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EHAM QTH QRZ ARRL HRO ICOM KENWOOD YAESU ELBO ROOM COMMENTS
FRIDAY EDITION: Gorgeous day, balmy and windy on the isle....We use the 555 chip below below in many circuits at the club to teach electronics. Our favorite circuit is the simple code oscillator as well as timer circuits....and they are wicked cheap to buy.
The reality is that the chip doesn’t have much inside. There’s a transistor to discharge the external capacitor, a current source, two comparators, and an RS flip flop. All the hundreds of circuits you can build with those rely on how they are wired together along with a few external components. Even on [stoppi]’s page, you can find how to wire the device to be monostable, stable, or generate tones. You can also find circuits to do several time delays. A versatile chip now blown up as big as you are likely to ever need it. Practical? Probably not, unless you need a 555 with some kind of custom modification. But for understanding the 555, there’s not much like it. We’ve seen macro 555s before. It is amazing how many things you can do with a 555. Seriously. Safety Stand-Down: Look Up and LiveBy Sierra
Harrop, W5DX Electricity is a killer. About 150 people die each year at work from contact with electricity, according to the Electrical Safety Foundation International. Half of those are from contact with power lines. That data is just workplace deaths, so recreational and public service volunteering aren’t even accounted for. In a recent article, ARRL New Mexico Section Manager Bill Mader, K8TE, shared safety concerns and processes that can be implemented at ARRL Field Day sites. I’d like to share a simple phrase that may enhance your situational awareness: Look up and live “Look up and live” was drilled into me and every other television news employee who worked with electronic news gathering vehicles that had a pneumatic mast or satellite dish. It was the title of an industry-standard safety video published by the National Press Photographers Association. In TV news, where I spent the first two decades of my professional career, there was always a deadline and often a tremendous sense of urgency at the scene of breaking news to get a live shot up first. Before the days of bonded cellular internet streaming, we used radio – microwave and satellite – to take viewers to the scene. No matter the pressure from news managers, safety was paramount. When we approached a scene, we made sure to park the live truck at least 10 feet away from overhead wires to comply with regulations. My personal minimum was two truck-lengths from any lines, ideally a whole mast-length. If I had a 58-foot mast, I’d try to park at least 58 feet away from the nearest power line. Identifying overhead lines was ritualistic: As I arrived, I got out of the vehicle, walked 20 feet away, looked up and walked around the entire perimeter of the truck while deliberately searching for overhead lines and obstructions. This additional 45-second process could feel like an eternity when news was unfolding dramatically for me to capture and report – but I couldn’t go live if I was dead. In pursuit of our amateur radio hobby, we should apply even more diligence. There’s no pressure to get on for a ham radio activation. Take your time, walk around, be diligent. Look up and live. Portable masts, vertical antennas, wire antennas slung up into a tree – anything you put up can become energized if it contacts an overhead wire. Do not take chances. Even what appears to be a phone or fiber line could be carrying lethal voltages. Do not become the path to ground. One additional tip that I hope never applies to a radio amateur: Should a vehicle you’re in become energized by a fallen line or a mast erected into power lines, do not leave it unless it is on fire. Call for help via phone or ham radio. Yell at any bystanders to not approach your vehicle. Electricity spreads out from a path to ground in concentric rings of decreasing voltage. Being in contact with different voltages is what will kill you. If a fire requires you to exit, carefully jump clear of the vehicle so as to not contact the vehicle and ground simultaneously. Be mindful of your movements: “Bunny hop” with your feet together or shuffle your feet on the ground in small increments without lifting either of them. Do not provide a path between the different potentials by walking normally or by falling and catching yourself with your hands. Please be careful when erecting portable gear within the wires environment. Remember: Look up and live. THURSDAY EDITON: 2025 Maine State Convention & Hamfest is coming up.....
2025 Maine State Convention & HamfestAugust 2, 2025 8 AM to NOONAugusta Civic Center POTA Activator Dies in Accidental ElectrocutionTripp Owens, N4NTO, a well-regarded POTA activator, died on Friday, July 4th, when, according to investigators, his antenna mast made contact with an overhead power line at the Chicora Civil War Cemetery near the Averasboro [pron: aver-us-burro] Battlefield Historic Site, US-11375. According to several local news reports, emergency crews were called to the scene after Tripp was found unconscious in the parking lot. One news report said that fire crews found him with his foot touching the mast beneath the power lines. Power company crews turned off the power to give the responders access. Tripp was pronounced dead at the scene. A report on the QRPer.com website relayed information from Dave W4JL, who said Tripp had been spotted on the Reverse Beacon Network between 12:02 and 12:13 UTC that morning but noted on the POTA spots page that he was going QRT. “This is heartbreaking news for those of us in the Parks on the Air and WWFF communities. Tripp was a well-known and well-loved North Carolina POTA operator—a dedicated hunter and activator whose callsign appears in my logs many times over the years.” Tripp's death was ruled accidental. Within hours of the news, the ham radio community offered condolences to his family on social media and shared memories of a man who they praised for his spirit of mentorship and his gentle sense of humor. Mark Gibson, N4MQU, praised him for his achievements as a top CW operator and a devoted contester. He had been a ham since 1985. "Ambrose 'Tripp' Owens the third was 57 years old. Tripp Owens (N4NTO) is believed to have been electrocuted while working with an antenna mast during a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation in North Carolina. N4NTO was an avid participant with POTA activating over 660 parks. Hams on social media posted condolences. [N4NTO] was a great CW op, and I had many POTA QSOs with him. His death is a reminder that even if you have over 600 activations under your belt, you always need to be alert for power lines when putting up and taking down portable antennas. — VA2NW QRPer called for a renewed look at safety in the field: Let’s honor Tripp by taking antenna safety seriously and helping others do the same. Share reminders. Watch out for one another. Stay mindful in the field.
WEDNESDAY EDITION: Damn humid early, but its summertime...Our tax dollar at work.... A 15 (and 10) meter high-pass filter for Field DayQRM from a transmitter to receivers on lower bands A friend of mine belongs to a club in a town north of me and he was describing an issue that they've been having for the past several years during ARRL Field Day: A station on an upper band (e.g. 15 or 10 meters) degrading reception on 20 or even 40 meters when transmitting. What was needed was something that could be used on both 15 and 10 meters and protect the lower bands (e.g. 20, 40 and 80) meters - and this protection would go the other way, preventing the 15/10 meter station's receiver from being overloaded by transmissions on the lower bands. ARTICLE TUESDAY EDITION: Not much ham news this time of year, people ae out enjoying the wx MMDVM Project Drops Support for M17 ModeMMDVM, a popular software and hardware project that powers many amateur radio hotspots, has announced the intention to drop the M17 digital voice and data protocol as a supported mode. First communicated to the OpenDV Groups.io list on July 12th, the project's maintainer cited a number of grievances and rumours behind the decision. Inclusion of M17 among the supported modes of the MMDVM project has been a major benefit to the current rate of adoption of M17. The first commercial radios supporting M17 shipped in the second half of 2024. The M17 Project is an open source digital voice and data protocol that is positioned as an alternative to digital modes that require use of proprietary encoders. MMDVM is an open source project that enables amateur radio hotspots to support multiple digital voice modes including D-STAR, DMR, YSF, P25, NXDN, and POCSAG. Interesting Read....Britons are more regular swearers than Australians or Americans, but what are their top swear words? Britons F*ck: 67% use regularly Sh*t: 65% Bloody: 54% Australians Sh*t: 61% F*ck: 56% Bullsh*t: 52% Americans Damn: 55% Sh*t: 54% F*ck: 47% 👇 more in chart below MONDAY EDITION: I installed a new fan on an Alinco 330 power supply a few weeks ago and when I turned it on the fan did not come on, I was mystified and left it on the bench and had more pressing problems to deal with....like getting a tan....Then light dawned on Marblehead, I was thinking about the thermal sensor that went bad on the Henry repeater amplifier recently. The thermal sensor had given up the ghost. While waiting for a new sensor, I just wired the fans on so they ran all the time, all three of them. the specs were that the sensor turned on at 115 degrees which turned the fans on...............oops, no wonder the fan didn't go in the Alinco, it hadn't warmed up yet enough to turn the fan on. Now back to getting a tan while the sun is out, a rare phenomena around here. Great Numbers Stacking Up for 2025 ARRL Field DayThe numbers for 2025 ARRL Field Day continue to grow. As of today, July 10, 3227 entries have been received and each day the list gets bigger, according to ARRL Contest Program Manager Paul Bourque, N1SFE. “Get those entries in!” he encouraged. The deadline is July 29. It was a big year for ARRL Field Day on social media. 260 public posts across several platforms used the hashtag #ARRLFD. That doesn’t even cover posts in groups or on private pages. The public posts alone reached 3.5 million viewers. There was also significant growth in news media coverage of 2025 ARRL Field Day. Using ARRL’s media monitoring suite, staff was able to track that amateur radio public information volunteers generated $37.5M in ad value equivalence (AVE) year-to-date around ARRL Field Day alone. That’s a metric that tracks the amount of money that would have to be spent to buy advertisements that get the same number of viewers that news stories or “earned media” did. That's up from $18M in 2023 and $20M in 2024. There were 1,810 media mentions of ARRL Field Day year-to-date, a 70% increase from 2024. “We’re hearing from clubs that were featured in coverage that people have been calling and wanting to get into amateur radio,” said ARRL Public Relations and Outreach Manager Sierra Harrop, W5DX. “It shows that the outreach value of ARRL Field Day is significant.” The ARRL Solar ReportSpaceweather.com reports solar activity was at low levels with only C-class flares observed. The largest flare during the period was a C8.9 from an unnumbered region beyond the east limb at S13. This region was also responsible for the majority of the remaining flares alongside Regions 4136 and 4137. An approximate M2 was observed by Solar Orbiter at 10/1326 UTC just beyond the east limb, bri… Read more Special Call Signs for this year’s International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) ContestAmateur radio operators in Puerto Rico will represent the United States in a worldwide amateur radio contest during the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) HF World Championship on July 12 – 13, 2025. The operators will use the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Headquarters station call sign, W1AW/KP4. The identifier of /KP4 is added to indicate the signal is being transmitted from Puerto Rico. “We are very happy and honored that ARRL has given us the opportunity to use its call sign for this important contest,” said Angel Santana, WP3GW, Public Information Coordinator for the ARRL Puerto Rico Section, and the amateur radio operator in charge of organizing the 2025 event in Puerto Rico. “Although W1AW/KP4 has been used in recent years in special events, the particularity this year is that, in addition to representing the United States, it takes place in the context of the founding of the IARU 100 years ago, which makes it more attractive while we are on the air as W1AW/KP4,” Santana added.
WEEKEND EDITION: Foggy morning start, hopefully it will burn off....30 beaches shutdown in MA from high bacteria counts, even here in Rockport we have had issues.... Amateur Radio Newsline
FRIDAY EDITION: I listened in on 3928 and have not heard anyone as of late? Band conditions or what?....I never heard of Hamshack Hotline, article below Hamshack Hotline Public Announcement – A Fond FarewellTo our valued Hamshack Hotline community, It is with a heavy heart that we announce the sunset of the Hamshack Hotline project, effective August 29th, 2025. What began in 2018 as a simple idea in the humble closet of K1WIZ quickly grew into something none of us could have imagined—an expansive, global communications network built by and for amateur radio operators. From those early beginnings, Hamshack Hotline evolved into a robust VoIP system supported by multiple servers around the world, with over 7,000 interconnections at its peak. This incredible journey was made possible by the generosity of donors worldwide and the tireless commitment of the Hamshack Hotline Team, who volunteered their time and expertise to support and grow the network. Your trust and participation helped shape Hamshack Hotline into a valuable and widely respected resource for the ham radio community. However, with success came scale—and with scale, came increasing demands. As the network grew, so did the workload on our small team. Balancing this effort with our responsibilities to family, careers, and life outside the shack has become increasingly challenging. We’ve always taken great pride in the reliability and service standards of Hamshack Hotline, and we recognize that we can no longer maintain those standards at the level our users deserve. After much thoughtful discussion and reflection, the Board of Directors has unanimously voted to sunset the project, giving our community ample time to transition to other services by the end date. This was not an easy decision. We know how much this network means to many of you—and it means just as much to us. Hamshack Hotline was built with love, run with dedication, and supported by an incredible community that made it all worthwhile. In the spirit of giving back, the remaining cash reserves of Hamshack Hotline, after settling final operating expenses, will be donated to a charity that supports veterans. We’ll announce the recipient of this donation soon. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank each and every one of you for being a part of Hamshack Hotline. Whether you joined us on day one or just discovered the network, your involvement helped shape something truly special in the amateur radio world. 73, Amateur Radio Volunteers Serving During Texas FloodsVolunteer amateur radio operators serving in the ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® (ARRL®) Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) are embedded with local served agencies in the areas of central Texas affected by devastating floods. The needs and assignments have been changing, but ARES volunteers are stepping up to the dynamic needs of their communities. “This is a very fluid situation. It changes by the hour,” said ARRL South Texas Section District 7 Emergency Coordinator Terry Jones, K5LGV. The trained ham radio operators were activated starting on Friday, July 4, 2025. Radio amateurs are providing communications capabilities to agencies whose primary systems were damaged in the flooding event or where they suffer poor connectivity due to the terrain. ARES members helped the American Red Cross with setup of a reunification shelter in response to the floods. Ten hams were assigned to search-and-rescue teams. Dozens of health and welfare messages were passed by ham radio operators who provided a critical link when phone lines were overwhelmed. “A lot of this is tied to circuit overload preventing folks from making direct contact with family members in the area,” said Kevin McCoy, KF5FUZ During the flooding event and subsequent search and recovery missions, ARES members have been deployed to serve many different counties, including hard-hit Kerr and Kendall Counties. Mutual aid has been offered between several surrounding ARRL sections. THURSDAY EDITION: The key below caught my eye, looks interesting and uses less of a footprint on your desk.....
DXLook HF Propagation MapDXLook – Where Your Signal Is HeardWe’ve all been there. You call CQ on 15 meters, the radio’s alive, conditions seem okay… but you’re not getting answers. So, you do what most of us do — check propagation. Maybe you fire up PSK Reporter, or flip to WSPRnet, or check the DX Cluster. But you end up hopping between tabs, trying to piece together the story of what’s actually going on out there. That’s exactly what led me to build this tool. At its core, DXLook is a real-time HF propagation map for amateur radio operators. But unlike other tools that show you where someone else’s signal was heard, DXLook helps you answer “Where is my signal being received right now?” Reception-Focused, Not Just Propagation Propagation maps are great — but most of them are based on predicted or averaged conditions. DXLook flips the perspective and focuses on actual reception data, in real time. It visualizes who’s hearing your signal, what band they heard it on, and how strong it was. Think of it as your personal propagation mirror. So instead of asking “Is 20m open?” you can now ask “Who’s actually hearing me on 20m — right now?” All the Data, One MapThis is where DXLook stands out. Instead of depending on a single source like WSPRnet or PSK Reporter, it brings all the major reception sources together:
You can filter by mode, band, view from your local Maidenhead grid to see what’s being heard in your region. Who It’s ForWhether you’re a new Technician trying to understand how far your signal travels, or a seasoned DXer trying to squeeze the most out of the grey line, DXLook helps you see the invisible. It’s also pretty handy during contests, POTA activations, or just for those “Is anyone out there?” moments. No Login. No Tracking. Just Radio.DXLook runs in your browser, no sign-up needed, no nonsense. It’s open to everyone — just visit dxlook.com and you’re in. You’ll see an interactive map updating live as new reception reports come in. It’s not meant to replace other tools, but to unify them — and give you a clearer picture of what’s happening on the bands, right now. So next time you spin the dial and wonder if you’re being heard… fire up DXLook. See you on the
air.
WEDNESDAY EDITION: I sent my Yaesu FT7250 back for service, low output and ratty audio. I got it back in two weeks. They did not tell me what was wrong but charged .45 for a pot, $90 for labor, an $34 for postage..you got to be shitting me! I had another one new in the box I bought from a club member so now I have two. They are a rock solid radio, I have had the repaired radio in the truck for 7-8 years and it has worked great. A 50 watt 2/440 FM/C4FM radio....
NEW YORK – Katie Campbell, KE8LQR, of Columbiana, Ohio, has been selected as the 2025 Bill Pasternak WA6ITF Memorial Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year. Katie, 17, is the daughter of Robert Campbell, KE8LYZ, and Colleen Campbell, KB8VAQ. Katie was introduced to ham radio at the age of 10 when her school started an amateur radio and electronics club. She was a fifth-grade middle school student at the time and quickly became licensed, advancing her way to an Extra Class ticket by the age of 11. An honor student heading into her senior year of high school, Katie is president of the Columbiana High School Amateur Radio Club (K8LPS). She said she was introduced to Morse Code early on and it became her favorite operating mode. “I learned CW through the Long Island CW Club,” she explained. “I’m pretty sure I found out about that just through my mom being on Facebook and seeing a posting about it right when they started.” Katie became an instructor for the group and still teaches classes on sending and receiving Morse Code over Zoom as well as to members of her school club. Katie attended Youth on the Air camps in Cincinnati in 2022 and Ottawa in 2023. Since then, she has been part of the planning staff for subsequent YOTA camps, and serves as a mentor to campers and handles public relations and social media postings for YOTA. She was part of the K3LR IOTA Dave Kalter Memorial Youth DX Adventure in 2023 and returned in 2024 to the K3LR site to lead the CW operations. Katie is very active on the HF bands and operates in the ARRL and CQ DX SSB and CW contests, ARRL Sweepstakes and CQ WPX, as well as Youth on the Air events. Katie has made presentations on the role of youth in amateur radio and contesting at the Dayton Hamvention, Orlando Hamcation and SEAPAC. Katie received the Radio Club of America’s Young Ham Lends a Hand Award and the Young Amateur Communications Ham Team Friendship Recognition Award. She also was selected as the ARRL Great Lakes Division Young Ham of the Year and has been serving as the ARRL Assistant Youth Section Coordinator for Ohio. Katie is the net control for the Ohio Section Youth Net, which she started four years ago. She also has served as the Young Ladies Radio League youth chairwoman and is a regular contributor to DX Engineering’s “OnAllBands” blog. In her Columbiana school life, Katie has served as class president, student council member, various honor societies and has participated in speech and debate, theater, academic competitions and the school band. Katie is the recent recipient of the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship. She will spend her senior year of high school studying abroad in Germany. The YHOTY award will be presented to Katie on the “Ham Nation” program on July 30, 2025 , by host Don Wilbanks, AE5DW. Amateur Radio Newsline and Yaesu USA are primary sponsors of the award, along with Heil Sound, Ltd. and Radiowavz Antenna Company. The Young Ham of the Year Award was inaugurated by William Pasternak, WA6ITF, in 1986. Upon his passing in 2015, Bill’s name was added to the award as a memorial to his commitment to recognizing the accomplishments of young people to the Amateur Radio Service.
TUESDAY EDITION: A nice start to the day with sun and heat, a good day to go to the dump with the limb I took down the other day to clear the way and mount a new 2/440 Diamaond vertical antenna. I have room now to mount another wire antenna. I have a new Cobra Senior and also a new G5RV I have been meaning to put up and compare. Ham Radio Publication Round-up
SWR
Amateur Television
Journal
The Communicator
The Logger's Bark
Zero Retries
The Random Wire
ARDC The Canadian Amateur (Membership required)
QST (Membership
required) US Radio Orienteering Champs CrownedThe 24th USA Radio Orienteering Championships were held June 19 – 22, 2025. The event was hosted by the Backwoods Orienteering Klub (BOK) at Morrow Mountain State Park in Albemarle, North Carolina, and drew about 30 athletes from across the United States and Canada. Radio orienteering is also known as amateur radio direction-finding, or ARDF. There were four World Championship-style races: Foxoring, Sprint, 2m Classic and 80m Classic. The Elite results:
Masters stand-outs:
Senior competitors: Every entrant in the M70 (men 70 and older) and W75 (women 75 and older) divisions completed at least three of the four demanding courses. Their steady performances — and obvious enjoyment — underscored the value of adding senior categories to future championships. Youth sweep: BOK junior Tiger Zhao claimed a perfect four-event sweep in M16 (men 16 and under) and teammates Anastasia Afonkin W16 (women 16 and under) and Adalia Schafrath-Craig W19 (women 19 and younger) also took golds — some with times that would have placed competitively in older divisions. Team USA will go on to compete at the 2025 IARU World Championships, to be held in Lithuania in August. The complete results of these championships, available at the BOK website, will be used for selecting the US team. Learn more about amateur radio direction finding on the ARRL ARDF page. Square a VoltageYour design task, should you decide to accept it: given an input voltage, square it. Ok, that’s too hard since squaring 8 volts would give you 64 volts, so let’s say the output should be 10% of the square, so 8 volts in would result in 6.4V. How do you do it? [Engineering Prof.] knows how and will show you what you can do in the video below. The circuit uses two op amps and some transistors. However, the transistors are used in a way that depends on the temperature, so it is important to use a transistor array so they are matched and will all be at the same temperature.
The math depends on the fact that the transistor response has a natural log term in it, and the property that the sum of two logs is the same as the log of the product of the numbers. Because of the matching transistors, many of the terms in the equation cancel out. Because the transistors are current devices, the transistor circuit’s output current is the input current squared divided by the output transistor’s collector current. Then it is just a matter of converting the voltage to a current and back again using the right scaling. There’s more to it, of course, but that’s the gist of it. You can dig into the math by watching the video. If the KCL references are fuzzy for you, here’s a refresher. Squaring a voltage would be pretty important for an analog computer. MONDAY EDITION: This weekend was picture perfect for all the 4th actvities, a great kickoff to a summer of fun here on the island. Are Service Loops a Good Idea?
Well, here’s an interesting idea: the service loop. Ever heard of it? We haven’t! In the video, the presenter explains the service loop serves two purposes: on the one hand it may provide strain relief, but chiefly these loops are installed so there will be extra available slack in the cable if you need to rewire it some day to change the configuration of your pinout. One major problem with the service loop may be that the single turn is enough to create an inductor which will then induce noise and cross-talk all over the place. Our rule of thumb is always to completely unroll wires and cables before using them. Do you have a theory about the benefits or problems with service loops? If you do, we’d love to hear what you think in the comments! If you’re interested in strain relief, we’ve covered that before, and you don’t need a service loop to do it! Check out Cheap Strain Relief By Casting Hot Glue In A 3D Print and Arduino Uno Strain Relief. FCC NEWS regarding recent budget
JULY 4TH WEEKEND EDITION: Nice parade, great cookouts, and the bonfire from the boat.... Peninsula amateur radio clubs look to connect with a younger generationFour clubs set up together in Hampton for 2025’s annual amateur radio field day.Virginia: The airwaves were especially active over the weekend as amateur radio enthusiasts gathered across the U.S. and Canada to showcase the hobby and, for some, try to best thousands of competitors over 24 hours. But while some clubs strived to rack up points for connecting with other operators around the continent, that wasn’t the focus for a quartet of Peninsula clubs that set up behind Northampton Christian Church in Hampton. “We’re not about winning, we’re just having fun,” said Chris Hosman, president of the Hampton Public-Service Team. The annual field day is considered amateur radio’s “open house” by ARRL, the National Association for Amateur Radio, which organizes the event on the fourth weekend of June. Clubs set up transmitters and antennas in public places where licensed amateur radio operators, also called Hams, demonstrate the tech’s capabilities to the uninitiated. Some Hams will spend the day feverishly making as many contacts with other operators as possible. The more contacts made, the more points a club earns. Contacts made on digital modes are worth more than voice contacts. Clubs can also secure points through youth participation, using solar power and getting visited by elected officials during field day. Final scores are released in a few months, ranking clubs by class as determined by the number of active transmitters and the type of set-up used. Don Mertz, vice president of the Hampton Public-Service Team and Southern Peninsula Amateur Radio Klub, said the competition used to be a bigger deal locally. “It was pretty normal for us to get 1,000 contacts in 24 hours,” he said. This year, he said, “we’ll end up with 200 or so.” Emergency preparedness is more important now for the four local clubs, which were rounded out by the Newport News Amateur Communications Team and the Peninsula Amateur Radio Club. Mertz said that’s partly a result of the area’s geography and storm potential, but emergency communications is also a throughline in the amateur radio world. It’s common for operators to support emergency management operations around the U.S., with Hams serving as a communications backup during hurricanes and severe weather events. Networks of licensed amateur radio operators were crucial for reporting damage, coordinating assistance and relaying messages when Hurricane Helene devastated North Carolina in 2024. “Amateur radio operators can put up in a field the ability to talk to people anywhere in the world if they want to” with their gear and a battery or power generator when the electricity goes out and other modes of communication have failed, Hosman said. The Hampton Public-Service Team and Newport News Amateur Communications Team support the emergency management offices of their cities, and they share members with the two standard radio clubs on the Peninsula, several of whom are former military and first responders. Hosman said getting that network well-acquainted with one another is a big part of field day. “Rapport is built up in these kinds of events,” he said. “Somebody comes up on the radio and is reporting something ridiculous, if we don’t know that guy then we probably aren’t going to trust his report.” Finding new recruits is crucial for maintaining those networks, and for keeping amateur radio alive. The number of licensed Hams in the U.S. has fallen fast during the past five years, totaling 743,005, according to ARRL. That’s down more than 35,000 from 2021, wiping out gains made since 2014. Virginia has lost more than 800 licensed Hams since 2021. It’s why getting younger people exposed to the hobby and potentially into a club, is a focus. Mertz said getting younger newbies to step up as mentors for younger prospective Hams will help. “So instead of the 15-year-old having to listen to the 75-year-old, he can listen to a 20-year-old”, he said. Siblings Mary and James Wright were at field day, both licensed as of February. Fifteen-year-old Mary said the new youth movement by ARRL could pay off if done well. Her brother, 17-year-old James, who sped his way to the highest license offered to amateurs by April, agreed. “The more people that get involved with Ham radio, the more it’ll get out there,” he said. “I’ve made contact with someone in China over Ham radio and I just thought that was so cool – because that was, like, a 7000-mile-away contact.” We are launching the boat today, just in time for the bonfire on the beach tonight. You can anchor just offshore and watch the bonfire, fireworks, and band play at the American Legion bandstand....what a country!
Voile des Légendes Dunkerque 2025 Special EventThe Radio Club de l’Agglomération Dunkerquoise – F8KGS – is proud to announce the activation of a special event amateur radio station: TM5VDL, on the occasion of the “Voile des Légendes Dunkerque 2025” maritime festival. Held every few years in the historic port city of Dunkerque, northern France, Les Voiles de Légende is a celebrated gathering of classic and legendary sailing ships from across Europe. The city comes alive with nautical pride, music, maritime culture—and in 2025, with radio waves! This special callsign TM5VDL will be active from July 5th to 19th, operated by members of F8KGS Radio Club. Operators will be mainly active on HF, sharing the spirit of this majestic event with amateurs worldwide. A special QSL card will be sent via bureau. Join us on the air and help us celebrate the union of maritime heritage and amateur radio! Source: Radio Club de l’Agglomération Dunkerquoise 2025 ARRL Field Day a SuccessTens of thousands of hams are celebrating a successful 2025 ARRL Field Day! The largest annual amateur radio event is also one of the most beloved, as shown by countless social media posts. Activity was high, with 1536 sites in the ARRL Field Day Site Locator, and that doesn’t even count home stations, portable operations, or other participants. “There’s a reason that hams look forward to ARRL Field Day,” said ARRL Public Relations and Outreach Manager Sierra Harrop, W5DX. “It is easy to see how much fun people have during the event. Across the country, people come together in town squares, public parks, green spaces, and other locations – all to celebrate the joy of amateur radio and to share it with others,” she said. PHOTOS: See 2025 ARRL Field Day from around social media On the town green in West Brookfield, Massachusetts, between Springfield and Worcester, the Quaboag Valley Amateur Radio Club held its activation front and center in the postcard town. There was a steady line of onlookers visiting the setup that stretched out for several hundred yards. Many of them sat down to try their hand at the GOTA (Get On the Air) station. Nestled across from an antique church with a white steeple, and on green grass that surrounds a fountain, the hams brought a steady call of “CQ Field Day” to the quiet hamlet. Aboard the International Space Station, Astronaut Jonny Kim, KJ5HKP, was active. Social media and YouTube show several clips of hams talking with Kim. James Walker, KC1UYZ, shared a video of his contact with Kim to Instagram and other platforms. “KC1UYZ, welcome to the International Space Station,” said Kim. A quick rest of the contact was followed by enthusiastic whoops from Walker, who was elated to have talked with an orbiting astronaut. W1AW, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station at ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut, was active for the event. The station’s three operating studios were configured as a 6F-class station. On Saturday afternoon, and well into the overnight, ARRL Education and Learning Support Specialist Max Freedman, N4ML, was operating alongside Audrey McElroy, KM4BUN. “It is always great to help people get W1AW in their logs,” he said. Freedman is an experienced contester, but this was his first operating event at the historic station. “It is such an honor to operate as W1AW,” he said. McElroy was honored as the Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, Memorial Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year in 2022. She’s in Connecticut for an internship in support of her electrical engineering degree – a career that her ham radio background has inspired. ARRL Contest Program Manager Paul Bourque, N1SFE, reports nearly 2500 entries have already been received via the online entry form at field-day.arrl.org/fdentry.php. “We are encouraged by the surge in early submissions, but there’s still time to get entries in,” he said. Bourque noted that Field Day participants should check that all the required supporting documentation related to their entries has been received by checking the Entries Received web page at field-day.arrl.org/fdentriesrcvd.php. If the status of your entry is listed as Pending Documents, one or more of the required documents still needs to be submitted to complete your entry. Entrants may use the link provided in the confirmation email they received to add additional documents or to modify their entries. Field Day entries must be received by Tuesday, July 29, 2025. Complete information about ARRL Field Day is available at www.arrl.org/FieldDay Amateur Radio Newsline Report
THURSDAY EDITION: My favorite holiday coming up along with Thanksgivng, God Bless America! ARRL® Logbook of The World® Return to ServiceARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® will return Logbook of The World® (LoTW®) to service at 10:00 AM EDT on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. We are happy to be bringing the upgraded LoTW servers online, as we know radio amateurs around the world rely on LoTW to receive QSLs and apply for awards. The improvements we made will make no change in the visual appearance of LoTW but will provide e… Read more American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources – Read More Voile des Légendes Dunkerque 2025 Special EventThe following is a message from the Radio Club de l’Agglomération Dunkerquoise: The Radio Club de l’Agglomération Dunkerquoise - F8KGS - is proud to announce the activation of a special event amateur radio station: TM5VDL, on the occasion of the “Voile des Légendes Dunkerque 2025” maritime festival. Held every few years in the historic port city of Dunkerque, northern France, Les Voiles de Légende is a celebrated gathering of classic and legendary sailing ships from across Europe. The city comes alive with nautical pride, music, maritime culture—and in 2025, with radio waves! This special callsign TM5VDL will be active from July 5th to 19th, operated by members of F8KGS Radio Club. Operators will be mainly active on HF, sharing the spirit of this majestic event with amateurs worldwide. A special QSL card will be sent via bureau. Join us on the air and help us celebrate the union of maritime heritage and amateur radio! Ham radio connects the worldRussell Sawyer is a retired doctor who travels the world several times a week. He’s down in his basement searching for other ham radio operators. "Sometimes this is like fishing," he says. "You wait patiently for someone to talk to." There are as many as 30,000 operators in Virginia, talking about the weather, the family, the gear they use to send greetings around the world. To broadcast on frequencies reserved for amateur operators, he had to take a test and pay $15 to the FCC. He spent $400 on some used equipment, ran a hundred-foot antenna from one tree to another in his backyard, and he was in business. This weekend, he plans to join other hams at the Earlysville Fire Station for a 24-hour marathon – hoping to interest others in his hobby. "We’ve got some young people involved with this -- they’re in high school and have a ham radio license. In fact, I think there’s one fellow in the club who will bring several of his students to the field day and is going to set up an educational activity and do some soldering and go on the air, and we’ve got some older people who are just interested in taking it up as a hobby – learning something new, a chance to learn a new language: Morse code." It’s fun, he says, and should the grid go down in an emergency, amateur radio operators could provide essential communications with a battery. The Albemarle Amateur Radio Club will be on the air from 2 p.m. Saturday to 2 p.m. Sunday and will offer newcomers a chance to try their hand at ham radio.
HAMS YOU MIGHT KNOW- ALIVE AND SK K1TP-
Jon....Editor of As The World
Turns....
SILENT KEYS Silet Key
KA1BXB-Don...Regular
on 3900 mornings....just
don't
mention
politics
to
him,
please! |
