4 January, 2020 Sunspots appeared recently, all indicating Solar Cycle 25 due to their polarity, opposite from spots in Solar Cycle 24. Sunspots appeared December 24-26, and it looks like a new Solar Cycle 25 spot on January 1. NOAA did not report it (too weak?) but Spaceweather.com reported a …

Members of the British Amateur Radio Teledata Group (BARTG) are active as GB 60 ATG until June 2020. The BARTG is celebrating their 60th Year Diamond Jubilee anniversary with this callsign and special awards are available for contacts with GB 60 ATG using any Data Mode. More information can be …

For a few hours on Saturday morning, Jan. 4th, northern skies could fill with meteors. It’s the annual Quadrantid meteor shower, caused by debris from shattered comet 2003 EH1. The timing of this year’s peak, around 3 am EST (0800 UT), favors observers in North America. Visit today’s edition of …

Ofcom have released a database show those amateur radio suffixes that it now treats as being Forbidden and not for use when issuing call signs Ofcom FoI replyhttps://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0024/165732/amateur-radio-callsigns-foi.pdf Download the Spreadsheet of Forbidden Suffixes fromhttps://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/file/0026/165734/allocated-reserved-forbidden-call-sign.csv

Following a Freedom of Information request by Roger Howell, Ofcom made their database of amateur radio call signs available for download The database, released as a spreadsheet containing 141,296 rows, shows the status of UK amateur call signs as at August 12, 2019. It can be useful for people wanting …

Bushfires continue to rage widely across large areas of Australia with both the loss of life and property. The WIA has been advised that there are major outages of telecommunications in areas impacted by the bushfires either currently or expected to occur in the near term. This disruption advice, at …

Russian Robinsons team members plan their next expedition. This time they’ll QRV from Palestine as E44RU with strong focus on low bands during January 6-14, 2020. Team: Vasily R7AL, Vasily RA1ZZ, Leonid RW9JZ and Nikolai R5EC. More info: https://dxpedition.wixsite.com/e44ru

01/03/2020 Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) President Greg Kelly, VK2GPK, says the bushfires in Australia have caused or are expected to cause significant disruption of telecommunication services in the states of Victoria and New South Wales.  “The scope and range of these impacts is unknown at this stage but are …

01/03/2020 The first — and so far only — beacon on 60 MHz went on the air on December 16. The call sign is EI1KNH. In early 2018, the 60 MHz (5-meter) band was allocated to radio amateurs in Ireland on a secondary, non-interference basis. The beacon is on 60.013 …

01/03/2020 ARRL San Joaquin Valley Section Manager Dan Pruitt, AE6SX, of Fresno, California, died on December 27. He was 68. At the time of his death, Pruitt had been hospitalized as a result of a fall. First licensed in 1965, Pruitt had served as SJV SM since 2009 and earlier …