Organization

Updated 7/1/24:

Effective 12:00pm ET / 16:00 UTC we will be returning Logbook of The World® (LoTW®) to service. 

As work progressed on the network, some users encountered LoTW opening briefly during which some 6600 logs were uploaded. The logs were not processed until this weekend as we tested that the interfaces to LoTW were functioning properly.

We are taking steps to help manage what will likely be a huge influx of logs. We are requesting that if you have large uploads, perhaps from contests or from a DXpedition, please wait a week or two before uploading to give LoTW a chance to catch up. We have also implemented a process to reject logs with excessive duplicates. Please do not upload your entire log to “ensure” your contacts are in LoTW as they will be rejected. Lastly, please do not call ARRL Headquarters to report issues you are having with LoTW. You can contact support at LoTW-help@arrl.org.

Through the end of the year, you may experience planned times when LoTW will be unavailable. We have been using this time to evaluate operational and infrastructure improvements we would like to make to LoTW. Those times will be announced.

We appreciate your patience as we worked through the challenges keeping LoTW from returning to service. We know the importance of LoTW to our members, and to the tens of thousands of LoTW users who are not ARRL members. LoTW, just behind QST, is our second most popular ARRL benefit.  

This story will be updated with new developments.

Despite several ARRL statements that Logbook of The World (LoTW) and DXCC data are safe, it seems that some users are still concerned that this may not be the case due to the time that it’s taking to restore service.

Follows is a recent post from Jon Bloom, ex-KE3Z, one of the original LoTW authors:

—

Perhaps it will ease some minds if I tell you that I know for certain that these data are safe. I know this because I personally assisted ARRL staff to get these data backed up to locations and systems that are in no way connected to ARRL HQ or cloud systems. The LoTW data, for example, exists in multiple physical locations and cloud backup services. Such is also the case for the LoTW source code. In addition, I imported the LoTW data backup into a separate, new test database system to verify it. This took several days since the database is about 3 Terabytes in size. (It’s a LOT of data!)

Getting the systems themselves back on-line is another matter, and I have no information to share about that as I’m not involved in the ongoing process of restoring them. ARRL has apparently made the decision, wisely in my view, not to bring any affected systems back into service until all parts of them can be vetted and secured. But the data itself is safe, and LoTW will definitely be back at some point.

— Jon

[We are working with Jon to get LoTW back online. As you can see from his explanation, there is not a definite timeframe. We want to be sure that the LoTW platform is secure before we bring the system back up. I hope that this helps. —Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC]

The June 2024 Western MA Section Newsletter is now available at https://wma.arrl.org/blog/2024/05/31/section-managers-report-june-2024/.

From ARRL News:

Updated 6/4/2024

On or around May 12, 2024, ARRL was the victim of a sophisticated network attack by a malicious international cyber group. ARRL immediately involved the FBI and engaged with third party experts to investigate.

This serious incident was extensive and categorized by the FBI as “unique,” compromising network devices, servers, cloud-based systems, and PCs.

ARRL management quickly established an incident response team. This has led to an extensive effort to contain and remediate the networks, restore servers, and staff are beginning the testing of applications and interfaces to ensure proper operation.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as our staff continue to work through this with an outstanding team of experts to restore full functionality to our systems and services.

We will continue to update members as advised and to the extent we are able.

This story will be updated with new developments.

Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC, writes:

Hello everyone,

Many of you have probably noticed that several ARRL online services and the HQ phone system have been down. The ARRL is working as quickly as possible to restore all services, and progress is being made. You can see the current status of the restoration at this link –

http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-systems-service-disruption

You can check this link periodically for further updates. It will likely take some time to get everything fully back up and running. We appreciate your patience.

——————————————————————–
ARRL New England Division
Director: Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC
ab1oc@arrl.org
——————————————————————–

Updated 5/29/2024

This update includes information about the status of several services as we continue to respond to a serious incident involving access to our network and systems.

The ARRL Volunteer Examiner Coordinator (ARRL VEC) has resumed the processing of Amateur Radio License applications with the FCC. A more comprehensive update on the status of ARRL VEC services is available here.

There has been no interruption to visitor operating at W1AW, the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station. The station resumed voice bulletins on Thursday, May 23. All other scheduled transmissions, including Morse code practice, and code and digital bulletins, will resume on Thursday, May 30. Please refer to the regular operating schedule at www.arrl.org/w1aw-operating-schedule.

After last week’s distribution of the ARRL Letter, our e-newsletter service has resumed. Current editions of ARRL Club News and The ARES® Letter have also been distributed.

ARRL Store orders have resumed shipping. Orders are being fulfilled from earliest order dates to the latest. Please allow additional time for our processing.

There has been no disruption to the @arrl.net email forwarding service, though forwarding email addresses and aliases cannot be modified at this time.

Our telephone system is unavailable at this time.

We appreciate your patience as we continue working on restoring access to affected systems and services.

This story will be updated with new developments.

From ARRL News:

05/16/2024—We are in the process of responding to a serious incident involving access to our network and headquarters-based systems. Several services, such as Logbook of The World® and the ARRL Learning Center, are affected. Please know that restoring access is our highest priority, and we are expeditiously working with outside industry experts to address the issue. We appreciate your patience.

Approximately thirty-five club leaders and Section Managers (SMs) attended last night’s New England Division Cabinet meeting via Zoom to hear an update from Division Director Fred Kemmerer, AB1OC; his immediate staff, and section reports from the New England SMs.

The meeting featured a panel presentation by active New England club leaders who shared their thoughts on how to mentor and grow their respective clubs.