Amateur radio operators ages 25 and younger will be on the air as special event stations around the world throughout December in celebration of youth in amateur radio. YOTA Month stations will be on all bands and modes at various times. QSL and award information is at events.ham-yota.com.

From the ARRL website:

Santa Claus will be on the amateur radio airwaves again this year.

The 3.916 Santa Net will be on the air every night at 7:00 PM CST from November 29 through December 24. Reserve a spot with Santa by making a pre-net check in. You can check in each night starting at 6:30 PM CST online at www.CQSanta.com.

The Baltimore-Washington NWS has announced a class for Skywarn Basics to be held on July 11.

The class will be at the Carroll County's Public Safety Training Center, 50 Kate Wagner Road, Westminster MD 21157. It will be held from 6 pm to 8 pm.

The class is required for the courses for Winter, Tropical, and severe weather. It's also recommended as a periodic refresher for current Skywarn observers.

Soon after completion those without a Skywarn spotter number will receive one.

MFJ has announced it will shut down manufacturing of its own brand as well as those marketed under other brand names. The company will continue to sell current in-stock inventory.

From ARRL:

Colorado State University (CSU) hurricane researchers predict an active Atlantic hurricane season (June 1 to November 30) in their initial 2024 forecast.

The National Weather Service will be conducting a class on Flooding as part of the local Skywarn classes. It will be held at the Prince George's County Emergency Operations Center in Landover on Thursday, May 23, 2024 at 6:30 pm and scheduled to end at 8:30.

Registration is free and available at https://www.weather.gov/lwx/skywarn

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced an upcoming change to the Commission Registration System (CORES) that licensees use to pay any application or regulatory fees, manage or reset a password on an existing FRN, or request a new FRN. Beginning March 29, 2024, multifactor authentication will be implemented. Users will be prompted to request a six-digit secondary verification code, which will be sent to the email address(es) associated with each username. The user will then need to enter the code into CORES before they can continue.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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.