HamSCI Solar Eclipse QSO Parties

August 13, 2023Save the dates!

HamSCI Presents The Solar Eclipse QSO Parties – October 14, 2023, and April 8, 2024.

Join with thousands of your fellow amateurs as part of the largest crowd-sourced contest for ham radio scientific exploration ever! The SEQP is for learning more about how the ionosphere works. Use any mode, any band for all or part of each day! Participation can be from everywhere – you need not be near the path of either eclipse to contribute valuable data by participating.

For details on the SEQP contest and rules go to www.hamsci.org/contest-info.

For the Gladstone Signal Spotting Challenge using CW, WSPR and FST4W modes go to www.hamsci.org/contest-info.

If you’re an SWL or AM DX’er, there is an event for you as well! Go to www.hamsci.org/mw-recordings/.

Save the dates! Get on the air! Send in your logs! Do it for science!!

HamSCI serves as a means for fostering collaboration between professional researchers and amateur radio operators. It assists in developing and maintaining standards and agreements between all people and organizations involved. Its goals are to advance scientific research and understanding through amateur radio activities and encourage the development of new technologies to support this research.

For more information about HamSCI, please visit the HamSCI website. For more information about the Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science educational opportunities for the amateur community and the public please visit our information pages.

Source: HamSCI open_in_new

Ghosts in the Air Glow RF Art Project

August 13, 2023Ghosts in the Air Glow (G1TÆG) is an ongoing art project by Amanda Dawn Christie that utilizes the HAARP Ionospheric Research Instrument. Transmission modes include AM, FM, CW, and SSTV.

Composition No. 3 takes place August 14, 03:30-04:30 UTC on frequencies ranging between 7 and 8 MHz.

Composition No. 3 will be transmitted as part of the August 2023 experiment campaign and the Polar Aeronomy and Radio Science (PARS) summer school. For Composition No. 3, Christie has invited contributions from other artists including, Vladyslav Atavin, Vladimir Atavin, José Alejandro Rivera, Sarah Nance, Rasu-Yong Tugen, Geneviève D’Ortun, and T. D. Walker.

Source: Ghosts in the Air Glow open_in_new

British Inland Waterways on the Air 2023

August 2, 2023British Inland Waterways on the Air (Biwota) brings attention to hams that utilize the canals, rivers, and adjacent land for recreation and work.

The event takes place Saturday August 26th through Monday August 28th. More information can be found on the Nunsfield House Amateur Radio Group page or on Facebook.

Source: Biwota open_in_new

New Jersey QRP Club Seeks Revival

August 1, 2023The long abandoned New Jersey QRP Club (NJQRP) is experiencing new life thanks to W2LJ’s effort to revive the organization. NJQRP was considered a premier QRP club in the early 2000s, and while the NJQRP Skeeter Hunt has remained a popular event, NJQRP as a club has been inactive since 2016.

W2LJ has created a new Facebook Group and Groups.io email list as a central gathering place. The current plan is to serve local QRPers with possible expansion to Zoom in the future.

Source: W2LJ open_in_new

Ten-Tec Founder Jack Edward Burchfield Silent Key

July 31, 2023

Jack began his career with Electro-Voice in Buchanan as an acoustical engineer. In the late 1960s, he, along with Albert Kahn and Tom Mitchell, founded Ten-Tec, a manufacturer of amateur radio equipment in Sevierville, Tenn. Jack designed the initial line of products and most of the radio equipment that followed. His radios were on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American History for many years. He was an amateur radio enthusiast and was inducted into the Amateur Radio Hall of Fame in 2004.

Source: Legacy open_in_new

ARRL Board Votes to Increase Membership Dues for 2024

July 26, 2023The ARRL board has voted to increase membership dues starting January 1st. In addition, members will be required to pay $25 on top of the membership dues in order to continue receiving printed copies of ARRL magazines such as QST and On the Air.

ARRL President Rick Roderick called the dues increase “a necessary part of ensuring ARRL is supported so we can continue to promote and fight hard for our Amateur Radio Service…”

View the 2024 dues schedule.

Source: ARRL open_in_new

URE Seeks Community Assistance with URESAT-1

July 24, 2023The URE of Spain recently launched and deployed a pocketQube satellite into orbit and now they’re seeking assistance from the community. While the satellite is operational and sending signals, the antennas have so far failed to deploy. The URE is requesting help from groups that can provide a powerful VHF station capable of transmitting a strong enough signal to overcome the weak receive state of the satellite. The goal is to transmit a request to once again attempt to deploy the satellite’s antennas.

URESAT-1 is currently transmitting telemetry, CW, and SSTV images despite the reduced capability of the antenna system.

Source: AMSAT open_in_new

Colorado 14er Event

July 21, 2023Colorado Summits On the Air (SOTA) will be active August 4th through 7th for the Colorado 14er Event. SOAT activators and chasers will be encouraged to participate.

The Colorado 14er Event is the precursor to SOTA, first taking place in 1991.

Source: ham14er.org open_in_new

SSTV Experiment from the International Space Station July 26

July 19, 2023Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) and the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) plan to conduct a special SSTV event utilizing the amateur radio repeater on the International Space Station (ISS). On July 26th between 20:05 UTC (16:05 ET) and 20:20 UTC (16:20 ET), a special SSTV message will be transmitted. The ISS pass will be over the mid atlantic region of the US during this event. The message may be recieved at 437.800 MHz. Hams are encouraged to listen for the message, but are asked to refrain from using the ISS repeater during this time.

Source: ARISS open_in_new

RCAF Buffalo Aircraft On the Air

July 19, 2023

From British Columbia in the west to Prince Edward Island in the east, this could well be the biggest retirement party ever thanks to a dedicated group of amateur radio and aviation enthusiasts.

On July 22nd, you can find Phill calling QRZ on the amateur bands as VC7BUFF457… Phill will be inside one of the planes, using its antenna and an amateur radio transceiver.

More info at ONTARS.com.

Source: ONTARS open_in_new