In the log this week
* MVARC Field Day Recap
* MVARC Breakfast Recap
* The 13 Colonies Special Event Happening Until 7/7/2025
* ARRL Logbook of the World Back Online After Systems Upgrade
* MVARC Nets on the Air
* What's happening with DX?
* Solar Activity Update
* Upcoming Contests
* Interesting Online Radio Content
MVARC Field Day Recap
MVARC had a lot of fun last weekend for ARRL Field Day. We had a lot of ops join in as we operated 5A once again this year with the club getting hundreds of QSOs in the log. We were also visited by members of the community including a couple Fairfax County Police officers and also Sandy KQ4DNE of the Fairfax County Department of Emergency Management and Security.
We were lucky with the weather this year and did not have to deal with any rain or thunderstorms. However, it was quite hot outside, which put a damper on the festivities a bit during the day. In the early evening on Saturday we had our club picnic with catered BBQ and had a good turnout and ample food. Also at the picnic the club awarded the member of the year award to Ed N2EC (of the third person) for which I am very much honored.
As day turned to dark we had a contingent of operators who stayed through the night to get those contacts. 15 meters stayed open well into the evening and contacts were made to Australia, Hawaii, and Alaska on digital. CW and SSB operations focused on 80, 40, and 20 meters and fought with many close in signals and a high noise floor. As morning came members and their families brought the team donuts and coffee and after a bit more operating the group helped to take down the setup.
All in all I think this year's Field Day was a great success. We had lots of members of the club and the community join us, and most importantly, we had a lot of fun. I definitely look forward to next year's Field Day.
MVARC Breakfast Recap
Photo Courtesy Corey KN4YZY
Just before the start of the Field Day festivities we had our monthly breakfast at the Hybla Valley IHOP. We had a great turnout as usual and great conversation over a delicious breakfast. Our breakfasts are held on the 4th Saturday of each month and we look forward to seeing you at the next one.
The 13 Colonies Special Event Happening until July 7
Image courtesy https://www.13colonies.us/
The 17th Annual 13 Colonies Special event started on Tuesday, July 1, 2025 and the activity on the bands has been quite exciting with big pileups on offer. This event seems to get more and more popular each year.
The event is staffed by volunteers in each of the states from the original 13 colonies as well as Great Britain and France, and it can be a fun challenge to see if you can get them in the log. If you do find one of the stations, they ask that you give them a spot on DX Summit at http://www.dxsummit.fi/, which is also a great place to find spots for the stations you need. The event tends to be VERY active on CW and SSB and may also be on RTTY and Digital. Activity will be on all bands (including the WARC bands) except 60 meters. I hope to be able to make a clean sweep on CW this year and always enjoy this event. Each of the stations has special QSL cards you can send for if you make a contact, and you can apply for a certificate for the event as well. They request a $5 donation to cover costs, but if that is a hardship will provide them free of charge.
More information about the event can be found at https://www.13colonies.us/. Good luck!
ARRL Logbook of the World Back Online After Systems Upgrade
Logbook of The World, the popular system used for logging on the Worked All States, DX Century Club, VHF/UHF Century Club, CQ WPX, and CQ WAZ awards programs returned to service on Wednesday.
ARRL CEO David Minster NA2AA said in a press release that "LoTW [received] major upgrades to the operating system it is running on, the relational database system it uses to store and access logbook and awards data, and server hosting, where it will be fully migrated to the cloud. These changes will, among other improvements, ensure LoTW performance needs can be better met based on user demand.". His full statement can be found at https://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-announces-logbook-of-the-world-systems-upgrade.
Anecdotally speaking, LoTW does seem to be running faster than before and appears to be much more responsive.
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 this week. Stations on the air include Cayman Islands (ZF2AE), Miquelon Island (FP/KV1J), Avidimou Beach SBA (ZC4MK), Tarawa Kiribati (T30TTT), Benin (TY5AD), Kuwait (9K2HN), Falkland Islands (VP8DPD), 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 125 and the estimated sunspot number was 148 with 8 numbered sunspot regions visible from Earth. Over the last week the SFI has increased. Solar activity has been at low levels recently. The geomagnetic field was at quiet to active levels and the Kp was at 4 yesterday evening. The solar wind reached 411 km/s yesterday. Solar activity is predicted to reach active levels for the 4th of July holiday with a chance for G1 level storms due to persistent coronal mass ejection effects. The chance of solar radiation storms at the S1 or greater level is low at 1%. A slight chance of R1 to R2 radio blackouts are possible in the near term with a predicted probability of 20%. R3 or greater blackouts are unlikely with a 1% 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 of all license classes 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 Venezuelan Independence Day Contest, the FOC Old School Classic 1960s QSO Party, the NZART Memorial Contest, the TA VHF/UHF Contest, the CQ Worldwide VHF SSB/CW Contest, the Marconi Memorial HF Contest, the Original QRP Contest, and the PODXS 070 Club 40m Firecracker Sprint. 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
Matt M0DQW takes another look at the Quansheng TK11 -
Steve KM9G has some issues with his Xiegu 6200 and resolves them -
Kevan 2E0WMG operates from an island in Canada as VA3WMG/P -
Matt M0DQW takes a look at a GPS NTP time server suitable for off grid FT8 -
Dr. Tamitha Skov WX6SWW takes a look at recent solar weather -
Walt K4OGO takes a look at the Choyong LC90 Radio -
Jeff KF0MYB and Joe KF0MYJ talk about Software Defined Radio (SDR) -
George VK2AOE builds an RF tap -
HistoryX takes a look at the Titanic's Radio Room and the effort to remove the Marconi radio from it -
Kevin W1DED and the Contest Crew talk about the HF World Championship -
Chuck KK6USY starts his build of the Advanced Antenna Research Phasing Controller -
That's it for this week.
Best 73,
Ed
N2EC
