Citing age, health, and personal issues, Peter Jost, HB9CET, has stepped down as International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 Monitoring System (IARUMS) Vice Coordinator. He will continue to serve as IARUMS Coordinator for Switzerland’s IARU member-society USKA (Union Schweizerischer Kurzwellen-Amateure).

IARU Region 1 said that Jost, who received the IARUMS R1 Medal in 2021, has made a major cont...

Saif D. Shahid, S21A/KF6WJZ/G1NWJ, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, died on January 10. He was 73. Shahid was the founder and President of the Bangladesh Amateur Radio League (BARL), which was established after more than 12 years of hard lobbying and negotiating with government officials by Shahid and others. Until then, amateur radio operation from Bangladesh had been sporadic and of questionable l...

Nine Boulder County (Colorado) Amateur Radio Emergency Services (BCARES) volunteers turned out on December 30, 2021 as the devastating Marshall Fire roared through Superior and (portions of) Louisville, Colorado. Intense winds whipped a grass fire south of Boulder near Marshall into a massive firestorm that became too large and fierce for firefighters to battle.

“The only battle was evacuation, ...

The ICQ Amateur/Ham Radio Podcast team has shifted ownership and management of the Homebrew Heroes Award to the Ham Radio Workbench Podcast.

“It makes better branding sense for their team to acquire and manage this awards program,” said Frank Howell, K4FMH, of the ICQ Amateur/Ham Radio Podcast team. “Their episode-to-episode content clearly reflects the underlying principles of the Homebrew Her...

Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: The Australian Space Forecast Centre issued this warning at 2355 UTC on January 13:

“A Southern coronal hole with extensions into the equatorial region is expected to reach geo-effective location on the solar disk on late UTC day 15 January. As a result, unsettled-to-active conditions with a chance of minor storms are possible on these two days.”

Two new sunspot ...

A new ARRL Foundation Club Grants program, funded by a grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), will make $500,000 available to radio clubs. The program will provide up to $25,000 for worthy club projects. Requests for more than that will be referred back to ARDC.

ARRL has long recognized that it is in the best interests of amateur radio to encourage and support amateur radio club...

Two spacecraft comprised of wood or using wooden framing are hoping to launch this year and next. One will carry an amateur radio payload.

WISA Woodsat, a Finnish spacecraft that planned to include an amateur radio payload, was forced to postpone its announced launch target from 2021 to 2022 after the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Amateur Satellite Frequency Coordination system turned...

The TEVEL mission, which consists of eight satellites carrying amateur radio FM transponders, is set to launch on January 13 at 1525 UTC on the SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-3 mission, which also carries AMSAT-Spain’s (AMSAT-EA) EASAT-2 and HADES satellites. The TEVEL satellites were developed by the Herzliya Science Center in Israel.

All eight satellites will use the same frequencies, as long as...

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) has announced the schools and organizations hoping to host ham radio contacts with an International Space Station (ISS) crew member. Contacts would take place between July 1 and December 31. Eight of the proposals submitted during the recent proposal window have been accepted to move forward in the selection processes. The primary goal of...

The 2022 running of the popular International DX Convention (IDXC) in Visalia, California, has been cancelled. IDXC Co-chairs Bill Kendrick, N6RV, and Mel Hughes, K6SY, posted this announcement on the IDXC website: “It is with regret that the 2022 International DX Convention in Visalia, California, has been cancelled. The convention committee of the Southern California DX Club acted in response...

[UPDATE: 2022-01-12 @ 1510 UTC] After this story was posted, ARRL announced that it has validated the 222-MHz WAS application of John Swiniarski, K1OR, for WAS # 13. His last contact was with NH6Y in Hawaii on January 9.]

Until very recently, it had been some 35 years since the most recent Worked All States (WAS) was awarded on 1.25 meters. Former ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, in Arkansas,...

The EASAT-2 and Hades satellites are scheduled to launch on January 13 on a SpaceX TR-3 flight, AMSAT has reported, citing information provided by AMSAT-EA President and Mission Manager Felix Paez. Both will carry amateur radio payloads offering FM voice and data retransmission in FSK or AFSK up to 2,400 bps, and Hades is equipped for slow-scan television (SSTV) and FM voice beacons with call s...

NASA has recognized Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) as a science education and research program. Two images of ARISS activity are among those singled out by the space agency as some of the Best Space Station Science Pictures of 2021. ARRL Representative to ARISS-International Rosalie White, K1STO, said recognition is significant because it shows that NASA considers what...

Joseph M. Grib, Jr., KI3B, has been appointed to fill the role of Delaware Section Manager (SM) on an interim basis. A DuPont retiree, Grib lives in Bear, Delaware, and is active in the local repeater association. Outside of ham radio, he enjoys saltwater fishing, the beach, and computers. Grib is an avid CW operator but enjoys other modes as well, including SSB, DMR (Digital Mobile Radio), and...

Former ARRL Virgin Islands Section Manager Ron Hall, KP2N, of St. Augustine, Florida, has died. An ARRL Life Member, he was 85. Hall served as Section Manager from 1988 until 1996. He later served as an Assistant Section Manager in 2002 before relocating to Florida. Licensed in the 1950s, he once worked for Heathkit. He was a member of the St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club.