ARRL

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

The FCC delayed action on the renewal application of a General Class licensee in Quakertown, Pennsylvania, in order to review allegations of repeated transmission of obscenities and failure to properly identi...

ARISS-USA, a Maryland nonprofit corporation, has earned recognition from the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a Section 501(c)(3) charitable, scientific, and educational organization. ARISS-USA is the US segment of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) international working group. With this IRS determination, donations to ARISS-USA become tax-deductible in the US, ret...

Frank Howell, K4FMH, followed up his two-part National Contest Journal (NCJ) series, “The Demographics of Contesting,” with a post to his Social Circuits blog, called “Lemmings over a Demographic Cliff?” (His original articles appeared in the July/August and September/October 2020 issues of NCJ.) Howell points to data showing that radio contesters are older than the average ARRL member. Taking ...

“Team YOTA” of Youngsters on the Air in IARU Region 1 has announced it will sponsor a new contest, the YOTA Contest. Open to all radio amateurs, it takes place three times a year and runs just 12 hours. YOTA said the aim is to boost on-the-air activity by younger radio amateurs and to support YOTA. The contest will take place on different 12-hour windows on three Saturdays.

The opening event wil...

Radio amateurs are invited to take part in the MARS exercise now under way until April 10 in support of the US Department of Defense. The five USB channelized 60-meter frequencies are available for interoperability (communication between services).

By convention, Channel 1 is designated the calling channel. This convention is established to train the amateur radio community to reach out on Chann...

Sunday, April 18, is World Amateur Radio Day (WARD). This year marks the 96th anniversary of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), founded at the 1925 International Radiotelegraph Conference in Paris. ARRL cofounder and first president, Hiram Percy Maxim, 1AW, was there, and today, ARRL is the International Secretariat of the IARU. ARRL has resources that members can use to celebrate WA...

Past ARRL San Diego Section Manager (SM) and Southwest Division Vice Director Tuck Miller, NF9T (ex-NZ6T), of Danville, Illinois, died on March 10. An ARRL Life Member, he was 67. Miller served as San Diego SM from 1998 until 2002, when he was elected as Southwestern Division Vice Director. He was re-elected as San Diego SM in 2006 and served briefly before having to resign for health reasons.

M...

Following its decision earlier this year to cancel the in-person Dayton Hamvention® in May, Hamvention has announced a series of 2021 Hamvention weekend activities, both virtual and on the air. These activities are getting underway with a virtual Contest University (CTU) on Thursday, May 20, which will be a free event. Even non-contesters may find something to learn at CTU. Major sponsors inclu...

World Amateur Radio Day (WARD) 2021 is Sunday, April 18. On that day in 1925, the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) was formed in Paris. Today, the IARU is a worldwide federation of national amateur radio organizations. The IARU has chosen "Amateur Radio: Home but Never Alone" as its WARD 2021 theme, acknowledging the many ways throughout the COVID-19 pandemic that amateur radio has rema...

The Nashua Area Radio Society (NARS) will again offer its popular Ham Bootcamp program on Saturday, April 24. Bootcamp is free and includes demonstrations and tutorials designed to help newly licensed Technician-, General-, and Amateur Extra-class hams get on the air. It is also a great opportunity for prospective radio amateurs to learn what the hobby has to offer. Bootcamp additions include "...

Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: On March 21 and 22 two new sunspot groups, 2811 and 2812, appeared. Average daily sunspot number this week faded a bit from 19 to 17.9, but average daily solar flux went from 78.1 to 78.6. Neither change is significant.

We haven’t seen a day with no sunspots since March 1, so that brings the percentage of spotless days so far this year to 38%, down from 57% last...

 ARRL, the FCC, and the US Department of Defense are cooperating in an effort to eliminate the possibility of amateur radio interference on 70 centimeters to a future missile control system at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico. The Defense Department’s Regional Spectrum Coordinator contacted the FCC in March, seeking information on whom to contact regarding amateur transmissions op...