If you would like to become a member of SELARC, please print out and complete the application/renewal form and return it with your check to: P.O. Box 1324, Hammond LA 70404. Thanks!

Membership renewal fees are now due. March 31st is the cutoff date for renewals. Anyone joing SELARC during the last three months of the year are carried forward to the following year!

==> FCC Reduces Proposed Amateur Radio Application Fee to $35
The FCC has agreed with ARRL and other commenters that its proposed $50 fee for certain amateur radio applications was "too high to account for the minimal staff involvement in these applications." In a Report and Order (R&O), released on December 29, the FCC scaled back to $35 the fee for a new license application, a special temporary authority (STA) request, a rule waiver request, a license renewal application, and a vanity call sign application. ...

==> ARRL ARES Volunteers Were Ready to Assist in Wake of Nashville Blast
ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) volunteers went on alert, ready to deploy in Williamson County, Tennessee, in the aftermath of an apparently intentional explosion early on Christmas Day in front of an AT&T switching facility in downtown Nashville. The blast injured several people and killed the individual believed responsible for the blast. It also damaged buildings, broke water mains, and disrupted telecommunications. ...

==> SKYWARN Recognition Day 2020 Deemed A Success
Judging by the list of more than 700 registered participants, SKYWARN® Recognition Day (SRD) on December 5 was a success. Cosponsored by ARRL and the National Weather Service (NWS), SRD recognizes radio amateurs for the vital public service they provide during severe weather. Participants ranged from NWS offices, radio amateurs, non-amateur radio spotters, and non-SKYWARN spotters. Radio amateurs -- the first SKYWARN volunteers -- comprise a large percentage of SKYWARN volunteers across the country, providing vital communication between the NWS and emergency management in the event that telecommunication systems are knocked out. ...

==> First Solar Image from Hawaii Observatory Shows Sunspot Close-Up
The world's largest solar observatory, National Science Foundation (NSF) Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope in Hawaii, has released its first image of a sunspot, capturing the phenomenon in striking detail. The image, taken last January, is among the first solar images of the new Solar Cycle 25. The telescope's 4-meter primary mirror will give the best views of the sun from Earth throughout Solar Cycle 25. The image was released along with the first of a series of Inouye-related articles featured in the Solar Physics journal. As radio amateurs know, sunspots and other solar activity can affect HF radio propagation, among other things, and they are where coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and solar flares originate. The Inouye telescope is in its final stages of construction. ...

==> SSTV Event to Help ARISS Mark 20 Years of Continuous Ham Radio Operation in Space
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) will continue its year-long 20th anniversary celebration of continuous ham radio operation from the ISS this month, with a slow-scan television (SSTV) event over the holidays. The first ARISS school contact took place in December 2000, not long after the first ISS crew arrived on station a month earlier and had made test contacts. The commemorative late-December SSTV event will be held December 24 through December 31, although dates are subject to change. The frequency will be 145.800 MHz, using SSTV PD-120 mode. Over its 20 years, ARISS has supported nearly 1,400 scheduled ham radio contacts with schools, student groups, and other education organizations. ...

==> Reverse Beacon Network Leveraging Yasme Foundation Grant for Expansion
The Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) is taking advantage of a grant from the Yasme Foundation, in cooperation with Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC), to add 15 more nodes. RBN is a global system of software-defined radio receivers that monitor amateur radio bands and report CW, RTTY, and FT4/FT8 signals to a central, searchable database. In October, a Yasme-funded node was successfully installed in Tunisia, bolstering RBN representation in northern Africa. Additional nodes are planned for Algeria and Libya. ...

==> Launch Window for AMSAT's RadFxSat-2 / Fox-1E CubeSat Opens on December 19
The launch that will carry AMSAT's RadFxSat-2/Fox-1E CubeSat into orbit could come as early as this month. Virgin Orbit has announced that the launch window for its LauncherOne Launch Demo 2 mission, which will carry the AMSAT spacecraft into orbit, opens on December 19. RadFxSat-2 is the fifth and final Fox-1 satellite built by AMSAT. ...

==> Australian Radio Amateurs Denied Access to 60 Meters
After considering several options for a 5 MHz amateur allocation, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has come down in favor of national government interests. Following a consultation, ACMA decided not to permit ham operation on the 5351.5 - 5366.5 kHz band. The 15 kHz-wide band was allocated to the amateur service on a secondary basis in 2017, ACMA says, "unresolved sharing issues" have prevented ham radio use of the band, used by more than 500 other licensed services as well as by the Australian military."
"The ACMA recognizes the high level of interest shown by the amateur community in adding this band and understands there will be disappointment," the agency said. ...

==> Transatlantic Tests Mark 99th Anniversary
On December 11, 1921, radio history was made when a signal from amateur station 1BCG in Greenwich, Connecticut, was heard in Ardrossan, Scotland, marking the first successful transatlantic radio transmission using shortwave frequencies. Between 1921 and 1924, radio amateurs experimented with transmitting across the Atlantic. Sponsored by ARRL, the Transatlantic Tests aimed to prove that shorter wavelength frequencies could propagate long distances using transmitters running less than 1 kW. The initial run of the Transatlantic Tests was a failure. For the second Transatlantic Tests, ARRL dispatched receiver designer Paul Godley, 2ZE, considered one of the best of operators the day, to Europe to listen for participating stations. His nine-tube receiver employed the latest superheterodyne technology.
In one of those historical coincidences, during his voyage to England, Godley met Harold Beverage, who convinced him to use a specially designed, highly sensitive, directional 1,300-foot antenna, still referred to as the Beverage antenna. ...

==> ARRL Asks FCC to Allow 3.4-GHz Operation until Spectrum is Occupied
In comments to the FCC, ARRL has argued that radio amateurs be allowed to continue shared operation in the 3.4 GHz band until 5G licensees who purchase the spectrum when the FCC puts it up for auction initiate incompatible operations. In its Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) in WT Docket 19-348, the FCC had proposed to sunset the band for amateur radio in two phases, governed by when new licenses are issued rather than when the new licensees begin to use the spectrum. ...

==> Arecibo Observatory Suffers a Fatal Blow as Instrument Platform Falls
The 900-ton instrument platform of the 305-meter radio telescope at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico fell some 400 feet Tuesday morning, crashing into the huge, already-damaged dish below, the National Science Foundation (NSF) reported in a December 1 Tweet. "No injuries were reported," NSF said, adding that it is still assessing the situation. "Our top priority is maintaining safety." The calamity not only was a final and fatal blow for the observatory but for the people of Puerto Rico. ...