STALKING SOME QSOS IN HIS FIELD OF DREAMS

The smiling radio operator greeting viewers of his YouTube videos calls himself "Cornfield Kevin," and yes, Kevin KØKLB is outstanding in his field -- which happens to be an Iowa cornfield. There, in August of 2022, Kevin harvested two SSB contacts between Iowa and Texas while operating on 5 watts using a 20m vertical antenna fashioned ... from cornstalks. He called his creation "The CornTenna."

This year, Kevin is making the QSOs -- and the corn -- pop all over again. In his latest video, he shows how he put cornstalks back to work recently, this time using stalks from a fresh harvest to build a horizontal 20 metre dipole. He tested the corn-tenna over a two-day period and, sadly, made no contacts on the first day. The next day, after cutting fresh new stalks, he worked his brother Bruce, KEØQQE, on 10 metres. Bruce, who was nearby, gave him a 5 5. Then a POTA activator in Ohio copied him and gave him a 4 4, telling him he was [quote] "down in the weeds." [endquote]

Well those weren't exactly weeds Kevin was standing in but the POTA op was correct about the challenging RST. Nonetheless, satisfied with his project, Kevin is sharing the build on his YouTube channel, "Ham Radio QRP - KØKLB." While you're there, check out Kevin's earlier project for the original vertical corn-tenna. After all, when you're a ham on a farm in Iowa, every day can be field day.

ENIGMA MACHINE-STYLE EVENT CHALLENGES DECODING SKILLS

The Enigma machine that the Germans used during World War II to create encoded secret messages is about to be put back into action. KPH, the maritime radio station in California, will be transmitting messages using Enigma encryption for broadcast via both CW and RTTY. Listeners copy the message and then, using an actual Enigma machine they may have in their shack or a simulated one available online, work to decrypt the message which will be sent in groups of five letters each.

This annual tradition recalls the hard work of World War II era cryptographers who ultimately cracked the code.

Certificates are awarded for proof of successful decode, first to decode and for use of original or replica hardware.

The broadcast begins at 2000 UTC on the 30th of August on all KPH CW and RTTY frequencies.

For more details, visit the link in the text version of this weeks newscast at arnewsline.org

KATIE CAMPBELL, KE8LQR, PRESENTED WITH NEWSLINE'S YHOTY AWARD

On Wednesday, July 30th it was my honor to present the 2025 Bill Pasternak WA6ITF Amateur Radio Newsline Young Ham of the Year award to Katie Campbell, KE8LQR. As Katie will be in Germany as a foreign exchange student for her senior year in high school on the weekend of the Huntsville Hamfest, we presented the award live on Ham Nation, a first for us. Our corporate partners Yaesu USA, Heil Ham Radio and RadioWavz Antennas will have some gifts to show their appreciation.

Appearing with Katie, along with our Ham Nation regulars Josh Nass KI6NAZ, Amanda Alden K1DDN and Gordon West WB6NOA, were Young Ham of the Year committee chairman Mark Abramowics NT3V, judge Rich Moseson W2VU, Newsline editor Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT, Newsline's Neil Rapp WB9VPG, DX Engineering's Tim Duffy K3LR and Huntsville Hamfest chairman Mark Brown N4BCD.

If you missed it live, you can watch the replay on YouTube on the Ham Radio Crash Course channel, or just type Ham Nation in the YouTube search bar. Our sincere congratulations go out to Katie for her amazing contributions to the amateur radio hobby and service. We're looking forward to next March when we again open nominations for the 2026 Young Ham of the Year award. Again, many thanks to our corporate partners Yaesu USA, Heil Ham Radio and RadioWavz, as well as you, our listeners and

ARRL'S RADIO ALPHA MUSEUM TRACKS HAM RADIO'S EVOLUTION

What began as the project of Chuck Penson, WA7ZZE, is slowly growing into Radio Alpha, a ham radio museum and research resource hosted by the ARRL. The historian's vision is to build a tool where documents detailing amateur radio equipment and technology - and its evolution - can be accessible to everyone in a central location.

Announcing the project on the ARRL website, Chuck wrote: [quote] "This database will be a living resource, regularly updated and expanded through ongoing research and community contributions, fostering a deeper appreciation and understanding of amateur radio's profound impact on communication, technology, and society,” [endquote] Chuck is looking for volunteers to assist him in building and collecting the content, especially hams with deep knowledge of particular product brands or operating modes.The project is being supported by the ARRL's Historical Preservation Fund

If you are interested in assisting him, he can be emailed at radioalpha at arrl dot org [radioalpha@arrl.org] That's radioalpha - one word - at arrl dot org

To see how the collection has already grown, visit the link in the text version of this week's newsline script at arnewsline.org

SILENT KEY: FORMER ARRL SE DIVISION DIRECTOR FRANK BUTLER, W4RH

A longstanding and well-respected member of the amateur radio community has become a Silent Key. Frank Butler, W4RH, had been active in ham radio since the 1940s, when he received his commercial and his amateur licenses. He spent part of his professional career as a broadcast engineer at several radio stations. By many accounts, he gave back generously to amateur radio over many decades. He served for nearly 30 years as the Southeastern Division director of the ARRL until he stepped down in 2007. He had begun his service with the league in 1957 as communications manager for the Western Florida Section.

According to a posting on the Facebook page of the Alabama section of the ARRL, Frank became a Silent Key on Tuesday the 5th of August. He was 100 years old.

On March 6th of this year, on the occasion of his becoming a centenarian, the Okaloosa County Board in Florida proclaimed the date "Frank M. Butler Jr. Day."

Hams throughout the division and beyond posted on social media, recalling him as a gentleman and a frequent and prominent guest at Huntsville and other hamfests. His generous spirit was also widely known: He was a member of the ARRL Maxim Society, which recognizes donors for their extraordinary monetary gifts to the league.

PROJECT BY INDIAN STUDENTS, HAMS SEEKS PATENT

Leave it to ham radio operators to know how destructive, and even fatal, a lightning strike can be. That's why a number of years ago educators at a school in rural West Bengal, India, sought input from local hams for a project by physics students to help protect farmers when they are caught in the fields during storms and lightning strikes. According to reports in the Indian media, the homebrew, affordably built device, which resembles a bicycle’s wheel, has been evaluated by the Central Power Research Institute. It also received recognition in 2020 at the National Children's Science Congress, a national showcase for innovative technology devised by youngsters between the ages of 10 and 17. Newsline described the simple device in its first report on the project in November of 2019, noting that it affixes a wheel-like component to the top of a high bamboo pole. An electrical wire connects it to metal in the earth to ground it.

The secretary of the West Bengal Radio Club said in media reports that 40 such devices have already been put in place at 40 locations throughout northern Bengal where the fields for the farmers and their animals are moist and marshy.

Now the waiting begins: The Times of India reported that the patent application for the project was filed on the 27th of July.

SPECIAL EVENT HONORS NAVAJO CODE TALKERS OF WW2

Although the 14th of August has been designated as Navajo Code Talkers Day, a group of proud amateur radio operators are taking several days to honor this special unit of brave Marines who served in the US military during the second World War.

Few of these hams could be prouder than Herb Goodluck N7HG, whose late father, John V. Goodluck, had been one of the Marines who used their own Navajo language to craft a wartime code that could not be broken.

Herb will be among those calling QRZ from the 10th to the 15th, using the callsign N7C. Operators will be using CW, phone and FT-8. Additional details, including operating frequencies, can be found on QRZ.com

The hams will be operating from Window Rock, Arizona at the Navajo Tribal Park and Veterans Memorial.

CREW-11 ARRIVES, BEGINS WORK ABOARD ISS

NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 arrived at the International Space Station in the early hours of Saturday, the 2nd of August after a launch that suffered a one-day weather delay due to poor weather

Commander Zena Cardman, KJ5CMN and pilot Mike Fincke, KE5AIT were accompanied by two mission specialists, JAXA astronaut Kimiya Yui and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. During their seven-month tenure aboard the orbiting laboratory, the team will conduct experiments on the impact of microgravity on bacteria-killing viruses. They will also study plant-cell division and human stem cells.

The ISS assignment marks the first time in space for both Zena Cardman and Oleg Platonov.

AST SPACEMOBILE DEFENDS PROPOSED AMATEUR-SPECTRUM USE

A Texas telecommunications company asking for FCC permission to use amateur radio frequencies between 430 and 440 MHz has submitted a response to the US regulator, defending itself against concerns from ham radio operators over interference. The letter, written by AST SpaceMobile assures the agency that its satellites are designed to "mitigate interference." The company also said it would shut down its use of the band if interference was found. The company's filing, reported on the PC Magazine website, reads in part that the FCC has found that AST SpaceMobile’s prior demonstrations of no interference conform to ITU regulations and are "sufficient to authorize a limited, nonconforming use.”

The PC Magazine website noted that the FCC has received more than 2,500 comments in protest of the company's proposed use of the band.

JOINT INDIA-US SATELLITE FOCUSES ON NATURAL DISASTERS

An unprecedented joint satellite project between the Indian Space Research Organization and NASA is giving researchers the hope of better studying the Earth's climate and helping improve responses to natural disasters by monitoring the most subtle changes on Earth, including in its glaciers and wetlands.

The satellite is known as NISAR, the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar mission. Its launch aboard an ISRO spacecraft on the 30th of July from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, sent it on its mission to send microwaves to collect data from different surfaces on the planet. When processed, the data will be visible in an exceptionally high resolution. An estimated 80 terabytes of data will be collected daily. Scientists have said that the method has "unprecedented accuracy." Researchers and governments around the world will be able to view the data via a cloud platform where they will have open access.

The project is being praised as the first collaborative satellite mission of its kind between the Indian and US space agencies.

SOUTH AFRICAN AWARDS SCHEME FOCUSES ON HERITAGE, HISTORY

HOTA - an awards programme that originated with the Bo-Karoo Amateur Radio Club in South Africa - has its origins as Heliographs on the Air. The original concept, credited to Jannie Smith, ZS3CM, was to encourage amateur radio operators to activate sites where members of the military once sent coded messages to the troops by reflecting sunlight off mirrors. Other club members soon expanded the programme’s scope to focus on a broader array of historical sites. What was renamed History on the Air soon morphed into Heritage on the Air, the programme as it is known today. Using a spreadsheet developed by Steve Brooks ZS3SB, activators and chasers alike keep track of their contacts and ultimately their cumulative score which they submit at the end of each year.

Organisers believe that the exercise offers a greater opportunity to learn about history, either by chasing, activating or proposing new sites for inclusion. Proposals are required to be well-researched applications that explain the historical significance of the location, which must be connected to war, telecommunications or general history. The sites must have a significance dating back at least 75 years.

As for modes, well, that’s a nod to history too: operators can use SSB, AM, FM CW and yes, even heliographs. Of course.

HAMS COACH INDIAN POLICE ON AMATEUR RADIO'S CRISIS ROLES

In India, law enforcement personnel from the remote region of Darjeeling and the coastal area of the Sunderbans joined with police in Kolkata for a one-day session on how amateur radio can assist them when conventional communications systems are compromised.

The regulations governing radio - and the technical side of operating - were covered in the one-day session held on Friday the 25th of July in Kolkata. The training was conducted by Jayanta Baidya VU2TFR, Arnab Roy Chowdhury VU2TFT and Ambarish Nag Biswas VU2JFA - all from the West Bengal Radio Club.

Remote regions of India can be particularly challenged when natural disasters strike but even in the heart of a city like Kolkata, law enforcement has concerns about how useful their radios are. The hams noted that high rise buildings, such as those under construction in Kolkata, can interfere with the wireless frequencies used by the police radios.

The seminar is the latest to be organised and hosted by the club, which often does such training for law-enforcement personnel.

PAKISTAN HIKES RADIO-RELATED FEES

Calling its existing fee structure outdated, Pakistan's government has approved its first change to the fee structure for radio-based services in 25 years. More than 1,100 licence holders, including amateur radio operators and private radio networks, are being affected by a fee hike. According to media reports, fees remained unchanged until now despite Pakistan's inflation rising by more than 700 percent.

Pakistan's amateur licence is initially issued for a one-year period but can be renewed for a five-year period afterward. The fee is increasing from 450 rupees to 5,000 rupees - or, in US currency, from $1.60 to $18 for the term of the licence.

The change was approved in late July by the Economic Coordination Committee. The ECC acted after being told by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority that fees no longer cover the expenses for managing licenses and overseeing use of the spectrum.

FIELD DAY WAS 'MERIT BADGE DAY' FOR THEM

Operators with the San Fernando Valley Amateur Radio Club W6SD do a lot of planning each year for Field Day but this year their plans included something else for the first time - the inclusion of Scouts from Troop 415 who were there to observe, learn about amateur radio and perhaps qualify for scouting's Radio Merit Badge. Fourteen of them did just that - in a single day - as they learned about radio communication and watched the hams make QSOs at the activation site at the First Presbyterian Church of Granada Hills. Some of the Scouts even experienced the thrill of HF by getting on the GOTA station - the so-called "Get On The Air" station provided at many Field Day sites to allow them to have a QSO or two under supervision of a licensed ham.

The Scouts had other inspiration to draw on too. Club secretary Bernard KG6FBM told Newsline that one of the Scout's fathers, Eric Arevalo, KO6KFL, had just received his Tech license after taking a class with Roozy, W1EH.

Bernard said the club is very proud of the Scouts, whose ages range from 11 to 17. As to whether a merit badge eventually leads to a license, Bernard said: "Some scouts did show interest. Maybe someday they'll follow up."

HAMTV BACK ON THE AIR FROM THE ISS

The most popular digital amateur TV show in space is back and better than ever. With its installation completed recently by ISS astronauts, HamTV resumed its transmissions on Tuesday, the 29th of July. In Salisbury, Southern England, Dave G8GKQ was among the happy radio operators to report to the British Amateur TV Club that he had good copy during the first pass of the ISS with HamTV turned on again. HamTV had been out of service since 2019, so its welcome-back from Dave and other fans was clearly a warm one.

To see a live stream of HamTV when it is near the receiver stations, follow the link in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

MEXICAN STATION HONORS HAM RADIO'S PATRON SAINT

In 1938, a Franciscan friar named Maximillian Kolbe began shortwave radio broadcasts from his homebuilt station in a monastery to share his words of faith during a troubled time in the world Three years later, he was a prisoner of the Nazis in Auschwitz. On the 14th of August, 1941, he traded his own life to save that of a doomed Polish army sergeant. Maximilian Kolbe, SP3RN, was declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church in 1982 - and is considered the patron saint of amateur radio.

The days surrounding August 14th have grown to be important ones for more than a decade at the San Max Church in Mexico where, with the help of a homebrew rotating dipole installed at the church, hams from around the country team up to call CQ using the special callsign 4A2MAX. The presence of the saint is prominent at the church in more than just its given name and callsign. Some relics that once belonged to him are housed in a small museum inside the church building. The museum also displays some of the awards the amateurs have won while operating in contests with this callsign as a way to pay tribute to St. Maximillian. The operators are on the air this month from the 1st through to the 31st using all modes on all HF bands through to the end of the month.

The station's operations manager, Chuy, XE2N/N5MEX, told Newsline "We want to celebrate what we love on the radio."

BOUVET ISLAND TEAM PACKS FOR 2026 TRIP

The Bouvet Island 3YØK team begins packing for the long trip starting in August, hoping to complete this part of the preparation by the end of September. According to their July 27th press release, equipment is being shipped from Italy, Bulgaria and the US to Norway where the team plans to meet later in Oslo for two workshops.

Activators expect to be on the island for at least 21 days. Their scheduled departure date from Cape Town South Africa is the 1st of February, 2026. The team is still looking for additional operators. For details, send an email to admin@3y0.no

INDIA, SWEDEN INTRODUCE NEW CALLSIGN SUFFIXES, PREFIXES

Hams who'd made contact with radio operators in India or Sweden - or who have perhaps just heard them on the air - have been hearing these operators identify themselves with callsigns that, until this year, did not exist. In India, newly licensed amateur stations have been assigned new suffixes since the 25th of June. Although the existing, older callsign forms have not changed, new General Grade licenses, which are assigned a VU2 prefix, now get a combination of numbers and letters, creating callsigns such as VU22DX or VU29AR. Likewise, Restricted Grade licenses, which are assigned a VU3 prefix, are receiving suffixes of two numbers and three letters, creating callsigns such as VU33ABS.

Jose Jacob, VU2JOS, the assistant director of the National Institute of Amateur Radio, told Newsline that the changes are a direct result of ham radio's growth in India. He wrote, in an email: [quote] "These new prefixes are a practical measure to accommodate the increasing number of amateur radio enthusiasts in India by expanding the available callsign combinations while still adhering to the country's internationally allocated prefix block." [endquote]

Meanwhile, in Sweden, amateurs who have received the new entry level class certificate are identifying themselves with the country's new callsign prefix, "SH." These amateurs can be heard on 40, 20, 15, 10, 6 and 2 metres, where they are permitted to use a maximum of 25 watts of power.

INT'L RESPONSE TO FCC FILING FOR HAM RADIO FREQUENCIES

Several International Amateur Radio Union societies and more than 2,000 individuals have filed their concerns with the US Federal Communications Commission over a request by a US broadband communications company' to use frequencies between 430 and 440 MHz for a planned constellation of 240 commercial satellites.

AST SpaceMobile was recently approved for the use of the amateur radio band on an experimental basis for a low-earth orbit satellite known as FM1, which is the prototype for the company's planned mobile phone connectivity from space. The FCC has assigned the callsign WP2XRX, which expires on 1st July, 2027.

The Texas-based company, a rival of SpaceX, is developing its network in association with AT&T and Verizon. SpaceX is partnering with T-Mobile.

The Radio Society of Great Britain, referring on its website to its own filing to the FCC, said that the company's proposal for its constellation has stirred [quote] "an unprecedented response from the amateur radio community." [endquote]

THE HEIGHT OF ACHIEVEMENT, HIGH ABOVE SEA LEVEL

Despite 18 years as a SOTA activator that have won him at least two high-ranking awards for operating in the German Alps, Dzianis, DD1LD, had some unfinished business. This month, it stood before him, all two thousand four hundred and thirty metres of it above sea level: the Tiefkarspitze, the single summit in the SOTA DL Association that had gone unactivated in the 20 years since SOTA-DL was established in Germany.

His harrowing mountain ascent on July 18th was punctuated by intense rockfall - not unexpected but nonetheless terrifying. As he wrote in his blog, he was compelled to ask: [quote] "Why do I keep doing this to myself?" [endquote]

Still, he made it to the summit where he soon logged his first QSO with his good friend Mario, DJ2MX. Then came the pileups. Finally, he went QRT after one more QSO: another close friend, Andy, DL2DVE. With 66 in his log, he had transformed that lonely, daunting rocky outpost into a shared space among friends. Dzianis, as solo activator, had turned a personal challenge into a triumph for himself and the DL-Association.

As he wrote in his blog: [quote] "I let my feelings run free." [endquote]