UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE ALL MEETINGS ARE BEING HELD BY ZOOM

IF YOU ARE NOT A MEMBER BUT WOULD LIKE TO ATTEND A MEETING PLEASE EMAIL ZOOM AT W3VPR.ORG

Parks On The Air (POTA) Presentation March 21

Vice President Greg Witmyer, KC3SEG, will be doing a presentation on POTA at the March 21 presentation meeting.

Greg is an active POTA activator, most common in the middle Atlantic states but recently with his companion, Teddy, went into the southeast.

He has made presentations at the Maryland Mobileers and at the club in Berlin, MD.

FCC looking for engineering graduates

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has a job opening that might be a good opportunity for recently graduated amateur radio operators who have knowledge of the spectrum and RF.

FCC looking for engineering graduates

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has a job opening that might be a good opportunity for recently graduated amateur radio operators who have knowledge of the spectrum and RF.

Second local Skywarn Basics class

The National Weather Service Baltimore/Washington Skywarn has added an additional Skywarn Basics Class to the schedule.

The new class would be held at the University of Maryland School of Public Health in College Park. The class is scheduled for Saturday, April 20 from 3:30-5:30 pm. There is another class arlt the Prince George's County EOC on April 18 and at the Alleghany County Department of Emergency Services in Cumberland on May 17.

To register, go to https://www.weather.gov/lwx/skywarn.

Amateurs needed for solar eclipse project

The Case Amateur Radio Club, W8EDU, the club station at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, is asking for amateur radio operators to help with a research project centered around the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse.

W8EDU club member Adam Goodman, W7OKE, said the project centers around studying the effects of the eclipse on propagation to better understand the recombination time of the ionosphere.

Bowie Wireless Association Net

There is a new talk net on the W3VPR Davidsonville repeaters.

The Board of Directors has agreed to allow the Bowie Wireless Association to use the 147.105 and 444.400 repeaters for their weekly net. Both repeaters have a positive offset and have a PL tone of 107.2.

The net will be held on Wednesday evenings at 7 pm Eastern time.

The Bowie Wireless Association Net was previously held on the K3ERA repeater, but the W3VPR Davidsonville repeaters are more accessible to many members. The Bowie club is presently considering their own repeater in the future.

Bill introduced to allow amateur radio antennas in HOAs

On January 30, 2024, US Senators Roger Wicker (MS) and Richard Blumenthal (CT) introduced S.3690, the Senate companion bill to H.R.4006, introduced last June. Both bills reflect the Congressional campaign efforts by ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® to eliminate homeowner association land use restrictions that prohibit, restrict, or impair the ability of an Amateur Radio Operator to install and operate amateur station antennas on residential properties they own.

World Radio Day - February 13

World Radio Day 2024 will be on February 13, and this year's theme is, "A Century Informing, Entertaining and Educating."

World Radio Day was first celebrated in 2012, following its declaration by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) General Conference. It was subsequently adopted as an International Day by the United Nations General Assembly. Amateur radio is included in the celebration.

JAXA Moon Lander Transmitting Morse Code

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully landed their Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) on January 19, 2024. Just before touchdown, SLIM released two small lunar surface probes, LEV-1 and LEV-2.

LEV-2 collects data while moving on the lunar surface, and LEV-1 receives the data.

Skywarn Basics Class in April

NWS Baltimore/Washington has a Skywarn Basics class tentatively scheduled at the PG County EOC in Landover, MD on April 18, 6-8 pm.

This is a prerequisite for classes for winter weather, severe weather and tropical weather specific to Maryland, DC and portions of Virginia and West Virginia.

To register, go to https://www.weather.gov/lwx/skywarn

New Club Net

There's a new club net: the Afternoon Talk Net.

It is similar to the Holly Net, except it's in the afternoon between 4-6 pm on the Crownsville repeater, 147.075+ PL 107.2 as well as Echolink (K3HRT-R node).

Kids Day - January 6 2024

Twice a year, ARRL offers an event designed to promote Amateur Radio to our youth. Share the excitement with your kids or grandkids, a Scout troop, a church or the general public!

Kids Day is designed to give on-the-air experience to young people and hopefully foster interest in getting a license of their own. It is also intended to give older hams a chance to share their station and love for Amateur Radio with their children.

Status of CQ Magazine

ARRL® has heard from many members concerned about their print subscriptions to CQ magazine. CQ magazine is not an ARRL publication, however ARRL members enjoy the ability to pursue earning the CQ Worked All Zones (WAZ) and Worked All Prefixes (WPX) awards through Logbook of The World (LoTW).

CQ Editor Rich Moseson, W2VU, acknowledged the delays in delivering CQ magazine. He indicated that the November and December issues are delayed but plans are to get them out to the readership as soon as circumstances permit.

Service Hours Reporting Unavailable

The page for submitting Service Hours is temporarily offline. I am redoing it because it has become overly complex with 40 categories of entry, some only pertaining to a single person.

I'm also considering replacing it with a fillable PDF form.

Contrary to belief, the service hours are internal, as only organizations deemed a charity need to track this for their exempt tax filings.

Webmaster

Santa Net

Santa Net is back on 3.916 MHz for the 18th year! Starting Friday, November 24th, good girls and boys can talk to Santa Claus, via amateur radio, nightly starting at 7:05 PM (Central). The Santa Net will run every night through Christmas Eve, December 24, 2023.

Pete Thomson (KE5GGY), of The 3916 Nets, commented on The Santa Net. He said, "What started 18 years ago as a small gathering on Christmas eve has really grown over the years. This year we expect to connect around 1,000 kids with Santa.”

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2023 SkyWarn Recognition Day

The 2023 SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) is December 2 from 0000z to 2400z.

The event honors all SKYWARN storm spotters and amateur radio operators for their contributions to the National Weather Service (NWS) during severe weather. Amateur radio operators also provide vital communication to the NWS and emergency management when normal communications fail.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website is now updated with the SKYWARN registration form, mapping form, and rules and information you'll need to check in for this year's event.

ARRL lauds FCC approval of wider signal rate

ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio® reports that earlier today, the FCC Commissioners unanimously voted to amend the Amateur Radio Service rules to replace the baud rate limit on the Amateur HF bands with a 2.8 kHz bandwidth limit to permit greater flexibility in data communications.

“The Federal Communications Commission today adopted new rules to incentivize innovation and experimentation in the amateur radio bands by removing outdated restrictions and providing licensees with the flexibility to use modern digital emissions,” announced FCC.

W1AW will be closed November 16

W1AW will be closed to visitors on Thursday, November 16 for building maintenance. The station's regular operating schedule, including code practice and bulletins, will not be affected. W1AW will reopen on Friday, November 17 at 8:00 am Eastern time.

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