was 
eventually joined by a local coastguard and a helicopter was launched. 
The 'Aida' was observed until it arrived safely at Newhaven.

July saw the opening of the Bletchley Park Trust Museum by His Royal 
Highness, the Duke of Kent. The museum, located near Milton Keynes, 
commemorates the work of codebreakers and intelligence specialists who 
made a vital contribution to the allied war effort. Two groups of 
amateurs provided exhibits to show the role of radio operators during 
the war. Members of the Milton Keynes ARS created a working replica of a 
wartime Y service station, and a large exhibition of radio and radar 
equipment was created by with the help of radio amateurs from the 
Communications and Electronics Museum Trust.

At its meeting on the 23rd of July, the RSGB Council elected Clive 
Trotman, GW4YKL as President for 1995.

BBC Television's 'The Sky at Night' reported in August that amateur 
observations of the radio noise from Jupiter had shown a correlation 
between noise at 20.4MHz and the impact of fragments of comet 
Shoemaker-Levy 9. Dave Sumner, G3PVH, presented a paper on his own 
observations of Jupiter noise at the AMSAT-UK Colloquium at the end of 
July.

From the 20th to the 25th of September, a huge consumer electronics 
show, LIVE'94, was held at Earls Court in London, covering a wide range 
of activities including music, broadcasting, computers and photography. 
The RSGB co-ordinated an 'Amateur Radio Village' in conjunction with 
seven other companies. The aim was to introduce the hobby to as many 
people as possible and well over a hundred thousand visitors attended 
the event.

At the beginning of October, the RSGB International HF and Islands On 
the Air Convention was held near Windsor in Berkshire. A large number of 
top DXers from around the world attended and the event had something for 
the beginner as well as the expert. There was a full programme of 
lectures, slide shows and discussion sessions and many special interest 
groups were represented. The special event station used the unusual call 
GB 301 OTA.

The IOTA honour roll showed a massive 43% increase in participation this 
year, with 509 stations listed. Many who have taken up island chasing 
say that IOTA is now a greater challenge than DXCC. The highest placed 
UK station was GM3ITN who was 7th equal with 743 islands confirmed. Six 
stations, had been awarded the IOTA Plaque of Excellence for contacting 
750 of the 800 islands or island groups which have been activated.

The 1994 Young Amateur of the Year was seventeen-year -old Robert Aley, 
G7SRR, who was selected after interviews by the RSGB and the RA. Robert, 
who was first licensed as 2E1AXZ, enjoys participating in special event 
stations, construction, packet radio and designing his own QSL cards. He 
has been an RSGB Novice Instructor since September 1993 and has 
recruited several more instructors. In July he received his Full 
Licence. His examination fee was earned by writing questions for the 
Novice RAE, which were accepted by the City and Guilds.  A number of
prizes donated by the RSGB, the RA and Industry were presented to Robert 
and to the runner-up Stephen Conner, GM0TET, at a ceremony held at the 
RSGB HF Convention.

The 37th Jamboree on the Air took place over the weekend of 15 and 16 
October. Over 250 Special Event Callsigns were issued for the year's 
largest amateur radio youth event. Scouts and Guides from all over the 
world combined with radio amateurs to experience the fun of the hobby at 
first hand by exchanging greetings messages with each other over the 
air.

The Science Museum announced that, due to a change of policy to produce 
more interactive exhibits, a decision has been made to close down the 
GB2SM station. As a result of a meeting between the RSGB General Manager 
and the Director of the Science Museum in October, the future of amateur 
radio at the museum was secured. The existing GB2SM exhibit closed on 
the 7th of November pending further discussions.

The RA announced that  the minimum age limit on the Full Amateur Radio 
Licence had been reduced, thus removing the anomaly whereby young people 
who had passed the RAE were unable to obtain a Full Licence until they 
reached the age of 14. Holders of the Amateur Radio Novice Licence who 
are between the ages of 10 and 14 years will now have the opportunity to 
obtain a full Amateur Radio Licence, provided they have held an Amateur 
Radio Novice Licence for at least one year and have passed the RAE.

During mid October, a major tropo opening affected all bands from two 
metres up to the microwave bands. For much of the week the bands were 
open right across Europe. Signal levels were the strongest  that many 
people could remember, and even UHF broadcast Television was seriously 
affected. The lift conditions which covered much of the UK, and 
extending into Central Europe, enabled many operators to experience 
really good propagation for the first time. At its peak many Novices and 
others were able to work into the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany using 
QRP. On UHF many contacts in excess of 400km were made, with a possible 
new UK record on 10GHz of 1137km, made jointly by G3FYX and G3JMY in 
Bristol and SM6ESG in Sweden.

The RSGB was represented at the launch of the Radiocommunications 
Agency's Annual Report on 1 November. During the press conference, RA 
officials spoke of the huge increase in demand for radio services but 
the Society was assured that the Government believed in a balance of 
types of radio service, so this was not a direct threat to the amateur 
bands. Note would, however, be taken of the parts of the spectrum which 
were under-used.

The RA's Report revealed a six per cent increase in the number of 
amateur radio licences in force. The total was 63,033 which put amateurs 
at the top of the list. Ships' radio licences were second with nearly 
58,000 and CBs third with 51,000. Of the amateur licences issued, 50.5% 
were full class A, 47% class B, and the remaining 2.5% were Novice 
licences A and B.

The Radiocommunications Agency announced that the contract to distribute 
Amateur Radio licences should, once again, be awarded to Subscription 
Services Limited, initially for a three year period. All licence holders 
were sent a letter with details of the new arrangements.

The Annual Meeting of the RSGB took place at the Royal Society of 
Chemistry, London on the 3rd of December. The results of the Council 
election and a full list of the 1995 RSGB Council is published in the 
January edition of Radio Communication which was due to be posted before 
Christmas. At an Extraordinary General Meeting called by Council to make 
a number of amendments to the Society's Articles of Association, all six 
special resolutions were carried overwhelmingly.

The Radiocommunications Agency announced in December that, in certain 
cases, they may publish details of those whose amateur licences had been 
revoked. Until now this information has been regarded as confidential, 
but the decision to publish would be based on the consideration that it 
is important to make others aware of the revocation of a licence and the 
ensuing ban on radio use for the person concerned.

Estonia, Israel and Turkey have signed the CEPT TR 61-01 agreement this 
year, which permits temporary amateur operation in those countries 
without additional paperwork. There are now 27 countries who have 
implemented this recommendation - the full list is given in your Licence 
Validation Document.

And that concludes our review of the year 1994, as reported by GB2RS.


And now the solar propagation review of the year 1994 and what's to 
come, written by our regular propagation news contributor Charlie 
Newton, G2FKZ:

The major propagation story this year was the massive sporadic E 
openings during the summer, particularly on the 50MHz band. These 
covered the whole of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Iceland, 
Newfoundland, Canada, the USA, the Caribbean, French Guiana, and much 
more. The 2m band opening on the 23rd of June to Portugal was one of the 
best that most people can remember. It is well-known that sporadic E is 
more prevalent during the sun spot minimum, but this year it surpassed 
all our expectations. Next year is expected to be even better.

UK amateurs have taken part in the ITU Beacon Project. The reported 
results from the LN2A beacon, covering 5.4 to 20.9MHz, showed 
significant results, with considerable variations from Scotland to 
Cornwall. There is little doubt that we will gain as much out of this 
survey as the ITU.

The burning question is "When will the minimum be?" Well, all the expert 
forecasters burnt their fingers very badly over the maximum, so they 
have been very quiet about the minimum. My own forecast is that the 
first positive sign of the minimum will be when the first bipolar spots 
appear at high solar latitudes with reversed magnetic polarity. Up to 
now this has not happened. Some extremely small spots have appeared but 
not a bipolar one. When this happens the minimum will be about one year 
away,. To sum up, it looks as though next year will not see the minimum. 
Some time during 1996 is the best bet that I can give you. The solar 
flux is also a good guide. Previous minima have been around 68 units; 
and so far we are well above this with monthly averages about 80 units. 
This indicates that the flux minimum is at least a year away.

The troposphere has given us a lot to think about. For over a year, 
tests have been carried out on the 50 MHz band over the 350 kilometre 
path between G4UPS in Devon and G3CCH in Humberside. These have shown 
that at 0800 hours each day CW QSOs can take place with 96 percent 
reliability, giving RST levels around 579. In order to see results at 
other times, a 24-hour licence has been applied for.

The weekly solar data preliminary report and forecast, which we receive 
from SESC Boulder by airmail, passed its 1,000th issue on the 1st of 
November. The USA Finance Committee authorised us to have this free, for 
which we were duly thankful as it is our best source of data. RSGB 
Propagation Studies Committee member Neil Clarke, G0CAS, is now 
supplying solar geophysical and ionospheric data to the packet network 
daily on the TO field under SUN.

The electron fluence levels have been very high for most of the year 
which is to be expected near sunspot minimum. This has affected many 
satellites due to electron static charging, both GOES 6 and 7 have been 
seriously affected.

The beacon networks have proved their worth by showing up openings when 
people thought the bands were dead. To encourage short wave listeners, 
the Italian national society ARI is issuing a new award for reception 
reports. Details can be found in the December edition of RadCom on page 
31. The British 28MHz beacon GB3RAL moved to a new site at DRAL Didcot, 
resulting in good overseas reports. The German national society DARC 
launched an experimental propagation beacon on 3.558MHz to fill in zones 
where DK0WCY on 10.144MHz is not well received. The 10MHz transmissions 
are continuous giving every 5 minutes warnings of solar and magnetic 
data, updated every day. The 3.5MHz transmission runs from 0700 to 0800 
and 1530 to 1700 UTC. DARC has applied for authority to continue this 
service throughout 1995.

1995 is expected to see the start of a state-of-the-art world-wide 
beacon network, with stations sharing a common frequency. Time sharing 
on the 14,18,21,24, and 28MHz bands will involve brief transmissions 
synchronised by satellite. Our own proposed propagation broadcast 
transmitter, GAM1, is still waiting for licence clearance from ITU 
Geneva.

And that's the end of the solar propagation review of the year 1994.


-- 

NEWS FOR THE SOUTH EAST


Meeting for Monday the 2nd of January:

Surrey Radio Contact Club has a talk entitled 'SSTV' by Peter, G4WPB. 
Further details from Berni, G8TB on 0181 660 7517.


Meetings for Tuesday the 3rd of January:

Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society has a Film Show. Further information 
from Charles, G0GJS on 01245 256654.

Stevenage and District Amateur Radio Society has a General Get Together, 
plus Morse practice. Details from Peter, G7HCL on 01438 724509.

Vale of White Horse Amateur Radio Society has a Discussion evening. 
Visitors are welcome. Details from Ian, G3SEK on 01235 531559. 


Meetings for Wednesday the 4th of January:

Three Counties Amateur Radio Club has a talk on 'Electronic Warfare'. 
For further details contact Tom, tel: 01428 606298.

Worthing and District Amateur Radio Club has a Discussion evening. 
Details from Roy, G4GPX on 01903 753893.


Meetings for Thursday the 5th of January:

Horndean and District Amateur Radio Club has a talk entitled 'The Video 
Signal' by Stephen, G4JGS.Details from Stuart, G0FYX, tel: 01705 472846.

Horsham Amateur Radio Club has a Photo-Quiz with Adrian, G4LRP. Further 
details from Peter, G8SUI on 0173784 2150.


Meeting for Saturday the 7th of January:

Southdown Amateur Radio Society has its Annual General Meeting. Details 
from Tony, G1SHH on 01825 763022



NEWS FOR THE SOUTH WEST


Meeting for Tuesday the 3rd of January:

Salisbury Radio & Electronic Society has a talk by a Sound Engineer from 
BBC Wiltshire. Details from David on 01722 330971 (evenings or 
weekends).


Meetings for Wednesday the 4th of January:

South Bristol Amateur Radio Club has a CW Activity evening. For more 
information tel: 01275 834282.

Trowbridge and District Amateur Radio Club has a Social evening. Further 
details from Ian, G0GRI, 01225 864698 (evenings).


Meetings for Thursday the 5th of January:

Cornish Radio Amateur Club has a talk entitled 'A Good Day in VK, part 
2' by Les. For further information contact Robin, G0MYR on 01209 820118.

Yeovil Amateur Radio Club has a talk on 'Yagi Antenna Design' by G3ZXX. 
Further details from Cedric, G4JBL on 01258 473845.


Meetings for Friday the 6th of January:

Axe Vale Amateur Radio Club has a Demonstration of members' gadgets and 
a discussion night. Details from Pat, G0GHH, tel: 01297 33756.

Saltash and District Amateur Radio Club has a 'Bring Along your New 
Christmas Gadgets'. Further details from Brian, G7SSH, on 01752 844321.



NEWS FOR EAST ANGLIA


Meeting for Tuesday the 3rd of January:

Sudbury and District Radio Amateurs have a talk:'Harnessing Solar 
Energy' by G4GGC. Details from Tony, G8LTY on 01787 313212 (before 
10pm).


Meeting for Wednesday the 4th of January:

Norfolk Amateur Radio Club has a talk on'Weather and Propagation' by 
Jim, G3YLA. For further information contact Mike, G4EOL on 01603 789792.


NEWS FOR THE MIDLANDS


Meetings for Wednesday 4th of January:

Gloucester Amateur Radio Society has an 'Equipment Set-up and 
Demonstration' evening. Further details from Les, G0ULH on 01452 421510.

Telford and District Amateur Radio Society has a Station Equipment 
night. For further details contact Dave, G4EIX on 01952 588878.


Meeting for Friday the 6th of January:

South Notts Amateur Radio Club has its Annual General Meeting, this is 
for members only. For further information contact Julie, G0SOU on 0115 
921 6342.



NEWS FOR THE NORTH OF ENGLAND


Meetings for Tuesday the 3rd of January:

Eccles and District Amateur Radio Society has a 'Bring-Some-Gear' night. 
Details from Chris, G8KRG, on 0161 773 7899.

Liverpool and District Amateur Radio Society has a talk on 'The 
Discovery of X-Rays' by Dr David Edwards, from Liverpool University. 
Details from Ian, G4WWX, who is QTHR.


Meeting for Wednesday the 4th of January:

Denby Dale and District Amateur Radio Society has a talk entitled 
'Transatlantic on 2 metres' by Roy, G3OTE. Details from Kevin, G1FYS on 
01484 547553.


Meeting for Thursday the 5th of January:

Grimsby Amateur Radio Society has its AFS Organisation evening. For 
further details contact John, G3DOT on 01472 825899.


Meetings for Friday the 6th of January:

North Ferriby United Amateur Radio Society has a talk entitled 'Packet 
Radio'. Further details from David, G7PER, tel: 01482 656324.

South Manchester Radio Club has a Demonstration of the club Packet 
System. For more details contact Edward, G7FQY, on 0161 969 1964.



NEWS FOR WALES


Meeting for Monday the 2nd of January:

Dragon Amateur Radio Club has a Chairman's evening, with a 'QSL card' 
and other competitions. Further details from Tony, GW0FMQ on 01248 
600963.

-- 

GB2RS is prepared by the Radio Society of Great Britain 
and is broadcast in the 80m, 40m, 6m and 2m bands.
Tel +44 1707 659015  Fax +44 1707 645105

