January Section report

Greetings South Carolina amateur radio operators. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with friends and family.

As 2025 ended, I looked back on my radio activity over the year. I did 24 Parks on the Air (POTA) activations which is 5 times as many as I did in 2024. I was able to attend hamfests in Orlando, FL (Hamcation), Batesburg-Leesville, Columbia, Salley, Xenia, OH (Hamvention), Florence, Huntsville, AL, Rock Hill, Calhoun County, & Little Mountain. I had a great time hanging out and talking with so many hams. I also attended club meetings locally and around the state. I am looking forward to traveling the state to visit clubs for ARRL Field Day and club meetings that I have not yet been able to visit. Please remember to reach out and let me know of any special events your club may be holding like a Special Event State, ISS contact, etc. so I or another cabinet member can plan to attend. 

As we start 2026, ARRL has proclaimed this as the Year of the Club to celebrate clubs and their accomplishments. There is a Year of the Club Newsletter Contest and a Club Website Contest (Deadline: January 30). You can read more about Year of the Club here: https://www.arrl.org/year-of-the-club . You can also submit club photos that may be used in QST. The MARCONI program is available on this page as well. 

The ARRL is celebrating America’s 250th (Semiquincentennial) celebration this year with a America250 Worked All States Award. There will be a W1AW/portable running for two separate weeks in every state. W1AW/0 (NE) & W1AW/2 (NY) finished their first week tonight and W1AW/4 (SC), W1AW/5 (LA), & W1AW/8 (WV) will started tonight. There is an award for WAS if you contact W1AW/portable in all 50 states. There is also a WAS by contacting ARRL affiliated clubs in all 50 states, and lastly there is a triple play by contacting W1AW/portable in all 50 states on CW, Phone, & Digital. You can read more about it here: https://www.arrl.org/america250-was . 

The FCC has allocated 60-Meter World-Wide Amateur Band at WRC-15. This update will allow the amateur service on a secondary basis with a permitted power of 9.15 watts ERP on 5315.5 to 5366.5 kHz. You can read more about this here: https://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-allocates-60-meter-world-wide-amateur-band-approved-at-wrc-15-continues-amateur-use-of-four-addi 

I hope you were able to join the ARRL Roanoke Division Town Hall on YouTube/Facebook on December 29, 2025. We had guest speakers Bart, W9JJ to talk about Year of the Club and America250 and Danny Davis, KD5W to talk about club an option to update and modernize club websites. A BIG thank you to Danny for both offering to assist clubs with their websites and for making some much needed updates to the ARRL Roanoke Page (https://www.arrl-roanoke.com/). You can find out more about Danny’s website assistance here: https://brokensignal.tv/web/  Thanks Danny! 

You can watch the recording on YouTube of the town hall here: https://www.youtube.com/live/pzgZRrBnl_k 

We have several upcoming ham radio events. 

• Winter Support Your Parks - January 17 & 18

  • https://parksontheair.com/index.html

• Winter Field Day – January 24 & 25 

  • Find a local WFD site or register your site at: https://winterfieldday.org/  

• Gwinnett ARS TechFest, Lawrenceville, GA – January 31 

  • http://www.techfest.info/  

• HamCation – February 13 – 15 

  • https://www.hamcation.com/  

• South Carolina QSO Party – February 28 

  • https://scqso.com/  

• North Carolina QSO Party – March 1 

  • https://ncqsoparty.org/  

• Charlotte Hamfest – March 6 & 7 

  • https://charlottehamfest.org/  

• ARRL Roanoke Division Convention at RARSfest – April 4 

  • https://www.rarsfest.org/  

• The Ridge ARC Tailgate – April 11 

  • https://www.w4rrc.org/events/tailgate/  

• Georgia QSO Party – April 11 & 12 

  • https://gaqsoparty.com/  

• Spring Support Your Parks – April 18 & 19 

  • https://parksontheair.com/index.html  

There are plenty of activities both locally and nationally to get radioactive in 2026. A great place to start is with your local clubs. You can start here to find your nearest club: https://www.arrl.org/find-a-club  

This is also the time to submit the annual report for your club to make sure all your information is current and up to date. Remember, an annual report is required to maintain affiliated club status. 

I am looking for interested individuals to serve as part of the ARRL South Carolina cabinet. I am looking for a Public Information Coordinator (PIC), Affiliated Club Coordinator (ACC), Section Youth Coordinator (SYC), and State Government Liaison (SGL). If you want to serve, but in a different capacity or on a different project, still reach out as I also have Assistant Section Manager (ASM) positions available. These roles are great ways to volunteer and give back to such an amazing hobby. I also believe it is great to bring in new people with new voices and ideas. I can be contacted at W1MRC@Outlook.com

Lets all be active in Amateur Radio this year!

73