Field Day is coming soon! I’ve been testing my inverters, taking inventory of my antenna supports, and running the May supply of gas out of my generator. But there’s lots more that all of us can do. Remember that the DARC still has one more virtual forum coming up on June 18th to help us get ready for Field Day on our own.

Lots of the bonus points that we used to take care of as a club are now available to you as an individual. For example, you can earn 100 points for sending a radiogram to the ARRL NTX Section Manager, and 10 points each (up to 100) for sending radiograms to your family and friends. Don’t know how? Get started at the website for our local traffic net.

The contest calendar for this week has a number of small events and a few that are a little bit larger, like the 10-10 International “Open Season” PSK Contest, the Kentucky QSO Party, and the second six-week series of the RSGB Hope QSO Party.

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Coming up just one week from today, this month’s lab will focus on the Winlink radio e-mail software, which is both fun and useful in an emergency. Served agencies just love to use email when they can, and Winlink is a way to get it through.

The contest calendar has plenty of operating possibilities even if there’s nothing famous. The RSGB Hope QSO Party is continuing, and there are some unusual events like the Portuguese Navy Day contest and a CW event to honor the King of Spain.

In amateur radio news, a new release candidate for WSJT-X has been released. It offers improved decoding speed and reliability, so you should give it a try.

The ARRL reports that the amateur radio transponder on Huskysat-1 is now open for use, offering an inverting transponder with VHF up and UHF down.

UPDATE: Gus, W5GUS, mentions that next (Memorial Day) weekend will feature the Strange Antenna Challenge, where your goal is to make HF contacts using debris you might find after a natural disaster, not the usual wire or pipe antennas. It’s time to get out your toughest old antenna tuner and load up a tomato cage!

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I’m sorry that I’m late posting my news today…Erin and I got to install some bees in a hive at our house! We were distracted this afternoon.

Our club will continue to hold virtual Lecture and Lab events. This month’s lab will focus on the Winlink radio e-mail software, which can be very useful both for fun and in an emergency. Radiograms work, and sending them is a good skill…but served agencies just love to use email when they can.

The contest calendar for this week is full of little sprint events, which are great if you have a chance to try one. The RSGB Hope QSO Party continues, and if you want an electrifying contest experience, you could try out the Contest Volta RTTY contest, sponsored by the Associazione Radioamatori Italiani.

And one quick tip: if you want to quickly check the time in UTC, just use https://time.is/UTC. You can also use their front page to check if your computer’s clock is reasonably correct.

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Sadly, my first two announcements tonight are negative: Ham-Com 2020 has become Ham-Com 2021, and the DARC club VE session at the Business Jet center continues to be canceled until the public health situation improves. However, JJ, N5IMS, has sent me word of at least one examiner conducting on-line exams.

If we can’t meet up in person, there still are plenty of chances to get on the air. The Hope QSO Party is continuing, and serious VHF contesters will probably already have heard about the Araucaria World Wide VHF Contest, just as the CWers among us know about the 10-10 International Spring CW weekend. For more casual operators like me, there are QSO parties for the 7th call area, Indiana, Delaware, New England, and even Mie Prefecture, Japan.

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I don’t have any major club announcements today. Be sure to watch this website and the club Facebook page for updates about upcoming activities.

And unfortunately, I goofed up this morning and missed the Lecture and Lab. But, if you participated, please share what you did and learned. Have you tried a new digital mode today?

The contest calendar is offering plenty of was to have fun while you stay at home this weekend. In fact, did you know there’s an award for contacting “stay home” amateur stations? The RSGB Hope QSO party is still going on, and the 10-10 International Spring Digital QSO Party is trying to add excitement to the 10-meter band. The Florida QSO Party is also this weekend, and it offers a unique bonus opportunity: the chance to spell LOVEBUG with special event callsigns.

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