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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June 17th Hams and Egg!

Reminder! Tonight is the CARC Events planning call, if you are planning to attend CARC’s ARRL Field Day event please join so you will be in the know! Also, a reminder that Hams and Eggs is this Saturday, see calendar for details. We will be going to Sesquicentennial State Park right after Hams and Eggs for a POTA Experience and to test AREDN Mesh Networking! This is a great time to ask questions and learn more about POTA and AREDN Mesh Networking.

Safety and Antenna Placement – Gary Hester, W4GWH
I will be at Sesquicentennial State Park’s primitive area Saturday morning and can assist with your antenna placement and installation if needed. Since RF Exposure calculations have been required since early May, I would ask that you bring a copy either paper or digital. I will have flags and caution tape to mark off any restricted areas. Also, please be aware that there is a power line running across Site 4 to Site 1. There are a few dead or dying trees that I will have marked so watch out for falling branches when placing your antenna and/or tent if camping overnight. I will be available on the Club’s simplex frequency of 146.400 if you need to reach me.

Meal Planning and Preparations – Jean Covey and Charles McKinnis
At 6:00 PM on Saturday, June 24th, we will take a little break from Field Day Activities for dinner.  Charles McKinnis has graciously offered to grill our main course, grilled chicken.  We are asking those who attend to bring a side dish or dessert to share.  We will have limited ability to heat cold dishes, but, for those coming after 5 PM, we will be able to keep hot dishes warm until dinner.  We want to make a list of foods being brought, so if you would please email Jean Covey at [email protected] with what you will be bringing it would be very helpful.
Thank you.

GOTA – Get on the Air
We will have a GOTA station setup and need to have a few volunteers operate the station during the day. The GOTA station will be active starting at 2:00 pm until late evening. Please stop by the GOTA station if you can spare 30 minutes to an hour. Join the Planning call to learn more about GOTA!

Planning Call Information

Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/june-17th-hams-and-egg/

ARRL Field Day – CARC in Action!

Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/arrl-field-day-carc-in-action/

Columbia Amateur Radio Club SwapFest

Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/columbia-amateur-radio-club-swapfest/

CARC May Meeting Zoom

Greetings all! Pardon the delay in getting this posted. May Meeting will cover the following:

Zoom Details

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83430604722?pwd=dkpCSWxlVm1zcVA2eGV5ZlpQVG4wUT09

Meeting ID: 834 3060 4722
Passcode: 516014
One tap mobile
+13017158592,,83430604722#,,,,*516014# US (Washington DC)
+13052241968,,83430604722#,,,,*516014# US

Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
+1 305 224 1968 US
+1 309 205 3325 US

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

CARC Spring Swapfest

On May 13th, the Columbia Amateur Radio Club will host its Spring Swapfest at the South Carolina Military Museum at 1 National Guard Rd, Columbia SC 29201. Gates open at 10 AM and Close at 4 PM. CARC Swapfest is free for those who want to buy, trade, and sell Ham Radio gear. For more information visit https://www.w4cae.com

This will be a bring your own table, tent or sell from your trunk, there will be lots of buying, selling, and trading, don’t miss this fantastic opportunity. For more information contact Jim W4JLP at [email protected]

Permanent link to this article: https://w4cae.com/carc-spring-swapfest/

81st Commemoration of The Doolittle Raid

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/

When the Bands Conditions are right, WOW!

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/