03/22/2024—This year, International Marconi Day (IMD) is on April 27. Italian inventor and electrical engineer Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi was born on April 25, 1874, and is credited for inventing the radiotelegraph system, creating Marconi’s law, and sending the first wireless transmission over the open sea.
IMD was created to honor Marconi and is hosted annually by the Cornish Radio Amateur Club, GX4CRC. The purpose of the day is for amateur radio enthusiasts around the world to contact historic Marconi sites using communication techniques similar to those that he would have used.
The 24-hour event will operate from 0000 UTC to 2359 UTC, and registration is required. Participants can register at GX4CRC’s registration web page.
Stations in the United States, including Marconi Cape Cod Radio Club, KM1CC, in Massachusetts, are already registering for the event. KM1CC hosts several on-air events each year to keep the accomplishments and story of Marconi and his wireless station site in South Wellfleet alive. In 1975, the Wellfleet station was listed as a National Historic Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places and is now part of Cape Cod National Seashore, a unit of the National Park Service. When possible, KM1CC sets up a temporary radio station inside the park. More information about KM1CC is available on their Facebook page.
Jonathan Taylor, K1RFD, Ridgefield, Connecticut, inventor of the highly popular program “EchoLink,” was featured as guest on the QSO Today podcast, episode #487. Taylor is also author of the NTS 2.0 Radiogram Portal web application.
From QSO Today: “Jonathan Taylor, K1RFD, has reached his 50th year has a ham radio operator, is the creator of Echolink, one of the first amateur radio Voice over Internet Service linking amateur radio stations, the receiver of technical innovation awards, and author of ‘VoIP: Internet Linking for Radio Amateurs,’ now in its second edition. K1RFD checks all of the ham radio boxes for operating, homebrewing, software development, radio restoration, and is my QSO Today.”
Bob Beatty, WB4SON, writes on the Newport County (RI) Radio Association POTA list:
The POTA program has been in the process of changing all park prefixes from their original format to a new format that follows the ISO standard for naming entities. On March 20, 2024, parks in the US will change from being listed as “K-xxxxx” to “US-xxxxx” (the K changes to US).
Changes for other countries have either already taken place or will take place soon. For example, The Bahamas used to begin with C6, and is now BS.
Keep in mind that there never has been a requirement to transmit your park information, not even if you are doing a park-to-park contact. All of that is automatically handled when logs are uploaded. But you will certainly see these changes on the POTA spotting network, and will likely hear them on the air soon. Just remember to send “US” starting March 20th.
On Sunday March 17, 2024 @10AM we will have our monthly Foxhunt and this month we will have a special treat for all with an easier foxhunt. All members and non-members are invited to attend and this should be a family friendly event. The purpose of the foxhunt is to track down a hidden transmitter (Leprechaun) and find some information, then relay that information according to the instructions on a sign where the Leprechaun is located. For more tips, see below the map. The hunt will be mainly in a square area Fairfield from Southport north to just north of the Merritt Parkway east to Sacred Heart University and south to Captains Cove.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Dan Wright
k1was@was-ct.org
Phone: (203) 293-8759
Westport, Connecticut – March 13, 2024 – The Westport Astronomical Society (WAS) and its amateur radio station, K1WAS are excited to announce its participation in the observation of the total solar eclipse along the totality line in Texas on April 8, 2024, with a grant from NASA using high-altitude balloons launched by the University of Bridgeport and the University of New Haven.
The K1WAS team will assist the University of Bridgeport, and the University of New Haven with their effort in the Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project. The amateur radio club, and many other amateur radio operator members and balloon enthusiasts, will help launch several high-altitude balloons equipped with cameras, sensors, and radio transmitters to capture the eclipse from a unique vantage point high above the Earth’s surface.
“We are thrilled to be able to contribute to the scientific community’s understanding of this celestial event,” said Dan Wright N3DAW, Board Member of the Westport Astronomical Society. “These high altitude balloon missions will offer a perspective of the eclipse that is both breathtaking and informative, helping researchers study the Sun’s corona and the Earth’s atmosphere in new and exciting ways.”
“Since the University of Bridgeport (UB) began its balloon science and payload work in 2013, K1WAS/WAS members have served as mentors and instructors to both myself and dozens of our students,” said Jani Macari Pallis, Ph.D., professor of mechanical engineering, who leads the engineering teams for NASA/Montana State’s Nationwide Eclipse Ballooning Project (NEBP) for the central northeast. “Early on K1WAS/WAS members took the time to instruct in all aspects of high altitude balloon flight: from safe helium usage and transportation, stacking and tying payloads together, creating containers to protect the instruments, communications, launch, tracking and balloon and payload recovery. K1WAS/WAS members have been at each of our launches and served as mentors and team members for UB’s 2017 total solar eclipse team as well as our 2023 annular eclipse team and upcoming 2024 total solar eclipse team. We are particularly indebted to K1WAS/WAS members Larry Reed, AB1JC, Gary Moyher, WE1M, Mike Miciukiewicz, K1MJM, and David Schadlich, KB1LTW.”
The University of New Haven’s Texas team will include ozonesonde payloads during this eclipse to monitor the ozone levels in the atmosphere. Both traditional weather balloons and a newly improved altitude-controlled balloon will be used for this mission. These experiments will provide data analysis, and valuable information to scientists across the planet that will be analyzed after the event.
The launch of the high-altitude balloon will take place from a location near the path of totality in Junction Texas at Texas Tech, where the eclipse will be visible for the longest duration. The balloons will ascend and hover at an altitude of 80,000 feet while gathering data, providing a clear view of the earth as the eclipse’s shadow passes.
Amateur radio operators and astronomy enthusiasts are invited to join the Westport Astronomical Society’s observation efforts by following the balloon’s location which will be captured in real-time using an amateur radio system called APRS (Automatic Packet Reporting System), and participating in related events and discussions. Details on how to access the data and participate in the event will be shared on the Westport Astronomical Society’s website and social media channels.
The total solar eclipse, a rare astronomical event where the moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, will be visible across parts of North America but the sun is only 90% obscured in Westport and much of New England. The Westport Astronomical Society, known for its dedication to promoting astronomy and space exploration, is leveraging its resources and expertise to enhance the viewing experience for enthusiasts and researchers alike. Locally, WAS will have telescopes set up to safely view the partial eclipse with our partner, the Westport Library on April 8th from 2 – 4 PM.
In Connecticut, the next partial solar eclipses aren’t until 2028 and 2029 and will not obscure the sun anywhere near what we’ll see in April. For that, you’ll have to wait until the total solar eclipse on the morning of May 1, 2079.
More on WAS:
WAS opens up the Westport Observatory to the public every clear Wednesday from 8- 10 pm. For more information about the Westport Astronomical Society and its amateur radio station KIWAS, visit www.was-ct.org. Follow the Society on Facebook, Mastodon, LinkedIn, and Instagram for updates on the total solar eclipse observation mission.
Members of the Westport Astronomical Society’s Amateur Radio Station K1WAS launching a high-altitude balloon from Bridgeport’s Discovery Museum
Total Solar Eclipse, courtesy WAS Member Carl Lancaster, KB1NTN
We are writing to you on a matter of scientific urgency.
HamSCI stands for Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation. We have been actively engaged in scientific data collection for both the October 14, 2023, annular solar eclipse and the upcoming April 8, 2024, total eclipse.
Two major activities that HamSCI will be involved around the solar events will be The Solar Eclipse QSO Party (SEQP) and the Gladstone Signal Spotting Challenge (GSSC) which are part of theHamSCI Festivals of Eclipse Ionospheric Science. Other experiments that will also to be conducted include the Time Delay of Arrival (TDOA) experiment, the Very Low Frequency (VLF) Reception Exercise and the Medium Wave Recordings Event. Members of HamSCI, along with the amateur radio community, will be creating data for researchers by transmitting, receiving, and recording signals across the high frequency (HF) spectrum.
We would like to encourage you to cooperate on a joint astronomy/radio outreach event for the upcoming eclipse. The event promises to be one of the science highlights of the decade. Many astronomy clubs are planning to host outreach events in their town or near the centerline of totality. However, seeing the eclipse visually might be clouded out by unpredictable April weather.
But terrestrial weather is not space weather. At radio frequencies. amateur radio operators can still bounce their signals off the ionosphere high above the clouds to communicate with other hams hundreds or thousands of miles away. It is the Sun’s light which ionizes the upper air and produces the ionosphere, so during a solar eclipse the ionization lessens, and the ionosphere gets weaker, and its bottom level gets higher. This change can be observed with amateur radio equipment. At high frequencies a distant bounced signal fades, but at very low frequencies it strengthens as an absorbing layer weakens. With specialized equipment (go to www.hamsci.org/eclipse) you can even observe the changing Doppler shift as the bounce altitude recedes skyward then returns toward the ground as the Moon passes off the face of the Sun using the Grape 1 personal space weather system equipment).
For ideas on eclipse activities visit the NASA/Arizona State University (https://scope.asu.edu/eclipse-activities/) and also the HamSCI (hamsci.org/eclipse) websites where you will be encouraged to join the solar eclipse QSO party (SEQP).
Please let us know if you need any help. We hope you have a great eclipse experience and can send us a photo or a short report after the event.
The Eastern Connecticut Amateur Radio Association will conduct Technician classes starting on April 3,2024 in Putnam, Connecticut. Classes will be held on Wednesday evenings from 6-9 PM for 10 weeks followed by FCC Volunteer Exams given on site.
From ARRL News:
The March 2024 Section Newsletter is now available at 
Bob Beatty, WB4SON, writes on the Newport County (RI) Radio Association POTA list:
On Sunday March 17, 2024 @10AM we will have our monthly Foxhunt and this month we will have a special treat for all with an easier foxhunt. All members and non-members are invited to attend and this should be a family friendly event. The purpose of the foxhunt is to track down a hidden transmitter (Leprechaun) and find some information, then relay that information according to the instructions on a sign where the Leprechaun is located. For more tips, see below the map. The hunt will be mainly in a square area Fairfield from Southport north to just north of the Merritt Parkway east to Sacred Heart University and south to Captains Cove.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
The 