Archive › October 2026 › Week 43
Thursday, 22 October 2026
23 stories published this day (UTC).
Manufacturers & gear 2
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Icom ID-5200E Mobile Transceiver Wins 2026 Good Design Award
Icom's ID-5200E mobile transceiver has received a 2026 Good Design Award, an annual product design prize run by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion.
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Icom IC-M510 EVO Wins NMEA Award for Best VHF Radio for Third Consecutive Year – Icom's 13th Straight Win
Icom's IC-M510 EVO marine VHF transceiver has been named best VHF radio by the NMEA for the third year running. Icom counts it as the company's 13th consecutive win in the category.
Societies & IARU 12
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Amateur radio licence exams on 31 October
PRÓF TIL LEYFIS RADÍÓAMATÖRA 31. OKTÓBER.
Iceland's amateur radio licence exams take place on 31 October 2026 at Reykjavik University, with written papers in electronics and in regulations. Registration with ÍRA closes on 28 October, and no preparatory course is required.
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New OTHR System in the Kaliningrad Area
Neues OTHR-System im Raum Kaliningrad
Russia is reportedly building a large over-the-horizon radar in Kaliningrad, with antenna arrays over 500 metres long, according to satellite imagery. Older shortwave listeners may recall the Soviet Woodpecker, which disrupted HF in the 1970s.
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22nd HST World Championship – 8–12 October 2026, Sousse, Tunisia
22. HST Világbajnokság – 2026. október 8-12. Sousse, Tunézia
The 22nd High Speed Telegraphy World Championship took place in Sousse, Tunisia, from October 8 to 12, 2026. About 75 competitors from 12 countries took part, including a ten-member Hungarian team with two newcomers.
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LKK – 100 Years
ЛКК – 100 РОКІВ
The Lviv Shortwave Club marked its 100th anniversary on 17 October at Lviv Polytechnic. The meeting included awards, a gift of satellite equipment from PZK, elections for a new council, and Mykola Magnushevsky UR5WHT as club president.
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Germany Bulletin 42/2026, Week 43
Deutschland-Rundspruch 42/2026, 43. KW
The weekly DARC news bulletin for week 43 reports that the WAG contest produced about 463,000 QSOs. It also covers leap second abolition, 44Net and Hamnet VPN clarification, upcoming events, contests and propagation.
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Two Medals for HB9DHG
Zwei Medaillen für HB9DHG
Fulvio HB9DHG won silver and bronze medals at the 22nd IARU High Speed Telegraphy World Championships in Sousse, Tunisia, in the RUFZ-XP and Morse Runner categories. Two other Swiss team members, HB9AGA and HB9AJP, also competed.
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The New Membership Administration and Mijn VERON Environment Are Coming
De nieuwe ledenadministratie en Mijn VERON‑omgeving komt eraan
VERON will replace its membership administration system in November, because the current one is outdated. A new member portal called Mijn VERON is part of the change.
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Reykjavík–Akureyri on VHF
REYKJAVÍK-AKUREYRI Á VHF.
ÍRA reports a VHF repeater link between Reykjavík and Akureyrar, completed after a new antenna was fitted to TF5RPD at Vaðlaheiði. The path runs from TF3RPB via TF2RPJ on Strútur, using a UHF link.
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Security update of DARC IT systems
Sicherheitsupdate der DARC-IT-Systeme
DARC says its IT team worked around the clock after emergency PHP updates addressed two critical remote code execution flaws. Services including WaveLog, Treff, mein.DARC and the website were updated or reconfigured.
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Measuring phase noise below the noise floor of the measuring instrument!
Faseruis meten, onder de ruisvloer van het meetinstrument!
VERON announces an RF seminar on Sunday 25 October 2026 by Erik Kaashoek, PD0EK, about measuring phase noise below a measuring instrument's noise floor, and why oscillator stability matters in many applications.
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Radio weather - active, at times stormy conditions
FunkWX - aktive, teils stürmische Bedingungen
Fast solar wind from a coronal hole has reached Earth, producing active and at times stormy geomagnetic conditions. Activity should stay unsettled to active and slowly ease, with a low flare risk.
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Flight radar: ADS-B receivers on 1090 MHz wanted
Flygradar: sökes ADS-B-mottagare på 1090 MHz!
The operator of the map.flights live flight-tracking site asks Swedish amateurs with a 1090 MHz ADS-B receiver to join its receiver network. Stations already feeding Flightradar24 or ADS-B Exchange can add the site quickly without changing their setup.
DX & contests 6
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3B8/E70A – Mauritius
Darko, E70A, plans an HF operation from Mauritius as 3B8/E70A between November 20 and December 3, 2026. He expects to join the 3B8M team in the CQWW CW contest, and confirmations go through LoTW.
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9X5KM – Rwanda
Al, F8FUA, will again operate from Kigali, Rwanda as 9X5KM from October 31 to November 11, 2026. He plans CW, SSB and digital modes with an Elecraft K3 and a Hexbeam, with possible low-band activity.
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T8KT – Palau
A Japanese team of twelve operators plans to activate Palau as T8KT from February 10 to 18, 2027, on 160–6 m in SSB, CW and digital modes. The activity marks the 80th anniversary of the JARL Kyoto Club.
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HD8R – Galapagos Islands
Manu LU9ESD plans to operate from San Cristobal in the Galapagos as HD8R during the CQWW SSB contest, single operator all band, high power. The callsign was last used in 2021.
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The First Place We Look!
A contributor, K6VHF, reflects on DX-World.net as a daily first stop for operators. The site tracks overnight DXpedition arrivals, plan changes, current activity, and the bands and modes in use.
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E51MWA – North Cook Islands
E51MWA is active again from Manihiki in the North Cook Islands, with operation planned until 16 November 2026. Early activity has been on 17m FT8.
Community & news 3
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Amateur Radio Newsline Report 2556 for Friday, October 23rd, 2026
This week's Newsline covers a fatal aircraft crash into a Florida ham tower, a privately built CubeSat running AI experiments, HOA lobbying against an antenna bill, and an SSTV event from the ISS using ARISS hardware.
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Ham Radio Question of the Day: What’s the one piece of gear in your shack you will never part with?
DX Engineering asked its Facebook followers which piece of shack equipment they would never give up. Nearly 400 replies named favorites including the Icom IC-7300, Kenwood TS-890S, Heathkit SB-104A and various keys and paddles.
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County Names & Lines Adds Spoken County-Line Announcements for Mobile County Hunters and QSO-Party Rovers
The County Names & Lines app for iPhone and Android shows the US county you are in, with its FIPS code. A new iPhone Driving Mode announces each county line, which helps mobile operators and QSO-party rovers. Boundary lines require the Pro tier.