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

Announcements

Next Meeting

December 14,2019

Looking Ahead

Annual CARS Christmas Party - Not to be missed!
Saturday, December 14, 2019 at the William G. Long Senior Center.
This is also our annual election of officers. be sure to submit any nominations you have to any officer.

Details to follow by email, Facebook page and weekly Nets.
Main course will be provided, but we need members to provide side dishes and desserts

Current nominations for 2020 officers:
President - Rob Bruderer - W1JKU
Vice President - Marty Buehring - KB4MG
Secretary - open
Treasurer - James James - KE4HMS

Winter Field Day  January 25/26, 2020
Winter Field Day Association (WFDA) is a dedicated group of Amateur Radio Operators who believe that emergency communications in a winter environment is just as important as the preparations and practice that is done each summer but with some additional unique operational concerns.
winterfieldday.com

Testing - Need to test for your license or upgrade? An ARRL Testing session will be held at 2PM the same day. Testing is done at the William G Long Senior Center. Walk-ins are welcome, but we like reservations. Click on the Contact Us button if you want more information or reservation to take an exam.

Participate
What would you like see in 2020? The club officers will be looking for your suggestions, ideas, and your participation. The new year will be here before you realize it.

If you have a topic you would like to present to the club, please provide a summary or abstract in writing to any officer. It needs to related in some way to amateur radio.

Elmering Program (ie Mentoring of new or even experienced hams)

We now have a list of Elmers willing to help people in various parts of the hobby. Do you have questions or need some help on a certain topic or topics?  We will provide a link to a page where you can see the available people and how to contact them. Ask any officer for the link.
If you miss a meeting, you miss a lot!

Here are things we have done lately:
Topic for the January meeting was "Microcontrollers for Ham radio projects".
Marty Buehring  (KB4MG) presented and did a live demo of how to write software for an Arduino platform. 
Almost every time you open QST magazine you find project that the uses a microcontroller. Anyone needing help getting started can just ask. We have at least 3-4 experienced people that can help you get started. Slides are posted.
In February we had session on antennas, in particular "NVIS (Near Vertical Incident Skywave)". This is a topic of interest to everyone these days. For those in ARES it is an important skill and knowledge to have. Bob Chambers (KK4JPM) presented and slides posted.
In March we were treated to a special presentation from Wendell Abernathy N4VLK. He talked about "Try Something New! – an introduction to DXing, Contesting, and QSL Card exchange". For those who are new hams as well as many of our members who haven’t ventured far from VHF and a little rag chewing, here is another whole part of the hobby you may find fun and exciting. Wendell shared his experience and wealth of knowledge. Slides are posted.
In April we learned about Software Defined Radios and how they differ from their analog counterparts. Bob Cheek N4RFC walked us through the architecture of these radios and why they are the latest thing to have in Ham Radio. He even did a demo of remote operating his Flex Radio via an Internet connection.
In May is was all about GO BOXES!
"Show us your Go Box or other portable operating setup"
KK4YQV Stephen Price presented on designing and constructing of these boxes.
Go Boxes are not just for ARES.  A portable station has many uses.
For photos - Click Here
In June we held a Field Day Workshop held by Marty Buehring and Rob Bruderer. The slides for this will be posted on the Field Day 2019 page for your download.

For July was all about EMP: Al Sims presented on "Protection from EMP and National Electrical Grid". (Electro Magnetic Pulse, from the Sun and other sources). We have posted a paper on the Technical Programs page on "Surviving a Catastrophic Power Outage" commissioned by President Obama in 2018.

August meeting had a substitute presentation on Space Weather by Marty - KB4MG
Slides are posted in the Technical Programs tab.

September was "Ohms Law in  the Real World".
Things behave a bit differently in the real world. We talked about the ideal case, like you see on the Ham Radio exams, and then looked at a couple of real circuits to see how they compare. Finally, used Ohms law to analyze the "maximum transfer power theorem" which explains why your antenna must be matched to the impedance of the transmitter. Was presented by Marty Buehring KB4MG and Matt Pesch KK4NLK. Slides will be posted.

The October club outing was a big success. Feedback on the event was really good.

November 9 -  the Club attended Ham Jam 2019, sponsored by North Fulton Amateur Radio League.
This is an outstanding even they put on every November and host all the clubs in the Atlanta Metro area. There was interesting speakers as well as great prizes. No one from CARS won a prize. :>(   Nice to see those that attended.

Information about us

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.

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.

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 in the Woodstock, Georgia area and would like to participate, drop us a note and let us know. This website will provide details about the Field Day site.

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

If you have a question and would like to contact us, use the button at the top to go to the Contact Us page.

ARRL
News and Information Feed

Our weekly Net can be found on 145.270 MHz every Thursday evening starting at 8PM Eastern Time. (- offset, PL=100Hz)  KG4VUB Repeater - Waleska

Club Presence on the ARRL
Click the ARRL Logo:

Current Space Weather

Other Happenings
Want to present to the group? 
We NEED members willing to present on a topic in an upcoming meeting. Per our survey, topics include DIY projects, various aspects of soldering, batteries and solar power, working ham radio satellites, and using microcontrollers in your project. Please contact Marty, Rob, or Joseph about your topic.  

What do you want to see presented? Let the leadership team know.

Look for new sessions and all new topics in 2019. Submit your ideas to any club officer.

Slides are still posted for the 2017 and 2018 sessions  and from early in the year.


Build It Project
We hope to do the club "build it" project. The Ham Radio Workbench website has a number of DIY projects you may want to try. WE are here to help.

I have a list of who is seriously interested in doing projects.

Plan is to have a "build it session" in 2019. What do you want to build? Tell us and we will plan to help.

The picture at the left is the Benchduino project from the Ham Radio Workbench crew. Boards should be available for sale on their website in August 2019.

Our Affiliations

WX4CAR YouTube Channel
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