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January/February 2026
In this issue...
Upcoming Community Deadlines and Notices
- 2026 Community Meeting: Our next Community Meeting will be on Saturday, March 7, 2026 at 10a PST / 1p EST / 6p UTC. If you’re interested in attending, stay tuned to our social media pages and ardc.groups.io for additional information.
- Volunteer Alumni Network: If you’re an ARDC alumni and would like to join the Network, please reach out to Bill Thomas WT0DX, our Volunteer Alumni Network Liaison, at wt0dx1@gmail.com.
- Next Grant Application Deadline: The next deadline for submitting a grant application is April 1, 2026. Applications received after this date will be reviewed in July 2026. If you’re planning to apply, be sure to check out our Priority Areas for Funding, which highlight the types of projects that strongly align with our mission.
44Net Connect-Related Articles
Since our December 2025 launch, 44Net Connect now has >900 users! It’s no surprise that some of these users have been sharing their work and experiences with the technology. Check out the below posts about 44Net Connect:
If you’ve been working with 44Net Connect and would like to share your projects or published content with us, please send it our way at comms@ardc.net.
Grantee Updates
Check out the stories and links below to learn more about what our grantees have recently been up to!
- The NWNM EMCOMM Group recently deployed and activated the NW5NM-10 VARA FM Winlink RMS and digipeater in Farmington, NM. Operating on 145.0700 MHz VHF simplex, the new system strengthens digital communications across San Juan County and the Four Corners region, supporting both routing and emergency messaging, all in an effort to improve regional communications resilience.
- Learn about how The Leffell School’s grant for building a campus satellite ground station is incorporated into their curriculum and reflects their school values: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/why-jewish-high-school-students-are-building-a-satellite/.
- The Case Amateur Radio Club W8EDU became the first collegiate club to earn the ARRL DXCC Trident Award: https://case.edu/news/case-amateur-radio-club-w8edu-receives-dxcc-trident-national-award.
- The Teachers in Space January CubeSat training event was a success! Their next CubeSat training events will be held this summer. If you’re interested in attending, you can find more information here: https://www.tis.org/in-person-2.
- The SETI Institute published a list of their 2025 Co-Teaching events, made possible by their ARDC grant: https://agiseti.com/page19.html.
- Folks from the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society (RARS) helped local students at Conn Magnet Elementary School make their ARISS contact. You can see the video of the contact here (QSO begins at ~24:10 mark): https://www.youtube.com/live/tOj-SpbmA30, and you can also read about the event in the February 2026 issue of Exciter, the RARS newsletter (starting on p. 32): https://www.rars.org/exciters/2026/RARSExciter02-2026.pdf.
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 The first Youth on the Air (YOTA) Junior USA Camp was held from July 25 - 27, 2025 at the Voice of America (VOA) Museum. Twelve campers between the ages of 8 and 14, along with their parents, attended the event to learn about amateur radio. Activities involved making QSOs on HF bands, participating in fox hunts, getting introduced to soldering, and experimenting with kit building. The next camp will be in 2027, so keep an eye on their website, https://youthontheair.org/, if you’re interested in attending! Until then, you can check out the highlights from the 2025 camp on the YOTA YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL16TZZ4ElQWExfmO0kq0uxkrPvM6VnNg7.
- At Orlando HamCation, Jason KM4ACK published a video touring an EMCOM trailer built by our grantees at Duval County ARES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc_RugPlzxI.
Upcoming Events
Below are some upcoming event(s) hosted by our grantees:
If you are a grantee and would like to have ARDC highlight your work or share an upcoming event you're hosting, please let us know at giving@ardc.net. We love telling the world about the great work you all are doing to advance ARDC's mission and vision!
What ARDC Has Been Up To
39th Chaos Communication Congress (CCC)
During our Holiday break, Board Member Harald Welte gave a talk at the 39th Chaos Communication Congress, held from December 27 - 30, 2025 in Hamburg, Germany. A recording of the talk is available here: https://media.ccc.de/v/39c3-isdn-pots-telephony-at-congress-and-camp.
Come See us at Dayton Hamvention
ARDC will be out and about this spring: you will be able to find our team at the following event(s):
Contact Us!
We always want to hear from you:
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