Upcoming Events

Check out our events below:

Until the JCC Library lifts restrictions on meeting rooms, all monthly club meetings will be held via Zoom. Check the WAARC groups.io page for info.
The weekly Williamsburg-James City County ARES net is each Wednesday at 7:30pm on the '76 repeater.

Event Calendar

WAARC Recent News

- Testimonial of Bill, NR4C/sk
  April 2, 2021We have a lot of newer members in the Williamsburg Area Amateur Radio Club, and with the COVID restrictions and practices, many may not have had the opportunity to get to know Bill Conkling, NR4C who became a silent key late last month. Bill was a long-time member of WAARC and a friend to all of us. Below we share a testimonial of Bill. Bill Conkling, NR4C/sk got his initial start in electronics in the 1960’s when he got deeply involved in building and operating radio-controlled airplanes. After obtaining an FCC Class C license he enjoyed building several 27 MHz six- and ten-channel transmitters and receivers for his fleet of planes. In 2002 a friend who had just received his Amateur Radio Technician class license sparked Bill’s interest in ham radio. Bill received his Technician class license in April 2002, with the KG4TFF call sign. He quickly upgraded to General and Extra class licenses becoming AG4YQ and then NR4C. Upon first becoming a licensed Amateur Radio operator, Bill joined both the Williamsburg Area Amateur Radio Club (WAARC) and the Middle Peninsula Amateur Radio Club (MPARC). Over the years Bill held several elected offices in both clubs, serving as Vice President of WAARC in 2003, President in 2010 and later Director at Large. Dividing his time between WAARC and MPARC, he was elected Vice President of MPARC in 2012 and served as President for two different terms. His affiliation with the Potomac Valley Radio Club (PVRC) Colonial Chapter began in April 2007, leading the chapter for several years. Bill became a Volunteer Examiner in both the ARRL and W5YI Volunteer Examiner systems, heading up the W5YI program at MPARC for several years as well as assisting the Hampton Public Service Group and the WAARC testing programs. Bill became a key player in WAARC’s participation in the annual Field Day event in 2004 and in WAARC’s annual three Historic Triangle Special Events stations beginning in 2005. He was a major part of those three annual Special Events. For many years he coordinated with the National Park Service for the Jamestown Island and Yorktown Battlefield events and with Colonial Williamsburg for the July 4th event and served as the primary WAARC point of contact with both agencies and ensured announcements were published in the QST magazine and a smooth operation occurred on event day. He was a mainstay for those events, always present, lending his own equipment from battery cables to logging computers, antennas, and most generously his state-of-the-art transceiver many times. His contributions as an Elmer include coordinating Morse Code classes, introducing the club to an antenna support launching “spud gun” with several members copying his design, suppling 3-D printed parts for their launchers, encouraging members in their home brewing efforts, supporting the club’s Builders Group, and providing impromptu lessons in cable connectors and many other topics. He was a frequent participant in Amateur Radio support of local community events, along with providing updates on club events and serving as the club’s official “breakfastmeister” coordinating weekly Saturday morning breakfasts and Wednesday lunches with local restaurants. For his longtime support of the Williamsburg Area Amateur Radio club, our local amateur radio community, and ham radio in general, Bill was the second recipient of the club’s Jim Bailey KB4ZIN award in 2019. A memorial service will be held at 2pm, Thursday, April 8, 2021 outdoors in the churchyard at Bruton Parish Church.... Read more...
- One-Year anniversary of the Coffee & Radio net
  March 21, 2021On Saturday March 20th our WAARC Director at Large Dino Papas KLØS hosted the one-year anniversary edition of the club’s daily Coffee & Radio Net. There were 47 net members who checked in by radio with a number using the KB4ZIN repeater’s newly installed EchoLink system. The first check-in was appropriately offered to Kent Brinkley KN4ZMF who was the first check-in on March 20, 2020 during the net’s very first session. Kent was followed by 46 more check-ins with the net lasting almost an hour and a half. Immediately following the net Dino quickly QSY’d to host the club’s Virtual Builders Group on Zoom. The net continues to meet daily at 9:00 am and a host of new Net Control Stations have stepped forward to fill in for several regular net controls who are teaching the club’s Technician licensing and General Class upgrade classes. During the Friday and Saturday anniversary nets many individuals commented on how much the camaraderie and positive outlook of the Coffee & Radio Net has meant to them during the pandemic.... Read more...
- EchoLink Functionality now on ’76 Machine
  March 17, 2021Recently there has been an interest in checking into nets when people are away from the area. While there is IRLP capabilities available on the 147.105 machine, this requires having a repeater or simplex node in order to connect via IRLP. Echolink is not restricted to repeater connections, which makes it easier to connect when away from the area. There are apps for smartphones, tablets, as well as a PC application which allow connections to repeaters as well as directly with other users. In order to use Echolink, you will need to download the application to the device you wish to use. For smartphones and tablets, search for the free “Echolink” app in your device’s app store. For PCs, visit www.echolink.org and download the installer file. Unfortunately, this program is only available for Windows-based machines. If you have not used EchoLink before, you will have to validate your license by uploading an official copy of your license from the FCC database. If you need instructions on how to do this, please visit https://www.fcc.gov/how-obtain-official-authorizations-uls. To connect to the ’76 repeater via EchoLink, open the EchoLink application and search for KB4ZIN-R. There is a limit of 10 users at one time connected to the repeater via EchoLink. If there are several users connected and you are just listening, you may wish to disconnect and use the live stream via Broadcastify instead. This is available at https://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/29772. This feature would not be possible without the help of Jerome K8LF and Chuck AI4WU. Jerome set up a temporary link at his QTH for testing purposes to demonstrate how the functionality works. The popularity was encouraging, and Chuck set up the equipment necessary to have the functionality present at the repeater site. Also, thanks go out to Chris KC4CMR for allowing the addition of the EchoLink node to the 146.76 repeater.... Read more...
- Congratulations to KB4PAT on her license upgrade
  February 25, 2021Congratulations to Patti KB4PAT who passed her General exam today under the watchful eye of the WAARC VE team. Led by Kerry NH2A, our club VE Coordinator, and VEs Pat KA4PAB, Jim AF4QG and Jack KY4EA the team gathered at the NH2A/KH2FX QTH for the session. The WAARC VE program has grown as has the club over the past three years and during COVID our testing methodology has changed from large group sessions to smaller more frequent targeted sessions. Looking forward to hearing Patti on HF now!... Read more...
- 2021 KB4ZIN Award Presentation
  February 10, 2021This past year has been unlike any other. We have not been able to have meetings at the library, and other gatherings have been heavily modified due to the COVID-19 situation. Nonetheless, amateur radio continued on and with that comes the presentation of the 2021 KB4ZIN award. This award was conceived in 2017 by Bill Conkling, NR4C to honor a local ham that has made great contributions to the Williamsburg ham community, and the hobby as a whole. The award is in honor of Jim Bailey, KB4ZIN who passed away in April 2017. Jim developed the repeater network in the Williamsburg area. His call sign remains on the repeaters to this day, and the repeaters are now maintained by the Williamsburg Area Repeater Group. The club normally honors the recipient of the KB4ZIN award at the annual club dinner, however due to restrictions on the size of group gatherings this did not take place. Instead, the 2021 recipient was honored during the February 2021 Zoom club meeting. The recipient of the 2021 KB4ZIN award is Dino Papas, KL0S. Dino has been a huge asset to the Williamsburg ham radio community for many years. He served as WAARC president from 2018-2019, and is currently the club’s Director At-Large. Dino has hosted the club’s Builders’ Group in the garage at his QTH, where folks bring projects to work on along with any tools they need, and can get assistance from elmers that are familiar with soldering and hombrew projects. With the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020 Dino organized the Coffee and Radio net on the 146.760 repeater at 9am every morning. The net continues to this day for hams in the local area to check in and keep everyone informed on what is going on in the local area. To date 208 unique call signs have checked in to the net. In addition to the daily net, Dino also sent out a daily dose of ham radio humor for 90 days to break up the monotony of the quarantine. Each recipient of the KB4ZIN award receives a plaque that they get to keep for one year, that lists the names of each person that received the award. There is also a small trophy in the shape of a microphone that the recipient can keep forever. This year instead of being presented at the club dinner, members of the KB4ZIN award committee organized a parade at Dino’s house to present him with the award and celebrate with him. WAARC would like to congratulate Dino for being the recipient of the KB4ZIN award in 2021.... Read more...
- I-Move Van at the Toano Farmer’s Market
  January 17, 2021On Saturday, January 16 the I-Move van was brought out to the Toano Farmer’s Market, in conjunction with a community event where kits with masks and hand sanitizer were handed out. The I-Move van is a project created by the James City-Bruton Volunteer Fire Department for community outreach regarding fire safety and prevention. It also has a 2 Meter transceiver installed for use by the CERT team during their events. During the event, Jack KN4VSS ran the daily Coffee and Radio net from inside the van. Several club members also stopped by to see the van in its completed form. Some pictures of the van are posted below. Thanks to Randy KM4YSN and Jerome K8LF for providing the photos from the event.... Read more...
- 2021 Election Information
  December 16, 2020Because WAARC will not be able to have a meeting at the library in January 2021 we have had to modify the election procedures for this year. Those that are planning to attend the meeting via Zoom will be able to vote during the virtual meeting. Update: the deadline to submit a ballot by mail has passed. We hope that you will be able to attend the virtual club meeting on Tuesday, January 12 at 7pm. All information needed to join the virtual meeting is on the Groups.io page. For those members not able to attend the virtual meeting, you may download and mail in a ballot. If you choose to do this, please observe the following instructions: Ballots should only be used if you do not plan on attending the January 2021 Zoom meeting. You must be a member in good standing. Sign and mail the completed ballot to WAARC’s P.O. Box.: WAARC P.O. Box 1470 Williamsburg, VA 23187 Write BALLOT on the outside of the envelope. Ballots must be received NLT Wednesday January 6th, 2021. Click Here for the WAARC 2021 Ballot Since there are multiple candidates for the office of Vice-President, we have information about each candidate you may read to find out more about them. Randy Altona KM4YSN bio Jack Espinal KN4VSS bio... Read more...
- Yorktown Special Event This Saturday
  October 16, 2020This weekend is WAARC’s annual Yorktown Special Event that coincides with the commemoration of the General Cornwallis and the British’s surrender to George Washington and the Colonial Army in 1781, which helped end the American Revolution. This year will be the 239th anniversary of the surrender. While we are normally set up in the parking lot of the Yorktown Battlefield Visitor Center, due to COVID-19 this facility will not be available to us this year. Randy WB7URZ has worked with the Watermen’s Museum along the York River to get us an alternate operating location. We will be set up on the deck behind the museum. This year there will also be a fox hunt that coincides with the special event in Yorktown. Randy WB7URZ will be hiding his 70cm fox somewhere in the Yorktown area. Bring your dual-band handheld and join in the fun! As always, we will be on the air from 10am-4pm, and plan to operate on or around 7.265 MHz +/- QRM. We will be listening for your call! The Yorktown Special Event is the third of our Historic Triangle Special Event series. If you work all three of our special event stations, you are eligible for a very nice certificate. QSL information, as well as info about the other events can be found on the special events page.... Read more...
- Fox Hunting in Yorktown
  October 13, 2020Over the past couple weeks Randy WB7URZ has hidden a “fox” in and around the Yorktown area. If you are new to fox hunting, a fox hunt is a search for a radio transmitter that has been hidden somewhere. It is good practice for using direction finding antennas when tracking down an unusual or possibly problematic signal. While the fox is transmitting, you listen for where the signal is strongest, and move toward that direction. This is where directional antennas can come in handy. Also, some have found that the cheaper Chinese radios do not work as well as handhelds made by the “Big 3” manufacturers. Several club members made the trip to Yorktown to look for the fox. At first Randy hid it in a place that was easy to locate, but over time he began finding more tricky spots that proved to really test the skills of even the more experienced hams. Overall, the fox hunts have been a big success. Allan, WD4ITE brought his friend and her grandkids to Yorktown one day to show them what fox hunting is about. They seemed really interested, and had a lot of fun. Not only that, but they also are beginning to study for their technician license as well! While you do not need an amateur license to listen to or hunt for the fox, this can be a valuable way to attract new hams to the hobby. Randy has also offered to hide the fox during our Yorktown Special Event on Saturday, October 17. If you are interested in joining in the fun, bring your 70cm (440 MHz) handheld, and if you have a directional antenna, bring that too! We look forward to seeing you out there!... Read more...
- N4MW with his new IC-705
  October 13, 2020WAARC member Dave Meir N4MW recently received his new Icom IC-705 HF/VHF/UHF portable QRP radio. The IC-705 has been anxiously anticipated and is now shipping. You can see details here: http://www.icomamerica.com/en/products/amateur/handheld/705/default.aspx Or at DX Engineering’s site: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/ico-ic-705 Dave purchased his rig from Main Trading Company where he has dealt for several previous purchases: https://www.mtcradio.com/icom-ic-705-all-mode-qrp-all-mode-hf-vhf-uhf-now-shipping/ There are a whole raft of accessories like backpacks, portable antennas, etc. that are going to make this a very popular radio. Expect to hear lots of them from Summits on the Air (SOTA), Parks on the Air (POTA) and as a microwave IF system in VHF/UHF “rover” operations. Dino, KL0S... 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