On-Loan DMR Kit Starts Young UK Hams On Their Journeys

When you’re first starting out in amateur radio, you can’t borrow confidence in getting on the air but now in the UK you can borrow something that’s almost just as helpful. A new program created especially to help hams under the age of 18 who are just starting their radio journeys.

The DMR project launched recently by the Radio Society of Great Britain is a way to provide opportunity - and radio equipment - for young new amateurs to become accustomed to making QSOs on a regular basis. The Outreach Team’s new DMR kit contains DMR handheld transceivers and hotspots to borrow for as long as three months at no cost. 

Accompanying the equipment, of course, is the opportunity to use it - and the RSGB’s team will also be hosting regularly scheduled youth nets to give as many participants as possible a good start. Licensed hams or school groups with at least one licensee are eligible to apply to use the kits.

Meanwhile, the society is also encouraging teachers to establish school clubs and to become amateurs themselves. Funding from the Radio Communications Foundation will cover the cost of up to nine teachers’ exams.

More Information - https://rsgb.org/main/blog/news/rsgb-notices/2025/05/16/rsgb-outreach-team-announces-new-dmr-project-for-under-18s/

Special Event Follows Trail of 19th Century Explorers

Just as the American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark tied the landscape of the early North American West together via their travels in the early 19th century, more than 30 ham radio clubs in 16 states are carving out a trail of communications along that same route. 

Radio operators are calling CQ from 31st May through to 15th June 2025 in the Dakotas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky and other states that were eventually established within the explored territory.

The special event, Lewis & Clark Trail On the Air, has expanded since its launch in 2022 with the Clark County Amateur Radio Club in Vancouver, Washington state. Now it encourages chasers to try for contacts of one club in each of the 16 states - or one of two bonus stations who are representing the Jefferson Indian Peace Medal. The explorers handed these medals out to the chiefs of tribes they encountered during their expedition.

More Information - http://www.lctota.org

RETEVIS Launches High-Power Portable Repeater, Transforming Off-Grid Communication

RETEVIS derives from REdefine TElecommunications VIsion Signpost, a global leader in reliable two-way radio communication solutions, has unveiled its latest innovation: the portable repeater system designed to redefine longer range with reliability in off-grid environments. Combining industrial-grade durability with plug-and-play simplicity, this repeater aims to eliminate dead zones for family-guardian/outdoor, key-worker/business, and radio amateurs. Since RETEVIS RT97 became a popular portable repeater with its low-power version in 2018, RETEVIS has released the newly updated waterproof RETEVIS portable repeater - Retevis RT97L 25-Watt LCD High Power repeater.

More Information - https://www.retevis.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-retevis-rt97l-gmrs-repeater