Dear club colleagues, this update email contains a number of recent amateur radio topics that I hope will be of interest to you.
?
?
Ofcom consultation
I am sure most of you will be aware of this consultation, which relates to?a number of proposed licence changes that Ofcom want to bring in during 2015.
?
If you haven't yet responded to this consultation, you have until the end of this coming Monday the 20th of October to do so.
?
A summary of the main topics along with suggested responses can be found at
?
Feedback on the consultation can be done online at
?
?
Advanced training
I am aware of some potential candidates for the December Advanced exam who have enrolled on the current Distance Learning course, but don't yet have a committed exam centre.
?
If your club is planning to run the exam on Monday the 8th of December, or you know of a centre that is doing this, please let me know.
?
?
2SZ 90th anniversary station
A special event station 2SZ is operating from Mill Hill School, North London, until the end of today the 18th October 2014 to mark the 90th anniversary of the first ever radio contact from the UK to New Zealand, thus proving it was possible to span the globe by radio.
?
The UK operator of this first contact was 18-year old Cecil Goyder who was a pupil at the School. 2SZ was the callsign used by Goyder, and it has been specially re-issued by Ofcom to mark the occasion.
?
An interview was conducted from this anniversary SES by the Radio 4 'Today' program this morning (Saturday the 18th) around 7.20am, with Dave Lawley G4BUO who is well known for his planning and operating experience with special event stations.
?
Further details of the station and event can be found on QRZ.com and at
?
?
Extension of 2m band
While many will be aware of the NOV that is available from the end of this month to operate between 146-147MHz, little mention has been made of the areas where this additional spectrum is not being permitted, which includes Kent.
?
Details of this restriction were made in the initial consultation document, but have been overlooked in the recent announcements. Details of this can be found on page 31/32 of the document at
?
?
K for Cornwall
The RSGB have released a statement in response to the online discussion of a unique callsign identifier for amateurs who live in Cornwall.
?
The statement reads;
“Earlier in the year the RSGB was asked by Poldhu ARC, one of its affiliated clubs, to submit to Ofcom their request for the secondary locator “K” to be allocated to Cornwall on an optional permanent basis.
The Board passed on the request but decided not to support permanent use of K.
It came as a surprise when Ofcom advised us that they have agreed in principle to the use of the secondary locator “K” prefix for Cornwall and we await details of how their decision will be implemented.? We expect?further information after Ofcom have considered the responses to the current licence review consultation.”
?
An article on this matter from the local Cornish press can be found at
?
?
Club of the year
We are at the time of year?again when all clubs are encouraged to consider entering for the Club of the Year award.
?
In the past three years?the West Kent ARS and Hilderstone clubs have won the award in Region 12, now we are in our new region, can a Kent club still win among the other clubs around the South East?
?
Details of the award and the criteria can be found on page 8 of the latest RadCom, but is also online?at?. Do?please let me know if you want to talk through submitting an entry.
?
?
Promoting amateur radio
The RSGB is working to raise the public profile of amateur radio and to recruit newcomers to the hobby, for which it has setup a working group to share best practice for when running public facing special event stations.
?
The focal point of this working group is a Yahoo discussion forum where you are encouraged to share your experience of running SES's, which will establish recommendations that will then be shared with all UK clubs.
?
This working group needs your support and all UK clubs and societies are encouraged to participate to share their approaches in organising public events, what works well and what doesn't work so well.
?
RSGB and affiliated club members are welcome to join the Yahoo group 'RSGB_Inspire' ?to take part in the discussion.
?
?
That's it for this time, hope it is of interest, if you have any news for sharing then please get back to me.
?
If you are reading this and are not a member of the RSGB would you please consider joining the society, as it is critical that we maintain a high level of membership to counter any adverse changes to our licence and operating privileges.
?
73 Keith - G4JED
RSGB Region 10 DRM?- Kent
**** The information in this internet email is copyright of the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB), confidential and is intended solely for the addressee(s). Any views expressed in this e-mail are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of the RSGB. Access, copying, dissemination to or re-use of information in it to or by anyone else is unauthorised. ****
