New Seasonal Landing Record - On Ice!

The ice runway at Alton Bay Seaplane Base (B18) on New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee has set a new seasonal landing record.

Last Monday, 42 aircraft touched down on the frozen surface, bringing the season’s total to 774—surpassing the previous record of 764 set in 2025.

First established in the 1960s, the runway has long been a cherished—if sometimes unpredictable—winter tradition. Warm spells forced cancellations in 2023 and 2024.

WQ2XDM - New US Experimental Callsign For Radio Propagation Tests At 40 MHz & 70 MHz

John, EI7GL reports on interesting experimentation to be conducted by John, K9JMS in the 40 MHz (8m) and 70 MHz (4m) bands under a new individual experimental license issued by the FCC.

John, K9JMS recently received permission from the FCC to carry out propagation tests at 40 MHz (8m) and 70 MHz (4m) and he was granted the callsign WQ2XDM for a period of two years.

Note that this is NOT an amateur radio licence and no two way communications are allowed. Its purpose is strictly for "scientific and engineering-based propagation research".

The 40 MHz and 70 MHz bands are NOT amateur radio bands in the United States and this is a case of someone getting a permit to make narrow band digital transmissions and seeing if the signals are heard. 

John describes it as follows... "WQ2XDM Propagation Research - Florida-based experimental station studying low-VHF propagation on the 4 meter (70 MHz) and 8 meter (40 MHz) bands using weak-signal digital modes including WSPR and FT8."

The licence has the following conditions attached...

Best Propagation Tools

 Here's a new video by DX Engineering on Best Propagation Tools which are presently available to radio amateurs.  I use a few of them and look forward to exploring all of them.  Good stuff!