The K7RA Solar Update

Tad Cook, K7RA, Seattle, reports: Last week, we reported a big increase in activity with the daily sunspot number reaching 124, but by the end of that week all sunspots had disappeared. The sun was blank for several days, but sunspots returned on September 19.

Average daily sunspot numbers this week were 28.7, which was below the 58.3 average reported a week earlier. Average daily solar flux was...

Open-Source Amateur Satellite Work Not Subject to Export Administra…

CEO Michelle Thompson, W5NYV, reports that Open Research Institute (ORI) received an advisory opinion from the US Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) on September 2. The letter confirmed that public internet posts regarding open-source amateur satellite communications work are not subject to Export Administration Regulation (EAR). ORI was founded in March 2018 by Bruce Per...

ARRL, RSGB Announce Joint Events to Celebrate Centenary of Ham Radi…

ARRL and the Radio Society of Great Britain will jointly sponsor events to celebrate the achievement of transatlantic communications by radio amateurs 100 years ago.

In December 1921, ARRL sent Paul F. Godley, 2ZE, as its representative to listen for amateur signals from North America during the Second Transatlantic Tests. Setting up his listening station in Ardrossan, on the west coast of Scotl...

Registration Opens for USA Amateur Radio Direction Finding Champion…

Clear Frequencies Requested for Possible Nicaragua Earthquake Traffic

IARU Region 2 Emergency Coordinator Carlos Alberto Santamaría González, CO2JC, has requested that radio amateurs in Central America avoid 7098 and 7198 kHz in the wake of an earthquake at 0957 UTC this morning (September 22) in Nicaragua.

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the offshore magnitude 6.5 earthquake has also affected Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The ear...

The 2021 ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is Just Ahead

Radio Amateurs on Standby Following La Palma Volcanic Eruption

The Cumbre Vieja volcano on La Palmas in Spain?s Canary Islands erupted for the first time in 50 years on Sunday, September 19, following an increase in seismic activity over the previous 7 days. The lava flow triggered the evacuation of more than 6,000 people so far. Authorities have deployed all the resources of the Canary Islands Government as well as military support from the mainland to ma...

Home Computing Pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair Dies

Pocket calculator inventor and home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair died at his home on September 16 following a long illness. He was 81. Sinclair may have been best known for popularizing the home computer. Leaving school at 17, he worked for 4 years as a technical journalist to fund Sinclair Radionics and created the Sinclair Spectrum and the first computer, the Sinclair ZX-81. Many mode...

IARU Region 1 Monitoring System Says Radio France International Spl…

The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region 1 Monitoring System (IARUMS) August newsletter reports that Radio France International was active daily between 2100 and 2200 UTC on 7205 kHz. The report says splattering appeared ?massively? down to 7186 kHz, which IARUMS called ?an untenable condition.?

IARUMS said that the ?especially well-known intruders? included Voice of Broad Masses (VO...

ARISS Contact Scheduled with Patients at the Children?s National Ho…

Patients at the Children?s National Hospital in Washington, DC, will participate in an Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact. They will chat with ISS Astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, KE5DNI, on Tuesday, September 21 at 1805 UTC. This will be a multipoint telebridge contact via amateur radio between the ISS and the hospital, with IK1SLD as the direct ISS-to-amateur radio con...