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July 2024
In this issue...
Upcoming Community Deadlines and Notices
- Next Grant Application Deadline: The next deadline for submitting a grant application is September 1. Applications received after this date will be reviewed in February 2025, so get your applications in now.
- Regional Coordinators Meetings: In an effort to touch base more regularly, we are now hosting Regional Coordinators meetings about once every month. If you are a Regional Coordinator and are interested in attending these meetings, our next meeting will happen around late August, so be on the lookout for updates in the 44Net Coordinators Subgroup. We also encourage you to check out our Regional Coordinators page on the website for recordings and documents from our past meetings.
- ARDC is Hiring for a Grants Associate: If you’re interested in applying, send a resume and cover letter to hr@ardc.net and be sure to send all files (including a cover letter) as separate PDF attachments without spaces in the name (e.g., jane-doe-cover-letter.pdf). Please note that applicants selected for interviews will be asked to provide a writing sample. To learn more about the role, check out our latest blog post: https://www.ardc.net/ardc-is-hiring-a-grants-associate/.
Grantee Updates
SETI Institute
 In 2023, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute received a grant from ARDC to develop and deploy a 12-week curriculum teaching signal processing and digital communications to community college instructors, aiming to prepare the next generation of amateur radio communication experts. In late May, as part of this curriculum, these community college astronomy instructors attended a two-day workshop at the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory. Led by SETI Institute’s Staff Astronomer Dr. Vishal Gajjar, the workshop covered intensive training on topics such as software-defined radio (SDR) and radio astronomy, among other things. To learn more, check out this blog post from workshop attendee Simon Steel, deputy Director at the Carl Sagan Center for Research: https://www.seti.org/whats-happening-ata-special-edition.
Ham Radio Village (K0HRV)
Image credit: Ed Wilson (N2XDD)
The Ham Radio Village (K0HRV) distributes quality educational content, offers hand-on amateur radio experiences, and hosts license testing sessions. Last year, K0HRV received an ARDC Grant for the Amateur Radio Evangelist project, aimed at attending conferences to introduce attendees to amateur radio as a lifelong hobby. Recently, the evangelists made their first stop at Hackers On Planet Earth (HOPE XV), where Dan Romanchik (KB6NU) gave a well-received talk titled Ham Radio for Hackers, where he discussed amateur radio basics, showcased amateur radio projects interesting to hackers, and provided information on getting an amateur radio license. The next day, Dan gave a one-day Technician class to an engaged audience who readily asked questions, followed by a testing session, where 25 hackers got their Technician ticket! To learn more about Amateur Radio Evangelist at HOPE XV, check out Dan’s blog post, as well as a related blog post from Hackaday.
What ARDC Has Been Up To
 Ham Radio Friedrichshafen was held from June 28 - 30. Several volunteers from ARDC attended, including Board Members Ria Jairam (N2RJ) and Ashhar Farhan (VU2ESE); GAC member David Burgess; and GET member Willi Kraml (OE1WKL). Attendees caught up with grantees from Open Source Mobile Communications (Osmocom), Youth on the Air (YOTA), and M17, as well as folks with HAMNET, the largest user of 44Net. While in Friedrichshafen, Ria received the new M17 revision 1.0 that she will soon be testing out; Farhan connected with IP Coordination Team Germany to help set up a HAMNET node at the Gehrenberg Tower; and David got his Technician ticket (call sign is KE2DSM). A big thank you to Deutscher Amateur Radio Club (DARC) Chair Christian Entsfellner (DL3MBG) and Community Ambassador and HAMNET organizer Jann Traschewski (DG8NGN) for their hospitality throughout the hamfest!
ARDC Team Spotlight
This month’s spotlight will be highlighting Grants Advisory Committee (GAC) member Jim Idelson (K1IR).
Jim Idelson (K1IR)
 Jim is currently serving out his second year on the GAC, stating he “was so pleased to have been selected amongst a long list of highly qualified candidates.” During his time on the GAC, Jim cites his ability to help his teammates see the correlation between a grant proposal and ARDC’s big-picture goals as the work he is most proud of. A self-proclaimer of enjoying “too many pursuits - far more than time permits,” you can find Jim outside of ARDC spending time with his family, engaging in landscape and nature photography, and mentoring up-and-coming technical professionals in the workplace and also new hams. Speaking of hams, one of Jim’s most recent ham radio pursuits involved building a space communications station, equipped for satellite operations and eventually Earth-Moon-Earth (EME) communications. You can also find Jim on the air enjoying HF contesting. To learn more about Jim, be sure to visit his QRZ page, his LinkedIn profile, or The Driven Element, which is his personal website.
Thank you Jim all for your contributions toward carrying out our mission at ARDC!
Come See Us at Huntsville Hamfest and Other Events this Fall!
ARDC will be out and about in August and September: you will be able to find our team at the following event(s):
Contact Us!
We always want to hear from you:
ARDC's Mission
The mission of Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) is to support, promote, and enhance digital communication and broader communication science and technology, to promote amateur radio, scientific research, experimentation, education, development, open access, and innovation in information and communication technology.
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