Get Ready for Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio

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What amateur radio operating strategy combines a little bit of being mobile, a little bit of fixed and - if you so choose - a little bit of maritime? It’s spelled R a D A R, which is the acronym for Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio. Get ready, RaDAR Rally day is just weeks away.

Eddie Leighton, ZS6BNE pioneered the operating concept more than a decade ago in South Africa with an event known as the RaDAR Challenge which was embraced worldwide by portable operators. This year the RaDAR Rally, which takes place on April 5th, keeps the spirit and the strategy of the original challenge. The four-hour rally is particularly appealing to hams who are accustomed to working portable outdoors and this is an activity that can be combined with Summits On The Air and Parks On The Air. Operators spend four hours setting up a station as quickly as possible, making five contacts, then dismantling the station and moving to another location to do the same thing again. According to the rules, the required distances vary depending on whether the radio operator is walking, cycling, driving or even canoeing. All bands and modes are acceptable but use of terrestrial repeaters is not.

More Information - http://www.radarrally.info

Broadcast Students Get Schooled in Amateur Radio

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Broadcast Students Get Schooled in Amateur Radio

A Maryland high school where students learning about professional radio have fallen in love with the amateur side of things.

There was electricity in the air - or perhaps it was electromagnetism - when high school students in Kent County, Maryland, participated in their first ARRL School Club Roundup last fall. With the support and some loaned equipment from the Kent Amateur Radio Society, K3ARS, the students logged contacts in the US and a number of others overseas. For them it was "a pivotal moment," the radio society president, Chris Cote, KE5NJ, told Newsline. He said it exceeded everyone's expectations.

Earlier this year, the sparks flew again, in a manner of speaking, during Winter Field Day. Some of the teens, who are involved with WKHS, Kent County High School's FM radio station, returned to experience once more what the amateur side of the medium can do - and just how far it can go - by calling CQ from the school parking lot with members of KARS.

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Microsoft is retiring Skype

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Just months after a major overhaul of the app, Microsoft has announced that it is shutting down Skype. Initially launched in 2003, Skype was a pioneering program in making video calls accessible to the masses. Microsoft said in its announcement that the program will be retired on 5th May 2025.

Thankfully, all Skype users will be provided with a free consumer version of Microsoft Teams, and will be able to log into Teams with their Skype credentials. From there, Microsoft says, the user will have access to their message history, group chats, and contacts. Alternatively, if users wish to create a new account entirely, the option to export this data will be available as well.

Google adds searchable video transcripts to Drive

One feature that is being left behind with Skype is the ability to call domestic and international numbers via the app. “Part of the reason is we look at the usage and the trends, and this functionality was great at the time when voice over IP (VoIP) wasn’t available and mobile data plans were very expensive,” explains Amit Fulay, vice president of product at Microsoft, according to The Verge. “If we look at the future, that’s not a thing we want to be in.”

Media Story - https://www.svconline.com/proav-today/microsoft-retiring-skype?utm_term=FF8FF6F4-61EF-4EA2-A42E-7ACE108837B1&lrh=050c68efc1cc984ff3c0899b4810dbc13d02beb55fc8e0856a54cf06b22512bc&utm_campaign=0028F35E-226C-4B60-AC88-AB2831C8A639&utm_medium=email&utm_content=D61706CD-928F-43D9-B050-52A482127A51&utm_source=SmartBrief