Whiskey Delta Five Mike

Four radio amateurs will head to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a commercial flight, thanks to Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS). They are Raja Chari, KI5LIU; Tom Marshburn, KE5HOC; Kayla Barron, KI5LAL, and Matthias Maurer, KI5KFH. As the most experienced space traveler, Maurer, who is a European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut, could end up with a very heavy ...

The 39th AMSAT Space Symposium, planned as an in-person event for late October, will now be a virtual event due to the lingering effects of COVID-19. Initial plans had called for a “live” event in Bloomington, Minnesota, following last year’s virtual symposium. AMSAT President Robert Bankston, KE4AL, said that AMSAT members voiced concern over the continued coronavirus pandemic and the risks as...

RTTY Service Station K6KPH, operating from the Maritime Radio Historical Society (MRHS), is officially back on the air. K6KPH also transmits W1AW Qualifying Run texts and the W1AW Field Day Bulletin. The station was off the air due to COVID-19 restrictions and antenna damage.

Repairs to the transmitter site in Bolinas, California, were performed under a US National Park Service grant and support...

The El Dorado County Amateur Radio Club (EDCARC) has been providing radio communication support for small and large-animal rescue efforts during the Caldor Fire. Members of the South County Large Animal Rescue (SCLAR) group, El Dorado County Animal Services, and other volunteers have been addressing the need. Many of the EDCARC volunteers are also members of the Club’s Neighborhood Radio Watch ...

Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: Sunspot activity increased dramatically this week.

Over the course of the reporting week, sunspot numbers peaked at 87 on Wednesday, September 8; the day before, solar flux peaked at 101.2.

The average daily sunspot numbers rose by 14, to 64.6, while the average daily solar flux increased from 88 to 92.9. New sunspots appeared on September 2 and September 3, and ...

The ARRL Board granted several awards at its July 2021 meeting.

• The ARRL Doug DeMaw, W1FB Technical Excellence Award went to Steve Franke, K9AN; Bill Somerville, G4WJS, and Joe Taylor, K1JT for their July/August 2020 QEX article, “The FT4 and FT8 Communications Protocols.” The DeMaw award honors the author of an article or article series judged to possess the highest degree of technical merit in...

The Volunteer Monitor (VM) Program is a joint initiative between ARRL and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to enhance compliance in the Amateur Radio Service.  This is the VM Program Report for August 2021.

• Licensees in Pawcatuck, Connecticut; Wamego, Kansas; Valley Cottage, New York; Long Valley, New Jersey; Columbia, South Carolina, and Maryville, Tennessee, were sent Advisory Notic...

ARRL The national association for Amateur Radio® honors the memories of those who died in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, including these radio amateurs:

Steven A. “Steve” Jacobson, N2SJ, 53, of New York City (WTC); William V. “Bill” Steckman, WA2ACW, 56, of West Hempstead, New York (WTC); Michael G. Jacobs, ...

In the wake of the disruption caused after Hurricane Ida struck the Gulf Coast of the US as a Category 4 storm on Sunday, August 29, the FCC has announced that it is extending certain filing deadlines for those in Louisiana and Mississippi unable to meet them due to the storm. President Joseph Biden issued an emergency declaration for Mississippi on August 28 and a major disaster declaration fo...

Louisiana ARES Section Emergency Coordinator James Coleman, AI5B, said this week that Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) teams in his Section “should now be on normal status, with the affected parishes’ status as appropriate for local conditions.” Emergency Coordinators in some hard-hit parishes have activated volunteers for relief and recovery operations. More than 30 parishes were affec...

The GENESIS-L and GENESIS-N ham radio satellites were among several carrying amateur radio payloads lost following the failure of the Firefly Alpha rocket during its first launch on September 2 from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. An anomaly occurred about 2 minutes into the mission, causing controllers to destroy the launcher in flight. The anomaly has yet to be explained.

This w...

ARRL Headquarters will be closed on Monday, September 6, in observance of Labor Day. There will be no W1AW bulletin or code practice transmissions. ARRL HQ will reopen on Tuesday, September 7, at 8 AM EDT. Have a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend! 

The Northern California DX Foundation (NCDXF) has donated $100,000 to the upcoming 3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island, which is set for late 2022. The DXpedition will be carried out by Amateur Radio DXpeditions, a Norwegian non-profit organization created for the purpose of conducting DXpeditions. The NCDXF is now the DXpedition’s lead sponsor.

“We wish to recognize and thank the Northern Californ...

In an August 30 Order, the FCC granted a temporary waiver sought by ARRL to facilitate relief communications related to Hurricane Ida. The waiver also applies to relief communications directly related to any future hurricane within the next 60 days. The waiver permits radio amateurs handling hurricane relief communications on HF to use any protocol that would comply with the FCC’s rules but for...

ARRL has responded to an Orlando, Florida, news story on August 23, 2021 by WFTV Channel 9 alleging a radio amateur was told to remove his antenna by the management of his subdivision following a complaint made by a neighbor.

“The news story appears to stem from a 2-year-old complaint from a neighbor who believed her insulin pump had malfunctioned due to the radio amateur’s operations ‘a few doo...

Increasing the interest and participation in amateur radio of those younger than 21 remains a primary effort of ARRL. Underscoring that focus is ARRL’s annual bestowing of its premier award, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Award, on a young member whose contributions to both amateur radio and her local community embody the ideals of the Amateur Radio Service.

The recipient of the 2021 Hiram Percy...