Digital Operations

Experimentation

W4FSV

Breadboard Radio – Ham Radio Kits that are easy to build and fun to use!

KM4ACK

Build-a-Pi will allow you to get up and running fast with a Raspberry Pi for ham radio.

Emergency Communications

Voice Operations

Education

Winlink for Emergency Communications: Beginners Workshop

https://winlink.org/

Wait what? Last month’s Ham and Eggs attendees received a USB key packed with tools and software for Winlink, JS8Call, and VARAChat. Perfect timing, there is training posted at ARES-SC.org that will take you through Winlink A-Z. More details are below: 

NOTE: This is will a late evening event, it is posted to be a 7 pm PST time, making it 10 pm for the east coast.

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COLUMBIA SKYWARN STORM SPOTTERS TEAM

Midlands Skywarn Newsletter Sign-up

The Columbia SKYWARN Team assists the Columbia National Weather Service with Ground-Truth weather observations during severe or dangerous weather. The Columbia NWS forecast area covers much of South Carolina and is divided into August/CSRA, Midlands, and Eastern Midlands.

The Columbia SKYWARM Team holds NETS and Virtual Training/Meetings weekly and monthly. More Information can be found at the Columbia Amateur Radio Club Calendar

Important Links:

Founded in the 1970s, the information provided by SKYWARN Spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite, and other data, has enabled the NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, and flash floods.  SKYWARN Storm Spotters form the nation’s first line of defense against severe weather minutes that can help save lives.

In most years, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and lightning cause hundreds of injuries and deaths and billions in property and crop damage.  The National Weather Service (NWS) established SKYWARN with partner organizations to obtain critical weather information.  SKYWARN is a volunteer program with 350,000 and 400,000 trained severe weather Spotters.  These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service.  Although SKYWARN Spotters provide essential information for all weather hazards, the focus is reporting on severe local thunderstorms.  In an average year, the United States experiences more than 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, and more than 1,000 tornadoes.  (Information courtesy of the Columbia NWS)

Interested in learning more, have questions, or want to sign up for training-Newsletter-meetings?

Use the orange form at the bottom of the page to contact us, or visit the Columbia NWS at https://www.weather.gov/cae/skywarn.html

Community Emergency Response Team Training

Community Emergency Response Team – CERT Training – STARTING Tuesday, October 10 at 6 PM at the Richland County EOC.

This is the 20-hour Community Emergency Response Team Class. This training is scheduled for three consecutive Tuesdays & Thursdays in October. We have openings and need additional participants to register with Sharon Long by the close of business on Wednesday, October 4, to avoid canceling this training.

Link for the schedule: CERT October 2023  Link for the application: COMMUNICATIONS EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM APPLICATION FORM

For more information, Contact Mark Goddard @ [email protected]

ARRL Special Service Club Award

Congratulations! The SSC status has been approved for the Columbia Amateur Radio Club, W4CAE.

Thank you for being so supportive of amateur radio.

Sincerely,
Mike Walters, W8ZY
Field Services Manager
ARRL The National Association for Amateur Radio®

2024 ARRL Field Day is June 22-23

ARRL Field Day is the most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. On the fourth weekend of June, more than 35,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups, or simply with friends to operate from remote locations.

Columbia Amateur Radio Club is now a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador!

The Columbia Amateur Radio Club is now a Weather-Ready Nation (WRN) Ambassador.

The Columbia Amateur Radio Club is excited to collaborate with NOAA/NWS to help strengthen our nation’s readiness against extreme weather, water, and climate events. If you would like more information, please visit the Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador Frequently Asked Questions. And if you need any additional information, email WRN anytime at [email protected]. You can also find WRN on X (previously Twitter) @WRNAmbassadors.

April 2024 Hams and Eggs: Discovering Winlink

Ham and Eggs – Breakfast @ Lizards Thicket NE

Saturday, April 20 9:00 – 11:00 am

Monthly on the third Saturday

Location:

Lizard’s Thicket Restaurant, 10170 Two Notch Rd, Columbia, SC 29229, USA

Join us for breakfast! Every 3rd Saturday of the month, local friends and HAMS will meet for breakfast and fellowship. Meet with Friends, find an Elmer, ask questions, share your experiences, or discuss your next outing over breakfast.

TIME: 9:00 am 

Where: Lizard’s Thicket Restaurant, 10170 Two Notch Rd, Columbia, SC 29229, USA

This month’s breakfast will feature “Getting Started with WinLink”. This will be a hands-on experience where you will learn how to install, configure Winlink, and register to get your very own Winlink Email Address.

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COLUMBIA SKYWARN STORM SPOTTERS TEAM

Midlands Skywarn Newsletter Sign-up

The Columbia SKYWARN Team assists the Columbia National Weather Service with Ground-Truth weather observations during severe or dangerous weather. The Columbia NWS forecast area covers much of South Carolina and is divided into August/CSRA, Midlands, and Eastern Midlands.

The Columbia SKYWARM Team holds NETS and Virtual Training/Meetings weekly and monthly. More Information can be found at the Columbia Amateur Radio Club Calendar

Important Links:

Founded in the 1970s, the information provided by SKYWARN Spotters, coupled with Doppler radar technology, improved satellite, and other data, has enabled the NWS to issue more timely and accurate warnings for tornadoes, severe thunderstorms, and flash floods.  SKYWARN Storm Spotters form the nation’s first line of defense against severe weather minutes that can help save lives.

In most years, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and lightning cause hundreds of injuries and deaths and billions in property and crop damage.  The National Weather Service (NWS) established SKYWARN with partner organizations to obtain critical weather information.  SKYWARN is a volunteer program with 350,000 and 400,000 trained severe weather Spotters.  These volunteers help keep their local communities safe by providing timely and accurate reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service.  Although SKYWARN Spotters provide essential information for all weather hazards, the focus is reporting on severe local thunderstorms.  In an average year, the United States experiences more than 10,000 severe thunderstorms, 5,000 floods, and more than 1,000 tornadoes.  (Information courtesy of the Columbia NWS)

Interested in learning more, have questions, or want to sign up for training-Newsletter-meetings?

Use the orange form at the bottom of the page to contact us, or visit the Columbia NWS at https://www.weather.gov/cae/skywarn.html

Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/columbia-skywarn-storm-spotters-team/

Midlands SKYWARN Monthly virtual meeting

Severe weather season is here.  Are you ready?  Join us at 8 pm tomorrow for the Midlands SKYWARN Monthly virtual meeting, and let’s review. There will be a number of announcements for everyone, and hope you are able to join us at 8 pm.

Until tomorrow, best wishes for a great week!

————————————————————————————————————————

You are invited to a Virtual SKYWARN Meeting.

Midlands SKYWARN Meeting via Google Meet.

March 28, 2023, @ 8 pm.

Meeting link:  https://meet.google.com/nzt-dnpz-iok

Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/midlands-skywarn-monthly-virtual-meeting/

Walk MS: Columbia, SC April 22, 2023

Greetings all! Gary K4HGA and Mark KN4KRZ are looking for volunteers to assist with Walk MS course monitoring Saturday, April 22, 2023. Walk MS event is an easy short outing, making it a great way to enjoy the spring weather and test your HTs and portable VHF/UHF radios. Event details are below, again to join us please email Gary or Mark and let them know you are going to attend. Also, if you are planning to attend, make sure to join event calls scheduled in the club calendar.

Gary K4HGA – [email protected]

Mark KN4KRZ – [email protected]

Walk Details: https://mssociety.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=cms.page&id=5372&eventID=1436

Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/walk-ms-columbia-sc-april-22-2023/

March VE Session: Fantastic Turnout and Support

This Saturday, March 25th, we had a fantastic session, we had about 12 testing and just as many grading. I want to thank all of the supporting HAMS from all over, your support makes our VE sessions a tremendous success. Yes, looks like too many VEs, we actually had several first-time VEs and those who wanted to see what VE is about. For all of those who took a test, we all hope to hear you on the air soon. Congratulations to you all, job well done. As a reminder CARC will be hosting our Get Radio Active Class on April 15, 10 am – 1 pm, any and all HAMS are welcome to join. More information can be found in the Club Calendar. Get Radio Active Contact: Gary K4HGA at [email protected]

Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/march-ve-session-fantastic-turnout-and-support/

April CARC Meeting

ARE YOU READY FOR AN EMERGENCY?

Greetings all! April meeting will feature Richard KQ4AMK presenting alternative power solutions highlighting Off-Grid Power and Communications for hams, this should be a very informative presentation. Do you have something you like to share/demonstrate, bring it! Let’s see what you are working on.

Topics are but are not limited to:

  • Types of emergencies.- Examples 
  • Preparedness – List to pass out.  ON-GRID / OFF-GRID 
  • Food, water, power, meds, heat, communications, cooking, first aid …etc. 
  • Emergency Solar Generators 
  • Water Purification
  • Emergency Radio- Weather / News
  • Security 
  • Emergency Communications: The Internet is out and cell phones do not work.  THEN WHAT?
  • HF/ VHF/UHF
  • Winlink 
  • Go- PACK 
  • ARES …others.

…etc. 

Zoom detail:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82721543512?pwd=THdXS0tBM0MyQzM0MlNmcnNaOGZHZz09

Meeting ID: 827 2154 3512
Passcode: 326310
One tap mobile
+13092053325,,82721543512#,,,,*326310# US
+13126266799,,82721543512#,,,,*326310# US (Chicago)

Dial by your location
+1 309 205 3325 US
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 931 3860 US
+1 929 436 2866 US (New York)

73

Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/april-carc-meeting/

Wait a hamming minute: HamClock and Windows?

Windows 10/11, WSL 2.0, Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS

Want a program to display tons of Amateur Radio-related information? Many believe the only way to have a Geochron-like display is to install Linux on a dedicated system such as a Raspberry PI or a compatible PC or Laptop. Well, you can do that and have a reliable system displaying this beautiful screen on a large TV monitor. But, what if you don’t have a Raspberry Pi or spare PC? You can run the application in a little-known Linux sub-system environment in Windows.

Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/wait-a-hamming-minute-hamclock-and-windows/

March Ham and Eggs – Parks on the Air

March Ham and Eggs will feature Parks on the Air (POTA). So, what is POTA? POTA (Parks on The Air) is a part of Ham Radio that is growing in popularity. It starts when a Ham Radio operator travels to a National, State, or County Park listed on the POTA website. The Ham Radio Operator sets up their equipment and tries to make radio contact with other Ham Radio operators. There are many ways to communicate but the most common modes are SSB (talking on the radio), digital modes, i.e. FT8, and CW (like morse code). During this presentation we will cover:

  • Getting Started with POTA
  • Getting Started for Hunters
  • Getting Started for Activators
  • and Awards

At the conclusion of Ham and Eggs join Micheal KF4W, Tedd K4TLC, and Jim W4JLP at Sesquicentennial State Park for a demonstration of POTA activation using SSB and Digital modes. Did I mention, lunch? We will be grilling hamburgers with baked beans and mac ‘n cheese.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When you arrive at the gate, inform the gate personnel you are visiting the POTA event. Please make sure you give them your name and call sign if you have one. The POTA event is at Picnic table 3 which is near the boat house.

Open picnic table 3 with plenty of parking for those who want to set up their go-box/mobile for POTA.

Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/march-ham-and-eggs-parks-on-the-air/