| | Hurricane Beryl Aftermath and Update |
Remnants of Hurricane Beryl, now a post-tropical cyclone, were moving northeast as of early Thursday morning with heavy rain and 35 mph winds. The storm is forecast to continue its current direction as it moves through Pennsylvania, upstate New York, northern New England and Canada, moving ENE at 20 mph. Beryl was the fastest and earliest storm of the hurricane season and during its 8-day run that left behind severe damage to the Windward Islands and Mexico before making landfall in Texas. |
 | | NOAA image of tropical storm Beryl over New England 7-11-24 |
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Over 7,000 residents in New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New England are without power. Houston is in recovery mode after the core of Hurricane Beryl passed very close to the downtown area on Wednesday, with wind gusts over 80 mph that caused massive power outages. 1.3 million customers in Texas are still facing power outages. Amateur radio has been active since the early formation of the hurricane. The Hurricane Watch Net concluded operations for Tropical Cyclone Beryl on Monday July 8, 2024, at 12:00 PM EDT (1600 UTC). Net Manager Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, said, “Solar activity was not kind to us over the past few days. Propagation on both 20 and 40 meters was horrible and iffy at times. But our dedicated team of operators banded closely together to get the job done. “I’ve said this for many years, and it remains true to this day. We greatly appreciate the daily users and various nets who use 14.325.00 MHz and 7.268.00 MHz for allowing us a clear frequency. It certainly makes our job easier, and I know those in the affected area appreciate it as well,” added Graves. The VoIP Hurricane Net also secured operation on Monday July 8, at 1100 AM EDT as Beryl weakened to a tropical storm. The VoIP net fielded dozens of reports from online weather stations reporting wind gusts between 50 and 98 MPH, with winds above 74 MPH being hurricane force wind gust criteria. Rob Macedo, KD1CY, Director of Operations for the VoIP Hurricane Net, reported, “We wish to extend a special thank you to the South Coast Reflector and amateur radio operator N6KNE (hopefully, we got that call sign correct) for allowing a connection into our net where close to ten amateur radio operators checked in and provided storm reports that were sent to WX4NHC,” adding, “We would love to see more of this cooperation in the future with other parts of coastal areas threatened by hurricanes.” WX4NHC is the amateur station at the National Hurricane Center. The VoIP Hurricane Net also relayed reports of storm damage via social media and public safety radio feeds during the nine-hour net activation from 2 - 11 AM EDT. Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Prediction Center predict above-normal hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin this year. NOAA’s outlook for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which spans from June 1 to November 30, predicts an 85% chance of an above-normal season, a 10% chance of a near-normal season and a 5% chance of a below-normal season. |
| ARRL on The Weather Channel |
 | | ARRL’s Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, speaks live on The Weather Channel from W1HQ, the ARRL Radio Laboratory |
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ARRL® The National Association for Amateur Radio® joined The Weather Channel on Thursday, July 11, 2024, for a live chat about the value of amateur radio during hurricane season and beyond. ARRL’s Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, talked about how radio helps inform the warning process through surface observations relayed through the Hurricane Watch Net and other nets to WX4NHC, the amateur radio station at the National Hurricane Center. Viewers were told how local ARRL volunteers serve their local agencies through the Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES®) and how they could get licensed through ARRL materials and become a part of it. |
| 2024 ARRL Field Day Log Deadline Approaching |
The numbers for ARRL 2024 Field Day continue to grow. As of Thursday, July 11, there were nearly 3,500 entries posted. Remember, the deadline for entries is July 23, 2024. It’s a good idea to check the ARRL Field Day website daily for the latest updates and to make sure your entries are completed. If you see “complete” in the status column, your entries are good. If you see ‘pending documents,’ it means you need to submit additional forms or make corrections. The Field Day Soapbox is up and running. You can post your thoughts and experiences on Field Day activities and read what other amateur radio operators were doing. K0HX posted on Soapbox: I operated class "D" from my home QTH. This was a last-minute decision. I have antenna restrictions at my home QTH. I used an MFJ-1788 magnetic loop antenna and 100 watts. I made 309 CW contacts. The magnetic loop is mounted on a 4-foot-tall umbrella stand. I was able to touch up the tuning on the loop as I was calling the other station. This was easy on the higher bands. All of my contacts were “search and pounce." This is my 50th year as a radio amateur. I still love being a ham radio operator. HP1GDS posted: Great experience as other years. It give us new challenge to success our own objectives. This year I improved my EFHW antenna, and my battery pack, improving contacts, and documenting with pictures of the operation site. Using Winlink and other challenges. If you need more information, please contact the ARRL Contest Manager. |
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| Celebrating Software Defined Radio |
 | | Members of the Software Defined Radio Academy celebrate their awards at Ham Radio in Germany" [Photo courtesy of SRDA] |
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At Ham Radio 2024, the International amateur radio exhibition, last week in Friedrichshafen, Germany, the Software Defined Radio Academy (SDRA) celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Founded in 2014, the SDRA has become a new platform for the exchange of knowledge surrounding software defined radio. In the early years, the academy’s lectures were recorded with primitive camera technology, but today a video team takes the recordings to a completely different level. The SDRA's YouTube channel now has 150 uploads, 4850 subscribers, and many more views of the videos. The winners of the Ulrich L. Rohde Award, created in 2022 for innovative research in the field of software defined radio, were also announced: The GNU Radio project for its good software solutions for software defined radio (SDR) technology. GNU Radio is a free software development toolkit that provides signal processing blocks to implement software-defined radios and signal processing systems. The DARC-AJW team for the SDR questions in the new questionnaire and the standardization of education. According to group leader Matthias Jung, DL9MJ, posting on X, the team’s work “focused on integrating SDR into the German amateur radio exam and educational materials.” Rob Robinett, AI6VN, with Paul Elliot, WB6CXC, for their fundamental work and influence on scientific research in other areas. Christoph V. Wüllen, DL1YCF, with Laurence Barker, G8NJJ, for fundamental work on stations. Dr. Rohde, N1UL, has been an avid amateur radio operator holding several licenses in the United States and Germany. He has been licensed since 1956 and involved in technology and systems and has received worldwide recognition. In 2015, he won first place in the ARRL DX Contest in the Northern New Jersey Section. He also operates N1UL/MM on his yacht, the Dragonfly, and is Trustee of the Marco Island Radio Club, K5MI. |
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| VIDEO: YOTA Halifax 2024 - Bob Heil Shack Dedication |
On Monday July 8, the 2024 Youth on the Air summer camp in the Americas, held at Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, renamed and dedicated their amateur radio shack as the Bob Heil, K9EID, Memorial YOTA Camp Amateur Radio Shack. Heil, 83, passed away on February 28, 2024. He was known as a mentor and generous donor to amateur radio organizations who enjoyed helping others find success in ham radio and supported Youth on the Air from the very beginning. Here is the link to the video of the dedication: https://youtu.be/2kgyqVyD6Yk The first activation of the VE1YOTA callsign from the camp was Sunday, July 7. Campers will operate the station until Friday, July 12, as they finish projects, between sessions, and during free time. The 2024 YOTA Americas Camp is hosted by Radio Amateurs of/du Canada. Special QSL cards will be available for contacts made with YOTA camp from the Bob Heil, K9EID Memorial YOTA Camp Amateur Radio Shack. For more information, contact Neil Rapp, WB9VPG, via email at: director@youthontheair.org. |
| Amateur Radio in the News |
On the Air Sponsored by Icom New Emergency Communication Courses from ARRL ARRL Director of Emergency Management Josh Johnston, KE5MHV, joins the podcast to share details about ARRL's updated Emergency Communication courses, which have been broken into three successive levels – Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced. The courses are available free of charge at the ARRL Learning Center. |
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 |
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Longtime amateur radio operator Oscar Norris, W4OXH, died on July 8, 2024. He was 106 years old and only three months from his 107th birthday. Norris’ nephew, Mack Johnson, W4ZFD, said that just two weeks before he passed away, though bedridden, he was still on the air using a small amplifier and earphones to help him hear. In an earlier interview with the ARRL Letter, Norris said he lost his sight when he was 24 in 1942, and it was his blindness that ultimately led him to amateur radio. He earned his license in 1949 and was on the air for 75 years. Norris was a member of the Gaston County Amateur Radio Society (GCARS) in North Carolina, an ARRL affiliated club, since 1979. Members there often referred to Norris as the oldest amateur radio operator in the state. Over the years he learned to communicate using digital mobile radio (DMR) on a handheld radio. You can read more about Oscar Norris, W4OXH, on this Facebook page. A celebration of life, with a live stream, is planned later in July. |
July 19 - 21, 2024 special event station W3A will be activated by the Amateur Radio Club of the National Electronics Museum (ARCNEM). The event will commemorate live television transmissions from the Moon that allowed the world to watch astronaut Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. Activation will be 1300Z - 2200Z using 14.269, 14.069, 7.269, and 7.069 MHz. There also may be operation on 80 meters (3.869, 3.569) and digital modes during the event. All frequencies +/- according to QRM. A special certificate and QSL card will be available via SASE. Details will be updated at ww-2.us. For more information about the National Electronics Museum, visit their website. |
 | | This image was taken on July 11, 2024. [Photo courtesy of NASA SDO/HMI] |
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For this Friday’s ARRL Propagation Bulletin, ARLP028: New sunspot groups, nine in all, emerged on every day of this reporting week, July 4 -10, 2024. One on July 4, another on July 5, two more on July 6, another each on July 7 and July 8, two more on July 9 and another on July 10. Despite the appearance of so many new sunspots, the average daily sunspot number declined from 181.6 to 129, compared to the previous week. Average daily solar flux barely moved, changing from 175 to 176.6. Predicted solar flux for the next few weeks is 215 on July 11 - 13, 220 on July 14 - 15, 215 on July 16 - 17, 195 on July 18 - 20, 200 on July 21 - 25, 190 on July 26, 180 on July 27 - 29, 175 on July 30, and 170 on July 31 through August 2. Predicted planetary A index is 12, 8, 15, 18, 12 and 8 on July 11 – 16; 5 on July 17 - 20, 10 and 8 on July 21-22, and then 5 on July 23 to August 3. Space Weather Woman Dr. Tamitha Skov wrote in an email on Wednesday July 10, 2024: “We have a new big flare player rotating through the Earth-strike zone with some X-flare potential. Region 3738 has been growing rapidly over the past 24 hours, with some new spot clusters emerging right in the center of the original set. This kind of growth is highly magnetically unstable and is upping the noise on the day-side radio bands. As of earlier today, we had already popped a couple of low-level M-class flares and now are approaching the R1-radio blackout level for a noise floor. That is quick growth! I did my best to estimate the conditions for the coming week in these 5-day outlooks, but in the time it has taken to generate them, the region's growth has accelerated. It looks like I will need to update the Solar Flare and Day-side Radio Blackout Outlook in the above snapshot to something closer to a 60% chance of M-class flares and a 15% chance of X-class flares. I will do this ASAP! “Other than Region 3738, we do have a pocket of fast solar wind coming that could give us a decent chance of aurora at high latitudes over the early part of the weekend. This is the only solar storm possibility for now, although we could see a new Earth-directed solar storm launch over the next few days! I will go over this possibility and the new fireworks from Region 3738 in the upcoming forecast I am shooting now.” Spaceweather.com compares cycles 24 and 25: https://bit.ly/3Y05gIM Sunspot numbers for July 4 through 10, 2024 were 113, 111, 132, 119, 95, 143, and 190, with a mean of 129. The 10.7 -centimeter flux was 173, 165.6, 166, 171.3, 168.5, 178.2, and 213.6, with a mean of 176.6. Estimated planetary A indices were 10, 8, 3, 8, 10, 6, and 6, with a mean of 7.3. Middle latitude A Indices were 10, 10, 4, 7, 11, 8, and 8, with a mean of 8.3. |
- July 12 -- Weekly RTTY Test (digital)
- July 13 - 14 -- IARU HF World Championship (CW, phone)
- July 13 - 14 -- SKCC Weekend Sprintathon (CW)
- July 14 -- QRP ARCI Summer Homebrew Sprint (CW)
- July 15 -- 4 States QRP Group Second Sunday Sprint (CW, phone)
- July 15 -- RSGB FT4 Contest (FT4)
- July 16 -- Worldwide Sideband Activity Contest (Phone)
- July 17 -- VHF-UHF FT8 Activity Contest (FT8)
- July 18 - 19 -- Walk for the Bacon QRP Contest (CW)
Visit the ARRL Contest Calendar for more events and information. |
| Upcoming Section, State, and Division Conventions |
- 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
- July 27 | ARRL West Virginia State Convention, Sutton, West Virginia
- August 3 | Kootenai Amateur Radio Society, sponsoring the ARRL Idaho State Convention, Post Falls, Idaho
- August 3 |
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