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.
Calling all Hams, Preppers, Techies, and Radio-Curious!
The Columbia Amateur Radio Club is heading to the pines for a Ham Hangout at beautiful Sesquicentennial State Park! Whether you’ve been licensed for 40 years or have never even touched a radio, this event is for YOU.
What’s the vibe?
Think “Science Lab meets Backyard BBQ.” We’re setting up portable stations, firing up the grill, and showing off what modern radio can really do.
What to expect:
GOTA Station (Get On The Air): Want to try making a contact? Our mentors will walk you through it—no license required to try it out!
Off-Grid Messaging: See Meshtastic (mesh texting), Winlink (email over radio), and FT8 in action.
Emergency Power: Check out solar panels, LiFePO4 battery setups, and field-ready gear.
Family Comms: Demos of GMRS, FRS, and Zello for staying connected when cell towers fail.
Food & Fellowship
We’ll have the grill hot and the antennas high. Bring a lawn chair, your family, and all your “how does that work?” questions.
When: March 21, 2026, 10:30 am to 8 PM Where: Sesquicentennial State Park Who: Licensed Hams, FRS/GMRS/MURS users, makers and tech enthusiasts, families, and friends!
Let’s build community, share some “Elmering” (mentoring), and enjoy the great outdoors together.
“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…
Looking to kick off your weekend with some great conversation? The Friday Night TGIF Net is happening tomorrow, April 3rd, 2026, at 8:30 PM, and we’re making it easier than ever to join the fun!
🌍 How to Connect
Whether you’re a DMR pro or strictly an analog operator, we’ve got you covered:
DMR Users: Tune in to the TGIF Network on Talk Group 31665.
Analog/2M Users: For this week only, the Columbia Amateur Radio Club is linking the 147.330 repeater directly to the net via Allstar!
🚀 No DMR? No Problem!
Thanks to the Allstar link, you can participate in the TGIF Net using your standard 2M radio. You get the reach of digital with the simplicity of analog—no codeplugs or hotspots required. Just tune your radio to 147.330 and join the conversation.
Net Start: Friday, April 3rd @ 8:30 PM Analog Access: 147.330 Repeater Digital Access: TGIF Talk Group 31665
Dust off the mic, grab a cold drink, and help us make some noise on the airwaves! 📻✨
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.
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/
