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October 2021
In this issue...
A Note from Rosy
 Welcome to fall! The brisk breeze and changing leaves mean that the holidays are just around the corner. Not only is it time to start planning for winter festivities (even if they are limited by COVID), here at ARDC we are also planning for the end of the year, aiming to take a little break the last week or two of December. That means that the next couple of months will be busy! If you have been thinking about applying for a grant from us this year, now is the time: get your proposals in by Nov. 5 to be considered in 2021! We’ll start looking at applications again in mid- to late- January. Read more about it below, along with what else we’ve been up to at ARDC in the last month. Oh! And if you have an idea for a nonprofit who might be deserving of an end-of-year gift from us, send us your recommendations at giving@ardc.net.
ARDC Grants Support Education
ARDC is proud to support education in a number of ways. We recently decided to continue our partnership with ARRL to provide scholarships for the 2022-2023 school year. This year we increased our donation to $761,250 to provide scholarships to more students.
 Last year, ARDC funded 30 ARRL Foundation scholarships (one quarter of the total), with values ranging from $25,000 to $5,000. To learn more about the ARRL Foundation scholarships or to apply for one, go to http://www.arrl.org/scholarship-descriptions.
ARDC also supports individual educational institutions. For example, we recently awarded $9,769 to the Norwich Free Academy (NFA). With this grant, the school’s Amateur Radio and Engineering Club, W1HLO, will create a ground station for contacting amateur radio satellites, weather satellites, and the International Space Station (ISS).
NFA students will learn how to predict satellite passes, receive live video data from weather satellites, and use repeaters on amateur radio satellites. These activities will be integrated into NFA’s science curriculum to broaden the reach of amateur radio and space science to students. You can learn more about the school and its amateur radio activities by going to https://w1hlo.nfaschool.org.
2021 Grant Deadline: November 5!
To qualify for a grant in 2021, we ask that you get your proposals in by November 5, 2021. This will give us enough time to evaluate and process them by the end of the year. If you can’t submit your proposal by that date, don’t worry. It doesn’t mean that you won’t get a grant, just that you won’t get it by the end of this year. Submit your grant proposal here! Need help? Check out our guidelines for writing proposals, and feel free to reach us at giving@ardc.net with any questions.
ARDC at the QSO Today Virtual Expo, TAPR DCC, GNU Radio Conference
The ARRL/TAPR Digital Communications Conference (DCC) was held virtually on September 17-18, 2021. John Hays, K7VE, ARDC Outreach Manager, spoke on Saturday. His talk was titled, “ARDC – Grants and the Amateur Radio Internet” and is an introduction to ARDC and our grants process. Phil Karn, KA9Q, ARDC President, spoke an hour later on the “The KA9Q-Radio Package,” which describes some of his recent experimentation with software-defined radio.
A recording of Saturday’s talks are available on the TAPR YouTube Channel. John’s talk starts at about the 3:15:00 mark, andPhil’s talk begins around 4:11:00. If you have time, you might also want to listen to some of the banter that takes place before the meeting starting at about 4:00:00. There are some interesting comments about ARDC and the role it will play in the future of ham radio.
 GRCon, the GNU Radio Conference, took place in Charlotte, NC, from September 20 - 24. John reprised his DCC talk at GRCon, and we had a table in the exhibitor’s room. We gave away a lot of stickers and coasters, and talked to several people about projects that they might need some help with. Next year, we’d like to have a bigger amateur radio presence at GRCon. If you have some ideas on how to do this, please get in touch with us.
Looking to the future, Rosy will be attending Pacificon, in San Ramon, CA. It's happening Oct. 15-17, 2021, and she'll be there on Sat. Oct. 16. Get in touch with her if you’d like to meet there. After that, our next appearance will be at Hamcation, in Orlando, FL, February 11-13, 2022. We will have a booth there and would be happy to meet with you there.
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Our 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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