A radio amateur is one of two NASA astronauts headed to the International Space Station (ISS) following a May 30 launch of a SpaceX rocket that marked the return of human spaceflight to US soil for the first time in almost a decade. The Saturday launch from Cape Kennedy also marked the first time humans traveled aloft via a commercial spacecraft.

Astronauts Bob Behnken, KE5GGX, and Doug Hurley h...

Listen to the new episode of ARRL Audio News on your iOS or Android podcast app, or online at http://www.blubrry.com/arrlaudionews/. Audio News is also retransmitted on a number of FM repeaters. Click here and then scroll down to see the list.

A recent in-person “social-distancing” amateur radio exam session in Indiana and a “drive-in” session in California are representative of those that are relieving some of the pent-up demand for testing. As the COVID-19 pandemic lumbers on, in-person exam sessions have begun to resume across the US and elsewhere in the world.

“With in-person sessions starting up again around the country, we are h...

No significant solar activity over the past week, and still no sunspots observed since the end of April. According to Spaceweather.com, the percentage of spotless days in 2020 has inched up another notch to 79%.  The percentage of days showing no sunspots for all of 2019 was 77%.

Average daily solar flux for last week was 69.6, up from 69 during the previous week. Average mid-latitude A index wa...

ARRL Rocky Mountain Division Vice Director Robert Wareham, N0ESQ, has stepped down from that post to accept appointment as Colorado Section Manager. Wareham would succeed veteran Colorado SM Jack Ciaccia, WM0G, who resigned effective on June 1 after serving since 2011.

“Jack will be moving to the East Coast to be closer to family, and I wish him only the best as he transitions to this next phase...

NASA astronauts Bob Behnken, KE5GGX, and Doug Hurley will have to wait a few more days to see if the can make US space history, as human spaceflight is poised to return to the US for the first time in almost a decade. SpaceX and NASA scrubbed the launch, which was set for 1833 UTC on May 27. It has been reset for Saturday, May 30, at 1922 UTC.

“Standing down from launch today due to unfavorable ...

A new beta (“release candidate”), WSJT-X version 2.2.0-rc2, is now available for downloading from the WSJT-X website, along with a list of new features. The WSJT-X development team has also published additional FT8 “overflow” frequencies. The WSJT-X 2.2.0-rc2 Release Notes explain:

“Increasing FT8 usage on 40, 30, and 20 meters means that the default 3 kHz subbands are often wall-to-wall with si...

Listen to the new episode of ARRL Audio News on your iOS or Android podcast app, or online at http://www.blubrry.com/arrlaudionews/. Audio News is also retransmitted on a number of FM repeaters. Click here and then scroll down to see the list.

Nominations are being invited in five ARRL Divisions for the volunteer positions of Director and Vice Director, for 3-year terms that start January 1, 2021. Affected Divisions are Atlantic, Dakota, Delta, Great Lakes, and Midwest. A nominee must be at least 21 years old, hold a valid amateur radio licensee, and have been a full ARRL member for a continuous term of at least 4 years immediately p...

The nearly 46-year-old AO-7 amateur satellite made a remarkable contact possible on May 4 between Diego Feil, LW2DAF, in Buenos Aires, Argentina (GF05rk), and Tom Ambrose, ZS1TA, in Cape Town, South Africa (JF95fx). The contact spanned 4,329 miles across the South Atlantic, with both stations aiming at only 2 or 3 degrees above the horizon.

Both stations had been watching orbital predictions for...

A US federal judge in Virginia has given permission to retrieve the ill-fated RMS Titanic’s Marconi wireless gear, which transmitted distress calls from the sinking ocean liner during its maiden voyage. Judge Rebecca Beach Smith of the US District Court in Norfolk ruled that the radio gear is historically and culturally important and could soon be lost within the rapidly decaying wreck. The Tit...