Hamshack Hotline To Be Discontinued

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Hamshack Hotline, the free VOIP telecomm service is to be discounted. The service announced it would be discontinued, effective the 29th August 2025. The project began in 2018 and grew to be a global communications network with a peak establishment of 7,000 interconnections across numerous servers. Hamshack Hotline's board of directors said it will donate whatever cash reserves it may have to a charity that supports military veterans. 

Grant to Aid Clublog Operations Upgrade

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Expect improved operations soon from ClubLog, thanks to some grant money to cover the costs.ClubLog, a service that has become a mainstay for DXers worldwide, has received an $8,000 grant in US currency for a hardware upgrade to improve operations.

The funding from the Northern  California  DX  Foundation is being given to Michael, G7VJR, ClubLog's author. In a DX foundation press release, ClubLog reminded users that the expensive upgrade of its servers is necessary to support expanded activity. 

“...once the new servers are deployed, Club Log will be using cutting edge servers which are faster, more energy efficient and ready for years of high-endurance 24/7 work.”
— Michael, G7VJR

According to a press release from the DX foundation, the free ClubLog statistics service supports an estimated 130,000 callsigns worldwide and stores records of 1.25 billion QSOs.

Testing for WRTC 2026 in Suffolk

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Testing for WRTC 2026 in Suffolk

For the July 2025 IARU HF Championship 5 WRTC stations will be tested under field conditions, using the same planned equipment for the 2026 event as a trial. The operating location will be a cluster of sites within the grounds of the Euston Estate, Suffolk, England. 

This will be a test of erecting the masts and antennas with some of our volunteers, ahead of training the full team of volunteers over the next year. We will also be testing the IT networking and our scoreboard system, with additional load testing in parallel to the on-air stations. The scoreboard will not be publicly accessible this year.

The operators of the test sites know they are not eligible to take part as entrants in WRTC 2026 next year. They will be following WRTC rules with DXCC and IARU member society HQ stations per band as multipliers. A report sharing details of how everything went after the contest will be available.

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