American Radio Relay League | Ham Radio Association and Resources

1. One Down, One to Go: The ARRL International DX Contest Gears Up for SSB

   With the CW portion of the ARRL International DX Contest now a series of fading dits and dahs in the memories of participants, preparations for the SSB portion of the DX Contest -- the weekend of March 3-4 -- are already underway.

   According to ARRL Contest Branch Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X, for this contest, stations in the US and Canada work only DX stations, and DX stations only work the US and...

2. Section Managers Winter Election Results

   Two ARRL Sections -- Eastern Pennsylvania and Louisiana -- will get new Section Managers, as of April 1, 2012. Two other Sections -- San Diego and Virginia -- will keep their incumbent Section Managers. Ballots for these races were counted Tuesday, February 21 at ARRL Headquarters.

   Eastern Pennsylvania

   After serving more than 11 years as Eastern Pennsylvania Section Manager, Eric Olena, WB3FPL, o...

3. Republic of South Sudan Assigned Prefix

   After a wait of more than seven months after being accepted as a member of the United Nations, the Republic of South Sudan received its prefix block from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU): Z8. On July 14, 2011 -- after South Sudan’s admittance to the UN -- the new country became a DXCC entity by way of Section II, 1(a) of the DXCC rules.  -- Thanks to The Daily DX for the information

4. March Qualifying Runs

   The W1AW and West Coast Qualifying Runs were inadvertently left out of the March 2012 issue of QST. Here is the missing information:

   W1AW Qualifying Runs are 10 PM EST Friday, March 9 (0300 UTC March 10) (10-40 WPM) and 7 PM EDT (2300 UTC) Tuesday, March 20. The West Coast Qualifying Run will be transmitted by station K6KPH on 3581.5, 7047.5, 14047.5, 18097.5 and 21067.5 kHz at 2 PM PDT (2200 UT...

5. Bill Simons, W9BB, Silent Key; Developed Shure Microphones

   William A. Simons, W9BB (ex-W9YXJ), passed away in Minnesota on January 2, 2012 at the age of 84. He earned his Class B ticket in 1941 at the age of 14 and converted a cathedral radio into his first transmitter. Later, Bill earned DXCC using homebrew gear of his own design. Eventually he earned a top spot on the ARRL DXCC Honor Roll.

   Bill’s professional career spanned 31 years with Shure Inc -- ...