Ria's Ham Shack news - June 17, 2024
ARDC Board updates, ARRL's updates on cyberattack, Hams @ HOPE hacker conference, OSCAR India conference plans, Field Day, Ham Radio Friedrichshafen and more!
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ARDC announces Board updates
Courtesy of Rebecca Key, KO4VKG, ARDC Communications Manager
Founding Board Member and recent Treasurer “kc” claffy KC6KCC has stepped down as of June 1, 2024. kc had been an ARDC Board Member since 2011, when she helped colleague Brian Kantor WB6CYT/SK establish the organization. She played a significant role in transitioning ARDC to becoming a foundation and is a strong advocate of better utilizing the 44Net address space in support of ARDC’s mission. Upon kc’s departure, Ria Jairam N2RJ became ARDC’s new Treasurer.
“It has been an incredible journey helping to create ARDC to ensure continued operations of AMPRnet and advance so many science, technology, and education efforts related to open source radio communications,” says kc. “I am so proud of the growth and success we have achieved together. ARDC has a tremendously capable staff and board, and I have complete confidence that ARDC will continue to thrive.”
“I am extremely grateful for kc’s contributions to ARDC, and her direct assistance to me on various occasions since I joined the board,” says President Bdale Garbee. “Her vision and dedication have been instrumental to our success, and her presence on the board will be missed. I wish her all the best, and look forward to continuing to collaborate with her in various ways in the future.”
“I have loved working with kc and learned a ton from her during my time at ARDC,” says Executive Director Rosy Schechter. “She will definitely be missed, though her work to help us continue to improve our grant evaluation process will remain.”
At ARDC, we extend our gratitude to kc for her contributions and for being a significant driving force in shaping the Foundation into what is today.
You can see our Board Members, as well as the entire ARDC team, on our Who We Are page.
Editor’s note: I am honored to have worked with kc over the past year and a half, and have learned a lot from her. If you look at her work with CAIDA at UCSD, you will see some of the research that she has done that is extremely beneficial to the public, especially the cybersecurity community, of which I am a part. During Board meetings, kc lent valuable perspective to granting, 44Net and IT issues. Her experience with CAIDA, UCSD, the NSF and others have brought valuable experience to the organization. Of course, we know where she is in San Diego so I don’t think this means farewell, only “see you later.”
In the role of treasurer, it is a huge responsibility, for which I am extremely honored. Having worked in the investment banking and trading platforms space, I hope to lend my expertise to the stewardship of ARDC’s endowment, which is extremely important to the amateur radio and digital communications community.
When is LoTW coming back? And other questions about ARRL’s cyberattack incident
It’s been over a month since ARRL’s services were taken down in a massive cyberattack, and services are slowly being restored. The scale of this attack on an amateur radio organization is unprecedented, but there appears to be significant progress toward restoring all services according to their website. However, LoTW is notably still offline. Being in the cybersecurity space myself, I have some theories, but I won’t re-hash them here, other than to say that it wouldn’t surprise me if ARRL had to spend significant dollars to restore its infrastructure.
Attacks have become increasingly sophisticated to the point where they can get deep into systems and stubbornly persist. Antivirus protection isn’t enough anymore. Organizations large and small now need proper Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR), such as CrowdStrike which uses artificial intelligence to prevent attacks before the occur. Hopefully ARRL has or will invest in such systems to prevent future attacks.
ARRL has also been without an IT director since last year, so I am hoping they also fill that position soon.
I post cybersecurity stuff on LinkedIn, so if you want to head on over there, feel free. I am especially interested in IOT and application security.
de N2RJ, CISSP, CC
HOPE to see you soon?
Courtesy of Joe Cupano, NE2Z
The annual HOPE - Hackers Of Planet Earth conference is scheduled for July 12-14, 2024. I may attend, depending. But if you’re a ham radio operator and attending, there are some details on their QRZ page. Usually the ham station is staffed by Joe NE2Z, r0d3nt and a few others.
HOPE XV Amateur Radio Station - W2H
St Johns University
Queens, New York - USA
July 12-14, 2024
If you're an amateur "ham" radio operator coming to HOPE, bring your handie-talkie and keep in touch with many other hams at HOPE for a 3-day QSO of what's happening.
147.545 MHz PL 77.0
433.545 MHz PL 77.0
or via the special-event repeater W2H/R
447.875 MHz Output (TX) PL 167.9
442.875 MHz Input (RX) PL 167.9
Given logistics location, best efforts are being made to have an HF presence perhaps on 40 and/or 20 meters
OSCAR INDIA ARCon 2024
OSCAR India is planning its second convention - ARCon 2024 will be held in Eastern India on October 5-6, 2024. More information is at beaham.in.
Field Day 2024 - try something different.
The annual ARRL Field Day contest operating event is coming up on June 22-23, 2024.
Always the fourth full weekend in June, this event brings ham radio operators out of their shacks and into the field, showing off our portable capability and emergency power.
Here’s something though - most ham radio field days are done with fossil fuel (gas or diesel) generators. How about trying something different? Maybe do FD with solar and battery. In an emergency, supplies of fossil fuels are never guaranteed, but the sun still will be shining. I have operated three Field Days so far using batteries and solar. It has been amazing using FREE electricity from the sun.
Ham Radio Friedrichshafen 2024 - June 28-30
Hams from across Europe and around the world will gather on Lake Constance to celebrate amateur radio. The annual Ham Radio Friedrichshafen event will also be celebrating 60 years of Islands On The Air.
I will be there, milling around. If you want to catch up with me, email ria@n2rj.com
Das Ende
That’s the end of this week’s newsletter. See you soon!
Nice and thanks for the HOPE radio information. I will be there, paid for the ticket but hadn't heard anything else. Ill check the QRZ page which I didn't know was a thing and head back over to their website to see what they've updated since I paid for the ticket.