XPost: rec.radio.amateur.equipment, rec.radio.info

CQ Newsroom

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COVID Fallout Continues: Visalia Cancelled, Dayton Cautious

Posted: 31 Jan 2022 03:11 PM PST http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/2022/01/covid-fallout-continues-visalia.html


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Covid-19
and its variants continue to disrupt in-person ham gatherings. The Southern California DX Club, organizer of the 2022 International DX Convention in Visalia, California, announced in January that this year's event – normally held in April – had been cancelled "in response to the current … virus threat."
The Dayton Hamvention® is still on as of now, but General Chairman Rick Allnutt, WS8G, said in a statement that the Hamvention would follow state guidance, which he expects to include recommendations (but not
requirements) for masking and social distancing at large events. "It has
become obvious," he said, "that the State of Ohio is very unlikely to call
a halt to large gatherings anytime soon." As of now, Allnutt added, there
are no plans to offer onsite Covid testing during the Hamvention and he
does not anticipate checking vaccination status at the show. He says
updates will be posted online at <www.hamvention.org>.


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ARDC Makes More Than $1 Million in New Grants

Posted: 31 Jan 2022 03:05 PM PST http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/2022/01/ardc-makes-more-than-1-million-in-new.html

Amateur Radio Digital Communications, the organization that administers the AMPRNet internet domain and sold some 4 million unassigned addresses in
2019, continues using the proceeds from that sale to support amateur radio
and communications networking research. Its most recent grants, according
to the ARRL Letter, include nearly $900,000 to the Internet Archive to establish the "Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Communications," which would be a freely-accessible repository of publications, movies, software
and more that is related to amateur radio. ARDC also made a $318,000 grant
to the Society of Women Engineers to fun 30 scholarships and help with
programs that encourage women to choose careers in engineering and showcase their achievements. In addition, ARDC gave $500,000 to the ARRL Foundation
to fund a new club grants program. Starting in April, amateur radio clubs
will be able to apply for grants of up to $25,000 to support programs or projects that "will advance amateur radio in the grantee's community." An example of such a project is one directly funded by ARDC – some $34,000 to the Fauquier 4-H Ham Radio Club in Virginia to equip a Youth Station and Outreach Trailer for use by young members at meetings, public gatherings
and special events.

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HamSCI Workshop Gets NSF Grant

Posted: 31 Jan 2022 03:02 PM PST http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/2022/01/hamsci-workshop-gets-nsf-grant.html


The Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation group, or HamSCI, has received
a $50,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to support its 2022 in-person and virtual workshop.

The workshop, to be held at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on March 18-19, will focus on connections between space weather
and terrestrial weather, according to the ARRL Letter.
It will also host a team meeting of HamSCI's Personal Space Weather Station project, which is also being funded by a much larger NSF grant.

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Dick Fijlstra, PA0DFN, Named Carole Perry Educator of the Year

Posted: 31 Jan 2022 02:59 PM PST http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/2022/01/dick-fijlstra-pa0dfn-named-carole-perry.html


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2022 Carole Perry Educator
of the Year Dick Fijlstra,
PA0DFN (OARC photos)

The Orlando Hamcation® has selected Dutch amateur Dick Fijlstra, PA0DFN, as the 2022 Carole Perry Educator of the Year. A retired public school
principal, Dick continues working with young people by organizing
exhibitions at different schools to make students aware of the radio hobby
and inspire them to pursue careers in science and technology. Dick teaches foxhunting
techniques to a young
competitor.

Dick is also heavily involved in amateur radio direction-finding (ARDF) – also known as foxhunting – and uses hidden transmitter hunts as one method
of introducing young people to amateur radio. He is the representative of VERON, the Dutch national ham radio association, to the International
Amateur Radio Union's Region 1 (Europe, Africa and the Middle East) ARDF committee. One of the committee's activities is the European Youth ARDF Championships, in which young people ages 14-19 from all over Europe
compete to find hidden transmitters. Dick builds many of the foxhunting transmitters and receivers used in the events that he coordinates.
The Carole Perry Educator of the Year award is named in honor of its first recipient, noted ham educator Carole Perry, WB2MGP. The award will be
presented at this month's Orlando Hamcation® hamfest in Florida. (Full disclosure: CQ Editor Rich Moseson, W2VU, is on the judging committee for
this award)

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"Low Power" in Majhor Contests Now a Uniform 100 Watts

Posted: 31 Jan 2022 02:51 PM PST http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/2022/01/low-power-in-majhor-contests-now.html


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The ARRL has redefined what constitutes "low power" in its contests,
reducing the maximum power level for the category from its long-standing
150 watts to the 100-watt level used by most other major contest sponsors, including CQ.

According to Newsline, the League made the change both to standardize its categories with other contests and in recognition of the fact that 100
watts is now the most common "barefoot" output power of current HF transceivers.

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New Tech Question Pool Released

Posted: 31 Jan 2022 02:49 PM PST http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/2022/01/new-tech-question-pool-released.html


The National Conference of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) has
released its updated question pool for Technician Class license exams to be used from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2026. The ARRL reports that the new Element 2 exam pool has 11 fewer questions than the one currently in use,
based on the addition of 51 new questions and the deletion of 62 current
ones. Over 250 current questions were modified "to improve wording or to replace distractors" (wrong answer choices).

The new question pool may be downloaded from the NCVEC website (ncvec.org)
in either PDF or Word format.

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2022 Youth on the Air Camp Scheduled

Posted: 31 Jan 2022 02:46 PM PST http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/2022/01/2022-youth-on-air-camp-scheduled.html


Up to 30 young hams will once again be gathering this year for a week of
ham radio fun and learning at the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting in West Chester, Ohio. The second running of the Youth on the
Air, or YOTA, Camp has been scheduled for the week of June 12-17, according
to Camp Director Neil Rapp, WB9VPG.

He says future plans call for alternating the camps between June and July
every other year, with locations rotating to different locations in North, Central and South America beginning in 2023.
Rapp notes that participants will be notified as far ahead as possible if
any changes in scheduling are made necessary by new Covid outbreaks. For
more information, visit <youthontheair.org> or contact Rapp at <director@youthontheair.org>.

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Young Hams Wax Eloquent on Keeping the Hobby Relevant

Posted: 31 Jan 2022 02:42 PM PST http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/2022/01/young-hams-wax-eloquent-on-keeping.html

The Intrepid DX Group, working with ARDC (Amateur Radio Digital Communications), recently announced the winners of its annual "Dream Rig"
essay contest for young hams. The topic was keeping ham radio relevant in
the age of the internet and the winner was 10-year-old Silas Davis, W3SED. Silas wrote that ham radio will always be relevant because it "inspires and creates community," can help save lives and … it's fun! Second and third place recognition went to Olivia Lee, KD2UYX, and Isaac Schmidt, K6IAS, respectively. Each of the three won radios donated by ICOM and Yaesu. The essays are posted on the ARDC website (ampr.org).

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U.S. Forest Service Seeks Fees for Wireless Facilities on its Lands

Posted: 31 Jan 2022 02:38 PM PST http://cqnewsroom.blogspot.com/2022/01/us-forest-service-seeks-fees-for.html


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