Mason Matrazzo KM4SII, radio science and engineering research competition winner

I'm particularly proud to highlight Mason Matrazzo, KM4SII, who in addition to being a noted ham radio operator and DX'er in his own right, is the grandson of Dan and Marlo Matrazzo.  (Marlo is my wife Jane's lifelong friend from childhood.)  

Mason is a first-year PhD student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), and is is the first Auburn University student to win the Ernest K. Smith Student Paper Competition.  Needless to say, we are all pretty proud of Mason!

Part of the National Radio Science Meeting, the competition was held Jan. 6–9 in Boulder, Colorado. The meeting was co-sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Antennas and Propagation Society and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine and organized by the U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Radio Science.

Mason's study, “Parametric Modeling and Analysis of Lightning Sferic Waveforms for D-Region Remote Sensing,” demonstrated how radio waves generated by lightning can be used to track changes in the lowest region of the ionosphere — a layer of the atmosphere that affects long-distance communication.

This work could help scientists better determine ​the way the ionosphere varies over time and space, enhancing the understanding and prediction of how critical communication systems are affected by changes, including space weather events such as solar flares.

They That Go Down To The Sea

Sadly, the fishing town of Gloucester, Massachusetts lost another trawler this past week 20 miles offshore. It has been reported that seven souls were on board with one body having been recovered as of this writing.  

The Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial commemorates the thousands of fishermen lost at sea in the first three centuries of Gloucester's history.  It has become a symbol of the Gloucester since it was cast in 1925.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

One of the crew was 22-year-old Jada Samitt.  According to Jon Cunningham, K1TP, of neighboring Rockport and creator of As The World Turns, a popular ham blog, Jada's family stated that she moved from Virginia to MA to study environmental biology.  Being on the crew was her first big job at sea and was "her dream".  

Jada Samitt, 22

The Lily Jean, its captain, Gus Sanfilippo, and his crew were featured in a 2012 episode of the History Channel show “Nor’Easter Men.” Sanfilippo is described as a fifth-generation commercial fisherman, fishing out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, in the Georges Bank. The crew is shown working in dangerous weather conditions for hours on end, spending as many as 10 days at sea on one trip fishing for haddock, lobster and flounder.  

May God bless Jada, Gus, and his crew and comfort their families.

84th Anniversary of the Marine 9th Defense Battalion

Today, February 1, marks the 84th anniversary of my father's unit, the Marine 9th Defense Battalion, the "Fighting Ninth".  Formed in 1942, the Battalion earned a Presidential Unit Citation for their action on Guadalcanal.  Guadalcanal is considered the turning point in the World War II Pacific Theater as it marked the first major American offensive against Japan, halted Japanese expansion and shifted the strategic initiative to the Allies.  The victory laid the groundwork for subsequent Allied successes in the Pacific and also prevented the Japanese invasion of Australia.  I am immensely proud of my father and his fellow Marines.

Uncommon valor was a common virtue.

Semper Fidelis

Turning Lead Into Gold

 

Physicists trying to recreate conditions just after the Big Bang have accidentally done something once thought impossible: they turned lead into gold.

The discovery happened at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland during experiments by the ALICE team. Scientists were smashing lead atoms together at nearly the speed of light to study how matter behaves under extreme energy and heat.

During these experiments, some lead atoms passed very close to each other without fully colliding. These “near-miss” encounters created powerful electromagnetic fields that knocked protons out of the lead atoms. 

Since lead has three more protons than gold, removing exactly three protons caused the remaining nucleus to briefly become gold.

The amount of gold produced was incredibly tiny. Scientists estimate a total of about 29 trillionths of a gram, with roughly 89,000 gold atoms forming per second during collisions. 

The gold couldn’t be seen directly, but researchers detected the released protons using special instruments, confirming the transformation. Small traces of thallium and mercury were also formed when fewer protons were removed.

CERN scientists say the finding has no commercial value—the gold produced is trillions of times too small to be useful—but it is scientifically important. 

Understanding these atomic changes helps physicists better analyze collider data and design future experiments to explore the fundamental nature of matter.

Magnetic North Pole Shift

For more than four centuries, Earth’s magnetic north pole drifted slowly from the Canadian Arctic toward Siberia. In recent decades, that movement has accelerated sharply, surprising scientists who closely monitor the planet’s magnetic behavior and internal dynamics.

Researchers attribute the shift to changes deep within Earth’s outer core, where flowing molten iron generates the magnetic field. Alterations in these powerful currents, especially beneath Siberia, are pulling the magnetic pole at unprecedented speeds compared to the past.

This rapid motion has real-world consequences. Compasses, navigation systems, airport runway alignments, satellites, and even animal migration depend on accurate magnetic data. To keep technology functioning correctly, scientists must frequently update global magnetic models as the pole continues its journey.

The End of HamClock: RIP WB0OEW

 

Keith Maton, G6NHU of QSO365 has posted the following very sad news to the ham radio world:  

On Thursday, January 29, 2026 the simple notice (at left)  appeared on the HamClock home page.

 I’ve worked with Elwood Downey, WB0OEW very closely on HamClock over the last couple of years and we’d become good friends. I emailed him straight away using a different address to the one he posts online and I received an instant reply to say that Elwood has passed away.

What will happen?

I’m assuming that some time in June, the backend server that hosts HamClock will go offline. Because so much of the data that is displayed on HamClock comes from its own server, most things will stop working very quickly.

Firstly, Live Spots and the On The Air pane will go to zero. The solar data displays will gradually clear and show an error. Within ten minutes or so, the map display will fail as it won’t be able to download. Even the basic country map will fail and a blue bar will appear across the display saying it can’t download.

The contest and dxpedition panes will stop getting updates. They may last a little longer.

The DXCluster pane is one of the few that relies on a different source for its feed. This will continue to work, but without a map to show the spots on, it’ll be basically useless.

I’m going to miss my friend Elwood. Towards the end of last year, he moved house so all his development kit was packed away but up until then, we used to email regularly. Mainly talking about HamClock and what else we could do with it, but often about other stuff, including other projects he was working on. I had nothing to do with the actual programming of HamClock but Elwood would take on board suggestions I and others made, and then between us, we’d thrash it out via beta versions of HamClock, tweaking and adjusting to give the best possible user experience. He’d add something, I’d suggest how to make it work better and between us, I think we ended up with a superb piece of software.

I’ll miss the ability to walk into the shack, switch the screen on and at a single glance, see how the bands are performing in real time, noticing any new band/mode slots that are currently on air and seeing any DXPeditions that are live. Being able to have easy access to VOACAP specific predictions or general propagation prediction maps during contests. The whole thing has become an essential tool and there’s nothing that even comes close to replace it with.

Over the next few days, I’ll be removing the HamClock content from this site, there’s no need for build instructions any more and there won’t be any need for the other guides when it all goes off in June.

Goodbye Elwood.

Tom Salzer, KJ7T writes further in The Random Wire: 

HamClock availability and alternatives

Boeing 737 to Serve as ‘Freedom Plane’ During U.S. 250th Celebrations

 

A Boeing 737 will play an important part in the United States’ 250th anniversary celebrations later this year.

The National Archives this week announced the “Freedom Plane National Tour,” a traveling exhibition that will bring Founding-Era documents to eight U.S. cities between March and August. A 737 in a special patriotic livery will transport the documents from city to city, officials said.

“Americans across the country can bear witness to the people and principles that shaped our nation through the Freedom Plane National Tour,” Jim Byron, senior adviser to the archivist of the U.S., said in a statement. “There is no more noteworthy an occasion than America’s 250th birthday to share this history, to inspire our fellow Americans to champion our nation’s founding ideals into the future.”

Boeing is providing the aircraft, as well as operational support.

The tour will make stops in Atlanta, Kansas City, Missouri, Los Angeles, Houston, Denver, Miami, Dearborn, Michigan, and Seattle. According to the National Archives’ schedule, the exhibition will spend about two and a half weeks in each location.

Documents selected for display include a copy of the Declaration of Independence, the 1783 Treaty of Paris, and Revolutionary War-era oaths of allegiance signed by George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr.