As has happened many times in years past, over 200 Amateur Radio operators participated in communications for the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15, 2013. Unlike prior challenging situations such as very warm weather for the runners or other weather-related challenges, this year’s marathon will be remembered for the bombings that took place at the finish line. Despite this heinous act, profes...

As has happened many times in years past, over 200 Amateur Radio operators participated in communications for the Boston Marathon on Monday, April 15, 2013. Unlike prior challenging situations such as very warm weather for the runners or other weather-related challenges, this year’s marathon will be remembered for the bombings that took place at the finish line. Despite this heinous act, profes...

The digital version of the May issue of QST is now available to ARRL members. The digital edition includes many features not available in the print version, such as:

• Video overviews of the new Hendricks BitX17A transceiver and the M2 2M-1K2 high power 2 meter amplifier.

Every issue of QST is filled with the news and features you need to keep active in Amateur Radio. Find all this and more in the ...

On April 9, the FCC found two businesses -- The Supply Room in Oxford, Alabama and Taylor Oilfield Manufacturing in Broussard, Louisiana -- to have “apparently willfully and repeatedly violated Sections 301, 302(b), and 333 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and Sections 2.803(g) and 15.1(c) of the Commission’s rules by operating multiple cellular phone jammers.” In addition, the FC...

Both the average daily sunspot numbers and the solar flux were up this week, with the sunspot numbers rising nearly 57 points to 138.1, and the average daily solar flux up more than 25 points to 138.8. Paired with the average daily planetary A index dropping from 9.4 to 4.1, this is great news for HF propagation. On April 8, the daily sunspot number reached 162; two days later, it was at 163. T...

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

This week, Surfin’ explores the website of the Young Ladies in ham radio.

It’s no secret that men dominate ham radio; women represent only about 15 percent of the US ham population. This demographic is also evident when attending ham radio events, such as the Dayton Hamvention®: The guys are everywhere, whereas the gals are few and far between. 

These lad...

On April 1, Idaho Governor C. L. “Butch” Otter (R) signed Senate Bill 1065 into law. This new law is amendment to a current Idaho law regarding guyed towers, which states that guyed towers “shall be lighted, marked and painted or otherwise constructed to be visible in clear air during daylight hours from a distance of not less than 2000 feet.” With the passage of SB 1065, both guyed Amateur Rad...

The weather’s getting warmer and that means the bands will be hot for the ARRL SSB Rookie Roundup, Sunday, April 21, 1800-2359 UTC. Created to give the budding operator a place to learn about contesting at an easier pace, the ARRL Rookie Roundup is a six hour contest open to all amateurs who first got their ticket in 2011, 2012 or 2013.

Even if you were licensed prior to 2011, you can still get ...

Attention, teachers who are thinking about using Amateur Radio and wireless technology in their classrooms to help facilitate hands-on learning opportunities. The ARRL’s Education & Technology Program (ETP) offers two programs that can help make this happen, but the application deadlines are fast approaching: The deadline for the 2013 Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology (TI) is May 15, wh...

Julie N. Zoller, KJ4EMJ, has succeeded Richard C. Beaird at the Department of State as Senior Deputy Coordinator of the Office of Multilateral Affairs, Communications and Information Policy Directorate, Economics and Business Affairs Bureau. In this position, she will serve as principal advisor to the United States Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy. Beaird reti...

1st Prize: $500

Levi Maaia, K6LCM, for his outstanding video highighting the activities of the Near Space Exploration Club at the Anacapa School in Santa Barbara, California. Watch this video on YouTube or on the ARRL website at www.arrl.org/winners.

2nd Prize: $250

Kevin Thornton, K5KVN, for his video of the 2012 first-time “activation” of Horseshoe Island on Beaver Lake in northwest Arkansas as ...

The Dayton Hamvention Awards Committee announced on April 7 that it would be withdrawing its Amateur of the Year Award for 2013. According to Dayton Hamvention General Chairman Charles Kaiser, KD8JZR, the committee had received “conflicting information from credible sources regarding the accuracy of the winning nomination.”

After verifying these reports, Kaiser made the decision to withdraw the ...

Solar activity increased over this past week, with the average daily sunspot numbers up 32 points to 81.6, while the average daily solar flux increased more than 16 points to 113.4. The geomagnetic field was active on March 29 due to solar wind. Sunspot numbers for March 28-April 3 were 49, 73, 70, 83, 84, 103 and 109, with a mean of 81.6. The 10.7 centimeter flux was 98.7, 105.1, 108.4, 113.3,...

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

This week, Surfin’ finds radio parts on a fascinating website.

Back when I began stinking up my parents’ house with the scent of liquefied solder, there were radio and electronics stores in the area where I could buy all the parts to build my projects. But in the 1970s, those stores went the way of the vacuum tube. I had to go the mail order route to buy...

On March 27, the FCC released a First Report and Order, Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and a Notice of Inquiry (ET Docket Nos. 13-84 and 03-137). The documents seek to reassess the FCC’s RF exposure limits and policies, as well as to propose changes to the FCC’s rules regarding human exposure to RF electromagnetic fields. These proposed changes would affect the Amateur Radio Service (Par...

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate, KK4INZ, met with ARRL leadership at FEMA Headquarters in Washington, DC last month. Fugate, an ARRL member, spoke with ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, and ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, as well as ARRL General Counsel Chris Imlay, W3KD, and ARRL Emergency Preparedness Manager Mike Corey, KI1U, about Amate...

This year marks the 88th anniversary of the founding of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). To mark this occasion, the IARU and its more than 160 Member Societies will celebrate World Amateur Radio Day on April 18. For many years, the IARU Administrative Council has declared a theme for each World Amateur Radio Day. The theme for 2013 is Amateur Radio: Entering Its Second Century of D...

H. Ward Silver, N0AX
n0ax@arrl.net

Worse than the dreaded “word problem,” this April quiz is full of backward problems where I give the answer and you pick the problem. Or something like that. You’ll figure it out!

1) 9
a. The dB equivalent of a power ratio of 4.
b. The number of wavelengths traveled by a 7 MHz signal in 1.29 µs.
c. Value of SWR if a 337.5 Ω load is connected to 75 Ω coaxial cable....

ARRL Field Day, Amateur Radio’s largest on-the-air operating event is June 22-23 -- just a little more than two months away -- so be sure to get your official 2013 Field Day gear before supplies run out.

This year’s ARRL Field Day shirt is a white t-shirt that sports the 2013 Field Day logo on the front, with the ARRL diamond logo and “Ham Radio” on the back. Shirts are available in sizes Small-...

J. Kenneth Pulfer, VE3PU, of Ottawa, Ontario, passed away Sunday, March 31 after a long illness. He was 80. In 1994, Pulfer became the Secretary, then Secretary Treasurer for the Radio Amateurs of Canada (RAC), that country’s IARU Member Society. He also served as the RAC’s Vice President for Government Affairs and Vice President for International Affairs. When former ARRL Chief Technology Offi...