I hope everyone had a good Christmas and got to spend time with family. And I hope your New Year will be full of love of family and a lot of contacts around the world.
Category: Uncategorized (Page 1 of 9)
Santa Net on 3.916 MHz returns for its 20th consecutive year. Part of The 3916 Nets, Santa Net will kick-off on November 28th and run through December 23rd. The net will be active Thursday through Saturday night until December 18th at which point the net will run nightly.
Pre-net check-ins can be made online at http://www.cqsanta.com/.
On December 1st 1924, the 200kW Alexanderson alternator with the call sign “SAQ” was put into commercial operation with telegram traffic from Sweden to the United States. 101 years later, the transmitter is the only remaining electro-mechanical transmitter from this era and is still in running condition. On Christmas Eve morning, Wednesday December 24th 2025, the transmitter is scheduled* to spread the traditional Christmas message to the whole World, on 17.2 kHz CW.
Transmission Schedule
- 08:20 CET (07:20 UTC): Live stream on YouTube begins.
- 08:30 CET (07:30 UTC): Startup and tuning of the Alexanderson Alternator SAQ.
- 09:00 CET (08:00 UTC): Transmission of a Christmas message from SAQ.
- 08:00 CET (07:00 UTC): The transmitter hall at World Heritage Grimeton is opened for visitors.
- E-QSL reports may be submitted online.
The Town of Smyrna is thrilled to celebrate an incredible achievement by the Great Tennessee Air Show, which has been named Top Civilian Air Show of 2025 by the U.S. Navy Blue Angels. This prestigious honor recognizes exceptional execution, outstanding community engagement, seamless logistics, and top-tier performance, and organization.
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Executive Producer Brandon DiPierri, John Black, Evan Lester, Salil Rai, Smyrna Airport, Stones River Amateur Radio Club, and the entire GTAS team for delivering a truly world-class event and making Middle Tennessee proud. The Town of Smyrna is honored to be a part of this wonderful event. Congratulations to all involved on this well-deserved recognition!
Stones River Amateur Radio Club members stood at the gates to control flight line access for the Blue Angles Pilots. We also provided drivers for the golf carts to transport handicapped and elderly persons from the gate to the seating area. And we coordinated it all via Ham Radio Communications.
We had a good meal and fellowship played some games sung songs. A good time was had by one and all. Jason KM4ACK won this years Silver Microphone Award.
One I’m sure will become an heirloom that he will pass down for generations.
Audrey Lowe with the help of Pam Cotton and her friend Marti pulled off an exceptional evening. Also thanks to Barbara and Roger Rutter helped setting up the tables and chairs.
The meal was catered by Ryan Purdo
| The FCC on December 9, 2025, released a long-awaited Report and Order adopting a new amateur radio spectrum allocation in the 60-meter band that was approved for world-wide use on a secondary basis in the WRC-15 (World Radiocommunication Conference 2015) Final Acts. The Commission also agreed with the ARRL petition to continue to allow amateur operations on four existing 60-meter channels outside the international allocation with a full 100 watts. The new rules will go into effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register, when amateurs may then begin using the allocation.
Specifically, the Commission allocated 5351.5 – 5366.5 kHz (60 meters) to the amateur service on a secondary basis with a permitted power of 9.15 watts ERP. The Commission also authorized amateurs to continue using four existing channels outside of the 5351.5 – 5366.5 kHz band, centered on 5332, 5348, 5373, and 5405 kHz, on a secondary basis with a permitted power of 100 watts ERP. There are no antenna restrictions, but antenna gain must be used to calculate ERP.
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The 60-meter allocation is available to amateurs holding a General Class or above license. The maximum permissible signal bandwidth is 2.8 kHz.
Amateurs are cautioned that this allocation is strictly on a secondary basis, and amateurs must avoid interfering with non-amateur stations using this spectrum. This obligation includes the responsibility to monitor for such stations using appropriate receiver bandwidths. The FCC emphasized that “allowing amateur operations in this band while fully protecting incumbent primary Federal operations is our priority, and even intermittent interference in this band could jeopardize important Federal operations.” |
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| SB DX @ ARL $ARLD049
ARLD049 DX news
ZCZC AE49 QST de W1AW DX Bulletin 49 ARLD049 From ARRL Headquarters Newington, CT December 4, 2025 To all radio amateurs
SB DX ARL ARLD049 ARLD049 DX news
This week’s bulletin is made possible with information provided by The Daily DX, 425 DX News, DXNL, OPDX, Contest Corral from QST, and the ARRL Contest Calendar and WA7BNM websites. Thanks to all.
MADAGASCAR, 5R. Eric, F6ICX, is QRV as 5R8IC from Sainte-Marie Island, IOTA AF-090, until the end of December. Activity is on the HF bands using CW, SSB, FT8, and FT4, and on Satellite QO-100. QSL to home call.
MALDIVES, 8Q. Harald, DL7MDX, is QRV as 8Q7HT until December 11. Activity is holiday-style on 40 to 6 meters using mainly FT8. QSL via LoTW.
CROATIA,9A. Special event station 9A169TESLA is QRV until December 31 to celebrate Nikola Tesla’s birthday. QSL via operators’ instructions.
SIERRA LEONE, 9L. Steve, G7BXU, is QRV as 9L1BXU until December 10. Activity is in his spare time on 30 to 10 meters using CW and FT8. QSL to home call.
BOTSWANA, A2. Ben, DB2LS is QRV as A25LS and is here for about a week. Activity is on the HF bands using FT8 during his daytime and may be active using CW and SSB during his nights. QSL to home call.
THE GAMBIA, C5. Andre, ON7YK, is QRV as C5YK from Kotu until January 25, 2026. Activity is on 20 to 10 meters using SSB, RTTY, FT8, FT4, and some CW. QSL via LoTW.
MOROCCO, CN. Special event call sign CN25JIM will be QRV from December 11 to 14 to mark International Mountain Day, which falls on December 11. This year also aligns with the UN’s International Year for the Preservation of Glaciers, emphasizing glacier protection and water supply. QSL via operators’ instructions.
SPAIN, EA. Special callsign AO25YOTA is QRV during December to support YOTA activity. QSL via operators’ instructions.
PERU, OA. Jodi, N7IDX is QRV as OA4/N7IDX until December 14. Activity is in his spare time on 20 to 10 meters, and possibly 6 meters. QSL direct to home call.
SLOVAKIA, OM. Special event station OM155BANIC is QRV until December 12 to celebrate the 155th birthday of Stefan Banic. Banic was an early parachute designer who obtained a US patent in 1914. QSL via Slovak QSL Bureau or OM1ARW.
ANTARCTICA. Alex, RI1ANI, will be traveling between Progress and Vostok stations and active in his spare time.
SWEDEN, SM. Radio club SK3GK is QRV with special callsign SM100XF until December 31 to mark the first radio broadcast 100 years ago from Gaevle. QSL via bureau.
TURKEY, TA. Special event station TC25YOTA is QRV until the end of December to support YOTA activity. QSL via ClubLog.
GUATEMALA, TG. Look for TG9/AF4CZ to be QRV from December 7 to January 5, 2026. Activity will be holiday style on 40 to 10 meters using mostly FT8 and FT4. QSL via LoTW.
CENTRAL AFRICA, TL. Joao, CR7BNW, is QRV as TL8BNW until June 2026. Activity is on 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters using SSB and FT8. QSL via LoTW.
REPUBLIC OF KOSOVO, Z6. Gabriele, HB9TSW, is QRV as Z68BG near Pristina until December 10. Activity is in his spare time on the HF bands using CW. QSL via home call.
THIS WEEKEND ON THE RADIO. ARRL 160-Meter CW Contest, NCCC FT4 Sprint, Weekly RTTY Test, QRP 80-Meter CW Fox Hunt, NCCC CW Sprint, K1USN Slow Speed CW Test, Kalbar Contest, Wake-Up. QRP CW Sprint, PRO CW Contest, INORC CW Contest, and the FT Challenge are all scheduled for this weekend.
K1USN Slow Speed CW Test, ICWC Medium Speed CW Test, OK1WC CW Memorial, Worldwide Sideband Activity Contest, DARC CW-Training CW Contest, NAQCC CW Sprint, QRP 40-Meter CW Fox Hunt, Phone Weekly Test, A1Club AWT, CWops Test, VHF-UHF FT8 Activity Contest, Mini-Test 40 CW, and Mini-Test 80 CW are on tap from December 8 to 10.
Please see December QST, page 78, and the ARRL and WA7BNM contest websites for details. |
NWS Nashville’s annual Severe Weather Awareness Day (SWAD) has officially been scheduled for Saturday, February 21, 2026 at Trevecca Nazarene University starting at 9am
ARRL
12/02/2025
A group of students at Cornell University is seeking participation from radio amateurs who are equipped with satellite stations for help in listening for signals from a retroreflective laser sail that is scheduled to be deployed later this week. The sail is currently attached to a 1U CubeSat that was launched early Tuesday, December 2, 2025, from the International Space Station, but will separate and become its own free-flying spacecraft equipped with four tiny “ChipSat” flight computers that will transmit telemetry data back to Earth.
This is the first flight of their ChipSats, and it is this data that the students seek help detecting, according to Ph.D. candidate Joshua Umansky-Castro, who has an amateur radio license; call sign KD2WTQ. The light sail’s ChipSats will be transmitting data using the LoRa® digital protocol on 437.400 MHz. The sail, stowed within the CubeSat, is expected be released a couple of days after deployment — tentatively this Thursday, December 4 — and will likely function independently for no more than 48 hours due to the drag created by the sail.
Additional information, including LoRa parameters and links to a list of compatible receivers and the decoder file, may be found at alphacubesat.cornell.edu in the ChipSat Ground Station Guide (docx).
It is hoped that the ChipSat and light sail will become the trailblazer for future missions around the solar system, and one day to our closest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri.
With the upcoming holiday like millions of other Americans I will be traveling. So I will not be posting much if anything in the way of updates after Sunday the 23rd through the Saturday the 29th.
I hope that everyone else that is traveling will have safe travels and a Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Ken Sawyer. KJ4PUK
NWS Nashville
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