Ofcom received notification from MoD on Thursday that they were content
to extend the current arrangement for a further 5 years. Please wait
for the formal Ofcom announcement on their website which should be made
in the coming week.
73
Colin, G3PSM
I guess we will have to wait for Ofcom (perhaps with RSGB) to decide if that means we need to re-apply or if our NOVs will just be extended.
In reply to G4OBK:
As an intermediate licensee hoping to get the advanced license later in the year, could anybody provide some of their findings using 5Mhz qrp and dipole antenna’s on the summits?
In reply to 2M0ETR:
I’m not sure what you want, Adrian, but as there are plenty of activation reports here involving 5 megs you could probably learn what you want from them. My impression: 5 megs is perhaps the ideal SOTA band, more reliable than 7 megs except in the depths of the sunspot minimum when some days it stayed long, not subject to D-layer absorption so better range than 3.5 megs. Portable on summits and camping with 5 watts from an 817 I could work pretty well anything I could hear with at various times a dipole, a doublet and a W3EDP, with a little homebrew Z-match for the two latter…and nothing to choose between them. At home with the 817 I could work onto the continent and at night managed to work into the States using a G5RV set up as a doublet at 25 feet, to do that you need to be on in the small hours on a good night, but EU stations are easy.
In reply to G8ADD:
Thanks for information guys. Just looking to find out who i could expect to work on an activation (as in inter-G/EU etc). Whats the typical daytime skip distance? And any reccomendations on a portable antenna really, having a look online now at the w3edp.
Adrian I have a web link to a fantastic utility that uses current solar factual data to produce a skip map for assorted frequencies. However, it’s saved as link on my desktop PC and I’m away from home. Normally I’d just log in remotely but I left in a hurry and most stuff is switched off. Remind me in a few days if I haven’t posted the link and I’ll either be back home or I’ll talk Mrs. FMF through powering up the correct PC.
(In a normal house it would be easy, turn the PC on. In my shack there’s 3 Windows machines, 2 Linux machines and an HPUX machine. Never mind the laptops…)
For a hint of what can be worked from GM with 5W, SSB and a simple dipole check out my SOTA log.
This shows the skip zones for a variety of lower HF bands based on today’s predicted HF conditions for a station located in London. It’s possible to modify the URL so you can enter your own Lat&Long to get a personalised prediction. You can alter the date too so you can see if the prediction matched your own experiences.
Just looking at the chart for now (8.20Z), the skip is shown as being around 400km for 5.3MHz with the skip distance shortening during the day. That fits nicely with what I expect from many days operating. Like all these things you need to understand what is being shown, what the accuracy is etc. Amateurs make use of much more marginal paths than professionals so things are often better than these predictions suggest.
I note from the HF front page there is an HF propagation warning for today in place.
Nice simple form. Shame you can’t do it all online.
Bizarre. At the last renewal (was it really 5 years ago?) they did accept Email applications, and that’s how I did mine. On that occasion it was sent via the RSGB. I still have the Email…
Obviously someone at Ofcom has decided this should be undertaken by forms submitted via the post as an aid to staff training… training in the art of reading handwriting. Just to ensure the art of reading the hand-written word does not die out! I fear it will become a skill of the past, then we will all have to carry a notebook computer on our activations
Following a voicemail from Ofcom earlier (in response to my swift application) I have just spoke to the guy at Ofcom, it seems they have received a significant number of applications (he sounded surprised) and they are processing the applications as they arrive, so those that have applied should have a shiny new NOV back in a few days.