News
Bella Vista Radio Club Wins First Place at 2024 ARRL National Field Day:
by AB7RG 2024-12-04BELLA VISTA -- With over 2,500 radio contacts and 103 attendees, Bella Vista Radio Club has been awarded first place in the nation in the competitive Class A division of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Field Day. The results of the annual event in June are published in the December issue of QST magazine, the monthly membership journal of ARRL, which is the national association for amateur radio in the United States. Field Day dates back to 1933. Tom Northfell, radio operator W5XNA, coordinated the local event June 22-23 at Metfield Park in Bella Vista. He said the club participated in the class 3A Commercial division, meaning the club used three transmitters with commercial power during the event. "The club's first place finish placed [us] ahead of clubs from larger metropolitan areas such as Mobile, Alabama, and Orlando, Florida," Northfell said. "This is the second time the club finished in first place in the past three Field Day events."
Marconi Anniversary at Poldhu Amateur Radio Club in Cornwall:
by AB7RG 2024-12-02Radio enthusiasts from Cornwall will be celebrating the 123rd anniversary of the first radio transmission across the Atlantic this month. In December 1901 Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi and two assistants travelled from Poldhu Wireless Station near Mullion, in Cornwall, to the Canadian province of Newfoundland. It was on December 12 that history was made, when a pre-arranged signal of three dots (the letter 'S' in Morse code) was heard by Marconi on Signal Hill at St John's, Newfoundland - having been transmitted from Poldhu. In doing so, Marconi was able to disprove the previously common held belief that radio waves could only travel in straight lines. His work laid the foundation for the development of radio, television and all modern wireless communication systems since.
Hams Facilitate Far-Reaching Trail of Tears Commemoration:
by AB7RG 2024-11-30Local Hams (Amateur Radio Operators) from a long-standing Giles County community-focused club -- Southern Tennessee Amateur Radio Services (STARS) -- recently participated in a special operating event in which they contacted other Hams from all over the United States and foreign countries, including Europe. The purpose was to commemorate and raise awareness of the Trail of Tears, which traverses much of Giles County.
Check out William Hepburn's DX Info Centre Tropospheric Ducting Forecast:
by AB7RG 2024-11-29In his time in radio and television, Dan Slentz more than once has had to explain the effects of atmospheric ducting. It seems the more stations that are squeezed in, the higher the likelihood of a stray signal on or near your frequency being "ducted" down on you from far away. William Hepburn runs the DX Info Centre Tropospheric Ducting Forecast site. It provides a six-day forecast of potential VHF, UHF and microwave radio and TV anomalous propagation. Colored interference zones are displayed on a map of the United States. The forecast predicts areas where the necessary atmospheric conditions are present where tropospheric bending of TV and radio waves could occur, extending the range of radio and television signals far beyond their normal limits.
RSGB HF Contests: What's New for 2025?
by AB7RG 2024-12-03We have made some changes to our HF contests for 2025, outlined here. The details are available in our published rules; see the web link at the bottom of the article.
Conversations from Another World:
by AB7RG 2024-12-01The Year 5 and 6 students took part in the CQ Worldwide Radio Contest and contacted a total of 31 different countries with the help and mentoring from the older amateur radio operators from the Tableland Radio and Electronics Club. To the sound of "CQ Contest. CQ Contest. This is Victor, Kilo, Four, Kilo, Sierra, Sierra. VK4KSS", the students belted out their identifier club name to make radio contact to countries from Alaska to Ogasawara Island.
December YOTA Month!
by KE8LQR 2024-11-29Amateur radio operators ages 25 and younger will be on the air as special event stations around the world throughout December in celebration of youth in amateur radio. YOTA Month stations will be on all bands and modes at various times. QSL and award information is at events.ham-yota.com.
Ho! Ho! Ho! Santa's on Ham Radio:
by AB7RG 2024-11-28Share the magic of Ham Radio and Santa Claus with your children, grandchildren, and neighborhood kids. The Santa Net is held every evening between Thanksgiving and Christmas on 3.916 MHz at 7:00PM Central Time (check-ins open 1/2 hour before).
