Clinton County Ohio Amateur Radio Association

Past ARRL Atlantic Division Director Bernard E. “Bernie” Fuller, N3EFN, of Saegertown, Pennsylvania, died on April 2. He was 86. Fuller moved into the Atlantic Division Director’s position in 2000, after the ARRL Board elected then-Atlantic Division Director Kay Craigie, WT3P (now N3KN), as a Vice President. He served as an ARRL Director until 2006.

A US Army veteran, Fuller retired with the ra...

Some countries have authorized selected radio amateurs or organizations to identify with longer-than-normal suffixes that relate to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as “STAYHOME.” FCC Part 97 Amateur Radio Service rules do not provide for amateur call sign suffixes longer than three characters, but a potential workaround exists.

As §97.119(c) of the FCC’s Amateur Radio Service rules states: “One or m...

Randy Thompson, K5ZD, is filling in as CQ WPX Contest Director. CQ’s Rich Moseson, W2VU, announced the appointment of Thompson as interim director following the resignation of Terry Zivney, N4TZ, who had been the director for 7 years. Thompson previously served as director of the CQ World Wide Contest and is a long-time CQ Contest Committee member. Anyone interested in taking on the WPX Directo...

Past ARRL Treasurer James E. “Jim” McCobb, Jr., K1LU (ex-K1LLU, W1LLU), of West Newbury, Massachusetts, died on April 1. An ARRL Life Member, he was 77. McCobb served as ARRL Treasurer, a volunteer post, for nearly 32 years, from 1980 until 2012, when he was succeeded by current ARRL Treasurer Rick Niswander, K7GM. An active DXer and contester, McCobb was active from Belize, where he held the c...

Listen to the new episode of ARRL Audio News on your iOS or Android podcast app, or online at http://www.blubrry.com/arrlaudionews/. Audio News is also retransmitted on a number of FM repeaters. Click here and then scroll down to see the list.

A new sunspot appeared on the last day in March and the first days of April, with daily sunspot numbers of 12, 13 and 12. Total sunspot area increased on each day from 10 to 20 to 30 millionths of a solar hemisphere.

Fortunately, this was a Cycle 25 spot, according to the magnetic signature.

Prior to this no sunspots were seen since earlier in March, when daily sunspot numbers were 13 and 12 on M...

[UPDATED: 2020-04-06 @ 1508 UTC] Some countries around the world are allowing radio amateurs to use special “STAYHOME” call sign suffixes. For example, listen for A60STAYHOME/# call signs from the United Arab Emirates.

In Canada, Michael Shamash, VE2MXU, is using VC2STAYHOM “to raise awareness for social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Canada limits call sign suffixes to seven characte...