In the log this week
* Amateur Radio News and Notes on Vacation Next Week
* Contest Spotlight: RSGB Islands on the Air (IOTA) Contest
* Contest Spotlight: Adventure Radio Society Flight of the Bumblebees
* Contest Spotlight: North American QSO Party (CW)
* Berryville Hamfest Next Weekend (8/3/2025)
* MVARC Nets on the Air
* What's happening with DX?
* Solar Activity Update
* Upcoming Contests
* Interesting Online Radio Content
Amateur Radio News and Notes on Vacation Next Week
Amateur Radio News and Notes will be on a break next week for some Summer fun. To tide you over we've got DX and contest information for the next couple weeks. We'll be back to our regular schedule August 8, 2025.
Contest Spotlight: RSGB Islands on the Air (IOTA) Contest
Image Courtesy https://www.iota-world.org/
The Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) is hosting this year's Islands on the Air (IOTA) contest at 1200 UTC July 26th to Sunday, July 27th at 1200 UTC. The IOTA program tracks contacts to islands all around the world and is active all the time. Since this is the weekend for the contest, there will be a whole lot of islands on the air for you to contact (check out the What's Happening with DX section for some examples). For the contest the 80 meter, 40 meter, 20 meter, 15 meter, and 10 meter bands will be in play. As always, IOTA has a lot of rules, so check out the rules at the RSGB site. The exchange for island chasers is RST and Serial Number (starting from 1) and for Island stations will be RST, Serial Number, and IOTA Reference. For scoring, island chasers get 2 points for each QSO with another chaser and 15 points for each island station. The multipliers are the total number of different IOTA references contacted on each band on CW plus the total contacted on SSB. Total score is QSO Points multiplied by total multipliers. Full rules and details can be found at https://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/rules/2025/riota.shtml. Good Luck!
Contest Spotlight: Adventure Radio Society Flight of the Bumblebees
Sunday, July 27th 2025 the Adventure Radio Society will be hosting this year's Flight of the Bumblebees from 1700 to 2100 UTC. This is a fun contest focused on QRP (low power) CW operations with stations in the field. The Bumblebee stations are stations who are out in the field, sign with a /BB, and are assigned a bumblebee number. Everyone else works from home and tries to work the bumblebees. The maximum power output is 5 Watts for both bumblebees and home stations and bands operated are 80 meters, 40 meters, 20 meters, 15 meters, and 10 meters around the standard QRP frequencies. The exchange for bumblebees is RST State/Province/Country and Bumblebee Number. For home stations it is RST State/Province/Country and Power in Watts. You can work each bumblebee or home station once per band. Scores are calculated as the total number of contacts multiplied by the number of bumblebees multiplied by 3. Many bumblebees will be running POTA and SOTA while running the contest, too. For more information about the contest, how to get a bumblebee number, and the rules visit https://ars-qrp.com/FOBB/FOBB.html. Good luck!
Contest Spotlight: North American QSO Party (CW)
The North American QSO Party on CW is happening again the first full weekend of August which is 1800 UTC August 2nd to 0559 UTC August 3rd this year. The objective of the NAQP is to work as many North American stations as possible during the contest period. For the purposes of the contest that includes North American DXCC entities plus Hawaii. There are entry classifications for Single Operator (no spotting networks allowed), Single Operator Assisted (with spotting networks allowed, including self-spotting), and Multioperator Two Transmitter. For this running of the NAQP it will be CW only, with bands of 160 meters, 80 meters, 40 meters, 20 meters, 15 meters, and 10 meters. The exchange is operator name location (S/P/C for NA and no location for DX). The same name must be used throughout the contest. Multipliers are all 50 US States plus DC and all 13 Canadian provinces and territories. Other North American entities use the DXCC entity name. Stations can be worked once per band and scores are total valid contacts multiplied by the number of multipliers on each band. Full rules and details can be found at https://www.ncjweb.com/NAQP-Rules.pdf. Good luck!
Berryville Hamfest Next Weekend (8/3/2025)
On Sunday, August 3, 2025 the Shenandoah Valley Amateur Radio Club will be hosting the 74th annual Berryville Hamfest. MVARC has a table once again this year and the grand prize this year is a Yaesu FT-710 transceiver. In addition to lots of vendors and tailgaters they will have the ARRL Roanoke Division Convention, a BBQ Beef and Chicken Dinner, and an ice cream truck. Gates open at 6 AM and admission is $10 as are tailgate spots. It is always a fun trip so if you're close by give them a visit and make sure to swing by the MVARC table in the Ruritan building. For more information visit https://svarc.us/hamfest/.
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 good amount of DX on the bands the next two weeks, especially with this week's IOTA contest. Stations on the air include Tiree Island in Scotland (GM2T), Thailand (E2X), Aquidneck Island (AA1AC), Isle of Man (MD7C), Benbecula Island (GM7V), Schouwen Duiveland Island (PA/OQ4T), Cotijuba Island (PX8Z), Rodrigues Island (3B9SP), Tangier Island (K4T), Fuerte Island (5K0C, 5K0T), Bermuda (K9GY/VP9), Saint Kitts Island (V47JA), Mayotte (TO3K), Greenland (OX3LX), Nicaragua (YN2RP), Tarawa Kiribati (T30TTT), Kuwait (9K2HN), and Antarctica (DP0GVN).
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 156 and the estimated sunspot number was 85 with 10 numbered sunspot regions visible from Earth. Over the last week the SFI has stayed the same. Solar activity has been at low levels recently. The geomagnetic field was at unsettled to active to levels and the Kp index reached 4 yesterday. The solar wind peaked at 818 km/s. Solar activity is predicted to be at quiet to active levels levels today and at quiet levels on Saturday, and at quiet to minor storm levels on Sunday. The chance of solar radiation storms at the S1 or greater level is low at 1%. R1 to R2 radio blackouts are possible in the near term with a predicted probability of 30%. R3 or greater blackouts are less likely with a 5% chance predicted. 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. HF conditions have been favorable overall. 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
On the contest calendar this weekend we will see the FRAPR 10M Contest, the RSGB IOTA Contest, the ARAM 50 MHz Contest, the Alabama QSO Party, and the ARS Flight of the Bumblebees. Next weekend brings the 10-10 International Summer Contest on SSB, the European HF Championships, the North American QSO Party on CW, the ARRL 222 MHz and Up Distance Contest, the Hemus VHF Contest on 144 MHz, and the SARL HF Phone 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
Steve KM9G activates SOTA with a 25 foot whip -
Mark KD7DTS and Ara N6KRA talk to Devin W6DVN about Microwave SOTA for Sofas on the Air -
Hayden VK7HH talks about what ham bands work best for which uses -
The Oxford Shortwave Log talks about the Shortwave Bulletin newsletter -
Linas LY2H uses his IC-705 Go Bag in the field -
Josh KI6NAZ and Adam K6ARK take Josh's kids out for a Eastern Sierras Adventure -
Mike K8MRD reviews a 100 Watt PD Power Bank -
Elle-Marie KJ5LXP uses EchoLink to connect to a distant repeater over the internet and RF -
Matt M0DQW takes a look at the new HydraSDR RFone Software Defined Radio -
Kevin W1DED talks to the Contest Crew about their experiences in the IARU HF Championships -
Mark KD7DTS and Ara N6ARA use the QMX to activate SOTA and show Ara's new paddle mount -
Steve KM9G takes a look at the new VR-N7600 Mobile rig -
Mike K8MRD tests out the ATAS 120A on 40 Meters -
George VK2AOE gives "12 Rules" for Hams to aspire toward -
Lidi KQ3Q receives ISS SSTV Signals using an Anytone 878 -
Dugbo KD7DUG activates SOTA and shows why two is one and one is none in the field -
Hayden VK7HH talks about a threat to the 70 cm ham band from a proposed satellite service -
Steve KM9G gets his mind blown by the Radioberry -
Kevan 2E0WMG does QRP contesting from a boat -
Matt M0DQW shows how to fix an issue with the amp on a HackRF Portapack -
Di KO6BTM builds a Morserino-32 -
Kevan 2E0WMG plays in the IARU HF Championships on an island -
That's it for this week.
Best 73,
Ed
N2EC
