Welcome to Cherokee Amateur Radio Society
Club Website for WX4CAR
Serving Cherokee County, GA and the surrounding communities in North Georgia

Click for the latest weather forecast.
Who are we?
Cherokee Amateur Radio Society is an organization of FCC licensed amateur radio operators (also called Hams) that meet and share the hobby, educate people about amateur radio, as well as support our local community in times of disaster. We are located in Cherokee County, Georgia and have club call sign WX4CAR. We are an ARRL Affiliated Club.

The club also participates with ARES, and the Cherokee County EOC when severe weather gets close to the area, and we help with local public service projects. You too can join this team!

The members of the club also dedicate some of their time to promote and help new hams to develop their skills and knowledge on Amateur communications modes and to be better operators. We are a very active club and participate in ARRL Field Day every year. If you are located in Cherokee County or the surrounding area, we would like to invite you to participate. Check out our Newsletter to see what is happening!

Use the Contact Us button to ask any questions you may have.

The menu tabs on the far left will help you navigate to the area of interest.

Announcements

Last update: 9-14-2025

Next Club Meeting

December, 2025 at 11:00 AM EST  at WG Long Senior Center, Woodstock,GA

Join us for the Annual Holiday Party! Great food and some surprises!
RSVP will be sent during November, so watch for that.

Please pay your dues for 2026 starting now.  Use the tab at the left to pay online or pay in person at the next live meeting.

Name the Newsletter
Ballots for this will be sent soon , so watch your email. 

New! DX Engineering ordering button. Scroll down and give it a try. 

Pass The Bill | The ARRL Grassroots Campaign

ARRL has launched a nationwide grassroots campaign aimed at securing the passage of federal legislation that would grant Amateur Radio Operators the same rights to install antennas on their property as those enjoyed by users of TV antennas, wireless internet, and flagpoles.
“This legislation is about restoring equal rights to licensed Amateur Radio operators,” said ARRL President Rick Roderick. “These restrictions hinder not only the enjoyment of Amateur Radio, but also its vital role in emergency communication during disasters.”

We need your support to urge Congress to pass this legislation. To help this cause go to this link and submit your letter:
Go to — https://send-a-letter.org/hoa/

ARRL sponsored FCC Testing

 If you want to test for a new license or upgrade, it is requested that you use the Contact Us button above or let us know by other means. In general, testing is done at 1:00PM on the same day as club meetings.
See Special Notice below.

Special Notice: The Federal Communications Commission, which issues Amateur Radio Service licenses, issued a Public Notice on Tuesday, September 30 2025, indicating that it would suspend most operations following a government shutdown. “Aside from a few emergency and auction filing systems, all other Commission electronic filing systems will be unavailable to the public until normal agency operations resume,” said the FCC Notice.

We (CARS) will continue to give exams as scheduled IF you have an FRN number! You may have to wait for your callsign until the FCC is back to normal operations. 

WEEKLY On-Air NET
We invite and urge all members to participate in the weekly VHF Net on Thursday evening at 8pm. This is a great way to make sure equipment is working well as well as get to participate with other members in discussions and questions you may have. We meet on the air at 145.270 mHz (- offset, PL tone of 100Hz encode and decode).

Looking Forward

Winter Field Day
Be sure to mark your calendar for the Winter Field Day event. 
January 24-25, 2026

New Hams Luncheon - February 14, 2026
Been licensed 2 years or less? Join us for lunch on February 14  following the regular club meeting. Bring your questions and your curiosity.

Our Club Sponsors

CARS recommends DX Engineering for ALL of your amateur radio needs!

Celebrating 25 years as a amateur radio provider

Please click this EASY button for DXE Ordering :
Read the Ham Radio Blog from DX Engineering
OnAllBands

Ham Radio Deluxe Software

A complete suite of software for the amateur radio operator:
HRD Rig Control with full command support for Yaesu, ICOM, Kenwood,
Elecraft, Ten-Tec, FlexRadio, and more
HRD Logbook - QSO logging that supports DXing, awards tracking, and
digital modes integration with WSJT-X
HRD DM-780 - Digital Modes support for RTTY, PSK31, and many other digital modes
HRD Rotator Control for azimuth and azimuth/elevation rotors by Yaesu, HyGain,
Green Heron, M2, and more.
HRD Satellite Tracking - Satellite communications with rig frequency adjustment for
Doppler and az/el tracking of the ham radio antennas.
Perpetual software license (not sold as a subscription)


New to the Club or Ham Radio?
Download our New Ham Kit

This and That

Review of the Zachtek WSPR Receiver
The latest "Short Takes #33" on QRZ.com features my review of the Zachtek WSPR reciever. If you are interested in WSPR take some time to read this review.

Ask an Expert
Each month we will accept questions for a Newsletter Column called "Ask an Expert". These questions will be posed to the person(s) most expert at answering these questions, and will be published for everyone to learn and enjoy. Use the Club email account to submit your questions. Be sure to use the Subject line as Ask an Expert so that we will know this is for this purpose.

What's Ham Radio all About?
Listen to Jason Turnage (KO4NDP) and Chad Cone (KY4KP) explain "How to Ham Radio!".

Say Whaaaat?
Every hobby has it's own lingo and acronyms, ham radio is no different. If you hear or read something you don't understand, ask another ham. If you just want to understand the word or acronym, here is a great reference provided by the ARRL.

Studying for your General or Extra Class?
There are a number of mentors (Elmers) in the club willing to help. Let us know your needs and we can match you up with the best person to help. Use the club email address or the Contact Us button to let us know how we can help.


Adding or Renewing your ARRL Membership?
If you are either signing up or renewing your membership with ARRL, please click on the link below and download and use this form. By doing so, the club will receive a commission on your dues.

Instructions: Fill in the form and provide it to us (James James) at the next meeting and we will send it to the ARRL with our paperwork. Thank You!
Download the 2024 form here:
arrl_membership_application_club_rev_jan_2024.pdf
File Size: 106 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

General Interest

CW is making strong comeback!
The Smithsonian Magazine did a nice article on the renewed popularity of Morse code. It mentions in in the context of SOTA and POTA.
LINK TO ARTICLE

CARS Club In the News

Host Club for an ARISS Contact

 The Cherokee club was the host for an ARISS contact on April 18th, 2024.  This had been one year in the making, but because of the persistence and hard work by our member Dr. Cassie Z. (KQ4JVI), this event went like clockwork and was very special for the students of Mountain View Elementary, and an big accomplishment for the club. The recording will remain on YouTube for a while, so if you missed it, take time view it.

We got a mention in the ARRL eNewsletter dated April 18, 2024 with a great picture of the students talking with Astronaut and fellow Ham Jeanette Epps.

We also owe a debt of gratitude to Daryl Young (K4RGK) for being our ARISS mentor and facilitator for the event.

Read more about it:  https://www.cobbk12.org/_ci/p/97720

Tid bits an little bytes

Is Ham Radio still a popular Hobby in the colossal Digital era of 21st century?
Read this Blog to learn more....
LINK

Weekly On-AIR Nets
We would encourage all members to participate for a number of reasons. First and foremost, we love to hear from you! This is a chance to be certain your equipment is up to snuff and that you know how to operate it. It is also a place to ask questions and have group dialog on any ham radio topics.
Let's get the dialog going!

Note: We need additional volunteer NET Controllers for the weekly nets. Contact James James KE4HMS for more info.

Need help?
Have you been recently licensed? We have a New Ham Kit for all new hams on the Cherokee county and surrounding area.
Press the button below for the .pdf file download.

Watch this website for more details opportunities for new Hams.

Look for mentoring in 2025. We are here to help. 

Building a project you want to share?
We would like to be sure we show our projects and activities on social media. Please share your project details with us. We want to extend our reach through the uses of social media and hopefully reach more young people.

Our Sponsors & Affiliations

Cherokee County ARES

Ham Radio Workbench Podcast and Talk Group DMR 31075

Weekly Nets

CARS Weekly Net
Our weekly Net can be found on the
KG4VUB-R repeater
every Thursday evening starting at 8PM Eastern Time. 145.270 MHz (- offset, PL 100Hz encode and decode)   Repeater is located in Waleska,GA

Backup: WA4EOC  145.190 (+) PL 107.2(RX), 173.8 (TX)

DMR: Brandmeister 3217955


Georgia DMR Talk Group Net
Wednesday evenings at 8PM Eastern Time
Talk Group 3113 Brandmeister Network
Website Link

Club ARRL Links
Click the logo to follow a link.

This is the link to Georgia Chapter of the ARRL. Look here for local activities, Ham fests, and the Georgia On My Mind Newsletter.

ARRL
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