In the log this week
* Contest Spotlight: North American QSO Party SSB
* United States 60 Meter Band Changes Effective 2/13/2026
* DXpedition Spotlight: KP5/NP3VI Desecheo Island
* MVARC Nets on the Air
* What’s happening with DX?
* Solar Activity Update
* Upcoming Contests
* Interesting Online Radio Content
As always, links to all referenced content can be found in the show notes, or at our Substack at mvarc.substack.com
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Contest Spotlight: North American QSO Party SSB
This weekend brings the latest edition of the North American QSO Party to the air, this time on SSB. The goal of this contest is to work as many North American stations as possible during the contest. It runs from 1800 UTC on Saturday, January 17th (1 PM ET Saturday) until 0559 UTC on Sunday, January 18 (12:59 AM ET on Sunday). For the purposes of the contest North American stations are defined by the ARRL DXCC list, plus Hawaii. The exchange is a simple one: operator name and location (state, province, or country). So for me in Virginia, my exchange would be “Ed VA”. For non-North American stations the exchange is just their name. Operating categories include Single Operator (no spotting assistance permitted), Single Operator Assisted (spotting assistance permitted), and Multioperator Two Transmitter. Power is limited to 100 Watts for the Low Power category and 5 Watts and under for QRP. Allowed bands include 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters. Multipliers are all 50 US states and DC the 13 Canadian provinces and territories, and other North American DXCC Entities. Non-North American entities don’t count as a multiplier, but do count for QSO credit. The score is the number of valid QSOs multiplied by the sum of multipliers worked on each band. There is also a team competition that allows you to have your score added to a cumulative team score. Logs are due no later than 7 days after the end of the contest and electronic submission via Cabrillo format is preferred. For more information check out the contest rules at https://www.ncjweb.com/NAQP-Rules.pdf. Good luck.
United States 60 Meter Band Changes Effective 2/13/2026
The modifications to the US 60 Meter Band that were announced in FCC Report and Order 25-60 was published in the Federal Register Document Number 2026-00587 which means the changes will be effective February 13, 2026. The main change relates to spectrum around the current channel at 5358.5 kHz which will cease to exist and be replaced by an allocation from 5351.5 kHz to 5366.5 kHz. The new allocation will be limited to no more than 9.15 Watts Effective Radiated Power (ERP) which is a change from the previous limit of the channel of 100 Watts ERP. The other channels at 5332, 5348, 5373, and 5405 kHz remain as before with 100 Watts ERP. Bandwidth on the 60 meter band is limited to 2.8 kHz and amateurs are reminded that our privileges on the band are secondary to other stations authorized by the FCC and NTIA, other nations in the fixed service, and all other nations in mobile with the exception of aeronautical mobile. In an update to ARRL Roanoke Division members, Division Director Jim N2ZZ and Vice Director Bill N2COP remind amateurs of that secondary status, saying “When we were originally given channels in this band, we were limited to 50 Watts PEP. Afterwards, our power level was increased to 100 Watts PEP because we were ‘good neighbors’. We hope that this will happen once again. Enjoy our new privileges!”. This is an exciting new addition on a very useful band and the low power levels will make it a great place to enjoy QRP communications. More information about the changes can be found at https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-25-60A1.pdf and https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/01/14/2026-00587/implementation-of-the-final-acts-of-the-world-radiocommunication-conference-geneva-2015-wrc-15-other.
DXpedition Spotlight: KP5/NP3VI Desecheo Island
Image Courtesy https://desecheo2026.com/
A highly anticipated DXpedition to Desecheo Island in Puerto Rico is currently underway. Desecheo Island is one of the most sought after DXCC entities on the Club Log Most Wanted List currently ranked as #14 on the list. The island is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is currently closed to the public due to the presence of unexploded military ordinance from its previous use as a bombing range from 1940-1964. As such, it is quite challenging to make contact with this DXCC entity.
Image Courtesy US Fish & Wildlife Service, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=81262995
The island is relatively small at 360 acres of rugged and mountainous terrain with a semi-deciduous dry forest and grassland. The island has no source of fresh water. The island has also been part of extensive efforts to restore the the island to its prior status by successful invasive species eradication efforts from 2003 until 2017 when the island was declared free of invasive mammals. The KP5/NP3VI team was able to obtain a special use permit from the US Fish and Wildlife Service for a very special type of DXpedition. They are using a state of the art remote operating system which allows for radios to be on the island and for the operators to be off the island helping to ensure the safety of both the native species on the island and the DXpeditioners. A small team deployed two Remote Deployable Units (RDUs) that should allow the team to operate 24 hours a day for 30 days. The RDUs were made by the Manyana DX Foundation and are run on battery power and are recharged using solar panels helping to ensure a minimal environmental impact while allowing operations from 160-6 meters.
This DXpedition from Desecheo is the first organized by a Puerto Rican team in over 46 years and the and the first time in 17 years that Desecheo has been activated. The pileups have been intense and the signals to the Eastern US have been strong. There is a large group of operators making this DXpedition a reality so that Desecheo can get into the logs of as many amateurs as possible. They are livestreaming their operations on Club Log and have facilities for operators to verify they are in the log. The organizers hope that this will be a model for future operations in ecologically sensitive areas, allowing more DX to be on the air. More information about the island and operations can be found at https://desecheo2026.com/kp5/, https://desecheo2026.com/kp5/log-search/, and https://www.fws.gov/refuge/desecheo. Get on the air and in their log. Good luck.
MVARC Nets on the Air
* 2 Meter FM Net: Tuesdays at 7 PM [146.655/- MHz (141.3 Hz PL Tone) ]
* 2 Meter Digital Net: Immediately Follows 2 Meter FM Net [146.655/- MHz C4FM]
* MVARC Slow Speed CW Roundtable: Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 AM [3.565 MHz CW]
* MVARC Cherry Tree Net: Saturday and Sunday at 8:30 AM [3.920 MHz LSB]
What’s Happening with DX
There will be a lot of DX on the air this week. Stations on the air include Rwanda (9X2AW), Tanzania (5H3DX), Aruba (P40AA), Desecheo Island (KP5/NP3VI), Curacao (PJ2ND), Gambia (CY5K), Roatan Island (VE3VSM/HR9), South Sudan (Z81D), Greenland (OX7A, OX7AM, OX7AKT, OX3LG), Solomon Islands (H44MS), Colombia (HK3JCL), and Antarctica (DP0GVN, FT4YM).
A calendar of DXpeditions can be found at https://dxnews.com/calendar/
Solar Activity Update
As we go to press the Solar Flux Index (SFI) was 139 and the estimated sunspot number was 123 with 5 numbered sunspot regions visible from Earth. Over the last week the SFI has stayed about the same. Solar activity has been at low levels in the last 24 hours. The geomagnetic field has been at quiet to unsettled levels and the Kp index reached 3 yesterday. The solar wind peaked at 675 km/s. Solar activity is predicted to be at moderate levels with a slight chance of an X-class flare today through Sunday. The geomagnetic field is forecast to be at quiet to active levels today and at quiet to minor storm levels on Saturday and unsettled to minor storm levels on Sunday. The chance of solar radiation storms at the S1 or greater level is at 1% today through Sunday. R1 to R2 radio blackouts are likely in the near term with a predicted probability of 55% today through Sunday. R3 or greater blackouts are unlikely with a 10% chance predicted today through Sunday. There is a chance of 6 meter propagation so keep an eye on the band and spotting clusters to be ready for the next time the magic band does its thing. It remains a fantastic time for amateurs to get on the air and work the world.
Good sources of real-time solar information include
https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/ and https://solarham.com/. A good overview of conditions can be found at https://dx.qsl.net/propagation/. To see D-layer absorption data and associated radio blackouts, visit https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/d-region-absorption-predictions-d-rap. To see real-time Maximum Usable Frequency (MUF) and Critical Frequency (foF2) information from radiosonde data, visit https://prop.kc2g.com/.
Upcoming Contests
This weekend brings the AWA Linc Cundall Memorial CW Contest, the Hungarian DX Contest, the PRO Digi Contest, the RSGB AFS Contest on SSB, the North American QSO Party on SSB, the NA Collegiate Championship on SSB, the ARRL VHF Contest, the Feld Hell Sprint, and the Run for the Bacon QRP Contest. As always the K1USN SSTs, MSTs, and CWTs will also be on the air.
The full contest calendar with events and exchanges can be found at https://www.contestcalendar.com/weeklycont.php.
Interesting Online Radio Content
Mike K8MRD gives an unfavorable review of the Yaesu FC-80 Antenna Tuner -
Dugbo KD7DUG punches through pileups with his QRP Labs QMX -
Ed W4EMB does a POTA Pack Mule activation on CW -
Stuart VE9CF advocates for less negativity in radio -
Josh KI6NAZ builds a crystal radio kit -
The Smokin Ape looks at the RF Explorer as a field strength meter -
Save it for Parts builds a satellite station to receive HamTV from the ISS -
Michael KB9VBR talks about lithium battery safety -
Mark KD7DTS and Adam K6ARK livestream the first activation of some SOTA summits -
Mike K8MRD talks about charging DIY Solar Generators -
Colin MM0OPX builds the feed point for a phased vertical antenna system -
Mr Carlson’s Lab talks about why crystals are needed in radios -
Matt M0DQW takes a look at a B210 clone SDR -
Peter VK3YE builds a direct conversion receiver on a tin can with 4 transistors and hears intercontinental DX -
Crazy Checkov updates his Yaesu FT-897 with modern internal batteries for a truly all-in-one rig -
George VK2AOE works on his 40 meter homebrew transceiver -
The ARRL talks about the America 250 Worked All States Operating Event -
Mike K8MRD talks about power options for QRP Labs QMX transceivers -
TJ K9KJ talks about the Micro PA100 Portable HF Amplifier -
That’s it for this week.
Best 73,
Ed
N2EC
