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Massachusetts ARES Prepares as a Now-Weakened Hurricane Earl Approaches
Robert Macedo, KD1CY, ARES SKYWARN Coordinator and Eastern Massachusetts ARES Section Emergency Coordinator, provided this report on the afternoon of Friday, September 3:The following is a situation report from the Eastern Massachusetts ARRL Section on Hurricane Earl. The good news is that Earl has weakened to a Category-1 hurricane. The other good news is that its track remains on target with ...

New Interim Chief Takes Over Air Force MARS
 The Air Force Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) organization has a new “interim” Chief. Outgoing USAF MARS Chief Allen Eiermann, K3LSR, retired at the end of May and was replaced by TSgt Jason E. Sandifer. Sandifer is a systems manager stationed at the Air Force Network Integration Center (AFNIC) at Scott AFB, Illinois. AFNIC is the headquarters of the national Air Force MARS organization...

The K7RA Solar Update
Over this past week, four new sunspot groups appeared. Group 1101 was already in place since August 24, and 1102 emerged on August 29. On September 1, two new sunspot groups -- 1103 and 1104 -- appeared, and on September 2, sunspot group 1105 arrived. Through August 26-September 2, the daily sunspot numbers were 23, 11, 11, 25, 28, 27, 51 and 52 and these same eight days saw the relative total ...

Surfin’: Hurricane Hamming
By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU Contributing EditorThis week, Surfin’ makes plans for emergency communications of the hurricane variety. As I write this, Connecticut and the Northeast are looking down the barrel of Hurricane Earl. It looks like my neck of the woods will only receive a glancing, but powerful blow, but points south and east of us will not be so lucky.Having lived through direct hits fro...

Hurricane Earl Heading for North Carolina, Hurricane Warnings Issued for New England
Hurricane Earl -- once again a Category 4 storm -- is currently aiming for North Carolina’s Outer Banks. At 11 AM (EDT), Earl is located about 300 miles south of Cape Hatteras and 765 mles south of Nantucket Island, just off the coast of Massachusetts. Earl is now moving north at a speed near 18 MPH, and is expected to turn north-northeast with an increase in forward speed on Friday. The center...

New D-STAR Repeater Now in Place in ARRL Laboratory
The ARRL Lab has installed a D-STAR (Digital Smart Technologies for Amateur Radio) repeater in the Lab at the ARRL Headquarters building. Operating with an output of 147.390 MHz, positive offset, the W1HQ D-STAR repeater is a local repeater with a modest footprint covering the Hartford-New Britain, Connecticut area. The antenna is on the roof of the Headquarters building with the repeater locat...

Earl Possibly to Upgrade to Category 4 Storm, US Atlantic Coast on Alert
On August 30, Hurricane Earl intensified into a Category 4 hurricane -- sustained winds 131-155 MPH -- before leveling out back into a Category 3 storm. But even as a Category 3 hurricane, Earl is still a major storm with hurricane-force winds extending outward up to 90 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds extending outward up to 200 miles. According to the National Hurricane C...

ARRL to Close in Observance of Labor Day
ARRL Headquarters will be closed in observance of Labor Day on Monday, September 6. There will be no W1AW bulletin or code practice transmissions that day. ARRL Headquarters will reopen Tuesday, September 7 at 8 AM Eastern Daylight Time. We wish everyone a safe and festive holiday weekend.

ARRL in Action: What Have We Been Up to Lately?
Compiled by S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA ARRL News Editor news@arrl.orgThis 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.ARRL Sections along the Atlantic Coast are watching and monitoring the progress of Hurricane Earl, with many assisting WX4NHC...

James Garland, W8ZR, Wins August QST Cover Plaque Award
The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for August is James Garland, W8ZR, for his article “The StationPro Master Station Controller.” Congratulations, James! The winner of 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 ballot for your favorite article in the...

Discover the Fun of 6 Meters (and Up!) in the ARRL September VHF QSO Party
September is here, and according to ARRL Contest Branch Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, that means the VHF bands are getting a workout: “If you’ve never experienced the fun of VHF+ operating, the ARRL September VHF QSO Party is a great place to start. With many HF radios now offering at least 6 meter SSB/CW capabilities -- and some offering 2 meters and 70 cm as well -- any amateur with a Technician...

FCC Reaffirms 2×2 Call Signs Are Only for Advanced, Amateur Extra License Classes

QST Columnist Recognized for Documenting Radio’s Past
John Dilks, K2TQN -- who pens the “Vintage Radio” column in QST every month -- was awarded the AWA Houck Award for Documentation by the Antique Wireless Association (AWA) at their 2010 World Convention, held August 17-21 in Rochester, New York. This award is presented each year to an AWA member who has written original articles on radio development or history in the AWA Journal, AWA Review or o...

Youth@HamRadio.Fun: A 2010 Youth DX Adventure
By Duncan MacLachlan, KU0DM ARRL Youth Editor ku0dm@arrl.netI desperately wanted to go on a DXpedition before I turned 18. I know not many kids my age have had the opportunity to travel abroad, let alone travel abroad for the sole purpose of doing something you love. So when Don DuBon, N6JRL, first contacted me, informing me that there was a possibility that I could accompany a group of young ope...

Hurricane Earl Continues to Strengthen, Watch Nets Activated
With Hurricane Earl now a category 2 storm -- and expected to become a major hurricane -- WX4NHC and the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) -- activated at 8 AM EDT on Monday, August 30; WX4NHC is the Amateur Radio station at the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami, Florida. As of 8 AM (EDT) on Monday, August 30, Earl’s center is approximately 25 miles east north-northeast of St Martin in the north...