Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC)
January 2022

In this issue...

A Note from Rosy

Rosy Schechter KJ7RYV headshotHello and welcome to 2022. Here at ARDC, we’re still enjoying some of the afterglow of 2021’s grantmaking successes, some highlights of which are listed below. Mostly, though, we’ve hit the ground running to get ready for another year of funding excellent projects – including writing our 2021 Annual Report, finalizing our new Grants and Technical Advisory Committees, and revisions to our grant application review and selection process. If you’re interested in learning about these items, we urge you to mark your calendar our first community meeting of the year, happening Sat. Jan. 29  from 1800 - 1930 UTC (10-11:30am PT / 1-2:30pm ET / 6-7:30pm GMT) Of course we’ll publish all of that info on our website and in the next newsletter. For now, keep reading to get the Zoom info for the meeting, learn about some exciting grants from 2021, the ARRL’s new program for club grants, and some upcoming events we’re looking to attend.

Community Meeting - Saturday, January 29, 1800 UTC

Interested in what ARDC has been up to and will be up to in 2022? Then join us for the next ARDC Community Meeting, which will take place on Saturday, January 29, 2022 at 1800 UTC (10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm GMT). Topics will include:

  • Introductions of new TAC and GAC members

  • Looking back at 2021

  • Looking forward to 2022, including updates to our grantmaking process

  • Q&A

The meeting will take place via Zoom. Here’s how to join:

To join by phone, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcXKMi0QGv to find your local phone number.

ARRL Foundation program to provide up to $25k for club projects

American Radio Relay League (ARRL) FoundationThe new ARRL Foundation Club Grants program, funded by a grant from ARDC, will make $500,000 available to clubs, enabling them to better do what clubs do: recruit and train new radio amateurs, keep current radio amateurs up to date on the latest technology, and provide emergency and public service communications. 

The program will provide up to $25,000 for worthy club projects, and beginning in April 2022, amateur radio clubs will be able to apply for a grant by filling out a simple form on the ARRL website. The Foundation says that in most cases, evaluating a proposal will take no longer than 90 days. 

Dr. David Woolweaver, ARRL Foundation President, is understandably quite enthusiastic about this program. He notes, “This program will substantially contribute to the growth of amateur radio clubs and their efforts to expand and support the amateur radio community.“ 

We at ARDC are enthusiastic as well. The program will streamline the process for getting club projects funded, so that they can get started on these projects more quickly. We can’t wait to see what kinds of creative things happen because of these club grants!

ARDC grant critical to Outreachy’s success

OutreachyOutreachy, one of Software Freedom Conservancy's flagship projects, provides internships to budding Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) developers. Outreachy interns are selected from communities that are subject to discrimination or systemic bias or are underrepresented in the technical industry of their country. Interns work remotely and are paid a stipend of $6,000 USD for the three-month internship. Outreachy expressly invites women (both cis and trans), trans men, and genderqueer people to apply. Since the program began in 2010, there have been 840 successful graduates.

In October, ARDC awarded Outreachy $150,000, following a $100,000 grant in 2020. This grant, in conjunction with funding from the Ford Foundation and the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, allows them to fund 10 humanitarian open source projects, spread the word about the program, and evaluate additional activities to better support the program’s interns, mentors and alumni.

To learn more about Outreachy, go to https://www.outreachy.org/. For more information on how the SFC funds Outreachy, go to https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2021/dec/30/outreachy-grant-funding/.

Rhizomatica brings sophisticated telecommunications to remote areas of Mexico, Ecuador, and Brazil

RhizomaticaRhizomatica is a U.S.-based non-profit organization that bridges the gap between communication system engineers and telecom users in the developing world.The organization has been recognized for their work on digital HF solutions to provide telecommunication and radio services for isolated communities in Mexico, Ecuador, and the Amazon rainforest of Brazil.

The $335,940 grant will allow Rhizomatica to continue developing the High-Frequency Emergency and Rural Multimedia Exchange System (HERMES), an affordable digital telecommunications system over shortwave/HF radio. Based on the uBITX v6 HF transceiver, HERMES will be an open-source digital HF telecommunication system that will look much more like a WiFi or LTE system than currently existing HF solutions. HERMES will include both voice and data services and support multiple concurrent users, diverse network topologies, channel aggregation, automatic channel selection, and secure authentication options.

Visit us at Hamcation, QSO Today Virtual Expo, and Hamvention

Come visit us as we venture out in 2022! Here’s what’s on our schedule so far this year: 

  • Hamcation, Orlando, FL, February 11- 13, 2022. Booth 186 in the North Hall. John Hays, K7VE, will be giving the talk Amateur Radio Digital Communications - Grants and the Amateur Radio Internet on Friday, February 11, at 3:15 pm EST in CS II. Dan Romanchik, KB6NU, is scheduled to talk about Having Fun with Morse Code on Friday, February 11, at 1:45 pm EST in CS III.
  • QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo, March 12-13, 2022.
  • Dayton Hamvention, May 20-22, 2022, Booth 1302 in the Maxim Building, Building 1.

If you’ll be attending one of these events, please stop by our booth to find out more about ARDC, how to apply for a grant, and maybe pick up some ARDC swag.

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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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