Whiskey Delta Five Mike

The Dayton Amateur Radio Association (DARA) has appointed Rick Allnutt, WS8G, as the General Chair for Dayton Hamvention® 2021, heading a team of some 750 volunteers. An ARRL Life Member and a ham since 1982, Allnutt, who served as Assistant General Chair with outgoing General Chair Jack Gerbs, WB8SCT, has been a Hamvention volunteer for the past decade.

“Hamvention is very important in my exper...

We just experienced a nearly two-week period of sunspots appearing every day.

It’s been quite some time since we’ve witnessed a continuous string of sunspot activity such as what we’ve experienced over the past two weeks. Back on January 24 through February 1, 2020 were nine consecutive days with sunspot activity, but to find any longer period of sunspot appearances requires a look back to May 3...

Mike Bryce's article “"Battery Sizing for Portable Operation" offered valuable information, not only for the upcoming ARRL Field Day, but for portable operating generally. Thanks to Mike’s advice, readers will be able to avoid unpleasant surprises!

QST Cover Plaque Awards are given to the author or authors of the most popular article in each issue. You choose the winners by casting your vote onl...

It will be a Virtual Visalia in 2021. Organizers announced this week that the newly renamed International DX and Contesting Convention (IDXCC) in Visalia, California, will span two weekends next April, providing a “choice of two Vs.” Each will be a “unique 3-day event” without duplication. Registration will begin early next year. The former International DX Convention was canceled in March due ...

Father’s Day is Sunday, June 21. If you’re looking for the perfect gift, we invite you to shop at AmazonSmile and choose American Radio Relay League Inc. (ARRL) as your charity of choice. With every purchase you make at AmazonSmile, Amazon will make a contribution that will help to extend ARRL’s reach in public service, advocacy, education, technology, and membership. So far in 2020, ARRL has r...

The International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 Monitoring System (IARUMS) May newsletter reports the Russian-Ukrainian radio war, which had been raging for years at 7055 kHz LSB (as well as on 7050 or 7060 kHz) reached a new escalation level in May.

“Almost every day, one heard the most massive mutual insults and aggressive, provocative hate rap music in Russian,” newsletter editor and IARUMS Re...

Listen to the new episode of ARRL Audio News on your iOS or Android podcast app, or online at http://www.blubrry.com/arrlaudionews/. Audio News is also retransmitted on a number of FM repeaters. Click here and then scroll down to see the list.

Sunspots made a solid reappearance over this reporting week (June 4-10) with average daily sunspot number rising from 3.3 to 14. As expected, solar flux also increased, and the average daily 10.7 cm solar flux rose from 69.6 to 71.3.

With renewed solar activity, so many radio amateurs staying home, and the increasing popularity of new weak signal modes, there is a lot happening on the air in ama...

Volunteer Monitor Program Coordinator Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, said the program has recognized numerous radio amateurs with Good Operator Notices.

“One facet of the ARRL and FCC agreement that set up the Volunteer Monitor Program calls for ARRL to recognize especially good amateur radio behavior, in order to encourage compliance with FCC rules and further the efficiency of the Amateur Radio ...

Listen to the new episode of ARRL’s On the Air podcast. In Episode 6, we discuss ARRL Field Day and the new rules for 2020 concerning Class D (home) stations. Listen with your iOS or Android podcast app, or online at https://blubrry.com/arrlontheair/.

The deadline is Monday, June 15, to submit nominations for the 2020 Philip J. McGan Memorial Silver Antenna Award, presented annually to a radio amateur who has demonstrated success in public relations on behalf of amateur radio and who best exemplifies the volunteer spirit of Philip McGan, WA2MBQ (SK).

“ARRL Public Information Officers (PIOs) and other volunteers are working hard every day to ...

The much-anticipated updated features at the ARRL Contest portal are here! These web-based tools provide an updated interface to contest data for all ARRL-sponsored contest events, including:

• Contest Score viewer, including a searchable call history and records

• Submitted logs and raw scores for recent events

• Downloadable Comma Separated Values (CSV) files of contest results

• Club Competition scor...

International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) specialists Tore Worren, LA9QL, and Martin Sach, G8KDF, have submitted a paper to the International Special Committee on Radio Interference (CISPR) concerning the increasing impact of multiple digital devices on noise levels in the radio spectrum.

The paper was considered at the CISPR Steering Committee in late May, and...

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 1 Youth Working Group inaugurated YOTA (Youngsters on the Air) Online in late May. The program is an opportunity for young radio amateurs from Region 1 (Europe, Africa, and the Mideast) to gather online each month. For each session, a YOTA team will present various topics; the initial session focused on the Youth Contesting Program (YCP) in Re...

AMSAT reports that, after some 8 months in continuous sunlight, AO-73 (FUNcube-1) began to encounter some eclipses during each orbit. Telemetry showed that AO-73 continued to function, although maintaining a sufficient battery charge was a concern. After 3 weeks of increasing eclipse periods, however, AMSAT reported that the lithium-ion battery appears to be okay, and the bus voltage has not ye...

The 1st US Air Force MARS Special Operations Group (1AFMSOG) Military Support Network Squadron broadcasts a message on alternate weeks (Fridays in US time zones) from the Chief Air Force MARS. The broadcast addresses Air Force MARS members, but all amateur radio stations and shortwave listeners are invited to monitor the transmissions. The next transmissions will be on June 12, starting at 2300...