The ARRL Letter for July 10, 2025 undefined

 

 

 

The ARRL Letter

 

, Editor | July 10, 2025

 

In this Issue:

 

Amateur Radio Volunteers Serving During Texas Floods

Volunteer amateur radio operators in the ARRL® (ARES®) are embedded with local served agencies in the areas of central Texas affected by devastating floods.

 

The needs and assignments have been changing, but ARES volunteers are stepping up to the dynamic needs of their communities. “This is a very fluid situation. It changes by the hour,” said ARRL South Texas Section District 7 Emergency Coordinator Terry Jones, K5LGV.

 

Cal Warnecke, WB2WQD and Glenn Rowan, K3MGR, serving at an American Red Cross shelter at the Calvary Temple Church in Kerrville, Texas.

 

The trained ham radio operators were activated starting on Friday, July 4, 2025. Radio amateurs are providing communications capabilities to agencies whose primary systems were damaged in the flooding event or where they suffer poor connectivity due to the terrain.

 

ARES members helped the American Red Cross with setup of a reunification shelter in response to the floods. Ten hams were assigned to search-and-rescue teams.

 

Dozens of health and welfare messages were passed by ham radio operators who provided a critical link when phone lines were overwhelmed. “A lot of this is tied to circuit overload preventing folks from making direct contact with family members in the area,” said Kevin McCoy, KF5FUZ.

 

During the flooding event and subsequent search and recovery missions, ARES members have been deployed to serve many different counties, including hard-hit Kerr and Kendall Counties. Mutual aid has been offered between several surrounding ARRL sections.

 

This story continues to develop, please refer to as it comes in.

 

Special Call Signs for this year’s International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Contest

Amateur radio operators in Puerto Rico will represent the United States in a worldwide amateur radio contest during the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) HF World Championship on July 12 – 13, 2025. The operators will use the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Headquarters station call sign, W1AW/KP4. The identifier of /KP4 is added to indicate the signal is being transmitted from Puerto Rico.

 

"We are very happy and honored that ARRL has given us the opportunity to use its call sign for this important contest," said Angel Santana, WP3GW, Public Information Coordinator for the ARRL Puerto Rico Section, and the amateur radio operator in charge of organizing the 2025 event in Puerto Rico.

 

"Although W1AW/KP4 has been used in recent years in special events, the particularity this year is that, in addition to representing the United States, it takes place in the context of the founding of the IARU 100 years ago, which makes it more attractive while we are on the air as W1AW/KP4," Santana added.

 

The call sign 1AW was originally issued to Hiram Percy Maxim, co-founder of ARRL and the first president of the IARU in 1925. W1AW became the official call sign of the ARRL Headquarters station and is today one of the most recognized amateur radio stations in the world, with its transmissions of bulletins, contests, and messages during emergencies.

 

ARRL is the International Secretariat of the IARU, and a team of operators is planning to activate the International Secretariat call sign, NU1AW, from the W1AW facility.

 

The objective of his year’s IARU HF World Championship is to support amateur radio self-training in radio communications, including improving amateur operating skills, conducting technical investigations, and inter-communication with other amateurs around the world, especially IARU member society headquarters stations, using the 160-, 80-, 40-, 20-, 15-, and 10-meter bands.

 

The contest begins at 1200 UTC Saturday July 12 and runs through 1159 UTC Sunday July 13. Both single and multi-operator stations may operate the entire 24-hour period.

 

For all IARU contest rules, visit []

 

Dr. Duino

 

Great Numbers Stacking Up for 2025 ARRL Field Day

The numbers for continue to grow. As of today, July 10, 3227 entries have been received and each day the list gets bigger, according to ARRL Contest Program Manager Paul Bourque, N1SFE. “Get those entries in!” he encouraged. The deadline is July 29.

 

It was a big year for ARRL Field Day on social media. 260 public posts across several platforms used the hashtag #ARRLFD. That doesn’t even cover posts in groups or on private pages. The public posts alone reached 3.5 million viewers.

 

There was also significant growth in news media coverage of 2025 ARRL Field Day. Using ARRL’s media monitoring suite, staff was able to track that amateur radio public information volunteers generated $37.5M in ad value equivalence (AVE) year-to-date around ARRL Field Day alone. That’s a metric that tracks the amount of money that would have to be spent to buy advertisements that get the same number of viewers that news stories or “earned media” did.

 

That's up from $18M in 2023 and $20M in 2024. There were 1,810 media mentions of ARRL Field Day year-to-date, a 70% increase from 2024.

 

“We’re hearing from clubs that were featured in coverage that people have been calling and wanting to get into amateur radio,” said ARRL Public Relations and Outreach Manager Sierra Harrop, W5DX. “It shows that the outreach value of ARRL Field Day is significant.”

 

 

Geochron Global Operational Awareness

 

'Tripp' Owens, N4NTO, Silent Key

Ambrose "Tripp" L. Owens, III, N4NTO, Silent Key

Ambrose "Tripp" L. Owens, III, N4NTO, passed away on July 4, 2025. He was 57 years old. Investigators from the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina believe the cause of death was accidental electrocution but a final determination has not been made. Owens was working with an antenna mast in the Chicora Civil War Cemetery at the Averasboro Battlefield during a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation. He was an avid participant with POTA, activating over 660 parks. Owens was an ARRL member and belonged to the Potomac Valley Radio Club. He held an Amateur Extra Class license and earned his first amateur radio license in 1985 when he was 13 years old. Many condolences have been posted on social media. “He was a great CW op, and I had many POTA QSOs with him.” said Thomas Cort, VA2NW. Services were scheduled for July 10 at the Calvary Episcopal Church in Tarboro, North Carolina. You can read a full obituary for Owens .

 

Changes in the ARRL Idaho Section

Don Lynn Jr., ND7L, of Nampa, has been appointed Section Manager of the ARRL Idaho Section effective July 9, 2025. Lynn has served as the Assistant Section Manager since 2019, and the State Government Liaison since 2020. He is an ARRL Life Member.

 

Lynn will serve the remainder of a term expiring September 30, 2026. He replaces Dan Marler, K7REX, who resigned from the position due to health issues. Marler had served in the role since 2019.

 

 

Amateur Radio in the News

“” / WBRE (Pennsylvania) June 29, 2025 -- The Windmill Amateur Radio Club.

 

“” / The Daily Sentinel (Texas) July 1, 2025 -- The Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club.

 

“” / WVTF (Virigina) July 1, 2025 -- The Albemarle Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL Affiliated Club.

 

“" / The Mitchell News – Journal (North Carolina) July 2, 2025 -- The Mayland Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL Affiliated Club.

 

“ ” / TRIB Live (Pennsylvania) July 3, 2025 -- The Steel City Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL Affiliated Cub.

 

“” / The Daily Sentinel (Texas) July 1, 2025 -- The Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club.

 

“” / Westside Seattle (Washington State) July 5, 2025 -- The West Seattle Amateur Radio Club.

 

“” / Sanibel Captiva (Florida) July 7, 2025 -- The Fort Myers Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL Affiliated Club.

 

 

ARRL Live Events and Podcasts

 

On the Air LIVE

Join Wayne Greene, KB4DSF, to learn about operating in the field. You'll learn about everything you need to take your operating out of the shack including antennas, power, and radios. Whether you are interested in POTA, SOTA, or just operating in the outdoors, this is the session for you! Registration is open now!

 

Up Next:

 

📅 Date: July 22, 2025

🕗 Time: 8 PM Eastern / 5 PM Pacific

👉

 

The ARRL Education and Learning Department would like to apologize for the limitation of the registration system for May’s edition of On The Air Live. It hit a limit at 500 registrants. We’ve upgraded the system to allow for this rapid success and growth in participation. The recording of the May session is available in the .

 

On the Air

Sponsored by Icom

 

Your Ham Radio Everyday Carry

Everybody's talking about everyday carry, or EDC, the trendy name for the collection of necessities you tote around with you every day, whether it's in a pocket or a bag. ARRL Education Specialist Wayne Greene, KB4DSF, joins the podcast to talk about easy ways to make radio part of your everyday carry.

 

ARRL Audio News

Listen to , available every Friday. ARRL Audio News is a summary of the week's top news stories in the world of amateur radio and ARRL, along with interviews and other features. The ARRL Audio News is now broadcast on FM low power radio stations KQRZ-LP 100.7 and 96.7 MHz FM in Spokane, Washington every Saturday and Sunday morning at 8:00 AM PDT.

 

The On the Air podcast and ARRL Audio News are available on blubrry, iTunes, and Apple Podcasts.

|

 
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In Brief...

Michael Dean, K5MFD, Silent Key

Michael Dean, K5MFD, ARRL Oklahoma Section Public Information Coordinator, passed away on July 7, 2025. He was 77 years old. Dean was first licensed as a Technician in 1991 and upgraded to a General class license in 2010. He served as a Public Information Officer since 2013, and as Section Public Information Coordinator from 2014 - 2016 and since 2019. He was also the Section State Government Liaison since 2016. . He was known for his unmistakable and iconic voice and storytelling. Dean worked as a historian of “everything” and served in the U.S. Army Reserve and as a United States Marine. A funeral service will be held on Saturday, July 12, 2025, at 10:00 AM at the Edmond Church of Christ, 801 S. Bryant Ave, Edmond, OK.

 

Youth on the Air (YOTA) Camp Junior is set to debut on July 25 - 27, 2025 at the National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting in West Chester (Cincinnati), Ohio. The camp is a subregional, 3-day version of the YOTA region-wide camps. Campers will experience similar activities as the region-wide camps, but on a smaller scale. The camp will focus on building strong relationships with peers, mentors, and parents while developing new and refining old skills. YOTA Junior in the Americas is closely modeled after the Kids On The Air program in IARU Region 1 (Europe/Africa/Middle East). Campers, all of whom are licensed amateurs under age 15, will also have the chance to operate special event station W8Y, featuring cutting-edge HF and VHF/UHF radios that many only dream of having a chance to use... and a wide array of antennas. The , WC8VOA, is located at the museum and is a division of National Voice of America Museum of Broadcasting.

 

Masayoshi “Masa” Ebisawa, JA1DM, Silent Key. Longtime DXer, DXCC card checker, CQ DX Hall of Fame member, friend of ARRL and former Japanese Amateur Radio League (JARL) Director Masayoshi “Masa” Ebisawa, JA1DM, passed away in March 2025. He was 92 years old. Masa was first licensed in 1953 and for many years worked on behalf of DXers in Japan and elsewhere through his efforts leading the DXCC Card Checking group for ARRL/JARL. He sought out and trained new card checkers, organized sessions, trained volunteers, and arranged for QSL card checking at JARL HQ, and at the large Tokyo “Ham Fair” event every August. Masa never had a large station, and operating mostly from his city lots, he achieved tremendous success as a DXer, reaching the rare 390-country level in the mixed DXCC category, as well as 374 countries on phone and 347 on CW.

 

He wrote a book, simply titled The DX Century Club Award – DXCC, for Japanese hams which explained DXing, QSLing and the Logbook of The World (LoTW) in simple terms and with lots of pictures.

 

One of Masa’s fondest milestones was being inducted into the CQ DX Hall of Fame in 2005 at the DX Banquet at Dayton. Masa made numerous trips to the Dayton Hamvention® as a representative of JARL and a partner of ARRL.

 

 

Announcements

The Sussex County Amateur Radio Club is holding its annual hamfest and hosting the 2025 ARRL Hudson Division Convention in Augusta, New Jersey, on Sunday, July 13. The convention will span more than six acres of outdoor tailgate space and 10,000 square feet indoors. Attendees will have an opportunity to meet ARRL Hudson Division Director Ed Wilson, N2XDD; Vice Director David Galletly, KM2O; Director of Marketing and Innovation Bob Inderbitzen, NQ1R, and many ARRL Section Managers and Field Organization volunteers. The Hudson Division includes the ARRL Sections of Eastern New York, New York City-Long Island, and Northern New Jersey. Visit the for more information.

 

The Amateur Radio Club of the National Electronics Museum (ARCNEM) will operate special event station W3A commemorating live TV from the moon that allowed the world to see mankind’s first steps on the lunar surface. The event will take place July 18 – 21, 1300Z-2200Z, on 14.269, 14.069, 7.269, and 7.069 MHz. Operation on 80 meters — 3.869 and 3.569 — and digital modes are also possible during event. Frequencies +/- according to QRM. QSL and certificate available via SASE. Details at .

 

Open Positions at ARRL

Come join the headquarters staff of ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio®! We are currently seeking qualified applicants for the following positions:

 

Membership Manager

Advertising Sales Manager

Administrative Coordinator

 

Full details may be found on the ARRL HR web page at

 

ARRL is an equal opportunity employer.

 

 

The ARRL Solar Report

This image was taken on July 10, 2025. [Photo courtesy of NASA SDO/HMI]

ARRL Solar Report July 10, 2025

 

Solar activity was at moderate levels last week due to an isolated M1.3 flare on July 4. However, activity is expected to be low with a further chance for M-class flares (R1-R2/minor-moderate) on July 10 – 11, primarily due to the flare potential of region 4136.

 

G1 (minor) geomagnetic storms were observed on 06 July due to coronal hole high speed stream (CH HSS) influence. Outlook For July 10 – 13: there is a decreased chance for R1-R2 (minor-moderate) radio blackouts on July 11 with most regions on the visible disk rotating off and no appreciable spot groups rotating on. Conditions could increase on 12-13 July as old regions 4117, 4118, 4120, and 4121 rotate back onto the visible disk.

 

Solar wind parameters reflected continued but waning influences from a negative polarity coronal hole high speed stream. Solar wind speeds peaked at 640 km/s and have slowly declined to near 530 km/s. Nominal solar wind conditions are anticipated to return on July 11. The co-rotating interacting region associated with the positive polarity CH HSS is expected to arrive July 12. An enhancement of the solar wind parameters will follow the arrival.

 

10.7 -centimeter flux: July 10 – 11: 110; July 12 – 13: 105; July 14: 110; July 15: 115; July 16: 120.

 

Predicted sunspot numbers: July 11: 137; July 12: 136; July 13: 143; July 14: 138; July 15: 141; July 16: 139.

 

For more information concerning radio propagation, the ARRL Technical Information Service, read , and the Propagation Page of Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA.

 

For customizable propagation charts, visit the .

 

Just Ahead in Radiosport

  • July 11 -- QRP Fox Hunt (CW)
  • July 11 -- NCCC FT4 Sprint (digital)
  • July 12 - 13 -- (CW, phone)
  • July 14 -- 4 States QRP Group Second Sunday Sprint (CW, phone)
  • July 15 -- ICWC Medium Speed Test (CW)
  • July 16 -- RSGB 80 Meter Club Championship, SSB (phone)
  • July 18 -- NCCC FT4 Sprint (digital)
  • July 18 -- Weekly RTTY Sprint (digital)
  • July 19 -- YOTA Contest (CW, phone)
  • July 19 -- Trans-Tasman Low-Bands Challenge (CW, phone, digital)
  • July 19 - 20 -- LABRE DX Contest (CW, phone)
  • July 20 -- RSGB International Low Power Contest (CW)
  • July 21 -- K1USN Slow Speed Test (CW)
  • July 23 -- A1Club AWT (CW)
  • July 24 -- RSGB 80m Club Championship, Data (digital)

 

Remember to visit the for more events and information.

 

Upcoming Section, State, and Division Conventions

Remember to search the Database to find events in your area.

 

Have News for ARRL?

Submissions for The ARRL Letter and ARRL News can be sent to . -- John E. Ross, KD8IDJ,

 

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