Whiskey Delta Five Mike

On Sunday, March 1, dozens of amateur radio volunteers from several states will take part in a 3-hour exercise in the northern Florida city of Gainesville. The exercise is designed to test and evaluate skills, assets, and strategies for emergency communication, such as those that might be needed in the aftermath of a hurricane. The exercise is being organized by the North Florida Amateur Radio ...

A new world distance record of 139 kilometers (86.2 miles) is being claimed by radio amateurs in northern California. This tops the record of 114 kilometers set in 2005 by WA1ZMS and W4WWQ, according to the Distance Records on the ARRL website.

The February 17, 2020, contact was between Mike Lavelle, K6ML, on Mount Vaca (CM88WJ75ON) at 835 meters (2,739.5 feet) above sea level, and Oliver Barret...

Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) volunteers in DeSoto County, Mississippi, devoted several days in January to assisting local emergency managers in responding to tornado damage in the region. Desoto County Emergency Coordinator Ricky Chambers, KF5WVJ; Assistant EC Gene Adams, KF5KVL; Tate County EC Brad Kerley, KG5TTU, and Andy Luscomb, AG5FG, reported at 3 AM on January 11 to the DeSot...

The most recent sunspot appearance was on February 1, nearly three weeks ago.

Average daily solar flux over the past week declined just barely from 71.1 to 70.9.

Average daily planetary A index changed from 8.3 to 7, and mid-latitude A index went from 6.7 to 5.1. Solar activity remains very low.

Predicted solar flux is projected to remain very low, at 70 on February 20-27, and 71 on February 28 th...

The winning article for the February 2020 QST Cover Plaque award is “CW Combo Key” by Marc Alan Winzenried, WA9ZCO.

The QST Cover Plaque Award -- given to the author or authors of the most popular article in each issue -- is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the QST Cover Plaque Poll web page. Cast a ballot for your favorite article in the March issue today.

When the International Space Station (ISS) orbit is not favorable for a direct Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with a particular school or location scheduled to speak with an astronaut, ARISS radio telebridge stations bridge the gap. Gerald Klatzko, ZS6BTD, of Parklands, South Africa, one of the “regulars” during the earlier years of the ARISS program, died on F...

The W8S DXpedition to Swains Island in the Pacific, set to take place in mid-March, has been postponed until fall as a result of travel restrictions imposed on individuals entering American Samoa, stemming from the recent coronavirus outbreak. The Department of Health allows non-residents to enter American Samoa only via Hawaii after a 14-day mandatory quarantine in Hawaii, and the DXpedition w...

The MV Braveheart is at sea again, this time transporting the VP8PJ South Orkney DXpedition team to Signy Island. Track the vessel’s progress on the VP8PJ website. The Perseverance DX Group is sponsoring the DXpedition. Team members have been operating as ZL1NA/mm during their voyage, generating heavy pileups.

VP8PJ is expected to commence operation on February 21 and continue until March 5. Ope...

The Yasme Foundation Board of Directors announced several grants when it met in Orlando, Florida, on February 9. Financial support will go to:

• The Ethiopian Amateur Radio Society (ET3AA) for VHF equipment.

   

• The SU8WRC/SU8X demonstration station at World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 in Egypt.

   

• The Youth on the Air and HamSCI exhibits at Dayton Hamvention 2020.

   

• Contest University at ...

The 5 MHz (60-meter) GB3WES beacon in Westmorland, England (IO84qn), on 5.290 MHz will close down on March 11, 2020, when its Notice of Variation (NoV) expires. The beacon began service on October 30, 2004. At the time, it was one of a chain of three UK 5 MHz propagation research beacons; the others were GB3RAL in Oxfordshire, already shut down, and GB3ORK in Orkney, which will be the sole rema...

AMSAT reports that the pioneering AMSAT-OSCAR 85 (AO-85) CubeSat, also known as Fox-1A, has gone silent.

“Having not been heard throughout the most recent period of full illumination, it is reasonable to believe the batteries have deteriorated to the point of no longer being able to power the transmitter,” AMSAT said this week. “Should some future event cause a cell to open, it is possible the s...

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.

There were no sunspots over this reporting week, February 6-12. Average daily solar flux declined over one point to 71.1. Average planetary A index increased from 6.7 to 8.3.

Predicted solar flux for the next 45 days is 70 on February 14-21, 73 on February 22, 74 on February 23-29, 72 on March 1-3, 71 on March 4-11, 72 on March 12-18, 73 on March 19-20, 74 on March 21-27, and 72 on March 28-29.

P...

ARRL Headquarters will be closed for Presidents’ Day, Monday, February 17. There will be no W1AW bulletin or code practice transmissions on that day. Headquarters will reopen on Tuesday, February 18, at 8 AM EST.

The Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) Board of Directors has named Cary Rubenfeld, VE4EA, of Winnipeg, Manitoba, as the recipient of the 2019 RAC Amateur of the Year Award. The award recognizes “his tireless efforts to promote amateur radio in his home province of Manitoba, throughout Canada and internationally,” RAC said.

Rubenfeld is a founding member of Radiosport Manitoba (RSM). He was also a d...

The second episode of ARRL’s On the Air podcast is now available. The topics focus on building the ground plane antenna featured in the first issue of On the Air magazine, a discussion of open-wire feed lines, and an interview with a relatively new public service volunteer. New On the Air podcast episodes are available monthly.

The first episode of the new Eclectic Tech podcast also is now avai...

Mitsuo Kasai, JA1WQF, successfully decoded a 47 GHz signal bounced off the moon on February 10 by Al Ward, W5LUA. More tests are planned. Ward posted news of the achievement on the Moon-Net email reflector. “These were one-way tests, with only me transmitting,” he said in his post.

“I started out by sending single tones to Mitsuo, which he copied well, and then sent several sequences of calls an...