The Department of Defense will host this year’s Armed Forces Day (AFD) Crossband Test, scheduled for May 10, 2025. This annual event is open to all licensed amateur radio operators and will not impact any public or private communications. For more than 50 years, military and amateur stations have taken part in this event, which is an interoperability exercise between hobbyist and government radio stations.
The following story appeared in the March 18, 2025 issue of ARRL Club News:
Your club is planning to staff a table at a local community fair or event. Offer to send radiograms. Recruit volunteers to explain what a radiogram is and, later, send the messages. Who in your radio club is active on the traffic nets? How many members know the radiogram format or know how to send a radiogram message on the air? Fear not! Your club can put its best foot forward and hold an amateur radio message fair with minimal traffic-handling skills using an exciting new tool: the Radiogram Portal!
First Responders, Amateur Radio Operators, and members of the public who are interested in becoming SKYWARN® storm spotters—and current spotters who wish to refresh their skills—must do so by watching the NWS WFO Grand Forks 2025 SKYWARN® Storm Spotter Training video.
⚠️ In-person SKYWARN® Storm Spotter training will not be conducted in 2025.
The May 2025 ARES Meeting will be dedicated to starting the process of reissuing the Salamander IDs held by RRRAES members and to updating I am Responding (IAR) user information.
There will be a lot to do at this meeting so please arrive as early as possible. The West Fargo FDHQ doors will be open for us at 1815 hours (6:15 PM CDT).
Social media users highlighted the importance of battery-operated radios as the only reliable source of emergency information, while critics pointed to the fragility of the current system.
After a large blackout left much of Chile without electricity last Tuesday, millions of people were affected and left without communication. All courtesy of the fact that the telecommunications antenna service and the internet completely collapsed.
