 September/October 2025
In this issue...
Upcoming Community Deadlines and Notices
Harald Welte joins ARDC’s Board of Directors
Harald has been fascinated by electronics since childhood days, and remains fascinated by both electronics (from analog to digital) and computers ever since. more… ARDC Celebrates 44 Years of 44Net
Over the next year, we’ll continue to share more stories and facts about 44Net on our social media pages. If you have memories to share, we’d love to hear from you at comms@ardc.net. Here’s to 44 years of experimentation and the future we’ll continue building together! Grantee GatheringOn October 1, 2025, we hosted our second Grantee Gathering of the year, focused on the theme of peer groups. A total of 32 participants came together to collaborate and explore opportunities for future work. By the end of the gathering, many were asking for more chances to connect– an encouraging sign of the gathering’s success! If you’re a grantee and would like to join us for future gatherings, keep an eye on your inbox in Q1/Q2 2026! Also, if you didn’t catch the May 2025 Grantee Gathering, check out this latest blog post on Getting Started with Outreach, which also includes a recording of the meeting: https://www.ardc.net/how-to-get-started-with-outreach/. Grantee UpdatesCheck out the links below to learn more about what our grantees have recently been up to!
If you are a grantee and would like to have ARDC highlight your work, please send updates to 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 ToJARL Ham Fair 2025
While there, John connected with Toshiyuki ‘Tom’ Mabuchi JF3LGC, our 44Net Regional Coordinator in Japan, who helped at the booth with translations. John also met a grantee from the JARL Kyoto Club, who shared their efforts to help young hams get licensed and involved in the hobby. John was struck by how many clubs and organizations are working to bring amateur radio and electronics to younger audiences. He learned that HF is popular in Japan, and interest in 44Net came largely from groups of students, teachers, and neighborhood clubs, who lit up at the idea of using 44Net to build local networks. The enthusiasm for education was everywhere, creating a "kids of all ages" atmosphere and a great deal of optimism– a reminder that the hobby is alive and thriving. John shared, “It was an honor to greet the organizers and attendees and thank them on behalf of ARDC for everything they’re doing for amateur radio in Japan.” A special thank you to Tom for his help with translations and to the following folks from JARL that supported ARDC’s representation at the Ham Fair:
GNU Radio Conference 2025 (GRCon25) / Zero Retries Digital Conference (ZRDC) 2025
Image Credit: KaytLynn Inman Schuyler Erle N0GIS and Merideth Stroh KK7BKI represented ARDC at GRCon25 (September 8 - 12) and ZRDC 2025 (September 13) in Everett, WA. During the events, they connected with radio amateurs, developers, and open-source contributors, sharing about our mission and programs. At GRCon25, Schuyler attended several technical talks, including Daniel Paul’s presentation on implementing an FT-8 encoder/decoder pipeline in GNU Radio, funded by Google Summer of Code. He also met with grantee Jesse Alexander WB2IFS/3, the Friday Keynote speaker, whose conversation helped motivate Jesse’s blog post describing ways to increase diversity in the amateur radio community: https://www.eyepoet.net/post/2025/09/15/GRCon2025-After-Action.html. At ZRDC, Schuyler’s talk, 44Net Everywhere or, Everything From ARDC to ZRDC, was well-received by an enthusiastic audience. A thank you to Steve Stroh N8GNJ, ZRDC Organizer, for this speaking opportunity. Both conferences were fantastic opportunities to showcase Free Software, digital networking, and the work of many of our grantees, and also to reconnect with people across the hobby. We look forward to attending these events in the future! Pacificon 2025
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The team at ARDC is pleased to announce that on July 25, 2025, Harald Welte joined our Board of Directors.
September 2025 marked 44 years since Hank Magnuski KA6M obtained the IP addresses that became 44Net. To celebrate this milestone, we’ve created a short video highlighting the origins of 44Net, now available on our NEW 
Tim Požar KC6GNJ, TAC member Dennis Mojado AD6DM, and board member Phil Karn KA9Q attended