Good morning. It's Sunday the 5th of March and here is the GB2RS news 
broadcast, prepared by the RSGB and intended for all radio amateurs and 
short-wave listeners. 


Now this week's headlines:- 

The RSGB London Amateur Radio and Computer Show takes place next 
weekend,

Three new RSGB Liaison Officers have been appointed, and 

Andorra is to use a special prefix this month.


Next weekend, Saturday the 11th and Sunday the 12th of March, the RSGB 
London Amateur Radio and Computer Show takes place at Lee Valley Leisure 
Centre, Picketts Lock Lane, Edmonton, in north London. This major annual 
event features over 100 trade stands, an RSGB book and information 
stand, lectures, special interest groups and a bring and buy stall. RSGB 
Morse tests will be available on demand, but don't forget to take two 
passport-size photographs along if you wish to take your test at the 
Show. There will be talk-in stations on 2-metres and 70-centimetres, and 
doors open at 10.00 am on each day with priority admission for the 
disabled. Refreshments are available on site. Further details may be 
obtained by calling 01923 893929. The official 8-page Show guide, which 
was published in the March edition of Radio Communication, includes a 
full programme of events and travel details.

Three new RSGB Liaison Officers have been appointed in Zone B. For 
Derbyshire, the new RLO is Ken Frankcom, G3OCA, of 1 Chesterton Road, 
Spondon, Derbyshire DE21 7EN, telephone: 01332 662818. For 
Nottinghamshire, the RLO is John Coates, G4GYU, whose address is 30 
Abbott Road, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire NG19 6DD, telephone: 01623 
27257, and the RLO for Shropshire is Tony Colton, G0UYE, 9 Pineway, 
Lodge Farm, Bridgnorth, Shropshire WV15 5DS, telephone 01746 761203. 
RLOs hold a wide range of information and are available to help RSGB 
members in their county.

During the whole of March, members of the URA - the national society in 
Andorra - will be able to use the special prefix C37 in place of their 
normal C31 calls. This is in celebration of the 15th anniversary of the 
foundation of the URA. Special QSLs will be available to confirm 
contacts made with stations using the C37 prefix.

Now a note for your diary: on Friday the 24th of March, there will be a 
'Radio and Communication Day' at King's College, London, starting at 
10.00 am. In addition to an exhibition - where the public will be 
invited to gain hands-on experience with much of the equipment on 
display - there will be a series of presentations on the development of 
radio, from its beginnings and into the next century. The RSGB will have 
a stand, and representatives will be available to answer questions about 
amateur radio and the Novice licence scheme. Following the 
presentations, a plaque will be unveiled commemorating the pioneering 
work of Sir Edward Appleton. The exhibition and presentations will be 
held at the King's College Strand campus, located next to Somerset House 
and close to Waterloo Bridge. The closest underground stations are 
Temple, Covent Garden, Charing Cross and Holborn. For further 
information call Anne Robinson on 0171 873 2696.

On the 70-centimetre band, two packet repeaters have closed down. They 
are GB7TN in Woodbridge, Suffolk, and GB7TV in Tiverton, Devon.

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

From Bermuda, N2MZH will sign 'stroke VP9' until Tuesday the 7th of 
March. Activity will be on all bands, especially LF and the WARC bands.

From Sri Lanka, ON6TZ and ON4ASQ are active signing '4S7 stroke own 
calls' from now until Saturday the 1st of April.

And from Madagascar, a German group including DL5UF, DK1CE and DF5WA 
should be active until the 10th of March on all bands and modes.

Next the Rally News:

We know of no rallies for today, the 5th of March.

Next weekend, we know of one event apart from the London Show mentioned 
earlier: Next Sunday, the 12th of March, is the Wythall Radio Club 
Rally, at Wythall Park, Silver Street, Wythall, near Birmingham. It will 
feature the usual traders in three halls and a marquee, a bring and buy 
stall, and bar and refreshment facilities. Talk-in will be on S22. For 
further details contact Chris, G0EYO, on 0121 430 7267.

Now for the HF contest news:  The ARRL DX SSB Contest is taking place 
this weekend on all HF bands, excluding the WARC bands. Contact only USA 
and Canadian stations and send an RS report followed by your power. The 
contest ends at 2359 UTC tonight. Brief rules were published in the 
February RadCom.

Next weekend, the 11th and 12th of March, the RSGB Commonwealth contest 
will take place from 1200 UTC on Saturday until 1200 UTC on Sunday. Work 
Commonwealth call areas on CW only and send RST and serial number. The 
full rules were published in the November 94 edition of Radio 
Communication.

As usual, HF National Field Day this year will be held over the first 
weekend in June, the 3rd and 4th. There is a small change to the rules 
this year - a second receiver will be allowed in both the Open and 
Restricted sections. That is, you will be allowed to use one transmitter 
and one receiver (or one transceiver) plus an additional receiver. Note 
that a transceiver with a built-in second receiver, such as the FT-1000, 
counts as two receivers. Groups wishing to compete must send details of 
the site to be used to: David Hill, G4IQM, 14 The Garrones, Worth, 
Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 7YT, to arrive no later than the 6th of May. 
The full rules will be published in the April edition of RadCom, but 
groups wishing to receive an advance copy are welcome to request one 
from the RadCom office at RSGB Headquarters.

Next some VHF contest news:

The 144 and 432 MHz contest is taking place this weekend. This 24-hour 
event will finish at 1400 UTC this afternoon. The rules can be found in 
the February RadCom.

Next Sunday, the 12th, sees another event in the 70MHz Cumulative 
Contest which takes place between 1000 and 1200 UTC. The rules can be 
found in the January RadCom.

Special event stations GB0JAS and GB6 JAS in Nottingham, and GB2JAS in 
Liverpool, will be on the air this week in conjunction with the 'JASON 
Project - (Expedition Island Earth)'. GB0JAS will operate from today, 
the 5th of March, until this Saturday on HF, while GB6JAS will use the 
6-metre, 2-metre and 70-centimetre bands. GB2JAS will be active weekday 
evenings and all day on Saturday until the 11th of March. A special aim 
of the JASON special event stations is to encourage a greater interest 
in the UK Novice Licence scheme and there will be Novices operating the 
stations from time to time.

And now the solar factual data:

The period from the 20th to the 26th of February saw the sunspot indices 
and solar flux levels decline. Solar activity was very low except on the 
20th and the geomagnetic field was very quiet. HF band conditions were 
better than expected. The sunspot indices declined from 77 on the 21st 
to 39 on the 24th, but increased to end the period at 46. The mean for 
the period was 58. Solar flux levels declined from 91 units on the 20th 
to 83 units by the 24th but increased to 86 units on the 26th. The 
average for the period was 86 units.

Solar flares were reported on the 20th and the 21st, the largest being a 
M1.1/1N at 0321 on the 20th, but nothing came of it. The electron 
fluence declined from a high level on the 20th to moderate levels by the 
22nd. The x-ray flux declined from B1.4 units on the 20th to A4.8 units 
on the 26th and averaged A6.5 units for the period. The 90 day solar 
flux average on the 26th was 84 units. 

Geomagnetic levels were very quiet with a daily Ap index of only 1 on 
the 22nd and the 25th. And on the 22nd, six out of the eight 
three-hourly Kp observations were zeros. Unsettled conditions were 
reported on the 26th with an Ap index of 12 units, the average for the 
period was Ap 4 units. The state has been 'nil, nothing to report'. The 
aa indices, as supplied by the British Geological Survey for the period 
from the 14th to the 20th of February, declined from active levels on 
the 14th, at 34.9 nanoTeslas down to quiet levels with only 8.8 
nanoTeslas being recorded on the 20th. The average for the period was 
18.6 nanoTeslas, about K2. Bartell's rotation number 2207 starts on the 
7th of March. 

I'll repeat the figures: spots - 58; flux - 86; Ap index - 4; x-ray flux 
- A6.5.

Now the ionospheric data for Central France. 

The F2 daytime critical frequencies at Poitiers, as reported by Meudon 
for the period from the 17th to the 23rd of February, saw a welcome 
increase over the last few weeks. The HF bands responded well, 
particularly on the 17th with the 28MHz band open to South Africa and 
the 21MHz band full of stations from North America. The average for the 
period was 8.1MHz. The darkness hour lows also showed some improvement 
and averaged 3.4MHz with the 22nd up to 4.2MHz. The daytime highs taking 
place between 11.00 and 16.00 hours with the darkness hour lows mostly 
around 06.00 hours, but on the 18th as early as 22.00 hours. 

I'll repeat the figures: highs - 8.1MHz; lows - 3.4MHz. 

And lastly the solar forecast. 

This week the quieter side of the sun is expected to be looking our way. 
Solar activity should be very low and the solar flux levels are expected 
to decline to the mid 70s. Geomagnetic activity is expected to be quiet 
for most of the week but active levels may be reached on the 6th, the 
10th and the 11th. Ionospheric MUFs during daylight hours for the south 
are expected to be about 23MHz and for the north 20MHz, with the 
darkness hour lows about 10MHz. 

And that's the end of the solar information. 


Finally in the main news, SSL has informed the Society that as of last 
Wednesday morning, the latest callsigns allocated were in the G0 Victor 
Tango and G7 Uniform Oscar series, and Novice calls in the 2 0 Alfa 
Juliet and 2 1 Delta Uniform series.

-- 

NEWS FOR THE SOUTH EAST


Meetings for Monday the 6th of February:

Basingstoke Amateur Radio Club meets to discuss test equipment, plus 
some simple and inexpensive construction tips. For details telephone 
01256 25517.

Braintree and District Amateur Radio Society has a talk entitled 
'Satellites, Part 2' by Frank Howe, G3FIJ. Details from Margaret on 
01376 327431.

Dengie Hundred Amateur Radio Society has a talk on 'HM Coastguard 
Services'. Contact Bob, G0UKV, on 01621 776237 for more information.

Southend Amateur Radio Society meets for a talk entitled 'Nodes and 
Bulletin Boards' by Frazer Lees, G0JDR. Details from Tony on 01825 
763022.

Surrey Radio Contact Club meets for the 'Sid Morley Memorial Lecture'. 
Details from Berni, G8TB on 0181 660 7517.


Meetings for Tuesday the 7th of February:

Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society has talks entitled 'JVFAX' by G0IPU, 
and 'Noise Bridges' by G2HNF. Call Charles, G0GJS on 01245 256654 for 
details.


Meetings for Wednesday the 8th of February:

Bracknell Amateur Radio Club meets for a 'Bring and Show' evening. More 
details from Steve, G4AUC, telephone 01344 420577.

Chesham and District Amateur Radio Society has a technical topic evening 
on 'Switch-Mode Power Supplies' with Mike, G0DNJ. Further details from 
Ian, G0RTF on 01494 676391.

Cheshunt and District Amateur Radio Club has a Members' Forum. Contact 
Roger, G4OAA on 01992 464795 for information.


Meetings for Thursday the 9th of February:

Colchester Radio Amateurs meet for a talk entitled 'Local Radio in the 
UK' by Bill, G1WJR. Further details from Adrian, G0APP, telephone 01206 
383510.

Edgware and District Radio Society has an 'Old Bygones' evening. Details 
from Rod, G0SQL, telephone 0181 204 1868.

Reading and District Amateur Radio Club has a Quiz with Maidenhead 
Amateur Radio Club, at Reading. Details from Tony on 01734 698274.

Shefford and District Amateur Radio Society has its G8EMJ Constructors' 
Contest. Telephone Paul, G1GSN on 01462 700618 for more information.

Southdown and District Radio Society meets at its new venue, The Druid 
Venture Scouts Hall, Eastern Avenue, Southend, to discuss the Club's 
75th anniversary. Details from Bob, G0RSW, on 01585 442776 during the 
day.

Southgate Amateur Radio Club meets for a talk entitled 'Digital Signal 
Processing in Communications' by Mr Harvey Collins. More details are 
available from Brian, G0MEE, telephone 0181 360 2453.

Vange Amateur Radio Society has a Quiz Night. Telephone Doris on 01268 
552606 for more details.


Meetings for Friday the 10th of February:

Itchen Valley Amateur Radio Club has a talk and demonstration on 'Slow 
Scan TV' by G6OLK. Further details from Les, G3ABA on 01703 732997.

Medway Amateur Receiving and Transmitting Society has a Construction 
Contest. Details from Gloria, G3VUN, telephone 01634 710023.

The Radio Society of Harrow has a Junk Sale. All are welcome. For 
details contact Jim Ballard, whose home telephone number is 01895 
632377.


NEWS FOR THE SOUTH WEST


Meeting for Wednesday the 8th of February:

South Bristol Amateur Radio Club has a Loop Antenna demonstration with 
Bob, G0LHD. For more information telephone 01275 834282.


Meeting for Thursday the 9th of February:

Yeovil Amateur Radio Club has a talk by a Planning Officer on 'Applying 
for Planning Permission'. Details from Cedric, G4JBL on 01258 473845.  
Meeting for Friday the 10th of February:

Poole Radio Society has a Novice Evening. All Novices welcome to attend 
to meet other Novices. For details contact Vernon, G3BCI on 01202 
762110.


Meeting for next Sunday, the 12th of February:

Flight Refuelling Amateur Radio Society has a talk on 'Repeaters (and 
EME Update)' by G0API. Details from John, G4POF, telephone 01425 653404.


NEWS FOR EAST ANGLIA


Meetings for Tuesday the 7th of February:

Leiston Amateur Radio Club meets for a talk on 'Flying Saucers - the 
Truth' by Professor John Allen. For details call Fergie, G6FS on 01728 
832924.

Sudbury and District Radio Amateurs meet for a talk and demonstration on 
'Weather Satellites' by Mark, G3CQL. The venue is Wells Hall Old School, 
Great Cornard. Call Tony, G8LTY on 01787 313212 (before 10pm) for 
details.


Meeting for Wednesday the 8th of February:

Norfolk Amateur Radio Club has a Construction QRP evening. For further 
information contact Mike, G4EOL on 01603 789792.


Meeting for Friday the 10th of February:

Cambridge and District Amateur Radio Club meets for a Rally Preparation 
evening. More details from John, G0GKP on 01954 200 072.



NEWS FOR THE MIDLANDS


Meeting for Tuesday the 7th of February:

Radio Society of Bloxwich meets for a slide show on DXpeditions and 
Contesting. Contact Chris, G0MLY, telephone 01922 683877 for details.  
Meetings for Wednesday 8th of February:

Derby and District Amateur Radio Society has an illustrated talk 
entitled 'Orlando - 100%' by G3SZJ. Details from Hayley, G7PXA, on 01773 
856904.

Telford and District Amateur Radio Society has a talk on 'The Radio 
Amateur Relief Expeditions Group' by Don Sunderland, G6FHM. For further 
details contact Dave, G4EIX, on 01952 588878.


Meeting for Thursday the 9th of February:

Salop Amateur Radio Society has an Equipment Sale. For further details 
contact Ian, G7SBD who is QTHR.


Meetings for Friday the 10th of February:

Coventry Amateur Radio Society has an Indoor Direction Finding evening 
and a Construction evening. Further details from John, G8SEQ on 01203 
617367.

South Notts Amateur Radio Club has a Construction evening at Fairham 
College. Contact Julie, G0SOU on 01509 672734 for further details.



NEWS FOR THE NORTH OF ENGLAND


Meetings for Monday the 6th of February:

Central Lancashire Amateur Radio Club has its Annual General Meeting. 
Details from J Procter, G0FQN, telephone 01772 423741.

Sheffield Amateur Radio Club meets for a talk on 'The Workings of 
Raynet' by Rick, G7DSD. Further details from David, G0JJR on 0114 244 
6282.

Thornton Cleveleys Amateur Radio Society meets for a talk by Les, G0ETV. 
Further details from G4BFH who is QTHR.


Meetings for Tuesday the 7th of February:

Eccles and District Amateur Radio Society meets to discuss the Club 
Stand at Norbreck. For details call Dr C G Harrison, G8KRG, on 0161 773 
7899.

Liverpool and District Amateur Radio Society has a talk on 'Radio 
Controlled Flying' by G0OSC. Contact Ian, G4WWX, for more information.

Wakefield and District Radio Society meets to discuss final preparations 
for the Northern Cross Rally. Details from Roy, G0TBY, on 01924 893321.


Meeting for Wednesday the 8th of February:

Hornsea Amateur Radio Club has a talk entitled 'Short Way to Valves' by 
G4IGY. Details from Mr J R Thompson, G0TPS, telephone 01964 562258.


Meetings for Thursday the 9th of February:

Keighley Amateur Radio Society has a talk entitled 'Keighley During the 
2nd World War' by Ian Dewhirst. Call Kathy, on 01274 496222 for further 
details.

Pontefract and District Amateur Radio Society has a talk on 'Computers' 
by Derek, G6NDF. Details from Colin, G0NQE, telephone 0977 677006.


Meetings for Friday the 10th of February:

Goole Radio and Electronics Society has a talk on 'Emergency Planning'. 
Further details from Steve Price, G8VHL on 01405 769130.

South Manchester Radio Club has a talk entitled 'Setting up Computers' 
by G4HON. For further details call Edward, G7FQY, on 0161 969 1964.


Meeting for next Sunday the 12th of February:

Sunderland and District Amateur Radio Society has a Junk Sale and 
Auction at The Alexandra, Queen Alexandra Road, Sunderland. Doors open 
at 10.30am for a 12 noon start. 



NEWS FOR SCOTLAND


Meeting for Tuesday the 7th of February:

Dundee Amateur Radio Club has a Construction evening. Details from 
Allan, GM7ONJ who is QTHR.  Meeting for Wednesday the 8th of February:

Lothians Radio Society has a Video evening. For details contact Brian, 
GM4DIJ, whose home telephone number is 0131 337 7311.


Meeting for Thursday the 9th of February:

Lerwick Radio Club has a Video and Social evening for members, visitors 
and friends. Telephone Bob, GM4CAQ on 01595 696411 for more information.


Meeting for Friday the 10th of February:

Aberdeen Amateur Radio Society meets for a Radio Software evening. More 
details from Martin, GM0JCN on 01569 731177.


NEWS FOR WALES


The Mid Glamorgan Radio Group is looking for another Novice Instructor 
to cope with their busy programme. Contact Tom, GW0TOM on 01656 736954.


Meeting for Monday the 6th of February:

Dragon Amateur Radio Club has a talk entitled 'Underwater Explorations'. 
Details from Tony, GW0FMQ on 01248 600963.


Meeting for Wednesday the 8th of February:

Cardiff RSGB Group has a talk on 'Computer Aided Design of Computers'. 
Details from GW4HWR on 01222 810368.


Meeting for Thursday the 9th of February:

Aberystwyth and District Amateur Radio Society meets for a DIY Project - 
Building an RF Noise Bridge. More information from Katy, GW0SFO, 
telephone 01545 580675.

-- 

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
