Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2534 for Friday, May 22nd, 2026 Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2534 with a release date of Friday, May 22nd, 2026 to follow in 5-4-3-2-1. The following is a QST. ARISS wants to put amateur radio on the moon. Girl Guides train to become radio operators -- and the South Georgia island DXpedition adds the final young operator to its team. All this and more as Amateur Radio Newsline Report Number 2534 comes your way right now. ** BILLBOARD CART ** ARISS ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR MOON-BASED HAM RADIO PAUL/ANCHOR: Our top story this week takes us, or rather our radios, to the moon. Two years after Japan landed the first amateur radio station on the lunar surface, ARISS has announced plans to do the same in cooperation with AMSAT - and with help from the US Space Agency, NASA. Kent Peterson KCØDGY has those details. KENT: The Morse Code transmitted more than two years ago by JS1YMG, the lunar ham station of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, is apparently just the beginning. Attendees at a Hamvention forum hosted by ARISS in Xenia, Ohio recently learned about a moon-based project called CAVIAR. That's an acronym for "Communications, Audio, Video and imaging using Amateur Radio." The feasibility of CAVIAR is being studied by ARISS and AMSAT through a partnership known as AREx, for Amateur Radio Exploration. According to the early information being discussed publicly, the station could have support for voice, digital and video - with 10 GHz and 5 GHz links supported by a network of stations on Earth. More far-reaching goals can be found on the ARISS website, which describes AREx as [quote] an "international effort to develop and operate amateur radio systems for deep space, starting at the moon and later to Mars." [endquote] This is Kent Peterson KCØDGY. (ARISS, AMATEUR RADIO DAILY) ** AMSAT-DL SEEKS INPUT FROM SATELLITE ENTHUSIASTS PAUL/ANCHOR: Hamvention is over and for many, the next step is Friedrichshafen in Germany. AMSAT-DL has a request for satellite enthusiasts who are planning to be there, and Ed Durrant DD5LP tells us how you can help. ED: AMSAT-DL wants amateurs to look to the future. We're not only talking about June 27th, when the organisation will be hosting a workshop that builds on the experience of Qatar OSCAR 100. AMSAT-DL wants a workshop with ideas, perspectives and proposals for the upcoming ESA sponsored geostationary satellite which will carry an amateur radio payload. At the time that OSCAR-100 was sent into space in 2018, the OSCAR number administrator Drew Glasbrenner KO4MA noted on the AMSAT-DL website that it would be [quote] "the guiding star for future amateur radio satellites and payloads in geostationary orbit and beyond." [endquote] The time has come at Friedrichshafen next month to follow that star's light. AMSAT-DL will present two or three mission and payload concepts for open discussion, including a concept that builds on QO-100's success in new directions. An experimental concept will also be presented, offering digital signal processing and software-defined payload architectures. There is a possible third option to be presented which involves beacons and experiments in high-frequency ranges and would include new antenna concepts and space imaging. The workshop's location in the Neue Messe will be announced as the date gets closer. Meanwhile, AMSAT-DL welcomes everyone with varying levels of experience - all that is required is an interest in amateur radio satellites and helping to shape their future. The AMSAT-DL meeting will not be the only space-related activity at Ham Radio Friedrichshafen, as this year ASTRO, the astronomy trade fair, will take place alongside the Ham Radio exhibition. This is Ed Durrant DD5LP. (AMSAT-DL) ** SILENT KEY: MARATHON VOLUNTEER, LIMARC OFFICER, JERRY ABRAMS, WB2ZEX PAUL/ANCHOR: Members of the amateur radio community in the New York metropolitan area are grieving the loss of a lifelong ham whose deep involvement and leadership spanned more than five decades. We hear about him from Daniel Garcia W2DIY. DANIEL: Jerry Abrams, WB2ZEX, was as devoted to public service as he was to his fellow amateurs during his long and active involvement with ham radio. Jerry became a Silent Key following a heart attack on the 28th of March. Jerry made his half-century membership with the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club an active and devoted membership. His different roles included treasurer, membership chairman and, for a time, newsletter editor. He also assisted families of Silent Keys with clearing the contents of the shacks those hams left behind. According to the club, over the years his efforts led families to receive more than $100,000 from equipment being rehomed. The Ham Radio University organizing committee also knew him to be a reliable and capable member. Jerry took public service seriously, first as a member of an ambulance corps in Brooklyn and later providing communications support for a number of ARES groups throughout New York City and on Long Island. He also provided radio support for the annual New York City Marathon. The New York Road Runners, the group behind the race, inducted him into their Volunteer Hall of Fame in 2022 for his years of service. Jerry was 78. This is Daniel Garcia W2DIY. (LIMARC, LARRY GUERRERA, W2LAG) ** INNOVATIVE TRAILER MAKES DEBUT AT HAMVENTION PAUL/ANCHOR: An important ham radio club trailer made its public debut this month at Hamvention in Xenia, Ohio. It had a very appreciative audience, as we hear from Kevin Trotman N5PRE. KEVIN: The Porter County Amateur Radio Club in Valparaiso, Indiana, received grant funding last year from Amateur Radio Digital Communications to build a coordinated communications system with its sister club, the neighboring Ogden Dunes Fire Department Amateur Radio Club. Part of that plan involved building a communications trailer. The project also involved connecting the HF radios to an Internet-based youth network as part of the outreach program. Club president Mike Lambertino W9ML described the original concept for the project. He told Newsline: [quote] “The driving force behind the trailer is youth, STEM, and community outreach, getting the trailer out in the community and helping where we can. We do have interoperability and the alliance with the neighboring fire department to help expand our communications abilities to assist where needed.” [endquote] Volunteers designed and built out the trailer using significant donations and discounts on equipment and supplies since the trailer's delivery last September. Mike said that the trailer received between 250 and 400 visitors - among them were members of the ARDC committee. He said the trailer drew a lot of very positive comments, especially from members of the ARDC who said they were happy to see the results, calling it a model on which to base other trailer builds. Learn more about the club at www.K9PC.club. For Amateur Radio Newsline, I’m Kevin Trotman N5PRE. (MIKE LAMBERTINO, W9ML) ** NETS OF NOTE: NEW NET AT THE AWA COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY MUSEUM PAUL/ANCHOR: As part of our occasional series, "Nets of Note," we look at a newly created net based at the AWA Communications Technology Museum in upstate New York. You'd expect a group like the Antique Wireless Association W2AN to recommend using only vintage equipment but that's not the case: Steve Sykes KD2OM told Newsline that the SSB net even allows modern equipment as well. The net takes place on Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Eastern Daylight time on 14.265 MHz, plus or minus 5 kHz. Everyone is welcome - and encouraged to check in - and topics for discussion are open. (STEVE SYKES, KD2OM; JOE FELL W3GMS) ** HELPING GIRL GUIDES EARN LICENSES IN THE CARIBBEAN PAUL/ANCHOR: This summer, a group of Girl Guides will be preparing for a different kind of adventure - getting licensed - with the help of a ham radio club in their Caribbean nation, as we hear from Jim Meachen ZL2BHF. JIM: When the summer holidays arrive in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, many members of the Girl Guides in Georgetown will change from classroom students to amateur radio students. The Youlou Amateur Radio Association has a training session planned, enabling Girl Guides and other students to prepare to take their ham radio licence exam. For many of the Girl Guides, this will be their second encounter with amateur radio. In early May, 32 Girl Guides got their introduction to radio science and the radio experience with the help of association president James Codrington J88JC and past president Don De Riggs J88CD. The girls learned how two-way radios work and participated in a simulated disaster drill using hand-held radios within the school compound. The radio session in Georgetown was the latest the ham association has conducted for Girl Guides. Education is a big part of the mission behind the Youlou amateur group, which also provides vital services in emergency communication. This is Jim Meachen ZL2BHF. (SEARCHLIGHT) ** TIME TO NOMINATE THE NEXT YOUNG HAM OF THE YEAR PAUL/ANCHOR: You are almost out of time! This is the final week for sending in your nominations for the Amateur Radio Newsline Bill Pasternak WA6ITF Memorial Young Ham of the Year award. You only have until the 31st of May -- and it is coming up fast! Nominees must be licensed hams who are 18 years of age or younger and they must reside in the continental United States. Visit our website – arnewsline-dot-org and find the nomination form under the awards tab. Submit the documentation that tells us how your nominee has played an important role, not just in the community of fellow amateurs but in the community at large. ** BREAK HERE: Time for you to identify your station. We are the Amateur Radio Newsline, heard on bulletin stations around the world, including the AB4KK repeater in Folkston, Georgia on Sundays at 8:45 p.m. local time - also on Echolink, Allstar and DMR-TGIF. ** HAMS REMEMBER VICTIMS OF HISTORIC PENNSYLVANIA FLOOD PAUL/ANCHOR: The flood that overtook part of Pennsylvania in 1889 was the kind of storm that happens only once every 1,000 years but a special event station that remembers it is happening again this year. Travis Lisk N3ILS tells us what to listen for starting later this month. TRAVIS: The communities surrounding Johnstown, Pennsylvania do not forget the lives that were swept away by floodwaters unleashed after the collapse of a nearby dam. The numbers speak for themselves: A rush of twenty million tons of water. Fatalities numbering two thousand two hundred and nine -- among them, ninety-nine whole families. Remembering that catastrophe on the 31st of May, one-hundred thirty-seven years ago, the Cambria Radio Club WA3WGN will be on the air again this year with the special event callsign N3N from the 30th of May through to the 5th of June. For hams in this flood-prone river valley, it is a very personal special-event activation and a sad chapter in regional history. There have been other floods since - notably in 1936 and 1977- but neither compared to this deadly moment, one that is marked now by a national memorial in the heart of the city and a special-event station by amateur radio operators who know the landscape well. This is Travis Lisk N3ILS. (EDDIE MISIEWICZ, KB3YRU, QRZ.COM, HISTORY.COM) ** STUDENT JOINS SOUTH GEORGIA ISLAND DXPEDITION TEAM PAUL/ANCHOR: An engineering student from Ireland has become the third and final young operator for next year's DXpedition to South Georgia island. Jeremy Boot G4NJH tells us about her. JEREMY: Even before they set foot on South Georgia island, the VPØSG DXpedition team has already fulfilled one of its objectives. They have added Megan EI5LA, a 19-year-old engineering student from University College Cork, as the third and final young operator. Megan joins Violetta KN2P and Leon DL3ON for next year's trip. There are now 16 operators from North America and Europe who hope to get on the air from this coveted DX next year. Megan, who has been a ham since 2021, is involved in the EI7M contest team and has a particular focus on high-level multi-operator events and CW contesting. She is active in Youngsters on the Air in Region 1. The team announced her addition, reaffirming its commitment to helping mentor the next generation of operators and encourage a robust future for DXpeditions. This is Jeremy Boot G4NJH. (EA1CS BLOG; DXWORLD) ** WORLD OF DX In the World of DX, there is still time to work Bob, ZL1RS, who is using the callsign A35RS from Tongatapu (TON-GAH-TAP-OO), IOTA Number OC-049, in Tonga until the 26th of May. This is a 6-metre EME DXpedition using Q65-60A in "Q65 Pileup" mode. Bob will also be monitoring 50.313 MHz on FT8; Rafal, SQ4O, will be on the air as HFØPAS from the Henryk Arctowski Station on King George Island in the South Shetland Islands, IOTA Number AN-010. He is part of the 50th Polish Antarctic Expedition and will be on the island from May through October. In his spare time, he will be operating on the HF bands, using SSB and CW and using FT8 on 6 metres. The special event station SX1FLY is marking 243 Years of human flight by celebrating the Montgolfier brothers who flew the first crewed hot-air balloon in 1783 in France. The station is on all bands using all modes until the 31st of May. Listen for Muttley, ZB2KX, operating as ZD8KX from Ascension Island, IOTA Number AF-003, from the 25th through to the 29th of May. He will operate QRP on 40-10 metres using mainly CW, with some SSB and digital modes. For QSL details and other operating information, visit each station's page on QRZ.com (425 DX BULLETIN) ** KICKER: COLORADO STUDENT CLUB FINDS ITS VOICE ON THE AIR PAUL/ANCHOR: With the help of a retired teacher who's a veteran of a quite a few roundups - that would be School Club Roundups - Colorado student club is finding its voice on the air, as we hear from Ralph Squillace KK6ITB. RALPH: The ARRL School Club Roundup was a way of life for Chris WRØTE when he was teaching high school chemistry in Vermont. For half of his 40 years at the school, he also worked with students who belonged to the school's amateur radio club, K1BBS. The effort paid off big in February of 2014 when K1BBS became the top-scorer in the senior high school category. Now retired, Chris lives in Colorado where he is the education director for the Estes Valley Amateur Radio Club. He is also one of the control operators for WØEPS, a student club that got its start at the Estes Park Middle School a few years ago. One of the teachers had asked the hams to get the kids involved in radio. "Involved" doesn't even begin to describe it. The young teenagers now have several ARRL School Club Roundups to their credit but as Chris told Newsline, they don't really need an excuse to get on the air. In one recent week, he said, a total of 58 students in 6th- through 8th-grade logged 113 contacts in 29 states and 2 Canadian provinces. You can find them most of the time on 10 metres, if it's open; otherwise try contacting them on the 20-metre band. Chris told Newsline [quote] "The secret to getting students on the air is exactly that ... get the kids on the air. Ham Radio is not a 'demonstration' activity ... it's a participation activity. Sit them down ... put a mic in their hands ... have them call CQ ... and see what happens." [endquote] What happens is deceptively simple: The kids find their way in radio and they also find their voice. In Estes Park, they're not waiting around for another School Club Roundup to make things happen - but when it does arrive, they'll be ready. Whenever they key the mic, these kids already feel like champions. This is Ralph Squillace KK6ITB. (CHRIS WRØTE) ** NEWSCAST CLOSE With thanks to Amateur Radio Daily, AMSAT News; AMSAT-DL, ARISS, Chris WRØTE; David Behar, K7DB; DX World; EA1CS blog; Eddie Misiewicz, KB3YRU; 425DX News; History.com; LIMARC, Larry Guerrera, W2LAG; NZNet; QRZ.com; Radio Society of Great Britain; shortwaveradio.de; Wireless Institute of Australia; 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 Paul Braun WD9GCO in Valparaiso Indiana saying 73. As always we thank you for listening. Amateur Radio Newsline(tm) is Copyright 2026. Amateur Radio Newsline retains ownership of its material even when retransmitted elsewhere. All rights are reserved.