The FCC has issued a Forfeiture Order (FO) calling for HobbyKing to pay a fine of $2,861,128 for marketing drone transmitters that do not comply with FCC rules. An FCC Enforcement Bureau investigation stemmed in part from a 2017 ARRL complaint that HobbyKing was selling drone transmitters that operated on amateur and non-amateur frequencies, in some instances marketing them as amateur radio equ...

The University of Maine Wireless Sensing Laboratory (WiSe-Net Lab) and AMSAT have signed an agreement to collaborate on building and operating MESAT1, Maine’s first small satellite. Carrying an amateur radio payload in addition to science payloads, MESAT1 is set to launch sometime in the next 3 years under NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI), which provides opportunities for nanosatellite s...

The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) has activated for Hurricane Hanna, the first hurricane of the Atlantic Hurricane season. The storm is poised to make landfall along the Gulf of Mexico. A Category 1 storm, Hanna has maximum sustained winds of 75 MPH. As of 1200 UTC, the storm was about 90 miles east-northeast of Port Mansfield, Texas, and about 100 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas.

“The...

Due to travel and gathering restrictions in place because of the coronavirus pandemic, the ARRL Board of Directors met on Friday, July 17, 2020 in a remote session, using the Zoom videoconferencing platform.

During this session, the Board took the following actions:

• Accepted the final recommendations of the Band Planning Committee. Committee chair and ARRL First Vice President Mike Raisbeck, K1TW...

Christopher “Chris” Brault, KD8YVJ, of Liberty Township, Ohio, has been selected as the 2020 Bill Pasternak WA6ITF Memorial Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year (YHOTY). The son of Jocelyn, KD8VRX, and Kimberly Brault, Chris, 18, was the recipient of the 2015 ARRL Hiram Percy Maxim Award. A ham since 2014, he credits his father for being his guide into amateur radio, recalling watching ...

 A well-known contester and the co-builder of contest stations in Texas and Nevada, Grady Ferguson, W5FU (ex-NA5R), died of COVID-19 on July 14. He was 76.

He was best known for his activities with the Texas DX Society in the 1970s and 1980s and, with Tom Taormina, K5RC, built a multioperator contest station in Texas that had a few outings before Hurricane Alicia destroyed it in 1983. In 2007, ...

Phil Karn, KA9Q; Randy Standke, KQ6RS, and members of the Mount Carmel High School Amateur Radio Club (MCHSARC) in San Diego have constructed and deployed an amateur radio marine buoy in the Pacific. The buoy, which transmits WSPR on 14.0956 MHz USB, has already been heard around the continental US, Brazil, Hawaii, Japan, Costa Rica, Australia, and South Africa.

“Over the past year, Randy and I ...

The ARRL Foundation has announced the recipients of its 2020 scholarship awards. There were 103 awards this year, totaling $144,450. The non-profit Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) has generously awarded a grant to the ARRL Foundation to match each scholarship award on a dollar-for-dollar basis, lifting the grand total of scholarships awarded to $288,900.

The ARRL Foundation General F...

ARRL is launching a new webinar series to help introduce more members to the variety of activities and opportunities that radio amateurs enjoy. The ARRL Learning Network will offer live presentations by member-volunteers, for members. Like hamfest forums and radio club presentations, the webinars are intended to help participants get more active, involved, and engaged in amateur radio.

Presentat...