Are you sitting down? Well, it's time to lift the lid on the news: Toilets on the Air is coming in August. If you happen to be in the New York City area that month, well, you gotta go, you just gotta go! The amateur radio contest was begun by Georg DH5GH at the Chaos Communication Congress, a hacker conference in Germany. It is making its debut in the US at the HOPE 16 conference in New York City in August. Because HOPE is a hub for hackers and innovators, contest organizer Todd Mazierski KE2AEQ, thought this venue would be perfect to launch a creative challenge to licensed hams there. Activators select designated restrooms on the campus of St. John's University to make the most CW, voice and digital contacts with others on 2 meters and 70 cm.

Now let's be clear, activators are permitted to sit or stand while they are doing their business while holding their HTs -- but they must be outside the restroom doors -- and a few meters away. They can only go inside the bathroom to, uh, "go" inside the bathroom for the usual reason. Yes, you heard that right: bathroom breaks are OK. Now that's a relief!

Todd announced the contest on his blog. So did Thomas Witherspoon K4SWL. It's posted on his site, the appropriately named QRPer.com