'PUMPKIN PATROL' IN ITS 4TH DECADE TO ENSURE DRIVER SAFETY

Halloween can be a time for mischief and that mischief can turn deadly, as it almost did in 1976 when an object thrown from a bridge over the New York State Thruway smashed the windshield of a truck below. The shattered glass injured the driver, who was talking on his citizens band radio at the time. The other CB radio operator heard that the trucker was in distress and decided immediately that she and two friends would bring their radios to that overpass and two others in their county and stand watch the next evening.

New York State police now conduct the Pumpkin Patrol in various counties traversed by the Thruway and for more than four decades, ham radio operators have been there too. This year the teams of volunteer radio operators will be out on the nights of October 30th and 31st, keeping in constant touch with a net control station that can call for emergency response if necessary.

They are, of course, hoping it will not be necessary.

CANADA ELIMINATES EXPIRATION DATES FOR BROADCAST RADIO LICENSES

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission will no longer require broadcast radio stations to renew their licences, as part of a rule it said it has adopted to help stations save money and shrink administrative burdens. The commission said it was hoping the action would amount to a boost for terrestrial broadcasting which, while facing challenges recently, nonetheless remains a vital source of news, information and culture.

A report on the RadioWorld website said that the open-ended licences will replace those that presently have a maximum term of 7 years. The commission will phase in the new licensing framework as the stations apply for their renewals.

In a statement, the CRTC assured broadcasters that station monitoring would still be vigilant despite the switch to the open-ended licences. Compliance reviews, which traditionally have occurred at the time of licence renewal, will instead be conducted as needed.

SILENT KEY: AMATEUR RADIO HISTORIAN JOHN DILKS III, K2TQN

John Dilks III K2TQN so loved the old rigs, the crystal sets, the spark transmitters and the keys that he assembled a collection of them -- ham radio artifacts from amateur radio's earliest days -- and called it the John Dilks Old Radio Museum. History was so much his passion and expertise that at one point he was asked to consult and provide radios for the 2013 film, "Paranoia," featuring Harrison Ford, when it was shooting outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

John, who was first licensed in 1956 as KN2TQN, became a Silent Key on the 12th of October.

Readers of QST magazine remember his monthly column, "Old Radio," which ran in the ARRL publication from 2000 to 2014. Members of the Antique Wireless Association recall him too as a respected member. According to his online obituary, his love of history extended beyond the evolution of amateur radio. He often gave presentations that touched on great moments in history, including radio's role in the 1923 expedition to the North Pole -- and its role as well aboard the ill-fated Titanic luxury liner. In his volunteer work with the World Peace Camp in 1989, he devoted time to helping children earn their amateur radio licenses.

John was 84.

SILENT KEY: NOTED DXER, COMMUNICATIONS SCHOLAR CHARLES HARPOLE K4VUD/HSØZCW

Hams and non-hams around the world alike got to know Charlie Harpole after the earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Thailand and other regions in Southeast Asia in December 2004. Charlie, whose numerous callsigns included K4VUD, HSØZCW and VU3CHE, became a line of communication for major broadcast networks and print media as the tragedy and rescue efforts unfolded.

Charlie was already well-known as a film and communications scholar and professor in the United States. An active DXpeditioner and ham radio advocate, he was reported by the Daily DX as having become a Silent Key. His contributions over the years included testing out the new 5 MHZ amateur band, followed by a successful completion of the first two-way transatlantic contact on that band via ham radio on July 4th, 2003.

An article in the student newspaper of the University of Central Florida, where Charlie had been a professor, recognised the vital role he played during the 1996 Liberian Civil War, contacting a missionary confined in a compound there amid the fighting and relaying information he was requested to pass along by the UN and the US State Department.

The world heard more from Charlie in December 2004. He had been filming and providing support to the VU4 DXpedition on Andaman Island when the tsunami disaster swept over South Asia. As DXpeditioners switched to handling health, welfare and emergency communications messages, Charlie returned to Thailand, where he and his wife were living, to provide radio support for recovery efforts after the loss of conventional communication. He also provided realtime information to many of the world's media organisations, including MSNBC and CNN.

Charlie was 80.

HAMTV MAKES 1ST ARISS CONTACT IN 7 YEARS

he Amateur Radio on the International Space Station program has reason to celebrate. With the help and hard work of technicians, engineers and other team members, ARISS marked the first contact in seven years that made use of HamTV - a QSO between the 1st Radford Semele Scout Group in the UK and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim KJ5HKP on the 18th of October. The digital amateur TV transmitter based in the Columbus module permits the audience to view live video downlinks during their contacts with the astronauts.

As he called up to the space station to say the team and the European HamTV ground stations were ready, Ciaran Morgan, MØXTD, ARISS operations lead for the UK, dedicated the call to Gaston Bertels, ON4WF. Gaston was at the helm of the HamTV technical team until he became a Silent Key in December 2024. He had been a key player in getting the L/S band antennas installed on the Columbus module. HamTV operated until 2018, when its failure brought it back to earth so repairs could be made. The unit was returned to the ISS in 2024. This past July, it resumed its transmissions and members of the British Amateur TV Club, who were standing by for those first signals, happily reported good copy.

To see the HamTV contact between the ISS and the Scouts visit the YouTube channel of SP5LOT at the link in the text version of this week's newscast.

WHEN ZOMBIES COME TO LIFE - AT LEAST, ON THE AIR

Popular operating events, like zombies, never seem to die -- but what happens when one long-running popular operating event is, in fact, full of zombies? It's an event that rises from its eternal slumber for one day every year in the hopes that the bands may not be dead. Welcome to the Zombie Shuffle, which is marking its 28th year of bringing CW operators back to life by inviting them into the slow lane of QRS while operating QRP.

You will find the QRP Zombies in their usual HF haunts on the 24th of October - one a week before Halloween. They will be on the air from 1500 local time to local midnight anywhere in North and South American time zones. This is considered a contest, so no one stands a ghost of a chance grabbing a contact on 60, 30, 17 or 12.

By the way, the organizers want you to know that there's no point to this event except - as they say on their website - [quote] "to get on the air and have some goofy fun with fellow Zombies and QRPers." [endquote] In other words, this is just a little exorcise....er, exercise in radio fun.

To learn more or to register for your official Zombie number, visit the event website at the link in this week's newscast script at arnewsline.org

[DO NOT READ: https://www.zianet.com/qrp/ZOMBIE/pg.html ]

The zombies are coming. You could be one of them. Be not afraid.

SUNDERBANS DXPEDITION TO FEATURE YOUTH OPERATORS

Organisers from the Amateur Radio Club of Khulna are calling the Sundarbans DXpedition a "milestone event" that will combine the talents of newly licensed ham radio operators from Bangladesh under the coordination of Shuvo S21CMD.

Operating from what is considered the world's largest mangrove forest, the youthful team of as many as 20 will be putting the callsign S21SDX on the air from the 13th through to the 15th of November. Shuvo said in an email: [quote] "Bangladesh's few young amateur radio operators are not only connecting voices across continents but also carrying the spirit of nature in every transmission, whether calling CQ or sharing stories over HF." [endquote] They will be operating on most of the HF bands using SSB and FT8. The activation in the west forest division of the Khulna Range will be a POTA activation as much as a DXpedition. The Sundarbans is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a sanctuary for the Bengal tiger.

Shuvo said [quote] "Our target is to test and prove the potential of young amateur radio operators of Bangladesh and to spotlight the beauty, biodiversity, and cultural richness of the Sundarbans to the world through the universal language of radio." [endquote]

AMATEUR TRIO PLANS MALDIVES 'WET SQUARES' ACTIVATION

Operational plans are under way to activate around the Maldives but don't expect to log any contacts from Islands on the Air locations. The grid squares for 8Q7OS are being activated as "wet squares" during an ocean-diving safari led by Sergey R9OOF with Mariya UB9OGC and Dmitry UB9OFY. Listen for the callsigns 8Q7OS/mm, 8Q7DD/mm and 8Q7MD/mm from the 26th of October through to the 2nd of November. They'll be on the air using SSB on 20, 17, 15 and 10 metres.

During this not-uncommon way to combine boating adventure with amateur radio, the hams won't just be fishing for QSOs but diving for recreation from a chartered yacht.

So if the Maldives archipelago is on your list of All Time New Ones, Sergey writes on his page on QRZ.com that you're bound to be disappointed. He wrote: [quote] I am not on air from any islands." [endquote

NEW ATTENDANCE RECORD FOR NORTH STAR RADIO CONVENTION

The 11th of October was a busy day on the Hennepin Technical College campus in Brooklyn Park, where an attendance of more than 250 set a new record for the North Star Radio Convention in its third year, putting the convention more prominently on the state ham radio map.

Program manager, Dale Henninger, WØDHZ, told Newsline [quote] "The convention has successfully revived the tradition of a statewide amateur radio convention in Minnesota - something the community had been without for more than two decades." [endquote]

This was also the 2025 ARRL Minnesota State Convention, organized with the support of 11 local ham clubs whose members provided volunteers and financial sponsorship, through the Minnesota Amateur Radio Consortium.

The agenda included a transmitter hunt, a QRP QSO Party, a Get on the Air station and 25 educational sessions covering a range of topics.

Dale said that the convention is one way in which the groups work together to [quote] "strengthen Minnesota’s amateur radio community and inspire the next generation of operators." [endquote]

HISTORIC TRANSMITTER'S MESSAGE OF PEACE

The world will be listening on Friday, the 24th of October, for a message of peace to be transmitted from a radio station that secured its place in history more than a century ago. The Grimeton Radio Station in Sweden, a World Heritage Site, will deliver a message to the world on the occasion of United Nations Day, a day set aside for promoting global unity - one of the goals for which the UN was founded eight decades ago.

The message will go out on the VLF frequency 17.2 kHz from the Alexanderson alternator that dates to 1924. As always, the mode will be CW. Where possible, listeners will tune their receivers, their SDRs or navigate to YouTube.

Ham radio operators, of course, will be able to mark the occasion by doing some transmitting of their own on the HF frequencies. Amateur Radio Station SK6SAQ will be on the air on 80, 40 and 20 metres, both CW and SSB for those who wish to make contact.

For a schedule of the transmissions and information about the ham radio station, visit the link that appears in the text version of this week’s Newsline script at arnewsline.org

UK REGULATOR IMPLEMENTS MORE LICENSE CHANGES

Ofcom has moved ahead with Phases 2 and 3 of changes announced earlier that affect amateur radio licensees. These actions follow those made in Phase 1 of February 2024 which adjusted power limits and expanded operating freedoms.

This month, hams with intermediate callsigns have the option to replace their number "2" series call prefixes with an M8 or M9 and can either retain or replace their existing suffix. These are voluntary changes at the moment but in five years, the regulator will change all remaining calls. The regulator is also limiting licence-holders to a single personal callsign and will be revoking all but the one chosen to be kept. Hams are also getting the option to change their callsigns every five years. Other changes, including those affecting special-event stations, can be found by following the link in the text version of this week's newscast script at arnewsline.org

SILENT KEY: ED HARE, W1RFI, MAINSTAY OF ARRL LABORATORY

Newsline sends its condolences to the ARRL and the family of Ed Hare, W1RFI, who had a long tenure as an engineer in the league's lab. Ed became a Silent Key on the 10th of October after a long illness, according to the ARRL's website. A specialist in radio frequency interference and product testing, Ed had retired in 2023 but was still volunteering his time in the lab at the time of his death. His career had many milestones, including the ARRL's RFI Program which helps hams resolve interference issues,

A devoted and proficient CW operator, Ed was 75.

FCC COMMISSIONER PUSHES FOR ACTION AGAINST COPPER THEFTS

There is a "growing epidemic" of attacks on communications sites - and the response needs to include sharper federal penalties and more sophisticated preventive action from the industry, according to the newest commissioner to join the FCC.

Olivia Trusty, who was confirmed to the agency in June, called on telecom companies and broadcasters to fortify their sites with tamper-proof housings, cameras and alarms - and said the government must likewise step up the penalties for theft and vandalism. She made her remarks in a video presentation this month at the Telecom Industry Incident Management and Prosecutorial Collaboration Summit in California.

The past two years have seen a number of high-profile copper thefts in the United States, disabling Internet and television services and knocking broadcast stations off the air. For some radio stations, the result was tens of thousands of dollars' worth of damage.

Trusty noted that in some instances, the "911" emergency service was disrupted by similar attacks on telecom sites.

With the US Department of Homeland Security calling communications systems a top infrastructure sector, a bipartisan measure has been introduced in Congress to address these concerns. It is known as the Stopping the Theft and Destruction of Broadband Act of 2025 and was introduced by a Democrat and a Republican lawmaker with support from the industry.

AFTER DELAYS, SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH OF PROJECT KUIPER SATELLITES

Amazon's Project Kuiper satellites finally made it into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket after more than a week of weather-related delays. The rocket departed Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday, the 13th of October, at 9:58 p.m. local time.

The 24 broadband internet satellites are part of a planned constellation considered to be a rival service to Starlink, which already has had more than 90 missions this year to bring its satellites into space. Monday's Kuiper Project launch brings that constellation's total to 153 such satellites in space. Ultimately, 3,236 are expected to be deployed at three altitudes of low earth orbit - 590 km, 610 km and 630 km.

Meanwhile, China has been building its own counterpart projects, which translate into English as the "National Network" and the "Thousand Sails". Both of these planned networks are expected to contain about 13,000 satellites apiece.

IARU URGES MORE INCLUSION OF HAMS WITH DISABILITIES

One of the greatest challenges of amateur radio ought to be getting a rare DX, logging an all-time-new-one or mastering a new skill or new operating mode. It should not be the act of trying to get on the air itself.

To ensure that radio amateurs with disabilities have the same chance at all the other challenges and adventures, the Program for Disabled Radio Amateurs in IARU Region 1 is encouraging a celebration on and off the air to reflect ham radio's welcoming spirit.

This event will take place on the 3rd of December, which the United Nations has declared to be the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. In an announcement about the programme, its coordinator Riri Azrak OD5RI encourages ham radio societies to plan awareness events, nets or special events using a special call sign incorporating the letters PDRA. Hams are also being urged to identify and support radio operators with disabilities or persons with disabilities who are seeking their licence.

He wrote: [quote] "Together, we can demonstrate that amateur radio truly belongs to everyone regardless of physical or sensory ability." [endquote]

For details, see the link in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

A TRIBUTE TO THE HELPING HAMS

One of the most time-honored traditions in amateur radio is that of being an Elmer - a more experienced ham willing to answer questions and pass on knowledge to newer hams.

The origin of the term is still up for discussion, but the impact they have on the hobby is not.

On October 3rd, 4th and 5th, Rich Guerrera, KB1FGC, was on the air with a special event celebrating Elmers - particularly the ones who shaped his own life as a ham.

In an email to Newsline, Guerrera said that two things inspired him to do the event — articles he’d read on QRZ.com about hams who had helped others get into the hobby and the positive impact that they had on their early years as hams. He also drew from his personal experience with those hams who had given him a warm response and encouragement when he first started out.

Guerrera said that operators had confirmed approximately 100 QSOs during the event and received positive responses from hams they worked. He’s planning on doing it again next year, and said that there might be a European team as well.

On a personal note, I was fortunate to have two exceptional Elmers as a teenager - Bob Heil, K9EID and Steve Ramsey, K9SR who had been friends since they were kids. Sadly, I lost Bob last March and Steve on September 26th of this year. But the lessons they taught me and their memories continue to drive me as a ham, and inspire me to pass along what knowledge I have when someone asks a question. Elmering should continue - there’s always something to learn in this hobby that someone else has already tried.

HURRICANE WATCH NET LAUNCHES PODCAST

With that introduction - and some stormy sound effects - the Hurricane Watch Net celebrates 60 years of service to the United States National Hurricane Center by entering the world of podcasting. What you heard is the introduction to this new program which brings stories, people, and the history of the net to viewers and listeners. Episode 1 of “The HWN Report,” hosted by net manager, Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, premiered in early September on YouTube, featuring a tribute to Jerry Murphy, K8YUW, the founder of the net.

Graves told ARNewsline that the purpose of the podcast is to [quote] “help others understand the full role of amateur radio during disasters, home or abroad, helping the Hurricane Center and forecasters gather more data - near-real-time ground-truth weather data – and help people to be better prepared before a hurricane. [endquote]

He announced later that by popular demand, in addition to YouTube, an audio version of each program will be available on services such as Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music and iHeart Podcasts.

IARU FORUM HOSTS TOP DX CONTESTER, OFFERING TIPS

There's no guarantee that Katsuhiro Kondou, JH5GHM, will be giving away any of the secrets that have made him one of Japan's top DX contesters but....you never know. Don, as he is also known, is presenting a one-hour virtual talk to DX contesters - or those aspiring to become one - on the 19th of October. His presentation on Zoom begins at 0600 UTC.

IARU Region 3 is hosting the workshop because, according to the region's website, the number of contesters in Asia has been steadily growing. Don had been an avid contester as a teenager in the 1970s but after a hiatus of a decade or so in the '90s, he returned to ham radio and to contesting in 2010.

To hear his tips and maybe give yourself an edge in the next big event, register by following the link that appears in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

FCC CHARGES HAM WITH ILLEGAL 40M OPERATION

A notice of violation was issued in late September to Mike F. Conte; KA2FPZ, for having operated last March on 7.200 MHz, engaging in apparent one-way communication with a station for which there is no active amateur radio callsign. According to the Notice of Violation, he confirmed to the agent from the Enforcement Bureau that his transmission was a one-way communication.

The FCC has ordered him to submit a response and explanation in writing within 20 days of the notice, which was dated the 29th of September. According to a notice on the FCC website, the shutdown has no impact on filings related to enforcement matters. A statement on the website reads: [quote] "Except as specified by the Enforcement Bureau, there are no extensions of deadlines relating to enforcement investigations and other enforcement proceedings that involve specific parties." [endquote]

** FLORIDA BAPTIST CHURCHES GROW EMERGENCY RADIO NETWORK

His role as the associational mission strategist for the Marion Baptist Association doesn't require Mark Weible, N4GPA, to have a ham license - but Mark, a former pastor, took his FCC test successfully a year ago and since then he has been finding ways to harness ham radio's power for churches' emergency communications during hurricane season.

The Ocala, Florida Baptist association has already added a radio shack and has plans for a tower. Under Mark's direction, the group is also looking to create a network of hams within its 67 member churches. Pastors are helping Mark locate licensees within their congregations. Meanwhile, the association has a telescoping radio antenna donated after an upgrade done by the Marion Emergency Radio Team, a radio group Mark belongs to which handles disaster communications at the county's Emergency Operations Center.

Mark plans to give church leaders a tour of the association's radio shack in the hopes it will inspire them to install a shack for their own local congregations. He told the Baptist Press that church involvement makes good sense. He said [quote]: "If we were to have a hurricane, I’d need to know which churches have power, which churches are not damaged and which churches can host disaster relief teams. I’d need to know which churches need help and which ones can help.” [endquote] Meanwhile, he is busy being helpful even without a radio in hand. His chaplaincy training assists him in helping distraught families cope during or after disasters.