The ARRL website and other online services will be offline on Friday, February 28, for up to 8 hours in order to conduct necessary maintenance. The outage will begin at 0500 UTC and should end by 1300 UTC. Affected will be the main ARRL website, the ARRL Store, and the ARRL contesting-related pages, including the log submission page. Logbook of The World (LoTW), email, and all ARRL Headquarters...

The VP8PJ DXpedition to South Orkney Islands now anticipates being on the air sometime on Sunday, February 23, a couple of days behind the projected schedule. “The process of assembling the camp continues,” the DXpedition team reported on February 21. “[G]oing well, but will continue throughout today and tomorrow.” And in a follow-up report, “The ice has cleared enough to get the equipment asho...

Listen to the new episode of ARRL Audio News on your iOS or Android podcast app, or online at http://www.blubrry.com/arrlaudionews/. Audio News is also retransmitted on a number of FM repeaters. Click here and then scroll down to see the list.

 

On Sunday, March 1, dozens of amateur radio volunteers from several states will take part in a 3-hour exercise in the northern Florida city of Gainesville. The exercise is designed to test and evaluate skills, assets, and strategies for emergency communication, such as those that might be needed in the aftermath of a hurricane. The exercise is being organized by the North Florida Amateur Radio ...

A new world distance record of 139 kilometers (86.2 miles) is being claimed by radio amateurs in northern California. This tops the record of 114 kilometers set in 2005 by WA1ZMS and W4WWQ, according to the Distance Records on the ARRL website.

The February 17, 2020, contact was between Mike Lavelle, K6ML, on Mount Vaca (CM88WJ75ON) at 835 meters (2,739.5 feet) above sea level, and Oliver Barret...

Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) volunteers in DeSoto County, Mississippi, devoted several days in January to assisting local emergency managers in responding to tornado damage in the region. Desoto County Emergency Coordinator Ricky Chambers, KF5WVJ; Assistant EC Gene Adams, KF5KVL; Tate County EC Brad Kerley, KG5TTU, and Andy Luscomb, AG5FG, reported at 3 AM on January 11 to the DeSot...

The most recent sunspot appearance was on February 1, nearly three weeks ago.

Average daily solar flux over the past week declined just barely from 71.1 to 70.9.

Average daily planetary A index changed from 8.3 to 7, and mid-latitude A index went from 6.7 to 5.1. Solar activity remains very low.

Predicted solar flux is projected to remain very low, at 70 on February 20-27, and 71 on February 28 th...

In 2018, U.S. fishermen landed 9.4 billion pounds of fish valued at $5.6 billion at ports around the nation—consistently high figures on par with recent years, which bring economic benefits up and down the seafood supply chain, according to an annual report released today by NOAA Fisheries.

Three NOAA employees were recognized at the annual Black Engineer of the Year Awardsoffsite link (BEYA) Global Competitiveness Conference, which was held February 13-15, 2020, in Washington, D.C. These awards recognize significant achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

The winning article for the February 2020 QST Cover Plaque award is “CW Combo Key” by Marc Alan Winzenried, WA9ZCO.

The QST Cover Plaque Award -- given to the author or authors of the most popular article in each issue -- is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the QST Cover Plaque Poll web page. Cast a ballot for your favorite article in the March issue today.

 

On Friday, February 21, NOAA Fisheries will hold a media teleconference to discuss findings from the Fisheries of the U.S. 2018 report (the latest fishing year for which extensive data is available).

The United States is reclaiming a global top spot in high-performance computing to support weather and climate forecasts. NOAA, part of the Department of Commerce, today announced a significant upgrade to computing capacity, storage space, and interconnect speed of its Weather and Climate Operational Supercomputing System. This upgrade keeps the agency’s supercomputing capacity on par with other leading weather forecast centers around the world.

When the International Space Station (ISS) orbit is not favorable for a direct Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) contact with a particular school or location scheduled to speak with an astronaut, ARISS radio telebridge stations bridge the gap. Gerald Klatzko, ZS6BTD, of Parklands, South Africa, one of the “regulars” during the earlier years of the ARISS program, died on F...

The W8S DXpedition to Swains Island in the Pacific, set to take place in mid-March, has been postponed until fall as a result of travel restrictions imposed on individuals entering American Samoa, stemming from the recent coronavirus outbreak. The Department of Health allows non-residents to enter American Samoa only via Hawaii after a 14-day mandatory quarantine in Hawaii, and the DXpedition w...

The MV Braveheart is at sea again, this time transporting the VP8PJ South Orkney DXpedition team to Signy Island. Track the vessel’s progress on the VP8PJ website. The Perseverance DX Group is sponsoring the DXpedition. Team members have been operating as ZL1NA/mm during their voyage, generating heavy pileups.

VP8PJ is expected to commence operation on February 21 and continue until March 5. Ope...

The Yasme Foundation Board of Directors announced several grants when it met in Orlando, Florida, on February 9. Financial support will go to:

 

• The Ethiopian Amateur Radio Society (ET3AA) for VHF equipment.

   

• The SU8WRC/SU8X demonstration station at World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 in Egypt.

   

• The Youth on the Air and HamSCI exhibits at Dayton Hamvention 2020.

   

• Contest University at ...

The 5 MHz (60-meter) GB3WES beacon in Westmorland, England (IO84qn), on 5.290 MHz will close down on March 11, 2020, when its Notice of Variation (NoV) expires. The beacon began service on October 30, 2004. At the time, it was one of a chain of three UK 5 MHz propagation research beacons; the others were GB3RAL in Oxfordshire, already shut down, and GB3ORK in Orkney, which will be the sole rema...