Upcoming Events

Check out our events below:

The weekly Williamsburg-James City County ARES net is each Wednesday at 7:30pm on the '76 repeater.
Breakfast this Saturday is at Golden Corral on Bypass Road. Meeting time is 8:30am Link to Map

Event Calendar

WAARC Recent News

- New club officers and other news
  January 13, 2022The Williamsburg Area Amateur Radio Club held their annual election for officers during the January 11th meeting. Newly elected officers include: Jack Espinal KY4EA – President Donna Ross KO4GLO – Vice President Chuck White AI4WU – Director at Large Reelected to their positions were: Dan Ewart WG4F – Secretary Greg Pula K3RM – Treasurer The club also approved the 2022 operating budget and allocated funds for the purchase of audio/visual equipment that will be used for broadcasting monthly meetings for those members unable to attend in-person. The equipment will also be used for training, special events, Field Day and Builders Group events allowing members anywhere to participate in real-time. The club also thanked outgoing officers President Toby Papas KLØSS, Vice President Randy Altona W4YSN, and Director at Large Dino Papas KLØS for their service. An outgoing presidential memento from the club thanking Toby will be presented at our next in-person meeting, hopefully in February. The announcement of the selectee for the 2022 KB4ZIN Award for Excellence has also been delayed until February as well. kl0s... Read more...
- Election of Officers at the January Meeting
  January 12, 2022The January club meeting is the annual business meeting, which is where the slate of officers for the upcoming year are elected. This is the second year in a row where it took place via Zoom due to concerns in regards to COVID-19. Despite the lack of in-person meetings, we were able to conduct the election virtually. First, the club would like to thank the outgoing officers who have served the club faithfully over the past year, or more. Our President Toby Papas KL0SS, and Director At-Large Dino Papas KL0S have been in their positions for two years, which have been somewhat challenging with all the concerns and uncertainties that COVID-19 have presented. They helped keep the club active during that time and deserve many thanks for their efforts. Finally, Randy Altona W4YSN has been the club’s Vice President for the past year. He has done an excellent job supporting Toby and the club, stepping up to fill roles on committees and even running a couple meetings. Our Secretary and Treasurer, Dan Ewart WG4F and Greg Pula K3RM respectively, have agreed to stay on the job for the upcoming year. This is Dan’s 17th year as secretary, and the club is grateful for his time in office. With that being said, the 2022 club officers are as follows: President: Jack Espinal KY4EA Vice President: Donna Ross KO4GLO Secretary: Dan Ewart WG4F Treasurer: Greg Pula K3RM Director At Large: Chuck White AI4WU Congratulations to the new officers. This looks to be an exciting year as the club meetings transition back to in person, along with a bunch of new exciting activities.... Read more...
- In-Person Meetings resume in 2022
  December 27, 2021UPDATE on 1-5-22: The January Meeting has been changed to a ZOOM meeting due to the recent surge in COVID-19 Omicron cases. Please see the Groups.io email list for further details. We hope that everyone has a fantastic and safe holiday season. There is one great present that everyone has been waiting almost two years for: in person meetings will start again in 2022! There are some important changes that had to be made, in part because of changes in library hours. Club meetings will now start at 6pm and run until 8pm. There will not be an hour of power at the monthly meetings. Stay tuned for future information about potentially rescheduling the hour of power. UPDATE on 1-5-22: In January 2022, we will be using Zoom for the club meeting due to the recent Omicron surge. From February 2022 onward, meetings are scheduled to be at the James City County Library on Croaker Road. This announcement will be updated with further information if plans change again. Because we have members from places other than Williamsburg, as well as some that are still concerned about group gatherings, we are working on continuing to offer a way to join in via Zoom. Please watch the club’s Groups.io email list for more information and meeting credential information. Have a Happy New Year and we look forward to seeing everyone in 2022!... Read more...
- WAARC Annual Dinner – save the date!
  December 24, 2021UPDATE on 1-5-22: The club has decided that due to the Omicron variant of COVID-19 we are no longer promoting this as the annual club dinner. While club members are more than welcome to meet at Sal’s for dinner, this is no longer an official club event. Please join us for the upcoming WAARC Annual Holiday Dinner scheduled on Saturday, January 22nd, 2022. We look forward to another wonderful gathering with members, family and friends! Here are the details: What: WAARC Annual Holiday Dinner (Minimum of 30 guests) Date: Saturday, January 22, 2022 Where: Sal’s by Victor 1242 Richmond Rd Williamsburg, VA 23185 Time: 5:30pm – 9:30pm (Event) Cost: Ala Carte menu (guests will receive separate checks) Click on this link for the menu: https://salsbyvictor.com/menu/ RSVP: Friday, January 14, 2022 Click on this link for your RSVP rsvp@k4rc.net Dress: Business Casual For any questions, please reach out to any of the Food Committee Team: Anita KH2FX, Thea KF4CJQ, Donna KO4GLO, Fred KN4ZME, Michael Olds K4MRO, Tracy Wolcott, XYL of Mike K04DQY, Donna KD2FYX, Tricia W0CSZ... Read more...
- 2021 Yorktown Special Event Wrap-up
  November 7, 2021Saturday, October 16 was the annual Yorktown Special Event. We were back at the Yorktown Battlefield this year. Set up started around 8:30am near the visitor center with a K3 rig and a club battery, and an OCF dipole nice and high. The weather was wonderful all day, setup went well, and we were on the air by 10am as planned and operated until 4pm. Take down was fast and smooth and as a storm approached, all was packed and on the road safely. Our log was posted to LOTW with 269 contacts. We also operated a Parks on the Air activation for this event, activating the Yorktown National Battlefield K-8204 site. The log for the POTA activation recorded 259 contacts because there were 10 duplicates. Our QSL Manager will be busy filling out QSL cards with this high number of contacts. In fact, our POTA log resulted in six awards/certificates for our efforts. These included Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond Hunter Awards and the Support Your Parks Activator Award. It was a wonderful day and lots of fun.... Read more...
- Yorktown Special Event This Saturday
  October 12, 2021This Saturday, October 16 is the annual Yorktown Special Event. We will be back at the Yorktown Battlefield this year, set up next to the visitor center. Set up will begin around 8:30am, near the bus parking area. The plan is to be in the air by 10am, and operate until about 4pm. If you are looking to make contact with K4RC, look for us around 7.265 MHz +/- QRM. We will try to spot on the cluster periodically so stations can find us. In addition to the special event there will be a fox hunt taking place in the area around Yorktown proper. All you have to do is bring your HT to join the fun. As always, we have a nice QSL card available, and if you make contact with all three Special Event Stations you are eligible for the Historic Triangle certificate. Please contact our QSL Manager if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you at Yorktown on Saturday!... Read more...
- EFHW match Antenna Build-A-Thon
  July 4, 2021Jerome K8LF hosted an antenna-build-a-thon at the James City-Bruton Volunteer Fire Department on Saturday morning. He had put together 49:1 impedance transformer kits for end-fed halfway antennas. Five hams came with their kits and learned to wind primary and secondary windings on a toroid core. Christie KO4NCL, Fred KN4ZME, Bob AJ4RS, and Jack KY4EA wound their first transformers. Gil K4JST worked on rebuilding his 49:1 transformer that did not operate as intended at Field Day. He discovered he had an extra turn wound on the toroid that threw off his impedances and he decided to rewind it. All transformers were checked for proper function into a 50 ohm load and everyone walked away with a device that should work well with properly tuned end-fed halfway antennas. Jerome K8LF, Kerry NH2A, and DJ KO4JPR helped everyone with their builds. Fred made the arrangements for the classroom and brought donuts(!). As we all know, any event goes better with donuts. Jerome brought a dozen as well to lock in success for everyone. Anita KH2FX, Thea KF4CJF, Ken KO4PQM and Mike KN4KXO and his XYL dropped by to observe and offer support. By the time everyone finished around 1:30 many headed to the Colonial Williamsburg Special Event and finished the day there. by NH2A ... Read more...
- Two Upgraded licenses at Field Day setup
  June 25, 2021Congratulations to Moritz K4MRZ and Donna KD2FYX! Moritz upgraded to Amateur Extra and Donna upgraded to General. What better way to start the Field Day weekend than doing it with upgraded licenses. It wasn’t easy for them either. The exams were done after 17 of us finished putting up the antennas at Little Creek Reservoir Park for Field Day. 12 of the 17 happened to be VEs, so guess how many VEs were officially invigilating for 2 candidates? I’m sure neither felt the pressure of 12 sets of eyes on them. Each did a great job! Who were those 12 VEs? Bob AJ4RS, Dan WG4F, Sparky KY4EA, Will K4MI, Gil K4JST, Jack KY4EA, Steve KO4ENU, Peter KN4UPM, Randy W4YSN, Patti KB4PAT, Fred KN4ZME, and moi, Kerry NH2A. Thank you all for sticking around after putting up the antennas and volunteering with this pop-up session. I wonder how many VEs it would take to change a light bulb? Other non-VEs who helped and cheered and clapped after both earned their new tickets were Dave AJ4XV, Chuck AI4WU, Wally WA3RWP, Christie KO4NCL and Kenzie KO4GLN. I think Anita KH2FX and Mike W4NYY, Scott KE4WMF and Owen W4ONH were also around helping get those antennas in the air. All in all it was a very productive and rewarding day. Our next scheduled test session is Saturday, 24 July at the James City-Bruton Volunteer Fire Department at 09:00. Contact me via personal message to this post, email, or call if you would like to take a test before (hopefully) the new FCC license fee is implemented. The $35 test fee start date has still not been announced yet (as of this post on 25 June), so there’s still time. Kerry. NH2A... Read more...
- Field Day June 26-27
  June 23, 2021ARRL Field Day is always held on the fourth full weekend in June. It is an emergency preparedness exercise as well as a public relations event for amateur radio. With COVID-19 restrictions mostly lifted, many amateurs are eager to get back together to operate on Field Day. We are pleased to announce that WAARC is holding a group Field Day this year. Due to COVID restrictions last year the club chose to take advantage of a temporary rule change allowing stations to work from home and be able to work each other. Though this temporary rule change is also in effect this year, the club has chosen to return to having Field Day at Little Creek Reservoir Park. A map can be found below, as well as on the club’s Field Day page. Set up will begin on Friday morning after breakfast. The group will be meeting at Sandy’s in Lightfoot around 8am. Around 10am the group will move to the Field Day site to begin putting up antennas. The group will be meeting again for breakfast at Sandy’s in Lightfoot around 8am on Saturday, and move on to the Field Day site shortly thereafter. Once the radios and other equipment are put up Saturday morning we will begin operating right at 2pm. We will be out at the park all night, operating continuously until 2pm Sunday afternoon. There will be plenty of food available throughout the weekend, with Subway sandwiches Saturday afternoon, burgers, hotdogs and barbecue Saturday evening, breakfast sandwiches and donuts on Sunday morning, with more hamburgers and hotdogs Sunday afternoon. As always, we will have two HF stations, one on CW and SSB, and a 6m station capable of operating both SSB and CW. There will also be a GOTA (Get On The Air) station for new and inexperienced operators, as well as for anyone that isn’t licensed. There are plenty of operating opportunities as well as opportunities to help log for the operators. We also are planning to have a satellite station set up to make a contact with a station via satellite. For anyone that is interested in learning about DMR, there will be an intro to DMR session as well. The session will take place at 4pm Saturday and 11am Sunday. There will be a demo of DMR and information about how to program a code plug for a DMR radio. If you are new to ham radio, or just want to come out and see what field day is about, come check us out at Field Day. Everyone is invited to come out and check out what is happening. Directions to WAARC Field Day site: From Route 60 in Toano, turn on to Forge Road and go about 2 miles. At Lakeview Drive, turn left and proceed about 1/4 mile to the first driveway into Little Creek Reservoir Park. There will be signs along Richmond Rd and Forge Rd for guidance to the Field Day site. There is also a map posted below.... Read more...
- Club Picnic Later in the Year
  June 6, 2021Normally the second Tuesday in June is our annual club picnic. However, because of how COVID-19 has impacted things, we are planning on having it later in the year. More details will be posted here when they are finalized. In place of the picnic, there will be a club meeting via Zoom on June 8. The hour of power will begin at 6pm and the regular meeting will begin at 7pm. The information for how to join the Zoom meeting will be posted on the club’s Groups.io reflector.... Read more...

Previous news posts can be found here.

About WAARC

Welcome to the WAARC web page. We are a general interest radio club in Williamsburg, Virginia, located in the historic triangle of Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. Club members participate in a variety of activities, including chasing DX, contesting, and public service.

About the Club

Groups.io

The club uses groups.io for its email communications platform. If you are a local ham please sign up for our groups.io page. More information is on the Groups.io info page