President Joseph Biden this week designated FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel as acting chair of the FCC. She succeeds, at least temporarily, former FCC chair Ajit Pai, who resigned effective on January 20.

“I am honored to be designated as the Acting Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission by President Biden,” Rosenworcel said in a statement. “I thank the President for the oppor...

Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: We just witnessed 12 consecutive days with no sunspots, which many of us found a bit unsettling. Fortunately, Solar Cycle 25 activity returned with new sunspot 2796 on January 15. Instead of moving from the east across the solar horizon, it emerged in the southern hemisphere, just west of center.

Currently we are seeing sunspot regions 2797 and 2798, which emerg...

A derecho with winds of 80 to 100 MPH struck eastern Iowa last August, disrupting power and telecommunications for some 400,000 residents. But, as ARRL member and Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) volunteer Scott Haney, N0GUD, recently explained to The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, that’s when amateur radio shines.

Haney, the president of the Cedar Valley Amateur Radio Club (CVARC), was the foc...

We just witnessed 12 consecutive days with no sunspots, which many of us found a bit unsettling. But fortunately Solar Cycle 25 activity returned with a new sunspot on January 15.

Average daily sunspot number increased from zero last week, to 14.7 in the January 14-20 reporting period.

Average daily solar flux rose from 73.8 to 76.1, and geomagnetic indicators sank to very quiet levels. Average d...

Contest University (CTU) is holding a Virtual Propagation Summit on Saturday, January 23. The Zoom-platform event will get under way with introductory remarks from Tim Duffy, K3LR, and Ray Novak, N9JA, at 1600 UTC.

At 1605 UTC, Scott Jones, N3RA, and George Fremin, K5TR, will moderate a session “Update on the Personal Space Weather Station Project & HamSCI activities for 2021” with Nathaniel Fri...

The FCC has released an Enforcement Advisory for licensees and operators across radio services.

[Complete text of FCC Enforcement Advisory follows.]

FCC ENFORCEMENT ADVISORY

DA 21-73

Released:  January 17, 2021

WARNING:  AMATEUR AND PERSONAL RADIO SERVICES LICENSEES AND OPERATORS MAY NOT USE RADIO EQUIPMENT TO COMMIT OR FACILITATE CRIMINAL ACTS

The Enforcement Bureau (Bureau) of the Federal Communic...

Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: What happened? Solar Cycle 25 seemed well under way, but no new sunspots have emerged since December 23. The last time any sunspot was visible was January 2. On January 14, Spaceweather.com posted, “Welcome back, solar minimum.”

Average daily solar flux declined from 78.6 to 73.8. Geomagnetic A index remained quiet. Predicted solar flux for the next 30 days is 7...

Preparations continue on the part of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) to represent the interests of the amateur and amateur-satellite services at World Radiocommunication Conference 2023 (WRC-23). The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) sponsors WRCs, typically every 4 years, to consider revisions to the international Radio Regulations that define frequency allocations for v...

Very low frequency (VLF) enthusiast Joe Craig, VO1NA, reports that Stefan Schaefer, DK7FC, copied his 50-character message transmitted from Newfoundland on 8.271 kHz, with a radiated power of 10 mW.

“This is a new record for amateur transatlantic VLF,” Craig told ARRL. “The mode used was EbNaut by Paul Nicholson. EbNaut is a synchronous coherent BPSK mode for use at VLF and low LF. Craig’s tower...

Former Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) President John Farrell “Hoppy” Hopwood, VE7RD, of North Vancouver, British Columbia, died on December 8. He was 91. Hopwood was instrumental in the founding of RAC and was inducted in 2015 as a member of the Canadian Amateur Radio Hall of Fame.

Hopwood spent his career in telecommunications, once working as a telegraph lineman. In 1971, he formed a Systems C...

Orlando HamCation® has announced that ARRL Life Member Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, of Bloomington, Indiana, is the 2021 recipient of the Carole Perry Educator of the Year Award. The award recognizes an outstanding individual contribution in educating and advancing youth in amateur radio. It was first awarded in 2018 to its namesake, Carole Perry, WB2MGP, in honor of her work as an educator teaching stud...

In a January 5 Public Notice, the FCC requested comments on whether the current 14 Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (VECs) are sufficient to facilitate the efforts of their accredited Volunteer Examiners (VEs) in administering amateur radio examinations, or whether up to five additional VECs should be authorized. The ARRL VEC is the largest of the 14 VECs in the US. Comments are due by February ...