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    American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources

    ARRL Introduces First Challenge Coin

    This month, the ARRL and the Amateur Radio community celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Amateur Radio Emergency Service®, or ARES®. To help commemorate this milestone, the ARRL has introduced an anniversary Challenge Coin. The die-struck, 1.5 inch brass coin depicts the ARES 75th anniversary logo in gold with red, white and blue color fill, while the reverse shows the ARRL diamond logo again...



    Massachusetts ARES Prepares as a Now-Weakened Hurricane Earl Approaches

    Robert Macedo, KD1CY, ARES SKYWARN Coordinator and Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator, provided this report on the afternoon of Friday, September 3:

    The following is a situation report from the Eastern Massachusetts ARRL Section on Hurricane Earl. The good news is that Earl has weakened to a Category-1 hurricane. The other good news is that its track remains on target with ...



    New Interim Chief Takes Over Air Force MARS

     The Air Force Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) organization has a new “interim” Chief. Outgoing USAF MARS Chief Allen Eiermann, K3LSR, retired at the end of May and was replaced by TSgt Jason E. Sandifer. Sandifer is a systems manager stationed at the Air Force Network Integration Center (AFNIC) at Scott AFB, Illinois. AFNIC is the headquarters of the national Air Force MARS organization...



    The K7RA Solar Update

    Over this past week, four new sunspot groups appeared. Group 1101 was already in place since August 24, and 1102 emerged on August 29. On September 1, two new sunspot groups -- 1103 and 1104 -- appeared, and on September 2, sunspot group 1105 arrived. Through August 26-September 2, the daily sunspot numbers were 23, 11, 11, 25, 28, 27, 51 and 52 and these same eight days saw the relative total ...



    Surfin’: Hurricane Hamming

    By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
    Contributing Editor

    This week, Surfin’ makes plans for emergency communications of the hurricane variety.  

    As I write this, Connecticut and the Northeast are looking down the barrel of Hurricane Earl. It looks like my neck of the woods will only receive a glancing, but powerful blow, but points south and east of us will not be so lucky.

    Having lived through direct hits fro...



    Hurricane Earl Heading for North Carolina, Hurricane Warnings Issued for New England

    Hurricane Earl -- once again a Category 4 storm -- is currently aiming for North Carolina’s Outer Banks. At 11 AM (EDT), Earl is located about 300 miles south of Cape Hatteras and 765 mles south of Nantucket Island, just off the coast of Massachusetts. Earl is now moving north at a speed near 18 MPH, and is expected to turn north-northeast with an increase in forward speed on Friday. The center...



    New D-STAR Repeater Now in Place in ARRL Laboratory

    The ARRL Lab has installed a D-STAR (Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio) repeater in the Lab at the ARRL Headquarters building. Operating with an output of 147.390 MHz, positive offset, the W1HQ D-STAR repeater is a local repeater with a modest footprint covering the Hartford-New Britain, Connecticut area. The antenna is on the roof of the Headquarters building with the repeater locat...



    Earl Possibly to Upgrade to Category 4 Storm, US Atlantic Coast on Alert

    On August 30, Hurricane Earl intensified into a Category 4 hurricane -- sustained winds 131-155 MPH -- before leveling out back into a Category 3 storm. But even as a Category 3 hurricane, Earl is still a major storm with hurricane-force winds extending outward up to 90 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds extending outward up to 200 miles. According to the National Hurricane C...



    ARRL to Close in Observance of Labor Day

    ARRL Headquarters will be closed in observance of Labor Day on Monday, September 6. There will be no W1AW bulletin or code practice transmissions that day. ARRL Headquarters will reopen Tuesday, September 7 at 8 AM Eastern Daylight Time. We wish everyone a safe and festive holiday weekend.



    ARRL in Action: What Have We Been Up to Lately?

    Compiled by S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
    ARRL News Editor
    news@arrl.org

    This feature -- including convenient Web links to useful information -- is a concise monthly update of some of the things ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment covers the month of August.

    ARRL Sections along the Atlantic Coast are watching and monitoring the progress of Hurricane Earl, with many assisting WX4NHC...



    James Garland, W8ZR, Wins August QST Cover Plaque Award

    The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for August is James Garland, W8ZR, for his article “The StationPro Master Station Controller.Congratulations, James! The winner of the QST Cover Plaque award -- given to the author or authors of the best 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...



    Discover the Fun of 6 Meters (and Up!) in the ARRL September VHF QSO Party

    September is here, and according to ARRL Contest Branch Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, that means the VHF bands are getting a workout: “If you’ve never experienced the fun of VHF+ operating, the ARRL September VHF QSO Party is a great place to start. With many HF radios now offering at least 6 meter SSB/CW capabilities -- and some offering 2 meters and 70 cm as well -- any amateur with a Technician...



    FCC Reaffirms 2×2 Call Signs Are Only for Advanced, Amateur Extra License Classes

    QST Columnist Recognized for Documenting Radio’s Past

    John Dilks, K2TQN -- who pens the “Vintage Radio” column in QST every month -- was awarded the AWA Houck Award for Documentation by the Antique Wireless Association (AWA) at their 2010 World Convention, held August 17-21 in Rochester, New York. This award is presented each year to an AWA member who has written original articles on radio development or history in the AWA Journal, AWA Review or o...



    Youth@HamRadio.Fun: A 2010 Youth DX Adventure

    By Duncan MacLachlan, KU0DM
    ARRL Youth Editor
    ku0dm@arrl.net

    I desperately wanted to go on a DXpedition before I turned 18. I know not many kids my age have had the opportunity to travel abroad, let alone travel abroad for the sole purpose of doing something you love. So when Don DuBon, N6JRL, first contacted me, informing me that there was a possibility that I could accompany a group of young ope...



Archive for February, 2007

New World Of Amateur Radio (Ham 2.0)

Posted by ARRL PR Dept on February 25th, 2007

Special Section Available Online
The March issue of QST includes a special 8-page “tearout” section “Now, New Opportunities for Every Ham!” which focuses on several topics of interest to those gaining new HF privileges either through upgrading or owing to the new FCC rules as well as to veteran licensees.
Covered is mentoring — or Elmering […]

Special Welcome Weekend Event To Mark New Rules

Posted by ARRL PR Dept on February 15th, 2007

As new Amateur Radio Service rules phase in Friday, February 23, eliminating the Morse code requirement, Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station W1AW will mark the milestone with a weekend-long special event. In addition, a number of Central Connecticut volunteer examiners will be on hand at ARRL Headquarters — both before and after the new rules […]