ARRL Audio News April 24, 2026

This is ARRL Audio News, your weekly summary of news highlights from the world of amateur radio. If you retransmit audio news through a repeater, listen for the Morse Code K character, followed by four seconds of silence. That's your cue to stop transmitting so that your repeater timer can reset. I'm John Ross, KD at IDJ, and this is the ARRL Audio News for Friday, April 24, 2026. In his pickup truck on the way back to Indiana from Starkville, Mississippi, ITU Corporation President and Founder David Carpenter, KC9ATG, told the ARRL letter his company will indeed begin building high-gain crush craft antennas. Carpenter became interested last year in purchasing the antenna lines from Martin Jew, K5FLU, retired owner of MFJ Enterprises. We were not able to make the deal last year, said Carpenter, but I called him a few weeks ago and with a handshake, the deal was done. ITU, which currently sells ham and CB gear, as well as training products for multiple industries, has also purchased the former Linton National Guard Armory, which will become the new manufacturing hub for these legendary U.S. antenna brands. Carpenter said his company will soon begin moving the manufacturing equipment from Mississippi to Linton, Indiana, and start taking orders by the fourth quarter of this year. The new operation is expected to employ a staff of 20 initially, and then up to 50 people. These antennas will be American-made, said Carpenter. Martin F. Jew, founder of MFJ Enterprises, was quoted as saying he expressed confidence that high-gain and crush craft, renowned for their robust design, high-gain and worldwide use by radio amateurs, will continue living up to their legacy under ITU's American-made engineering and customer-focused approach. With existing brands like TechShack and LearnLab already in its portfolio, ITU is positioning the Linton, Indiana site as a center for high-performance antennas, rotors and accessories used by hams and professional stations. Dayton Ham Bunch in 2026 features a wide range of forms to appeal to amateur radio operators of all interests, experience levels and ages. On opening day, Friday, May 15th, there are 22 forms beginning at 9.15 a.m. with HAMSci, the Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation. Learn about the large-scale traveling ionospheric disturbance project, a version of the personal space weather station that you can build from scratch, Meteor Scour QSO party results, and an upcoming collaboration with the NASA mission. The moderator is Dr. Nathaniel Fussell, W2NAF. Another forum on Friday is Lightning Protection, Generators, Inverters, and RFI, moderated by Jim Badger, WB8VSU, and Gary Bishop, NQ0V. At 11 a.m., ARRL is sponsoring Salty Walsh Portable Antenna Forum. Salty Walt Hudson, K4OGO, will cover simple, effective antennas that you can build and take to a park, bench, or summit and make contacts around the world. He'll also be signing copies of his newest book in the ARL exhibit area. Among the other forums on Friday is TAPR, Topics in Digital Radio, the Antenna Forum, moderated by Tim Duffy, K3LR, and Audirino and Microcontrollers, going the distance with popular ARRL author Glenn Popeil KW5GP Young hams will want to start off Saturday morning with the Youth Forum sponsored by the Radio Club of America at 9 a with student Weblo presenters An ARRL membership forum on Saturday at 11 a will include updates on outreach to students and educators momentum behind the year of the club ARRL partnership with America 250 and current legislative advocacy efforts shaping the future of amateur radio That forum will be moderated by ARRL Great Lakes Division Director Scott Yonley, N8SY, with presentations from ARRL President Rick Roderick, K5UR, and ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA. Hamvention 2026 runs May 15th through the 17th, and many more forums are spread throughout the weekend. See the entire lineup and schedule at hamvention.org slash event dash details slash forums. the main activity for world amateur radio day 2026 in puerto rico was a special broadcast radio program with leaders of the arl puerto rico section which aired april 16th on radio station radio progresso wrss 1410 arl technical specialist draft of your current sequelo kp4 res conducts a weekly program at that station about community preparedness and had an idea first to make a special program consisting of two parts, beginning with explaining to listeners what World Amateur Radio Day is all about, and at the same time, making a special event on a repeater system. The program started at 10.20 a.m. with KP4RAS in the studio, along with ARRL Puerto Rico Section Manager Carmen Green, KP4QVQ, Technical Coordinator Ariel Negron, WP4QEC, and QSL Bureau Manager Nestor Correa, WP4PRD. That program was complemented with an earlier recording featuring Section Emergency Coordinator Emanuel Cruz, NP4D, and Public Information Coordinator Angel Santana-Diaz, WP3GW, in which they explained the IARU, A-R-E-S, and the QSL Bureau System. You can listen to that special AM broadcast on Facebook, and all this was to say thanks to KP4RES, who wanted to do something special with the section for this special occasion, said PIC Santana-Diaz. Amateur radio will be carrying the ball this year for soccer, known in the rest of the world as football or football, to coincide with the FIFA World Cup 2026. That tournament and unaffiliated ham radio event will run June 11th to July 19th, 2026. As players from around the world compete in the stadiums, amateur radio operators will be looking for contacts during this football, football on the air special event. Teams of hams will be on the air calling CQ from the same 16 World Cup host cities where the matches will be played throughout North America, starting with the first match in Mexico City on June 11th and ending with the final match in New York, New Jersey on July 19th. The O cities, like the teams, are truly international. Three are in Mexico, two in Canada, and the remaining 11 are in the United States. With a roster of 48 football teams, this is the largest international tournament to date. Many of the amateur radio stations will be using one-by-one call signs, such as W5C and operating CW, single sideband, and the digital modes on HF and VHF as band conditions permit. A downloadable multi certificate will be available with endorsements at various levels Most city stations are planning to be on the air on the day of their city matches but many will also operate at different times during the tournament If your ham station is near one of the North American host cities consider joining the teams of volunteers. Visit the special event website and fill out the form under the volunteer tab at the top of the screen. And you can read more about this event at ARRL.org. The National Area Radio Society, N1FD, will hold its next online ham boot camp Saturday, May 9th, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Time. Ham Boot Camp is an online interactive program to help new, inactive, and prospective hams learn the skills they need to get on the air, including how to build a station, how to participate, and activities that you can do with your ham radio license. The morning sessions are all about VHF, and the afternoon sessions focus on HF. There is no fee to attend the HAM Boot Camp. For more information, including how to register, it's available now at n1fd.org slash bootcamp. The Nashua Area Radio Society is an ARRL-affiliated and special service club. Amateur radio operators worldwide are invited to be part of a unique special event underway now and lasting until December of 2026. The occasion is the 900th anniversary of the first written mention of Jerimer, a small town in the Czech Republic. Jerimer has about 12,000 inhabitants at the confluence of Three Rivers, and that area around the rivers has been populated as early as 40,000 B.C. The first written mention of Jerimer is from 1126, when a fortress founded by Duke Jerimer is documented in the areas of today's Church of St. Nicholas. For the special event, three call signs will be used, OL900CO, OL900JAR, and OL9LTV. For electronic diplomas or QSL cards, the bronze, silver, and gold platinum will be issued in electronic form for contacts with the stations and other activities. Read more information about ARRL.org. The following America 250 W1AW portable activations begin at 0000 Zulu on Wednesdays and end at 2359 Zulu on Tuesdays, seven days total for each activation. You can see the complete schedule at www.arl.org. Here are the updated activations. April 22nd, Iowa, W1AW-0 with host WB0GAG. Wisconsin, W1AW-9 with the host W9XT. On April 29th in New Hampshire, W1AW-1, the host KC1WNM. In South Dakota, W1AW-0, K0BBC. And in Pennsylvania, W1AW-3 with the host there, WC3O. Bruce Page, KK5DO, is here now with this week's AMSAT report. Bruce? Thanks, John. On April 23rd, A-R-I-C-A-2 was to be launched aboard Rocket Labs Electron. The satellite is a 2U cubesat. About 300 seconds after deployment the UHF antenna will be deployed CW transmissions should immediately follow on 436 MHz The satellite call sign is JS1YSD The satellite will send pictures after commissioning. The IARU has just released a new document which serves as an essential resource for anyone involved in satellite frequency coordination, licensing, or satellite project planning. It is called Handbook on Amateur and Amateur Satellite Services. It is free of charge and can be downloaded from itu.int slash pub slash r hyphen hdb hyphen 52-2026. You can use all uppercase or all lowercase letters. One of the more interesting sections in the document is Chapter 2.1, Applications of Bands Allocated to the Amateur Satellite Service. Many times, those building satellites believe they can select almost any band and frequency. However, to fall under Part 95 rules, there are specific bands and frequencies that can be used. Did you know that amateur satellites have primary allocation from 248 gigahertz to 250 gigahertz? Someday we may have a satellite that will operate at those frequencies. This is Bruce Page, KK5DO. Back to you, John. And thanks, Bruce, for that report. Just ahead in Radio Sport this week, April 25th through the 26th, the TPL-AODX contest, That's phoned. April 25th through the 26th as well, the SPDX RTTY contest. That is digital. 25th through the 26th, the UKEIDX contest. That's CW. And April 25th through the 26th, the Helvetta contest. CW, phone and digital. And remember to visit the ARRL contest calendar for more events and information. Upcoming section state and division conventions. On May 3rd, it's the Warminster Amateur Radio Club Annual Ham Fest, hosting the ARRL Eastern Pennsylvania Section Convention. That's in Bristol, Pennsylvania. May 9th, the ARRL Nebraska State Convention in Lincoln, Nebraska. And on June 5th through the 7th, it's CPAC, hosting the ARRL Northwestern Division Convention in Seaside, Oregon. And finally this week, thanks to the Morongo Basin Amateur Radio Club in Landers, California, for airing the ARRL Audio News on their repeater. 7-3. And that concludes ARRL Audio News for this week. Our thanks to all contributors to this week's report. ARRL Audio News is produced by the American Radio Relay League, the National Association for Amateur Radio. For more information on amateur radio or the ARRL, visit us on the web at ARRL.org. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter by searching for ARRL. If you have a question or comment about ARRL Audio News, email us at audionews at arrl.org. This program is copyright ARRL, all rights reserved. 73, and thanks for listening.