FCC Issues First Waiver for Government-Sponsored Disaster Drill

On Tuesday October 27, the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau (WTB) granted the first waiver that allows amateurs who participate in a government-sponsored emergency preparedness and disaster drill to communicate on behalf of their employers during the drill. The waiver request was made on behalf of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. That state will be conducting a full-scale exercise on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 from 8 AM-5 PM (EDT) to test their emergency response to the possible release of chemical agents at Blue Grass Army Depot, located near Richmond, Kentucky.

Changes for the 2009 November Sweepstakes

Next month, amateurs throughout the US and Canada will take part in the longest-running domestic contest, the 76th ARRL November Sweepstakes. Since 1930, this tradition in Amateur Radio has brought out all kinds of amateurs — from seasoned contest veterans to neophytes, from long-time traffic handlers to operators new to HF. The CW running of Sweepstakes takes place next weekend, November 7-9, while the SSB weekend is November 21-23. Each event runs from 2100 UTC Saturday until 0300 UTC Monday. All entrants may operate 24 out of the 30 hours.

ARRL Continuing Education Online Course Registration

Registration remains open through Sunday, November 22, 2009, for these online course sessions beginning on Friday, December 4, 2009: Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Level 1; Antenna Modeling; Radio Frequency Interference; Antenna Design and Construction; Ham Radio (Technician) License Course; Propagation; Analog Electronics, and Digital Electronics.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 8:16 pm and is filed under Short Wave Radio News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.