Upcoming Events

Check out our events below:

Due to the ongoing situation, all breakfast, brunch, and in person club meetings and functions are cancelled until further notice. Nets on the repeater are not impacted at this time.
The 2020 WAARC picnic, scheduled for June 9, has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 situation. There will be a virtual club meeting instead.
The weekly Williamsburg-James City County ARES net is each Wednesday at 7:30pm on the '76 repeater.
The next VE Testing Session will be held on Saturday, June 20. Please see the testing sessions page for details.

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Event Calendar

WAARC Recent News

- WAARC Field Day – Join the Fun!
  June 3, 2020As you probably already know the get-together part of the ARRL Field Day has been canceled. That’s the bad news. But the good news is that the ARRL’s recent one-time rules exemption now allows for all club members to operate from home with no restriction on using commercial power. You’ll be able to submit your own log and be recognized for your accomplishments in an issue of QST later in the year. At the same time you’ll also be able to associate yourself with WAARC and a club aggregate club score will also be included in that issue. Between now and Field Day the club’s focus is to help you with your individual emergency communications preparedness…hurricane season started June 1st and getting ready for Field Day also helps get you ready for other emergencies. Our June 9th meeting on Zoom will begin with the Hour of Power dedicated to letting our newest hams know the kinds of Field Day activities they can participate in from home even with just a Technician license. The general membership meeting program will follow immediately and focus on Field Day rules, exchanges and log submission procedures. Join us next Tuesday and lets all get ready for Field Day! Cynthia, K4CEF, and Bill, NR4C, operating from home stations.... Read more...
- June Club Picnic Cancelled
  May 28, 2020Unfortunately, due to the current situation with COVID-19 we will NOT be able to have the annual club picnic this year. We regret that we will not be able to have this annual get together, however it is best that we continue to keep our distance and remain at home whenever possible. In place of the picnic, we will have a virtual club meeting instead. Please check the groups.io reflector later on for information about how to attend the virtual meeting via Zoom.... Read more...
- Upcoming VE Testing Opportunities
  May 22, 2020With COVID-19 cancelling most testing sessions, there have been lots of questions about when there will be another chance to take a ham radio test. More importantly, with the Extra Class question pool expiring on June 30, anyone wishing to upgrade have been waiting for the chance to do so. Now that restrictions are beginning to be lifted, there are some opportunities for VE testing in June. In Gloucester, the W5YI VE Team is holding testing sessions on June 6 and 13. Both will be at the Abingdon Volunteer Fire Station 3, at 2676 Hayes Road in Hayes. Registration begins at 9AM with testing beginning at 9:30am. Anybody wishing to take a test on either date is asked to email w2jms@arrl.net so you can be notified of specific instructions for these testing sessions. In Williamsburg, a testing session is scheduled for June 20 at the James City-Bruton Fire Station 1 in Toano. Please visit the Testing Sessions page for more information. You MUST register for this testing session; no walk-ins will be accepted.... Read more...
- 2020 Jamestown Event a Big Success
  May 12, 2020K4CEF operates 40M SSB for K4RC event Despite not being able to set up a special event station on Jamestown Island, WAARC’s distributed operators for our Jamestown Special Event were very successful. While celebrating the 413th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement in North America, we had a total of 14 distributed operators through the day, with 12 taking turns on 40M SSB, one on 20M SSB, and one on 40M CW and also SSB. We have only had a CW station in addition to the main phone operation a few times over the years of this event. Our club member K4MI made a serious CW effort with 34 CW contacts in the log, so the effort was well worth it. K4MI CW station We made a total of 247 contacts for the event which is our second highest count for this short one day event in the past 16 years of data. With our scheduled operating times, we were able to have a few newer HF operators gain experience that will come in handy for our other special events in the Historic Triangle. Look for our other two special event stations this year, on July 4 in Colonial Williamsburg, and October 17 at Yorktown. NR4C on 40M SSB for K4RC By K4MI and WG4F... Read more...
- Jamestown Special Event – Trying Something New
  April 29, 20202019 Jamestown Special Event on Jamestown Island While most of the country is shut down due to the virus, our annual Jamestown Special Event will take place as scheduled on May 9. Though Historic Jamestowne is closed, we have a group of operators signed up to operate from home using the club’s K4RC call sign. We will be on the air as scheduled from 10am-4pm on 40M, around 7.265 MHz +/- QRM. We plan to spot the frequency on the spotting clusters so you can find us there. While we won’t be out at Jamestown overlooking the river, we look forward to hearing you on the air for our commemoration of the 413th anniversary of the First Permanent English Settlement in North America.... Read more...
- Virtual Club Meetings and Brunch Gatherings
  April 3, 2020Because we are unable to have in-person meetings right now, the club has explored how to have meetings virtually. After some research and testing, we have settled on using the Zoom videoconference app to have club meetings and weekly brunch get together. To be able to use Zoom, go visit https://zoom.us/download#client_4meeting to download the client to your computer. You may also download it for your iOS or Android phone or tablet. For the link to join the Club meeting or brunch gathering, please see the Groups.io email reflector. If you are not a member you can join the reflector easily. You will need to establish a Groups.io account to join the 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

Event Calendar

Below is a list of upcoming events. Go to the Events page for more info.

Repeaters and Nets

146.760 MHz (- 0.600) Skywarn Repeater
147.105 MHz (+ 0.600) IRLP Repeater
444.100 MHz (+ 5.00) Local UHF Machine
Click here for more local repeater info
Local ARES Net held every Wednesday at 7:30pm, on the 146.76 repeater.

groups.io

Recently the club has switched over its communications platform from Yahoo to groups.io. If you are a local ham please sign up for our groups.io page.

To sign up, visit groups.io, sign up for an account, then search for the WAARC-K4RC group to join!

Special Events

WAARC has three special events each year:

Jamestown in May
Colonial Williamsburg in July
Yorktown in October

For more about our annual special events, visit our special events page.