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

Announcements

Next Club Meeting


January 8, 2022  at W G Long Senior Center
Topic for this meeting is a review of the survey responses and a discussion of plans to kick off 2022. We look forward to setting the direction for the club in 2022. Your participation is desired.

You can read below the general announcements about all the things we did in 2021. It was a great year where we saw membership grow to over 100 paid members and growth of 54% in 2021!

CLUB OFFICERS for 2022:
President - Martin Buehring KB4MG, Vice President -Tim Wall KJ4RDF, Secretary - Mark Schulze - KO4IFY, and Treasurer - James James KE4HMS

ARRL sponsored FCC Testing

There is FCC license testing at the Long Senior Center following the regular meeting in January 2022.
NOTE: There is a new requirement, effective after May 20, 2021 , that new license seekers must first get an FRN number from the FCC. This must be given to the examiners at the time of the test. 
Please refer to the FCC Site for more details on getting an FRN.

FCC TESTING DETAILS HERE

 If you want to test for a new license or upgrade, it is requested that you use the Contact Us button above and let us know by other means.



 General Announcements


Looking for the slides from these great presentations, look HERE

We are looking for volunteers to give a talk in our 2022 meetings.  Please let one of the officers know about your interest in doing this.

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 with Jack Coleman (K7JDC) and he will post it for us. We want to extend our reach through the uses of social media and hopefully reach more young people.

Hamfests (2022)
HamCation - Feb 11-13  Orlando, FL
Charlotte Hamfest - March 11-12  Charlotte, NC
Atlanta Hamfest - June 4  - Marietta,GA


Upcoming Major Contests


What's happening?
If you miss a meeting, you miss a lot!

Here are things we did in 2021:

In November , Jason Turnage (KO4NDP) talked about decoding SSTV (slow scan TV) from the ISS. The astronauts send these pictures occasionally and it is an exciting activity to receive and show these pictures. Great for kids and others interested in the ISS.  Jason is also a DIY/builder and showed his latest project of putting a Xiego G90 rig into a .50cal ammo box for portable operations. Really nice project!

In the October meeting we had a presentation on "Computers in the Shack". All of us probably use computers in one way or another, and may use Windows, LINUX, or even Apple (MAC) machines. This looked at ways to use our computers for the pursuit of Ham Radio. Our presenter was Jeff W2UA. His slides will be posted in Club Programs area.

In September, we learned about WSPR (Weak signal propagation reporting). It covered what it is, how to set it up, and the use cases for WSPR. This technology is part of the WSJT-x suite of applications for digital modes. Presented by Tim Wall(KJ4RDF) and Marty Buehring (KB4MG).
In August we learned how to install and setup WINLINK email over RF. This was part 1. A hands on part 2 will be provided at the afternoon of September meeting. Bring your computer and rig if you want to get this mode set up. W1JKU Rob will be helping with this.

The May meeting was initial preparation for Field Day. Tim Wall (KJ4RDF) taught everyone how to use the N3FJP logging software, which is our standard for Field Day. Slides are posted for your reference.

In April, we had a special presentation about historic satellites.Fantastic presentation, and real like artifacts were shown.

In March we had an open Q&A session about common problems and misunderstandings in setting up antennas and stations.

In February we covered "Station Operating Skills" , presented by Bob Cheek (N4RFC) and assisted by David Poss (KM4IEH). Operating a station successfully requires some skills and basic knowledge of protocol, and this presentation and discussion covered all the basics you need to know. We had a great turnout of 30 people attending live and more online. Slides will be posted.

In January we started off the year with a look at the future of Ham radio as well as kicking off the year with "Back to Basics".

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!

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 Elmering in 2022 as well as new Ham Crams for license upgrades.

General Interest
Topics of general interest to the ham community

A comprehensive Contest Calendar can be found here:
Contest Calendar

Ham Radio Blog from DX Engineering
OnAllBands

Track the ISS

YouTube: Decoding the SSTV Signal

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 Jonathon about your topic.  

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

Look for new sessions and all new topics in 2021 and 2022. Submit your ideas to any club officer.

Slides are posted for the 2017, 2018 , 2019, 2020, and 2021 sessions.

Our Affiliations

Ham Radio Workbench Podcast and Talk Group DMR 31075

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.

Visit us on Facebook at:

Weekly Nets

CARS Weekly Net
Our weekly Net can be found on the VHAM11 (KG4VUB) every Thursday evening starting at 8PM Eastern Time. 145.270 mHz (- offset, PL tone of 100Hz encode and decode)   Repeater is located in Waleska,GA

Backup repeater for nets is 443.075 MHz , PL107.2, Positive (+) offset

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
News and Information Feed