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This Weekend on the Radio:

As the ARRL Headquarters staff continues to support response and recovery efforts in Louisiana and the areas impacted by Hurricane Gustav, yet another storm begins to shift some of the focus eastward. Tropical Storm Hanna, currently forecast to impact the North and South Carolina coastline early Saturday morning, has begun to activate ARES preparations from Florida northward. Hanna is responsible for at least 137 deaths in Haiti.

After several days of harrowing watching and waiting for Hurricane Gustav to make landfall, the storm slammed into southeast Louisiana Monday afternoon, leaving flooding, wind damage and power outages in its wake and evacuees eager to go home. As Amateur Radio operators across the area moved from an emergency response stance to clean-up, evaluation and repair, the need for some changes to operations and equipment became clear, as well as the vastly improved response as compared to Hurricane Katrina. As the storm made its way inland, ARRL Division, Section and public information volunteers in and around the area impacted by the Category 2 hurricane, reported that they were preparing to deploy themselves and other volunteers to strategic locations once conditions allow.

As Amateur Radio operators prepared for Hurricane Gustav, the ARRL deployed complete radio stations comprised of industry-donated Amateur Radio equipment, thanks to the generous contributions of ARRL members to the Ham Aid Fund. Created in 2005 to assist with the response to Hurricane Katrina, the Ham Aid Fund is designated to finance Amateur Radio equipment needed for disaster response. In preparation for Hurricane Gustav, ARRL received requests for radio equipment from Louisiana and Texas. The shipping costs for this equipment were covered by the Ham Aid Fund.

Late last month in Panama, the Executive Committee of IARU Region 2 held its annual meeting. According to IARU Region 2 President Reinaldo Leandro, YV5AMH, the importance of having active and inclusive IARU Member-Societies is the "only way to ensure the future of Amateur Radio." Leandro said this theme was "underlined" throughout the meeting. The United States is a member of Region 2.

On Thursday, September 11, the Pentagon Amateur Radio Club (PARC) will operate a Special Event station commemorating the 7th anniversary of the attacks that occurred on the Pentagon, the World Trade Center and over Pennsylvania in 2001.

In an effort to streamline hurricane support operations at ARRL Headquarters, the League has set up two e-mail addresses for hams to pose questions or relay information to HQ Staff relating to hurricane or named tropical storm events.

Army Captain Jeff Hammer, N9NIC, who represents the Army Military Affiliate Radio System (Army MARS) in Iraq, has appealed to the families of troops deployed overseas that have been affected by the recent tropical storms and hurricanes to let their loved ones know all is well at home. "There are a lot of soldiers from the Gulf States here in Iraq," Hammer said, "and their families may be impacted by the hurricanes and not have a way to communicate with their soldier to let them know their status in the coming week(s).

Registration remains open through Sunday, September 21, 2008 for these online course sessions beginning on Friday, October 3, 2008:

On Friday, October 3, the ARRL HQ family will say goodbye to Membership Manager Katie Breen, W1KRB, as she moves away from her native Connecticut. In her short time here, Breen quickly became popular as she traveled to hamfests and conventions around the country -- as well as making videos that have been posted online -- promoting the League to members and non-members alike; she headed up the ARRL team at the 2008 Dayton Hamvention this past May.

We're still looking at a quiet Sun, but currently a solar wind is disturbing Earth's magnetic field. 6 meter operators - after enjoying a fine season of sporadic E propagation this Summer - may see some added excitement from auroral propagation

The joint RSGB / UKuG / AMSAT-UK / BATC response to the MoD Spectrum Consultation is now available on the RSGB website

On the 26th September 2008, a new EU directive comes into force preventing the importation of Ni-Cd and other batteries into Europe

The American Radio Relay League's round-up of the forthcoming week's DX activity

The Heritage Open Days are on Saturday 13th, and Sunday 14th September and, once again, the wonderful little museum in Hemel Hempstead's Old Town will be opening its doors for visitors to enjoy the eclectic collection of early technology

Tropical Storm Hanna is expected to make landfall in North Carolina in the late afternoon/early evening Friday

A new D-Star repeater is now operational in Terceira Island, Azores

The UK Ministry of Defence spectrum consultation closes on 5th September and a number of responses are now appearing on the MoD website

This must rank as one of the worst weeks since I started writing this column. Even the weekend was really bad

The Citrus Belt Amateur Radio Club of San Bernardino, California, will host probably one of the most fun special event activities - the 9th annual 'Route 66 On The Air' special event between September 13-21st

On September 13 and 14, radio amateurs are invited to the 53rd VHF Convention in Weinheim, Germany

DXCC has announced the issue of award number 1 on 70cm EME (432 MHz) to Jan Bruinier, DL9KR

The Loughton and Epping Forest Amateur Radio Society (LEFARS) will be on the air with GB2EFF on Sunday 7th September

It is that time again to participate in DX Magazine's annual 'Most Wanted' Survey

Four years into its ten-year journey to reach a comet, the European spacecraft Rosetta has been awakened to moonlight as an asteroid probe

EICTA, the European digital technology industry Association, in cooperation with the European Broadcasting Union and WorldDMB, has launched a major initiative aimed at achieving harmonised and interoperable digital radio services across Europe

The crew of VK9DWX wants to invite two young hams who have a passion for Ham Radio, DXing and contesting to take part in the DXpedition to Willis Island in October this year

IARU Region 2 has issued a report on the recent Executive Committee meeting held in Panama City on 30/31 August

Weekly IOTA News - compiled by the Deutscher Amateur Radio Club

In August, Iran moved closer to acheiving it's own satellite launch capability

The Gatwick Radio Weekend takes place on the 6/7th September and the Vintage Operating Group (VOG) invite you join them on site or on the air

The HF Convention is being held at the Wyboston Lakes Centre in Bedfordshire in October, with 4 lecture streams covering a wide range of topics

Many have been wondering what the status with regard to the Republic of Kosovo is as of today, both in general and in amateur radio terms specifically

The counting of sunspot numbers was once an academic exercise but has today become politicised in the debate over climate

The New Zealand regulator the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) has released a consultation paper seeking views on future regulatory arrangements for high-capacity, short-haul, point-to-point linking in the 70-90 GHz band. These links are suitable for supporting high speed data rates of up to 1 Gbit/s

German criminal investigators have seized a substantial amount of electronic equipment from the Internationale Funkausstellung (IFA) in Berlin. The items seized include at least 170 TV sets, 140 MP3 players, 60 DVD recorders and 43 car radios

NODXA member Goose, W8AV, will be on the Island of Curacao (SA-006, WLOTA LH-0942) from the PJ2T Signal Point station signing PJ2/W8AV, September 3-10th

On Saturday 30 August 2008 at 13:50 UTC, the Schulehaus Feld 1 in Richterswil, Switzerland, established a telebridge contact with US astronaut Greg Chamitoff, KD5PKZ, on board the International Space Station, via the ARISS Ground Station VK4KHZ

Radio Amateurs of Canada have issued another bulletin on Hurricane Gustav, which is expected make landfall today

As a result of an initiative by the Irish Radio Transmitters Society (IRTS), Irish regulator ComReg raised the question of the inclusion of a mention of allocations to the amateur service in the region of 70 MHz in the European Common Allocations table

AO-51 continues to wow the satellite community. It is now being used as a test bed for Earth stations

The International Radio Emergency Support Coalition (IRESC) has listed frequencies in use for Hurricane Gustav relief efforts

The SARL-HMO 40-metre beacon programme is soon to end its pilot status and will be ready to be rolled out

Weekly IOTA News - compiled by OPDX

The VoIP Hurricane Net will do a call up of Northern Gulf US stations on Sunday August 31st at 8 PM ET/7 PM CT [Sept 1st 0000 UT] with full activation to commence Monday morning [ET] potentially lasting well into Tuesday

You can now download the directory of French Ham radio and a list of French Radio clubs in a single file

The five-satellite RapidEye Earth observation constellation was successfully launched onboard a Dnepr rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan at 0715 UT on Friday 29th August

A look back at events that made history this week - compiled by the Summerland Amateur Radio Club of Lismore, NSW

The Hurricane Watch Net is operating on 7.100, and has requested that the frequency be kept clear during Hurricane Gustav

Devices that try to use the electrical mains wiring to transfer data or provide Internet connections can cause interference to radios over a wide area. A new video highlighting this problem is now available

The South African regulator ICASA recently published the revised table of frequency allocations, a process that is mandated by the Electronic Communication Act. The SARL has studied the table and has submitted its comments to the regulator

Hundreds of ham radio lovers gathered in Denver, North Carolina on Saturday for the country's second-largest ham radio festival

In this 3-minute audio file, Dean Willis, MW6VHF, tells BBC Radio Wales' Hugh Turnbull that the internet has failed to change his life as a radio ham

On Wednesday, 3 September Radio Sweden will be celebrating its 70th birthday with special broadcasts, a panel discussion, and live music

The DX Magazine 2008 Most Wanted Survey is now up and running, but needs your input

As of Friday, although Tropical Storm Gustav is still several days away from landfall on the US mainland, disaster preparations are being rolled out along the Gulf Coast

Members of the Sands Contest Group and Workington Amateur Radio Society are combining to activate the Isle of Jura, EU-008 from the 22nd to the 29th of September this year

During the HF Convention 2008 over the weekend of 10 to 12 October, you will be able to join with other operators and listen to a simulated CW pile-up

This weekend, the RSGB competitors in the 14th ARDF World Championships fly out to Korea for the competition

We're still looking at a quiet Sun, but currently a solar wind is disturbing Earth's magnetic field. 6 meter operators--after enjoying a fine season of sporadic E propagation this Summer--may see some added excitement from auroral propagation.