Amateur Radio News and Notes 2/20/2026

In the log this week* Contest Spotlight: ARRL International DX Contest* ARRL Delta Division Assistant Director Frank Howell K4FMH Resigns* Bouvet Island 3Y0K DXpedition Update* FCC Updates Rules to Require FRN Updates Within 10 Days of Changes* MVARC George Washington’s Birthday Special Event Station Recap* MVARC Nets on the Air* What’s happening with DX? * Solar Activity Update* Upcoming Contests* Interesting Online Radio Content As always, links to all referenced content can be found in the show notes, or at our Substack at mvarc.substack.com Contest Spotlight: ARRL International DX ContestThis weekend brings one of the biggest DX contests on the air, the ARRL International DX Contest on CW (SSB is the first week of March). There is so much DX that it may even be possible to get DXCC (100 countries) in a weekend. If you’re a CW op, this is the time to get on the air. The contest starts 0000 UTC on Saturday (that’s 7PM ET Friday night) and continues through 2359 UTC Sunday (6:59PM ET Sunday). To participate, the DX stations can only work US and Canadian stations, this means this is a contest where the DX is chasing you!The exchange for the contest on the US/Canada side of things to send a signal report and state/province. DX stations send signal report and power as a number or abbreviation. So for me in Virginia, my exchange would be “599 VA”. Bands are 160, 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters and power classifications are QRP (5 Watts and below), LP (Above 5 W to 100W), and HP (up to 1500 Watts). You can work stations once per band and each QSO is worth 3 points. For US/Canada multipliers are each DXCC entity once per band and for DX it is each State or Province (including DC) once per band. Total score = QSO Points x Multipliers. Logs need to be submitted within 7 days of the end of the contest. Full rules and details can be found at https://www.arrl.org/arrl-dx. Good Luck! ARRL Delta Division Assistant Director Frank Howell K4FMH ResignsFrank Howell K4FMH, who served as the Assistant Director of the Delta Division for the ARRL for 12 years, resigned on February 13, 2026. In his letter to Delta Division Director David Norris K5UZ he cited the recent changes in the ARRL By-Laws, specifically By-Law 46 as the reason for his resignation. The by-law requires directors to annually “recertify” that they have “read, understand, and agree to comply with the ARRL Board Member Statement“ or be made ineligible to serve on the board. The statement requires a Duty of Care, Duty of Loyalty, and Duty of Obedience. Of particular concern to those who have not signed the document or resigned due to its enforcement is the clause concerning the “Duty of Loyalty” which requires directors “maintain confidentiality to ensure candid deliberations and effective strategic and tactical planning”. Some have interpreted that clause to be in conflict with the responsibilities of the directors to the membership and potentially in conflict with Connecticut state law.Howell stated that due to Director Norris signing the statement he “cannot support [his] actions under this stipulation as [he] believe[s] it is not a good outcome for the members of the League. This is a principle issue in [his] eyes. Therefore, [he is] resigning as an Assistant Director of the Delta Division”. This follows the removal of Atlantic Division Director Robert Famiglio K3RF and the resignation of Eastern Pennsylvania Section Manager Bob Wilson W3BIG in the last few weeks. Howell’s full letter can be found at https://k4fmh.com/2026/02/13/why-i-resigned-after-12-years-as-assistant-director-of-the-arrl-delta-division/.Bouvet Island 3Y0K DXpedition UpdateImage Courtesy https://3y0k.comThe highly anticipated 3Y0K DXpedition to Bouvet Island reached a milestone this week. The transport ship Argus arrived in Cape Town, South Africa. The arrival comes after the announcement in January that the team was expecting a delay of about two weeks due to vessel maintenance requirements. The location of the Argus can be tracked at https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=7104752. The 3Y0K DXpedition is one of the most expensive and logistically complicated in history with a reported budget of around $1.7 million. They plan to leave from Cape Town, South Africa and sail to Bouvet for a 3 week DXpedition, but at press time an exact date of departure has not been announced. The 3Y0K team has mentioned that they have received reports of individuals pirating the call sign on-air. They ask you not to work the pirates and do say there will be official communications from pilots or a team leader when the team is operational.Links with more information can be found at:The Official Site: https://3y0k.com/ The Ship Tracker: https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=7104752 DX News Coverage: https://dxnews.com/3y0k/ FCC Updates Rules to Require FRN Updates Within 10 Days of ChangesThe Federal Communications Commission amended section 1.8002(b)(2) of the Commission’s rules to require that individuals who register with the FCC for a FCC Registration Number (FRN) must update the information in that registration within 10 business days of that change. According to the ARRL, this is a change as there was no specific deadline for those updates previously. All amateurs must have an FRN to file applications. Since that information is separate from the license applications, it needs to both be maintained via different updates via CORES and the License Manager System. The FCC issued a public notice to clarify this change on February 6. MVARC George Washington’s Birthday Special Event Station RecapPhoto Courtesy Corey KN4YZYLast weekend the Mount Vernon Amateur Radio Club operated as K4US from the grounds of George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate to celebrate his 294th birthday. The event was very successful with many members of the club and the community joining us on site and on the air. We operated two 100 Watt stations on the 20 and 40 meter bands using an Icom 7100 and Yaesu FT-991A connected to an N2EC VersaHex antenna in V-dipole mode and a Chelegance MC-750 vertical antenna. All in all we got over 220 QSOs in the log working the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Belgium, and England as well as 26 states and 3 Canadian Provinces. As always, the club is deeply grateful for Mount Vernon hosting us again this year. Thanks for everyone who made this such a fun event.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 DXAs you would expect on a big DX contest weekend, there will be a lot of DX on the air this week. Stations on the air include the Azores (CR2X), Bermuda (VP9I), Martinique (TO4A), Belize (V3T, V3O, V31KO), Barbados (8P5A, 8P9XB), Costa Rica (TI7W), Bonaire (PJ4K), Aruba (P44W), Guyana (8R1WA), Gambia (C5SP), Guinea Bissau (J52EC, J51A), Desecheo Island (KP5/NP3VI), Mali (TZ1CE), Colombia (HK3JCL), and Solomon Islands (H44MS).A calendar of DXpeditions can be found at https://dxnews.com/calendar/ Solar Activity UpdateAs we go to press the Solar Flux Index (SFI) was 119 and the estimated sunspot number was 43 with 3 numbered sunspot regions visible from Earth. Over the last week the SFI has decreased. Solar activity has been at low levels in the last 24 hours. The geomagnetic field has been at quiet to unsettled levels and the Kp index reached 3 yesterday. The solar wind peaked at 558 km/s. Solar activity is predicted to be at low levels with a slight chance of M-class flares today through Sunday. The geomagnetic field is forecast to be at quiet to unsettled levels today and at quiet levels on Saturday and Sunday. The chance of solar radiation storms at the S1 or greater level is at 1% today through Sunday. R1 to R2 radio blackouts are unlikely in the near term with a predicted probability of 10% today through Sunday. R3 or greater blackouts are unlikely with a 1% chance predicted today through Sunday. 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. It remains a fantastic time for amateurs 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 ContestsThis weekend brings the ARRL International DX Contest on CW we mentioned earlier as well as the REF Contest on SSB, the Russian PSK WW Contest, the Feld Hell Sprint, the World Wide Argentina DX Contest, the High Speed CW Contest, and the Classic Exchange on Phone. 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.phpInteresting Online Radio ContentMatt M0DQW looks at the new FT2 mode for digital communication - Michael KB9VBR builds an inexpensive Yaesu headset adapter - Mike K8MRD puts up an antenna with his dad - Kevin W1DED gives a POTA update for February 2026 - Matt M0DQW looks at the Allstar Radioless Node Z2 - Bob WV7W talks about antenna efficiency - Josh KI6NAZ looks at the new BuddiPole BuddiHex Mini - Stuart VE9CF talks about his favorite DX cluster - Craig KM6LYW talks about the differences between various digital modes - Lewis M3HHY uses a spectrum analyzer and directional antenna to hunt for signals - Matt M0DQW looks at an automatic antenna switch - Kevin KB9RLW shows how to integrate the DX cluster into QLOG - Andy DL6FA has a CW QSO with Reto 5Z4GO in Kenya - Manuel WP4TZ works the massive pileups as KP5/NP3VI remote to Desecheo - Ed W4EMB and Chris N8PEM talk about delta loop antennas on the CW Corner Podcast - Steve KM9G looks at the Raddy RF919 shortwave receiver - George VK2AOE shows us part 2 of his 40 meter QRP Transceiver build - That’s it for this week.Best 73,EdN2EC This is a public episode. 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