UK Advanced Radio Exam 'on demand'

The RSGB has announced that as of 1st May 2016, the advanced amateur radio exams can be requested 'on demand' provided notice of one calendar month is given

Up until now, clubs and tutors were required to hold the Advanced exam on one of just seven specified dates each year.

RSGB statement - http://rsgb.org/main/clubs-training/advanced-examination-dates/

Instructor's Newsletters -  http://rsgb.org/main/clubs-training/tutor-resources-2/newsletters/

New Extra Question Pool Released

The ARRL have added new Amateur / Ham Radio Extra questions to the question pool, placing greater emphasis on Digital, SDRs and Propagation

“The primary change is modernization of the pool to place more emphasis on digital communications, digital test equipment, software defined radios, and propagation/space weather.”

— Rol Anders, K3RA

The extra questions will become part of the question pool from 1st July 2016, and will be valid through to 30th June 2020. There are also some minor corrections to existing questions.

Some questions were removed due to the topics being of less importance than currently valued by the Amateur / Ham Radio community.

The amended question pool now stands at 712 questions.

ARRL Story - http://www.arrl.org/news/new-amateur-extra-question-pool-puts-greater-emphasis-on-digital-sdrs-propagation

The complete question pools for the Amateur Technician, General and Extra exams can be downloaded - http://www.ncvec.org/

Morse code: A staple in the Navy IW toolkit

US naval students have been learning Morse code while attending the first revised Basic Manual Morse Trainer (BMMT) course at the Center for Information Dominance (CID) Unit Corry Station 

““Morse code continues to be an inexpensive and efficient means of communication for many states throughout the globe. Manual Morse operators here at Corry Station are learning a skill set that has stood the test of time. Many of our most senior CTRs began their careers as Manual Morse operators.””

— Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician (Collection) (IDW/NAC/SW/AW) Tony Gonzales, CTR rate training manager for CID headquarters.

Morse code is just one tool that cryptologic technician (collection) Sailors use as members of the Navy’s Information Warfare (IW) community to perform collection, analysis and reporting on communication signals.

The latest Manual Morse software used by the Department of Defense was tested out in a nine-week pilot course that concluded in September. The self-paced course provides basic instruction and practical application in the interception of Morse-type communications. 

Full story - 
https://www.dvidshub.net/news/187384/morse-code-staple-navy-iw-toolkit