Nothing moves wind-up radios off the shelves quite like a government telling the public to prepare for the worst — and that's exactly what's just happened across the UK.

Wind-up radios are selling out nationwide, with retailers reporting a fivefold surge in orders after the Government advised households to stockpile emergency supplies. At least seven models were sold out across four outlets by Saturday, just two days after ministers urged the public to buy wind-up radios and stock up on food and water as part of a broader national resilience push.

Few things in amateur radio are as taken for granted as a reliable time signal — but the system behind that precision is about to change, and it's been a long time coming.

The International Bureau of Weights and Measures has declared that the leap second is running out of time — literally. It could be phased out as early as 2027. For decades, this small periodic adjustment has kept clocks synchronised with the Earth's slightly irregular rotation, occurring roughly every couple of years. Highly precise atomic clocks have relied on it, and its presence underpins UTC, the time standard used throughout amateur radio, science, satellite operations, financial systems, and countless other fields worldwide.

If you've got an ARRL survey sitting in your inbox or mailbox right now, it's genuine — and your response actually matters more than you might think.

ARRL has commissioned an independent research firm, Readex Research, headquartered in Stillwater, Minnesota, to conduct a survey of amateur radio operators. Readex has worked with ARRL before on similar projects, including past QST readership studies and large-scale national surveys, so this isn't a new relationship.