ARRL News

27 July 2024

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the national association for amateur radio, connecting hams around the U.S. with news, information and resources.

• ARRL Southeastern Division Vice Director Jeff Beals, WA4AW, SK

  The Vice Director of the ARRL Southeastern Division, Jeffrey J. “Jeff” Beals, WA4AW, has become a Silent Key. He died on July 20, 2024. Beals, who was born in 1951, devoted a lifetime of service to amateur radio, having served in many local clubs, the ARRL Field Organization, and on the ARRL Board of Directors. He was also elected Vice President of the Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA...

• Amateur Radio Participates in World’s Largest Naval Exercise
• HamCon:Zion 2024

  HamCon: Zion 2024, hosting the ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Convention, the Young Ladies Radio League 85th Convention, and the RV Radio Network’s 2024 Western Rally, was a success. The inaugural event, held in St. George, Utah, was well attended and many reported the facility and events were first rate. 

  ARRL National Instructor Gordon West, WB6NOA, was in the ARRL booth greeting visitors and ga...

• The K7RA Solar Update

  Big increase in solar activity this week, with average daily sunspot number rising from 129 to 215.9, and solar flux from 176.6 to 226.5.

  Fourteen new sunspot groups emerged. Two were on July 11, one on July 12, three on July 13, one on July 14, two more on July 15, three more on July 16 and two more on July 17.

  On Thursday (after the reporting week) the daily sunspot number was 276, the highes...

• Get On the Air During VHF Contest Season

  VHF contesting season is in full swing! Summer weather brings with it enhanced propagation. With good conditions, stations hundreds of miles away can be worked via tropospheric ducting, E-skip, and perhaps even meteor scatter. If you have an HF rig that includes 6 meters or VHF/UHF capability, you’ve got just the tools you need to take advantage of these enhancements! US amateurs of all license...

• ARRL VEC Services Update During Systems Disruption

  ARRL previously reported that we are responding to a serious incident involving access to our network and headquarters-based systems. Several services have been affected, including those administered by the ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC).

  Exam Registrations and Materials. ARRL Volunteer Examiners (VEs) should continue to submit exam registrations and material requests. While we a...

• Voices from the ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology

  The ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology continues to bring educators from around the country to ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut, to learn how to engage students with amateur radio and radio technology. The program helps tie wireless technology into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.

  In their own words:

  This week, TI1, or the initial course o...

• Randall Carlson, WB0JJX, Former Delaware Section Manager, Silent Key

  Randall Carlson, WB0JJX, has become a Silent Key. He passed away June 7, 2024. Carlson was the Section Manager of the ARRL Delaware Section from December 1992 until 2005. He was originally licensed in the 1970s, according to his obituary. Carlson was 66 years old.

• ARRL Announces Leadership Changes in the Hudson Division

  ARRL Director Nomar Vizcarrondo, NP4H, who has represented the Hudson Division since March 2023, has stepped down, effective July 12, 2024, at 5 PM Eastern.

  Vice Director Ed Wilson, N2XDD, accedes to the Director’s chair to complete the remainder of a 3-year term ending December 31, 2024. Wilson has served as Vice Director since June 2023. He has held ARRL Field Organization appointments as an E...

• The K7RA Solar Update

  New sunspot groups, nine in all, emerged on every day of this reporting week, July 4 to 10. One on July 4, another on July 5, two more on July 6, another each on July 7 and July 8, two more on July 9 and another on July 10.

  On July 11, two more sunspot groups emerged, and the total sunspot area expanded by 13 per cent.

  Despite the appearance of so many new sunspots, average daily sunspot number...

• ARRL on The Weather Channel

  ARRL® The National Association for Amateur Radio® joined The Weather Channel on Thursday, July 11, 2024, for a live chat about the value of amateur radio during hurricane season and beyond. ARRL’s Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, talked about how radio helps inform the warning process through surface observations relayed through the Hurricane Watch Net and other nets to WX4NHC, the amateur radio station...

• Celebrating Software Defined Radio

  At Ham Radio 2024, the International amateur radio exhibition, last week in Friedrichshafen, Germany, the Software Defined Radio Academy (SDRA) celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Founded in 2014, the SDRA has become a new platform for the exchange of knowledge surrounding software defined radio. In the early years, the academy’s lectures were recorded with primitive camera technology, but toda...

• Hurricane Beryl Aftermath and Update

  Remnants of Hurricane Beryl, now a post-tropical cyclone, were moving northeast as of early Thursday morning with heavy rain and 35 mph winds. The storm is forecast to continue its current direction as it moves through Pennsylvania, upstate New York, northern New England and Canada, moving ENE at 20 mph. Beryl was the fastest and earliest storm of the hurricane season and during its 8-day run t...

• 2024 ARRL Field Day Log Deadline Approaching

  The numbers for ARRL 2024 Field Day continue to grow. As of Thursday, July 11, there were nearly 3,500 entries posted. Remember, the deadline for entries is July 23, 2024. It’s a good idea to check the ARRL Field Day website daily for the latest updates and to make sure your entries are completed. If you see “complete” in the status column, your entries are good. If you see ‘pending documents,’...

• ARRL Systems Service Disruption

  Updated 07/09/2024

  As previously reported, ARRL® Logbook of The World® (LoTW®) returned to service on Monday, July 1, 2024. As anticipated, there was a significant rise in use to catch up on processing logs following the outage. It took 4 days for normal processing times to return.

  The ARRL Radiosport Department has resumed processing applications for most awards. The systems for Worked All State...

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