4/27/2022

On Wednesday, April 27, in a notice to all VECs, the FCC again asked them to refrain from submitting any amateur radio exam session or license application files while the Commission works to resolve an issue with the Universal Licensing System (ULS) application filing system.

The ULS application filing system was not functioning properly last week and then the FCC indicated the problem ...

Solar activity took a dramatic plunge over the recent reporting week (June 23 to 29) but geomagnetic activity stayed exactly the same. Field Day weekend saw rising geomagnetic numbers, with planetary A index at 8, 16 and 23, Friday through Sunday.

On Sunday the geomagnetic activity was a problem, although not severe, with many stations in Field Day reporting increased absorption.  The planetary...

2022 Ham Radio, the International Amateur Radio Exhibition, held last weekend (June 24 - 26) in Friedrichshafen, Germany, drew enthusiastic crowds and amateur radio enthusiasts from 52 countries.

Messe Friedrichshafen Managing Director Klaus Wellmann and Project Manager Petra Rathgeber said the event attracted 10,200 participants. While attendance was down (14,300 in 2019) because of COVID, visi...

2022 ARRL Field Day wrapped up nearly a week ago, and ARRL Headquarters has already received over 2,400 entries submitted via the online Field Day Entry web application. Early analysis reveals that most of the entrants participated as Class D -- home stations, and Class E -- home stations using emergency power.

As of June 29, the breakdown of Field Day entries by Class showed 2,723 total entries...

ARRL  The National Association for Amateur Radio® will be closed on Monday, July 4, for the Independence Day holiday. There will be no W1AW bulletin or code practice transmissions. ARRL Headquarters will reopen on Tuesday, July 5, at 8 a.m. EDT.

The Baton Rouge Amateur Radio Club will operate a special event station, W5KID, from the USS KIDD Veterans Museum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on July 4....

ARRL's new Treasurer, John R. Sager, WJ7S, officially took office on May 1, 2022, and is already helping to plan the ARRL's financial future.

Sager brings with him over 40 years of financial management experience. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a Certified Cash Manager, and holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees from the University of Utah.

What led him to ARRL...

Join ARRL live from W1AW via YouTube for 2022 ARRL Field Day! See all of the fun involved with Field Day, and ask your questions about the event in the Live Chat and get them answered in real time. Watch on ARRL's YouTube channel at youtu.be/RN8mc3NVdwg starting on June 25, 2022, at 1:30 PM Eastern / 10:30 AM Pacific / 1730 UTC.

W1AW is among the world's most recongizable call signs. It is the p...

One of the most anticipated amateur radio operating events of the year in the United States, Canada, and worldwide is this weekend. ARRL Field Day kicks off at 1800 UTC on Saturday, June 25, and concludes at 2059 UTC on Sunday, June 26. Last year, almost 27,000 individuals participated in ARRL Field Day, logging over 1.4 million two-way radio contacts during the event.

For 2022, there are some n...

This past reporting week (June 16-22) began with a bang, when the daily sunspot number was 159. But sunspot numbers declined every day to finally reach 80 on June 22.

One new sunspot group emerged on June 15, another on June 16, one more on June 18, and another on June 21.

Average daily sunspot number over the week was 124.6, up substantially from 74.3 the previous seven days.

Average daily solar...

W1AW and Maritime Radio Historical Society station K6KPH will transmit at various times the official W1AW Field Day Bulletin using CW, Phone, and various digital modes.

The 2022 W1AW and K6KPH Field Day Bulletin Schedule is as follows:

Maxim Memorial Station W1AW:

         Mode     Pacific    Mountain   Central     Eastern      UTC
FRIDAY:
         CW       5:00 PM    6:00 PM    7:00 PM   8:00 PM   ...

Solar activity increased this week, which we were happy to see, with average daily sunspot number rising from 44.4 last week to 74.3 during this reporting week, June 9-15. Sunspot numbers rose all week, starting at 17 on Thursday, June 9 to 149 on Wednesday, June 15.

Average daily 10.7 cm solar flux increased from 99.4 to 123.9. Solar flux peaked at 145.5 on Tuesday, June 14, but then on Thursda...

The Northwest's largest amateur radio convention, SEA-PAC, held its 40th anniversary show, June 3 - 5, 2022. The convention drew more than 1,500 attendees to the Seaside Convention Center, just steps from the Pacific Ocean in Seaside, Oregon. SEA-PAC is sponsored by the Oregon Tualatin Valley Amateur Radio Club, and co-sponsored by the Clark County Amateur Radio Club. The event also hosted the ...

Hard for me to believe, I had to blink to make sure, but on Wednesday, June 8 for the first time this calendar year there were no sunspots, even though two new sunspot regions appeared on June 4.

Average daily sunspot number declined to 44 from 52.9 last week. Average daily solar flux was only 99.4, down from 104.3 last week and 158.8 the week before.

News about the first spotless day can be foun...

The winning article for the April 2022 QST Cover Plaque Award is "The Better Antenna: Cooper Versus Aluminum," by Pete Varounis, NL7XM.

[The QST staff hopes you enjoyed this "highly scientific" April Fool article.]

The QST Cover Plaque Award - given to the author or authors of the most popular article in each issue - is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the QST Cover Plaque Poll web page. C...

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed a $34,000 fine against Jason Frawley of Lewiston, Idaho, for allegedly interfering with radio operations of the U.S. Forest Service during firefighting activities for the Johnson Creek Fire near Elk River in July 2021. The FCC issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL) on June 8, 2022 to Frawley. The FCC states in the NAL ...

The 2022 Youth on the Air (YOTA) Camp will be on the air and streaming online. The campers will be operating special event station W8Y from the National Voice of America (VOA) Museum of Broadcasting in West Chester Township, Ohio, as well as from their hotel. Activation of W8Y will begin on the evening of Sunday, June 12, and conclude at 1 PM EDT on Friday, June 17. Campers will operate the sta...

ARRL is seeking an Administrative Coordinator for the new ARRL Foundation Club Grant Program. The independent contractor will coordinate, administer, manage, and organize club grant applications at ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut.

The Club Grant Program seeks to fund transformative projects that enable growth for amateur radio operators, on the air projects, ham radio training and me...

 At 2335 UTC on June 2, the Australian Space Forecast Centre issued a geomagnetic warning.

"A solar filament recently erupted from the southwest quadrant of the solar disk. Event modeling suggests a minor impact to the Earth's magnetosphere on late 05 June to early 06 June."

All our measures of solar activity declined in a big way from the last reporting week to the current period, May 26 throug...

Dr. Ed Snyder, W1YSM, of Wallingford, Connecticut, who provided funding for an endowment to support the ARRL Collegiate Amateur Radio Initiative in 2017, has generously donated additional funding to expand the endowment to include ARRL Affiliated Clubs. The endowment, formerly known as the W1YSM Snyder Family Collegiate Amateur Radio Endowment Fund, has been renamed and will now be known as the...