An Incredible Experience. In the Austrian Alps, No less!

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An Incredible Experience. In the Austrian Alps, No less!

Few amateur radio experiences are higher than even a SOTA summit in the Austrian Alps - and the youthful participants in the recent Youngsters on the Air camp in Region 1 got to experience both.

By bus, by hiking and even by cable car, young campers representing 29 countries enjoyed a view from the Austrian Alps and a taste of activating Summits on the Air on the 31st of July, after almost a full week of a Youngsters on the Air camp. They field-tested the QRP rigs they had built in a workshop, and they simply took in the panorama, some 2,000 metres above sea level.

Although they found the vistas breathtaking, the highest-altitude experience during their week at the camp was already behind them: Two days earlier, the 94 campers made contact with astronaut Sophie Adenot, KJ5LTN, aboard the International Space Station with the help of the VK1 ISS telebridge station in Australia.

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HamSCI Meteor Scatter QSO Parties Target the Perseids

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The HamSCI citizen-science community is continuing its 2026 series of Meteor Scatter QSO Parties (MSQP), the upcoming marquee Perseids event scheduled for 12-14 August 2026. A final 2026 event will coincide with the Geminids meteor shower on 13-15 December 2026.

Part special event and part contest, the MSQP aims to generate a large body of contact and reception data to better understand meteor scatter propagation. The effort, originally proposed by HamSCI member McKenzie Denton, KO4GLN, is particularly timely: recent FCC rule changes now permit U.S. amateurs to operate the MSK144 meteor scatter mode on 10 meters, allowing researchers to investigate a key question – which band is better for meteor scatter, 6 meters or 10 meters?

Participation is open to both two-way (transmit and receive) and monitor (receive-only) stations operating from fixed locations. MSK144 is the only mode used, with 50.260 MHz and 28.145 MHz being popular operating frequencies. Stations equipped for both bands are asked to alternate between 6 and 10 meters at 20-minute intervals (xx:00, xx:20, xx:40). Monitor stations should report their decodes via PSKReporter, and all participants are encouraged to submit ADIF logs and WAV recordings of decoded pings after each event to support the research effort. Electronic certificates are planned for participants, and first-time meteor scatter operators are encouraged to self-report their “rookie” status so they can be recognised in the results.

Complete rules and information are available at https://hamsci.org/msqp

Examinations Standards Committee Annual Report

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The RSGB Examinations Standards Committee (ESC) has published its annual report, relating to activities in 2025.

The report shows that, although overall candidate numbers in 2025 decreased a little compared with 2024, they remain about 20 per cent higher than predictions, based on the extrapolation of pre-2019 trends.

The ESC believes that this is largely due to the increased accessibility of training courses and examinations online.

The ESC noted that the initial feedback received from candidates on the publication of the Full level question bank has been very positive.

However, a few months of exam data are needed before the full impact of the measure can be assessed, and then consideration given to rolling it out at other levels.

More Information - https://rsgb.org/main/blog/news/gb2rs/headlines/2026/07/31/rsgb-examinations-standards-committee-publishes-annual-report/