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By: Rich Moseson, W2VU<\/em><\/p>\n Closing day at 2025 Dayton Hamvention\u00ae is a half-day on the clock, but for the<\/span>\u00a0team from ARRL<\/span>\u00a0The National Association for Amateur Radio\u00ae, it was a full day of activities packed into a shorter period of time. There were four forums to lead \u2014 the \u201cARRL FCC Update\u201d with Monitoring Program Director and former FCC Special Counsel Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH; \u201cARRL Youth Outreach Through STEM,\u201d anchored by Education and Learning Manager Steve Goodgame, K5ATA; the \u201cARRL Radiosport Forum \u2014 Level Up!\u201d, led by Radiosport and Field Services Manager Bart Jahnke, W9JJ; and Director of Emergency Management Josh Johnston, KF5MHV, moderated \u201cARES \u2013 Building Relationships in Public Service.”<\/span><\/p>\n Johnston noted as examples of these relationships the fact that the heads of both Army and Air Force MARS were in the audience, while Hollingsworth urged amateurs to operate with courtesy and respect, and to \u201cstay off the radar screen\u201d of those who don\u2019t understand amateur radio but may have influence over frequency allocations. He also reminded his audience that \u201cthere is no one representing amateur radio before the FCC except ARRL.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Outside the forum rooms, about half of the two dozen young hams who had participated in Saturday\u2019s Youth Rally returned to make brief 2-meter contacts with skydiver Carlos Ortiz, K9OL, as he parachuted to the ground from an altitude of 14,000 feet; and then to launch an APRS-equipped micro-balloon \u2014 transmitting as W1AW-11 \u2014 on a hopefully long-distance flight. (At the time of this writing on Sunday afternoon, it was making its way eastward across Virginia.)<\/p>\n Finally, when all the forums, jumps, and launches were over, it was time for the entire ARRL team to pack up the dozen or so booths in the ARRL Expo and say goodbye to Hamvention until next year.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n