ARRL News

ARRL Colorado Section Manager Robert Wareham, N0ESQ, has resigned from the position, effective June 30, 2022. "I appreciate all the hard work that you have put in and wish you the best for the future," responded ARRL Field Services Manager Mike Walters, W8ZY.

Wareham has a long history of leadership within ARRL, serving as State Government Liaison, Public Information Coordinator, Section Emergen...

The ARRL Youth Licensing Grant Program, in effect since April 19, 2022, will cover the one-time $35 application fee for new amateur radio license candidates younger than 18 years old for tests administered under the ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) program.

"We are thrilled that we are able to provide this opportunity to our youth candidates," said ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM.

T...

Updated 4/22/2022 (PM)

The ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) reports that the FCC Universal Licensing System (ULS) electronic batch filing (EBF) system is back online and functioning normally. VECs may resume transmitting sessions and applications. The backlog of files will be processed through the system.

4/22/2022 (midday)

FCC Not Processing License Applications and Exam Session Files

The...

The ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) reports that the FCC Universal Licensing System (ULS) electronic batch filing (EBF) system has been down since midday Tuesday, April 19, 2022, which is the day the FCC application fees became effective for amateur radio.

On Wednesday, in a notice to all VECs, the FCC asked them to refrain from submitting any session or application files while they wo...

John E. Ross, KD8IDJ, is the new ARRL News Editor. Ross was selected for the position following the recent retirement of Rick Lindquist, WW1ME, from the role -- which includes producing news content for the ARRL website, the weekly ARRL Letter, the "Happenings" and "Amateur Radio World" columns in QST, and voicing the weekly ARRL Audio News.

Ross has served as the Public Information Coordinator ...

In recognition of World Amateur Radio Day, held on April 18, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) published articles and social media posts highlighting various facets of ham radio. This included an ITU News interview with Philipp Springer, DK6SP, Chair of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 1 Youth Working Group, and the article, "How to become a radio 'ham' in the d...

The Hawaii Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) conducted an operational readiness drill on April 16 to evaluate their emergency communications abilities if severe weather were to hit the state and disable regular communications.

The exercise simulated a 4-day period of catastrophic rain and wind covering the Hawaiian Islands, from Kauai to the Big Island, which took out power, internet, and...

A relaxing weekend of camping and fishing did not go as planned last Friday when a member of a California outdoors club fell and broke his hip.

The Old Goats Mountain Club (OGMC) had worked their way along an old Forest Service Road into a rugged, off grid location in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. Dave Johnson, KL7DJ, said his friend slipped and fell while trying reel in a catch. The i...

ARRL is seeking candidates for job opportunities at its headquarters in Newington, Connecticut. Available positions include Director of Information Technology, Public Relations & Outreach Manager, Social Media Strategist, and others.

ARRL Human Resources Manager Luci Goodwin explained that some of the jobs are brand-new positions, established to help advance the association's ongoing digital tra...

World Amateur Radio Day (WARD) is April 18 and is celebrated worldwide by radio amateurs and their national associations, which are organized as member-societies of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU).

It was on this day in 1925 that the IARU was formed in Paris. American Radio Relay League (today, ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio) co-founder Hiram Percy Maxim was its fir...

A power outage that will enable utility pole maintenance near ARRL’s headquarters in Newington, Connecticut, is scheduled for Saturday, April 9, 2022. The local power company completing the maintenance anticipates the ARRL building will lose power for approximately 8 hours, from 7 AM to 3 PM Eastern time. While there may be a brief interruption to online, network services, ARRL has backup gener...

Lots of solar activity livened up HF conditions over the past reporting week, March 31 to April 6. Average daily sunspot number rose from 90.1 to 94.6, and daily solar flux from 132.7 to 135.3.

It looks like solar flux may peak this month at 140 on April 24-28.

Since March 18 we were unable to get daily solar flux from the observatory in Penticton, British Columbia, so for a couple of weeks we re...

The Murgas Amateur Radio Club (MARC), K3YTL, an ARRL-affiliated club in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, will present two appearances by NASA Astronaut Colonel Douglas Wheelock on April 6, 2022. The events are being held in cooperation with NASA, the University of Scranton, and Misericordia University. Colonel Wheelock, now retired, was selected by NASA in 1998 and has accumulated more than 178 days...

The 2021 ARRL Herb S. Brier Award for Instructor of The Year was given to recipient Dave Ritter, ND4MR. The award was presented during the ARRL forum at the Charlotte, North Carolina Hamfest on Saturday, March 12.

An ARRL Member for nearly 40 years, Ritter is an ARRL Registered Instructor and a full-time faculty member at Wilkes Community College in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, where he’s b...

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) staff has clarified in response to an ARRL request that the new $35 application fee will not apply to most license modifications, including those to upgrade anamateur radio licensee's operator class and changes to club station trustees. The FCC staff explained that the new fees will apply only to applications for a new license, renewal, rule waiver, o...

Follow these steps to sign in and access ARRL features and services: Go to arrl.org and click “Login” which will redirect you to “Register” (please note, even if you have an ARRL account you will need to register).

To register, enter the main e-mail address we have on file and click “Next.” You will be prompted to create a user name and new password. Your password must contain at least eight cha...

Many solar flares and CMEs occurred over the reporting week (March 24-30) but with glancing blows and near misses, it wasn’t reflected in the geomagnetic indicators until Thursday, the last day in March.

The Planetary A index reached a high for the reporting week of 19 on March 27. Average daily planetary A index rose by a modest amount from 6.3 to 10.

Average daily sunspot number rose from 33.4 ...

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) satellite frequency coordination panel reports that an application has been submitted for an amateur radio payload to be hosted on the Chinese Tiangong space station. The coordination request states:

"CSSARC is the amateur radio payload for Chinese Space Station, proposed by Chinese Radio Amateurs Club (CRAC), Aerospace System Engineering Research Ins...

A Public Notice released by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on March 23, 2022, in MD Docket No. 20-270, announced that new application fees for Wireless Telecommunications Bureau applications will become effective on April 19, 2022. The new fees, mandated by Congress, apply to applications for Amateur Radio licenses including those associated with filing Form 605, the Amateur Operat...