Amateur Radio News and Notes 3/13/2026

In the log this week* Dayton Hamvention Announces 2026 Award Winners* HamSci Conference This Weekend* Bouvet Island 3Y0K DXpedition Update* Guinea-Bissau J51A DXpedition Breaks QSO World Record* MVARC at Vienna Wireless Association Winterfest This Weekend* 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 Thanks for reading Amateur Radio News and Notes. Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.Dayton Hamvention Announces 2026 Award WinnersImage Courtesy https://hamvention.org/This week the Dayton Amateur Radio Association announced the winners for their 2026 Awards to be presented at Dayton Hamvention. This year’s Technical Achievement award will be presented to Bob Famiglio K3RF. Bob has spent almost 60 years as an amateur radio operator and has served as volunteer counsel for more than 40 years helping amateurs navigate the legal world as it intersects with radio. He has also been elected for multiple terms and offices at the ARRL as EPA Section Manager, Atlantic Division Vice Director, and most recently Atlantic Division Director. His dedicated service to the amateur radio community has helped many get on the air and enjoy the hobby more fully.This year’s Amateur of the Year award goes to Dr. Otis Vicens NP4G. Otis grew up in Humacao, Puerto Rico and went to university at Purdue University and then got his dental degree from the University of Puerto Rico school of Dental medicine, completing a speciality program in Pediatric Dentistry at Brookdale University Hospital in Brooklyn, NY. He then returned to Puerto Rico to practice orthodontics. He has been active in DXpeditions including Bouvet, been the president of the Puerto Rico Amateur Radio League in 2012, and helped in emergency coordination during the aftermath of Hurricane Georges in 2017. He is now the president of the International DX Association and was a part of the team that just activated Desecheo Island.The Special Achievement award goes to Martha and Joe Fell (N3QBE and W3GMS). They work to mentor students and their first student is pursuing a PhD in Electrical Engineering at MIT and their youngest mentee began with them at 8 years old.The Club of the Year award goes to the Long Island CW Club. LICW is an organization with over 7,800 members in all 50 states and 70 countries that is dedicated to helping amateurs learn and enjoy using Morse code. The club has 182 classes a week taught by dozens of volunteers over Zoom videoconferencing (your author currently teaches Intermediate and Advanced classes with LICW). The club is a welcoming and inclusive organization with a very active community and a strong focus on continuous improvement of curriculum and methods. In addition to the adult classes, the club has a vibrant kids program that has taught hundreds of kids Morse code and seen many go on to be active and proficient operators. The club also has several weekly forums on topics ranging from portable operations, antennas, boat anchors, 3D printing, and more.Congratulations to all the winners this year. Amateur Radio News and Notes will be at Dayton again this year, so look for more coverage in the weeks ahead. This year’s Dayton Hamvention will be May 15-17, 2026. More information about this year’s awards can be found at https://hamvention.org/event-details/awards/.HamSci Conference This WeekendImage Courtesy https://hamsci.org/hamsci2026This weekend brings the HamSci 2026 Conference hosted by the ARRL at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Connecticut. HamSci promotes citizen science investigation using amateur radio. This year there will be talks about personal space weather stations, methods for ionospheric propagation measurement using the HF bands, analysis of the effects of solar eclipses on the HF bands, analysis of potential impacts on medium wave broadcasts due to earthquakes, an analysis of noise as it relates to WSPR, and a tutorial session on baseband processing. And that’s just on Saturday! On Sunday there will be talks on meteor scatter science, an amateur radio HF channel sounder, antenna receive performance validation, data analysis from personal space weather stations, and a lot more. Registration for the in-person event closed a while back, but there is a link to register for the sessions on Zoom on their web site at https://hamsci.org/hamsci2026. This promises to be a fascinating look at the intersection of science and amateur radio.Bouvet Island 3Y0K DXpedition UpdateImage Courtesy https://3y0k.comThe 3Y0K DXpedition to Bouvet Island has been continuing operations this week. The latest log upload at press time was from March 12th where they reported a total of 98,711 QSOs with 22,654 on CW, 58,815 on FT8, and 17,123 on SSB. The team had made contact with 188 DXCC entities and the percentage of duplicate contacts was 5.79%. You can see if you’re in the log and see the latest posted statistics at https://www.m0oxo.com/oqrs/logsearch.php.In an update from QSL Manager M0OXO on DX News from March 11, it was announced the team will be tearing down a large part of the camp this weekend including Yagi antennas and most tents. Only a small team with 4 radios will remain after that time.As a reminder, for CW and SSB the DXpedition (like most DXpeditions) will be working split. This means that the team is transmitting on one frequency and will be looking above their frequency for replies. Do not transmit on the same frequency you hear them on as they won’t be listening on that frequency and you will be making it very difficult for others to be able to hear the station in Bouvet. It is important to operate in a courteous manner so that as many operators as possible can participate in the fun together. More details on the band plan and operating details of the DXpedition can be found on their official site. Good luck.Links with more information can be found at:The Official Site: https://3y0k.com/ DX News Coverage: https://dxnews.com/3y0k/ Guinea-Bissau J51A DXpedition Breaks QSO World RecordImage Courtesy https://www.dx-world.net/acknowledging-a-qso-world-record/The J51A team in Guinea-Bissau made history as they surpassed 213,021 QSOs on their DXpedition originally set by the T32C Kiritimati (Christmas Island) DXpedition in 2011. The team has been running an excellent DXpedition, and I have been able to work them on the 12, 15, 17, 30, and 40 meter bands. J51A will continue operations until this Sunday, March 15th at around 1200 UTC with the low band and RX antennas going down first and the Spiderbeams going down a little later. If you haven’t gotten them in the log yet, now is the time. Congratulations to the J51A team for their incredible achievement. MVARC at Vienna Wireless Association Winterfest This WeekendImage Courtesy https://viennawireless.net/wp/winterfest/This Sunday brings the Vienna Wireless Society’s 50th Winterfest hamfest at Oakton High School in Vienna, Virginia. The event starts at 8 AM and goes until 2 PM. This year they’ve sold out all the indoor tables with more than 65 indoor and tailgaiting vendors expected. The Mount Vernon Amateur Radio Club will be there as will your author, so stop by and say hello. Winterfest will also be hosting the 2026 ARRL VA Section Convention from 10 AM to Noon. For those unable to attend the convention in person, Zoom connection information is provided on the Winterfest web site. Winterfest is always a fun hamfest, so stop by this Sunday and we hope to see you there. More information can be found at https://viennawireless.net/wp/winterfest/.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 DXThere will be a lot of DX on the air this week. Stations on the air include Bouvet Island (3Y0K), Svalbard (JW8EKA), Cayman Islands (ZF2CA), Saint Kitts (V47JA), Gambia (C5SP), Guinea Bissau (J51A), Austral Islands (TX5EU), Palau (T8OK), Mayotte (FH/UR9IDX), Ogasawara Islands (JD1BON), Vanuatu (YJ0CA), Anguilla (VP2EAD, VP2ELX, VP2EWE), Ghana (9G5RR, 9G5CC, 9G5ZP), Sint Maarten (PJ7AA), South Orkney Islands (LU1ZA), Bangladesh (S21WD), Minami Torishima (JG8NQJ/JD1), 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 121 and the estimated sunspot number was 116 with 9 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 in the last 24 hours and the Kp index reached 3 yesterday. The solar wind peaked at 486 km/s. Solar activity is predicted to be at low levels with a chance of M-class flares today through Sunday. The geomagnetic field is forecast to be at quiet to minor storm levels today and Saturday and quiet to active levels on 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 possible in the near term with a predicted probability of 20% today through Sunday. R3 or greater blackouts are unlikely with a 1% chance predicted today through Sunday. 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 YB DX RTTY Contest, the SARL VHF/UHF FM Contest, the SARL Field Day Contest, the Commonwealth (BERU) Contest, the SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, the EA PSK63 Contest, the F9AA Cup on SSB, the South America 10 Meter Contest, the DIG QSO Party on SSB, the AGCW QRP Contest, the Oklahoma QSO Party, The Idaho QSO Party, the Wisconsin QSO Party, the Stew Perry Topband Challenge, the TESLA Memorial HF CW Contest, the North American Sprint on RTTY, the UBA Spring Contest on 6 meters, the YOTA Contest, and the Run for the Bacon QRP Contest. 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 ContentMike K8MRD turns his QMX into a HT with 3D printing - Josh KI6NAZ talks to Rob Sherwood NC0B about the Sherwood Engineering List - Stuart VE9CF talks about updates to the Holy Cluster DX spotting site - Dr. Tamitha Skov WX6SWW talks about space weather this week - Hadrian YO2BTW shares video recorded by Chun at Bouvet during the DXpedition- Ian 4F1EBD shares video of a typical day on Bouvet - Kevin KB9RLW uses a flag pole as a temporary antenna mast - Ralph WA2PUX shows how to build an RF sampler - IMSAI Guy takes a look at an FM Stop filter - Craig KM6LYW plays with AI on amateur radio - Ian 4F1EBD shows footage of the arrival of the 3Y0K team at Bouvet - Michael KB9VBR talks about the upcoming price increases from Yaesu - Kevan 2E0WMG and Richard G0NAD operate HF portable from Tenerife - Josh KI6NAZ talks about poor operators on the air - Ramon EA5IW takes us along for some mountaintop QRP - Mike K8MRD puts up a 915 MHz Yagi for Meshcore - Ben VE6SFX makes a slot antenna for VHF - Ara N6ARA shows us his new TinyFilter portable 2 Meter Bandpass Filter - That’s it for this week.Best 73,EdN2EC This is a public episode. 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