Shenandoah Valley Amateur Radio Club – Since 1948 – Winchester, Virginia 

  73rd Annual BERRYVILLE HAMFEST and ARRL Virginia State Convention were great!
Update and pictures. See you next year August 3!

W4RKC Shenandoah Valley Amateur Radio Club Winchester, Virginia

DOD MARS Armed Forces Cross Band Test – May 11, 2024

Apr 12, 2024

The United States Department of Defense is set to host the Armed Forces Day Crossband Test on May 11, 2024. This event, a longstanding tradition of over 50 years, invites all licensed amateur radio operators to participate. The exercise involves testing two-way communications between military and amateur radio stations, specifically tailored to enhance technical skills and interoperability without affecting any other public or private communications. During the test, military stations will use certain military frequencies and monitor designated amateur radio frequencies, all communicated in ZULU time and mainly using the Upper Side Band mode. The frequencies selected for this exercise are carefully chosen to ensure they do not interfere with other communications.

Find more information and frequencies here:

https://www.dodmars.org/mars-comex-information-website/armed-forces-day

Volunteers Needed – April 19-20 – Old Dominion Rides – No Frills Equine Race

Mar 9, 2024

Outdoor Ready – 2 Meter Capable Radio Amateurs needed – registration required – April 19-20, 2024

WHAT: Volunteer Ham Radio Spotters needed for course coverage for the NO Frills Equestrian Race. Race Sponsor: Old Dominion Equestrian Endurance Organization, Inc.

WHEN: April 19-20 2024

EQUIPMENT NEEDED:  2m HT with extra battery and/ or a 2m mobile in a vehicle. 

CONTACT To Help: KE4RL, Randy Lilly, randylilly2 [at] gmail.com

MORE INFO: https://www.OldDominionRides.com

Background: 

•The Old Dominion Equestrian Endurance Organization (ODEEO, a 501(c)3 organization) will kick off the endurance ride season with the No Frills Race on April 19-20 2024.

•Equestrian Races of 30 and 55 miles will start each day, Friday and Saturday, from Base Camp in Star Tannery, VA. The course follows trails in the GW National Forest on both sides of the border with West Virginia. Due to the mountainous terrain, ham radio spotters are stationed throughout the trail and at checkpoints to monitor the progress of the competitors and inform ride management.

•Communications are maintained primarily through local 2m repeaters. Southwest Virginia AUXCOMM provides an organized backbone and net control functions.

•Additional licensed amateur operators are needed to supplement or fill outlying stations.

•Equipment needed is just a 2m HT or a mobile in a vehicle.

•Options ARE available if you want to bring more. (P.S. Great time to activate a POTA!)

•If you have a few hours either day, (or would like to camp with us the entire weekend!) and would enjoy watching some world class equestrians and their horses course through scenic trails, please contact Randy Lilly, KE4RL, radio team administrator for the No Frills Ride: randylilly2 [at] gmail.com

 

 

JOTA + GOTA October 21st at W4RKC Clubhouse – Join us!

Oct 18, 2023

A young girl operating a radio under the watchful eye of a licensed ham radio operator.

Update 10/26 from Jamboree on the Air

Weekend Statistics:

“A record 600,000 of you registered

That includes 7,000+ Scout Groups from 149 countries

1,200 Scout Groups shared their radio call signs!”

###

The Shenandoah Valley Amateur Radio Club invites members of the public to join us to GOTA! Get on the Air.

We will be hosting several field radio stations to help local Scouts earn their merit badge for Amateur Radio.

If you are not a scout, never self-identified as one, but would like to experience getting on the air and making some contacts with other scouts and other amateur radio operators around the country and world, stop by for a few minutes and say “hello”

•This is a free event.

•Non licensed persons will be using the club’s callsign, W4RKC, under the
guidance of a licensed radio amateur.

•All ages are welcome to join us.

•The Scouts will have priority on the radios

•Location: 2925 Grace Street Winchester, VA 22601

•Parking in the rear of the clubhouse – look for the antennas!

Find out more about Amateur Radio:

https://www.arrl.org/what-is-amateur-radio

Learn more about the annual Jamboree on the Air:

https://www.scouting.org/international/jota-joti/jota/

Fine Field Day!

Jun 28, 2023

Field Day national emergency communications preparedness event  is always the 4th full weekend of June annually in the United States and Canada. This year that weekend fell on June 24 – 25 and was an amazing day filled with fine people and weather throughout the operating 24 hours. Fine thanks to the Clarke County Fairgrounds for hosting us. Thank you to the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office for stopping by on Friday late evening to ensure everything was in order. Thank you also to Berryville Mayor (Jay) Harry Lee Arnold, Jr for visiting Saturday afternoon to learn how amateur radio can serve his community during communication and civil emergency.

Club members began at 8AM Friday morning to pack and transport gear from our clubhouse in Winchester to the Lions Club Pavilion at the Clarke County Fairground. Though conditions on the ground were soggy, the skies cleared with temperatures in the high 70’s / low 80’s during operations.

Thanks to K04SSD, Jeremy who lent his spiffy red light LED lanterns from LuminAid to ensure our night vision was preserved. Gratitude to KC4RCR, Rousseau “Mr Lightning” for lending a fine bug zapper to keep flying insects at a distance and his 2 meter 10 element yagi antenna.

Fine food during Saturday’s traditional group lunch at Mario’s Pizzeria. During the weekend all types food was shared by members including amazing grilled hot dogs, hamburgers. Sweets abound with fine selections of muffins, cookies, pie, and of course it’s not amateur radio without “power rings” also known as donuts from Dunkin Donuts. Thank you to Rob for making the gas grill spic and span and then cooked up sliders and hotdogs for dinner for us on Saturday evening. Thank you Rob! Thank you to Andy NR8N and Tom KM4FEC for making breakfast on Sunday morning.

Field Day Radios [Transceivers]

Our station, with club callsign W4RKC, operated 3A [three HF transmitters in club or non-club portable operation] this year, radios were:

3A stations each had a computer laptop and N3JFP logging software to document contacts on CW [Morse Code], Phone [Voice], and Digital [FT8]. FT8 is a digital mode capable of send and receive with milliwatts of power over high-frequency [HF] for global communications capability.

Field Day antennas in use this year included:

This year marked the passing of the Field Day operations lead from KW4CW, Tom to AF7YL, Frances and AE7YH, John for 2024. Thank you Tom for amazing dedication to the tradition of Field Day and the importance of having our club being prepared and ready when called up for service by our community. Tom served for the Club in this capacity from 2009 – 2023. A fine legacy to uphold! Thank you Tom.

If you would like the Shenandoah Valley Amateur Radio Club to provide an operations demonstration and / or speak with your organization about the importance of Amateur Radio to the communications infrastructure, or, speak to careers in S.T.E.M [Science, Technology, Engineering and Math], please contact us, we would be delighted to help. https://svarc.us/contact-us/

Call your Congress Member – Vote Yes on HR 4006

Jun 16, 2023

Please call your US Representative in Congress as you read this and ask them to vote YES on House Bill HR4006. This bill serves to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to prohibit the application of certain private land use restrictions to amateur station antennas, and for other purposes is about to come to the well of the US House of Representative for a vote. This bill would remove private land use restrictions that prohibit, restrict, or impair the ability of Amateur Radio operators from operating and installing reasonable antennas on property that they own or control.

If you live in Virginia House District 6, please call Representative Ben Cline’s office at (202) 225-5431, provide your name, City and Zip code and ask the Congressman to vote Yes for this bill. 

Other phone numbers for Rep Ben Cline’s office can be found here: https://cline.house.gov/contact/offices

Should you reside outside of Virginia 6, please contact your Representative in Congress and ask them to support the Bill and vote yes. Find your Representative by visiting https://www.house.gov/. At the top right of the page enter your zip code and search.

Read more from the American Radio Relay League: https://www.arrl.org/news/legislation-to-remove-private-land-use-restrictions-on-amateur-radio-introduced-in-congress

Full PDF of the Bill from Congressman Johnson can be found here: https://billjohnson.house.gov/uploadedfiles/amateur_radio_emergency_preparedness_act_signed_bill_text.pdf

 

Field Day 2023 – June 23-24 – Clarke County Fair Ground

Jun 14, 2023

Field Day is coming June 24-25. Field Day is Amateur Radio’s Open House event of the year where over 40,000 amateur stations go into the field, setup, operate and make contact. It is also a day of national emergency communications preparedness. We operate around the clock for 24 hours, make as many contacts across the United States, Canada and the World as we can, over as many different modes such as voice, digital and even morse code. 

Amateur Radio is the heart of everything STEM – Science Technology Engineering and Math. Amateur Radio knowledge can lead to careers in Radio Frequency Engineering, Broadcasting in Media, Military Communications, Design, Build, Fabrication and more. 

Please join us during Field Day this year, maybe even get on the air yourself and make a few contacts to experience for yourself! Come anytime from 2PM Saturday and through 1PM Sunday June 25.

Find out more: https://svarc.us/field-day/

Even though you do not need an operating license during Field Day, if you would like to find out more and test for your amateur radio license,  click here: https://svarc.us/ve-testing/

Are you an existing radio amateur, want to find a great place to connect to other radio amateurs, and have access to a fine HF station as a member benefit? Submit your application now! https://svarc.us/how-to-join-svarc/