Foundations of Amateur Radio
The lessons we teach
When you become a member of the amateur radio community you become part of a small group of humans who know and understand certain aspects of life.
That’s not to say that others don’t share this or that the knowledge is unique or special, but radio amateurs are required to know this before they receive their license

ARISS educational radio contact with school in Toronto, Canada
An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Ontario Science Centre, Toronto, Canada

Ham radio Winter Field Day
The Roenoke Star reports members of the Roanoke Valley Amateur Radio Club will be participating in the National Amateur Radio Winter Field Day Exercise, January 25 and 26, 2020

Ofcom Consultation: Improving spectrum access for Wi-Fi
Ofcom wishes to boost the use of Wi-Fi in Amateur Radio spectrum at 5725-5850 MHz

RAC President attends ARRL Board Meeting
Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) President Glenn MacDonell, VE3XN, attended the annual Board of Directors meeting of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) in Windsor, Connecticut, January 17-18

Special certificate to celebrate 30 years of LUSAT
AMSAT-LU will be issuing a special certificate to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the launch of LUSAT (LO-19) during LUSAT week which takes place January 18-26, 2020

Propagation de K7RA
Solar Cycle 25 sunspots persisted for the first two days (January 9-10) of this reporting week, January 9-15, with daily sunspot numbers of 14 and 11. That brought the weekly average daily sunspot number from 8.4 last week to 3.6. Average daily solar flux edged up from 71.8 to 72.5

Southgate News is now on ShortWaveRadio
We now have a regular Sunday morning news broadcast on ShortWaveRadio.de
So tune in every Sunday at 10am UTC on 3975 and 6160 kHz.
The programme is repeated at 14:00 UTC on 6160 kHz and 16:00 UTC on 3975 kHz

ITU highlights role of amateur radio in emergency comms
Amateur radio features in the ITU Guidelines for national emergency telecommunication plans, published by the Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D)

USKA preparing response to Article 37a on ham radio antennas
Switzerland’s national amateur radio society USKA is preparing its response to OFCOM’s consultation regarding the new Article 37a on ham radio antennas in the FMG Telecommunications Act

Puerto Rico ham radio operators on maximum alert following Puerto Rico’s earthquakes 2020
At the end of December 2019 and in early January 2020, the southwestern part of the island of Puerto Rico was struck by a series of strong earthquakes, including six that were of magnitude 5 or greater

WICEN hits the airwaves on the BBC World Service
Australia’s WICEN NSW Forward Commander, Compton Allen, was interviewed on the BBC World Service’s Digital Planet programme where he spoke of the role amateur radio operators are playing as part of the emergency response in the Aussie bushfire crisis

Magnetic explosions discovered on ‘Earth’s Doorstep
A type of explosion in space called “magnetic reconnection” can happen much closer to Earth than previously thought

RSGB looking at One-stop training portal
The RSGB Volunteer Leadership Team (VLT) has been looking at a One-stop Training Portal for exam candidates

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

Tony’s 10m Band Report
Best days of the week were Saturday and Sunday. Certainly seems that the DARC contest helped. Best DX EW1I (Belarus), ZC4UW (Cyprus), 3D2DJ (Fiji), OY1OF DZ, CT (all Faroe Is) rare birds indeed. Check out OY1OF’s QRZ web page. Incredible

ARRL launches ‘On the Air’ – a new podcast for beginner-to-intermediate amateur radio operators
For those who are just getting started on their journey in amateur radio, ARRL is launching a new podcast aimed at providing support and encouragement to help you get the most out of this hobby

New ham radio magazine ‘On the Air’
The ARRL has launched the bi-monthly amateur radio magazine On the Air and has made the premier issue freely available to read on the internet

History of Portishead Radio talk at South Bristol Amateur Radio Club
We have a guest speaker coming to South Bristol Amateur Radio Club on Thursday 23 January 2020. We are very pleased to welcome Larry G4HLN who will be telling the story of the history of Portishead Radio

Final report from SAQ / Grimeton Christmas Eve transmission 2019
The conditions were very good with clear dry weather in Grimeton, Sweden.
The transmission hall was filled up with record-many visitors who had come to enjoy coffee, cake and Swedish ginger snaps, and to watch the activities with starting and running the old radio transmitter SAQ.

Grow lights cause interference to ham radio
The Lansing State Journal reports amateur radio operators have been complaining of interference from marijuana grow lights

Radio hams rescue teenage girl from kidnappers
The Millennium Post reports  that a 14-year-old girl was rescued from the clutches of kidnappers, after her grandparents alerted Gangasagar Mela authorities on Tuesday

Pacific Tour
Operators Will AA4NC and Ron AA4VK will be active from 8 different islands during this year