May 31 marked the last day at ARRL HQ for ARRL Information Technology Manager Jon Bloom, KE3Z. Bloom -- an ARRL Life Member who had been with the League for 27 years -- resigned from the League to pursue other opportunities.

Bloom began his tenure at ARRL HQ in 1984 as an engineer in the ARRL Lab. He spent the next 15 years in the Lab, serving twice as Lab Supervisor. In 1999, he moved to head u...

At the 2007 Annual Meeting of the ARRL Board of Directors, the ARRL National Emergency Response Planning Committee -- led by then-ARRL Vice President Kay Craigie, N3KN -- presented a report to the Board that outlined how the League should respond to emergencies. One of the key concepts proposed by the committee was the Major Disaster Emergency Coordinator (MDEC) appointment. The idea was to hav...

Registration is now open for the new online Introduction to Emergency Communications course (EC-001). Course information, including a description, pre-requisites and instructions on how to register are available on the ARRL website. Slots are still available for the section beginning Friday, July 29; the registration deadline is Sunday, July 17.

The new Introduction to Emergency Communications c...

The ARRL National Convention -- held in conjunction with Ham-Com in Plano, Texas June 10-11 -- featured the ARRL EXPO, a large exhibition area within the main exhibit hall. The ARRL EXPO featured a project building activity and the ARRL Youth Lounge, while booths highlighting various ARRL departments and programs such as Education & Technology, Emergency Communications, Radiosport, ARRL VEC, AR...

The 2011 Dayton Hamvention saw a number of products making their first public appearance. Click on the "New At Dayton" PDF file below to get a look at some of these new items.

Four new poll questions have just been published on the QuickStats page on the ARRL website. Let your voice be heard!

Questions in this month’s QuickStats poll:

• Do you own a D-STAR or APCO-25 transceiver?
• When it comes to QSL cards, do you buy from a printer or make your own?
• Have you ever built a kit that included Surface Mount Devices (SMDs)?
• When was the last time you used Amateur Radio to ass...

For the past 10 years, the US Office of Personnel Management has designated the ARRL to participate in the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). In that time, this campaign for federal government civilian employees, US Postal Service workers and members of the military has generated more than $170,000 for ARRL programs since it first became an option for giving by federal employees to the League. Th...

Although higher early in the reporting week, the average daily sunspot numbers declined more than 4 points to 85.7, while the average of daily solar flux numbers were down 1.5 points to 101.6 when compared to the previous week, May 26-June 1. Sunspot numbers for June 2-8 were 118, 122, 116, 74, 67, 58 and 45, with a mean of 85.7. The 10.7 cm flux was 111.6, 107.1, 102.8, 102.9, 100.2, 96.4 and ...

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

This week, Surfin’ counts backwards and visits our 49th state ham radio-wise.

Last week, Surfin’ visited a website all about ham radio in our 50th state. Since I can remember when the last two states were added to the Union, I will give equal time to our 49th state, Alaska.

There is no one-stop-shopping website for Alaska like there is for Hawaii, but i...

By Chuck Skolaut, K0BOG

On May 24 through May 26 all roads led to the heart of the country for the 19th Annual NVOAD Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri. The mission and purpose of NVOAD (National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) is to provide a forum where organizations share knowledge and resources throughout the disaster cycle -- preparation, response and...

The last “new-one” in the western Aleutians was Ogliuga Island (IOTA NA-233) of the Delarof Group. Our team consisted of Yuri Zaruba, UA9OBA, Johnny Kiesel, KE7V, and Yuri Sushkin, N3QQ. We activated it using the call sign KL7RRC/p June 10-17 2009.

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Now is the time to start getting information out to the public about your ARRL Field Day activities. ARRL Field Day -- the largest on-the-air operating event -- is the one of the best opportunities of the year for showing our Amateur Radio capabilities to the public. ARRL Media and Public Information Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, notes that the ARRL has made many media materials available for loc...

If you can’t make it to the 2011 ARRL National Convention -- held in conjunction with Ham-Com in Plano, Texas June 10-11 -- you can follow all the activities on Facebook and Twitter. Photos will be posted to the ARRL’s Facebook page throughout the Convention, while the ARRL EXPO Twitter account will carry live “tweets.” Discover more about the 2011 ARRL National Convention here.

If you have been on the HF bands lately, you may have noticed that a number of new prefixes are in use by stations in the Russian Federation. Here is a summary of the changes recently adopted by the Russian telecommunication authorities.

• Russian prefixes with the numeral 2 are no longer limited to Kaliningradsk. Stations with RA2 and UA2-UI2 (with F and K as the first letter in the suffix) are i...

If you’re a VHF+ fan, you probably read “The World Above 50 MHz,” written by Gene Zimmerman, W3ZZ, of Gaithersburg, Maryland. For the last nine years, Zimmerman -- an ARRL Life Member -- has written this popular QST column, but the July 2011 issue will be his last. “When I accepted the duties of VHF Editor in 2002, I did so well knowing that my tenure would be circumscribed and likely not to ex...

ARRL DXCC Manager Bill Moore, NC1L, reports that the current VK0KEV DXpedition to Macquarie Island has been approved for DXCC credit. “If you had cards that were recently rejected for this operation, please send an e-mail to the ARRL DXCC Desk,” Moore said. “Please note that due to extremely heavy e-mail, DXCC staff may not respond to your message. Once your record is updated, results will appe...

In a Public Notice (CG Docket No 11-99) released on June 3, the FCC’s Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB) is seeking comments on whether or not it should terminate approximately 800 docketed proceedings. There are numerous proceedings pertaining to Amateur Radio on the list. These proceedings -- some going back to 1991 -- include dockets where no further action is required or contempla...

On June 6, the FCC issued a Forfeiture Order in the amount of $24,000 against Kevin W. Bondy of Encino, California, for engaging in unlicensed radio operation and intentional interference to licensed radio operations and for refusing to allow an inspection of his radio equipment by FCC personnel. Bondy -- licensee of General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) Station WQGX752 -- is accused of repeatedl...

In response to the EF5 tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri last month, the Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network (SATERN) -- through the ARRL -- requested volunteers to help support their mission to supply logistical and communications support. More than 50 hams responded to the request, and as of Monday, June 6, all personnel needs have been met. Those amateurs who have already been ass...

More than 50 hams responded to SATERN’s request, and as of Monday, June 6, all personnel needs have been met. Those amateurs who have already been assigned a slot should maintain contact with SATERN leaders, but no more volunteers are needed. Both the ARRL and SATERN greatly appreciate the response from the amateur community.

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In accord with our Memorandum of ...