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ARRL outage – Update 22nd June 2024

ARRL staff continue to work with outside industry experts to ensure that all servers have been remediated, tested, and all data has been confirmed. We have also been working to ensure that the network is secure.

As noted in previous updates, Logbook of The World® servers and data are fine and working. LoTW® has dependencies on other servers, for example membership data, which have not yet been returned to service. We will announce when LoTW is open for user access. We anticipate that the queue will grow quite large once live, and we are evaluating ways to manage that potential issue.

As a reminder, 2024 ARRL Field Day <http://www.arrl.org/field-day> is this weekend. We note that some groups have scaled back or cancelled their outdoor plans due to excessive heat or severe weather threats. Please use caution this weekend (visit Heat.gov <https://www.heat.gov/> for heat and health information). Enjoy Field Day. The Field Day bulletin will be transmitted from W1AW and K6KPH as scheduled (see PDF schedule <http://www.arrl.org/…/Field-Day/2024/4_37-202420Sked.pdf>). Your Field Day results may be uploaded to https://field-day.arrl.org/fdentry.php or mailed to ARRL after the event.

This story will be updated with new developments.

Final countdown is on at Chateau G1VDP for the departure to FHN for Ham Radio 2024, as of Friday 21st June I have only 4 days until we go to London Heathrow for our flight to Zurich. All the paperwork is ready, my case is packed and we have been looking at the map of the Messe to see where the IOTA stand will be located. We are still in the DX Plaza but we have moved to the end and it looks like we will be on an “island”.  So please do pay the stand a visit and say hello, Ady G6AD may have a nice surprise for some of the first visitors, and we will have some special 60th anniversary souvenirs.

The following has today (4 June 2024) been posted on the ARRL website. Lets hope it is back up and running soon, but then it will probably crash with everyone uploading their logs.

ARRL Systems Service Disruption
06/04/2024
Updated 6/4/2024
On or around May 12, 2024, ARRL was the victim of a sophisticated network attack by a malicious international cyber group. ARRL immediately involved the FBI and engaged with third party experts to investigate.
This serious incident was extensive and categorized by the FBI as “unique,” compromising network devices, servers, cloud-based systems, and PCs.
ARRL management quickly established an incident response team. This has led to an extensive effort to contain and remediate the networks, restore servers, and staff are beginning the testing of applications and interfaces to ensure proper operation.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as our staff continue to work through this with an outstanding team of experts to restore full functionality to our systems and services.
We will continue to update members as advised and to the extent we are able.
This story will be updated with new developments.

Taken from Charles (M0OXO) website some interesting news for February 2025.

Following their successful journey to Guyana under the callsign 8R7X, the team is now setting their sights on a new destination in the Pacific region. Their next DXPpedition will take them to the Marshall Islands, scheduled for February 2025.

Stay tuned for more details as they become available. Additionally, the team is in the process of launching a website, which will soon be accessible.

Ranked #100 globally and #58 in Europe, the Marshall Islands hold significant allure, particularly for lowband enthusiasts worldwide.

Follow the team’s social media channels to stay updated on this thrilling adventure.

For the past week or so there has been no access to the ARRL Logbook of the World (LOTW) website, which is the number one site for online confirmations. It seems that some of their pages have been “hacked” by cyber criminals. Luckily, according to the ARRL website there is no data breach that could be harmful. But I would still advise any one who uses LOTW to change their password when it comes back online.

Last weekend (Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th May) members of the HARES club met at one of the other members houses – Tony, G7FSD – to get his antennas in the air for VHF, and to do a repair to his G3TXQ Hexbeam 40M element. The team consisted of Mark (2E0SBM), Ady (G6AD), Dave (G1VNB), Tony (G7FSD) and myself.

For safety and ease of working at a height on the Hexbeam we erected a scaffolding tower to allow us to lower Tony’s original mast and then erect a small tower to mount the antenna on. This was the hardest part, and we had to do some crafty engineering to lower the poles down safely, but with a little brain power and muscle it lowered easily. As soon as the Hex was at the height easily to work on we moved on to the VHF array so we could make room in the garden to sort out the Hexbeam.

This was going to be a lot easier as Tony had a wall mounted Tennamast that has a winch to assist with lifting to the vertical, and he had already attached all the necessary wall mounting brackets. A 2M (144MHz) 11 element cross yagi and a 11 element 70cm (340MHz) yagi were then mounted on a short pole and attached to the rotator, again which had already been mounted to the mast. With the mast now attached to the lower mounting point allowing it to be lifted easily, we connected the winch to assist with lifting. Again some brute force was employed to initially get it moving while Dave used the winch to assist to get it to the vertical. Once in place and bolted up we did a quick test to check all the antennas were still resonant with the analyser and we moved back to the Hexbeam.

This is where it got difficult. When the antenna was removed from the tower we started to lower it down, but with the trees and bushes it soon got caught up and took a lot longer than first anticipated. When we eventually got it down one of the spreaders snapped so I came home and grabbed a spare one I have and took that back to Tony’s. Ady also had to go to his place to pick up another part that we needed so we lost an hour working on the Hex.

During this time Mark, Dave, and Tony tested out the VHF array, and found an issue with the rotator – this had been working fine before going on to the mast as we had set it to the North – where it would only turn about 30 degrees. Testing showed that the rotator itself was trying to turn as this could be heard. So we stripped down the controller to find a nylon cog had broken and a potentiometer looked to be intermittent. This we left for Tony to get repaired.

As soon as we made the repairs to the Hexbeam it was late in the day, Tony had cooked some Pizzas and we relaxed for a short while before heading home to return on the Sunday to complete the job.

Upon arrival, I was a little late, Ady and Tony were already getting the cables ready and sorting out the final parts for the Hexbeam to get it back in the air. We lifted it to a point where we needed just one more body to get it to the top of the scaffold tower and into the rotator on the stub mast. A quick call to see if Mark could come and assist, and thank you to his lovely wife Lorraine she allowed him while she did the weekly food shop. So with Ady and mark at the top, Tony and I lifted the antenna up to a pivot point and they then lifted into the stub mast. Antenna in place and again checked with the analyser it was tidy up the cables and check with the radio.

Back in the shack a final check with the analyser and everything was way out of tune. Tests on the cable found a PL259 had come loose and was the cause of the problem. It also identified that Tony had the 2 cable runs – the 40M element has it’s own feed – had been mixed up and he had been using the damaged 40M element rather than the other 6 elements of the Hexbeam. With this now sorted we left Tony to play on HF and get another controller for his VHF array.

Tony commented that he had never been in a club of any sort before where other members were willing to give up their time at a weekend to help another member out. Not just a radio club but any other club he had been a member of. Our comment was, “well that’s what it means to be a member of a radio club”

I am a member of HARES and on the 1st May 2024 we had a night on the air and demonstration of digital modes by myself an Cezary (2E0HUP). We set up the HF radio and 2 laptops to show what can be done. A 40M end fed antenna in the school playground and the clubs Icom IC7300 for the RF part. I did a quick demo of  FT8 making contact with OH1FOL in Finland using 50W, and then let other members have a go and explain the features of the WSJT-X software.

Cez then demonstrated a phone app that decoded and can transmit FT8 which some members then downloaded and used to decode from the radio speaker. This encouraged them to have a go from Home. As can be seen from the images we also had time to chat and catch up with other happenings. 

We also put Mark (2E0SBM) in a cupboard to fit some N-Type plugs to the coax for the VHF/UHF antenna we have up at the school, we will be having an evening on the air again soon using these antennas, and maybe see if we can get some contacts using Meteor Scatter, which is bouncing the signal off the trails from meteors hitting the earths atmosphere. An enjoyable evening at our club.

We would also like to invite any one in the area to come and pay us a visit anytime, but especially on the 15th May 2024 (our next club night) for a presentation by Lee Volante (G0MTN) on the upcoming World Radiosport Team Championships 2026 here in England. This is where teams of 2 operators operate from the same area using virtually the same equipment in a contest. The teams are made up of operators who qualify over the previous 2 or 3 years qualifying contests. 

We meet every other Wednesday at 7pm local time. The venue address is

Burbage C of E Infant School

The following has been copied from the IOTA website. Thanks to the IOTA management team for arranging this along with Ric in Germany for doing the legwork and speaking with the restaurant. 

IOTA-60 Dinner in Friedrichshafen on Friday, 28 June 2024

To celebrate 60 years since the founding of the IOTA programme, an anniversary dinner will be organized on Friday, 28 June 2024, between 19:00 and 23:00, at the V2O Bio Restaurant in the Zeppelin Museum, Friedrichshafen. The event offers an opportunity for chasers and activators to share time together, chatting about topics of common interest, such as past and future expeditions, technology trends, and goals.

The dinner itself will consist in a three-course menu at a price equivalent to £38, excluding drinks, which includes a starter, main course, and desert, with a choice of two different main courses, as follows:

Starter: creamy parsnip soup with puff pastry;

Main course: Option #1 – Braised roast from Hohenloher pasture oxen cooked at low temperature for 18 hours with market vegetables and homemade spaetzle;
or
Option #2 – Thai red vegetable coconut curry with bamboo shoots and basmati rice (vegan);

Dessert: Chocolate cake.

Drinks, including still and sparkling water, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, will be additional, and paid by each guest, as ordered.

IOTA Ltd. booked the venue and will sign a contract with the restaurant, on behalf of the guests. Those interested to participate need to indicate their menu option and pay for it by sending £38 through PayPal to payments@iota-world.org, by no later than May 31. Please type “IOTA-60 Dinner” in the subject line of your PayPal submission! We will confirm each payment received prior to deadline, following which you’ll need to visit the IOTA booth on Friday morning, June 28, to pick up your dinner tickets. There will be no on-site availability to join the dinner and/or pay for it. Note that we will reach out to everyone who has already expressed an interest to participate. Meanwhile, everyone else who wishes to join in is welcome, providing that he/she follows the procedure indicated above.

IOTA Management, 21 April 2024

Something to listen for on Wednesday peeps. Tune your 2M rigs to 145.800 FM, and listen. This will work on any handheld/fm radio with or without the external antenna – yep even with your handhelds rubber antenna. Just do not transmit.