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


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

Announcements

Next Club Meeting

December 10, 2022  is at 10AM EST at  the WG Long Senior Center, Woodstock,GA
Join us for our annual Holiday Party!
There will be communications sent to members with the details

Nominations Needed
We need nominations for all club officer positions. If you think you would like to a club officer there are two requirements: 1) Have a current amateur radio license, and 2) be an active member that has a passion for the hobby and the CARS club.
Any member can nominate someone, or you may even nominate yourself.
Notify a club officer of your interest in being nominated.

Annual Survey
The annual survey is being distributed to all full voting members of the club. Your response is requested. For the club to know what directions we want to go in 2023, we need your voice to be heard.

The survey will be online and can be taken by using the provided link in an email that you will be sent.
As was the case last year, there is a raffle ticket for everyone who responds to the survey, so be sure to enter.

Bylaws
There was a brief report and discussion on the new club bylaws in the November meeting, which will be voted on in January 2023.

ARRL sponsored FCC Testing

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

Grounding and Bonding
The net on 11/3/22 had many questions on grounding and bonding. It is a complex topic with many opinions. The suggestion is to view this great presentation by Ward Silver (N0AX). He is the recognized ham radio expert on this topic. Here is the link to it:  LINK

Hamfests & Expos

Stay tuned for more 2023 events

Hamcation Feb 10-12, 2023 Orlando, Florida
Hamvention (aka Dayton Hamfest)  May 19-21, 2023   Xenia, Ohio
Atlanta Hamfest dates TBD
Huntsville Hamfest  August 19-20, 2023

Other Major Events

Winter Field Day 2023

Looking Forward

In the News

Neal , K4EA will present Part 2 on space weather and propagation in the January meeting.

The CARS Club is highlighted in Club Station column in QST Magazine November 2022 issue.  Be proud of your club and what we have accomplished.

Presentations Needed
We are looking for volunteers to give a talk in our 2023 meetings.  Please let one of the officers know about your interest in doing this.



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

Here are things we did so far in 2022:

In January we started off the year with a "State of the Club and Plans for 2022" presentation as well as an ARES overview from Rob Bruderer - W1JKU.

In February we covered an  "Introduction to VHF and UHF Operation" and "Introduction to ARES & RACES". Presenters were Mark Schulze(KO4IFY) and Marty Buehring (KB4MG). We learned about - VHF/UHF Spectrum, propagation, modulation modes, digital modes, antennas, and how repeaters work. We also got a good understanding of the ARES organization and how it differs from RACES.

The topic for March was the design and construction of GO-BOXES. No matter your need to have a portable station, this is great reference info for you.
The presenter was Richard - W4BYT who discussed the considerations when designing and building a GO-BOX and some rules to follow.
Some members showed their current examples of a GO-BOX and were available to answer questions.

The topic for April was "Feedlines: What is in-between your radio and your antenna?" We learned about different types of feedlines. What is coax? Why is coax 50 or 75 ohms?  What is Ladder line and why is it used? How do we match the impedance of the radio to the antenna? How do I troubleshoot feedline problems?  and a number of other topics were covered.the Slides are found in the Technical Programs tab.

April Workshop: There was a workshop following the meeting for members to learn the proper way to work with coax cable and attach PL-259 connectors. Thanks to Tom Perry  and Jim Alderdice for helping members understand how to solder these connectors successfully. Tom will also have a soldering class event on Field Day.

GO BOX Examples

In May we had a comprehensive look at practical antennas, presented by Bob Cheek , N4RFC.
We also had a great workshop on building end fed half wave dipoles. This was led by Stan Ham , WB9GFA. A lot of learning took place.

Picture
Assembling the EFHW antennas
Picture
Stan Ham checked all the work!

The August technical program was presented by Dave Slotter (W3DJS), author and distributor of HamPi applications package for RaspberryPi platforms. This was an excellent introduction for running many ham related applications on RaspberryPi and not needing your laptop or desktop computer.

August Workshop was to build 2m Yagi antennas.
We had 19 people signed up for this activity and all participated. Visitors and curiosity seekers also attended and learned the process of construction.

In September 2022 meeting, our special guest for the was Dr. Bob Heil of Heil Sound.
Bob is a renowned ham operator and the founder and CEO Emeritus of Heil Sound and is callsign K9EID. Thank you Bob for being our guest! It was a great time.
His talk focused on the importance that clear audio plays not only in the music business, but in Ham Radio. He gave us the recipe for success when setting our audio controls on our various rigs.
Refer to this link for details on setting your rigs dsp settings: SOUND SETTINGS

As a Bonus: Listen to a very insightful interview of Bob on Eric Guth's (4Z1UG)  QSO Today Podcast.

The October meeting was a club picnic and some open operating time. This was a time to ask questions, get technical help, socialize, and get to know other members.
We also had a Fox Hunt.Thanks to KJ4DRF for helping organize and run this event.

The November meeting featured Neil Sulmeyer (N4EA) talking about Space Weather and the affect on radio propagation. In the latest sunspot cycle, there have been challenges with solar storms. We see the key indicators like SFI, K, SN and more, but what do they mean to us and expected conditions for operating? This was planned as Part 1 in a 2-part series, with Part 2 in January 2023 meeting. Come hear and understand how to interpret this data and know when it is best to operate. 

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.

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.

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

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