ALERT NEWSLETTER – April 2026

Hi everyone,

April has arrived!

And with its arrival the birds that wintered farther south are now migrating Northward. I’ve seen Thrashers, Cardinals, Finches, Robins, Doves, Geese, Nuthatches and have heard hawks, crows, Redneck Roosters, or rather Red Headed Woodpeckers tap tap tapping away.

Snakes are crawling, mosquitoes are buzzing and wasps are building a nest on my mailbox, a problem which I will remedy very shortly.

Soon there will be storms blowing and lightning crackling as we move through the heart of our Spring severe weather season.

Just as the first warmth of Spring can deceive you into thinking the cold weather is over, the pretty days of April can deceive you into thinking that the severe weather season is over or that it is going to be a mild one.

But, as past April storms have proven, we are a long way from being “safe”, if we ever truly are. So, keep your eyes turned towards the sky and stay “weather aware”, for danger can always be just around the corner.

Stay safe!

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How I Write The ALERT Newsletter

In June 2007 ALERT Members were greeted with an email attachment which said:

“Welcome to the new ALERT Newsletter!

This newsletter is designed to keep members & interested “lurkers” informed as to the news and activities of your ALERT. Comments, suggestions & additions are more than welcome.”

With that simple introduction, the current ALERT Newsletter was born.

This is the second incarnation of an ALERT newsletter. When ALERT was founded in May 1996 there was a short-lived newsletter called the “ALERT News”.

The current newsletter was designed to be “friendly spam” invading peoples email inboxes, gently tapping them on the shoulder to remind them that “ALERT is still here, don’t forget about us”. Reverse psychology of the “out of sight, out of mind” principle.

Even if one never opens the email, you can’t ignore us…were still here!

It was also created to update our activities, provide some interesting articles and serve as a training tool.

The ALERT Newsletter has been well received, with very few negative comments through the years.

One unique thing about the ALERT Newsletter is that IT STILL EXISTS. Once upon a time there were quite a few newsletters being produced by various local clubs and groups. The Shelby County Amateur Radio Club had a newsletter and the Birmingham Amateur Radio Club had a newsletter called “The BirmingHam” sporting a mascot reminiscent of Porky The Pig. Now they are all gone, or have evolved into monthly email meeting reminders and meeting summaries.

Though at some point I will pass the torch to someone else and (hopefully there will be someone there to take the torch), today I’m still churning out the newsletter as my little contribution to our efforts.

Hopefully the newsletter, now in its 19th year, will in whatever form my eventual successor chooses, be here for decades to come.

I’m not going anywhere, by the way, but for whoever may come after me, or those who may be curious, here is how Mark WD4NYL writes the ALERT Newsletter.

The header

 ALERT NEWSLETTER – April 2076     Vol. 69 No.10 826th EDITION

http://alert-alabama.org

This I brazenly stole from an ALERT Application and modified it for my nefarious use, and update the date and stats each month.

I have all the past ALERT Newsletters stored and, using this April’s Newsletter for example, I pull the previous year’s April Newsletter and this year’s March Newsletter and use them as templates.

I try to write an introduction that is timely and hopefully coherent. Then comes the main article(s).

Occasionally, very occasionally, rare as hen’s teeth occasionally, someone has submitted an article for the Newsletter. And sometimes I have used emailed announcements, edited them a little and added them as articles. But, 99% of the time it’s my problem to unravel.

There have been times I have written articles weeks in advance. Other times I have articles pop in my head in a perfect timely manner, and sometimes they are last minute things that come screeching into my mind on two wheels at the last possible moment.

I try to write in a folksy, friendly manner and knowing that my punctuation and grammar skills are woefully lacking, I hope it will be interesting and even useful. Oddly I seem to write better when I’m running a fever, why I have no clue. Maybe if I took up drinking you would get a better newsletter. But I don’t think I will do that.

Over the years we’ve dealt with training, procedural problems, ham political problems, emergency preparedness, ham radio in general and subjects directly pertaining to what we do and some that had nothing to do with it at all, but I felt might be interesting, or was running short on ideas.

The Almanac is very largely based on notes I’ve taken over 50+ years. The climatology doesn’t change. Winters are cold, Spring is stormy, Summer is Hot, and Autumn is dryish, with leaves turning colors and pumpkins, ghosts, ghouls and turkeys popping up everywhere. I may and do add things or omit things, but basically that part of the Newsletter remains the same. April is April, whether it’s 2016, 2026 or 2036.

The astronomical information, I obtain from NASA, NOAA, observatories, various and sundry websites, weeding through squirrely ones and much straight from memory.

Sometimes the sources may prove contradictory, and I have to dig very deep in order to straighten out what is accurate and what are “nice try, but you are wrong” situations. Some sites are very site specific and I have to correct things for 33° latitude. Which is why some astronomical events hyped on social media may be true for Boston or Sydney but are not necessarily true for Birmingham.

If they are true at all, for anything posted on social media, YouTube, Tik-Tok or anywhere else online whether astronomy or especially weather-related information, should be verified before being believed, let alone SPREAD.

One guy I know was posting pure hocus pocus and someone asked him why he didn’t check the sources before posting things. He said “I don’t have to time to go around verifying things. I just go ahead and post it ‘just in case’”. Which is how folk end up believing in lizard people.

Someone once said “If you copy from one book, that’s plagiarism; if you copy from many books, that’s research”, I don’t know said it, but it gives me comfort as I pilfer and plod onward.

Then I wrap it up, lately adding a list of ham radio contests and (hopefully) the correct ALERT meeting date and location or method.

Then comes the hard part. EDITING.

Is it:

Too long?
Too short?
Going to get the NWS sued or picketed?
Going to get ALERT sued or booted out of the NWS?
Going to get Mark sued, tarred and feathered?
Could “this or that” be offensive??
Could “this” be taken as obscene?
Could “this” be taken as too political?
Too religious?
Too heathenish?
Is “this” so out of the focus with ALERT and its mission that it’s unrecognizable?
Would “this” tempt the NWS to tie me to a weather balloon and say “bon voyage”?
Bad smelling? I mean spelling?
Is the grammar, like, you know, like dismally deplorable, like duh?

Reminding myself that “literally” is literally the most overused word today. Almost as surreal as “surreal” was when it was all you heard was something was “surreal”. With the old saying “look, someone’s learned a new word” ringing in the back of my mind.

Sometimes the newsletter articles that you get were originally twice the size than the form you finally see. Sometimes I pull articles with the intention of including them in a future Newsletter and sometimes after writing a lengthy article I end up deciding that “this is just garbage”, as I whisk it over to File 13.

After spellchecking and grammar combing, I email the sucker out, hoping I put the right month in the email subject line and that I actually remembered to attach the Newsletter to the email this time, which I have forgotten to do in the past.

Then, after emailing it, I reread it and find I missed a dozen mistakes and I make unkind gestures at the computer screen.

But, when I recently saw a major news outlet issuing a statement concerning “black ‘specs’ and other contaminants” found in pain medications, I found some comfort knowing that I am not alone in the world of typos.

Occasionally I will get comments and feedback, which I truly appreciate, as it lets me know that someone is actually reading this mess.

And, that is how the Newsletter is created.

Hopefully this will help whoever comes after me, or will help someone thinking about writing a newsletter for their group or organization.

I enjoy researching the information I include in the Newsletter. I am constantly learning and relearning new things. And it helps sweep some of the cobwebs from my dusty old brain.

That said, I would appreciate material and articles for this newsletter. It’s YOUR newsletter, after all.

So, come on, send me something! Give it a try!

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Early 2026 Hurricane Outlook

AccuWeather, an American media company that provides commercial weather forecasting services worldwide, has issued it’s 2026 Atlantic Hurricane Outlook.

Their outlook calls for a near to below average season with 11 – 16 named storms. Of those storms, 4 to 7 are forecast to become hurricanes, 2 to 4 being major hurricanes and 3 to 5 hurricanes likely to hit the United States.

They believe a developing El Niño will tend to suppress tropical development.

Typically, an El Niño creates stronger upper level winds or wind shear across the Atlantic, making it harder for tropical storms to form. With the El Niño forecast to develop and strengthen throughout the summer and autumn, it is likely there will be fewer storms during the second half of the hurricane season compared to the first half.

Colorado State University will issue its 2026 outlook on April 9th & NOAA’s forecast will be released in late May.

To help in their preparedness and warning efforts, the National Hurricane Center will implement a new version of its cone graphic which will now include all land-based (coastal and inland) tropical storm and hurricane watches and warnings in effect for the continental United States, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The older version only depicted coastal U.S. tropical storm and hurricane watches and warnings.

It is hoped that addition of inland watches and warnings to the cone graphic will help communicate wind risks during tropical cyclone events while not overcomplicating the graphic with too many data layers.

For more information see: National Hurricane Center to issue new forecast cone graphics for 2026 hurricane season | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The Atlantic Hurricane season will begin June 1 ending November 30.

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Mark’s Almanac

The Romans called April “Aprilis”, probably from the word “aperire”, which means, “to open”. This time of year being when buds open. It was originally the second month of the Roman calendar, before Roman King Numa Pompilius added January & February in 700 BC.

Freezing weather comes to an end as Birmingham’s average last freeze is April 1, while Tuscaloosa’s is March 26. The record for the latest freeze date is April 21, 1953 for Tuscaloosa and April 23, 1986 for Birmingham.

Snowfall is still possible though, as April 3, 1987’s 5 inches proves. The latest trace of snow was April 25, 1910.

April is less wet than March & rain becomes more localized and less widespread in nature. The sun heats the lower atmosphere near the ground and since the upper atmosphere is still cold, the warm air rises, reaches the dew point line, forms clouds & then it may rain. April is the first time in the spring season that favors local convective activity, which is why you have “April Showers”.

North Atlantic Tropical activity remains at a minimum. From 1851 to 2025 there has never been an April Hurricane and only two Tropical Storms – Ana in 2003 and Arlene in 2017 which affected only shipping.

April is peak tornado month, with wide scale outbreaks possible. There are 2 ½ times the number of tornadoes as in March. 25% of the year’s tornadoes will have occurred by April 28.

From April 1950 to 2025, 3127 tornadoes were reported in Alabama. From 1950 – 2025 there were 692 direct and indirect deaths, and 8,469 direct and indirect injuries.

Some notable occurrences include:

April 23, 1908, a “generational” outbreak began that would be called the “Dixie Tornado Outbreak” which killed 320 people. Though Alabama was struck by only 4 of the 29 tornadoes spawned, one was an F4 or a family of long track tornadoes that stayed on the ground for 105 miles for nearly an hour and a half from Walker & Jefferson County, though Blount, Marshall and Dekalb Counties killing 35 and injuring 188.

April 20, 1920, a major tornado outbreak that produced at least 17 tornadoes in the Southeast. Three F4 tornadoes struck north Alabama killing 136 and injuring 850, with homes obliterated and totally swept away. The worst tornado of the day first touched down in eastern Mississippi. It stayed on the ground for 130 miles as it cut a swath across Marion, Franklin, and Colbert counties.

April 15, 1956, “The McDonalds Chapel Tornado”, an F4 tornado that, killed 25 and injured 200.

April 3 – 4, 1974, also known as “The Day of 100 Tornadoes” or the 1974 Super Outbreak, which killed 315, including 86 in Alabama, which endured 8 of the 148 tornadoes spawned. Of particular note was the F5 tornado that devastated the town of Guin. This was the longest-duration tornado recorded in the outbreak at one hour forty minutes, travelling 79 miles, and is one of the most violent tornadoes ever recorded.

The devastation was so complete in one six block area that NWS damage surveyor Bill Herman, remarked that “It was just like the ground had been swept clean. It was just as much of a total wipeout as you can have”. J.B. Elliot noted that the destruction was so complete that even some of the foundations were “dislodged, and in some cases swept away.”

April 4, 1977, the F5 “Smithfield” tornado struck Jefferson County, killing 22 and injuring 130. One of seven tornadoes that day. This tornado was so devastating that Dr. Ted Fujita initially considered assigning it a rating of F6.

Only two tornadoes have ever had a preliminary F6 rating. The Lubbock Tornado of May 11, 1970, and the Xenia Ohio Tornado of April 3, 1974, both of which were downgraded to F5. The Enhanced Fujita Scale now in use goes to EF5 and, like the Saffir-Simpson hurricane Scale is an open-ended scale.

April 8, 1998, an outbreak produced five tornadoes including the F5 “Oak Grove Tornado”, which killed 32 and injured 259.

April 15, 2011, the “forgotten outbreak”, which was overshadowed by the outbreak that would follow ten days later. Alabama saw 46 tornadoes killing 7 and injuring 14.

April 25-28, 2011, would see the next and latest “generational” outbreak producing 360 tornadoes, peaking with 217 on April 27. Of Alabama’s 62 tornadoes, 29 occurred in central Alabama in two distinct waves.

This includes the EF4 tornado, which tore through Tuscaloosa and Jefferson County. A photogenic storm causing heavy damage in Tuscaloosa County and after entering Jefferson County rapidly intensifying to its maximum intensity and width, appearing as an ugly massive wedge tornado as it reached the suburbs of Birmingham, in total killing 64 and injuring 1500.

The Jefferson County portion of the damage path I’ve always felt is largely glossed over by documentaries, as they focus on the Tuscaloosa damage, which is certainly worthy of note, but they tend to forget or only barely mention Concord and Pleasant Grove, where houses were swept away leaving only slabs and debris, McDonalds Chapel which had blocks of houses destroyed and the damage in Smithfield, areas previously swept by tornadoes in 1956 and 1977.

The last April tornado occurred in Barbour County on April 6, 2025, part of a mini outbreak from April 5 to April 6 2025, which saw four tornadoes striking North Alabama and five striking South Alabama, causing one injury.

So, as past Aprils remind us, keep an eye to the sky!

Days continue to grow longer as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon rapidly increases from 61.3 degrees at the beginning of the month to 71.5 degrees at the end. Daylight increases from 12 hours 33 minutes on April 1 to 13 hours 29 minutes on April 30.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

April 1 Sunrise 6:34 AM Sunset 7:07 PM
April 15 Sunrise 6:16 AM Sunset 7:18 PM
April 30 Sunrise 5:59 AM Sunset 7:29 PM

Looking skyward, the Sun, magnitude -26.7 is in Pisces, The Fish.

Mercury, magnitude 0.0, is in Pisces, The Fish, is hidden in the glow of the Sun.

Venus, magnitude –3.9, is in Auriga, The Charioteer, has emerged into the evening sky, and as the months progress will begin to dominate the evening skies of spring and summer.

At the first of the month, she becomes visible around 7:23 PM CDT, 15° above the western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. She will then sink towards the horizon, setting 1 hour and 34 minutes after the Sun at 8:42 PM CDT.

By midmonth she becomes visible at around 7:33 PM CDT, 18° above the western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. She will then sink towards the horizon, setting 1 hour and 50 minutes after the Sun at 9:07 PM CDT

By the end of the month, she becomes visible at around 7:45 PM CDT, 21° above the western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. She will then sink towards the horizon, setting 2 hours and 10 minutes after the Sun at 9:38 PM CDT.

Earth, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, and her Moon is in the constellation Virgo, The Virgin.

Mars, with his moons Phobos and Deimos, magnitude +1.2, in Piscis, The Fish, is lost in the glow of the Sun.

Dwarf Planet Ceres, magnitude 9.1, is in Piscis, The Fish.

Jupiter, and his 101 moons and (invisible from Earth) ring, magnitude –2.1 is in Gemini, The Twins, dominates the evening night sky.

At the beginning of the month, he will become visible around 7:22 PM CDT, 79° above the southern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will then sink towards the horizon, setting at 2:21 AM CDT.

By midmonth he becomes visible around 7:33 PM CDT, 71° above the south-western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will then sink towards the horizon, setting at 1:30 AM CDT.

By the end of the month, he will become visible around 7:45 PM CDT, 58° above the western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will then sink towards the horizon, setting at 12:38 AM CDT.
Saturn, and his 285 moons and extensive debris ring system, magnitude +0.9, in Cetus, The Sea Monster, is lost in the glow of the Sun.

Uranus, and his 29 moons and ring, magnitude +5.8, in Taurus, The Bull, is an early evening object, receding towards the Sun.
At the beginning of the month, he will become visible around 8:06 PM CDT, 31° above the
western horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will then sink towards the horizon, setting 3 hours and 41 minutes after the Sun at 10:48 PM CDT.

He will become unobservable on April 12, as descends the glow of the Sun.

Neptune, and his 16 moons and ring, magnitude +7.8 in Pisces, The Fish, is hidden in the glow of the Sun.

Pluto, the largest Dwarf Planet, with his five moons shines at a dim 14.6 in Capricornus, The Sea Goat.

Dwarf Planet 136108 Haumea, her ring and moons Hiʻiaka and Namaka, shines at a faint magnitude of 17.2 in Bootes, The Herdsman.

Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake with his moon S/2015 (136472) 1, nicknamed MK1 by the discovery team, shines faintly at magnitude +17.0 in Coma Berenices.

Dwarf Planet 136199 Eris, the second largest Dwarf Planet, and her moon Dysnomia, originally referred to as Xena and Gabrielle, is barely visible in the most powerful telescopes at magnitude +18.6 in Cetus the Sea Monster.
At least seven additional bodies with the preliminary criteria for identifying dwarf planets, and though not “officially” declared as such, are generally called dwarf planets by astronomers as well.

90482 Orcus, and his moon Vanth shines at magnitude 19.1 in Triangulum, the Triangle.

50000 Quaoar, his two rings and his moon Waywot shines at magnitude +18.6 in Gemini, The Twins.

90377 Sedna, the coldest, and at one time, the most distant known place in the Solar System, glows faintly at magnitude +20.8 in Taurus, The Bull.

25088 Gonggong, the third largest Dwarf Planet, originally nicknamed Snow White by the discovery team, and his moon Xiangli glows dimly at +21.5 magnitude in Pegasus, The Winged Horse.

2014 UZ224 nicknamed “DeeDee” for “Distant Dwarf” is 8.5 billion miles from the Sun, at magnitude +23.0 in Eridanus, The River.

120347 Salacia, and her moon Actaea glows at magnitude 20.7 in Crater, The Cup. Salacia is considered a “borderline” Dwarf Planet. Some astronomers saying she “most certainly is a Dwarf Planet”, while others disagreeing based on her size, saying she is too small to have compressed into a fully solid body, to have been resurfaced, or to have collapsed into “hydrostatic equilibrium”, that is to assume spherical shape like a planet.

“Dwarf Planet Candidate” 2017 OF201, magnitude 23.2 is in Triangulum, the Triangle.

Currently the most distant observable known object in the Solar System, an asteroid unofficially called Asteroid 2018 AG37, and nicknamed FarFarOut, glows at a barely detectable +25.5 magnitude in Lynx.
FarFarOut is currently 12,260,535,962 miles or in Light Time, 18 hours, 16 minutes and 57 seconds from Earth.

The most distant man-made object, Voyager 1, still operating after 48 years, 6 month and 15 days is 16,040,599,550 miles, or in Light Time, 23 hours, 55 minutes 09 seconds from Earth as of 2:00 PM CDT, March 20, 2026, sailing 38,027 miles per hour through Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer.

Near Earth Object, asteroid 99942 Apophis, is expected to pass within 19,794 miles of the Earth on Friday, April 13, 2029.

Apophis, magnitude +21.3, in Aries, The Ram, is 139,668,798 miles or 1121 days from the Earth as of 2:06 PM CST, March 20, 2026.

We have been tracking Asteroid 2024 YR4, which will pass though the Earth – Moon system on Wednesday, December 22, 2032. At one time it was believed there was a 3% chance it would strike the Earth and a 4% chance it would strike the Moon. But observations by the Webb Space Telescope have reduced the chances of any impact to 0%.

So, we will let 2024 YR4, currently dimly glowing at magnitude +29.8, in Virgo, The Virgin, fade from our Newsletter.

There are 1,519,232 known asteroids and 4,057 comets as of March 20, 2026 per NASA/JPL Solar Dynamics Website.

6,150 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of March 19, 2026 per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive.

April’s Full Moon will occur on April 1 at 9:13 PM CDT or 02:213 UTC April 2 This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Pink Moon because it marked the appearance of the moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the first spring flowers. This moon has also been known as the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Growing Moon, and the Egg Moon. Many coastal tribes called it the Fish Moon because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn.

This moon has also been known as the Full Crow Moon, the Full Crust Moon, the Full Sap Moon, and the Lenten Moon.

During a Full Moon the Moon’s magnitude is -12.7.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on April 7, when she will be 251,639 miles from Earth.

Last Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Eastern side illuminated, will occur April 9 at 11:55 PM CDT or 04:55 UTC.

During the Quarter Moons the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

New Moon will occur on April 17 at 6:54 PM CDT or 11:54 UTC. The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

The Moon will be at Perigee or her closest approach to Earth on April 19, when she will be 221,707 miles from Earth.

The Lyrid Meteor Shower which, runs annually from April 16 – 25, peaks on the evening of April 22 and morning of April 23. This is a average shower, with only 12 to 24 meteors per hour. These meteors sometimes produce bright dust trails that last for several seconds.

This shower is produced by dust particles left behind by comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, which was discovered in 1861.

The first quarter moon will set shortly after midnight leaving dark skies for what should be a great show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Lyra, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

Fireballs have been in the news recently.

For reasons not known, Spring is fireball season. There seems to be a variation in the meteoroid population along Earth’s orbit, with a roughly February to June peak in large, fireball producing debris.

Per NASA “For reasons we don’t fully understand, the rate of very bright meteors climbs 10% to 30% during weeks around the Vernal Equinox.” Now and then they will fall over populated areas, such as those seen recently in Ohio, Texas, California and Georgia, but most go unnoticed because they occur over oceans or remote regions. The source of this extra debris is unknown. The Ohio and Texas meteorites are geologically different, and are from different orbits.

First Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Western side illuminated, will occur April 23 at 9:33 PM CDT or 02:33 UTC.

During the Quarter Moons the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

April is the best time to view the largest northern constellation, Ursa Major, which contains the asterism “The Big Dipper”, known also as “The Plough” in Britian and Ireland. Ursa Major is a circumpolar constellation for northern observers, meaning that it stays visible throughout the year. For observers living south of latitude 30° such as Argentina, Australia and Southern Africa it is invisible, just as the Southern Cross and the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, are invisible to us, as we are too far north.

The Winter constellations, Taurus the Bull, Orion the Hunter, his faithful hunting dogs Canis Major and Minor and Gemini the Twins are exiting to the West, and the Spring constellations of Leo the Lion and Virgo the Virgin along with fainter constellations are now moving in.

The area of Virgo and Coma Berenices just north of Virgo is a galaxy rich area, as it contains the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. About 2000 galaxies lie in this cluster, which is 53.8 million light years away.

The Virgo Cluster lies at the heart of a larger and more massive structure, the Virgo Supercluster, which contains over 47,000 galaxies, including the Local Group – a cluster of 50 galaxies which includes Andromeda, the Milky Way and the Triangulum Galaxy.

The Virgo Supercluster is one of 10 million superclusters interconnected across the universe by webwork of strands and filaments of galaxies on a scale that pushes the limits of human comprehension.

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Ham News

As mentioned in the March Newsletter, around the time of Vernal Equinox, the Russell-McPherron Effect, which is where the interplanetary magnetic field or IMF links up with Earth’s magnetic field, can pry open cracks allowing the solar wind to pour in causing auroras even without a geomagnetic storm. The last few weeks we also have had an increase in solar activity triggering geomagnetic storms. The combination of these two factors has caused dismal HF band conditions, with the Maximum Usable Frequency plummeting and the solar noise level soaring.
I am hoping for conditions to improve as Spring continues, as they did last year. Meanwhile, remember that just because a band seems “dead” doesn’t mean it’s really dead or dead in every direction.

Sometimes operators assume the bands are dead because they are hearing no one, and let a contest arrive and suddenly the “dead” bands suddenly erupts in activity. The bands were open all along, just no one was transmitting. Also, a dead band can develop a “hot spot” and there will be one signal or region coming through when no others are heard. For example, earlier this week I worked the only station I heard on 10 Meters, a Spanish station that was 20 dB over S9. A couple of days later I snagged the only signal on 15 Meters, the Austral Islands, French Polynesia. Which is not bad for a “dead band”.

The moral to the story is “you never know till you try”. So, try and keep on trying. Don’t just call CQ twice and give up. Make yourself annoyingly obvious. Give folk using waterfall displays time to track you down or old fossils like me to stumble upon you as we twist VFO knobs listening for signals. (Signals often missed by waterfall displays, by the way.)

Major upcoming ham radio contests and state QSO parties for April 2026 are:

April 4 Louisiana QSO Party
SP DX (Poland) – CW & SSB
April 11 Georgia QSO Party
New Mexico QSO Party
Missouri QSO Party
North Dakota QSO Party
JIDX Contest (Japan) – CW
April 18 POTA Support Your Parks
Worked All Provinces of China DX Contest – SSB
Michigan QSO Party
Ontario QSO Party
Worldwide Holyland Contest (Israel) – CW & SSB
April 19 Quebec QSO Party
ARRL Rookie Roundup – SSB
April 25 Florida OSO Party
Nebraska QSO Party
Helvetia Contest (Switzerland) CW / SSB
UK/EI DX Contest (UK & Ireland) – CW

These are great chances to work DX galore and find those elusive stations you may need for working all states and provinces.

For more details go to WA7BNM Contest Calendar: Home

Not all contest DX stations will “confirm” a contact, but I find that more DX stations than not eventually will, on either the ARRL’s LOTW or Logbook Of The World, QRZ, Club Log or all of them. But sometimes the confirmation may be delayed due to the sheer number of stations they have worked, or real life intervening and other priorities taking precedence. So, though we live in an “instant society”, don’t get too discouraged if you don’t see a confirmation right away. I’ve had some confirm right away and some come two years after the contact. And, I once received a QSL card for a contact I had made 10 years earlier.

A dilemma that I and others run into is that while there are various groups and methods of confirming contacts, none of these various groups recognize QSOs confirmed by the other groups, organizations, sites or methods. For example, QRZ will let you send your log from their site into LOTW but they don’t recognize LOTW confirmations and LOTW doesn’t recognize QRZ confirmations. Also, many DX stations use neither, preferring Club Log and OQRS – Online QSL Requests (with payment) instead. Also paper QSL cards are still being sent via snail mail or through the ARRL QSL bureau. ARRL 4th Call Area QSL Card Bureau

I have Alaska confirmed many times on LOTW, but never on QRZ, and I have South Africa confirmed on QRZ, but not LOTW. Then there are many confirmations on Club Log never to be seen on LOTW or QRZ, or they may post on Club Log first and then to LOTW six months later, as the DXexpedition to the British Virgin Islands did.

Also, I have paper cards from Israel and Sao Tome & Principe Island that aren’t confirmed anywhere else. The ARRL will accept paper cards if verified by a “card checker”, but to my knowledge they still won’t be listed on LOTW, because I don’t think there is a way to manually enter the cards information and the program recognize them as “confirmed”, since the other station didn’t upload their log to LOTW

Then there is eQSL, where you basically trade pictures of QSLs, which is the only way I have the Falkland Islands confirmed. Some love them, some hate them and no one accepts them, but I find them fun to receive anyway.

If I was chasing “operating awards” I would be pulling my hair out. But though they are nice to have or qualify for, and I do qualify for “some”, I’m too cheap to pay for them, and since they would just end up in the basement anyway, it’s not a major deal with me. I just keep a list of what countries I have worked and how they we’re confirmed, if indeed, they are. Some contacts have never been confirmed, but I know I worked them, so that’s good enough for me, as my logbook never lies.

I have no idea how many stations I have worked during my “ham career” which stretches from 1977 to 2026. Several logbooks are missing and I didn’t log repeater or net related contacts, such as check-ins with me serving as the Net Control Station, which were in the hundreds, at least and maybe a thousand or so, at the most. I log only direct station to station QSOs. And, my ham activity has mirrored my life. Sometimes “real life” meant little or no radio for Mark. So, I’m limiting this to the current century.

As for confirmation of 21st Century QSOs, since 2005 to 3/27/2026, I have:

1662 direct QSOs which received:

853 LOTW Confirmations
540 QRZ Confirmations
394 Club Log Confirmations
238 eQSL Confirmations

Confirmations are nice, so, keep those cards, letters and keyboard clicks coming in!

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This month’s ALERT meeting will be online at 7 PM, March 14.

Watch for the meeting notification email from Russell KV4S, which will include the link for the meeting.

Mark Wells
ALERT Newsletter