Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: Lots of news lately about the solar cycle, but no sunspots. Today, September 18, is the 29th consecutive day with no sunspots.

The news this week was about the Solar Cycle 24 minimum, announced recently as having occurred during December 2019 and indicating the start of Solar Cycle 25. The reason that announcement is just coming out now has to do with the nature...

Northern Florida Section Emergency Coordinator Karl Martin, K4HBN, is requesting that stations not directly involved in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) response to Hurricane Sally please avoid 3.950 MHz (primary) and 7.242 MHz (backup). ARES has activated in four Northern Florida counties. Shelters are open, and power and telecommunications outages are widespread, Martin reports.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has announced that two 60-meter channels have been made available, as necessary, for interoperability between US Government stations and US amateur radio stations involved in emergency communications related to the wildland firefighting response in California, Oregon, and Washington, and to Hurricane Sally. These interoperability channels will rema...

The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) said this morning that it will continue to gather any reports from Bermuda in the wake of Hurricane Paulette, which made landfall on the resort island today (Monday, September 14). Paulette is slowly moving away from Bermuda, a British overseas territory. The HWN is currently active on 14.325 MHz, seeking damage and storm surge reports.

“The Atlantic Basin is very b...

The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) has announced plans to activate today (Sunday, September 13) at 2100 UTC on both 14.325 MHz and 7.268 MHz as Hurricane Paulette is predicted to make landfall on Bermuda early on September 14 as a Category 2 storm. HWN Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, noted that activation plans are subject to change as weather forecasts unfold.

As of 1500 UTC on Sunday, Hurricane Paule...

Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: An extended lull in solar activity persists. The smoothed sunspot minimum occurred last December, but the flurry of moderate sunspot activity in August has not continued.

An event to look forward to is the autumnal equinox, which occurs at 1330 UTC on Tuesday, September 22. We should see a seasonal improvement in HF propagation around that date because the north...

The candidates for the 2020 ARRL Division elections are now official. Unfortunately, incorrect information regarding electronic balloting in ARRL Division elections was disseminated in the Midwest Division. ARRL does not use electronic voting. The only way to cast a vote is by US Postal Service mail.

We urge you to participate by casting and mailing your ballot. Ballots, accompanied by a photogr...

The Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL) has proposed to end amateur radio certificate exams for all classes, replacing the current system with free access to the initial Class C license, access to Class B for those presenting a technical course certificate in telecommunications (or similar) or who have 3 years of experience as a Class C licensee, and to Class A for those who p...

The September edition of the North American CW Sprint, sponsored by National Contest Journal (NCJ), is this weekend. The often-frantic 4-hour event gets under way on Sunday, September 13, at 0000 UTC (Saturday, September 12 in North American time zones). CW Sprints take place twice a year, in September and February; RTTY Sprints are in March and September.

“The CW Sprint can seem intimidating, p...

As preparations for World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23) go forward, the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) continues its efforts to protect amateur and amateur-satellite allocations. The international conference, which generally takes place every 4 years, is sponsored by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

IARU participated in the first online meeting of Project ...

Nigel Vander Houwen, K7NVH, reported on September 8 that some HamWAN users in the Puget Sound region of Washington who were viewing the network’s camera feeds, spotted a large brush fire.

“They reported it to the DNR [Department of Natural Resources], which thanked them for the first report they’d gotten on the fire, and they’ve sent a team to try and keep it small and under control,” Vander Ho...

ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (VEC) Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, reports that the National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) held its annual meeting via teleconference on August 21. Somma is the NCVEC Vice Chair. NCVEC Chair Larry Pollock, NB5X, presided at the 35th annual meeting. The NCVEC functions to facilitate communication between the FCC and VECs. Representatives...

Researchers at the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in New Mexico have discovered a new way to track and characterize sporadic E, which occurs when large structures of dense plasma form naturally in the upper atmosphere. These plasma structures, which occur at mid-latitude locations around the world, can affect radio wave propagation in both positive and negative ways. VHF enthusiasts frequ...

James Larner, N1ATO, of Bangor, Maine, died on Wednesday, September 2, after apparently falling a reported 80 feet from an amateur radio tower in the rural Knox County town of Union. The incident happened just before 1 PM local time.

Said to have been a tower professional who had done a lot of work for many Maine broadcasters, Larner, an ARRL member, was 74. According to news accounts, Larner wa...