Visitors to ARRL Headquarters will be greeted with something new in the area in front of the main entrance. Complementing the terrace of memorial bricks and benches on the left, a new Centennial Terrace on the right side of the main entrance was dedicated on June 17 at a ribbon-cutting and reception, held in conjunction with the ARRL National Centennial Convention now underway in Hartford, Conn…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
The ARRL Board of Directors will meet Monday and Tuesday, July 21-22, in Hartford, Connecticut, The slightly altered scheduling of the July meeting takes advantage of the fact that most Board members will already be in town for the ARRL National Centennial Convention July 17-19.
International guests at the gathering will include IARU Vice President Ole Garpestad, LA2RR, and Radio Amateurs of Can…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
In a video, ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, has issued an urgent call to all radio amateurs to get behind a grassroots campaign to promote co-sponsorship of HR.4969, “The Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2014.” HR.4969 would require the FCC to extend PRB-1 coverage to restrictive covenants. It was introduced in the US House with bipartisan support on June 25 at the request of the ARRL, which worke…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
Because of the ARRL National Centennial Convention, there will be no ARRL Audio News on Friday, July 18. The ARRL Letter, which normally distributes on Thursdays, will go out to subscribers on Wednesday, July 16. See you at the Convention!
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
After considerable deliberation over which team placed third in the 2014 World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC-2014), it’s now official. At the awards ceremony July 14 concluding the international Amateur Radio contesting competition, the US team of Dan Craig, N6MJ, and Chris Hurlbut, KL9A, operating as K1A, took home the gold for their winning team effort. They racked up 7,184,844 points. T…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, is eagerly anticipating the ARRL National Centennial Convention this week with a sense of history, awe, and honor. The Convention gets underway Thursday, July 17, at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford. Craigie said this week that to be President when the ARRL celebrates its centennial “is an extraordinary good fortune that I am sincerely grateful for…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
The ARRL Centennial W1AW WAS operations taking place throughout 2014 from each of the 50 states are on hiatus until July 16 (UTC) W1AW Centennial Operations will resume at 0000 UTC on Wednesday, July 16 (the evening of July 15 in US time zones), from South Carolina (W1AW/4). There will be only one state this week. During 2014 W1AW will be on the air from every state (at least twice) and most US…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
Solar activity strengthened recently, with average daily sunspot numbers for the seven days ending June 25 at 72.3, rising 43.3 points to 115.6 for the seven days ending July 2, then rising 89.5 to an average of 205.1 for the period ending July 9.
Similarly, average daily solar flux for the seven days ending on June 25 was 98.8, which rose 30.7 points to 129.5 on July 2, and then rose 64.4 point…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
Astronauts Andy Thomas, VK5MIR/ex-KD5CHF, and Dave Leestma, N5WQC, have announced their retirements from NASA. Both operated on ham radio from space, and Thomas, as the last US astronaut to complete a duty tour onboard the Russian Mir space station, conducted several contacts with students on Earth as part of the SAREX program, the predecessor to ARISS.
A native of Australia, Thomas, 62, became …
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
It’s unofficial at this point, but the US K1A team of Daniel Craig, N6MJ, and Chris Hurlbut, KL9A, appears to have taken the gold medal at the World Radiosport Team Championship (WRTC-2014) competition in New England. The top team never seemed in doubt; Craig and Hurlbut led the pack of 59 competing teams literally from the start, managing to work up an insurmountable lead of more than 7.5 mill…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
Youth (age 21 and younger) may attend the ARRL National Centennial Convention free of charge. Information in The ARRL Letter for July 10 may have suggested otherwise. The 100th anniversary celebration of the League’s founding takes place July 17-19 at the Connecticut Convention Center.
Online registration is now limited to 2-day adult ($ 25) and youth (free) tickets, good for Friday and Saturday …
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
ARRL Public Relations Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, was interviewed on the morning of July 12 by WTIC radio’s Steve Parker concerning Amateur Radio in general and the upcoming ARRL Centennial Convention in Hartford.
WTIC is a 50 kW broadcast station covering much of New England, not to mention its national and global Internet streaming audience.
Click here to download and listen to an MP3 off-air au…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
Thailand’s 247,000 radio amateurs will be getting new Amateur Radio regulations that provide significant new privileges The Radio Amateur Society of Thailand (RAST) has reported that the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has been working on the new regulations for nearly 3 years. They will permit operation on 6 meters, will expand the 2 meter band by 500 kHz (to 146…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
The US Air Force has given the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) facility in Gakona, Alaska, a death row reprieve of sorts. The Secretary of the Air Force told Alaska Sen Lisa Murkowski July 2 that it is “willing to slow the closure process and defer irreversible dismantling of the transmitter site” until May of 2015. Those pushing for HAARP to remain open as a scientific r…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
This week, as part of the Teachers Institute hosted at ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut, teachers were shown a number of ways to use Amateur Radio to captivate students and spark their interests in technology.
Instructor Mark Spencer, WA8SME, demonstrated how it was possible to control the movement of a robot via data packets sent through the International Space Station (ISS) digipeat…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
A grassroots effort is underway to encourage radio amateurs to promote co-sponsorship of HR.4969, the Amateur Radio Parity Act. The measure, introduced in the US House with bipartisan support on June 25, would call on the FCC to apply the “reasonable accommodation” three-part test of the PRB-1 federal pre-emption policy to private land-use restrictions regarding antennas. The bill’s primary spo…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
Repeating a story first published June 27, the ARRL has been notified by the QST iOS app vendor that a serious defect has been discovered that may cause the app to stop functioning.
ARRL is in discussions with the vendor to alleviate the problem. Until a solution has been found, however, members are urged to avoid updating their QST iOS apps.
This issue does not impact QST Android app users.
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
In a Notice of Violation (NoV) released June 5, the FCC has alleged that Thomas Ryan Price, W7WL, of Sweet Home, Oregon, caused malicious interference to other radio communications on 3908 kHz, transmitted music on the same frequency, and failed to properly identify. The FCC said agents from its Portland, Oregon, office on May 13, 2014, used radio direction-finding techniques to pinpoint the so…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
A group of Amateur Radio operators from Atlantic Canada is operating from Pouch Cove, Newfoundland, until July 12 in a bid to complete a 2 meter transatlantic contact and claim the Brendan trophy. The “Brendan Quest” team is on the air as VC1T from grid GN37os on 144.155 MHz. The group activated on July 4, and a couple of days later, on July 6 at 1341 UTC, G4SWX was able to completely decode an…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
ARRL Great Lakes Division Director Jim Weaver, K8JE, has announced his retirement from the ARRL Board of Directors, effective at noon EDT on July 7. Great Lakes Division Vice Director Dale Williams, WA8EFK, of Dundee, Michigan, is the Division’s new Director. The Great Lakes Division is made up of Ohio, Michigan, and Kentucky.
ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, has appointed W. Thomas “Tom” Dela…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
A live, near-real time scoreboard to track World Radiosport Team Championship 2014 (WRTC-2014) team standings will be available during the July 12-13 event. The scoreboard will be accessible directly or from a link on the WRTC-2014 website. The scoreboard uses an innovative data-collection method developed by WRTC-2014 Director (IT infrastructure and scoreboard) Dave Pascoe, KM3T, and Bob Raymo…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
With no public announcement or fanfare, the Voice of America has phased out some 14 hours per day of international shortwave broadcast transmissions and will cease broadcasting on some of its customary frequencies, effective July 1. Another 10 hours of daily cuts have been made to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) broadcasts. The Broadcasting Board of Governors …
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This bulletin is a day early, as Friday is the day the United States celebrates its independence from the British Empire. Next week we will be back on the regular schedule.
The Earth-facing side of our Sun is suddenly crowded with clusters of sunspots, so this cycle definitely is not over. Over the past week average daily sunspot numbers rose 43.3 points to 115.6, while average daily solar flux …
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) is preparing to activate for Hurricane Arthur Saturday, July 5, at 1100 UTC, on 14.325 MHz. These plans are subject to change. The storm is making its trek toward Nova Scotia, and the Net will be gathering ground-truth weather data for the National Hurricane Center in Miami and the Canadian Hurricane Centre in Halifax. Amateur Radio stations in the affected area sh…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
Arthur, the season’s first Atlantic hurricane, now a Category 1 storm, has prompted the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) to prepare for activation on July 3. Plans call for net operation to get underway on at 1600 UTC on 14.325 MHz. The National Hurricane Center’s WX4NHC will begin operations for Hurricane Arthur on July 3 at 2200 UTC, also on 14.325 MHz. A hurricane warning is in effect for the North…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
The FCC is requesting to raise the Amateur Service vanity call sign regulatory fee from its current $ 16.10 to $ 21.60 for the 10-year license term. The $ 5.50 increase would be the largest vanity fee hike in many years. The proposal is contained in a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM), “Assessment and Collection of Regulatory Fees for Fiscal Year 2014; Assessment and Collection of Regulatory F…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
Late one night back in the ’70s, an 8 year old boy living in a small town in south Mississippi sat in his bed hiding under the covers listening to an old transistor radio that his great-grandmother had given to him. While tuning between stations he picked up a program that was being broadcast from Cuba. It was the first time he had heard a foreign accent. That experience played in the back of h…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
The curious Amateur Radio enforcement case of Glenn Baxter, now ex-K1MAN, of Belgrade Lakes, Maine, appears to winding down and may be at an end. The FCC dismissed Baxter’s long-standing license renewal application on June 23, invoking its “Red Light Rule,” which gives the Commission authority to turn down a pending application if the applicant has an unpaid fine on the books. Baxter was liable…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) is preparing to activate for Tropical Storm Arthur, forecast to be upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane. Initial plans call for net operation to get underway on July 3 at 1600 UTC.
“The current forecast track brings Arthur very close to the outer banks of North Carolina during the evening and overnight hours on Thursday,” said HWN Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV. “Since …
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
This month’s QuickStats poll has been posted! Check the QuickStats page and answer these questions . . .
Are your primary satellite antennas fixed or rotatable?
Do you plan to install an antenna support tower at your home within the next year?
Do you participate in any regular VHF or UHF SSB nets?
Have you ever operated as a “rover” in a VHF+ contest?
Visit the QuickStats page and be sure to bookmar…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
ARRL Headquarters will be closed on Independence Day, Friday, July 4, and there will be no ARRL Audio News, W1AW bulletins or code practice on those days. ARRL Audio News will return July 11. We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July holiday!
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
One of the few Amateur Radio events that takes place on a fixed date each year and often during the week, the Canada Day Contest on July 1 commemorates the anniversary of Canada’s confederation. It’s sponsored by Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC), and all are welcome to participate.
The contest runs from 0000 UTC until 2359 UTC on July 1, which means it gets underway the evening of June 30 in US ti…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
HAM radio expedition Klondajk from anti-aircraft military base from Czech Republic. Radioamatérská expedice z raketové základny Klondajk v Brdech.
This Video shows Amateur Radio signals received on an AM Band radio in India. Voice, CW and Digital Signals Received. Many many thanks to VU2MUE for his help…
Video Rating: 5 / 5
The annual 13 Colonies Special Event takes place starting at 1300 UTC on July 1. The event wraps up at 0400 UTC on July 7. This year’s theme is “Revolutionary War Era Colonial Currency.” Stations working just one state are eligible for a certificate, and a “Clean Sweep” endorsement will be attached for stations fortunate enough to work all 13 Colonies. A special endorsement will be attached for…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
National Weather Service forecaster, storm chaser, and SKYWARN pioneer Alan “Al” Moller, N5ZCB, of Benbrook, Texas, died June 19. He was 64. Moller and Chuck Doswell were the primary contributors to the development of the national SKYWARN program.
Moller was a Senior Forecaster (retired) at the National Weather Service Fort Worth, Texas, Office, where, the NWS said, he “tirelessly worked to bett…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
[Updated 2014-06-24 @ 2217 UTC] The ARRL National Centennial Convention July 17-19 in Hartford, Connecticut, will feature a wide-ranging slate of youth activities aimed at younger hams and prospective hams. Scheduled on Friday and Saturday, the youth activities include two youth forums, a hidden transmitter hunt, a scavenger hunt, and the Youth Radio Lab. The ARRL Discovery Station in the ARRL …
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
A talk on June 25 by ARRL CEO David Sumner, K1ZZ, at the Norfolk Amateur Radio Club (NARC) in England will be streamed live on the Internet. Sumner’s topic is “Amateur Radio Across the Pond.” His live presentation will start about 1900 UTC on Wednesday and be streamed via the BATC website. Click the LIVE EVENTS button to access the stream.
Sumner is making a brief stopover in the UK while en rou…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
Solar activity continues to weaken, with average daily sunspot numbers dropping nearly 69 points to 72.3, and average daily solar flux down nearly 36 points to 98.8.
On Wednesday the predicted solar flux on Friday through Sunday, June 27-29 (Field Day weekend) was 105, 110 and 115, but on Thursday those numbers were revised downward to 100, 105 and 105. Predicted planetary A index for those date…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
The QST iOS app was recently updated, but the ARRL has been notified by the app vendor that a serious defect has been discovered that may cause the app to stop functioning.
ARRL is in discussions with the vendor to alleviate the problem. Until a solution has been found, however, members are urged to avoid updating their QST iOS apps.
This issue does not impact QST Android app users.
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
Effective July 1, the ARRL is upgrading its website SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificate in an effort to keep up with industry standards.
This upgrade only affects HTTPS (secure) pages on the ARRL website, including the e-store checkout pages, any pages that accept donations, or pages that allow amateurs to join the ARRL or renew their memberships. As a result of this upgrade, users running Win…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
Check out these Ham Radio images:
GAP Titan DX
Image by Paul L McCord Jr
This is the assembly of my GAP Titan DX at our new house on August 27th and 28th 2011.
A bill with bipartisan support has been introduced in the US House of Representatives that calls on the FCC to apply the “reasonable accommodation” three-part test of the PRB-1 federal pre-emption policy to private land-use restrictions. HR.4969, the “Amateur Radio Parity Act of 2014” was introduced on June 25 at the request of the ARRL, which worked with House staffers to draft the proposed le…
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
Maxim Memorial Station W1AW has announced its 2014 Field Day bulletin schedule. Any Field Day station W1AW Bulletin can earn 100 bonus points for copying the special Field Day bulletin transmitted by W1AW or K6KPH during Field Day weekend, June 28-29. The Field Day bulletin must be copied via Amateur Radio. An accurate copy of the message is required to be included in your Field Day submission….
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
NASA ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, said NASA Astronaut Reid Wiseman, KF5LKT, may be on the air for ARRL Field Day from the International Space Station (ISS) June 28-29.
“I have received a response from Wiseman that he is willing to try and work some stations on Saturday,” Ransom said on June 23. “Pass times begin very soon after the start of Field Day.” Wiseman would use …
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
The annual “Alexanderson Day” transmission from the World Heritage Grimeton site in Sweden, using the vintage Alexanderson alternator on 17.2 kHz will take place Sunday, June 29 at 0900 UTC (SAQ will start tuning at about 0830 UTC) and again at 1200 UTC (SAQ will start tuning at about 1130 UTC). An SAQ transmission will take place on July 2 at 1430 UTC (SAQ will start tuning at about 1400 UTC, …
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources
Several states, counties and municipalities have issued proclamations recognizing the value of Amateur Radio to the greater community. Such proclamations often tie in with ARRL Field Day, which is June 28-29.
American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources