This is not an endorsement of any HAM Radio Youtube channel
From W3CT Jack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AuFceHBcFU
I know POTA is becoming more popular I saw this and it looks like a cheap and easy build.
Enjoy
KJ4PUK Ken
Author: CQAdmin (Page 2 of 8)
Amateur Radio Operators & Friends of History,
You are invited to take part in the 2025 Grand Finale of the Chasing Cornwallis Challenge—the K4Y Special Event commemorating the Battle of Yorktown.
Yorktown was not just the last battle.
It was the breaking of empires and the birth of nations.
You know the legend — Washington victorious, Cornwallis defeated.
But do you know why Cornwallis refused to show for the surrender ceremony?
Why the British sword was handed to General O’Hara, then to American’s forgotten hero Benjamin Lincoln?
Or why the path to Yorktown was blazed, not by regulars, but by militias and foreign fleets — and how its shockwaves still define the fate of 195 sovereign nations today?
Visit k4y.history.radio to read “The Backstory” of the Surrender at Yorktown and when the event is ‘live,” we make it easy to find a real-time listed Activations on the website homepage and linked to the K4Y QRZ Biography Page.
October 18-20, 2025 marks your chance to become part of living history participating in this final event where several thousand Amateurs are expected to earn their eligibility for the coveted Chasing Cornwallis Challenge Certificate of Achievement shown below, a symbol of dedication to both Amateur Radio and American history.
Call for Net Control Stations:
A few spots remain available for Volunteer Net Control Stations during this historic event.
Your leadership will help us “Signal the American Spirit” as we unite stations nationwide and around the globe.
Join Us – Operate – Volunteer – Remember:
- Step up and be part of the finale worthy of Yorktown’s place in world history.
- Discover the real story behind the battle that birthed America and changed the fate of nations.
Let’s rally together – “Signal the American Spirit” and make history on the airwaves!
And mark your calendars for the 2026 Chasing Cornwallis Challenge
This week we’re deviating from our normal exercise schedule. Instead of Wednesday this week’s exercise will be for Thursday. This will allow each participant to submit their DYFI Report in a real time (your schedule permitting) along with many other agencies.
If you connect to a WINLINK HF RMS to relay your messages they could be busy. Please check before transmitting and be courteous to other operators.
Overview:
Purpose: This exercise is designed around the International Shakeout Day, which is always the third Thursday in October. For 2025 that is 10/16/2025. The purpose is to familiarize users with the USGS event and the built-in “Did You Feel It” (DYFI) form in Winlink.
The basic exercise scenario is a major earthquake that occurs near your location at 10:16 AM local time on Thursday, October 16, 2025.
In this scenario, you definitely feel the earthquake and after taking proper safety precautions (Drop, Cover, and Hold) and checking on the safety of your family and structure, you then report what you’ve (virtually) experienced using the DYFI form.
Objectives:
- Use Winlink Express to create and send a “USGS DYFI.txt” form
- Participate in the 2025 Shakeout Event as part of a joint exercise collaboration with the ARES LAX Northeast District and the Winlink Development Team.
- Create a Winlink “Did You Feel It” (DYFI) message. You will be describing a fictitious, major earthquake that occurred at 10:16 AM local time. You will want your responses to describe an earthquake intensity of at least V (5), so be extravagant with your damage reports!
- Send the message to: dyfi_reports_automated@usgs.gov and CC: SHAKEOUT and TNWLNET.
This event is generalized. Each operators event magnitude and damages are similar. If such an event occurred anywhere within or near our state many of the responses would be similar.
Keep in mind this is an “EXERCISE“. Use your knowledge, training and imagination when creating reports to mimic a real situation as closely as possible.
Send all CC and Forwarded emails to the tactical address’s indicated unless otherwise instructed. See the General Guidelines.
The EVENT Date/Time is: 10/16/2025 10:16 CDT
You may participate in this exercise any time on Thursday. Just be certain the event date and time are listed as 10/16/2025 10:16 on the form.
(If you’re unable to complete all of the following assignments, please submit those you can. During an emergency some information is better than no information).
EXERCISE INSTRUCTIONS
***The attachments below are for use as a guide and instructional aid along with a sample form for completing your DYFI form.
*** Remember the event is set for October 16, 2024 at 10:16 AM. Send your DYFI form to the pre-loaded USGS address and CC a copy to “SHAKEOUT and TNWLNET“.
***If you’re unable to participate on the above date, send your DYFI form to only “TNWLNET” (remove the USGS auto address) anytime before the weekly TN Winlink Training Net cutoff at 2359Hrs on Thursday.
***Exercises forms other than the DYFI form may be submitted anytime during the normal exercise period. Please send the DYFI form to the USGS only on Thursday if possible.
***If any of the requested forms have the availability to be marked as an exercise, please do so, if not please write “This is a Drill ” either in the comments section or the email Subject line.
General Guidelines:
Each Winlink operator is asked to: (Use RF on Packet, VaraFM, Mesh if available), HF if it’s not or (Telnet if RF is not available).
1) Send a “DYFI” form to the USGS with the simulated exercise details that you think should pertain to your area.
1a) Be certain it’s posted as an “EXERCISE“. (DO NOT CHECK “REAL EVENT”). Send using Winlink Express or similar program, not the USGS website. This form is automatically addressed to the USGS, so accuracy is important.
1b) Optional Exercise ID is “SHAKEOUT“.
1c) The simulated Date and Time of the earthquake event is “10/16/2024” at “10:16” regardless of what time the form is created or sent.
1d) In the comments section add: “TN Winlink Net, Organized Exercise, (your mode), (your band),”.
1e) Add a “CC” to “SHAKEOUT;TNWLNET“. (If you are participating with other groups also add them)
Complete the remainder of the form as appropriate. (See Attached DYFI Form Tutorial)
(NOTE: Answer the questions to indicate a Mercalli Intensity of V or higher, i.e. indicate a moderate to
extreme earthquake).
Send the following forms or info ONLY to “TNEMCOMM”
2) Send a “Winlink Check-in” form sent to “TNEMCOMM” stating you are on stand-by for emergency traffic and that This is an Exercise. Use the Setup button to label the page title “TWN 2025 SHAKEOUT EXERCISE”.
3) Send a “Field Situation Report ” to “TNEMCOMM“. Task# SOE251016
Name the page title “TWN 2025 SHAKEOUT EXERCISE”. In the comments box add “This is an Exercise”. In the POC box enter your Callsign, First Name, and a means of making contact with you. i.e. Phone number, Email address or Street address. (These can be fictitious for the exercise). Also add “TWN 2025 SHAKEOUT EXERCISE and your sending mode” in the comments section.
4) Send out a POSITION report, then request a “W2LK_NEARBY” report. Use this to determine area contacts for assisting with message relays if needed. Forward “without change” a full copy of your “NEARBY” report to “TNEMCOMM“.
5) Send a “Winlink Check-out” form sent to “TNEMCOMM” stating your stand-by status if emergency traffic occurs and that “This is an Exercise”. Use the Setup button to label the page title “TWN 2025 SHAKEOUT EXERCISE”.
Additional Information to consider:
During a disaster the first priority is to establish the well being of your loved ones. It is extremely difficult to properly function as a first responder to help others if your are concerned about the safety or well-being of family or friends.
Be Prepared:
After you have completed the above reports don’t forget to verify that your off-the-grid backup system will probably function for only an extended period of time. Be sure to have paper and pen handy for use and then check your local repeaters and simplex contacts for availability. Once you establish who and where you can make contact, you should then be capable of relaying emergency traffic.
Have fun,
In the World of DX, listen for the Radio Club d’Haiti using the callsign 4V1SB through to the end of October. This is a special callsign commemorating the role Haiti played in assisting the revolutionary efforts of Simon Bolivar, who helped win independence from Spain for many South American countries. The callsign bears his initials. QSL via N2OO.
Mitsuru, JE1HXZ, is on the air as JE1HXZ/6 from Kita-Daito Island, IOTA Number AS-047, from the 8th through to the 15th of October, using CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8/FT4 on 160-6 metres. QSL via LoTW.
Listen for the Mediterraneo DX Club which is sending a large multinational team to Sierra Leone using the callsign 9L8MD. They will operate from the 30th of October through to the 10th of November, using CW, SSB, RTTY and FT8/FT4 on 160-6 metres. QSL via IK2VUC.
Six members of the DX Obsessed Group will be calling QRZ as FW5K from Wallis Island, IOTA number OC-054, from the 19th through to the 31st of October. Listen for them on 160-6 metres using CW, SSB, FT8/FT4 and RTTY. QSL via Club Log’s OQRS.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail” -Benjamin FranklinDear Fellow Amateur Radio Operators,
The Tennessee Mutual Aid Group would like to invite your club and members to join us for a Special Event Parks On The Air (POTA) activation at Henry Horton State Park – Shelter #1 on Saturday, November 8, 2025.
This event will begin at 8:00 AM and continue until 9:30 PM. It is open to the public and will serve as both an activation and a demonstration of emergency communications capabilities in the field.
Event Details:
Location: Henry Horton State Park – Shelter #1
Date: Saturday, November 8, 2025
Time: 8:00 AM – 9:30 PM
Activity: Special Event POTA Activation & Emergency Comms Showcase
We’ll have one primary transceiver operating as the special event station. Attendees are encouraged to bring their personal go-kits, portable antennas, and field gear for display. Please ensure any additional equipment does not interfere with the primary operating station.
We’ll be grilling hotdogs throughout the day—please bring your own drinks. It’s a great opportunity to connect with fellow operators, test gear in the field, and introduce new people to the world of amateur radio.
We hope you and your members can join us for a day of fun, learning, and radio fellowship as we bring the “Voices of the Volunteer State” on the air from Henry Horton State Park.
If you have any questions or plan to attend, feel free to reply to this email or contact us directly at TNMAG@Proton.me.
STEPHEN/ANCHOR: In the US, the FCC has continued its actions against foreign-owned laboratories that test imported electronics for sale and use in the country. Kent Peterson KCØDGY has that report.
KENT: Four foreign-controlled testing laboratories that evaluate electronics imported for use in the United States have been denied recognition by the Federal Communications Commission.
Just days before the shutdown that affected much of the US government, including the FCC, the commission announced that the four laboratories, like the 11 the commission denied in early September, were controlled by Chinese interests. That makes for a total of 15 such labs rejected so far by the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology, as part of the administration’s goal to give US-owned companies the responsibility of certifying electronics for import and sale in the US. All approved equipment must demonstrate that it is not a threat to US national security and must comply with FCC standards.
This move is the latest following the commission’s adoption in May of the order. At the time the order was announced, the FCC disclosed that about 75 percent of all electronics sold in the US are being tested by Chinese labs.
This is Kent Peterson KCØDGY.
2nd Annual Hidden Valleys Amateur Radio Club FREE HAMFEST
October 18, 2025 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Grant County Fair Youth and Ag Building 916 East Elm Street (County Road A) Lancaster, WI 53813
Hamtober Fest hamfest in SW Indiana 10/18/2025 Hamtober Fest is a fun and free hamfest located in Lynnville Indiana right off I-64 in Warrick County. Sponsored by the Tri-state Amateur Radio Society in Evansville
RF Hill ARC Annual Hamfest Sunday October 19th. Rain or Shine.
Location- Bucks County Community College- Perkasie Campus
Use GPS Address 346 Blooming Glen Rd. Perkasie, PA 18944
Gates Open at 8am for the General Public.
The Fox Cities Amateur Radio Club (W9ZL) is holding our annual Fall Hamfest on Sunday, November 2nd, 2025, from 8 am to 1 pm at our NEW Convenient Venue Location “Sunnyview Exposition Center” located at 500 E. County Rd Y, Oshkosh, WI 54901. General Admission in advance is $6 or at the door $8 per person.
Bonham, Texas, Fannin County Amateur Radio Club “Fall Ham Fest” November 15, 2025 at the Armory Pavilion located at the corner of Hwy 121 and Hwy 56 in Bonham, Texas.
K4KDI FALL TAILGATE NOV.22/2025 South Conway Road Baptist Church 6099s Conway Road Orlando Fl 32812
The Club meeting for November will be held on the 13th the 2nd Tuesday
The Club meeting for January will be held on the 8th the 2nd Thursday
Video credit to ARRL
