DARC 70 Years

The German national AR representative organisation DARC celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2020 and offers the award “70 Jahre DARC” for contacts with the special event stations DP70DARC and DF70DARC.

DARC 70th Anniversary Award Rules http://www.70darc.club

Later during the year, DK70DARC (special DOK 70DARC for all of them) will also be active. The callsigns rotate through DARC's regional districts on a weekly basis.

NB: There is also other special event calls active with a DARC-suffix that do not count for the award.

In a few weeks, DM30RSV will become active as well, commemorating the formation of the first independent national radio club RSV in the German Democratic Republic in 1990. This activity will be limited to the time frame of March 24 until October 2, mirroring the lifespan of the RSV 30 years ago. QSOs will count towards yet another award, rules are currently being finalised.

DL35 - Germany special event

The DARC honours 35 years of SDR-technology with special callsign and special-DOK. In order to acknowledge the high importance of digital signal processing for communications technology in general and amateur radio in particular, a special event station 'DL35SDR' will be active from the greater Munich area throughout the year 2020. The Special-DOK "35SDR" was issued for this station.

Today, digital signal processing via Software Defined Radio (SDR) is the generally accepted standard for decoding and generating of radio signals.

Commercial services have been using this technology for a long time and nowadays amateur radio is not imaginable without SDR.

Prof. Dr.- Ing. habil. Ulrich L. Rohde, DJ2LR / N1UL, was the first to describe the possibilities and perspectives of SDR in a congress lecture at the "Third International Conference on HF Communication Systems and Techniques" in London in February 1985 (classified). The title was: "A Sampling of Techniques".

DJ2LR / N1UL, a member of DARC Amateur Radio Club Munich South (C18) is recognized as one of the pioneers of SDR technology 35 years ago.

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/darchfref/permalink/2254053784888101

Going Ham at Green Bank Elementary-Middle School

Members of the Eight Rivers Amateur Club and employees at the Green Bank Observatory have volunteered to help science teacher Stacy Landis teach the students the ins and outs of ham radio etiquette and the many ways they can use radios to communicate.

“We want them to become ham radio operators and get their own license, be able to use it and understand the purpose of it in society”

— Stacy Landis

Eight Rivers member Rudy Marrujo KD8WPG was one of the guiding forces behind forming the club. He said he hopes to spark an interest in the students.

Media Story - https://pocahontastimes.com/going-ham-at-gbems/

Map of all EMF quiet zones in the world - https://www.zeemaps.com/map?group=1183771

Tunisia Issues Personal Licenses to Operate

The first three Authorizations to Operate have been issued to 3 Tunisian radio amateurs. These are the first issued since 1956

3V8HB, 3V8MN and 3V1MB will soon be on the air from their homes rather than being restricted to operating from a club station.

Issuing individual authorisations to operate is a new process in Tunisia and involves a number of stages, including equipment conformity checks.

This is great news for Tunisians that the process now exists so that radio amateurs can practice their hobby from homes in full compliance with the Tunisian Laws.

The IARU Member Society ARAT extends its thanks to the National Agency of Frequencies, the Ministry of Telecommunications and all involved parties for making this happen.

IARU Region 1 - https://iaru-r1.org/