Mark your calendars! The most anticipated event in amateur radio is just around the corner. ARRL Field Day 2026 is officially set for the fourth full weekend in June: June 27–28, 2026.
Whether you are a seasoned contester, a digital mode enthusiast, or a brand-new ham looking to make your first contact, Field Day is the ultimate “open house” for our hobby. It’s part emergency exercise, part contest, and 100% community.
The 2026 Message: “Resilience Through Connection”
Every year, Field Day reminds us why we do what we do. In an era where communication is often taken for granted, the 2026 focus remains clear: Science, Skill, and Service.
The goal isn’t just to rack up points; it’s to prove that when the grid goes down, and the “normal” world goes quiet, amateur radio operators are ready. This year, we are placing a special emphasis on:
Emergency Preparedness: Testing our gear in “less-than-optimal” conditions.
Technical Growth: Experimenting with new antennas, solar power, and portable deployments.
Public Outreach: Showing our neighbors that ham radio is a modern, vital resource for the community.
Call to Action: Start Planning NOW!
A successful Field Day doesn’t happen by accident—it’s the result of teamwork and early preparation. We are calling on all club members to step up and help make 2026 our best year yet.
Here is how you can jump in right now:
Join a Committee: We need leads for Site Selection, Antenna Safety, Food/Logistics, and Public Relations.
Inventory Your Gear: Dust off those portable rigs, check your battery health, and inspect your coax. Don’t wait until June 26th to find a blown fuse!
The GOTA Station: We need “coaches” for our Get On The Air station. If you enjoy mentoring new hams or curious visitors, this is your time to shine.
Bonus Point Hunting: From satellite contacts to copying the W1AW bulletin, there are dozens of ways to boost our club score. Who wants to take the lead on the Section Manager message this year?
Event Details at a Glance:
When: June 27 (1800 UTC) to June 28 (2059 UTC)
Where: TBD – will update as soon as possible
Objective: To contact as many stations as possible and learn to operate in abnormal situations.
Let’s show the world what we can do! Check your email for the next planning meeting date, or reach out to the Club President to volunteer for a specific role.
“Did you know your smartphone can double as a powerful handheld transceiver? Whether you’re away from your shack or out of range of a local repeater, the AllStar Link network keeps you connected. This guide walks you through the essential steps to get your mobile device configured for AllStar—from obtaining your mandatory FCC documentation to…
Join W4CAE for Field Day 2026: The Year of the Club!
The Columbia Amateur Radio Club (W4CAE) invites all hams and enthusiasts to join us for ARRL Field Day 2026 at Sesquicentennial State Park! Starting June 27th at 8:00 AM, we’ll be operating through the night until noon on Sunday.
As part of the ARRL Year of the Club, we are celebrating the local groups that serve as the backbone of our hobby. Come out to the primitive camping area for portable stations, person-to-person QSOs, and on-site VE Testing.
Dinner is on us! We’ll be serving up a catered BBQ spread on Saturday evening—because great radio work deserves great food.
Stay Informed: It is crucial to join all planning calls, attend our May and June Club meetings, and join the Hams and Eggs Breakfasts. For the latest updates, keep a close watch on https://www.W4CAE.com and our Facebook page.
We have plenty of room for visiting groups and individual operators. See you there!
If you are interested in WWII and South Carolina history you will probably enjoy this Sunday afternoon April 23, from 1 – 5 PM. Join us for a day of Radio to commemorate The Doolittle Raiders. The Columbia Big Band will be playing the music of the 40s. Lots of displays, even a HAM Radio operator passing messages to civilians around the country and the world, just like in 1942. At 4:00 PM, a special presentation on how South Carolina’s own helped the Raiders succeed, and later find the B-25 in Lake Murray. Admission is FREE.
Columbia Amateur Radio Club with be operating at the 81st Commemoration of The Doolittle Raid Sunday, April 23, 2023. We are looking for volunteers to help with setup, talking with visitors, handling QSOs, (Man the Radio), and logging. We will be arriving at 11:30 with plans to be on the air before 1:00 pm. All are welcome to stop by, we could use your help!
Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/81st-commemoration-of-the-doolittle-raid/
Greetings all! Today we finally got outside after all of the rains cleared. Tedd K4TLC and I decided to set up his Icom 705 and do a little testing with some new antennas; we tested the Buddipole (dipole) and a Wolfe River Coil. The band conditions were amazing. Using just 10 watts of power on 20 meters we made phone contact with Viense Italy and got a pretty good signal report of 5,5, not bad for the gear tested. Next, we added a Xiegu XPA125 100-watt amp to the mix, this little amp is truly amazing, it’s an amp and antenna tuner in one. Well, adjusting the 705 power so as not to overload the amp, we settled on about 50 watts of output power and tried our luck on 20 meters.
After a few minutes of searching the band, we heard a QSO between NY and Australia. We parked there listening to their rag chew about propagation. The Australian station was describing his setup and the direction of his antenna, his antenna was facing the long path to our area. The two continued to talk and were wondering about others who could hear them, so we gave it a try. We called out W4JLP, and wahla! The Australian station heard us, at first, we were weak but called out again to reaffirm the call sign, and like magic, the band opened up and we had a great QSO with VK3CWB and NE2O.
Truly a great time, we will be testing more gear and chasing POTA the rest of the week. Oh, I also did a little CW with the PrepComm MMX Tri-Band CW Transceiver/Decoder. Made several POTA contacts on 20 and 40 Meters using the Wolfe River Coil antenna.
Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/when-the-bands-conditions-are-right-wow/
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.
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.
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 k4hgaradio@gmail.com
Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/march-ve-session-fantastic-turnout-and-support/
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?
Meeting ID: 827 2154 3512 Passcode: 326310 One tap mobile +13092053325,,82721543512#,,,,*326310# US +13126266799,,82721543512#,,,,*326310# US (Chicago)
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.
