| 2024 ARRL National Convention a Success |
Three days of festivities for the 2024 ARRL National Convention, hosted by Dayton Hamvention®, concluded on Sunday, May 19. Thousands of ARRL members were among the crowds of radio amateurs who descended on the fairgrounds in Xenia, Ohio. The convention theme, "Be radio active," was played out in a variety of ARRL-sponsored exhibits, presentations, and activities. One particular focus area was on youth involvement in amateur radio. On Saturday, ARRL hosted a Youth Rally that drew dozens of young people for an all-day immersion into ham radio interests and activities. “It was great to see the kids fired up about ham radio," said ARRL Education and Learning Manager Steve Goodgame, K5ATA. "They got to make radio contact with a parachute mobile station, learn about satellites, and really put radio concepts into action." |
In his forum, “Youth Outreach Through Amateur Radio STEM Education,” Goodgame shared the keys to success ARRL has found in helping grow interest in radio among the next generation. A video recording of the forum is available on the ARRLHQ YouTube channel. |
Within the large ARRL exhibit area was a booth for the ARRL Collegiate Amateur Radio Program (CARP) staffed by student volunteers. They welcomed college-aged hams, helping network students from all over the world. “Amateur radio needs more youth involved,” said Ruslan Gindullin, KE8ZCA/R9WFW, a student at Case Western Reserve University who volunteered with the CARP booth. On Saturday afternoon, Morgan Lyons, KI5SXY, led the ARRL Collegiate Amateur Radio forum. Lyons is a student attending Missouri University of Science and Technology, and President of the Missouri S&T Amateur Radio Club (WØEEE). Throughout the convention, ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, and other volunteer-leaders of the association visited with members and answered questions for those who had them. “We’ve had so many members come by and talk about things going on in amateur radio; things ARRL is doing. It has just been fantastic,” said Roderick. The next ARRL National Convention will be hosted by the Huntsville Hamfest in Huntsville, Alabama, in August 2026. |
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2024 ARRL National Convention Forums Available on YouTube |
 | | ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, addresses attendees at the Membership forum. |
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The 2024 ARRL National Convention included a track of forums featuring a variety of engaging topics of interest to amateur radio operators. If you didn’t make it into the packed house of Forum Room 3 during the three short days of Dayton Hamvention®, or perhaps you did and would like to see the material again, the content is available on the ARRLHQ YouTube channel. A playlist of many of the ARRL forums is available. The programs were professionally produced in HD and feature topics such as the ARRL Membership Forum, “Five Steps to a Successful POTA® Activation,” “Ground is a Myth!,” “Beyond Repeaters: See How Far Your Technician Class License Can Take You,” and much more. “The content and programming is just too good to not share with ARRL members who couldn’t make it to Hamvention,” said ARRL Public Relations and Outreach Manager Sierra Harrop, W5DX. “There’s something for every interest and experience level. I learned a lot while we were recording them! I hope our fellow hams find the playlist to be a valuable reference for years to come,” she said. |
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2024 ARRL Field Day is One Month Away! |
It is the radio event of the summer: 2024 ARRL Field Day is June 22 – 23. The annual operating event is part contest, part emergency communications exercise, part public relations and outreach activity, and often a social highlight of the operating year. Many ARRL Affiliated Clubs will be set up in visible locations to get together, get on the air, and to get the public involved in amateur radio. Find a location near you via the ARRL Field Day Site Locator. It’s ham radio’s open house! The theme for 2024 ARRL Field Day is “Be Radio Active.” On-air activity has been especially strong thanks to the rising Solar Cycle 25, which is still yet to peak. The theme encourages hams to get out and get involved. There has never been a better time to be active in amateur radio! Proclaiming Field Day! Cities and states across the country have made special proclamations for Field Day. In Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire, and other areas, the Governors have issued formal declarations honoring the community service provided by radio amateurs through programs like the Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®). Share Field Day proclamations with ARRL at news@arrl.org. Field Day PR Webinar The ARRL Public Relations Committee is offering Field Day PR and outreach training webinars live on Zoom to interested public information volunteers. Learn how to engage your local media and local officials, and get tips for effective social media strategy. The webinars are scheduled for Wednesday, May 29, at 7:30 PM EDT and 10 PM EDT (7 PM PDT), and Wednesday, June, 5, at 8 PM EDT (5 PM PDT). Registration is required and may be completed at this link. |
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International Amateur Radio Union Elections Recap |
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) has re-elected Timothy Ellam, VE6SH/G4HUA, as President and elected Thomas Wrede, DF2OO, as Vice President. Both will serve 5-year terms that began May 9, 2024. Ellam begins his fourth term as President. Wrede has been active in IARU matters for several years and has managed the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club (DARC) international affairs team since 2009. The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) is the worldwide federation of national amateur radio organizations. The membership of the IARU consists of more than 160 member-societies in as many countries and separate territories. ARRL is the IARU International Secretariat. |
ARRL Systems Service Disruption |
ARRL is addressing a serious incident involving access to our network and systems. Several services, such as Logbook of The World® and the ARRL Learning Center, are affected. We appreciate your continued patience as our staff and others work tirelessly to restore affected systems. Read more and follow updates on ARRL News. |
Amateur Radio in the News |
On the Air Sponsored by Icom The 2024 ARRL National Convention at Hamvention took place May 17-19 in Xenia, Ohio. ARRL Director of Marketing & Innovation Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, joins this month's podcast to share details about ARRL-sponsored activities at the show, including several ARRL forums and the Youth Rally. Listen to the On the Air podcast now. |
ARRL Audio News Listen to ARRL Audio News, available every Friday. ARRL Audio News is a summary of the week's top news stories in the world of amateur radio and ARRL, along with interviews and other features. The On the Air podcast and ARRL Audio News are available on blubrry, iTunes, and Apple Podcasts. On the Air | ARRL Audio News |
The Northeast HamXposition and ARRL New England Division Convention announced a major addition to its program for 2024. The event runs from August 22 - 25, in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and will feature the Mini-Contest University (mini-CTU), based on Contest University. Contest University has been featured at Dayton Hamvention® since 2007 and presented in 15 countries to over 10,000 participants. A series of contest-oriented talks and presentations will be offered at HamXposition on Friday August 23. More information is available at hamxposition.org. Two dozen amateur radio groups will be activating different parks in and around Puerto Rico on May 26, 2024. The event is the great Mega POTA (Parks on the Air®), which includes four ARRL Affiliated Clubs. This effort is coordinated by ARRL Puerto Rico Affiliated Club Coordinator Juan López, KP4KJ, who saw the potential for this special activation as the POTA program is growing on the island, with new activations every month. López also has approached different radio clubs to determine their needs and common interests in POTA activations. More information on the activations can be found at pota.app/#/activations. The Battleship New Jersey Amateur Radio Station, NJ2BB, is sponsoring the 2024 Museum Ships Weekend from June 1 - 2, 0000Z - 2359Z. The event is not a contest but an opportunity for amateur radio operators to contact stations onboard historic battleships across the country. To date, more than 100 ships are registered to participate, including the USS Hornet aircraft carrier and the USS Nautilus submarine. Additional information and a complete list of ships, locations, and call signs can be downloaded here. Contacts made on any amateur radio frequency are permitted, but most ships will be operating SSB or in the General-class licensee portion of the bands. Additional modes, including PSK31, FT8, and FT4 may also be active. |
Beginning June 1, 2024, several amateur radio clubs will activate special event stations for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. The Amateur Radio Club of the National Electronics Museum, K3NEM, located in Hunt Valley, Maryland, will be on the air as W2D from June 1 - 14, 1300Z - 2200Z. Call sign W2D's primary operation will be from June 1 - 6, with the possibility of additional operations during June 7 - 14, as operator availability permits. Operations will take place on 80 meters, 3.544, and 3.844 MHZ, as well as additional bands and digital modes. The South East Metro Amateur Radio Club in Cottage Grove, Maryland, will operate with call sign W2W on June 6 from 1500Z - 2000Z on 7.040, 14.040 MHz, and the SSB portion of 40 and 20 meters. A commemorative QSL will be available to those who send a SASE to N0BM. See semarc.org for more information. During June 8 - 9 from 0630Z-2200Z, the Torbay Amateur Radio Society in England will operate on 7.040, 14.040, MHz and the SSB portion of 40 and 20 meters. More information and special event station (SES) call signs will be listed before event at www.torbayars.org. |
In March, 12 Volt Power, an established manufacturer and distributor in North America for DC power products, announced they have been appointed the exclusive distributor for the Comet and Daiwa company brands in North and South America, effective immediately. After 40 years of distributing Comet and Daiwa products, Mick Stwertnik and Jim Einwalter announced they are retiring. 12 Volt Power will continue all sales, marketing, and shipping operations at the current Comet warehouse, 15036 Sierra Bonita Lane in Chino, California. Stwertnik said his daughter, Demi, will continue as the Office Manager, and that he has accepted a position on 12 Volt Power’s Board of Directors to ensure a smooth transition and seamless operation. |
 | | This solar disk image was taken on May 23, 2024. [Photo courtesy of NASA SDO/HMI] |
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For this week’s ARRL Propagation Bulletin ARLP0021: Six new sunspot groups emerged over this reporting week, May 16-22, 2024. 13 were in last week’s report. Last week’s bulletin is out late because of IT issues at ARRL HQ. Solar activity was down over this week, with average daily sunspot number declining from 175 to 155.1, and solar flux from 220.5 to 198.9. Average daily planetary A index dropped from a very high number of 71.1 to 13.9, and middle latitude A index from 47.9 to 11.7. Predicted solar flux is 194, 190, 188, 194, 192, 190, 188 and 186 on May 23-30, 225 on May 31 through June 2, 220 on June 3-4, 210 on June 5-7, then 200, 195, 190, 185 and 180 on June 8-12. Predicted planetary A index is 8 and 14 on May 23-24, 12 on May 25-26, 8 on May 27, 5 on May 28-30, 10 on May 31, 12 on June 1-2, 8 on June 3, and 5 on June 4-7. Sunspot numbers for May 9 through 15 were 170, 156, 148, 186, 207, 185, and 173 with a mean of 175. The 10.7 -centimeter flux was 233.2, 223.4, 213.7, 221.8, 215.4, 219.8, and 216, with a mean of 220.5. Estimated planetary A indices were 7, 118, 273, 54, 30, 6, and 10, with a mean of 71.1. Middle latitude A index was 7, 80, 175, 31, 24, 8, and 10, with a mean of 47.9. Sunspot numbers for May 16 through 22 2024 were 208, 168, 166, 154, 124, 146, and 120 with a mean of 155.1. The 10.7 -centimeter flux was 207.2, 204.1, 194.3, 200.7, 199.7, 190.8, and 195.7, with a mean of 198.9. Estimated planetary A indices were 27, 29, 12, 9, 7, 9, and 4, with a mean of 13.9. Middle latitude A index was 19, 16, 14, 10, 10, 8, and 5, with a mean of 11.7. Send your tips, questions, or comments to k7ra@arrl.net. A comprehensive K7RA Solar Update is posted Fridays on the ARRL website. For more information concerning radio propagation, visit the ARRL Technical Information Service, read "What the Numbers Mean...," and check out the Propagation Page of Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA. A propagation bulletin archive is available. For customizable propagation charts, visit the VOACAP Online for Ham Radio website. Share your reports and observations. A weekly, full report is posted on ARRL News. |
Just Ahead in Radiosport - May 25 - 26 -- CQ WW WPX Contest (CW)
- May 27 -- QRP ARCI Hootowl Sprint (CW)
- May 30 -- RSGB 80m Club Championship (CW)
- May 31 - June 2 -- PODXS 070 Club Three Day Weekend Contest (digital)
Visit the ARRL Contest Calendar for more events and information. |
Upcoming Section, State, and Division Conventions May 31 - June 2 | SEA-PAC, hosting the ARRL Northwestern Division Convention, Seaside, Oregon June 1 | Atlanta Hamfest, hosting the ARRL Georgia Section Convention, Marietta, Georgia June 9 | BreezeShooters Hamfest, hosting the ARRL Western Pennsylvania Section Convention, Butler, Pennsylvania June 15 | ARRL Maine State Convention & Hamfest, Augusta, Main June 15 | Knoxville Hamfest and Electronics Convention, sponsoring the ARRL Delta Division Convention, Knoxville, Tennessee July 12 -13 | HamCon: Zion, sponsoring the ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Convention, St. George, Utah July 13 | SVARC Summer Hamfest, sponsoring the ARRL North Dakota Section Convention, Minot, North Dakota July 20 | SEARC Tailgate Hamfest, sponsoring the ARRL South Dakota State Convention, Sioux Falls, South Dakota Search the ARRL Hamfest and Convention Database to find events in your area. |
ARRL -- Your One-Stop Resource for Amateur Radio News and Information Join ARRL or renew today! No other organization works harder to promote and protect amateur radio. Membership supports benefits, services, programs, and advocacy to help you get (and stay) active and on the air. Membership includes access to digital editions of all four ARRL magazines: QST, On the Air, QEX, and NCJ. |
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