We at Newsline offer our congratulations to Radio D A R C, the weekly news program produced by Germany's national amateur radio society. Radio D A R C has released show number 600. Listeners throughout Europe and the Middle East are able to hear the music and news broadcast via the program's primary distribution medium, good old fashioned Shortwave Broadcast AM, transmitted out of England and Germany. The show can also be heard on local FM or DAB+stations as well as via a podcast
TEN-YEAR-OLD YL CELEBRATES CQ DX MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIP
Announcing the championship achievement of Nahla Aila Varisha, YD1NAV, the administrators of the CQ DX Marathon Program said [quote] "her accomplishment demonstrates that age is no barrier to success in amateur radio and international DXing." [endquote]
Nahla, who is 10 years old, is being recognised for her achievements throughout 2025, in which she worked the most DXCC entities and CQ Zones during the 12-month period. She will receive a Youth Winner plaque, which is being sponsored by Ann, WA1S of the Young Ladies Radio League.
This award to an especially young operator is one of numerous awards conferred during this annual operating event. The committee said that it hoped Nahla's accomplishment would inspire other youngsters.
SCHOOL FOR DEAF IN PAKISTAN HOSTS EMERGENCY RADIO TRAINING
The training session conducted in late July was a first for the Pakistan Amateur Radio Society. Although the national ham radio organisation fulfills its role frequently at universities by giving instruction in emergency communications and preparedness, this workshop was different.
The instructor, Asad Ullah Marwat, AP2AUM, worked with managers, administrators and other team members at a social services group known as Deaf Reach, which assists deaf and hearing-impaired children and adults throughout Pakistan. Asad, the ham society's vice president, told Newsline that the training combined classroom instruction with practical demonstrations that included the setup of an off-grid, solar-powered communications network.The lessons were designed to help those at the school coordinate their emergency communications and make vital decisions during a crisis.
Asad told Newsline that because 10 of the 90 participants were deaf, training was also given in Morse Code through the use of lights - something that he said really sparked interest during the workshop. He said that there are plans to provide training to the students.
Deaf Reach was established in 1989 as an educational and vocational programme of the charitable organisation, the Family Educational Services Foundation.
HAM STATION HONORS BRAZILIAN PRIEST AS RADIO PIONEER
Even as Guglielmo Marconi was busy making headlines with his early experiments in radiotelegraphy, a Brazilian priest named Father Roberto Landell de Moura held fast to his belief in the power of radiotelephony, the wireless transmission of the human voice. The priest's successful work advanced wireless communications at the turn of the 20th century.
On the 25th of July, hams in his native Brazil celebrated his legacy with the inauguration of the Landell de Moura Memorial and its permanent on-site amateur radio station. The radio shack installation was the work of many members of the Sao Paulo chapter of the Liga de Amadores Brasileiros de Rádio Emissão, Brazil's amateur radio society, It is located inside a carefully curated memorial conceived and maintained by the priest's great-grandnephew, Sylvio Landell de Moura, It contains an array of educational displays of his inventions, patents and other scientific accomplishments. The memorial's ham radio curator is Edson, PY2FWM, a member of LABRE-Sao Paulo.
On inauguration day, the priest's unwavering vision of radio telephony and all its possibilities was alive and evident: The hams' QSOs included a 40-metre contact with Father Casimiro, PY5ZHP in Curitiba, southern Brazil; and a chat with Peter, KP2US, the donor of the station's equipment, who was contacted in Florida, USA, using DMR.
SPACE STATION LOGS HISTORIC FIRST ARISS CONTACT WITH KENYA
The voice from space belonged to astronaut Sophie Adenot KJ5LTN, using the callsign OR4ISS. Back here on Earth, the voices were those of students at a school in Nairobi, Kenya, selected earlier this year to be the first in an African country to participate in Amateur Radio on the International Space Station. It was hosted by the Kenya Space Agency on the 5th of August with the help of a telebridge via ON4ISS in Belgium.
The students posed 11 questions, ranging over a variety of topics.
The event was a big moment, not just for the students but Kenya's relatively young space agency, established in 2017 to advance that nation's agenda for using space technology to boost socioeconomic development.
To view the QSO, visit the link to the Kenya Space Agency's YouTube channel in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org.
CHANNELING THEIR FRIENDSHIP AND PERSPECTIVES
There is no doubt that Quin, K8QS, and Tom, WA9TDD, have Ham Radio Perspectives. For one thing, the friends, who have remained close since their Chicago high school years in the 1960s, have their individual voices and their definite views. For another thing, they have Ham Radio Perspectives because that's the name of YouTube channel they co-host. The heart, the humor and even the humility they bring to the task has been attracting about 2,000 new subscribers a month.
Like most hams, Tom and Quin are always investigating what makes things work - and so they look inside the culture of amateur radio - and yes, we do have a culture! Their lively podcasts have explored the evolution of hamfests and even the history of DXing, taking a somewhat anthropological view of DXers themselves as the "hunters and gatherers" of HF. Their positive approach extends to their viewers, who are invited to pose questions about antennas, grounding issues and even QSL cards. Viewers are also encouraged to send in funny or even embarrassing stories to match the ones they hear in the show.
Quin told Newsline during a recent video interview: [quote] "We are role models in what it means to have friends in the hobby," [endquote] The show's goal is to restore the personal element and humanity that was stripped from so many of our lives during the isolating years of the pandemic. Even as they laugh together, they're also solving problems together, or trying to.
They both told Newsline [quote] "We are friends no matter what." [endquote]
As to the question of what makes things work, well, they may have figured that out, after all.
POLAR OBSERVATORY TO HOST HEISS ISLAND DXPEDITION
The RI1FJL Russian DXpedition Team to Franz Josef Land has announced that they have received permission from the management of the Ernst Krenkel Polar Observatory allowing the six operators to stay at the base on Heiss island during their activation. Heiss island, IOTA number EU-019, is the world's northernmost DXCC. The Franz Josef Land archipelago is in a glacial region about 870 kilometres, or 540 miles, from the North Pole,
Reporting on the DX World website, team leader Vasily, R7AL, said that the group now expects to depart on the 7th of August with an estimated arrival date on the island on the 15th.
FIRESATS LAUNCHED TO TRACK WILDFIRES FROM THE SKY
The trio of microsatellites described as "fire towers in the sky" have been launched. As planned, Firesat-1, -2 and -3 were launched on the 7th of July. The project is supported by the Earth Fire Alliance and its goal is to track various types of wildfires across five continents. As reported earlier on Newsline, the satellites have received support from a $26 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund and have the support of Google. The nonprofit Earth Fire Alliance is hoping to have enough satellites in place eventually so that every point on the planet will be seen every 20 minutes.
SPAIN'S WILDFIRES SPARE DEEP SPACE NETWORK STATION
Following the evacuation of personnel from a Deep Space Network ground station imperiled by wildfires in Spain, NASA has announced that the site has avoided major damage. The site, known as the Madrid Deep Space Communications Complex, is run jointly by NASA and the European Space Agency.
NASA's press secretary Bethany Stevens announced on social media that on July 25th, antennas and buildings appeared to have been spared fire-related damage, which affected mainly vegetation and paved areas The agencies will take more comprehensive looks later, as allowed by conditions.
The site west of Madrid, which has five 34-meter antennas and a 70-meter antenna, is one of three stations in the Deep Space Network. The others are near Canberra, Australia and in Goldstone, California. Both of those sites were actively communicating with spacecraft of as July 24th but the antennas at the Madrid station are - for now - off the air. It was unclear when the antennas would be operational again. The cooperative nature of the three sites permitted the California station to pick up initial responsibility for communications before transferring that to the station in Australia.
PAPERS NEEDED FOR ZERO RETRIES DIGITAL CONFERENCE
The Zero Retries newsletter will host its second annual digital conference on Friday, October 16th and is asking for submissions of technical papers to be published in the conference proceedings. Technical papers should deal with projects, techniques or experiments that identified and solved problems. Authors submitting papers needn't be present at the conference to have their work published. The first day of the Zero Retries Digital Conference takes place on the opening day of Pacificon 2026. For more details about technical papers - or the conference itself - visit the link that appears in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org
MILITARY JAMMING EYED AS FACTOR IN FATAL PLANE CRASH
Federal investigators are looking at the role that scheduled GPS interference testing at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico may have played in the deadly crash of a light medevac airplane, killing the two pilots and two nurses on board. The plane was en route to picking up a patient. Five minutes before its crash into a mountain on May 14th, one of the pilots alerted an air traffic controller that they no longer had GPS signals.
According to several media reports, an air traffic controller requested that the military cease its tests of GPS interference - and the military complied -- but testing resumed after the controller learned that the pilot was able to complete the flight visually. A report in the IEEE Spectrum said that the preliminary findings do not state whether the air-traffic controllers let the pilots know that the jamming had been halted - or that it had started up again.
These findings were contained in a preliminary report released in June by the National Transportation Safety Board. Investigators do not expect to reach any final conclusions until next year. The US Army site in New Mexico site is known to conduct tests on spoofing and jamming systems and the US Federal Aviation Administration confirmed to an IEEE investigative reporter that jamming was also a concern during incidents in 2021 that led several close calls, or aircraft flying off course, in the region.
INTERNATIONAL DOG DAY AND CAT DAY TEAM UP
Ham radio teams in Latvia, the UK, the US, the Netherlands, India and Germany will be calling CQ on behalf of abandoned, abused and homeless pets around the world – and to advocate for adoption and humane treatment. In the spirit of friendship and the shared love of animals, they will be looking to raise awareness and hear one another’s stories.
The hams calling CQ are animal-lovers themselves who know the power of rescue because many have been deeply involved in organized animal-welfare efforts or have included a rescued dog or cat in their family.
All operators will be on the HF bands using CW and SSB to encourage conversational exchanges. Dog-station callsigns will include YL1DOG, GB4DOG, VU2MGS, DLØDOG, PDØØDOG and KØDOG. Cat stations will be calling CQ as DLØCAT, GB4CAT and DAØCAT.
For operating details and information about award certificates, follow the links in the text version of this week’s newscast at arnewsline.org.
You can also visit the QRZ.com page of YL1DOG.
UK'S LEADING OBSERVATORY EARMARKED FOR SHUTDOWN
The Jodrell Bank Observatory, which gathers data about the galaxy from seven radio telescopes across England, has lost government funding for the project and faces closure. The network, known as e-Merlin, is earmarked for shutdown following an announcement by UK Research and Innovation that it was ending financial support for the research and that all scientific work at Jodrell will be halted on the 1st of April 2028.
The observatory in Cheshire has also been home for seven decades to the massive 76-metre Lovell radio telescope. Jodrell Bank has been a foremost figure among astronomy centres worldwide and was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
FATHER-AND-SON DXPEDITION TEAM ADDS AN APRS MISSION
While providing the gift of DX contacts to people hunting him and his 13-year-old son on the air, Darek SP9DLM, will also be delivering something more: He will be establishing and launching the region's first APRS network, along with APRS LORA gateways. Using the callsigns UK/SP9DLM and UK/SN9GM, respectively, Darek and Greg, SN9GM, will be calling QRZ through to the 15th of August. Darek told Newsline that he was surprised - and pleased - with Uzbekistan's approval of their license because it is something rare.
Father and son have a busy agenda off the air, too: Once they arrive in Tajikistan, Darek will connect with local radio amateurs and donate equipment to launch an APRS network. Darek told Newsline that he has worked elsewhere with local hams, providing donated equipment -- often paid for from his own finances and with the help of donations. He said that his efforts have launched networks in countries where APRS did not previously exist: Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Sri Lanka, and Egypt.
He wrote: [quote] "I am involved in promoting APRS, and in particular APRS LORA. In Poland, during the initial period of creating the APRS LORA network, I was responsible for launching approximately 70% of all gateways." [endquote] He said the process began gradually and spontaneously, like a snowball effect.
He said that now, with the growing availability of APRS, more hams can launch balloons with APRS trackers and not risk losing track of them anymore.
SILENT KEY: NOTED DXER, KIYOSHI "KAN" MIZOGUCHI, JA1BK/VP6BK
Kiyoshi "Kan" Mizoguchi, JA1BK/VP6BK, was inducted into the CQ DX Hall of Fame in 1987 in recognition of his many roles in advancing the challenges of DXing. His death on May 23rd of this year was recently reported. Kan's name was well-known for both identifying and activating new DXCC entities, such as the Chesterfield Islands, Ducie Island, Swains Island and the Marquesas. Kan was also known for establishing the ARRL's DX Log Archive programme, an effort to preserve paper logs from DXpeditions considered rare and significant.
A leader in the ham radio community, he also had an impressive tenure as director of IARU Region 3. He served in that post from 1968 until 1975.
Kan was 93.
COMMITTEE RE-EVALUATING RESULTS OF WRTC 2026 COMPETITION
The WRTC Organising Committee has announced that they have found discrepancies contained in competitors' log files from the event, which was held in early July in the UK. Mark Haynes, MØDXR, organising committee chairman, released a statement on the 27th of July saying that an emergency meeting had been held and the judging committee had been instructed to conduct a re-analysis of the logs, since the findings could affect the teams' finishing positions. The statement appears on the event's website.
Mark said: [quote] "Whilst we do not want this to take a long time, I have instructed that this must be a thorough and complete re-analysis to enable the results to reach a position of absolute conclusion" [endquote] He added that [quote] "WRTC has no place for foul play." [endquote] He was not specific about what suspected actions are believed to have interfered with the results. Discussion threads on the WRTC's groups.io reflector have said that pirated callsigns affecting multipliers are among the elements being scrutinised.
2026 YHOTY FINDS FUN IN OUT-OF-THIS WORLD EXPERIENCES
Carsten Glasbrenner KQ4SJM of Brookville in central Florida was almost speechless when he learned in a recent phone call he had been selected as this year’s YHOTY.
CARSTEN: You’re kidding! That’s awesome!
MARK: Carsten, who is 14 and holds a General Class license earned in May 2024, took his Technician test at the age of 11. He is the son of Drew and Merete Glasbrenner. Carsten gives his dad, KO4MA, credit for planting the seeds that sprouted into an early interest in amateur radio – specifically, satellites and using
radio to take advantage of atmospheric changes to talk to people far away.
CARSTEN: Talking through a technological box in space. But, also 2-meter e-skip, and tropo, which was really cool, and some HF.
MARK: Carsten says he was pretty nervous making his first satellite contact just a month after earning his General and called on dad for some help.
CARSTEN: I hadn’t learned completely how to point and polarize the antenna yet. So I was more talking and he was helping me out through what I was going to say since FM satellites are rather quick so it’s kind of
hard to understand when you’re first doing them. So he was helping me out with the call signs, what to say, what to copy and what grid square I was. I didn’t know what grid square we were in yet.
MARK: Carsten says his interest in sharing his new-found hobby with other young people led to invitations to speak at Hamcation and the Dayton Hamvention and earned him a position as AMSAT’s youngest ambassador.
This past March, Carsten’s proposal to get more young hams working satellites became a reality. It’s called Students On the Air days and they’re held the first and third Tuesdays of each month.
Carsten has activated a number of rare grid squares in the short time he’s
been active. Carsten has well over 100 satellite contacts in the log and says he’s looking
to make many more. He begins high school this fall and says his interest in
kit-building, especially soldering components, might set him on the path to
electrical engineering.
From all of us here at Amateur Radio Newsline, Congratulations Carsten!
I’m Mark Abramowicz NT3V.
SKEETER/ANCHOR: Carsten will be presented the award at the Huntsville Hamfest on Saturday, August 22nd in the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
FOUR YLs AWARDED YLRL SCHOLARSHIPS
Four young top achievers are receiving scholarships from the Young Ladies Radio League to support their continued studies. The Ethel Smith K2LMB Memorial Scholarship is being awarded to Grace Papay, K8LG, who is being recognized for the second year in a row with this scholarship. The third-generation ham and top contester is also a satellite enthusiast. She was the first recipient younger than 21 to receive the AMSAT Grid Master Award. The Michigan resident is studying electrical engineering at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio. Amateur Radio Newsline named her its Young Ham of the Year in 2024.
Last year's Young Ham award recipient, Katie Campbell, KE8LQR, has been chosen by YLRL for its Mary Lou Brown NM7N Memorial Scholarship. An avid contester and CW op, Katie has been active as assistant youth coordinator for the ARRL's Ohio Section. Her commitment to other young people in ham radio has included roles with Youth on the Air for the Americas and instructor for the Long Island CW Kids' program.
Sabrina Mol, WS8EMT, is receiving the Martha Wessell KØEPE Memorial Scholarship. A student at Columbia Southern University, where she is majoring in emergency management, she credits amateur radio with introducing her to emergency communications.
A recent high school senior from Michigan, Kanushi Desai, KE8RNA, will be attending Johns Hopkins University to study electrical engineering with the help of a YLRL scholarship. Kanushi serves as the ARRL Michigan Section's youth coordinator and she is vice president of the Midland Amateur Radio Club. She also edits their newsletter.
Congratulations, everyone!
TAKING THE CHALLENGE ON 12 METERS
Twelve metres is typically not known as the most popular band for most operators and so Ian, EI3LH, is posing a challenge that is rooting for this presumed underdog of bands. He has launched an activity known as "Midnight Runners." It's a challenge to operators to use CW or SSB only to complete 12 contacts on the band during a single operating session - a field activity such as a POTA, SOTA, Lighthouses or Beaches on the Air. Likewise, chasers at home can qualify to be Midnight Runners by logging their own dozen contacts with the portable stations.
Sorry, but there are no grand prizes. Those who succeed in the mission do get a reason to feel grand anyway - they receive a membership certificate declaring them one of the proud "Midnight Runners" -- and right now there aren't many.
Ian writes in his blog that this activity is his way of raising the profile of the 12-meter band which he believes is often forgotten among CW and sideband operators. He said that the concept was born as a result of a discussion about 12 metres that took place on the SOTA Reflector.
If you complete your "twelve-on-twelve," be sure to let Ian know by contacting him at midnight@ei3h.eu (midnight at ei3h dot EU) and send a text list of your QSOs, with all the details.
Since this is a new venture, who knows? You may end up getting membership number 12....as well as a virtual pat on the back from Ian.
ADVOCATES FOR DISABLED ATHLETES GETS BOOST FROM AMATEURS
Inside the communications trailer of the Twin State Radio Club, a handful of hams operated at several stations, always ready for the just-in-case moments that can happen when people run or ride horses along a long wooded trail in Vermont for 30 hours or more. As they have done for 34 years, the hams were supporting the Vermont 100, a fundraising challenge which drew 500 participants between the 18th and 20th of July. The runners and riders maxxed out their endurance and determination in support of Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports, which promotes accessible activities for athletes with visual and mobility impairments. The course had 10 aid stations and four horse holds - with amateurs present at each.
Rob Mather N1XSS, communications lead for the event, told Newsline that the course was well-covered by amateur radio thanks to the Connecticut Valley FM Associaton's 2-meter repeater high atop Mt. Ascutney. Several hams are also part of the Green Mountain Bike Patrol, which also provides medical support along the course. The trailer was equipped with public service radios as well that could contact the regional dispatch center in an emergency.
Rob told Newsline this isn't the end of the successful run - not for the team of 60 hams or the participants out on the trail. He said: [quote] "We do it all over again in September for the Vermont 50." [endquote] That's another fundraiser. If you wish to be part of the action, contact Rob via his email address at n1xss@mather1.com [PRON: En One Ex Ess Ess at MatherOne dot com] His email address also appears in the text version of this week's script at arnewsline.org
