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L.C.A.S. ADMITTED TO IARU MEMBERSHIP

On 21 January 2025, voting was completed on Proposal No 266 concerning
the admission of the Libyan Communications Amateur Society (LCAS) to
IARU membership.

With 52 affirmative votes required for approval, there were 61 votes in
favour, no votes in opposition, and no abstentions.

Accordingly, Proposal 266 has been adopted.
IARU Region 1 Monitoring System Newsletter

The first IARU Region 1 Monitoring System newsletter of 2025 has been
published. The January edition highlights that almost one thousand
transmissions of powerful over the horizon radar signals were recorded
in the HF amateur bands for January alone.

Transmissions associated with the Russian Ukrainian radio war continue
to dominate reports as well.

I made mention there of the Russian Ukrainian radio war. Well it's taken a
turn or two for the worst.

Electronics firm RigExperts administrative office, in Kyiv, Ukraine, has
been destroyed by a Russian ballistic missile. All employees are reported
to be safe.

RigExpert is a leading manufacturer of antenna and cable analysers and
officials said they are committed to restoring operations as soon as
possible. Our top priority is the safety of our team and the continuity
of our operations, said Ashot Andeev, Chief Executive Officer. While our
administrative office is in ruins, our production facilities survived,
allowing us to continue serving our customers and partners.

The news this week has been consistently bad, but Ukrainians frequently
carry on as if nothing has changed. This is because in a way little does
change, if youre dealing in daily life, not headlines. The reality is the
fight, in whatever form that takes Zaporizhzhia Radio Club lost its
windows to one of the nightly drone attacks... and got down to fixing
them.

"A mobile air defence group was chasing a drone and it just happened to be
shot down over the workshop. It's not news," said Myk, the chairman. Just
another day for a Ukrainian volunteer workshop, with a few extra tasks
rebuilding place after military attack. As the name suggests, the club,
which has a few dozen members, was founded for ham  radio enthusiasts in
Zaporizhzhia city and oblast. They teach young people to design and
assemble various electronic devices, broadcast and communicate digitally
and in Morse code.

Allan Boyd, VE3AJB RAC President and Chair has announced the selection
of Mike Kelly, VE3FFK as the recipient of the RAC Amateur of the Year
Award for 2024.

With over five decades as an Amateur, Mike, VE3FFK, has volunteered
countless hours as a member of the Ottawa Amateur Radio Club.

My Amateur career began as a teenager intrigued by the sounds of Morse on
an old all wave radio, and wanting to figure out what those guys were
saying. That led to a course with the Ottawa Amateur Radio Club and
eventually a few Executive positions there over the years. One of those
positions was the club's designated Delegated Examiner in around 1993,
something I still enjoy doing". Mike said.

An interest in public service events led to several years volunteering for
the Canadian Ski Marathon, the Rideau Lakes Bicycle Tour, several car
rallies, soccer tournaments and road running events. Other interests
included bicycle mobile HF and VHF operating, and portable operation
before it became as popular as it is today.

Radio Amateurs of Canada sincerely congratulates Mike Kelly, VE3FFK, on
his appointment as Amateur of the Year for 2024.

New Zealand's Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE)
is seeking feedback on changes to radio spectrum licence fees.

These fees recover the costs of managing New Zealands radio spectrum
regulatory system, including maintaining the Register of Radio
Frequencies, issuing licences, and investigating interference and for
the past eight years, fees have been set below actual costs due to a
historic surplus. As the surplus is nearly depleted, MBIE is adjusting
fees to ensure full cost recovery. The proposed changes shift fees from
an under-recovering level to full recovery.

Under consideration, two fee options.

Needed from the New Zealand spectrum users, their preferred option
Alternative options
and how the changes may impact businesses

The consultation is open until 5pm on 11 April, 2025.

HAM RADIO OPERATOR IS FRONT-RUNNER TO LEAD GERMANY

Although there are numerous amateur radio awards, such as DXCC and
Worked All Europe, Frederich Merz, DK7DQ, is hoping for an achievement
that could be thought of as Worked All Germany even though, in this
case, it's outside the realm of amateur radio.

Frederich Merz is leader of Germany's CDU party and a possible front
runner in this month's elections. A win would make the political
conservative the nation's new Chancellor and as such he would join the
ranks of other licensed heads around the world - most notably the late
King Hussein of Jordan, who held the callsign JY1, and the present
King of Thailand, whose callsign is HS1A.
Still in Germany and the German Amateur Radio Society will be holding the
48th HAM RADIO. From Friday, June 27 until Sunday, June 29th.  HAMs and
electronics enthusiasts from all over the world will meet again in
Friedrichshafen will hear topics such as:-
REMOTE RADIO  CONNECTING THE WORLD

LAWMAKERS RECONSIDER MEASURE TO PROTECT ANTENNAS IN HOAS

The US Congress has also returned to considering a measure giving hams
the right to install antennas that, until now, have been banned or
restricted by homeowner associations.

This is the latest version of the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness
Act, which has been considered by US lawmakers over the past several years
without taking any action.

The measure prohibits HOAs from writing rules that ban amateur radio
antennas, which are recognized as part of an essential disaster
communications system for public safety.  The act also provides hams with
a means of resolving disputes that arise in connection with their
antennas.

Paul Giamatti to Play Art Bell in Biopic Film

Publication Screen Rant reports of an upcoming film set to portray the
late Art Bell and his radio show Coast to Coast AM. Paul Giamatti is said
to be starring in the lead role.

With Giamatti, a two-time Oscar-nominated actor attached to star,
the Art Bell biopic has received a big boost in terms of its prestige.
The late paranormal DJ hosted the five-hour radio show, Coast to Coast,
which took unscreened calls from guests recounting allegedly firsthand
tales of alien encounters, reincarnation, time travel, and other phenomena
reminiscent of The X-Files. Bell even claimed to have had his own UFO
encounter. At the peak of its popularity during the 1990s, Coast to Coast
drew an audience of roughly 10 million listeners.

Amazon and Warner Bros. are said to be bidding on the project.

In addition to working as a radio host, Art Bell was an Amateur Radio
operator holding a license in the US W6 O BB and Philippines 4 F 1AB.
He was originally licensed at age 13.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
OPERATIONAL NEWS - A FELIX VK4FUQ PRESENTATION
The Board of the WIA has accepted the following distance record:-

*   50MHz Short-Path DIGITAL
*   Steve Gregory VK3ZAZ  to Jose Ribeiro de Sa CT1EEB
*   Date of contact  28/10/2024  @ 08:43 UTC
*   Distance claimed 17,479Km  exceeding the current record by 1,740Km
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