Excitement mounted a few days ago when new Solar Cycle 24 sunspot 1013 emerged, but two days later it was fading away, similar to other recent sunspot appearances. The sunspot number for February 24-26 was 12, 14 and 12. Today’s number will likely be 0. Sunspot numbers for February 19-25 were 0, 0, 0, 0, [...]
This week’s Surfin’ looks to the Mac OS X for a Software Defined Radio.
On February 25, the Federal Communications Commission revoked the license of Lonnie L. Keeney, KB9RFO, of Greencastle Indiana. According to the FCC, Keeney’s 2002 conviction of child molestation, a Class C felony, renders him "lack[ing] the requisite character qualifications to be and remain a Commission licensee." Keeney has 30 days to appeal the revocation.
The inaugural Train the Trainers course — supported by a grant from the ARRL Foundation — made its first appearance on February 13-14 at HamCation in Orlando, Florida. Lead by ARRL Education and Technology Program Coordinator Mark Spencer, WA8SME, 12 participants — primarily from the ARRL Southeastern Division — completed the course. HamCation is the [...]
The lack of good HF propagation didn’t seem to affect participation in the 2008 Sweepstakes or the 2009 RTTY Roundup contests. According to ARRL Contest Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, both contests were record-breaking events. "We have received 3298 logs for the November SSB and CW Sweeps combined in 2008," Kutzko said. "That is — at [...]
Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) President Dave Goodwin, VE3AAQ/VO1AU, announced he was resigning his post, effective immediately, at the RAC Board of Directors teleconference meeting on February 24. At the same teleconference meeting, the RAC Board elected Bob Cooke, VE3BDB, as RAC President. Cooke will serve until December 31, 2009, the end of the current [...]
The first monthly WSJT Sprint contest will be held this Saturday, February 28 between 4 AM and noon (local time).WSJT is a popular software suite created by Joe Taylor, K1JT. It is used to make digital contacts by reflecting signals off the ionized trails left by meteors (a technique known as meteor scatter). The same [...]
With the 2009 ARRL International DX CW Contest now history, the first full weekend in March brings the next round of competition: The 2009 ARRL DX Phone Contest. Like its CW predecessor, this event focuses on DX station working all US states and Canadian provinces, while US and Canadian amateurs try to work as many [...]
Registration remains open through Sunday March 8, 2009 for these online course sessions beginning on Friday, March 20, 2009: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 2, Antenna Modeling, and Radio Frequency Propagation.
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has updated the requirements needed to earn the Radio merit badge. The new requirements became effective with the publication of Boy Scout Requirements 2009. While no new content has been added to the program, the new merit badge pamphlet features lots of new information — including color pictures and [...]
ARRL members in the North Texas Section have elected a new Section Manager. Jay Urish, W5GM, of Flower Mound, received 740 votes; his opponent, incumbent Section Manager Tom Blackwell, N5GAR, of Dallas, received 678 votes. Blackwell has served as Section Manager since 2005. In Arizona, members re-elected incumbent Tom Fagan, K7DF, of Tucson. Fagan, who [...]
EMCOMMWEST 2009 — an ARRL specialty convention devoted entirely to emergency communications — will host this year’s Pacific Division Convention (Pacificon) at the Circus Circus Hotel Resort in Reno, Nevada May 1-3.
First introduced in 2008, the ARRL’s Field Day Station Locator Service was a popular addition to the Field Day toolbox. This service — an interactive map that helps amateurs or those interested in Amateur Radio find a Field Day site near them — is free to clubs or individuals who will be operating public Field [...]
The March/April issue of QEX is coming soon, and it is full of theoretical and practical technical articles that you don’t want to miss.
Amateur Radio proves essential to the first manned balloon flight across the Atlantic.