A TOWERING RESCUE FROM HOT AIR BALLOON

A hot-air balloon, with two passengers aboard, was blown into a cell phone tower standing 925 feet, or more than 280 meters, high in Longview, a city east of Dallas, Texas. The crash on February 28th left the two passengers dangling near the top of the tower as the balloon became entangled in its guying cables.

Emergency crews from police and fire departments responded. As rescuers climbed using several ropes, they battled the same strong winds that had led to the crash, working for more than an hour to free the passengers in what was deemed [quote] "a rare, high-risk operation." [endquote] They were brought down safely.

The scene in Texas was reminiscent of an incident in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2024 when a hot-air balloon crashed into the tower of radio station KKOB-AM. The three passengers on board that balloon were also rescued safely.

DX INDIA FOUNDATION MAKES NEW TRY ON ARNALA ISLAND

Heavy rainstorms last year cancelled the plans of the DX India Foundation to activate Arnala Island. The island, one of India's most coveted sites in the IOTA programme, carries the designation of AS-169. Sarath, VU2RS, announced recently on the DX World website that he is hoping to bring a three-day activation there starting on the 1st of May. There has been no amateur radio activity on the island since 2006.

A successful activation would not only fulfill one of the relatively new foundation's objectives - to activate rare IOTAs - it would also put Arnala Island in the logs of eager chasers everywhere.

ADJUSTMENTS TO AUSTRALIA BAND PLAN RECOMMENDATIONS

The Wireless Institute of Australia's Technical Advisory Committee has fine-tuned its recommendations for changes to the amateur radio band plan after reviewing more than three dozen submissions. It is now recommending that the emergency communications channel on 40m be aligned with IARU Region 3 on 7.110 MHz, that the SSB portion of the 6m band be widened and that 1.87 MHz and 3.686 MHz be chosen as the AM centres of activity for 160m and 80m.

The committee's full document, which reaffirms its other original proposals and clarifies use of the FM Analogue ATV band, has been published online. Visit the consultation webpage using the link provided in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

CANADA ENDING NATIONWIDE WEATHERADIO SERVICE

Canada's national weather centre is ending its Weatheradio service which has been available on VHF since 1976. In a decision driven by budget priorities and what the agency called declining usage, the forecasts are going silent on the 16th of March. Officials are instead encouraging the use of a free mobile app or an interactive weather map on their website.

Upgraded in 2004 to accommodate digitally encoded signals, the nationwide system has provided local and regional forecasts in English and French. The reports have been transmitted on the same frequencies used in the US by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Weather Radio, in the 162 MHz frequency range

Amateur radio operator Michael Iszak VE3HA, who is also a radiocommunications consultant. told the Toronto Sun that he was concerned about the weather service's demise. He told the newspaper: [quote] “These stations are often used by people who travel to areas where there is no cell service, it’s invaluable for getting updated weather forecasts." [endquote]

HAMS IN THE SPOTLIGHT AT NATIONAL HURRICANE CONFERENCE

Amateur radio workshops at the National Hurricane Conference will include presentations by such leaders from the ham community as Rob Macedo, KD1CY of the VoIP Hurricane Net, Josh Johnston, KE5MHV, ARRL Director of Emergency Management, Julio Ripoll, WD4R, Assistant Coordinator at WX4NHC, and Bobby Graves, KB5HAV, Net Manager of the Hurricane Watch Net.

Graves gave Newsline a preview of a new program he will be presenting, built around the theme “Impact.” While Category 5 hurricanes may get more attention from the media, some tropical storms may make a greater real-world impact than bigger weather events. For amateur radio operators, one report can make a difference… can make an impact. As Graves said, “Your reports matter.”

With Julio Ripoll scheduled to step down this year, he may be introducing his successor at WX4NHC during the workshops as well.

If you can’t attend in person, the forum will be live-streamed on the Hurricane Watch Net YouTube Channel.

STUDENT QSO WITH ANTARCTICA PART OF FAMILY SPACE DAY

All eyes will be on the project known as futureGEO to be presented at Bochum Observatory’s Bochum Space Day to be hosted by AMSAT-DL. The programme is taking place on 28th March in conjunction with Germany's Space Day and Day of Astronomy. Much anticipation surrounds the proposed geostationary amateur radio payload, which is to succeed the QO-100 satellite, providing access for Europe and parts of North America.

All ears, however, will be on the scheduled contact to be made between students and the Neumayer-III research station, DPØGVN, in Antarctica. The observatory's director, Thilo Elsner, DJ5YM, will lead that activity.

Youngsters and their families are also being invited to participate in a full day of activities organised by the European Space Education Resource Office of the European Space Agency. ESERO Germany was established at Bochum in 2018.

FCC REPORTS TO CONGRESS ON 6TH YEAR OF PIRATE ACT

Since Congress enacted the PIRATE Act - an acronym for Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement - the Federal Communications Commission has been responsible for reporting its annual activities with the enhanced power it was given through the January 2020 legislation. Its most recent report covers the government's fiscal year for 2025, which ran from the 1st of October 2024 through to the 30th of September 2025.

According to the report, the FCC issued 28 notices to property owners or managers for permitting illegal broadcasts from their premises. Seventeen of those were directly related to one of the so-called "pirate sweeps" the FCC conducts concentrating on five markets found to have the most pirate stations.

In the same period, the FCC went directly after the radio operators themselves, issuing six forfeiture orders and 10 notices of apparent liability for forfeiture. Separately, it entered into three consent decree agreements with radio pirates. Each agreement contained a 20-year compliance plan.

It is not known what the total monetary penalties will ultimately be for any of the violations issued, even though the amounts specified in the original PIRATE Act have increased over the years. Adjusted for inflation, the penalties now carry a maximum of $122,661 in US dollars per day - and a US dollar maximum of $2,453,218.

Although the FCC is responsible for these enforcement actions, the agency does not collect the amounts. That task is given to the US Department of Justice.

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