Latvia’s Hams Honor Nation’s First Broadcast Radio at 100

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The broadcast and the amateur radio worlds have often overlapped, especially sharing many of the same people behind the microphone or behind the scenes. In Latvia, hams are taking part in a celebration that marks 100 years of that nation's first radio station. 

The hams who were calling CQ as YL100LR until the 2nd of November were sharing the story of Rigas Radiofons, which went on the air in 1925 with a 2 kW transmitter, two 45-meter-high antenna towers and equipment purchased from France. From its studio inside a post office building in Riga city, the state-owned station began its life on the air with a two-hour broadcast that included the Puccini opera, "Madame Butterfly", and a speech by Minister of Transport J. Pauluks.

The evolution of radio broadcasting in Latvia is closely tied to that of amateur radio there: When the Latvian Radio Society helped create the Radio Subscribers Law, they created a category for radio experimenters who eventually became the nation's hams. From the start, hams were big supporters of the newly created broadcast station. In fact, by 1926, a spare transmitter at the station was being used for ham radio communications. The relationship remains strong to this day, and many amateur radio operators in Latvia are also broadcast radio professionals.

FCC Announces Intent to Delete Minor Part 97 Provisions

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FCC Announces Intent to Delete Minor Part 97 Provisions

As part of a much larger overhaul focused on deleting almost 400 obsolete wireless regulations, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced plans to delete or modify four minor provisions of Part 97.

ARRL’s Washington Counsel has reviewed the proposal and agrees that the deletions are to obsolete rules and will have no impact on today’s modern Amateur Radio Service. One of the deletions was suggested by ARRL as part of an earlier FCC request for public input on rules ripe for deletion.

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Important Notice: Keep Clear of Emergency Frequencies During the Contest Weekend

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Important Notice: Keep Clear of Emergency Frequencies During the Contest Weekend

Tropical Storm Melissa is nearly stationary in Caribbean on Friday, October, 24, 2025. Forecasters warn it could quickly intensify, impacting Jamaica as a hurricane and causing catastrophic flooding and landslides Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

The Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) a group of licensed Amateur Radio Operators trained and organized to provide essential communications support to the National Hurricane Centre during times of hurricane emergencies, is carefully monitoring the storm’s development.

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