Germany Likely to Get Full 4 Metres Band Back
/Since there was no extension at the end of 2025 to the temporary permission for radio amateurs in Germany to operate in part of the 4m band from 70.150-70.210 MHz, no operation on the band has been permitted in 2026.
As reported in the DARC's "Radio DARC" broadcast on Sunday 5th July, a recently released communication number 364/26, signed by Friedrich Merz, DK7DQ, sent from the Bundeskabinett to the Bundesrat (two parts of the German government), contains footnote number 12 on page 61 which states that there is no objection to the frequency range from 70.0 - 70.5MHz (i.e. the full 4-metre band allocation) being allocated for amateur use on a secondary, non-interference and no protection from interference from military or commercial users, basis.
This, however, is only the first step for this new (hopefully permanent) allocation. First, the action will need to be authorised at a meeting on July 10th (Friday of the week that we are recording this ICQ Podcast), and following that, how long it will take for full implementation is unknown; however, the commentator on Radio DARC believes it is unlikely that this will be made law before the end of this year's current Sporadic E season.
Eyeball-to-Eyeball Off-the-Air QSO Party
/One of the best things to emerge from the pandemic was proof that the ham radio community had resiliency as a social network. The pandemic has ended, but one social network born during those years of isolation has remained strong. It's called the Eyeball QSO Party.
It's not a net. It's not a ragchew. It's not even on the air. The Eyeball QSO Party is a welcoming room on Zoom where hams from different countries simply show up. Once a week, they share their opinions, their experiences and even images on their computer screens. It could be a view of their treasured vintage rigs, their radio-controlled planes, astronomy gear or websites about the events in the news.
The QSO Party's host, Hugh Owen, KA3TTW, said he created the room during the pandemic to help ease isolation brought on by the cancellation of club meetings, hamfests and even social morning coffees. The concept is simple, he said: People show up. Some are as local as the Washington, D.C. area where Hugh lives. Sometimes they're dropping by from Canada, Luxembourg, Great Britain or even Argentina.
Although getting on the air is why so many hams got their licenses to begin with, this off-air QSO Party still fills a need.
“This does have the big advantage of people being face-to-face and people can share things on their screens.”
So every Monday, it happens starting at 1700 UTC between March 9th and November 2nd; and at 1600 UTC the rest of the year.
Best of all, propagation is never an issue. Everyone gets a Five-Nine.
To join the party, send an email to eyeballqsoparty@gmail.com. There is also a groups.io reflector where you can visit and subscribe: https://groups.io/g/EyeballQSOParty
