HAMS HELP SUMMON GIRL'S EMERGENCY CARE IN CUBAN BLACKOUT

As an outage swept through several communities in the municipality of Rio Cauto in eastern Cuba, disabling electric power and the telephone service, a 6-year-old girl lay feverish and in pain - her 12th hour of suffering.

The doctor treating her at the family home in Granma Province suspected appendicitis requiring emergency transport. An outage resulting from a power-grid failure prevented him from directly contacting an ambulance. The physician turned to a father-son team of amateur radio operators, Jorge [HORE-HAY] Bonilla [BONE-EEE-YUH] Mainegra and his son, Edgar Bonilla Mainegra. The hams, however, found that their own radios were also without backup power because of the fuel shortage -- that is, until a neighbour let them make use of the battery from his motorcycle.

The general call was received by Santiago de Cuba by station CL8 YDY, who was able to connect with the emergency system. The station is listed on QRZ.com as being in Santiago de Cuba. The callsign holder is Yoendrys García Rodríguez.

According to various media reports, surgery was performed at the hospital and was a success.

YHOTY 2026 NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN

Finally this week, we here at Amateur Radio Newsline are asking for your help in identifying a very special young person whose ham radio adventures have risen to Olympic heights worthy of special recognition. Newsline’s Mark Abramowicz (Abram-oh-vich) NT3V is here with that story..

MARK: Some of you will know of a young ham who has done extraordinary things in just a few short years of activity in this hobby.

Maybe he or she is now a teenager, someone for whom you have served as a role model – or as we “oldtimers” call it - an Elmer.

Perhaps that person has been involved in spearheading special activities at your radio club, or even started a radio club in their school and recruited classmates.

This could be a young person who – thanks to your support and those in your community – has promoted amateur radio through Field Day, weekly nets, got invited to appear and speak at a forum at Hamvention or earned a coveted invitation to work with other like-minded teenage hams at the Youth on the Air camp.

If you know someone like that, we need you to shine the spotlight on that person.

We’re now opening nominations for the Bill Pasternak WA6ITF Memorial Young Ham of the Year award for 2026. We need you to step up and bring your special ham to the attention of our team of judges.

Candidates must be licensed amateur radio operators - 18 years of age or younger - and residents of the continental United States.

Go right now to our website – arnewsline-dot-org and find the nomination form under the awards tab. Start assembling the documentation on your nominee and make sure you turn it in by our May 31 deadline.

This award is only possible with your nominations and your support.

AMSAT 'STUDENTS ON THE AIR DAY' ENCOURAGES SATELLITE QSOS

In addition, if you're a student who's also a licensed ham, you now have a good excuse for looking out the window or staring up at the sky: AMSAT has declared the first and third Tuesday of each month to be STOTA DAY - that's Students on the Air Day. Starting in March, students everywhere in the US will be encouraged to get out there and make as many QSOs by satellite as they can - and work as many satellites as they can. Have fun - just don't do this in the middle of class... unless your teacher approves, of course.

AMSAT YOUTH PROGRAM HAS NEW COURSE, KIDS' COLORING BOOK

In its continued effort to connect the next generation with satellite initiatives, AMSAT's Youth Initiative has produced a new installment in its online satellite course and, in a separate effort, has introduced a free downloadable coloring book for younger students.

The coloring book, called "Satellites in Space Help Us Live a Better Life on Earth," focuses on ways that satellites have an impact on almost everyone's daily activities. Produced with a grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications, it contains illustrations on 12 two-page spreads and is available in English and Spanish with accompanying discussion guides. Details and downloadable copies are available at the website buzzsat dot com (buzzsat.com).

Meanwhile, the third installment of AMSAT's free online satellite course is being prepared for release. It was produced by Eric Sonnenwald, N2XSE, a retired science teacher, and examines the ways satellites assist with the control of pollution on earth. It will be available with the two other courses released earlier in the program: "Introduction to Satellite Meteorology" and "Satellites and Climate Change."

AMSAT rolled out its community-based Youth Initiative Program in 2022 to provide age-appropriate lessons for students living in the satellite age.

YLS PREPARE FOR WORLD WIDE AWARD ACTIVITY

Taking their cue from the successful World Wide Award of the past few years, organisers are launching the YL-WWA. YLs from far and wide will be calling CQ for hunters anywhere in the world. A shorter version of the month-long event, this activity will be happening only from the 9th to the 16th of March, with YLs using their own callsigns and their preferred modes.

Veronika, DL4VER, the international liaison for the event, told Newsline that the idea had been born at Ham Radio Friedrichshafen last year in a discussion between Max, IW1FRU and Heike, DL3HD, representing the German YLs. Veronika said it is the first international radio project designed to bring together the largest number of YLs globally in a single event. Logging will be done live by the activators without the need for hunters to submit logs. She added [quote] "Hunters just need to go on the bands and enjoy the radio." [endquote]

Details about the event, including rules and awards, are available on the website. You'll find a link in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org You will also be able to see which YL activators have already signed up.

HUSBAND-WIFE TEAM GET TOP HONORS IN CANADA

Congratulations to Fred Archibald, VE1FA, and Helen Archibald, VA1YL, who were recently recognized by Radio Amateurs of Canada for their years of amateur radio commitment. The husband-and-wife team has been chosen to receive the RAC's Amateur of the Year Award for 2025. Married for more than 50 years, they have been almost equally married to their amateur radio involvement, which has included teaching, mentoring, net control, club leadership and equipment restoration. Read more about them on the RAC website at rac.ca

NEW MEXICO CLUB GAINS FULLTIME USE OF MOBILE TRAILER

An amateur radio club in New Mexico has become the beneficiary of a statewide transition by first responders to a new digital microwave communications system on 700 MHz.

In Socorro County. officials have transferred the use of their older mobile VHF communications trailer to the Socorro Amateur Radio Association. The association had been borrowing the trailer for quite some time for members' use during Field Day at the San Antonio Fire Station as well as for the group's emergency operations. One of the members, Alfred Braun AC5BX, told Newsline in a phone call that the county's action now means that the hams will have fulltime access to the trailer and will be able to use and maintain everything in good working condition for the next four or five years.

Meanwhile, New Mexico's Department of Information Technology continues reducing its reliance on analogue VHF, bringing first responders throughout the state onto what they consider to be a more secure digital trunking network.

ZERO RETRIES DIGITAL CONFERENCE PICKS SITE

Hams and other tech enthusiasts who are coming to San Ramon, California for Pacificon 2026, the ARRL Pacific Division Convention, can look forward to a separate event on their calendar taking place just down the street: The Zero Retries Digital Conference is back for its second year. Organizers have announced that the Roundhouse Conference Center will be hosting the conference on the 15th of October. Attendees who arrive early will also have the opportunity to visit the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

Registration has not yet opened and planning is still a work-in-progress for the Zero Retries event. Organizers stress that if you have plans to attend both events, Pacificon is a separate activity taking place on October 16th, 17th and 18th, and you'll need to register for that at pacificon.org

The Zero Retries Newsletter's inaugural conference was held in September 2025 in Washington State.

SILENT KEY: RSGB'S COLIN THOMAS G3PSM, SPECTRUM ADVOCATE

Colin Thomas G3PSM, who served as president of the Radio Society of Great Britain from 2008 to 2009, was known throughout Region 1 of the IARU as an active advocate for the well-being of the amateur radio spectrum. According to his obituary on the RSGB website, Colin's greatest efforts within the region included the defence of existing allocations and the acquisition of 136kHz and 472 kHz for amateur use. He also pushed for allocations at 5 MHz and for expansion of 7 MHz.

Colin died on Tuesday, 17 February following a short illness.

His involvement with IARU Region 1 included serving as its HF manager from 2005 through to 2008. In 2017, IARU Region 1 presented Colin with the Roy Stevens G2BVN Memorial Award for his service and dedication to international amateur radio.

JOINT BALLOON LAUNCH FOR FLORIDA HAMS, STUDENTS

Accompanied by their parents and some school staffers, 63 students at the Sky Academy in Englewood, Florida watched on the 18th of February as their little Sky Tracker pico balloon soared away from the earth with the help of hams from the Englewood Amateur Radio Society. Equipped to communicate via APRS, the balloon transmits such data as time, date, altitude, ascent, humidity, grid square - and of course its callsign, N4EAR-1.

The launch was a first for the students, who are in the school's STEM program - and it was the first partnership of its kind for the amateur radio society, said its president, Bill Reed, K7WWR. The students have been able to track its international journey on their smart phones and on a big screen in their classroom.

Bill told Newsline that the students aren't the only ones who have been immersed in this project. He said [quote]: "Our club members are very excitedly tracking the balloon. It has generated much excitement as we are wondering how our baby is doing. We are hoping for at least one circumnavigation of the globe." [endquote] At the time that Bill spoke to Newsline, the balloon was nearly over Africa and well on its way. That's a particular point of pride for the club's officers who supported this first-time collaboration with the school. It opens up the world, even as the little balloon soars high above it.

HAMCLOCK USERS GET FREE BACKEND SERVER

Good news for HamClock users and fans: A free community backend server has become available. The website, hamclock.com, make HamClock's continued functions available for free following a successful reconfiguration of the clock to the new server. The functions include, among other things, weather pressure maps, aurora map generation, ham news headlines, realtime PSK Reporter spot data, VOACAP propagation reports and Kp index from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The functions are made possible through the work of Bruce Edrich, W4BAE, who built the project upon the open-hamclock-back-end. Updating can be done via two simple text changes -- either to the hosts file or to the command that starts HamClock. The project is independent of the feeds from the original site, clearskyinstitute.com.

It is one of several developments as forks of the open HamClock back-end created by Brian Wilkins KO4AQF and Austin Parsons KN4LNB. Brian told Newsline that installation instructions and other information can be found on GitHub. The link is in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org.

REPAIRS DELAY ARTEMIS 2 LAUNCH FOR AT LEAST A MONTH

The Artemis 2 moon rocket is leaving the launch pad at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, but not for its trip in the direction of the moon -- at least not yet. As was expected, the rocket is headed toward the Vehicle Assembly Building on site where NASA can address a helium blockage affecting the rocket's upper stage.

The space agency, which had announced an original launch window beginning March 6 for the test flight's liftoff, has said the repair could delay things for a month or more. This is to be the first crewed moon mission in more than 50 years. Four amateur radio operators are among the 34 volunteer observers around the world chosen recently to passively track radio waves transmitted during the mission.

GET READY FOR THE BOUVET ISLAND 3YØK DXPEDITION

As Newsline went to production, the 3YØK DXpedition was approaching Bouvet Island and keeping an eye on the weather. If you're hoping to get in the log, familiarize yourself with the team's operating procedures which appear on their website 3YØK.com - some of them depart from customary procedures so as to avoid interference from DQRM.

Keep up to date by following the link that appears in the text version of this newscast at arnewsline.org

BUNKERS ON THE AIR PROGRAM EXPANDS TO THE US

The chase is on: US BOTA - that's Bunkers on the Air - is now a part of Worldwide BOTA. The popular awards scheme that began in the UK is now active in 23 countries. The US recently became one of those active nations. Rem O'Donnelley, K6BBQ, the US national coordinator, told Newsline that his POTA activations inspired him to establish a US presence on the BOTA map. He said that many bunkers are inside parks in his part of California -- so activating those bunkers seemed to be the next logical move.

Worldwide BOTA's Jason Dale, 2EØJIV, told Newsline that, as with other nations, US BOTA is closely modeled after the one in the UK. With some bunker sites still considered sensitive areas, BOTA established an activation zone giving plenty of room for permitted activations without having to infringe on the bunker itself. In the UK and the US and several other countries, that's 1,000 meters from the center of the bunker itself.

The worldwide platform hosts each country's available awards and bunker databases as well as lists of new countries - and newly added bunkers. Specific rules and local maps are available on each country's individual site. Best of all, said Jason, some portable loggers, such as Ham2K, have also gotten into the act and have already added BOTA into their software.

To visit both the new US BOTA website and the site for worldwide BOTA, see the links in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

DIRECT-TO-DEVICE SATELLITE SERVICE BEGINNING IN UK

Customers of Virgin Media's O2 mobile phone service are gaining access to direct-to-device satellite communication on the 25th of February. While some direct-to-device has already been approved in other countries, including the US, this is the first such licence variation approved by Ofcom for UK mobile customers. In hard-to-reach regions where there is no cellular service, direct-to-device will allow customers to stay connected via text, phone calls and internet with signals directly to and from smartphones. Virgin Media O2 is making use of Starlink satellites in low earth orbit.

SCIENCE FESTIVAL SHOWCASES HAM RADIO IN ASSAM

Amateur radio's emerging popularity in the Indian state of Assam was evident recently at the North East Science Fair & Innovation Festival, where visitors watched as two operators from the Assam Amateur Radio Foundation made contacts on HF and 2-metres.

Saquib VU3HZW and Pradyumna VU33SF had QSOs with hams in Bangladesh on HF and contacted hams on 2 metres throughout the Assamese city of Guwahati where VHF is slowly becoming increasingly popular.

The event was held at the National Science Centre in Guwahati from the 11th through to the 14th of February. Many of the visitors who stopped to watch the hams operate from the exhibition floor had been unaware of ham radio's potential for vital communications in emergencies and as a resource for experimentation and learning. Amateur radio took a prominent place among the other exhibits and demonstrations, including AI & Robotics, Rocketry, Skywatching with a Telescope and Meet-the-Scientist sessions.

DEADLINE APPROACHES FOR AMATEUR RADIO SOFTWARE AWARD

The Amateur Radio Software Award is a global award encouraging innovative problem-solving that leads to sharing within the ham radio community. To qualify for the award, the software must be available for free download and use. It must also be free of malicious hidden codes and capable of being improved in collaboration with others.

Last year, the award committee chose Sebastian Delmont, KI2D [KAY EYE TWO DEE], author of the popular Ham2K Portable Logger that is widely used by POTA activators. A monetary award accompanies the honor.

Nominations are being accepted through to the 28th of February. You can find an online nomination form by following the link in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

TECHCON 2026 HIGHLIGHTS NEXT-GEN DIGITAL NARROWBAND

JACK; Techcon 2026 is a one-day conference sponsored by the ARRL West Central Florida Section on February 28th. The forums will cover a variety of amateur radio technologies including NXDN, or next-generation digital narrowband. This is the newest digital mode for amateur radio and its use is gaining momentum within SKYWARN.

Paul Toth, NB9X, one of the keynote speakers, told Newsline that NXDN, created jointly by Icom and Kenwood, is used for short text, GPS and amateur digital communication.

PAUL TOTH: [sound clip]: Its primary purpose was to create a technology for ultra-narrow banding for Part 90, Land Mobile Radio.”

JACK: Toth says this use of bandwidth is a perfect fit for digital amateur radio technology, using 6.24K per channel, a 4800 baud data rate and FDMA modulation. He said it provides audio that is cleaner and more distortion free.

PAUL TOTH: [sound clip] "You don’t have any snap, crackle” because you're decoding zeroes and ones."

JACK: Most Florida West Coast counties are using NXDN for SKYWARN activities. They have a weekly net and SKYWARN reports go directly to the National Weather Service as needed during severe weather. Other areas developing NXDN are Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of Canada.

The conference is being held at the Hillsborough County Public Service Operations Center. For details, follow the link in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

CREW 12 ARRIVES AT SPACE STATION

The ISS is back to its customary occupancy of seven people, following the arrival on Saturday, February 14th, of Crew 12. They are NASA astronauts Jack Hathaway, KJ5NIV and Jessica Meir, as well as European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot KJ5LTN, and Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev.

In addition to the expected schedule of ARISS contacts, Crew-12 will be kept busy with a variety of studies, including how physical characteristics have an impact on blood flow during spaceflight -- as well as a look at on-demand intravenous fluid generation for space missions to follow.

PRESENTERS NEEDED FOR VHF SOCIETY CONFERENCE

Hams with a strong interest and some expertise in weak-signal operating on VHF, UHF and microwave are being invited to submit papers and propose presentations for the Southeastern VHF Society's next conference. Any subjects are welcome relative to RF power amplifiers, beacons, SDR, satellites, transverters, transmitters and construction projects - and that's just for starters. In general, the conference is not interested in presentations related to non-weak signal topics unless there is also some relevance to amateurs using weak signals.

Presentations can be submitted in Microsoft Word format to the email address listed in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org. [DO NOT READ: SVHFS@downeastmicrowave.com ]

The conference is taking place from the 17th through to the 19th in Macon, Georgia. Deadline for presenters' submissions is the 2nd of March. Presentations and papers are being handled by Don Woodward KD4APP.