Sailors, civilians receive amateur radio licenses on USNS Mercy
More than 18 Sailors and civilians assigned to Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) received FCC amateur radio licenses from the ARRL, March 3, after passing a final written examination aboard the ship

HamRadioNow: Proposed changes for Technician licence
Dan KB6NU, Marty N6VI (in studio guest!), and Gary KN4AQ join David W0DHG for the first show recorded from the West Coast Studio

Valerie Hotzfeld, NV9L, is ‘Amateur of the Year’
The Hamvention® Awards Committee has announced that Valerie Hotzfeld, NV9L, of Crescent City, Illinois, is the 2018 ‘Amateur of the Year’

Ham radio helps Wendell man find his voice
WRAL TV news report about radio amateur Johnnie Mayfield WA9SZL which was broadcast on February 28 during Black History Month

Upcoming launch of NASA’s newest planet-hunting spacecraft
NASA is set for the launch of a spacecraft that will search for planets outside of our solar system with a field of view almost 400 times larger than that of the agency’s Kepler mission

You can’t keep a good rally down
The Exeter Radio & Electronics Rally, originally planned for 4th March, but postponed because of the inclement weather, has now been rescheduled for 29th April See: Amateur Radio Rallies and Hamfests

Motorola, Vodafone sign contract to continue Airwave beyond 2020
Motorola Solutions and Vodafone have agreed on a plan to keep the Airwave TETRA mission-critical voice network operational through at least 2020, while the U.K. Home Office said a report with a revised timeline and budget for the Emergency Service Network (ESN) should be available by end-July

RSGB HQ stations in Commonwealth Contest next weekend
The Commonwealth Contest (10-11 March 2018) (where ‘CQ Beru’ is used to solicit QSOs) is a great opportunity for G stations to work Commonwealth DX stations

Bouvet Island DXpedition News
The 3Y0Z team members are safely home. We have been home about two weeks now, after 31 days aboard our vessel M/V Betanzos

Network Radios – a route into Amateur Radio?
Chris Rolinson G7DDN examines the challenges facing amateur radio and wonders if Network Radios are where next “wave” of Radio Hams is to be found

XX9B Macao DXpedition
we are pleased to confirm our final band plan during the XX9B DXpedition to be on the air between March 9th, 2018 and March 17th, 2018

Notice of Interruption – MSF 60 kHz Time and Frequency Signal
The MSF 60 kHz time and frequency signal broadcast from Anthorn Radio Station will be shut down on Thursday 8 March from 10:00 to 14:00 UTC

Raspberry Pi Birthday Jam interviews on Phoenix FM
Interviews with Essex STEM ambassadors David Whale, Ed Bye G8FAX and Peter Sipple M0PSX were broadcast on Essex station Phoenix FM at 3:30pm on Monday, March 5

Eire ham radio examination report released
The Amateur Station Licence Examination Report 2018 has been published by the IRTS Licence Examination Board

The worsening Cosmic Ray situation
Cosmic Rays are bad–and they’re getting worse. That’s the conclusion of a new paper just published in the research journal Space Weather

Busiest ever YL ham radio net
This month’s Essex Ham Young Ladies Net, hosted by Dorothy M0LMR, was held at 8pm on Saturday, March 3 on the Danbury 2m FM repeater GB3DA

Hawaii Island Amateur Radio events:

Source:  Big Island Amateur Radio Club March 2018 Newsletter.

All licensed amateur radio operators on Hawaii Island are invited to volunteer their time for the 18 March 2018 Hilo Marathon.  Hams will be assigned to positions along the 26.2-mile course which extends into Keaukaha and up to North Hilo coastline from the start/finish line near the canoe hale on the Hilo Bayfront.  With net control at Onekahakaha Park, the radio volunteers will ensure coordination between aid stations and race officials, and help with health and safety issues when needed.  For details, contact WH6EXS at 1-443-492-9272 or send a message to the PERC Facebook page:  @KH6PRC.

All Hawaii radio amateurs, their friends, family, and prospective ham radio operators are invited to the HPP Radio Day which will be held on Saturday, from 0900 to 1600 HST, at the Hawaiian Paradise Park Community Center, 17th and Maku’u in the Puna District.  According to coordinator Mike Stratton (KH6PAC), “We want to let everyone know that the event is open to all hams, especially the newest ham operators…Our plan is to have several different radios set up…There will be lots of activities and demonstrations.”  For details, contact Mike at jefffan@hotmail.com

You still have time to sign up for the Big Island Amateur Radio Club’s new QTH.NET Email listserve. You can register for the listserve by sending an email to Les Hittner (K0BAD) at lhittner@hbci.com.

General Comments:

For the latest Amateur/Ham Radio news and information, please check the blog sidebars and links.  These news feeds are updated daily and weekly.  Of particular note is the new Hawaii Amateur Radio blog from Darren Holbrook (KH6OWL).  You can find his blog on the right hand sidebar.  Recent news releases from HQ ARRL are also located on the right hand sidebar.

Please send your Hawaii Amateur/Ham Radio news items to kh6jrm@arrl.net at least two weeks prior to your event so I can notify our local print and broadcast media in a timely manner.

Thanks for joining us today.

Aloha es 73 de

Russell Roberts (KH6JRM)

Public Information Coordinator

Hawaii County, ARRL Pacific Section