Foundations of Amateur Radio
Removing technology for a change
My first ever interaction with amateur radio was a field day on Boterhuiseiland near Leiden in the Netherlands when I was about twelve. The station was set-up in an army tent and the setting was Jamboree On The Air, or JOTA. My second field-day, a decade ago, was a visit to a local club set-up in the bush. At that point I already had my licence and I’d just started taking the first baby steps in what so-far has been a decade long journey of discovery into this amazing hobby

National Hamfest 2021 cancelled
The National Hamfest had been planned to take place September 24-25 but organisers have now announced it will be postponed until September 2022

WIA seeks review of amateur radio exam system
The WIA wants a review of the effectiveness of the amateur service examination system in light of the lack of growth of newly licenced operators in Australia

The Termination Event
Something big may be about to happen on the sun. It’s called the ‘Termination Event’ and it could kickstart Solar Cycle 25 into a higher gear

IARU in the CEPT Working Groups
IARU volunteers have been participating in the CEPT FM and SE Working Groups looking after the amateur and amateur satellite service interests. CEPT WG-SE #88 took place during April and WG-FM #99 took place at the end of May

Dragon ARC VHF Day
Today the 12th of June, Dragon ARC are running a special event station from Parys Mountain on the island of Anglesey in IO73. We shall be using 6, 4 and 2 metres ssb and fm

A ‘tall story’ from Turkey
The Çamlca TV-Radio Tower in Istanbul stands 369 meters tall, a futuristic, state of the art structure being heralded as the tallest telecommunications tower in all of Europe

CHESS will not have an amateur payload
Two CHESS CubeSats had been planned to carry amateur radio linear transponders, however, it was announced on June 10 there will not be any amateur payload on the satellites

Ofcom clarify regional locator
I have made an enquiry with Ofcom in relation to the letter ‘Z’ being used for Shetland in contest call signs as it has been done traditionally in the past. I also asked wither it could be used for personal or club use

Solar storms more likely at solar cycle peaks
The ‘New Scientist’ magazine reports that researchers at the University of Reading in the UK have been investigating the extremes of space weather

Kyrgyzstan radio hams get 5 MHz band
Radio amateur in Kyrgyz Republic can now use the WRC-15 allocation at 5 MHz (60m) with 100 watts output

D-STAR added to the ICQPODCAST Digital Bridge
The ICQPODCAST is pleased to announce that we have just added D-Star to the ICQPODCAST Digital Bridge

International Space Station to be in cross-band repeater mode for Field Day
The ARRL report that the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) cross-band repeater will be available for ARRL Field Day, June 26 – 27. Contacts will count toward Field Day bonus points as satellite contacts and Field Day contacts

Sachin Jogia to join Ofcom as Chief Technology Officer
Ofcom has appointed Sachin Jogia from Amazon as its new Chief Technology Officer

Area amateur radio operators to join Field Day
Ohio’s licensed amateur radio operators will participate in the group’s annual Field Day on June 26-27

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