Solar activity remains quiet, but on May 16 the daily sunspot number reached 212. I had to keep searching further and further back in the records to find a higher sunspot number. One year, six months and one week earlier -- November 9, 2011 -- the sunspot number was almost that high, at 208. Going back seven years, 10 months and 12 days to July 4, 2005, it was 192. To find activity beating the ...

There will be no ARRL Audio News on Thursday, May 30. The ARRL Letter will be distributed on its usual schedule. The Audio News will return on Thursday, June 6.

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

This week, Surfin’ checks out a ham who is developing a handheld radio that’s a cross between a smart phone and an SDR.

The Dayton Hamvention® was last weekend and I drove 735 miles to attend the event for the 25th time. Kudos go out to my smart phone and its map apps for getting me to Hamvention and back without error, as well as getting me around those...

Now that the Morse code requirement no longer exists, those who held a Technician class license before March 21, 1987, having already passed the General theory exam, can upgrade to General class without further testing

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After an EF5 tornado swept through Oklahoma on May 20, radio amateurs in that state assisted the American Red Cross with its communications efforts. “Amateur Radio operators were asked to support voice communications from the American Red Cross Oklahoma City Chapter Headquarters to their feeding station at the Incident Command Post located in Moore,” explained ARRL Oklahoma Section Emergency Co...

This spring, the ARRL held two balloted elections for Section Manager. ARRL members in Nebraska elected a new Section Manager, while members in Utah -- faced with a three-way race -- voted to keep their Section Manager. In addition, ARRL members in New Hampshire and Wisconsin will each get a new Section Manager, and Section Managers in seven Sections ran unopposed and were declared elected for ...

The annual WX4NHC On-the-Air Station Test from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami will take place Saturday, June 1, 1300-2100 UTC (9 AM-5 PM EDT). “The purpose of this annual station test is to test all of our radio equipment, computers and antennas using as many modes and frequencies as possible in preparation for this year’s hurricane season,” said WX4NHC Assistant Amateur Radio Vol...

With the departure of Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Robert McDowell this past weekend, the FCC now only has three of its full complement of five Commissioners. Pending the Senate confirmation hearings for Tom Wheeler, President Obama’s pick to head the FCC, Obama has named Mignon Clyburn, the FCC’s ranking Democrat, to serve as Acting Chairwoman. The three remaining Commissioners...

Last week, the ARRL announced that the introduction of the new TQSL 1.14 software for Logbook of The World (LoTW) would be available on May 20. Upon further testing, three defects -- now corrected -- were reported after that announcement. Before publicly releasing a corrected version of TQSL 1.14, the software must be thoroughly retested by the Trusted QSL Software Development Team. LoTW users ...

ARRL Headquarters will be closed Monday, May 27 in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. There will be no W1AW code practice or bulletin transmissions that day. ARRL Headquarters will reopen Tuesday, May 28 at 8 AM (EDT). We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend!

Hamvention Sunday saw the beginning of the exodus from Hara Arena, but for those who remained, there was still a lot to see.

Of course, one of the major attractions was the traditional "last minute bargain." There were quite a few of these to be had in the fleamarket, but Sunday sales were prominent indoors as well. Early feedback from several vendors indicated that Hamvention 2013 was a success...

Hamvention Saturday got off to a rousing start. By late morning the aisles in the indoor exhibitor areas were crowded to the point where movement was difficult at best.

ARRL Member Forum
Among the first forums of the morning, the ARRL Member forum was filled to capacity. After an introduction by Great Lakes Division Vice Director Dale Williams, WA8EFK, Ohio Section Manager Frank Piper, KI8GW, dis...