Sunday, March 20, 2011

Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival Special Event Station

Amateur Radio at Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival
Moray Firth Amateur Radio Society is celebrating the Spirit of Speyside Whiskey Festival by running three Special Event stations, one located at Strathisla distillery in Keith (call-sign GB3SWF) another located at the Craigellachie Distillery (call-sign GB2SWF) and a third at Glenfarclas Distillery (probably GB4SWF).

The objective of this exercise is to contact as many amateur radio stations as possible, worldwide, to promote Scotland’s iconic dram – malt whiskey. Each station will operate on the Shortwave (HF) bands, principally 80m, 40m and 20m SSB, and also on VHF when possible.

A commemorative QSL card will be sent to all stations that contact the club during the weekend and the station with the most confirmed number of contacts will also win a bottle of malt whiskey. There will be prizes of miniature bottles of malt whiskey sent to the top listed stations in the countries of the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland, & Northern Ireland).

The Spirit of Speyside Whiskey Festival is held each year during the first long weekend in May (28 April to 2 May 2011), it creates an opportunity for visitors to enjoy a visit to Speyside before the start of the main tourism season.

The Festival invites visitors to celebrate Scotland’s national drink through an inventive and wide-ranging program of whiskey-inspired events – some educational, all of them fun.
Further details can be found on their website www.spiritofspeyside.com
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HOW TO READ PROPAGATION NUMBERS

The A index [ LOW is GOOD ]

  • 1 to 6 is BEST
  • 7 to 9 is OK
  • 11 or more is BAD

Represents the overall geomagnetic condition of the ionosphere ("Ap" if averaged from the Kp-Index) (an average of the eight 3-hour K-Indices) ('A' referring to amplitude) over a given 24 hour period, ranging (linearly) typically from 1-100 but theoretically up to 400.

A lower A-Index generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; a low & steady Ap-Index generally suggest good propagation on the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

SFI index [ HIGH is GOOD ]

  • 70 NOT GOOD
  • 80 GOOD
  • 90 BETTER
  • 100+ BEST

The measure of total radio emissions from the sun at 10.7cm (2800 MHz), on a scale of 60 (no sunspots) to 300, generally corresponding to the sunspot level, but being too low in energy to cause ionization, not related to the ionization level of the Ionosphere.

Higher Solar Flux generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; Solar Flux rarely affects the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

K index [ LOW is GOOD ]

  • 0 or 1 is BEST
  • 2 is OK
  • 3 or more is BAD
  • 5 is VERY VERY BAD

The overall geomagnetic condition of the ionosphere ("Kp" if averaged over the planet) over the past 3 hours, measured by 13 magnetometers between 46 & 63 degrees of latitude, and ranging quasi-logarithmically from 0-9. Designed to detect solar particle radiation by its magnetic effect. A higher K-index generally means worse HF conditions.

A lower K-Index generally suggests better propagation on the 10, 12, 15, 17, & 20 Meter Bands; a low & steady Kp-Index generally suggest good propagation on the 30, 40, 60, 80, & 160 Meter Bands.

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