Hurricane Isaias is coming ashore tonight. The storm that formed in the Gulf of Mexico on October 7 strengthened into a hurricane within 20 hours, becoming the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season, and is expected to make landfall late tonight or early Saturday along the northern Gulf Coast, likely as a Category 1 or 2. Hurricane warnings stretch from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay/Gulf County line in Florida. NHC Director Mike Brennan calls storm surge the deadliest threat: five to seven feet from Ocean Springs to Indian Pass and in Mobile Bay, arriving after dark. The Hurricane Watch Net has been monitoring Isaias and will activate if warranted, so amateurs in the path should have emergency power and go-kits ready.
The Sun is putting on its own show. NOAA's G2 (Moderate) geomagnetic storm watch for today holds: a full-halo CME left Active Region 4549 on October 6 after an M1.4 flare, with the cloud expected this morning and Kp possibly reaching 6. Then AR4549 fired again. The Space Weather Prediction Center's forecast discussion issued this morning reports an M6.7 flare on October 8 with Type II and IV radio emissions, and M-class flares are likely at 55 percent through October 11. Peak 3-hour Kp is forecast at 5.67, and the greater than 2 MeV electron flux peaked at 11,336 pfu yesterday. Expect HF fade at higher latitudes and aurora possibly as far south as New York, Wisconsin, and Washington. Check real-time Kp before chasing the bands.
The 44th AMSAT Space Symposium and Annual General Meeting is underway at the Wyndham Jacksonville in Florida through Sunday. Technical presentations begin today at 1:00 PM Eastern, streaming live on the AMSAT YouTube channel and archived afterward. Sessions cover the GOLF satellite program, CubeSatSim, and ARISS updates, leading into the Annual General Meeting at 3:00 PM Saturday, an evening banquet with door prizes, and a ham radio auction. Sunday offers optional tours of the USS Orleck and the Jacksonville Zoo.
Big weekend on the bands and in the convention halls. Contesters can pick from the Oceania DX Contest (CW), Scandinavian Activity Contest (SSB), Makrothen RTTY, the QRP ARCI Fall QSO Party, the 10-10 Day Sprint, the SKCC Weekend Sprintathon, the Great Pumpkin Sprint, and the Pennsylvania, Arizona, and South Dakota QSO Parties, with the UBA ON Contest (CW) on Sunday. On the convention circuit, SPARK-CON 2026 hosts the ARRL Midwest Division Convention today and tomorrow in Sedalia, Missouri; the North Star Radio Convention hosts the ARRL Dakota Division Convention Saturday in Minnesota; and Sunday brings the Nutmeg Hamfest hosting the ARRL Connecticut State Convention plus the ARRL Southern New Jersey Section Convention.
Last call for one of the year's biggest DX stories: the 9T0MD DXpedition from the Democratic Republic of Congo goes QRT Sunday. The Mediterranean DX Club's operation marks the first-ever use of the 9T prefix, on 160 through 6 meters plus QO-100 satellite and EME. Also winding down: V51WH in Namibia and 8Q7JH in the Maldives through tomorrow, and 5W0AF in Samoa through Monday. Looking ahead, World DXpeditions has announced an Andaman Islands operation October 19 through November 2: fourteen operators on five stations, aiming at the CQ World Wide SSB Contest. Finally, comments on the FCC and HHS radio-frequency exposure inquiries close October 22 and October 21, and the ARRL urges technically grounded filings. And this week's Amateur Radio Newsline notes the passing of a Chicago attorney remembered as an early proponent of GMRS, a quiet pioneer of the service so many of us use every day.