Mark your calendars: The ARRL Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is set for October 1-2, 2011. This nationwide exercise is the chance to test your emergency operating skills and the readiness of your communications equipment and accessories in an emergency-like deployment. ARRL Field Organization Leaders at the Section and local levels -- along with many other volunteers who are active in public se...

I’m awake. It’s dark outside but today is the day. I am nervous. I shower and brush my teeth. My head is buzzing as I keep testing myself with all the stuff I studied for the last 6 months. Let’s see, what’s the formula for dB loss or gain in a circuit? Oh yeah, 10 log P2/P1.

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By H. Ward Silver
n0ax@arrl.net

Every station is home to hordes of connectors -- at the wall socket, the computer, the test equipment and…oh, yes…the radio! If you are just getting started, be prepared to learn a lot more about connectors and connections than you ever expected. Here are few questions that will spark your interest!

1) Which type of USB connector is most likely to be on the end of t...

Sunspot activity rose again this week, with the average daily sunspot number up nearly 18 points to 83, but the geomagnetic indices -- both planetary and mid-latitude -- were each down slightly. The high sunspot number for the week was 121, recorded on Wednesday, August 31. The last time the sunspot number was higher was on July 31 and August 1, at 128 and 130. Sunspot numbers for August 25-31 ...

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

This week, Surfin’ celebrates Heathkit’s reentry into the kit business.

This story was buried by all the coverage of the East Coast earthquake and hurricane last week, so in case you missed it, Heathkit is back in the business of producing kits. Here are a few pertinent quotes from the news article that appeared here last weekend.

“A notice on the Heathki...

Compiled by S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
ARRL News Editor
k1sfa@arrl.org

This feature -- including convenient Web links to useful information -- is a concise monthly update of some of the things ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment covers the month of August.

The ARRL HQ Emergency Response Team was activated to help monitor various nets and provide support to the affected Field Org...

The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for August is Doug Hall, K4DSP, for his article “The FSKit -- A Simple Sound Card Interface for Generating Radioteletype Frequency Shift Keying.” Congratulations Doug! The QST Cover Plaque award -- given to the author or authors of the best article in each issue -- is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the QST Cover Plaque Poll Web page. Cast a ball...

Hurricane Irene -- the first major hurricane of the 2011 hurricane season -- left extensive flood and wind damage along its path through the Caribbean, the East Coast of the United States and as far north as Atlantic Canada. Beginning on August 20 as then-Tropical Storm Irene headed toward Puerto Rico, radio amateurs were already on alert.

W1AW

Irene first made landfall in the US as a Category 1 ...

There will be no ARRL Audio News for Thursday, September 1. The ARRL Letter will be distributed as usual. The ARRL Audio News will return next week on September 8.

When Tropical Storm Irene formed on the evening of Saturday, August 20, the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency (PREMA) began to activate in preparation for the storm’s approach. According to ARRL Public Information Officer Angel Santana, WP3GW, amateurs affiliated with the Cuerpo Voluntarios Radioaficionados (CVR) began to move throughout the island. In San Juan, CVR activated KP4CVR on th...

September is here, and that means the VHF bands have been getting a workout. “If you’ve never experienced the fun of VHF+ operating, the ARRL September VHF QSO Party, the weekend of September 10 is a great place to start,” said ARRL Contest Branch Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X. “With many HF radios now offering at least 6 meter SSB/CW capabilities -- and some offering 2 meters and 70 cm as well -- ...

In remembrance of those who died in the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, several Amateur Radio Special Event Stations are being planned.

• The Pentagon Amateur Radio Club, K4AF, will be on the air 7 AM-9 PM Saturday, September 10 (1100-0100 UTC, Saturday, September 10 through Sunday, September 11). Active operating frequencies will be posted during event on the K4AF website. ...

By Gary Hoffman, KB0H
Contributing Editor

Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
Oh, how I wish he’d go away
-- William Hughes Mearns

My wife Nancy and I were sitting in a Mexican restaurant having lunch. Between bites of my taco, I described the preparations I was taking to be a net controller for our ARES® packet net.

“I have it all figured out except fo...

ARRL Headquarters will be closed in observance of Labor Day on Monday, September 5. There will be no W1AW bulletin or code practice transmissions that day. ARRL Headquarters will reopen Tuesday, September 6 at 8 AM Eastern Daylight Time. We wish everyone a safe and festive holiday weekend.

By Sterling Coffey
ARRL Youth Editor

The best things in life are free-- including ham radio.

As a member of my college’s Amateur Radio club, I come across so much free stuff, including a giant Yaesu FT-1000MP HF transceiver, a smaller FT-897D and a Cushcraft beam -- more than $3000 of equipment. These rigs and antenna were donated to our college station. Even before I left for college, I got to u...

From the sunny shores of Hawaii’s Kalaupapa Peninsula, ARRL Volunteer Examiners gave a remote ARRL VE session on the morning of July 25. Well, at least it was morning in Hawaii, but it was late in the afternoon at ARRL Headquarters. What made this VE session so special that it was only the second VE session to be administered via Internet video feed. The first video VE session -- and the first-...

As Hurricane Irene -- currently a Category 2 storm -- makes it way toward the North Carolina’s Outer Banks, radio amateurs in the Carolinas, Virginia and up the Atlantic coast are making preparations to assist served agencies. As always, the ARRL cautions those amateurs who wish to volunteer and provide support to check in with their local Emergency Coordinators for further instructions. In no ...

Solar activity rose this week, with the average daily sunspot number rising more than 40 points to 66 points, while the average daily solar flux rose more than 13 points to 101.9. Sunspot numbers for August 18-24 were 53, 46, 59, 66, 82, 81 and 75, with a mean of 66. The 10.7 cm flux was 97.8, 98.2, 100.5, 100.9, 108.2, 103.7 and 104.1, with a mean of 101.9. The estimated planetary A indices we...

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

This week, Surfin’ is still sitting in front of the boob tube waiting for Cuba, Canada or Iowa to come rolling in on Channel 2.

Last week’s Surfin’ column attracted some interesting mail from you folks out in ham radioland.

Rick Tannehill, W7RT, commented on the claim made last week that chasing DX in the digital era is easier than in the analog era: “Ac...