FIFA Special Event Station

I have seen a station or two calling R18ARG but have not been able to pick them up. This is a special event station that is operating up to 15 July, so maybe I'll get lucky.

For more information, check out their QRZ.com site.

Good luck.

International Museum Weekend

International Museum Weekend

I stumbled across this annual event which has been turned into an amateur radio special event and is spread over a number of weekends in Jun.  

Looking at the list of participants at http://radio-amateur-events.org/IMW/stations.htm it seems a mainly UK based event, but it is touted as being an international one.  

Maybe some of our ZL museums should have a special event station and call sign.  MOTAT in Auckland is definitely one that comes to mind.  Even our local little Settlers' Museum could be activated.

This is the main story:  http://www.radio-amateur-events.org/IMW/

Here are a couple of sites for the event :
http://www.qsl.net/sz2t/j42ose/j42ose.html

https://donegalgathering.com/june/international-museums-weekends/

https://www.gb0snb.com/2015/06/international-museums-weekends/

http://www.nj2bb.org/museum/

NZ Postage Costs rise again on 1 July 2018

The NZ Postal charges for an international envelope are going up again on 1 July 2018. 

The old "Two Green Stamps" will no longer cover the cost of postage, and really hasn't for the last 18 months. 

I suggest all New Zealand hams update their QRZ.com pages and ask for three green stamps to cover the increased cost of postage.

ARRL Handbook

I recently acquired a new (2018) ARRL Handbook.  It is crammed with facts and figures, but unlike the old handbook that I have, a 2010 one, there are no projects to make.  Projects and additional reading material are mentioned, but you have to download them from the ARRL.  

On the ARRL shop page, it’s another US$49.95, but the handbook contains a code that gives you 100% discount and you get about an 800MB PDF file to download.  

The code in the Handbook can be used only once, so if you ever buy a second hand ARRL Handbook, where there is a code on the second page, make sure you get a copy of the download from whoever is selling it.  The file has an installer, but that's not really essential as all the useful data is in PDF format.

With the combination of the handbook and the download, there is certain a stack of information to keep you busy in the evenings, when the propagation is low.