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.

Please note that the December 14th edition of Audio News will be our last for this year. Audio News will resume on January 4, 2019.

Our recent reporting week (December 6-12) had sunspots on five of the seven days, with an average daily sunspot number of 9.7, up from 2.3 in the previous seven days. Average daily solar flux rose from 68.9 to 70.7. Geomagnetic indices were moderate, with average daily planetary A index rising from 7 to 8, and mid-latitude A index increasing from 4.9 to 6.4.

Predicted solar flux over the next 45...

The International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 (IARU-R1) Monitoring System (IARUMS) reports that Radio Hargeisa in Somaliland has returned to 7,120 kHz after a break of several weeks, while Radio Eritrea has been reported on 7,140 and 7,180 kHz. Radio Sudan has been transmitting on 7,205 kHz with excessive splatter, IARUMS said. German telecommunications authorities have filed official complain...

The IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S) has announced its 2019 award recipients. The list includes several radio amateurs.

• James C. Rautio, AJ3K, will receive the Microwave Career Award for a career of leadership, meritorious achievement, creativity, and outstanding contributions in the field of microwave theory and techniques.
• Wayne Shiroma, NH7PA, will receive the Distinguishe...

JY1Sat, launched on December 3 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as part of the SpaceX SSO-A: SmallSat Express launch, has been designated as Jordan OSCAR 97 (JO-97). The 1U CubeSat is a project of the Crown Prince Foundation of Jordan. Telemetry has been received and decoded around the world since the launch.

The spacecraft’s name recalls the Amateur Radio call sign of Jordan’s late ...

Sweden’s Alexanderson alternator station SAQ has planned a Christmas Eve transmission on 17.2 kHz. The transmitter will be tuned up starting at around 0730 UTC, and a message will be transmitted at 0800 UTC. The 200 kW Alexanderson alternator is an electromechanical transmitter dating back to 1924.

The event will be streamed live on the Alexanderson site YouTube Channel. Listener reports are inv...

The receiver on the newly launched Fox-1Cliff/AO-95 CubeSat seems to have suffered a receiver failure that could render the satellite unusable, AMSAT said over the weekend. Efforts continue by AMSAT Engineering to establish the cause of the problem and determine if a fix is possible. AMSAT Vice President-Engineering Jerry Buxton, N0JY, reported over the weekend that the issue cropped up during ...

The ARRL Contest Branch reports that preliminary results now are available for the 2018 ARRL November Sweepstakes CW and for the 2018 September VHF Contest. Preliminary results for the ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest also have been posted. The Contest Branch reminds participants that logs for the 2018 ARRL 10-Meter Contest are due by 2359 UTC on December 16, and the 2018 ARRL EME Contest logs are du...

The WSJT-X 2.0 software suite has been released, and developer Joe Taylor, K1JT, is urging FT8 and MSK144 users to upgrade to what will become the new standard, because the FT8 and MSK144 protocols have been enhanced in a way that is not backward compatible with older versions of the program. That includes any version 1.9 releases.

“The new protocols become the worldwide standards starting on De...

The 2017 ARRL Bill Leonard W2SKE Professional Media Award for Audio Reporting was presented in New York on December 6 to the producers and staff of the radio program “The Takeaway.” The program, a joint production of Public Radio International (PRI), WGBH, and WNYC, aired a number of stories about Amateur Radio’s role in supporting disaster relief agencies in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Mar...