On the afternoon of Tuesday, February 7 (Geneva time), Committee 4 of the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) approved Option 1 to satisfy Agenda Item 1.23, with minor editorial amendments to the text received from Working Group 4C. Option 1 calls for a worldwide secondary allocation to the Amateur Service at 472-479 kHz, with a power limit of 1 W EIRP, with a provision for admini...

On Friday, February 3, delegates and attendees at the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) had the pleasure of listening to Joe Taylor, K1JT, share his vision of the future of radiocommunication. Taylor -- an ARRL Member -- won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1993 for the discovery of a binary pulsar, a discovery which has opened up new possibilities for the study of gravitation. Aft...

Four new poll questions have just been published on the QuickStats page on the ARRL website. Let your voice be heard!

Questions in this month’s QuickStats poll:

• How many radials have you installed at the base of your HF vertical antenna?
• Do you have antennas installed in your attic?
• What kind of ac power supply do you use at your home station?
• Do you check the activity on a DX Cluster before gett...

If you’ve ever wanted a way to show the world how exciting Amateur Radio can be, here’s your chance: The ARRL is sponsoring its Second Annual Video Contest! Here’s a chance to put that video camera to use: Shoot a ham radio-related video and send it our way. All videos must be postmarked by February 29, 2012. Burn your video to a CD or DVD using the appropriate software and mail it to ARRL Vide...

At the February 3 Plenary Session of the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12), delegates heard the first reading and approved a worldwide exclusive allocation to Maritime Mobile of 495-505 kHz. There will need to be a second reading to finalize the allocation. According to ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, discussion of this allocation to Maritime Mobile “has been in...

Here are some yearly averages that we have neglected at the beginning of the year.  These are the average daily sunspot numbers for whole calendar years, from 1994-2011: 48.1, 28.7, 13.2, 30.7, 88.7, 136.3, 173, 170.3, 176.7, 109.2, 68.6, 48.9, 26.1, 12.8, 4.7, 5.1, 25.5 and 29.9. You can see from these numbers that the minimum between Solar Cycles 22-23 -- centered around 1996 -- was over quic...

By Rod Stafford, W6ROD
IARU Secretary

The procedures used by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) before and during a World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) seem complicated. They are somewhat complicated, but they are understandable with a bit of background.

Each Agenda Item that will be decided at a WRC has been studied for at least three or four years leading up to a WRC. ITU Work...

While two hurdles still remain to be cleared, the effort to gain a new amateur medium frequency (MF) allocation reached a major milestone on Thursday, February 2 at the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-12) in Geneva, Switzerland.

According to ARRL Chief Executive Officer David Sumner, K1ZZ, a Sub Working Group dealing with Agenda Item 1.23: “To consider an allocation of about 15 kHz...

On November 18, the FCC released a Report and Order (R&O), defining new rules for the 60 meter (5 MHz) band. These rules are in response to a Petition for Rulemaking (PRM) filed by the ARRL more than five years ago and a June 2010 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). In the February 3 edition of the Federal Register, the FCC announced that these new rules will go into effect on March 5, 2012. ...

By Stan Horzepa, WA1LOU
Contributing Editor

This week, Surfin’ tries to determine the best place to just get the facts (Ma’am) about new countries.

Before Wikipedia, there was the Central Intelligence Agency. A decade ago, if I wanted to look up information about the new country I just worked on 10 meters, I would consult the online edition of the CIA’s The World Factbook. During the past 10 year...

Armond Noble, N6WR -- the founder of WorldRadio magazine and its publisher for 37 years -- passed away February 1 in Sacramento, California after a short illness. He was 77. WorldRadio was published monthly from July 1971 until the end of 2008, when Noble sold the magazine to Hicksville, New York-based CQ Communications Inc. With its February 2009 edition, the publication was renamed WorldRadio...

It’s that time of year again -- time to start gearing up for ARRL Field Day, June 23-24, 2012! ARRL’s flagship operating event -- always held the fourth full weekend in June -- brings together new and experienced hams for 24 hours of operating fun. Field Day packets are now available for download and include the complete rules, as well as other reference items such as forms, ARRL Section abbrev...

Delegates at the 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference begin to focus on items that impact the Amateur Radio Service, the FCC sets the date for the new rules governing medical devices that operate on 70 cm; take a live, virtual tour of W1AW, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station; the 2012 Field Day packets are now available on the ARRL website; Bruce Paige, KK5DO, with this week’s Satellite Update, and more.

Compiled by S. Khrystyne Keane, K1SFA
ARRL News Editor
k1sfa@arrl.org

This feature -- including convenient Web links to useful information -- is a concise monthly update of some of the things ARRL is doing on behalf of its members. This installment covers the month of January.

IBEC -- the last of the Access BPL providers using the Amateur Radio spectrum -- announced it was shutting down.

The 2012 Wo...

The winner of the QST Cover Plaque Award for January is Ralph Taggart, WB8DQT, for his article “Vintage Low Power Radios.” Congratulations Ralph! The QST Cover Plaque award -- given to the author or authors of the best article in each issue -- is determined by a vote of ARRL members on the QST Cover Plaque Poll Web page. Cast a ballot for your favorite article in the February issue today.

Join W1AW Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q, on a virtual tour of W1AW, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station, the Amateur Radio station at ARRL Headquarters in Newington, Connecticut. Carcia will lead this tour via a live webcast on Sunday, February 12 at 5 PM EST (2200 UTC). Anyone with an Internet connection will be able to watch the tour here.

“We want viewers of this live Internet tour to f...