Landmark PACT for African Amateur Radio Response

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A new agreement between the African Telecommunication Union and the International Amateur Radio Union is being hailed as a landmark agreement on the African continent. Jason Daniels VK2LAW has those details. Praising ham radio for its responsiveness in a crisis, the secretary-general of the African Telecommunications Union signed an agreement with the International Amateur Radio Union advocating for expanded use of ham radio during emergencies in African nations. The agreement places a special emphasis on ham radio's role in the 51 African countries that belong to the ATU. Both organisations pledged to cooperate when preparing for and responding to crises. A large part of the pact involves coordinating workshops and training programs and stepping up promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education in Africa through the use of amateur radio.

“This is our first step to initiating a collaborative approach that is keen to find solutions and to ensure a conducive environment for amateur radio operations in the region.”
— Sylvain Azarian, F4GKR, President of IARU Region 1

Sylvain Azarian, F4GKR, the president of IARU Region 1, said that the agreement would also have an impact on regulatory changes that are needed for amateur radio in Africa.


GB2RS in Morse code

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GB2RS newsreader Graham, G4JBD, has developed an online tool which plays Morse code based on the current GB2RS News script at a variety of different speeds.

To help simulate a realistic HF-operating environment, the system can be set to include manmade band noise (QRM) as well as natural band noise (QRN).

GB2RS in Morse - https://rsgb.org/main/gb2rs/gb2rs-news-broadcast-schedule/

ARRL Files Comments Against “Seriously Flawed” HF Rules Petition

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ARRL Files Comments Against “Seriously Flawed” HF Rules Petition

The National Association for Amateur Radio®, as part of its mission to protect Amateur Radio, has filed comments against a proposal that would introduce high-power digital communications to the shortwave spectrum that in many instances is immediately adjacent to the Amateur HF bands.

The “Shortwave Modernization Coalition” (SMC), which represents certain high-frequency stock trading interests, filed the petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). (Previous coverage can be found on ARRL News.) ARRL responded on behalf of its members and the 760,000 licensees of the Amateur Radio Service in the US.

The ARRL Laboratory performed a detailed technical analysis over several months to determine if the proposed rules would affect operations on the bands allocated to Radio Amateurs that are inter-mixed with the Part 90 bands in the spectrum in question.

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