At its just-concluded July 2021 meeting, the ARRL Board of Directors approved By-Law changes creating a third Standing Committee that joins the existing Administration and Finance Committee and Programs and Services Committee.

The charter of the new Emergency Communications and Field Services Committee (EC-FSC) is to develop and recommend new or modified Board policy and programs for emergency c...

Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: It’s exciting to observe increasing sunspot activity. Recently Solar Cycle 25 produced new sunspots frequently, and I watch them pop up every day on Spaceweather.com. New sunspots emerged on July 14, 16, 17, 19 and 20, and two new ones appeared on July 21. When I look at this image from July 22, our sun is peppered with spots, reminding me of past solar cycles....

ARRL Central Division Director Kermit Carlson, W9XA, has stepped down as Central Division Director. Carlson made the announcement at the July 2021 Board of Directors meeting this past weekend. Vice Director Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, has acceded to the Director’s chair, and ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, has appointed Brent Walls, N9BA, to succeed Luetzelschwab as the Central Division Vice ...

A judge in the Massachusetts Land Court has ruled that the Zoning Board of Appeals in the City of Framingham “erred” in revoking a building permit for an 80-foot ham radio tower as an accessory use. The Building Commissioner in Framingham had granted ARRL member Mikhail “Misha” Filippov, KD1MF, a building permit for the tower, and Filippov had begun pouring concrete for the tower footings. Neig...

Reports suggest that jamming stations have been deployed on the lower portion of 40 meters. The jamming appears to be coming from Cuba. The signals, spaced at regular intervals, exhibit a squishy, popping noise. The apparent jamming showed up after anti-government protesters took to the streets in Cuba, followed by a government crackdown. So far, there’s no proven connection between the jamming...

AMSAT’s Engineering and Operations Teams have announced that AO-109 (RadFxSat-2/AMSAT Fox-1E) is now open for amateur use. AMSAT advises operators to use efficient modes for making contacts, such as CW or FT4, because issues with the satellite make SSB voice contacts “challenging at best.” An article in the May/June 2021 issue (Vol. 44, No. 3) of The AMSAT Journal details the various attempts t...

The ARRL 2020 Annual Report has been posted and is available to download. The report summarizes ARRL program and fiscal activity for the year.

In his introductory remarks, ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, said that 2020 was a difficult and challenging year for ARRL. “The coronavirus pandemic changed everything, from the way we socialized, to the way we worked, to the way students learned,” Ro...

International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 1 Emergency Communications Coordinator Greg Mossop, G0DUB, reported over the weekend that amateur radio volunteers have responded in the wake of widespread and catastrophic flooding in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The flooding, resulting from unprecedented heavy rainfall, has claimed more than 120 lives. Hundreds more remain unaccounted ...