Get ready for amateur radio’s largest on-air operating event with official 2023 ARRL Field Day merchandise available for order now. T-shirts, hats, pins, patches, and stickers are a great way to show off your involvement in this annual event. This year’s colorful design features a globe centered on North America and the words “TUNE IN THE WORLD.” The back of the t-shirt includes a check-off list of ARRL and RAC Sections.

The ARRL News will not be on the W3VPR repeaters Friday, April 21 or Saturday, April 22.

Dave Earnest usually assures these announcements are available to the club, but is unable to do so this weekend due to other commitments. 

April 21st for MDC Section EchoLink Net every 3rd Friday of the month @ 8:00 PM ET, *WASH_DC* Node# 6154 and several local Maryland RF repeaters.  Thanks John, WB3GXW, for making available EchoLink server. Download, free-of-charge, http://echolink.org

The US Department of Defense (DoD) will host this year's Armed Forces Day (AFD) Crossband Test on May 13, 2023. 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.

The Anne Arundel Radio Club will be holding its annual General Class beginning Sunday, April 23. The Class is free and will be held over Zoom. The class begins at 1 pm and will run for several Sunday afternoons. To register, visit https://www.w3vpr.org/preregister

The only expense would be the ARRL textbook for the General license available from ARRL or Amazon. 

Attached in PDF are the special event stations for April.

We use the ARRL listings as a base, but because people may chase stations by topic, we sort them by topic and date.

Good hunting.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has released a final version (March 2023) of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Functional Guidance. The guidance, which provides a framework for communications resources within incident management, officially includes support from amateur radio operators.

CALVERT ON THE AIR

We have linked to a history of amateur radio which is at available here. The articles are from w2pa.net (direct link).

As a note, Daylight Saving Time begins soon. Next week's Open Shack will be DST.

03/25/2023 - Fredfest
Location: Frederick, MD
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Sponsor: Frederick Amateur Radio Club
Website: http://frederickarc.org

04/23/2023 - Maryland Mobileers Spring Hamfest
Location: Odenton, MD
Type: ARRL Hamfest
Sponsor: Maryland Mobileers Amateur Radio Club
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/marylandmobileers/hamfest?authuser=0

Beginning with the March newsletter, we're experimenting with a new humor feature: Teddy's World.

It's an exposition of the life of the club's mascot, Teddy.  All photos are courtesy of Greg Witmyer, KC3SEG, and are from his and Teddy's POTA excursions, or most of them are.

The biggest problem we've found with this is translating Teddy's comments and observations to English.  Unfortunately, the editor is not a Doctor Doolittle and sometimes the woofs get confusing.

Enjoy.

Attached to this post are the special event stations from ARRL. We sort these by type, then date, allowing those looking for specific activities to focus in them.

Good hunting. 

Eric Berman, W3EAB, 2022 President of the AARC presents the winners of the Maryland-DC QSO Party Participation Award, the Potomac Valley Radio Club, Northwest Chapter with the winner's plaque.  This presentation took place at their February 21st, 2023 meeting at Chef Lin's restaurant in Frederick, Maryland.  Their winning effort required 4 operators from 3 locations. 

Two amateur radio events are scheduled in mid-February to celebrate an astronomer who mapped the universe and an astronomer who discovered a planet.

February 11 - Amateur License Testing by the Laurel VE team. Registration starts between 12:00 and 12:15 PM. Testing at 1:00.

February 12 - Open Shack, noon to 4 pm.

There will be an Open Shack on Sunday, February 5, 2023 between 12:00 and 4:00 pm.

Open Shack offers the members the opportunity to use the club's radios where they may not have the ability to operate from their home QTH due to HOA covenants or difficulties setting up antennas.

Attached are the special event stations for February. The AARC re-sorts the ARRL listing by type to facilitate those searching for particular types of contacts.

Good hunting.  

We are experiencing a problem with the website regarding some membership transactions. 

You must be logged in for annual renewals. New or restored memberships (not currently having a login), please contact the membership secretary directly at ms@w3vpr.org.

It gives me great pleasure to announce that our ARRL Maryland/DC Section has a new manager, Chris Van Winkle AB3WG.  You will recognize Chris as an assistant Section Manager for MD/DC for some time.  Marty Pittinger, KB3MXM, our recent SM has been elevated to Vice Director of the Atlantic Division.  You likely heard about this from my friend Tom Abernethy, W3TOM, our recently retired Atlantic division director.  Tom and I both knew that Marty was right for Atlantic and that he would be a tough act to follow as an SM.  But Chris is up to that job, we are sure.