Across the bands
Today's Headlines
Fresh headlines from ham radio, shortwave, SDR, space weather and the unexplained, gathered automatically every few hours. Links open the original source. Updated Nov 4, 4:17 am CST.
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Detroit man's 11,578-pound rubber band ball is world's largest
The ball eventually grew so large he had to move it out of his garage and into a dedicated storage unit.
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VMA Radio Lab: DecSAT Extended into a Multi-SDR Receiver with DVB-T/T2, DAB+ and Analog PAL TV
Last week we posted about DecSAT, an open-source program by CasualArclamp that turns a HackRF One into a DVB-S/S2/S2X satellite receiver and analyzer. Now Vitor Martins Augusto has written to share his fork, 'VMA Radio Lab' (initially called DecSAT-VMA), which…
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Warning: Geomagnetic K-index of 4 expected
Valid From: 2026 Nov 04 0819 UTC Valid To: 2026 Nov 04 1500 UTC Warning Conditions: Onset Comment: NOAA Space Weather Scale descriptions can be found at www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation Potential Impacts: Area of impact primarily poleward of 65 degrees Geomagnetic Latitude.…
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RS41 and M20 Android Decoder: A Standalone Radiosonde Decoder Android App for RTL-SDR
Back in June 2025, we posted about a radiosonde decoder and tracker program for Windows written by Mario Ančić (9A4AM). Mario has now written in again to share a new radiosonde decoder for Android, which works with an RTL-SDR dongle…
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Backtrail Pro: An Open-Source App for Discontinued goTenna Mesh Radios and Meshtastic
Thank you to Patrick Gartner for writing in and sharing Backtrail Pro, a new iOS and Android app that brings discontinued goTenna Mesh radios back into use and also supports Meshtastic. The goTenna Mesh is a pocket-sized 1 W radio…
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Frugal Radio: Testing the Discovery Dish on Inmarsat AERO with JAERO and InmarScope
Over on YouTube, Rob from the 'Frugal Radio' channel has uploaded part one of a review of our Discovery Dish, which we sent over for testing. Rob used the Inmarsat L-band feed with an RTL-SDR Blog V4, SDR++ and JAERO…
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Mayotte activity 2027-2029
[NEWS] by Marek (ex-F4VVJ – FT4GL – FH4VVK – TO4VV – J28WR – J25DXA). A chapter closes, and another begins — bringing with it a new set of challenges, discoveries, and HF radio activity. It is now official: my next…
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TO9W – Saint Martin
[REFRESH] – Team TO9W plans to have more operators and new equipment for their 2026 activity which will be from November 29 to December 11. The team arrives late on November 28th and plan to enter the CQWW DX Contest…
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6W/I2YSB & 6W/IK2HKT Senegal
[NEW PICS] With now over 40K QSOs in the log, the team continue to be very active on the bands. Franco, I1FQH sends new pictures for DX-World readers – thanks ! [NOVEMBER 3 @ 0800Z] – Team continue to have…
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T31TTT – Kanton Island
[ISLAND NEWS] – Rebel DX Group share news that a giant storm hit Kanton 2 days ago and completely damaged entire villages. All 28 people will be evacuated from Atoll tomorrow. Some are injured. Hectic wind with rainfall for 2h…
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Space weather message
Continuation of Serial Number: 3764 Begin Time: 2026 Nov 01 1302 UTC Yesterday Maximum 2MeV Flux: 4481 pfu Max time: 2026 Nov 02 1540 UTC
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Router CSI Toolkit: Capturing 80 MHz Wi-Fi Channel State Information from a GL-MT6000 Router
Thank you to Wu Jun (aka jjjwu on GitHub) for writing in and sharing a guide to capturing Wi-Fi channel state information (CSI) from a GL.iNet GL-MT6000 router, along with the 'Router CSI Toolkit' scripts that go with it. CSI…
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dec406: Decoding Second-Generation COSPAS-SARSAT 406 MHz Distress Beacons with an RTL-SDR
Thank you to Fabrice Morel (F4MLV) for writing in and sharing his project 'dec406', an open-source Linux decoder for COSPAS-SARSAT 406 MHz distress beacons. These are the EPIRBs carried on ships, ELTs on aircraft, and personal locator beacons (PLBs) carried…
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Special Event Calls Attention to Rural Depopulation
From 6 to 8 November 2026, Spanish radio amateurs will activate special callsign EG1PR — Radio por la Repoblación (Radio for Rural Repopulation) at PRESURA in Burgos, Spain, marking the event’s tenth anniversary. The initiative involves URE Burgos and URASO…
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Ham Radio Memories
On the last day of October, on social media (Facebook) we posed the following question: “What ham radio memory will you never forget even after decades have passed?” There was an overwhelming response along with very many interesting replies. Such…
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VP8THW – Falkland Islands
[INFO] by Hacki, DL7HW. Yes, we’re doing it again – another trip to the other side of the world. The decision was made very quickly. We knew for certain that we wanted to return to the Falkland Islands; the only…
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RI1FJL – Franz Josef Land
[STORY] – Clipperton DX Club recently published online the full RI1FJL story. Click the picture to read it. [SUMMARY] by Vasily R7AL. Today is the sixth day of our yacht voyage (back to Murmansk). The wind has died down, the…
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VK9XY – Christmas Island
[NEWS UPDATE] – As the Pacific Islands DXpedition Group (PIDXG) prepares for VK9XY, its November 16–December 4, 2026, operation from Christmas Island, we extend our sincere gratitude to the sponsors and supporters who are making this unique opportunity possible. VK9XY…
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KH8A – American Samoa
[NEWS UPDATE] – On October 29, our group of nine arrived by plane in Pago Pago after dark and was busy setting up the stations well past midnight. The QTH is a spacious house with a large living room and…
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VP2MCV – Montserrat
Chuck, KG9N will be active from Montserrat as VP2MCV during November 3-16, 2026. QRV on all bands / all modes. QTH: Gingerbreadhill. QSL via LoTW or homecall. The post VP2MCV – Montserrat first appeared on DX-World .
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Weekly Propagation Forecast Bulletins
:Product: Weekly Highlights and Forecasts :Issued: 2026 Nov 02 0217 UTC # Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Weather Prediction Center # Product description and SWPC contact / www.swpc.noaa.gov/content/subscription-services # # Weekly Highlights and Forecasts # Highlights…
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NightDX: Automated Overnight Shortwave DX Listening with an Airspy HF+
Thank you to Marco Zennaro for writing in and sharing NightDX, a free terminal app for macOS, Windows and Linux that lets an Airspy HF+ do your overnight shortwave listening for you. The menu interface is deliberately styled like early-90s…
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D44PX – Cape Verde
Giovanni IZ2DPX will be active from Boa Vista, Cape Verde (AF-086) as D44PX during November 4-11, 2026. QRV on 40-6m; SSB & FT8/FT4 using a combination of dipoles and vertical antenna; FT-891(100w). Club Log livestream will be in use. Grid:…
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SweepSA: A Fast Swept Spectrum Analyzer for Pluto-Style AD936x SDRs and the HackRF
Thank you to zxkmm, one of the maintainers of PortaPack Mayhem, for writing in and sharing their new program 'SweepSA', a swept spectrum analyzer for Pluto-style AD936x SDRs such as the AntSDR E310 and LibreSDR. It also supports the HackRF…
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DXLook Adds a New Antenna View: How Well is Your Antenna Actually Working?
The following is a press release from DXLook : No test gear, no second station, and no need to ask a friend for an S-meter report. DXLOOK.COM , Nov. 2, 2026 . Sooner or later, every ham wonders the same…
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DX-World DXpedition Soundbites
DX-World DXpedition Soundbites now extends to 135 pages and covers approx 42 months worth of DX related audio clips. Not every DXpedition or DX station during that period has been recorded but certainly a good mix of over 1300 interesting…
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Extended warning: Geomagnetic K-index of 4 expected
Extension to Serial Number: 5445 Valid From: 2026 Oct 31 1235 UTC Now Valid Until: 2026 Nov 01 2359 UTC Warning Condition: Persistence NOAA Space Weather Scale descriptions can be found at www.swpc.noaa.gov/noaa-scales-explanation Potential Impacts: Area of impact primarily poleward…
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VP0SG – South Georgia Island
[NEWS UPDATE] Several members of the VP0SG team gathered in Oslo this weekend to prepare and load our shipping container, now bound for Stanley in the Falkland Islands. Months of planning, equipment preparation, and coordination have come together as we…
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Alert: Electron 2MeV Integral Flux exceeded 1,000pfu
Threshold Reached: 2026 Nov 01 1302 UTC Station: GOES-19 Comment:
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ZS7ANF – Antarctica
[UPDATE] – Oleg arrived Whichaway camp on October 31st. There’s a strong wind currently blowing so he’s unable to erect or install any antenna for the time being. [OCTOBER 28] by Frank, F8DVD. As in previous years, Oleg ZS7ANF will…
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DXpedition Timeline – NOVEMBER
The Featured DXpedition Timeline is now updated and available for November – right side top. Note 1: This is already a second copy and will continue to be updated and changed often during the new month. Note 2: XR0Z has…
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Building an ADS-B Receiver For Less Than You Think
If you’ve ever wondered about the planes flying above your head, you could always listen in to ADS-B transmissions to learn more about them. [thefatmoop] has built a rig to …read more
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QSL Shack Launches Free Social Network for Ham Radio Operators & Enthusiasts
The following is a press release from QSL Shack : FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE QSL Shack Launches Free Social Network for Ham Radio Operators & Enthusiasts Free lifetime logbook for every callsign with QRZ and Logbook of the World integration, automatic…
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WRMI Winter Schedule, effective November 1, 2026
WRMI B-26 Winter Schedule Effective: 01 November 2026 The current color grid program schedule is available at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pcIEX8kisrOPqlXHDAq6gympKUgDj0SIb96qce2kGGQ/edit?pli=1&gid=0#gid=0 All times UTC Programming in English, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Spanish 0000-0100 5050la 5810ca 5850na 7730na 15770eu 17790va 0100-0200 5800sa…
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EWTN Announces Closure
IRONDALE, Ala. — EWTN Global Catholic Network announced today the end of its shortwave radio service, WEWN, after 34 years of operation. The decision, approved by EWTN’s Board of Governors, will take effect Oct. 31, 2026. Launched on Dec. 28,…
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Morse Code Translator Built for Spanish Speakers
The following is a message from Código Morse : A new free online Morse code translator has launched at codigo-morse.com , built specifically for Spanish speakers. It translates text to Morse and back with real audio playback, adjustable speed in…
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NASA Mission Controllers to Share Experiences
The East Coast Reflector will provide a series of presentations over Zoom that highlight former NASA mission controllers sharing their experiences. The first presentation will take place Monday November 2nd at 8:00 PM Eastern Time. The Zoom link is available…
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Radio Northern Europe International slated for Halloween broadcasts
This weekend, on Saturday the 31st of October 2026, Radio Northern Europe International invites all of you to tune into a rather spooky broadcast at 2 000 UTC on 1467kHz medium wave (500kW) and with a bonus 30 minutes afterwards…
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Radio Nova International set for special broadcast
Radio Nova International will be making a test transmission this Sunday, November 1 2026, at 17.00 UTC on 7425 kHz. Tentatively assumed to be from Europe, though no actual site has been released. Please send reception reports for eQSL verification…
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Halloween programming from Jen and the ghouls !
Jen's Hollowed Eve Part 1 October 30th at 20:00- 00:00 Saturday UTC with Weenish music with OTR . Part 2 on November 1st at 19:00 - 23:00 UTC featuring All R & R with a Slab of Surf on Unique…
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Halloween programming from Texas Radio Shortwave
October 31, 2026 UTC/frequency/station relay/target area/programming 31 0200 9670 Channel 292 NAm 2026 Texas Halloween 31 1500 6160 Shortwave Radio Gold Eur 2026 Texas Halloween 31 1900 (2 hrs) 3975 Shortwave Radio Gold Eur Reprise: 2025 Texas Halloween / 2026…
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QSL Report-November 2026
W elcome to the November 2026 edition of QSL Report 2.0! Thank you for your comments and contributions. QSL Report 2.0 is a revival of my former QSL Report column in Monitoring Times magazine. Each issue brings you the latest…
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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2557 for Friday, October 30th, 2026
- NASA FUNDS HELP HAMSCI BRING SCIENCE, RADIO TO COMMUNITIES - HAM RADIO COMPLETES ANOTHER EARTH-VENUS-EARTH CONTACT - FCC GRANTS SPECTRUM-LICENSE TRANSFER TO SPACEX - SILENT KEY: TREVOR HUGHES, G4WKJ, FORMER RSGB VOLUNTEER - CAMPAIGN TO SEND 'AUSTRALIAN OF THE…
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29th Annual Zombie Shuffle QRP CW Event
The 29th annual Zombie Shuffle takes place today 1500 to midnight local time. THE ZOMBIE SHUFFLE is an annual afternoon/evening event for QRPers to get on the air, have some fun, and rack up a really big score in spite…
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Encore classical music from Radio Tumbril
Dear Listener, Regular Broadcast times of Encore By WRMI and Channel 292 are: 02:00 - 03:00 UTC Friday 5850 kHz WRMI to US 20:00 - 21:00 UTC Friday 15770 kHz WRMI to Europe 11:00 - 12:00 UTC Saturday 9670 kHz…
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Throwback Thursday-Radio Broadcasting from Ships: Europe and the Atlantic
This week's edition originally aired on July 22, 2001 Back during the era of the 1920s and 1930s, it was the custom of the day for ships passing each other in mid-Atlantic to salute each other by playing musical records…
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DXLook Adds an Honor System for Donations
The following is a message from DXLook : About 4,000 hams use DXLook every month. Around 100 of them — roughly 2.5% — help support it through donations. Their generosity, along with what I put into it myself, keeps the…
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Colonial Radio During World War II, part 2 – French Colonies
Map of Belgian Congo 1908-1960 Today's posting features Part 2, with a fascinating story of colonial radio in Africa. Thank you to Adrian Peterson, Ray Robinson, and Jeff White. Part 1 is available at: https://mt-shortwave.blogspot.com/2026/10/neutral-colonial-radio-during-world-war.html Jeff: In our feature last…
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Weekend programming from Imaginary Stations
Imaginary Stations will broadcast the following schedule this weekend via Germany's Shortwave Gold. All times UTC / kHz Saturday, October 31 1200 6160 Sunday, November 1 1000 and 1400 6160 Sunday, November 1 1900 3975 (edited/SWLing Post)
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Mystery for Joy Announces Birthday Broadcasts for October 29
Mystery for Joy’s Raphael Voydis will celebrate his 21st birthday on October 29, 2026, with special shortwave broadcasts for listeners in Europe and the United States. Two transmissions are scheduled as follows: All times UTC Europe: 2000–2100 UTC on 7520…
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Blog Logs-Novermber 2026
W elcome to the November issue of Blog Logs . Thank you for your emails, logging contributions, and following my latest daily post on X at: Shortwave Central (Gayle Van Horn W4GVH@QSLRptMT). Have you subscribed to the Shortwave Central YouTube…
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Hacking a Marine Radio Dish
Having watched some fun videos on repurposed satellite dishes on YouTube, [Melan] wanted to get in on the action, managed to source an Intellian i4 — a dish built for …read more
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Special Event Celebrates Efforts of Animal Shelters, Rescuers
The following is a message from the Dog Day Amateur Radio Club : The Dog Day Radio Amateur Radio Club KØDOG , is back on the air from the 1st through to the 7th of November. Operators will be calling…
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Cincinnati-Area Scouts Talk to the World by Radio
The following is a press release from the Dan Beard Council Radio Scouting Committee: CINCINNATI - Fifty-eight Scouts from across the Dan Beard Council got on the air October 17 and 18 as part of Jamboree on the Air, the…
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Voice of Tűrkiye Radio, English Winter Schedule
Classic QSL from VOT Tűrkiye – Voice of Tűrkiye Radio Effective: 25 October 2026 - 27 March 2027 All times UTC English 0400-0500, 6125 (Europe/North America) 7285 (Asia/Middle East) 1330-1400, 13635 (Europe) 1400-1430, 13635 (Europe) 1730-1800, 9660 (Asia) 1800-`830, 9660…
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Bilingual CRAC Practice Question Bank
The following is a message from bg7bag.com : A bilingual practice question bank for the Chinese Radio Amateurs Club (CRAC) amateur radio operator certificate is now available free online at bg7bag.com . The bank covers CRAC Class A (669 questions),…
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Simple, Reliable RF Remote Control
Some of the first remote controls available to consumers used sound, visible light, or even just wires to communicate with their parent device. It was many years between these first …read more
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Meshtastic Pet Tracking
Most commercial pet trackers require a subscription or network connection to function. [Jon G Aguado] wanted a better way and designed LIA, a Meshtastic collar tracker. LIA uses a custom …read more
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Pushing Bluetooth out to 12 Kilometers
Bluetooth is a short-range protocol that’s great for peripherals and finding your keys, but it’s limited range is mainly a product of how it’s usually implemented. A recent video from …read more
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The ARRL Solar Update
The active sunspot region that has been giving us improved propagation over the past several days will be rotating away from Earth’s view today, but conditions on most of the HF amateur bands should remain pretty decent in the days…
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1 out of 18 Hams Fail to Renew at the Payment Point
By Rob Rosenberger (K4HST) The FCC weekly archives include data on call sign renewal payments. Let’s analyze the October 10th archive to discover that 1 out of 18 hams filing for renewal failed in their attempt(s) to pay a $35…
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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2556 for Friday, October 23rd, 2026
- PILOT DIES IN FATAL CRASH INTO FLORIDA HAM TOWER - PRIVATELY DEVELOPED CUBESAT TRANSMITS AI EXPERIMENTS - HOA LOBBYISTS GIVE TOP PRIORITY TO HALTING ANTENNA BILL - 'PAYMENT LABYRINTH' CALLED OBSTACLE TO LICENSE RENEWALS - AUSTRALIAN MOON ROVER MAKES…
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County Names & Lines Adds Spoken County-Line Announcements for Mobile County Hunters and QSO-Party Rovers
The following is a message from County Names & Lines: County Names & Lines, an iPhone and Android app, shows the U.S. county you are in, live, with its FIPS code. Its iPhone Driving Mode, new this October, keeps the…
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5 GHz Drone Video, With An ESP32
With the ESP32 series of microcontrollers having had hidden software-defined radio (SDR) facility revealed, we’re now moving on from the announcement into projects making use of the finding. [Twotoz] has …read more
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HOA Advocates Held Summit Opposing Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act
A lobbying group representing homeowners associations (HOAs) across the United States recently met on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to oppose H.R. 1094/S. 459, the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act. Community Associations Institute (CAI) announced a number of federal priorities…
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Going Whole-Hog on a First Satellite Ground Station
When most radio enthusiasts start trying to pick up signals from satellites, they might put together a quick-and-dirty Yagi antenna and try to catch a repeater as is passes overhead, …read more
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Icom Receives Good Design Award
Icom has received a Good Design Award for its latest ID-5200 transceiver. The Good Design Award judges outlined three reasons for choosing the ID-5200: Equipped with independent dials for left and right, enabling intuitive operation when receiving two waves simultaneously.…
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Another ISS SSTV Event Begins This Week
ARISS has announced an upcoming SSTV event transmitted from the International Space Station (ISS) beginning on October 22nd and continuing through October 25th. This is SSTV Series 34 and will feature images of ARISS hardware. Dates October 22 through October…
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eBay Restricts Listings of Radio Equipment, but Exempts Ham-Band-Only Gear
ImageOnline marketplace eBay has imposed new restrictions on listings of radio transmitting equipment in response to new FCC rules that took effect this week, but responded to ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® that its new policy will not…
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Florida Hams Provide Communications Support During Hurricane Isaias
Amateur radio operators from Florida’s Santa Rosa, Nassau, Lake, Pinellas, and Leon Counties played an important role in supporting emergency communications efforts during and following Hurricane Isaias, helping ensure that critical communication capabilities remained available throughout the storm. In Santa…
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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2555 for Friday, October 16th, 2026
- NEW FCC RULES FOR SALES OF ELECTRONICS ONLINE - CREW-12 RETURNS TO EARTH FROM SPACE STATION - NASA, ARISS SIGN NEW 4-YEAR AGREEMENT - MARGARET HAMILTON, APOLLO MISSION PROGRAMMER, DIES - IN W. VIRGINIA, PICO BALLOONS ARE JUST THE…
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The 2026 ARRL Online Auction Is Now Open
The 21st annual ARRL Online Auction, sponsored by GigaParts, is open now through October 22. Browse more than 200 items and place your bids! This year’s selection includes gear from QST “Product Review” articles, vintage books, pre-owned equipment, signed original…
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