Amateur Radio Daily

RAC Canada Winter Contest

In December each year, Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC) sponsors the Canada Winter Contest. Amateurs all over the world are invited to participate.

The contest period runs for 24 hours between 0000 UTC and 2359 UTC on December 30th, 2023. Special plaques and certificates will be awarded for various categories including rookie and overall highest single operator.

Full details and rules are available for viewing on the Canada Winter Contest website.

Source: RAC open_in_new

FCC Symbol Rate Limitations Expire January 8th 2024

FCC rule changes regarding symbol rate limitations being removed from the HF bands will go into effect on January 8th, 2024.

In November, the FCC put forth a Report and Order removing the symbol rate limit and in its place implement a 2.8 kilohertz bandwidth limitation. Those rules were adopted in a final Report and Order published today, December 7th. The rules outlined in the Report and Order go into effect on January 8th, 2024.

Source: FCC / Federal Register open_in_new

ARDC and ARRL Announce Continued Funding for Scholarships and Grants

Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) and The ARRL Foundation announced a three-year commitment with over $2.1 million in combined funding to support scholarships for radio amateurs, radio technology for classroom teachers, and amateur radio club grants. This commitment reinforces a strong shared vision between ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® and ARDC to invest in the future of amateur radio through programs supporting the next generation of radio amateurs. The renewed commitment will result in over 200 total scholarships, awarded over the next three years, for radio amateurs pursuing higher education.

Additional information about scholarships can be found at The ARRL Foundation Scholarship Program.

More information about grants can be found at The ARRL Club Grant Program.

Source: ARRL open_in_new

HamSCI Publishes Initial Observations from October Annular Solar Eclipse

Hundreds of amateurs participated in the HamSCI event by getting on the air. Combining their data with contacts from other amateur contest activities, citizen-science cooperation contributed to one of the largest participatory days ever in amateur radio history.

...observations show that signals from [medium wave] AM stations located to [the] north across the annular eclipse path showed significant signal strength enhancements associated with the eclipse, whereas signals from AM stations to the south did not.

Visit the HamSCI website for A full report [PDF] with charts and images.

Source: HamSCI open_in_new

ISS SSTV Event December 7-8

Russian cosmonauts will be active on the International Space Station conducting a partial global slow scan television (SSTV) event.

Images honoring cosmonaut graduate Yuri Usachov will be transmitted on 145.800 MHz FM Thursday December 7, 08:55 UTC to 14:25 UTC and Friday December 8, 08:15 UTC to 14:10 UTC.

Source: AMSAT open_in_new

ARISS 40th Anniversary Conference named ARRL Specialty Conference

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) recently named the 40th anniversary celebration planned by Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) an ARRL-sanctioned Specialty Conference. This special designation from ARRL will provide additional marketing opportunities for the ARISS event including mentions in the ARRL weekly email and monthly journal.

The ARISS 40th Anniversary Conference will celebrate the positive impact of amateur radio on human spaceflight. The event takes place at the Center for Space Education at the NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Center in Titusville, Florida February 22-24, 2024.

Amateur radio operation on human spaceflight first occurred in 1983 when astronaut Owen Garriott (W5LFL) made contact with amateur radio operators from the Space Shuttle Columbia.

Source: ARISS open_in_new

AMSAT Canada Officially Incorporated

Amateur Radio Satellites and Systems - Canada (AMSAT-CA) has officially been incorporated to support amateur radio in space. Over the next few months, AMSAT-CA will establish processes around its online presence as well as membership opportunities.

The first major effort from AMSAT-CA will be to develop a paper in support of the European Space Agency's proposal for a European and Canadian geosynchronous amateur radio satellite project.

Source: AMSAT-CA open_in_new

VP9 QSL Bureau Discontinued

The Radio Society of Bermuda will be discontinuing its QSL bureau service for VP9 stations beginning December 31st, 2024. Activity will be phased out over the next year.

Source: VP9NA open_in_new

ITU-R Recommends 23cm Amateur Service Operations

ITU-R has recommended an approach for amateur radio operators to continue working alongside non-amateur services on the 23cm satellite bands. Specifically, there has been concern that amateur radio might lose access to spectrum alongside the co-frequency radio navigation satellite service (RNSS).

The recommendation represents 4 years of advocacy on behalf of IARU and will be discussed at WRC-23 through mid-December.

Source: IARU open_in_new

NASA Highlights Ham Radio on International Space Station

The first and longest running educational outreach program on the space station is ISS Ham Radio. An organization known as Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, or ARISS, helps run the program. ARISS is a partnership between NASA, the American Radio Relay League, the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation, amateur radio organizations, and multiple international space agencies.

Read the full article on NASA.gov.

Source: NASA open_in_new