The August DARC meeting is coming up this Tuesday! Our program will be a presentation by Paul Newman, KA5TYW. He’ll bring us an overview of AREDN (Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network) and an update on the City of Richardson RACES AREDN plan. He’ll also give us an update on the north Texas FSQ mesh, an informal digital chat network that’s gaining more an more VHF simplex nodes in the area.

There will be opportunities for hands-on learning at the meeting, so if you have AREDN or FSQ gear, please bring it to the meeting.

On the contest calendar, the biggest event happening this weekend is the 10-10 International Summer Phone QSO Party.  Conditions might not be at their best, but you’ll get more pride if you overcome the obstacles and participate!

In ham radio news:

The ARISS packet radio system might be back on-line by the end of the year! I’ve never had a voice contact with the ISS, but I’ve enjoyed the digipeater in the past, so I hope it can be replaced.

Baofeng haters have some good news. It looks like the expansive capabilities and broad marketing of these radios has provoked a fine from the FCC.

Do you like designing antennas? The deadline for the 2018 QST Antenna design competition is fast approaching! This year’s theme is antennas for limited space, and the deadline is September 1st, 2018.

UPDATES: Bill, N5BB, mentioned a science news story about birds learning about danger from the alarm calls of other birds. He mentioned some recent discoveries about people answering moral dilemmas differently in a language that isn’t their native tongue. Finally, he talked a bit about studies showing that bats use sound for much more than just echolocation; they communicate by sound, too. However, I haven’t been able to find a good link to share for that story. Please let me know if you have one.

In news from the world of science:

You probably know that twins are a lot of work, and triplets are even tougher. How about 50 ducklings? Does that sound like a lot? This mother coped with a brood of 76.

Astronauts have been selected for the first Boeing and SpaceX commercial crew flights! It’s about time. If I’d told someone in 1970 that the U. S. would be reduced to buying seats on Russian rockets as its only way of getting humans into space, they would have thought I was making a terrible joke.

If you’ve ever been Ambien-ated, or known someone who has, be glad you’ve never been Abilify-ized.  While racism might not be a known side effect of any drug, bankruptcy and gambling addiction, unfortunately, are.

Medicine isn’t the only science that can save lives! This week the National Weather Service looked back at the contribution of weather to the crash of Delta flight 191 on August 2nd, 1985, and the ways that weather surveillance has saved lives since then.

And don’t forget, the Perseids are coming up soon. There are lots of viewing guides on-line. Even business magazines are getting into the act!