This spring, the ARRL held two balloted elections for Section Manager. ARRL members in Nebraska elected a new Section Manager, while members in Utah -- faced with a three-way race -- voted to keep their Section Manager. In addition, ARRL members in New Hampshire and Wisconsin will each get a new Section Manager, and Section Managers in seven Sections ran unopposed and were declared elected for ...

The annual WX4NHC On-the-Air Station Test from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami will take place Saturday, June 1, 1300-2100 UTC (9 AM-5 PM EDT). “The purpose of this annual station test is to test all of our radio equipment, computers and antennas using as many modes and frequencies as possible in preparation for this year’s hurricane season,” said WX4NHC Assistant Amateur Radio Vol...

With the departure of Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Robert McDowell this past weekend, the FCC now only has three of its full complement of five Commissioners. Pending the Senate confirmation hearings for Tom Wheeler, President Obama’s pick to head the FCC, Obama has named Mignon Clyburn, the FCC’s ranking Democrat, to serve as Acting Chairwoman. The three remaining Commissioners...

Last week, the ARRL announced that the introduction of the new TQSL 1.14 software for Logbook of The World (LoTW) would be available on May 20. Upon further testing, three defects -- now corrected -- were reported after that announcement. Before publicly releasing a corrected version of TQSL 1.14, the software must be thoroughly retested by the Trusted QSL Software Development Team. LoTW users ...

ARRL Headquarters will be closed Monday, May 27 in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. There will be no W1AW code practice or bulletin transmissions that day. ARRL Headquarters will reopen Tuesday, May 28 at 8 AM (EDT). We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend!

Hamvention Sunday saw the beginning of the exodus from Hara Arena, but for those who remained, there was still a lot to see.

Of course, one of the major attractions was the traditional "last minute bargain." There were quite a few of these to be had in the fleamarket, but Sunday sales were prominent indoors as well. Early feedback from several vendors indicated that Hamvention 2013 was a success...

Hamvention Saturday got off to a rousing start. By late morning the aisles in the indoor exhibitor areas were crowded to the point where movement was difficult at best.

ARRL Member Forum
Among the first forums of the morning, the ARRL Member forum was filled to capacity. After an introduction by Great Lakes Division Vice Director Dale Williams, WA8EFK, Ohio Section Manager Frank Piper, KI8GW, dis...

Hamvention Friday opened in the midst of dense fog. Fortunately, the fog burned off before noon.

Attendence seemed high for a Friday with indoor exhibits swamped with amateurs soon after the doors opened at 9AM. The ARRL Expo area drew a substantial crowd with popular activities such as the W1AW 75th anniversary exhibit, the Youth Lounge and spectral purity testing courtesy of the ARRL Lab. Of c...

Since we are now at (or close to) the peak of Solar Cycle 24, it is no surprise that the solar indices are up. The latest forecast predicts Solar Cycle 24 to peak this fall, but that will be determined after the fact, and it will be based on a long running average of sunspot numbers. This past week, the average daily sunspot numbers increased by more than 34 points, rising to 156.1, while the a...

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

Here are some online tools to help you answer that question.

As a fan of VHF and UHF operating, I often seek out mountaintop locations so I can work some DX, unimpeded by manmade objects and Mother Nature’s higher hills. And while I appreciate the view, I often wonder how far away the horizon is.

I discovered a great article about this topic years ago and...