Proposals by school and educational organizations to host Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contacts with an International Space Station crew member next year will be accepted starting on Monday, October 1. Completed proposals are due by Thursday, November 15. ARISS anticipates that the contacts will be scheduled between July 1 and December 31, 2019, although crew schedul...

Sunspots are gone again this week, with none observed since September 12. 

Average daily sunspot number declined to zero this week from 7.6 last week. Average daily solar flux was unchanged at 68.6. Average daily planetary A index declined from 12.6 to 9.7, while average daily mid-latitude A index went from 10 to 8.3.

The Autumnal equinox is this weekend, at 0154 UTC on Sunday, September 23, 2018...

September 20 is the first anniversary of Hurricane Maria's devastating arrival in Puerto Rico. Today, many amateurs there are better prepared for the next storm or other disaster that could disrupt conventional telecommunications. With this in mind, the ARRL Puerto Rico Section is hosting monthly meetings in various cities around the island commonwealth as part of an effort to establish an Amat...

As promised, the WSJT-X Development Group has announced a new “candidate release,” WSJT-X 2.0 rc1. This beta version of the popular digital mode suite incorporates many new FT8 and MSK144 features that will be of particular interest to the Amateur Radio contesting community. It incorporates all FT8 DXpedition Mode changes already developed in WSJT-X 1.9.1.

“Enhancements to the FT8 decoder ensur...

“Tools for the Amateur Station” is the topic of the current (September 13) episode of the “ARRL The Doctor is In” podcast. Listen...and learn!

Sponsored by DX Engineering, “ARRL The Doctor is In” is an informative discussion of all things technical. Listen on your computer, tablet, or smartphone -- whenever and wherever you like!

Every 2 weeks, your host, QST Editor-in-Chief Steve Ford, WB8IMY, a...

AMSAT-NA has announced that Tom Clark, K3IO; Mark Hammond, N8MH, and Bruce Paige, KK5DO, have won new 2-year terms on the AMSAT Board of Directors. The First Alternate is Peter Portanova, W2JV. The Second Alternate is Scott Harvey, KA7FVV. Both will serve 1-year terms. The results of the voting, with 698 ballots cast, were: Tom Clark, K3IO, 574; Mark Hammond, N8MH, 507; Bruce Paige, KK5DO, 402,...

The ARRL Public Relations Committee is seeking nominations for the 2018 Bill Leonard Award, which recognizes this year’s best newspaper, radio, or television news story about Amateur Radio. The award honors professional journalists or journalistic teams whose outstanding coverage highlights the enjoyment, importance, and public service value that Amateur Radio offers. It was created as a tribut...

Amateur Radio retailer Radio City, Inc. of Mounds View, Minnesota, has announced it is closing.

“It's been a wonderful 36 years for us at Radio City, and we have decided to retire and close,” owners Dan, KB0XC, and Maline Fish said in a message on the retailer’s website. “We are so thankful for the many years of support and we have enjoyed working you, our customers. The technical, intelligent a...

Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers from several South Carolina counties are pitching in to help support emergency communication, as the state deals with the aftereffects of Hurricane Florence. The storm, now a tropical depression, continues to generate heavy rainfall in the Carolinas.

“Amateur Radio operators are far from ‘amateurs’ when it comes to providing communication in an ...

The FCC has granted an ARRL request for a temporary waiver of Section 97.307(f) of the FCC’s Amateur Service rules to permit the use of PACTOR 4 digital mode for Amateur Radio communication within the continental US related to Hurricane Florence relief. The grant extends through Tuesday, September 18, and a formal order addressing the request for a 30-day waiver will be issued next week, the FC...

[UPDATED 2018-09-15@1515 UTC] The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) has announced that it’s shutting down its activation for Hurricane Florence, now downgraded to a Tropical Storm but still “a formidable system that will affect the coastal states for days,” HWN Assistant Manager Stan Broadway, N8BHL, said. “Because the storm is moving inland, Amateur Radio activity will shift to the various state and r...

The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN), which has been tracking the approach of Hurricane Florence, plans to remain active “until no longer needed.” The net activated on Thursday, September 13, at 1300 UTC on both its 14.325 MHz and 7.268 MHz frequencies.

The storm made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, early today (September 14) and has been scaled back to a Category 1 storm. The Nationa...

Listen to the new episode of ARRL Audio News on your iOS or Android podcast app, or online at www.blubrry.com/arrlaudionews/. Audio News is also retransmitted on a number of FM repeaters. Click here and then scroll down to see the list.

We observed a return of sunspot activity during the past reporting week (September 6-12), with spots on four days, but not consecutive. Sunspots were visible on September 8-9 and 11-12. Average daily sunspot numbers increased to 7.6, compared to zero over the previous seven days.

Average daily solar flux increased from 67.8 to 68.6, and planetary A index doubled from 6.3 to 12.6, while mid-latit...

As part of the ongoing communication efforts with Hurricane Florence, Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station W1AW will suspend its regular bulletin and code practice transmissions on Friday, September 14. The station will resume its normal operating schedule on Monday, September 17. Radio amateurs are reminded to avoid the various Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) and SATERN frequencies, as well as any sta...

“Tools for the Amateur Station” is the topic of the new (September 13) episode of the “ARRL The Doctor is In” podcast. Listen...and learn!

Sponsored by DX Engineering, “ARRL The Doctor is In” is an informative discussion of all things technical. Listen on your computer, tablet, or smartphone -- whenever and wherever you like!

Every 2 weeks, your host, QST Editor-in-Chief Steve Ford, WB8IMY, and t...

The IARU Region 1 Monitoring System (IARUMS) reports that two long-time broadcast intruders on 40 meters are gone. IARUMS Coordinator Wolf Hadel, DK2OM, said in the August IARUMS newsletter that Radio Hargeisa in the Republic of Somaliland on 7.120 MHz, and Radio Ethiopia on 7.140 MHz, departed the band during the last week of August.

“We did not miss them,” he commented.

IARUMS did report increa...

[UPDATED: 2018-09-12 @ 1435 UTC] The ARRL Headquarters Emergency Response Team will activate today (September 12), ARRL Emergency Response Manager Mike Corey, KI1U, has announced, as what the National Hurricane Center (NHC) is calling “dangerous Hurricane Florence” heads toward the southeastern US coast, where it’s “expected to bring life-threatening storm surge and rainfall to portions of the ...

Just as Hurricane Florence approaches the US mainland and Hurricane Olivia is poised to affect Hawaii, NOAA has issued a G2 (moderate) geomagnetic storm watch for September 11. The G2 storm could exacerbate already modest propagation on HF bands as the planetary K index rises to an estimated value of 6. The G2 forecast stems from a fast-moving stream of coronal hole solar wind that’s expected t...