Radio ham sails to new world record
WIA report on the Amateur Radio Newsline story about 76-year-old Jeanne Socrates VE0JS who is looking to set the record of a lifetime

QSO Today – Keith Baker – KB1SF
AMSAT, the Amateur Radio Satellite Corporation, has launched over 95 satellites into space since 1961. Keith Baker, KB1SF, former President and now treasurer of AMSAT speaks and writes on amateur satellites, what is happening now, how to get started, and how to get involved

New VHF repeaters & simplexers planned for the Midlands of Ireland in 2019
The IECRO Ireland Radio Club (EI0IPN), located in the Midlands Region of Ireland has big plans for 2019 with several repeaters and simplexers (parrots) in the pipeline for the VHF bands

SARL President’s message for the festive season
The December 2018 holiday break is almost here and South Africans around the country are preparing for the Festive Season. Many of our members will celebrate Christmas while others will enjoy a holiday period with friends and family

ARRL’S Logbook of The World tops 1 billion qso records
SARL News report that, as of 19 December, more than 1 billion contact records have been entered into ARRL’s Logbook of The World (LoTW) system

Is Ultima Thule surrounded by mini-moons?
Long range images have revealed something strange about Ultima Thule, the distant Kuiper Belt Object that NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft is approaching for a New Year’s Day flyby

Germany: Class E use of 2.3 and 5 GHz bands extended
The DARC say the 2018 access rules for the 2.3 and 5 GHz bands for holders of a Class E license were renewed for 2019 following an RTA application

Need to talk to Santa Claus? Try using a Ham Radio
Austin broadcaster KUT reports Rob Kinucan K5FD and the Big Bend Amateur Radio Club are helping kids talk to Santa

Digital Activity Days – RDRC ’01-10′ 2019
The Russian Digital Radio Club invites you in 2019:
Digital Activity Days ’01-10′ are held annually in January and May in the following periods:
– from 00:00 UTC on January, 1st till 23:59 UTC on January, 10th
– from 00:00 UTC on May, 1st till 23:59 UTC on May, 10th

AO-85 update
Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA, Vice-President Operations published the following on AO-85’s status as of December 19, 2018

Austria: Concerns of amateur radio are heard
The Austrian national amateur radio society ÖVSV reports the relationship between the ÖVSV and the Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) has been put on a new and good basis

France: Abolition of ham radio license fee
The French Union of Radio Clubs (URC) reports on the progress with abolishing the Tax on Radio Amateurs [license fee

Ofcom Consultation: Enabling opportunities for innovation
Ofcom propose to enable shared access to the Amateur Radio allocation at 2390-2400 MHz. The ISS Digital Amateur TV downlink on 2395 MHz has been used for many school contacts

New Section Manager in Southern New Jersey, eight incumbents to continue in office
Southern New Jersey will have a new Section Manager starting on January 1.
No balloting was necessary in the latest Section Manager election cycle, and eight incumbent SMs will begin new 2-year terms on New Year’s Day

The Great Eastern Fly-In
The Great Eastern Fly-In is a unique Australian aviation event.
Pilots, their families and friends, Fly-In from all over Australia, to enjoy a great summer holiday with a difference at Evans Head  

VK6WIA NewsWest
Welcome to the NewsWest Contesting edition for 23rd December. I’m Bob VK6POP, the news producer for this week. The team is Andrew, Roy, Dan and Neil. We’re taking a look at contesting and contests today with a line up of contests coming up in the new year 

Christmas at prisons
A special Christmas Day radio program to the Catalan Political Prisoners will be broadcasted on December 25th. The program has been recorded by a team of volunteers who work at FM radio stations

Propagation de K7RA
On Wednesday, December 19 Spaceweather.com displayed this headline:
“Solar minimum conditions are in effect,” followed by “The Sun has been without sunspots for 209 days in 2018–that is, 59% of the time. To find a similar stretch of blank Suns, you have to go back to 2009 when the Sun was experiencing the deepest solar minimum in a century.”

Dramatic power reduction on 23cm for Belgium radio hams
The Belgium regulator BIPT has proposed cutting to just 20 watts the permitted power levels for the Amateur and Amateur-Satellite allocations in 1260-1300 MHz which is used by Galileo GPS

UWE-4 satellite ready to launch
Last week our Team returned from the Vostochny Launch Site (Russia) where we performed the last check out tests of UWE-4before launch on December 27

Foundations of Amateur Radio #185
Often we forget the things we’ve done or achieved and every now and then it seems like a solid use of time to reflect a little on what went before and what that did

Australian Jamboree – AJ2019
In January approximately 8000 scouts will be converging on Tailem Bend in South Australia to participate in the 25th Australian Jamboree, AJ2019

Update on investigations into the RT news channel
Ofcom has today found that the RT news channel broke broadcasting rules by failing to preserve due impartiality in 7 news and current affairs programmes over a 6-week period

Yuletide Thoughts
The Yuletide message has well and truly been played and the tired feet and weary faces show the pleasure of the preparations for the Christmas feast

RAOTC takes a Christmas break
Hello everyone, this is Clive VK6CSW on behalf of the Radio Amateurs Old Timers Club of Australia. May I remind listeners that there is no RAOTC bulletin in January. The first bulletin for 2019 will be on Monday February 4th 

Guadeloupe op
Jean-Pierre, F6ITD, will once again be active as FG/F6ITD from Guadeloupe and one of its islands between January 14th and March 13th (2019). This is his 10th trip

EURAO Party – Winter Special 2018-2019: hunting beacons
The European Radio Amateurs’ Organization announces a new party on the air, this time with the motto: ‘hunting beacons’

DX News from the ARRL
The American Radio Relay League’s round-up of the forthcoming week’s DX activity on the amateur radio bands

Call for application: Youngsters On The Air Bulgaria 2019
The 9th Youngsters On The Air will be held in Bulgaria, close to the capital city Sofia. BFRA (Bulgarian Federation of Radioamateurs) will be hosting the event, which will take place in the summer of 2019

Germany on 70 MHz in 2019
German radio amateurs may operate from their home with all modes in the frequency segment 70.150 to 70.200 MHz from now (19 december) until the end of 2019

New ISS ham radio packet equipment awaiting unpacking
The ARRL reports new Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) packet equipment awaits unpacking and installation on board the station after arriving in November as part of the cargo transported via a Russian 71P Progress resupply vehicle

EU Directive on car radios
A new EU Directive requires all new car radios sold in the European Union to be capable of receiving digital terrestrial radio

Ofcom fines Radio Ikhlas £10,000
Ofcom has imposed a £10,000 financial penalty on Radio Ikhlas Limited, after material broadcast on its community radio station broke our rules

ISWL callsigns for January
The following ISWL club callsigns will be used throughout the month of January 2019

Increased protection for consumers against call connection or signposting ‘bill-shock’
Ofcom has announced strengthened protection for consumers against information, call connection or signposting services (ICSS)