Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2508 for Friday, November 21st, 2025

Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2508 with a release date of Friday, November 21st, 2025 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1.

The following is a QST. A newly reopened FCC tackles its backlog. A milestone achievement for digital-voice quality - and get ready for some serious meteor-scatter experiments. All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2508 comes your way right now.

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BILLBOARD CART

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FCC REOPENS AFTER HISTORIC US GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Our top story this week takes us to Washington, D.C. where the US Federal Communications Commission has gone back to work. It has quite a bit of catching up to do, as we hear from Randy Sly W4XJ.

RANDY: After a 43-day shutdown that left 80 percent of the staff furloughed at the FCC, the agency has reopened and begun tackling a serious backlog. As a result, the commission has announced new deadlines for many of its filings, including amateur radio licenses.

In a public notice released on November 17th, the FCC said that renewal filings for amateur radio, GMRS and other personal radio licenses now have a deadline of March 5th, 2026. This deadline relates to all renewal filings that were due on the 1st of October through - and including - the 5th of March, 2026. Holders of expired licenses who now have their renewal-filing deadlines extended will be able to continue operating meanwhile, as per FCC rules.

The nation's longest government shutdown ended with lawmakers' agreement on a bill that maintains funding for federal agencies and programs -- at least until January 30th, 2026, when the country could face a replay of the closure.

This is Randy Sly W4XJ.

(FCC, RADIOWORLD)

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HUNGARIAN AMATEURS CELEBRATE BROADCAST CENTENNIAL

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: There was a time in Hungary when the simple act of a radio broadcast - or listening to one - was a crime. Now it's a special event, as we hear from Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

JEREMY: The transmission of radio signals of any kind was merely an experimental pursuit in Hungary until late 1925 - and listening to radio over the air, or having privately owned amateur equipment - was forbidden. All of that was to change later that year with the start of the first Hungarian public radio broadcast on 1st December. One hundred years later, amateurs in Hungary are celebrating Hungarian Radio Day, when radio was permitted there.

Nine special callsigns - all beginning with "HG100" - are on the air throughout December until 31st, operated by amateurs from the Hungarian Radio Amateur Society and the Honfy Jozsef Radioclub. Contacts have been made since the 15th of November on CW, SSB and the digital modes on 160 to 10 metres. The operators are also making use of the QO-100 satellite.

The Hungarian Radio Amateur Society website has a full list of the nine callsigns and more details about how to receive a commemorative certificate.

This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH.

(425DX BULLETIN, PESTBUDA.HU, HUNGARIAN RADIO AMATEUR SOCIETY)

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INDIAN AMATEURS STUDY IMPACT OF SEASON'S TRANSITION

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Youve heard of Winter Field Day and youve heard of the traditional ARRL Field Day held in the summer in the northern hemisphere. Jim Meachen ZL2BHF takes us to West Bengal, India where amateurs have just completed a season transition field day.

JIM: As surely as autumn turns to winter in some parts of the world, radio operators are curious about the impact that seasonal changes are going to have on propagation. A recent extended field operation by a group of 17 hams from the West Bengal Radio Club tracked those changes by getting on the air near the Earths Tropic of Cancer. This was as much an academic exercise as a radio exercise, as two professors from nearby universities collected data over the 30-hour period to be used in their research.

Ambarish Nag Biswas, VU2JFA, the clubs secretary, said that Suman Patra from Jhargram University and Ambika Ghosh from the Heritage Group of Institutions in Kolkata are both studying disaster communications at the Indian Academy of Communication and Disaster Management. The pair hope that analysis of the data will show ways to improve the quality of emergency communication at this challenging time of seasonal change. The Tropic of Cancer was chosen because when it is summer in the northern hemisphere, the suns rays are directly overhead. With the approach of winter, the sun is lower in the sky.

This is Jim Meachen ZL2BHF.

(MORNING INDIA, AMBARISH NAG BISWAS VU2JFA)

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NEURAL CODEC CALLED 'MILESTONE' FOR DIGITAL VOICE

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: It's being heralded as a milestone in the long-overdue evolution of speech quality for land-mobile radio systems - the use of an adaptive neural network that replaces traditional signal processing. Andy Morrison K9AWM has the details.

ANDY: A digital voice milestone was announced at the recent acoustics and speech conference in Caliornia when the Free DV Project's David Rowe VK5DGR copresented a paper describing a neural network that replaces traditional signal processing with machine learning.

In a recent post on the FreeDV website, David called the development: [quote] "the first known real-world deployment of a neural codec an important milestone that the Ham community can be proud of." [endquote] He and programmer Jean-Marc Valin presented the details to attendees at the IEEE Signal Processing Society conference where David said it was well-received.

Instead of using the fixed algorithms of traditional digital voice, the FreeDV Radio Encoder, known as RADE V1, employs fully adaptive machine learning, producing a higher-quality result, developed using open source software.

Writing as a guest contributor to the Amateur Radio Digital Communications website in October, David noted that the technology [quote] "provides unprecedented speech quality and robustness for VHF/UHF land mobile radio applications." [endquote] The FreeDV project has been doing t his work with grant support from ARDC.

This is Andy Morrison K9AWM.

(FREEDV.ORG, STEVE STROH, N8GNJ, ARDC)

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NASA STUDIES DISABLED DEEP-SPACE NETWORK ANTENNA

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: If you think you sometimes have more than your share of antenna troubles, listen to this report from Ralph Squillace KK6ITB. He tells us about NASA's plans to get a damaged deep-space network antenna back in action.

RALPH: The US space agency NASA is taking a close look at the serious damage that disabled the largest antenna at its Deep Space Network site in California two months ago. The 230-foot antenna, which tracks near-Earth asteroids and communicates with NASA's interplanetary spacecraft, has been out of service since the 16th of September. The antenna suffered an excessive rotation that strained its cabling and piping and damaged its fire-suppression system, which led to water damage and flooding, according to a report on the Gizmodo website.

The damaged antenna, prized for its sensitivity, received its first signal in 1966 from NASAs Mariner 4 mission. In preparation for Voyager 2's mission toward Neptune, NASA upgraded the antenna's width from 210 feet, or 64 meters, to 230 feet, or 70 meters. It communicated as well with Voyager 1 in 2012 following the spacecraft's entry into interstellar space.

Meanwhile, NASA relies on two other deep-space communication antennas. They are located in Madrid, Spain and near Canberra, Australia.

This is Ralph Squillace KK6ITB

(GIZMODO)

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BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the St. Louis & Suburban Radio Club WØSRC 2-meter repeater following the weekly club net on Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. local time.

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HAMS PREP FOR PERSEIDS METEOR SCATTER EXPERIMENTS

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: Get ready for a major meteor shower next month - and a major meteor scatter radio activity. Neil Rapp WB9VPG tells us how to get involved.

NEIL: Hams who played a part in the meteor scatter experiments conducted by HamSCI, Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation, during the Perseids show this past August get another chance at action in the sky next month.

The Geminids are coming! HamSCI's experiments for these meteor showers will take place on the 12th and 13th of December, from 0000 to 2400 UTC. Operators are being asked to use MSK144 on 50.260 MHz and 28.145 MHz.

HamSCI reports that the Perseids show produced more than 70 logs and files for study and the research group is hoping for similar results this time around. Hams are being invited to participate in the QSO Party in what is once again described as a combination of a contest and a special event. Rules for the activity can be found on the link in the text version of this week's newscast at arnewsline.org

As the HamSCI website says: "Work the rocks! Decode the pings."

This is Neil Rapp WB9VPG.

[DO NOT READ: hamsci.org/msqp ]

(HAMSCI)

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2 NEW REPEATERS CREATE CRUCIAL NETWORK IN KANSAS

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: With the help of a grant, some counties in Kansas are getting expanded coverage from new repeaters that have digital capability. Jack Parker W8ISH has that report.

JACK: A network of repeaters is being created to expand digital amateur radio services in the state of Kansas with the help of a $13,950 grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications.

The network will be accessible to hams in nine counties. The repeaters will operate on VHF and UHF and provide linkage over the Internet through Yaesu Wires-X, a system that provides even wider coverage. The network callsign will be KØHYS.

Two new repeaters will be established to connect with a repeater that is already in operation in Ellis County. The grant has been given to the Ellis County Amateur Radio Emergency Service Group and STEM Harvest Inc., an educational resource that focuses on helping people develop skills in technology.

This is Jack Parker W8ISH.

(HAYS POST)

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WORLD OF DX

In the World of DX, Abie, AB1F is on the air as A52AA from Bhutan through to the 5th of December, operating SSB on 40, 20, 15 and 10 metres. He may also be heard on 80 and 160m.

On Easter Island, a team of nine operators using the callsign 3GØYR, will be on the air from the 26th of November through to the 3rd of December. Their four or five stations will use all modes on all bands, concentrating on the low bands. Listen for them in the CQ WW DX CW Contest with the callsign CEØY.

You still have time to work operators celebrating Statehood Day in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They are on the air with the special callsign E7BOSNIA until the 25th of November, which is the oficial date of the celebration.

Visit QRZ.com for QSL and other information about these stations.

(425 DX BULLETIN)

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KICKER: FOR GOOGLE, A RAY OF AI HOPE FROM THE SUN

STEPHEN/ANCHOR: For our final story, we look at the future of AI -- and we consider the sun's rays as rays of hope to power that future. Kent Peterson KCØDGY brings us that story now.

KENT: Picture groups of satellites in a low-Earth orbit that is synchronized with the sun, the very source of the energy that powers them. Then imagine each satellite outfitted with AI chips doing the business of machine-learning high above our planet. The satellites are between 100 and 200 metres apart within a cluster that is no more than 1 kilometer wide but they have optical connections that enable them to serve as a single data center.

This is Project Suncatcher, a vision announced by Google earlier this month. It exists only in theory - at least for now. Google has teamed up with Planet, an Earth-imaging company, in the hopes that the partnership can launch a so-called "learning mission" into space in 2027 using two prototype satellites to test the technology and the hardware.

Meanwhile, Google is working out the costs of Project Suncatcher when it ultimately deploys: The launch alone is considered to have a prohibitive price tag. There are also issues of aerospace engineering that need to be resolved to keep the satellite cluster in good repair.

With AI's established reputation as a voracious consumer of energy, the company says it was only logical to look beyond the horizon - way beyond the horizon - to get closer to a source of power. Just what is the prospect for the success of Project Suncatcher? Right now, you won't find that answer, even if you google it.

This is Kent Peterson KCØDGY.

(GOOGLE, FORBES)

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It's time to stop chasing POTA or calling CQ - at least for a moment - and send in your ham radio haiku. It is easier than you think: Visit our website at arnewsline.org and as you compose your ode to your favorite online activity, we will help you use the correct number of syllables to make an authentic haiku. Submit your work and then sit back and wait to hear whether you are the winner of this week's challenge. The winner gets a shout-out on our website, where everyone can find the winning haiku.

NEWSCAST CLOSE

With thanks to Amateur News Daily; Amateur Radio Digital Communication; AMSAT News Service; Ambarish Nag Biswas VU2JFA; David Behar K7DB; 425DX Bulletin; FCC; Forbes; FreeDV.org; Gizmodo; Googe; HamSCI; Hays Post; Hungarian Amateur Radio Society; Morning India; QRZ.com; Radioworld.com; shortwaveradio.de; Steven Stroh, N8GNJ; Wireless Institute of Australia; YouTube; and you our listeners, that's all from the Amateur Radio Newsline. We remind our listeners that Amateur Radio Newsline is an all-volunteer non-profit organization that incurs expenses for its continued operation. If you wish to support us, please visit our website at arnewsline.org and know that we appreciate you all. We also remind our listeners that if you like our newscast, please leave us a 5-star rating wherever you subscribe to us.

For now, with Caryn Eve Murray KD2GUT at the news desk in New York, and our news team worldwide, I'm Stephen Kinford N8WB in Wadsworth Ohio saying 73. As always we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2025. Amateur Radio Newsline retains ownership of its material even when retransmitted elsewhere. All rights are reserved.

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