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This weekend here in the UK we have our annual convention, a meeting with a number of talks amateur radio related. This takes place at Kents Hill Park, Milton Keynes and will be attended by delegates from around the world. It used to be called the HF convention many years ago, and it was then amalgamated with the VHF amateur convention and AMSATS convention to what we now have. 

It also gives many of us chance to meet up with old friends and catch up on the news. On the Saturday evening a gala dinner is held where in the past some major expeditions have been announced, especially the Five Star groups, and some interesting speakers sharing their knowledge or presentations to exotic parts of the world. This is my first visit there for a number of years, and I am looking forward to seeing some old friends. I am also giving a talk on the RSGB Beyond Exams Brickworks scheme, this is on Sunday morning and will be well worth attending if you are a member of a club and need ideas for what to do within the clubs calendar. 

RSGB 2022 Convention

All day today (26/09/2022) there has been a station on 20M FT8 and FT4 claiming to be from a very rare island near New Zealand – ZL8 Kermadec. Turns out it has been a pirate in central Europe pirating the call. Shame as it would have been an all time new country for my DXCC count.

https://dxnews.com/forum/forum/dxing/44683-zl8ac-pirate-alert

Once more the GPDX group share their list of upcoming IOTA’s. Some fun ones due. Lets hope we can get on the air and work them.

Teletype Corporation Model 19ASR

This weekend is the CQ World Wide RTTY DX Contest, another one of my favourite contests of the year. And it is also my favourite mode of RTTY, a digital mode that is now transmitted and decoded by computer, but used to be transmitted/decoded by a machine before we all had PC’s. These machines used to sit in a corner of the shack “chattering” away to themselves where the sent message was on a tape typed by the typewriter kind of letters. All good fun but noisy, now the computer sends the tones and is a lot quieter as the received message is on screen.

If you have never had a go and have your kit set up for FT8 or other digi modes then this is easy to have a go. The software used here is N1MM which will log the QSO and create a contest entry for you too.

Today we here in the UK laid to rest our Queen, Elizabeth II. A sad day and a day of mourning for the whole country. I for one have been a supporter of the royal family and will do so for the remainder of my life.

As a radio amateur I have been honoured to be allowed to use the “Q” as a secondary letter to my prefix and call, GQ1VDP, to celebrate her majesties Diamond and Platinum (60 and 70 years) jubilees but could not bring myself to use it on such a sad occasion. I am also proud watching the TV coverage of the funeral and all the pageantry and ceremony that goes with a state funeral, and think we Brits certainly know how to do it with style. I am also proud of all the service men and women who have taken part in the whole event over the past 10 days since her death.

We now need to  look forward and to the reign of our new King, King Charles III. I will be on air using the special prefix, I am sure we will be granted it, upon the occasion of his coronation some time in 2023 with a special QSL card made to celebrate the occasion (watch this space). 

For now RIP ma’am, God Save the King.

(Image taken from SKY TV, with gracious thanks)

Today. 8th September 2022, we have received the sad news that our monarch Queen Elizabeth II has passed away. She served with grace, humility, and dignity. Carrying out her duties right through to the last days, meeting and instating our new prime minister just 48 hours earlier. She was our Queen for 70 years, celebrating her platinum jubilee this year. But it was 10 years ago I activated a special call GQ1VDP to celebrate the diamond jubilee and had this special card printed to remember the occasion, again I operated as GQ1VDP this year also to celebrate the platinum jubilee.

We here in the UK are saddened by the news and will miss her, Rest In Peace your majesty.

With this in mind we now have a new king, the Queens eldest son Charles. 

Long live King Charles III

GPDX Group have just posted their updated IOTA Calendar to their Facebook page. Some interesting stuff coming up over the next few months, lets hope we all get in the log.

As you know I am an IOTA chaser, and this one has been announced for later this month.

Taken from the GPDX Facebook page.

CR3SI, SELVAGENS Islands (AF-047)

CT1BOL (Jorge Lopes), CT1DSV (José Araújo), CT1ENV (António Claro), CT3KN (Ricardo Martins) and CT3MD (José Vasconcelos), are pleased to announce that they will be active with the callsign CR3SI, from Selvagem Grande (IOTA AF-047) next September.

The initiative is part of the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Reserva Natural das Ilhas Selvagens, and the station is expected to be active between the 21st and 25th of September, in CW, FT8 and SSB modes.

This is a very rare opportunity to add the AF-047 reference to your logs, and the first time there will be FT8 from Selvagens Islands.

The expedition’s antennas will be supported by Spiderbeam fiber masts.