News and advocacy
What the Alliance is doing — filings with the FCC, statements, new resources and the work behind them.
Spot a contact, see who else is on the air
A spotting page of our own: post the station you are working, read what everyone else is hearing, and filter it down to the band or mode you care about.
Club Week is a week away — put your club on the map
Club Week runs November 1 to 8. Signing up takes a minute, puts your club on the national participants list, and gives you a week of ready-made reasons to invite people in.
A rebuilt usnara.org, a new wiki and a better board back end
The Alliance has relaunched its website with far more for clubs and individual operators, a community amateur radio wiki, and a more efficient back end for board members.
NARA opens a community amateur radio wiki
A community-maintained reference library for amateur radio — licensing, regulations, operating, antennas and history — free to read and open to members to edit.
NARA receives its first major charitable contribution
A $500 grant from the Robert C. Albert Fund at the Chicago Community Foundation — the Alliance’s first major charitable gift.
NARA turns one as America turns 250
The National Amateur Radio Alliance marks its first year on July 4, 2026 — the same day the United States marks its 250th.
NARA at Hamvention for the first time
The Alliance took a stand at Hamvention in Xenia, Ohio in May 2026 — our first appearance at the largest amateur radio gathering in the United States.
Ham Threads joins NARA, and members get the gear
Ham Threads — a ham radio apparel and merchandise company, and a NARA member itself — is now offering its lineup to NARA members.
NARA at Hamcation for the first time
The Alliance set up at Orlando Hamcation — our first time at the show — to meet operators, clubs and vendors face to face.
NARA welcomes the FCC decision expanding 60-meter access
The FCC has allocated a continuous 15 kHz band at 5351.5–5366.5 kHz to the Amateur Radio Service while keeping the existing four channels — a new home for QRP experimentation.
NARA attends one of the largest emcomm events in the Midwest
A week at the Central States Communications Association Red River Bootcamp in Oklahoma — 100+ students from 13 states, four days of COMT, COML, ITSL, INTD and AUXCOMM training and a full disaster exercise.
NARA attends Spark-Con and teams up with Mo-Kan
A great weekend in Sedalia at the ARRL® Midwest Division convention — and NARA is backing the Mo-Kan Regional Council of Amateur Radio Organizations.
A thousand strong
What started as a simple idea has grown into a community of more than a thousand supporters.
NARA statement on FCC Docket 25-201 and proposed 70cm band use by AST
NARA has filed opposition comments against AST & Science’s request to use 430–440 MHz for satellite telemetry, tracking and control.
NARA launches WhatIsHamRadio.com
The Alliance has purchased and built WhatIsHamRadio.com, a plain-English introduction to amateur radio for people who have never touched a transceiver.
Long Island CW Club backs the Alfred Vail 20-20 award
The Long Island CW Club has offered its full support for our Young Keyers Award — a significant step for recognizing young operators keeping Morse code alive.
NARA joins the fight for homeowners’ antenna rights
The Alliance backs the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act (H.R. 1094 / S. 459) — and has written a letter members can send to their own representatives today.
Announcing the Alfred Vail 20-20 Young Keyers Award
A new award for operators under 20 who can send and receive Morse code at 20 words per minute or better.
NARA files comments with the FCC on GN Docket No. 25-133
Responding to the FCC’s review of obsolete and burdensome regulations, NARA urged the Commission to preserve amateur licensing standards and protected spectrum.
NARA adopts a ten-region structure aligned with FEMA
Ten regions matching the FEMA regions, three territories, a Regional Director for each region and State Representatives in every state — plus a call for volunteers.
NARA announces plans for a State of Amateur Radio survey
We are preparing the most comprehensive survey of how amateur radio operators actually operate — and how they see the hobby — released in stages over the coming year.
NARA responds to the ARRL® cease and desist request
The ARRL® asked NARA to stop describing itself as “A National Association for Amateur Radio Operators.” We disagree that it caused confusion — and we are complying anyway.
NARA supports the ARRL® World Amateur Radio Day open house event
The Alliance encourages every club to open its doors on World Amateur Radio Day, April 18, and is offering a press release template clubs can customize to promote their event.
NARA announces Club Week, our first annual on-air event
Not a contest: a relaxed nine days on the air for clubs, running November 1 to 8, built around conversation, QSL cards and bringing new operators on the air.
From around the hobby
Headlines from the amateur radio press. Each one opens on the publisher's own site. Read more of them.
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Beautiful Laser Harp Hides Some Neat Tricks
Hackaday · Nov 4, 2026
Laser harps aren’t quite a right of passage, in that not everyone builds them, but it’s likely everyone at least contemplates building one at one time or another. We’re lucky …read more
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It’s DOOM
Hackaday · Nov 4, 2026
Dirt cheap toy cameras have long been a target for the curious camera hacker, and we’ve seen plenty of lens swaps and other hardware hacks. Until now their internals have …read more
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FlexWSPR drops WSPR RX Client for your FlexRadio
With Varying Frequency - Amateur Radio Ponderings · Nov 4, 2026
This is really interesting – Mike VA3MW has done a stand-alone client to monitor WSPR with your FlexRadio. Directly accesses the IQ streams, so you don’t need to fire up SmartSDR or SmartSDR DAX to get this going! I created a RX only client that you can schedule and also have it map out propagation…
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“Rayture” (Elecevolve) RT-880X: Another TEF 6686 Portable
The SWLing Post Blog · Nov 4, 2026
Earlier this year, I was contacted by Elecevolve, the producer of the unique MLite-880 that I consider to be the best portable to emerge in years, about another receiver they planned to release called the RT-880x. The test unit that arrived here carries the name “Rayture” which was unfamiliar to me…
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KI5OEB: First POTA with my new DX Commander Expedition
QRPer · Nov 4, 2026
by James (KI5OEB) Upon completing my DX Commander Expedition I had to put it on the air. I got my IC-705 out and plugged it into a 20Ah LiFePO4 battery. The solar panels are to charge my phone, and after fiddling with it, I managed to get it to connect directly to the 12v input … Continue reading KI…
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KM4CFT’s New IC-705 Mini Mic
QRPer · Nov 4, 2026
Many thanks to Jonathan (KM4CFT), who notes: Hi all, I am pleased to announce the release of the IC-705 edition of my popular new mini microphone, available both as a kit and assembled! This is great for those who are looking to slim down their go bag or are primarily CW operators and don’t need … C…
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PCBView.io: Open Any PCB Design in Your Browser with Nothing Uploaded
QRZ NOW · Nov 4, 2026
PCBView.io by Derivative Engineering is a free browser based PCB design viewer that opens Gerber, KiCad, Altium, Allegro, Eagle, EasyEDA, ODB++, PADS, IPC-2581 and DipTrace locally with nothing uploaded, plus 3D view, STEP export and an offline desktop app. The post PCBView.io: Open Any PCB Design i…
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DX Engineering Holiday Gift Guide Part 1—DX Engineering Gift Cards
OnAllBands · Nov 4, 2026
Need a sure-fire, one-stop solution to easily handle all your ham radio holiday gift-shopping needs? You’ll find presents for every operator on your list at DX Engineering. Choose from transceivers, […] The post DX Engineering Holiday Gift Guide Part 1—DX Engineering Gift Cards appeared first on OnA…
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My periodic suggestion of listening to KE9V’s Cornbread Road
With Varying Frequency - Amateur Radio Ponderings · Nov 4, 2026
Back in 2010 Jeff KE9V did a 14-part audio story series, “Cornbread Road” that I periodically point out to readers. If you haven’t listened to it and you are interested in amateur radio, you might find it a well told fun story. Back in 2024 Jeff KE9V uploaded the series to a project at the […]
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Stellafane: Homebrew Telescopes -- The Telescope Makers of Springfield, Vermont -- PLEASE COMMENT
SolderSmoke Daily News · Nov 4, 2026
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Sunday 2M Net, 01 November 2026
Loudoun Amateur Radio Group Blog · Nov 4, 2026
Net commenced at 2000 local on the 146.700/146.850 repeaters. Check-ins: Topics tonight: Great discussions on many topics. Net was secured 2033. 73’s, Chris, W4PMP
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A tunerless 3-30MHz tactical field antenna – too good to be true?
Ham Radio Outside the Box · Nov 4, 2026
I came across an interesting antenna design recently and I just had to build one to try for myself. The original version is a commercial antenna, built for the Australian military, called the Bushcomm Mil-1. The manufacturer claims it presents a low SWR from 3 to 30 MHz without a tuner. It is quite…