Giving Tuesday is November 29, 2022 – a growing annual movement where individuals and organizations, like ARRL, come together to unleash the power of radical generosity. A modern amateur radio ideal for portable use. Hams can make contacts around the world on a small radio powered with a battery and solar panels. In the pantheon of hobbies, one stands out above the rest for its multitude of specialties and service to society - amateur radio. This weekend, hobbyists will gather at the Coliseum for the Fort Wayne Hamfest and Computer Expo, one of the largest regional showcases of the pursuit. Think of the Hamfest as a swap meet and convention for like-minded people interested in electronics, communications and making friends around the world. Fellowship is the big draw in amateur radio. The United States is home to nearly a million so called “hams” who can communicate across the street or over vast oceans by transmitting their voice and sending text messages and pictures without the help of the Internet or other methods. The signals travel through the air just as they have for more than a century. Those who pursue the hobby must pass a short exam in order to be licensed by the Federal Communications Commission. Since 2017, the ARRL Collegiate Amateur Radio Program has networked students and their campus radio clubs. "We engage students in monthly meetings and contacting with Frs radio, best practices for vibrant college clubs, and notices of career opportunities. This next generation of young hams are already active, engaged, and on the air!" 

ARRL Education and Learning Manager Steve Goodgame, K5ATA, attended the Georgia Educational Technology Conference. The conference was the first part in a series of planned ARRL exhibits to meet with teachers and promote amateur radio in the classroom. Assisted by ARRL Teachers Institute Instructor Wayne Greene, KB4DSF, along with volunteers Cyndi Goodgame, K5CYN, and Betsey Greene, they spoke to hundreds of teachers, school administrators, and technology directors about the ARRL Teachers Institute on Wireless Technology. ARRL's participation at this conference, as well as future events, is meant to inform and network with educators looking to incorporate amateur radio into their curriculum. "The level of interest among teachers was incredible!" said Goodgame. "Our booth enjoyed heavy traffic for the duration of the conference, much of the time with all four of us engaged in discussions with multiple people simultaneously. Except for a couple of teachers we met who were already hams, few teachers had heard of amateur radio before this conference. These teachers were absolutely amazed at the possibilities that exist when including amateur radio and related educational experiences in their schools." "Teachers were especially excited at the connections between amateur radio and space. We shared information about the ARISS program -- Amateur Radio on the International Space Station -- as well as communicating via amateur satellites. Enough teachers were interested in learning more about the relationship between amateur radio and satellites communications that we put together an impromptu live demonstration using two handheld radios and an Arrow antenna we had for display in the booth. We gathered a crowd of teachers, along with a few students who were presenting their Student Showcase projects and headed outside. We enjoyed a good satellite pass and made contacts through AO-27. One of the students even got on the air!" "Overall, it was a great conference and a great opportunity for ARRL to network with educators and work with them to help get more youth engaged in amateur radio."

Ellen White, W1YL, passed away on Sunday, November 6, 2022. She was 95. White became a radio amateur in 1946 and devoted over 75 years of her life to ham radio. At its meeting in January 1978, the ARRL Board of Directors adopted a resolution recognizing White and her husband Robert (Bob) L. White, W1CW (SK), after having “completed a quarter-century of faithful service to the American Radio Relay League.” White was admired by the worldwide amateur radio community. In 2019, she was the sole US radio amateur to be awarded the Russian E.T. Krenkel Medal, a prestigious award granted to individuals and organizations for outstanding global contributions to amateur radio. Director of ARRL’s Publications and Editorial Department Becky Schoenfeld, W1BXY, reflected on the news of White’s passing. “Ellen was a trailblazing woman in amateur radio. She and I corresponded over the years before finally meeting up at Orlando HamCation in 2020. Ellen often marveled at how much farther women had come in the ham radio hobby, service, and community since she got her start. Every time I talked to her, I thanked her for paving the way,” said Schoenfeld. White had already learned Morse code in high school, and used long-range radio to connect. “Ellen loved CW, contesting, and DXing,” said Rosalie White, K1STO (no relation), former ARRL Field & Educational Services Manager. Rosalie White recounted that in the 1940s, Ellen and Bob White earned First Class Radiotelephone and Second Class Radiotelegraph commercial licenses. “She （Ellen White）, being a maverick, also took the Class B FCC Amateur Radio test to become W2RBU, and promptly joined ARRL. Radio broadcast station KPOA based in Oahu, Hawaii, hired her as station engineer in the day when it was unheard of for a woman. She and Bob then headed to San Diego, California, where she took another radio broadcast engineer job, and also ran for and became ARRL San Diego Section Communications Manager (now called Section Manager). This was prior to their applying for jobs (at ARRL) in Newington in 1947.”

As the students of St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Houston gathered in a classroom one morning this fall, they eagerly awaited the chance to ask an astronaut their special question. Through Amateur Radio on the International Space Station, the program that connects students to astronauts, 10 children who are in kindergarten through eighth grade were able to make radio contact with NASA astronaut Bob Hines by a high-gain Yagi antenna built by St. Stephen’s teacher Charlie Larrabee. The questions ranged from inquiring how cold the station was to if the astronauts can eat ramen in space, with one child even asking if it feels cool to do a backflip in space. The answer? Yes, it does. Such a monumental event takes lots of planning, according to Larrabee, with the preparation for the day taking almost a year to complete. In that time, the students learned about radio and space technology. Unlike most other participating schools, Larrabee decided to build the antenna from scratch by himself. Once it was built, it lived on the roof above the classroom. Due to the nature of how the space station orbits through space, the students only had 10 minutes to ask their questions. “It just felt like the impact of the event would be much more meaningful,” Larrabee said. “I was actually controlling the walkie-talkie with my knee. So when I push my knee down on the pedal, that's what starts the walkie-talkie transmitting and the kids can start talking. We're kind of collaborating.”

With a call sign of VU2CUW, 27-year-old amateur radio operator Sarabjeet Singh Chhabra will be in Antarctica as a member of the Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (42-ISEA) on December 9. He will be accompanying the team to either Bharati or Maitri Stations in the white continent. Sarabjeet, who got his ham radio operating license in 2015, will be one of the youngest members of the contingent and he is feeling happy and nervous at the same time as it is his first international trip ever. He landed the opportunity while chatting with a customer, Bhagwati Prasad Semwal at his start-up Hobbytivity. Bhagwati is also a radio operator (call sign VU3BPZ) and has already been on this expedition to Antarctica. Sarabjeet also credits his father, an ex-serviceman and amateur radio operator (VU2CRS), for being his guiding light throughout his technical journey. Two teams – research and logistics –will be a part of the expedition. “I will be in the logistics team; we are basically the support system to the research team. There are two radio operators on the team and I’ve opted to be posted at the Bharati Station but the posting has been kept a surprise. I will be needed to take care of the VHF communication as there is no cell coverage in Antarctica and everything has to communicate via VHF radios that are basically handheld radios,” he says. Sarabjeet is also excited about conducting his own experiments in his leisure time and is taking HF radios, VHF radios, and other personal equipment along with him. He has a Kenwood dual band radio and it has capabilities of sending emails over the radio. “I would like to work on the propagation of high frequencies from Antarctica to India, and other stations in my proximity. I am not sure of the success because the ham radio hobby is all about experimentation,” shares Sarabjeet who has applied for a new call sign ‘AT42I’ for this expedition.

The Cambridge Amateur Radio Club and Cambridge Scout Troop participated in the annual Jamboree at Churchill Park. Local cubs, beavers and scouts were able to communicate with other like-minded youth around the world. Through modes such as slow scan TV, DMR radios, D-Star, UHF walkie talkies, participants could contact peers up to 4,000 kilometre away. “The Cambridge Amateur Radio Club allows the kids to operate the radios to talk to other kids,” Lantz said.“We could reach Europe and the United States. There’s also a Jamboree on the Internet that we run on laptops via online chat.” Knowing about ham radio, also known as amateur radio, Lantz has wanted to bring it to the community and share it with the local scout group. More than just a fun exercise, Lantz hopes the kids take the opportunity to learn about the various technologies available to them. He points out that they never know when the skill may come in handy. “This could line up with a job opportunity. If you’re an environmental scientist, let's say, having your ham license will allow you to work a remote station via ham radio. It’s one more thing to add to your resume.” Being able to see the kids experience something new and unique made the whole day worth it for Lantz and the other organizers. “Just seeing the kids being able to reach out and talk to other kids around the world is my favourite part,” he said.

China Police Liaison Team (CPLT) and Royal Solomon Island Police Force (RSIPF) conducted a Joint Mock Exercise of Digital Very High Frequency(VHF)Communication System. The officers simulated the use of VHF handheld radios and long distance radios in three scenarios: routine communication, emergency contact and point-to-point call, after receiving training from CPLT at the Rove Police Headquarters. Karen on behalf of the Solomon Island (SI) Government and MPNSCS thanked the Ministry of Public Security of China for the timely and effective support to RSIPF in terms of this major cooperation. Ms Karen was impressed by the new development we have in terms of enhancing capability of RSIPF. "Communication is an important part of policing. Over the years, we have tried to resource communication capability within RSIPF, but we are slow and struggling. With the assistance of CPLT led by Commissioner Zhang, it’s really another step forward to modernize the capability we really need." CPLT Team Leader, Commissioner Zhang said today’s brief and mock exercise is of significant importance for RSIPF because it marks the application of a new communication system, the digital VHF communication system which was assisted by the Ministry of Public Security of China.” The system can be used by different departments of the RSIPF and police stations as it will enable police officers to communicate efficiently and effectively during their daily work and important operations. It is also a strong support for the command and control of the security of Pacific Games 2023. The RSIPF officers are now familiar with the new communication system after the training and mock exercise. RSIPF officers expressed their gratitude to the CPLT and PRC engineers for the knowledge and skills taught to them.

Aussie telco Vertel and NSW-based two-way radio specialists Combined Communication have teamed up to install Push-to-Talk over Cellular (PoC) devices across Dyson Group’s 650 buses and coaches. The devices come with covert push-to-video duress features to improve safety for Dyson’s drivers, many of which operate in remote areas of NSW and Victoria that are not effectively supported by mobile service or traditional radio communications. The company’s 1,300 staff previously relied on a hodgepodge of different communications systems that had been inherited from its acquisitions.  The privately-listed, carrier and its premium channel partner Combined Communications deployed a platform that includes both the features of traditional two-way radio and the data functionality of smartphones, including underlying GPS tracking capabilities.  The device looks like a traditional two-way radio and is attached to the driver’s dashboard with double-sided, heat-activated 3M tape.  It also features a built-in camera and a covert push-to-video duress feature that lets Dyson Group’s drivers alert head office to an incident while generating real-time video footage without alerting perpetrators. Vertel commercial director Tony Hudson said, “The Vertel PoC solution helps keep mobile workforces safe, in touch, and productive, and is ideal for life- and mission-critical applications.” “Driver safety is of the utmost importance to Dyson Group and the Vertel PoC solution with built-in covert duress features was especially customised to meet the company’s unique requirements in ensuring driver safety while not alerting potential perpetrators and giving dispatchers and emergency services real-time vision of what is happening on the bus.” “Without reliable communication, our drivers could be put at risk in regional areas without being able to communicate their location or request assistance in the event of an incident or emergency.” 

An small team of EURAO members from Romania, with the financial support of a local foundation in Buzau City that started in April a program dedicated to the children and young people in order to experience applied science with the help of amateur radio. The project aims to create an educational space and apply in practice the phenomena that accompany the interaction between people using radio waves. The program, which began in April, is scheduled to last until November 2022, when we will be able to offer a more exhaustive report of the activities carried out. So far, during the summer holidays, more than 5000 children have attended demonstrations of what amateur radio means. The program Radio Science 2.0 assumes an educational role to help kids to understand a lot of things regarding to the life and how we can use the ham radio to keep away the virtual life of them. The initiative was welcomed by the parents too. The team of Radio Science 2.0 started to make basic activities to bring up kids interests to the practical things direction, ease to do for them and full of knowledge and science. In this manner we started to teach them the phonetic alphabet, about how is working Frs walkie talkie, how we can find directions on the ground to toward our antennas, what a transceiver is and other elementary things from ham radio biology and emergency situation domains. We continued to teach them about how to solder and during the meetings they made their first FM radio. We did a lot of long range communication with radios and had lots of fun and a lot of knowledge we finally gatheried! Anyway, we discovered the kids are attracted by the ham radio just if we can proof the necessity of it and for this new situation two hours became three or four hours of workshops every weekend. Actually, the kids didn't want to go home after the educational time was spent. We did a lot of work for the wonderful kids. Our scope to show them what means ham radio for more than 5000 kids during the summer vacation was easy touch and now we have invitation to continue the activities as long as we want and can. As the result of our activities we received an invitation to participate in the summer school, for three months long, organized by Cultural and Educational Center Alexandru Marghiloman in each Thursday of the week.We recorded a lot of testimonials and also an interesting conclusion: how we can improve the ham radio with the new generation!

The following two rescue stories are great examples of why amateur radio is important. The first story occurred in Wisconsin and is told by ARRL member Scott Strecker, KG9IV. In his own words, Strecker shares how he was able to help a ham in distress. Thanks to the Chippewa Valley Amateur Radio Club in Wisconsin, an ARRL Affiliated Club, for this information. "It was Friday, which meant I worked from my home office. I have the VHF radios on low to monitor them in the background. Recently, I got into the Allstar node with a hotspot. I use it to monitor the FM38 systems. At about 7:45 AM, I heard the Allstar node come up. An individual in distress was asking for assistance to get an ambulance to him. It was a ham in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. He had slipped on his bathroom floor and went down so hard he could not get up, but he happened to have his handheld with him. He did not have access to the phone, and he lived alone. I called the Brown Deer police call center. The dispatcher got the fire department rolling and then started asking me for more details. I had the dispatcher on speaker phone, and he could hear the hams' responses to the questions. It felt good to help out. I also realized it was due to my monitoring that I was able to hear his call. In addition to Strecker's story, newly licensed amateur radio operators Shannon Vore, KK7GVG, also shared a rescue story. On September 13, 2022, in the Rocky Mountains in northwest Idaho, they were out for a weekend of four-wheeling in their Jeep. The area is an extremely mountainous region with no towns, very few people, no facilities, and no cell phone coverage. The nearest airfield is Horse Haven Trail, an unimproved dirt strip that's severely eroded and covered with rocks and debris. At about 4:30 PM, Vore and Bouchard were taking a break when an approaching truck notified them of an ATV accident involving two teenage girls. The accident scene was just a few miles away, and when they arrived it was clear the teenagers were critically injured. Bouchard was unable to contact several local repeaters, but was finally able to make contact using a simplex frequency (146.420 MHz) that's popular with the hams in Coeur d'Alene, 20 miles from the accident site. For nearly 2 hours, Vore and Tappero provided relay between the 911 dispatcher, advising the condition of the injured and the approaching weather. Life Flight Network was unable to respond because of a severe thunderstorm immediately over the rescue site. Tappero continued to provide relay information for all parties until 6:00 PM, when the EMT's arrived. The teenagers were in stable condition and immediately transported to the nearest hospital. Today, they're in good condition and recovering. "It took us about 2 days to wind down from the experience," said Vore. "We are both glad we had our amateur radio licenses and were able to help." Bouchard said that they had been using radios on the General Mobile Radio System (GMRS), but have since upgraded their...