Ria's Ham Shack News - June 2, 2024
Hamvention memories, Australia has new rules, the Sun is angry and the FCC wants to know what happened, amateur radio software, NEARfest is moving, Trini style camping and more!
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In this issue:
Hamvention memories live on
NEARfest is moving
New rules for ham visitors to Australia
FCC seeks solar flare info
Amateur radio Software awards
IARU election results
ARRL slowly restores some services after its “serious incident”
Some pics from ham radio events in Trinidad and Tobago
Hamvention 2024 is over, but the memories live on
Joe, K0NEB was kind enough to send me his photo slideshow of Hamvention 2024. You can view it here:
Joe always does a great job!
By the way that YL on the cover is 18 year old Grace Papay, K8LG - she is a rising star in ham radio youth!
Oh wait, there is more! Michael Walker, VA3MW from FlexRadio also has a photo album! Hmm… is Joe getting some competition, eh? Have a look:
NEAR fest moving not too FAR away.
Phil Brooks, KA1PXZ, Chief of NEAR-Fest, is pleased to announce that, effective October 4th, 2024, the New England Amateur Radio Festival, known as NEAR-Fest, will be held at the Hillsborough County Agricultural Society Fairgrounds and Youth Center located at New Boston NH, approximately 15 miles west of Manchester. The reason for the permanent change in venue is due to ongoing scheduling conflicts with other events at the Deerfield (NH) Fairgrounds, NEAR-Fest’s home for the past eighteen years.
The hard decision to move the popular New England hamfest was taken by a unanimous vote of NEAR-Fest’s Board of Directors on May 17th, 2024.
In endorsing the decision NEAR-Fest’s Benevolent Dictator Emeritus, Michael Crestohl, W1RC, aka “Mister Mike” commented: “This was inevitable. The Deerfield Fairgrounds is becoming more and more popular with exhibitors and, as a designated agricultural fairgrounds, they have to give priority to agricultural events. We had a fabulous eighteen-year run. I am confident that Phil and Kelley, along with their team, will take NEAR-Fest forward at our new location for many years to come.”
Other than the location nothing else will change. It is still the same NEAR-Fest we have all known and loved since 2007! NEAR-Fest XXXVI will be held Friday October 4th and Saturday October 5th, 2024 at the Hillsborough County Agricultural Society Fairgrounds, located at 17 Hilldale Lane, (Route 13) New Boston NH. GPS Coordinates 42.9842430, -71.6793460.
See you there!
(Courtesy: W1RC, NEAR Fest).
Say g’day to new regulations regarding foreign radio amateurs in Australia
Looks like Australia has some new regulations for visiting amateurs, among other things. The main thing is that you have to use VK/homecall instead of gettiing a VK callsign. This also affects DXpeditions. VK islands will have some interesting rules for callsigns - Lord Howe will now just be VK/<homecall> and Norfolk Island, Mellish Reef, Willis Island, Cocos Keeling and Christmas Islands will all be VK9/<homecall>.
VK radio amateurs can also now get short callsigns for contests. And apparently it isn’t just for the major ones - it’s for any contest.
You can see the full writeup here: https://vkradioamateurs.org/vk-regulations-for-dxpeditions-for-international-visitors/
(Courtesy: The Radio Amateur Society of Australia)
FCC seeks solar flare info
A few weeks ago between May 7-11 we had a massive coronal mass ejection (CME) that hit Earth, causing auroras visible all the way down to Florida. However, as expected it did affect our electronic devices. So now, the FCC wants to know, exactly how.
“The Bureau is encouraging commenters to provide any available evidence, particularly electromagnetic spectrum analyses, imagery, or chronological logs relating the storm’s impacts. Where possible, the Bureau asks that commenters include the description of the impacts; make and model of affected communications equipment, which could include transmitters, receivers, transceivers, switches, routers, amplifiers etc.; make, model, and type of affected antennae and their composition; frequencies affected; type and composition of cable adjoining communications equipment and the antennae, if applicable; duration of the impact; and any residual effects observed in the hours following restoration.
See the full release here: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-24-493A1.pdf
Amateur Radio Software Award winners for 2024
Two winners for the Amateur Radio Software Award have been announced for 2024. Jakob Ketterl, DD5JFK for the software package “OpenWebRX” and Marat Fayzullin (KC1TXE) for OpenWebRX+ which is an improved version of the original OpenRX+
(Courtesy: Amateur Radio Software Award)
IARU election results
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU), the international body that advocates for amateur radio worldwide has recently held elections for its officers, and the results ratified by its member societies.
Tim Ellam, VE6SH/G4HUA is re-elected as President. Ellam is in his fourth term as IARU President. Ellam is a barrister (lawyer) at a large law firm in Canada and has been licensed since 1977.
Thomas Wrede, DF2OO is elected as Vice-President, replacing Ole Garpestad, LA2RR who has retired from the IARU. Wrede has been managing international affairs of the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club (DARC) and has been involved in IARU advocacy. Wrede is an RF Engineer and has been licensed since 1976.
They both serve five year terms beginning May 9th, 2024.
(Courtesy: IARU)
ARRL slowly restores some services after its “serious incident”
In a May 31 update, ARRL has stated that it has restored some of the services after what many are calling a cyberattack on its computer systems but that the ARRL has only called a “serious incident involving access to our network and headquarters-based systems.”
Restored are its Voice over IP telephone system, FCC exam submission, W1AW bulletins, Morse Code practice, QST archives and its contest log submission webpage. However, the contest webpage only has information about future contests with no data from past contests.
There is no status update about Logbook of The World. More as this develops.
Two camping events in Trinidad and Tobago
Mark Fraser 9Z4Y has sent these pictures of ham field day style radio events in Trinidad and Tobago. They do field day style events a little differently, with good food and good friends.
Here is TTARS in Iere Village, Trinidad:
And here is 9Z4DMD and friends in Lopinot:
Until next time…
Yeah, it’s time to say goodbye for this week. But listen to Ria’s Ham Shack on 5050kHz or on WRMIlegends.com every Sunday 10PM ET. This week I’ll be talking about the 6 meter band and its evolution.
73!