ARRL

The ARRL Foundation Scholarship Program has opened the application window for 2026 scholarships. Applications will be accepted through December 30, 2025, at 12 PM EST. Students are encouraged to apply for more than 170 scholarships ranging from $500 to $25,000. All applicants must be active, FCC-licensed amateur radio operators. 

The scholarships were established by generous donors and are manag...

The October 2025 West Coast Qualifying Run originally scheduled for Saturday,
October 25 at 2 PM PDT (October 25 at 2100z) had to be rescheduled.

The new date and time are Wednesday, October 29 at 9 PM PDT (October 30 at 0400z).

West Coast Station K6XX will transmit the official ARRL Qualifying Run on
3581.5, 7047.5, and 14047.5 kHz.  The speeds will run from 10 to 35 WPM.

Updated Friday, October 31, 2025 @ 8 AM EDT

Hurricane Melissa passed to the northwest of Bermuda on Thursday night and is forecasted to pass south of the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland as a post-tropical cyclone on Friday night. Water levels should continue to subside this morning for Bermuda. Swells generated by Melissa will continue to affect portions of Hispaniola, Cuba, the Bahamas, the Tu...

Updated Monday, October 27, 2025 @ 9 AM EDT (1300 UTC)

ARRL thanks Carlos Alberto Santamaría González, CO2JC, for information included in this update.

CUBA: NATIONAL EMERGENCY NETWORK WILL BE ACTIVATED THIS MONDAY, WITH NETWORKS ALREADY ACTIVATED IN EASTERN PROVINCES

Forecasts indicate Hurricane Melissa will affect Cuba, especially its eastern region.

Starting at noon today (Monday, October 27), th...

Tropical Storm Melissa is nearly stationary in Caribbean on Friday, October, 24, 2025. Forecasters warn it could quickly intensify, impacting Jamaica as a hurricane and causing catastrophic flooding and landslides Haiti and the Dominican Republic. 

The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) a group of licensed Amateur Radio Operators trained and organized to provide essential communications support to the Na...

Solar activity reached moderate levels this past week, but has now
returned to, and remains at, lower levels. Region 4248 produced an
M1.1 flare on October 20, which was the largest event of the period.
Region 4261 was numbered this period as it rotated into better
viewing conditions.

Region 4262 was numbered this period as well, splitting it from
Region 4257. Additionally, new spots were noted near ...

Region AR4246 underwent significant evolution, growing in overall
size while gaining multiple new spots. Subsequently, AR4246 was the
main provider of activity which included an M1.2 flare on October
13. Several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) with potential
Earth-directed components are in the mix at this time.

Additional modeling efforts are underway to perhaps confirm those
suspicions. The largest f...

As part of a much larger overhaul focused on deleting almost 400 obsolete wireless regulations, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced plans to delete or modify four minor provisions of Part 97. 

ARRL’s Washington Counsel has reviewed the proposal and agrees that the deletions are to obsolete rules and will have no impact on today’s modern Amateur Radio Service. One of the del...

Amateur radio operators serve their communities across the United States in many ways, before and When All Else Fails®. Using their skills as communicators, their personal equipment, and the Amateur Radio Service, the “hams” provide a needed boost to public safety radio systems.

The 47th Bank of America Chicago Marathon, held on October 12, 2025, featured 55,000 runners from around the world. An...

Updated October 31, 2025, to include service information (at the bottom).

Edward F. “Ed” Hare, Jr., W1RFI, who spent decades as an employee of ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio®, has become a Silent Key. He died on October 10, 2025, at the age of 75 after an illness.

Hare first earned his Amateur Radio Service license as a teenager as WN1CYF (later WA1CYF and KA1CV) and was active i...

Solar activity has been at moderate levels for the past 24 hours. Solar
activity is expected to be low with a chance for M class flares. Solar wind
speed reached a peak of 1124 km/s.

Solar activity reached moderate levels following an M2.0 flare (R1-Minor) at
from a region just around the Northwestern limb. Only low-level C-class
activity was observed from the remaining spotted regions on the visibl...

The ARRL Foundation is accepting grant applications from amateur radio organizations for eligible amateur radio-related projects and initiatives, particularly those focused on educating, licensing, and supporting amateur radio activities. To grow amateur radio's future, youth-based projects and initiatives are especially encouraged.

The ARRL Foundation grants program accepts proposals on a cycli...

Original Story 10/1/2025
Updated 10/2/2025 (CORES is not available for new registrants)
Updated 10/3/2025 (Temporary testing procedures for examinees without FRNs)

A bulletin sent to members of ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® included information about the impact of the US Government shutdown on licensing for the Amateur Radio Service.

The government shutdown began at 12:01 Eastern...

Solar activity, which has been at low levels, has returned to
moderate levels. Region AR4232 produced the largest event of the
period, an impulsive M3.6 flare (R1-minor) on October 1, 2025.

An associated Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) was observed in subsequent
SOHO LASCO/C2 coronagraph imagery that began on September 29.
Analysis and modelling of the ejecta is ongoing.

Newly numbered Region AR4237 rema...

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has issued a Notice of Violation (NoV) to Mike F. Conte of Naples, Florida, citing alleged rule violations related to unauthorized transmissions and refusal to allow station inspection. The FCC notice by the Regional Director, Region One, Enforcement Bureau, was released on September 29, 2025, and includes that Conte holds an Amateur Radio Service lic...