Our club call sign is W3HZW and we also publish a monthly club newsletter called Short Circuits which is published here on our website, and emailed to our members each month.

Upcoming Events

Each month we will publish the upcoming events at the club, or events within vacinity of Delaware.

The KCARC Newsletter is available each month for download. Click the "newsletter" tab at the top of the page or click here for the January 2010 Issue

The KCARC - ARES NET operates on the club's 146.970 repeater at 0900 hours each Saturday morning. The purpose of the test is to test the repeater and our operating practice. All amateur operators with a valid FCC call sign is invited to participate. You do not have to be an ARES or club member to check into the NET. You may not be interested in participating in Em Comm, so just check in to test your equipment. It only takes a minute our of your day, and it will give us some idea of how well we cover Kent County and the rest of our area. The ARES group meets the last Monday of the month at the Kent County EOC, at 1900 hours.

Winter Field Day - January 30-31, 2010
Winter Field Day, held the last full weekend in January, is a Society for the Preservation of Amateur Radio (SPAR) event. Kent County Amateur Radio Club members, along with Amateur Radio Organizations across DELMARVA and the country will participate in an Emergency Preparedness Drill. The general public is welcome to join KCARC operators to see how HAMS prepare for such emergencies by making contacts around the peninsula and country relaying important information as needed. These emergency drills are held in unusual locations to test remote set up capabilities and make sure radio communications will always be there to get the message through. The Drill will be part of a nation wide contest. In 2009 Amateur Radio supported the Brunei Darussalam flooding, Australian bushfires, Taiwan disaster, Philippines calamity, Indonesian earthquakes, and this year, the events in Haiti. On a local level Kent County Amateur Radio club supported the recent December 19, 2009 State of Emergency declared by Governor Markell during the recent snow storm; prepared to provide emergency communication should all other communication be lost. Your family probably has already benefited from them. ARES Skywarn program provides critical ground observations to the National Weather Service in storms. The National Traffic Service has provided long distance emergency communication and free radiograms for families for decades. The Red Cross uses ARES to provide emergency communications in a disaster. So do the Salvation Army, OEM, FEMA, and hundreds of counties and municipal governments. Because each radio station operator is independent but still can talk to each other, it works even when the phones are down, when there is no fax machine, and when the internet is down.

KCARC Winter Field Day Schedule
January 30, Set Up Begins 8:00 am
Location: Big Oak County Park, 585 Big Oak Road, Smyrna, DE
Bands: All bands, except 12, 17, 30 and 60 meters. Modes: Any mode
January 31, Break Down Starts 12:01 pm

Field Day, held the fourth full weekend every June, is the ARRL flagship operating event -- an opportunity for hams, and those who would like to be, to get together and communicate with other radio amateurs all over the world or possibility the International Space Station. Field Day encourages the use of radio equipment outside of permanent buildings and using electricity other than conventional means. Field Day has several purposes    - Emergency preparedness     - Recruitment and training of new radio amateurs    - Displaying ham radio to the general public Unlike other contests, Field Day is rarely a single-man operation. In fact, Field Day is frequently used to highlight to the public, the ham radio in an emergency situation. Technologies, to be displayed including Single Sideband Voice, Morse Code (CW), Amateur Digital Radio (RTTY, PSK31) Amateur TV, as well as Amateur Radio Satellite communications. The goals of ARRL Field Day is to work, or contact as many stations as possible throughout the 24-hour duration of Field Day and have Fun doing so.

For those who have never talked over ham radio or the newly licensed hams, we have the G.O.T.A Station (Get on the Air).  This station allows unlicensed or inactive people to get on the air and give ham radio a try. So, come out and see what all the fun and fuss about amateur radio and Field Day are all about, Saturday June 27th between 12-5 pm at the Ralph D Kellam C & R Center in Petersburg. Just follow the signs from Rte 13. You don't have to be a ham radio operator to participate! Stop by our Welcome Area or any of the other stations and see what amateur radio has to offer.

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