The NIST FY 2019 Presidential Budget Request includes funding for the “shutdown of NIST radio stations in Colorado and Hawaii.” ¹

NIST plans to shut down these valuable resources even though their own WWV page boasts of the station having millions of listeners worldwide.

Everyone who uses WWV/WWVH, or just recognizes the value of these resources to our nation, is encouraged to sign the White House petition to maintain funding for NIST stations WWV & WWVH and to contact their elected representatives in Congress.

On August 14, 2018, ARRL reported:

Reorganized and updated FCC Personal Radio Services (PRS) Part 95 rules have been published in The Federal Register. … Effective September 30, 2019, it will be illegal to manufacture or import handheld portable radio equipment capable of operating under FRS rules and under other licensed or licensed-by-rule services. ¹

The updated regulation is effective September 28, 2018.

ARRL, The national association for Amateur Radio, reports that Significant Changes [are] in Store for FT8 and MSK144 with WSJT-X Version 2.0:

WSJT-X co-developer Joe Taylor, K1JT, has announced that major changes are coming to the FT8 and MSK144 digital protocols when WSJT-X version 2.0 arrives in a few months. Taylor said version 2.0 should be ready for prime time by January.

There is now another digital repeater available in the Fargo-Moorhead metro area: the KD0IOE DMR/YSF repeater at 444.625+ CC1. This repeater is an MMDVM based system that currently has DMR and YSF enabled, with both timeslots available. It is located at my West Fargo home, linked to the Internet and available for public use.

A technical description of the repeater, along with DMR timeslot and Brandmeister information is available on the KD0IOE Repeater page.

Please contact me at if you have any specific questions about my setup.

FT8 is a new mode included in WSJT-X versions 1.8 and later.

This weak signal mode is intended—and optimised—for making efficient barebones contacts; a definite plus during this time of poor propagation. Although FT8 does not support rag-chewing or contesting exchanges it is, none the less, well worth trying out in the Amateur Radio spirit of learning and experimentation.

The slides from my presentation after the adjournment of the April 17, 2018, RRRA Business Meeting are available for download from the Training and Education | Presentations folder on the RRRA File Sharing server.