Amateur Radio News and Notes 4/10/2026

In the log this week* Contest Spotlight: QRP ARCI Spring QSO Party* FCC Warns Licensee About Out-of-Band Transmissions* 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.Contest Spotlight: QRP ARCI Spring QSO PartyThis weekend brings the latest QRP Amateur Radio Club International Spring QSO Party from 0000 UTC until 0600 UTC on Saturday, April 12 (that’s Friday from 8 PM until Saturday at 2 AM Eastern Time). The contest focuses on QRP operation, so that means 5 Watts or less. Bands are 160, 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meters. And the number of points per QSO are 5 points for members, 4 points for a non-member on a different continent, and 2 points for a non-member on the same continent. Since it is a QRP contest, the multipliers relate to power. More than 5 Watts has a multiplier of 1, 1 to 5 Watts gets a multiplier of 7, 250 milliwatts to 1 Watt gets a multiplier of 10, 55 milliwatts to 250 milliwatts gets a multiplier of 15, and 55 milliwatts or less gets a multiplier of 20. The total score is the number of points for all bands multiplied by states/provinces/countries for all bands, multiplied by the power multiplier. The exchange is RST. State/Province/Country, and ARCI Member number for members and RST, State/Province/Country, Power Output for non-members. So for me in Virginia, my exchange would be “599 VA 17399”. Suggested centers of operation are at 1810, 3560, 7030, 14060, 21060, and 28060 kHz and they ask you listen around 7040 for ops using rock bound rigs. Logs are due at https://www.qrpcontest.com/ on or before April 28. This will be a great way to test your operating skill and equipment. For more information and full rules visit https://qrparci.org/contest/spring-qso-party. Good luck.FCC Warns Licensee About Out-of-Band TransmissionsThe Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a warning to a Pennsylvania amateur radio operator who was causing interference to local emergency public service communications on 470.4375 MHz. The operator appeared to be unknowingly transmitting on that frequency by using a BTech UV-Pro HT that has a feature called “Audio Relay” that acts as a simplex repeater on a frequency, receiving and retransmitting audio received on a frequency. That HT allows users to transmit on frequencies outside the amateur radio bands, so the operator was essentially echoing emergency communications on that frequency. When agents identified the signal as coming from the operators residence, he surrendered the radio to the agents and the interference stopped. This is a reminder that many radios have the ability to transmit on frequencies outside of the amateur band privileges, so it is important to make sure you stay within the amateur bands. More information about the warning can be found at https://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-warns-licensee-on-out-of-band-transmissions.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 Rouma (3X3A), Ghana (9G5RR, 9G5CC, 9G5ZP), Bermuda (VP9KF), Gambia (C5C), Comoros (D60DX), Central Kiribati (T31TTT), Minami Torishima (JG8NQJ/JD1), Colombia (HK3JCL), and South Orkney Islands (LU1ZA).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 96 and the estimated sunspot number was 103 with 5 numbered sunspot regions visible from Earth. Over the last week the SFI has decreased. Solar activity has been at moderate levels in the last 24 hours. The geomagnetic field has been at quiet levels in the last 24 hours and the Kp index reached 2 yesterday. The solar wind peaked at 426 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, at unsettled to minor storm levels Saturday, and quiet to active levels on Sunday. The chance of solar radiation storms at the S1 or greater level is at 5% today and at 1% Saturday and Sunday. R1 to R2 radio blackouts are possible today with a predicted probability of 25% today and unlikely on Saturday and Sunday with a 5% chance predicted. 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 QRP ARCI Spring QSO Party we mentioned earlier, the JIDX CW Contest, the SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, the OK/OM DX Contest on SSB, the Yuri Gagarin International DX Contest, the IG-RY World Wide RTTY Contest, the DIG QSO Party on CW, the RSGB FT4 International Activity Day, the New Mexico QSO Party, the Missouri QSO Party, the Georgia QSO Party, the North Dakota QSO Party, the Africa FT4 DX Contest, the Hungarian Straight Key Contest, and the 4 States QRP Second Sunday Sprint. 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.php.Interesting Online Radio ContentCallum M0MCX talks about why he set up an unconventional tower setup - Stuart VE9CF tries out the Guohetec DP200 antenna - Walt K4OGO uses the REZ Portable Delta Loop - Tim K5OHY activates the Guadalupe Mountains for SOTA and POTA - Stuart VE9CF interviews Walt K4OGO and talks portable DXing - Lidi KQ3Q shows how to go hands free with an IC-7300 and an inexpensive gaming headset - Hayden VK7HH looks at using LoRa for APRS - Save it for Parts tries tor receive signals from the Artemis II moon mission - Craig KM6LYW looks at several HTs to see which has a better in-built TNC - Mike K8MRD activates with POTA Power in Texas - Ara N6ARA debuts his “RetroRig” for April Fools Day - Mike K8MRD talks about “POTA Platinum” for April Fools Day - Stuart VE9CF talks to Holy Cluster creator 4X1XP - Jason KM4ACK talks about the BTech UV Pro feature that caused the FCC warning to be issued for interference - Kevan 2E0WMG activates Honey Island - That’s it for this week.Best 73,EdN2EC This is a public episode. 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