Welcome to the Chattanooga Amateur Radio Club.
Next Monthly Club Meeting
Thursday, October 5, 2023
5:45 PM EDT FCC Test Session
7:00 PM EDT Club Meeting
The Chattanooga Amateur Radio Club is proud to be the communications partner for several events and projects in the coming weeks.
Amateur & GMRS Radio Operators with a valid FCC license, are encouraged to participate, so register now to help provide communications for these fun and worthwhile activities.
CLICK HERE to learn more about how you can have fun and serve your community, friends, and neighbors.
Haunted Trails Event(s)
- Friday, October 13th, 5-11PM
- Saturday, October 14, 5-11PM
ADMISSION INCLUDES:
- Haunted Trails
- Too Cute To Spook (Trick or Treat Trail)
- Complimentary transportation between Volkswagen & ESNP via a Hayride (Hayride is for fun not fright)
- Face Painting
- Read 20 Read-A-Louds
- Bonfire
- Trick or Treating
- Kid Festival with Inflatables
- Maze
Concessions Available at Additional Cost.
HAUNTED TRAIL.
A mile into the deep dark woods, including an optional blindfolded section, the Haunted Trail is full of your worst nightmares, your deepest fears, and your scariest phobias! (Haunted Trail is not recommended for small children)
TOO CUTE TO SPOOK.
Put on your costume, bring a bag, and Trick or Treat from family-friendly decorated booths sponsored by local businesses & organizations! (12 yrs or younger)
Sound the Alarm Project.
Red Cross “Sound the Alarm” Project
Saturday, Oct 14th from 0830-1230L
The Sound the Alarm Project (STA) is sponsored by the American Red Cross (ARC) and will work & operate in the Washington Hills area (adjacent to Highway 58, east of Elder’s Ace Hardware). The Chattanooga Amateur Radio Club is proud to be the communications partner for with ARC.
The Fire Department has statistically identified the Washington Hills area as having an above average number of house fires. One house fire can consume a block of houses. The Red Cross STA Program offers residents free smoke alarms and will replace existing alarms with new ones and fresh batteries. To implement the STA, Red Cross Volunteers in teams of 2 will go door to door, offer and install the alarms.
A radio operator acting as a data collector and reporter will accompany each team. Data collected will be analyzed to find residences that are high risk, would not accept an alarm; vacant property; “bad” dog locations, i.e., could not approach; evident fire hazards, etc. The analysis will allow the Fire Department to make targeted “educational” visits to the houses in question. For radio operators, this will be community service, relationship building, practice at reporting data as if there was a disaster, and also a radio comms exercise. We anticipate the need of 15 radio operators with HTs.
CLICK HERE to register to serve as a radio operator and learn more about how you can have fun and serve your community, friends, and neighbors.
And That's The Way It is:
Congratulations to NGGMRS!
2023-06-09. We congratulate the North Georgia GMRS Network for another linked GMRS repeater coming on-line today. Fort Mountain (near Chatsworth, GA) is now available for use and is included in the Chattanooga Regional Skywarn Network.
Visit the NGGMRS Website to learn more about how GMRS Radio can help you and your family.
Please Note The Following:
Construction at the site of the CARC Lookout Mountain Repeaters has, as of this morning, 2023-05-10, required the temporary shutdown of the following repeaters:
- 145.390 CARC Repeater
- 444.100 CARC Repeater
The 146.610 Repeater remains operational on Signal Mountain. Please note that the 146.610 repeater requires a 107.2 tone on both transmit and receive.
We regret this inconvenience, but this is a circumstance of which we have no control. We have received approval to return these two repeaters to service upon the completion of construction in 90–120 days.
Thank you for your understanding.
Chattanooga Amateur Radio Club
Enhanced Skywarn is Here!
Join us as Amateur and GMRS Radio Operators join forces to provide more eyes & ears for severe weather reporting. CLICK HERE for more details.
Have an interest in the weather and public service? Click Here to join our Skywarn Mailing List.
F5Weather Software.
For those of you that are seriously into weather, you might be interested in the latest version of F5Wather Software. It’s incredibly power software that you install on your own computer.
Soldering
While soldering methods may have changed over the years, the basics of soldering remain the same. Hams can still learn a “thing or two” about soldering from this 1944 training video.
You Can Be a Helping Ham
Not only are Amateur Radio Operators known for helping each other (Elmering), we help our communities with Public Service even when disasters have not occurred. This great video provides insight as to why we do what we do for the good of our nation, our communities, and our neighbors. This video references a popular event in the Upper Penisula of Michigan.
Hamfest Chattanooga 2023 is On!
Hamfest Chattanooga 2023
East Ridge Community Center
1515 Tombras Ave
East Ridge, TN 37412
- Thursday, October 19, 2023 – Setup Day; Setup Starts at 2pm ET and Concludes by 9pm ET.
- Friday, October 20, 2023 – Event Setup Continues Until Noon; Show Hours 1pm – 7pm ET.
- Saturday, October 21, 2023 – Show Continues; Doors Open at 8am ET; Show Closes at 3pm ET.
All hours shown are tentative for now.
Membership Renewal Are Underway.
Don’t forget to tell us if anything about you has changed such as your callsign, mailing or email address, phone numbers, etc. Membership fees may be paid by cash or check only. Bring a check to a monthly club meeting and give it to our Treasurer or mail to:
Chattanooga Amateur Radio Club
Attn: Earl Griffith, Treasurer
5251-C Highway 153, #127
Hixson, TN 37343
You may wish to use the membership form if much of your information has changed. The membership form and additional information about being a member is AVAILABLE HERE.
If you and question, please contact Earl at treasurer@w4am.net.
New Meeting Venue:
Hixson United Methodist Church
5301 Old Hixson Pike
Hixson, TN 37343
Beginning in May 2022, our meetings will be at Hixson United Methodist Church. It’s a great venue in a welcoming environment. Come join us for our first meeting in our new venue.
The Lone Ranger Wellness Net
The net was created as a daily check-in for members of the amateur radio community, no matter their QTH, who wish to have someone check in on them to make sure they’re OK. So, if you live alone, you are disabled, if you need some help with a chore, or you’re just wanting someone to check in on you, then this net is here for you.
Join us nightly on the Chattanooga TN repeater 146.790 or on Echolink Node 79190.
To learn more, visit their website.
Club members David Dickey, KN4TEM, and Dale Wykoff, N5EIA, gave an excellent presentation on digital modes at our August club meeting.
It was a perfect blend of a digital overview, comparisons between modes, and probably best of all, a successful, working, homebuilt & home-designed Winlink interface between a computer and a Baofeng HT radio.
After the main presentation, David & Dale demonstrated the working Winlink client station by connecting to a Winlink gateway about 12 miles away.
Their presentation is available for viewing here. We hope you enjoy their great presentation.
FCC RF Exposure Guidelines - How To Calculate
After last month’s presentation on the FCC’s RF Exposure Guidelines, Mac Thomas, WT4BT, compiled the following information to assist you in calculating RF exposure for your own station(s).
