ARRL news
First-Time Exam Applicants Must Obtain FCC Registration Number before Taking Exam
Beginning May 20, 2021, all amateur examination applicants will be required to provide an FCC Registration Number (FRN) to the Volunteer Examiners (VEs) before taking an amateur exam. This is necessary due to changes the FCC has made to its licensing system.
Amateur candidates who already have an FCC license, whether for amateur radio or in another service, already have an FRN and can use the sa...
Spring Radio Club of America QSO Party is Saturday, May 8
The semiannual Radio Club of America (RCA) QSO Party takes place on May 8. “Band conditions are still not their best but we still expect plenty of QSOs,” RCA Executive Vice President Chip Cohen, W1YW, said. “Come join the fun and contact other club hams and the club’s station, W2RCA. All are welcome.” The QSO party is open to RCA members and non-members and is SSB only. Activity begins at 1800 ...
Very High Speed Club Special Event is Active During May
Special event call sign OZ60VHSC will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Very High Speed Club (VHSC) on May 1, 1961. Leading the group at its founding were PA0LXL, DL1XA, and DJ4KW, who sought operators who could copy at 40 WPM solid for at least 30 minutes, encouraging CW traffic in general and QRQ (high-speed) traffic in particular. Members sponsor new membership candidat...
Intrepid-DX Group Adds a Second Physician to Bouvet Island DXpedition Team
“Bouvet is like the Mount Everest of DXCC entities,” 3Y0J DXpedition co-leader Paul Ewing, N6PSE, said. “It is among the most challenging entities to activate due to significant transportation costs and personal sacrifices required by the team to make the 42-day round trip. Fortunately, Bouvet is not our first mountain.”
Ewing reports that Mike Crownover, AB5EB, a veteran emergency room physicia...
Nationwide Spring Drill Set for May 8, World Red Cross Day
The Red Cross Emergency Communication Training Group is holding its nationwide Spring Drill on World Red Cross Day, Saturday, May 8, 2021. Individuals are invited to participate. Last year, more than 1,000 participated in the initial spring drill.
The bar has been raised to Winlink proficiency for this year’s drill. Red Cross forms are integrated as templates in Winlink Express, and hams using W...
Russian Robinson Club Announces Activation of Rare IOTA Islands in the Aleutians
The Russian Robinson Club (RRC) has resumed its plans to activate rare Kiska Island (IOTA NA-070) and Adak Island (IOTA NA-039) in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands chain in July for Islands on the Air (IOTA) enthusiasts. Plans to activate these islands in 2020 were called off because of COVID-19 concerns.
The uninhabited Kiska Island (52.06° N, 177.57° E) lies in the North Pacific’s treacherous Bering...
ARRL Executive Committee to Meet May 3 in Virtual Session
The ARRL Executive Committee will meet in virtual session on Monday, May 3. Topics on the agenda include FCC Counsel’s report and FCC matters; Volunteer Monitor Program report, and Legislative Advocacy Committee report. The agenda has been posted on the ARRL website.
North American QSO Parties to Recognize Young Contester Entries
To encourage young radiosport participants, National Contest Journal (NCJ) will recognize their entries in the North American QSO Party (NAQP), starting with the August 2021 NAQP CW and NAQP SSB events. Following the lead of Youth on the Air (YOTA) in International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 (IARU), operators 25 years old and younger will be highlighted in the results.
The NAQP log upload app ...
ARRL Executive Committee Nominates Joel Harrison, W5ZN, to be Next IARU Secretary
At its April 5 meeting via Zoom, the ARRL Executive Committee (EC) nominated past ARRL President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, to become the next Secretary of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). The incumbent Secretary, David Sumner, K1ZZ, has announced his intention to step down on July 1. ARRL International Affairs Vice President Rod Stafford, W6ROD, explained that ARRL, as IARU Secretariat,...
Support ARRL When Shopping for Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 9. If you’re looking for the perfect gift, shop at AmazonSmile and choose American Radio Relay League Inc. (ARRL) as your charity of choice. With every purchase you make at AmazonSmile, Amazon will make a contribution to ARRL. This helps ARRL to extend its reach in public service, advocacy, education, technology, and membership.
Make Mom smile while supporting amateur...
ARISS-USA Seeks Volunteers to Further its Mission
The US segment of Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS-USA) is seeking volunteers to support its mission. ARISS-USA is best known for providing opportunities, mostly for students, to speak via ham radio with astronauts on board the ISS. Less known is its important role in providing and supporting amateur radio equipment for the ISS (NA1SS), which could offer back-up communica...
ARRL Awards Colvin Grant to 3Y0J Bouvet Island DXpedition in 2023
ARRL has awarded a Colvin Grant of $5,000 to the Intrepid-DX Group to help in funding its 3Y0J DXpedition to Bouvet Island, scheduled for January to February 2023. Paul Ewing, N6PSE, and Ken Opskar, LA7GIA, will share leadership for the 14-person multinational team. A dependency of Norway, Bouvet is a sub-Antarctic island in the South Atlantic. It is the second-most-wanted DXCC entity, behind N...
Amateur Radio Credited with Rescue of Back-Country Hiker in Tennessee
A back-country hiker was rescued from Great Smoky Mountains National Park with assistance from amateur radio after she became exhausted on the trail and possibly dehydrated. A member of the hiking group on the park’s Little River Trail, Tim Luttrell, KA9EBJ, put out a call on the evening of April 11 via the W4KEV linked VHF repeater in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, requesting assistance in extricating...
Enter Four State QSO Parties at Once Using N1MM Logger+
The N1MM Logger+ team has made it easy for operators to participate in four contests with just one log. The 7QP (7th Call Area), Indiana, Delaware, and New England QSO Parties all take place this weekend, and sponsors have agreed to coordinate so that all four can be logged in a single log. The program software allows users to log stations active in all four QSO parties, and it automatically de...
Four-Ham SpaceX Crew-1 Mission Astronauts Return to Earth on Wednesday
NASA will provide live coverage of the upcoming return activities for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission with astronauts Michael Hopkins, KF5LJG; Victor Glover, KI5BKC; Shannon Walker, KD5DXB, and Soichi Noguchi, KD5TVP, from the International Space Station.
The Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Resilience, is scheduled to undock from the space station to begin its journey back to Earth at 1105 UTC ...
Bill Introduced to Designate April 18, 2022, as National Amateur Radio Operators Day
Arizona Congresswoman Debbie Lesko has reintroduced a resolution with bipartisan support to designate April 18, 2022, as National Amateur Radio Operators Day. Introduced on April 19, the measure recognizes the important contributions amateur radio operators have made. She introduced a similar bill in the last Congress.
“Throughout history, amateur radio operators have provided invaluable servic...
FCC Auto-Registration Feature for Exam Applicants to be Discontinued
Auto-registration in the FCC Commission Registration System (CORES) amateur radio exam candidates using a Social Security number will be discontinued on May 20, 2021. Applicants must use an FCC Registration Number (FRN) for all license transactions with the FCC. Examinees must register in CORES and receive an FRN before exam day. Starting on May 20, electronic batch filed applications that do n...