The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted an ARRL emergency request for a 60-day temporary waiver intended to facilitate amateur radio emergency communications for hurricane relief. The waiver was adopted on Tuesday, September 27, 2022, and immediately permitted amateur radio operators supporting amateur data transmission for Hurricane Ian traffic to employ a higher symbol rate for data transmissions than the current limit of 300 baud.

The newsletter editor would love to make the Ham Arundel News a premiere publication in the amateur world. One area he would like to add is any articles on your specialties that can be of benefit to the membership.

Whether it involves antenna building, POTA or SOTA activations (amongst others), use of non-traditional frequencies that most hams don't use, or any thing of general interest, the editor is interested.

We are making the Special Event Stations for October available to those accessing the website, which may include members, potential members and amateurs in general.

We use the ARRL listings, but sort them by type of activity and then date. This way people can find Special Event Stations based on their preferences.

The listing is in PDF format.  

Next Sunday, 2 October 2022 is the annual CARA Fest at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, Maryland. We are emailing all the local club POCs and editors listed with ARRL to help spread the word, thank you in advance for your consideration!

CARA Fest It is a Hamfest and STEM Fest for all ages! Attendees can buy and sell equipment, sit for a licensing exam, meet with a variety of local clubs, and explore professional emergency communications vehicles, while a variety of STEM activities and demonstrations will keep visitors of all ages engaged.

Abie Alexander, AB1F, just received his ARRL certificate for placing first in the Maryland-DC Section and 5th in the Atlantic Division for his 2021 contesting efforts.

The AARC conducts a net on most Tuesdays to discuss digital communications. The All Things Digital net begins at 8 pm on the club's repeaters. (The exception is the second Tuesday of months when schools are in session as RACES conducts it regular meeting on the repeaters.)

The club repeaters are 147.105 and 444.400 in Davidsonville and the 147.105 in Curtis Bay. All repeaters have a positive offset and use a PL tone of 107.2. 

The club also sponsors the Holly Net on weekdays between 7 and 9 am as well as a weekly Wednesday Night Net at 8 pm.

A good turnout considering there was an ARES demonstration at the Arundel Mills campus of the Anne Arundel Community College, the Anne Arundel County Fair, the Maryland Renaissance  Festival and the air show at Joint Base Andrews.

The 2023 proposed budget is here. It will be up for approval at the October business meeting.

The 2023 proposed budget will be presented to the membership for review at the September 15th meeting. Comments will be allowed afterwards by contacting treasurer@w3vpr.org and the final draft will is to be acted upon at the October meeting. 

Due to special events and the upcoming Picnic, the Open Shacks scheduled for September 11 and September 18 have been canceled. 

As noted earlier, Abie Alexander, AB1F, received recognition in the CQ WW WPX Contest 2022. A copy of the certificate is shown here. Abie did so using the club equipment in the shack at Davidsonville. 

Current members can utilize the club equipment with the proper license on open shack days to become more familiar with equipment other than a HT.

MDC SECTION HAMFEST

Get an eyeball with your fellow-Hams, visit vendors at the trade show, stroll thru the tailgate / flea market and join the chat about the latest in Amateur Radio. Please add these upcoming events to your MDC Section Hamfests / Nearby Hamfests. (WV, VA, DE, WPA, EPA, MDC)

MDC Section SEC is seeking to fill vacant ASEC - Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator.

The Fall Technician class is scheduled to begin on Sunday October 2nd at 1:00pm. This is an entry level class to amateur radio. At the conclusion you should be able to pass the Technician examination.

There is no charge to take the class. You may register at https://www.w3vpr.org/preregister.

. The class will use the ARRL text for Technician licenses, which is available from Amazon.com or the ARRL Store.

This is a reminder that license testing this month is on September 10. The AARC team is part of the Laurel VEC and we offer tests for all three licenses. There is no charge to take the test. To pre-register go to the pre-registration page.

Of note for VHF contesters is the 2022 ARRL September VHF Contest, which begins on September 10 at 1800 UTC, and concludes on September 12 at 0259 UTC. The new Analog Only categories that were introduced for Single Operator participants in June will continue with this event, so there are plenty of ways to participate, no matter which modes (CW, SSB, or digital) you choose to operate. Operation is allowed on any amateur frequency from 50 MHz to light.

If you have a friend who wants to become a ham, tell them there are not one, but two courses coming up.  They have their pick.  Both are done locally, via Zoom.

Abie Alexander, AB1F, was the winner of the Single Operator Unlimited, Low Power 15 meters in the Atlantic Division during the 2022 ARRL International DX Phone Contest that was held in March. 

The MDC QSO Party was conducted on August 13. As of August 15 a total of 129 entries had been received. More are expected, as the cutoff date for submissions is 30 days from the date of the contest.

For those who have not submitted, an entry form is required in order to be considered for points and awards.

Dr. Michael Carper of Ham Radio Deluxe will be the guest speaker (via Zoom) for the August 4 meeting. 

Dr. Carper is the remaining one of three co-founders who founded HRD Software, LLC in 2012. During 2017, he took an active role in managing portions of daily business operations of HRD Software with a focus is on Sales, Support, and Digital Marketing. Today, he sets the agenda product development.