“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…
Here is a list of our upcoming events email with expanded details.
Saturday, September 26th – Lunch & Learn: We’re hosting a hands-on technical workshop featuring the new ARRL VE Testing Tablet system, demonstrations of the NanoVNA and TinySA for antenna and radio testing, and radio programming assistance. Multiple stations will be set up so members can rotate through and learn at their own pace. Mentors are encouraged to join us in guiding newer hams and those seeking to expand their technical skills. Lunch will be provided, and the day will be filled with learning, eating, and fellowship.
October 5th – Columbia Amateur Radio Club Meeting: This meeting will focus on planning for our upcoming November Club Elections, Christmas Party, Winter Field Day, and other seasonal activities. We’ll also share updates on club projects, volunteer opportunities, and upcoming training sessions. Members are encouraged to attend to stay informed and help shape the direction of our events.
October 24th – Fall Swap Fest, Held at Potter Community Park in Elgin, SC, is perfect for buying, selling, and trading amateur radio gear. Whether you’re looking for radios, antennas, test equipment, accessories, or unique finds, the Swap Fest is a great opportunity to connect with fellow hams and discover new equipment. Bring your own items to sell or simply come browse and enjoy the day.
December 7th – Columbia Amateur Radio Club Christmas Gathering: We’ll be celebrating the holiday season at Little Pigs BBQ on Alpine Road in Columbia, SC. This annual gathering is a chance to enjoy great food, fellowship, and fun with club members and families. More details on menu options, activities, and gift exchanges will be shared as we get closer.
January 16th, 2027 – Harbison 50K: The club will once again support this major trail running event. Volunteer roles may include radio communications, checkpoint support, and safety monitoring. More details will be shared soon, and we encourage members to participate in this important community service opportunity.
January 23rd, 2027 – Winter Field Day: Plans are well underway for the 2027 event. This year’s event will include expanded operating positions, improved shelter setups, and additional training opportunities. Members who wish to camp with us should make their reservations now, as spots fill quickly. This is one of our most enjoyable operating events of the year, combining radio, camping, and camaraderie.
More details for all events will be posted at w4cae.com, Facebook, Club Calendar and discussed at club meetings and gatherings. Planning meetings will also be added to the club calendar. We encourage all members to join in, stay informed, and get their questions answered.
Kevan attended the clubs August 2020 meeting and his presentation was very very interesting. Not at such a high level like some presentations but at a level we could implement his suggestions and understand why.
Note: all of the club business, opining and show and tell has been edited out by K4LLE. Which means this is a heavily edited video because the August club meeting was also a business meeting. For club business I direct you to the meeting minutes which will be posted under the tab MINUTES. This video is Kevan’s presentation and the Q&A session he ran afterwards. Also, because this MP4 is so big it could not be uploaded to this website. As such it was placed on a google drive with a sharable link. Click on this link and you will go to the google drive where you can download or view the full presentation.
This video is a ZOOM recording of the Columbia Amateur Radio Clubs (CARC) August 3 2020 business meeting. The CARC is not responsible for anything you see or hear in this video. This video is rated G for all audiences.
Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/station-grounding-bonding/
There is an LF beacon
operating in the Columbia area. It can be received out to about 200 miles via
groundwave – much further with skywave. This station is operating as
a proof of concept Low Frequency alerting station, as part of a DHS SHARES trial
program. Our Amateur HF community knows that long-range emergency
communications can become unusable when HF skywave propagation is
disrupted by a disturbed ionosphere. But groundwave communications
independent of the ionosphere remain available. Such LF stations can
provide essentially omni-directional blanket Alerting and low-bit-rate
information coverage, nearly independent of mountains or foliage, etc.
The local station
is transmitting on a center frequency of 194 khz. The best way to receive it is
to tune your receiver’s USB Mode to 192.500 kHz, and use FLDIG or an
equivalent program set at ‘1500 Hz CENTER,’ with a very narrow
filter – the signal is only 36 Hz wide, so I use a 50 Hz filter for
best reception.
The signal presently
being transmitted is THOR-Micro, available free from fldigi. The
signal is sent with a 50 second on, 60 second off duty cycle and runs 24/7.
We are very interested in
getting signal reports, and prefer to get them taken near noon, when any
skywave component is minimized. Reports of just the observance of
the signal in a waterfall display, even of just an audable signal strong enough
for CW (here: on/off as above), or of course, copy of the brief Alert text in
the message window of THOR-Micro.
We all know on April 15 1912 in the early morning hours the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank. This is a picture of the Titanic radio room, it has been colorized but other then that it is a real picture.
Can you identify ANY of the radio equipment ?, not looking for brand names but what its function was would be interesting I think.
If you have some ideas just click on the contact button up top and I will share your ideas here as they come in.
8/18/2019 K4CAE, David points us to a very interesting article written by Rhonda Berenson. What we are looking at in this picture is the “Marconi Room” very interesting reading indeed. Click HERE for the article.
Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/rms-titanic-radio-room/
FT4 is an experimental digital mode designed specifically for radio contesting. Like FT8, it uses fixed-length transmissions, structured messages with formats optimized for minimal QSOs, and strong forward error correction. T/R sequences are 6 seconds long, so FT4 is 2.5 × faster than FT8 and about the same speed as RTTY for radio contesting.
South Carolina Amateur Radio Volunteers Assist with Emergency Communication
09/16/2018
Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) volunteers from several South Carolina counties are pitching in to help support emergency communication, as the state deals with the aftereffects of Hurricane Florence. The storm, now a tropical depression, continues to generate heavy rainfall in the Carolinas.
“Amateur Radio operators are far from ‘amateurs’ when it comes to providing communication in an emergency,” ARES Richland County Emergency Coordinator Ronnie Livingston, W4RWL, said. “Our volunteers here in Richland County have been staffing stations at the Richland County Emergency Operations Center (EOC), as well as at the Red Cross, since the requests were first received.”
ARES District Emergency Coordinator EMEA Area 3 Earl Dean, W4ESD, said operators at the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC) have been keeping in contact with field volunteers in Marion and Dillon counties, after conventional telecommunications failed there. “We were able to deploy assets and personnel, thanks to our volunteers who managed communications between these areas and coordinated with the appropriate agencies,” Dean said.
“South Carolina ARES is fully activated,” ARRL South Carolina Section Emergency Coordinator Billy Irwin, K9OH, told ARRL in advance of the storm, adding that he’s been coordinating regularly with the SC Emergency Management Division.”
ARRL South Carolina ARES needs additional Amateur Radio volunteers to assist with the response effort and is in discussion with the ARRL Alabama Section to fulfill this need through a mutual aid agreement.
Gordon Mooneyhan, W4EGM, Public Information Officer (PIO) for the Grand Strand Amateur Radio Club (GSARC), said radio amateurs set up and managed organized communication networks to assist local government and emergency agencies, as well as non-commercial health-and-welfare messaging for residents affected by the disaster, to let family members outside the affected area know they are okay.
On-air operations for National Hurricane Center station WX4NHC, the Hurricane Watch Net, the VoIP Hurricane Net, and SATERN have concluded. — Thanks to ARRL South Carolina Section PIC Tammy A. Livingston, N4TAL
