August TARCfest is Saturday!

August TARCfest is this coming Saturday, August 20th from 8:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Admission is $5.00/person and tailgating is free with paid admission.

Event will be held at the Tampa Amateur Radio Club clubhouse at 7801 N 22nd St in Tampa.

See you there!

Up early on Saturday morning? Check out the WCF and SFL HF ARES nets!

On Saturday mornings at 7:30 a.m. the ARRL West Central Florida Section ARES net is on the air on 3940 kHz. You don’t have to be an ARES member to check in, all are welcome. It’s a great opportunity to check the “close-in” communication capability of your station.

But wait…there’s more!

At 7:45 a.m. (or after the WCF net if it runs long) on the same frequency is the South Florida ARES net, and they welcome check-ins from all stations and run it as a combined net with WCF. They are looking for check-ins from Polk county so lets make sure we represent!

“LWRA QRP & Tech Tailgate” on Saturday, 7/30

On Saturday, July 30 our friends at the Lake Wales Repeater Association are hosting their monthly QRP Saturday and adding DMR to the mix. This month it will be at Lake Shipp park in Winter Haven from 9:00 a.m. until noon. If you’re interested in portable QRP operation, DMR or just want to enjoy the company of some fellow hams, come on out!

Are You Covered?

One of the greatest benefits of ARRL membership is the ability to purchase insurance on your amateur radio equipment. The premium is $1.40/$100 value (minimum premium $20) and covers your equipment for various losses with either a $25 deductible to repair or $50 to replace. For example, your resident blogger was able to cover his station equipment for $32/year! Considering we live in the lightning capital of the world, it’s definitely worth looking into.

Go to the website at https://www.arrlinsurance.com/ and check it out!

That’s a wrap!

And just like that, Field Day 2022 is over. Many thanks to all who participated and help make Field Day the excellent emergency preparation exercise (not to mention ham radio tradition) that it is. If you didn’t participate, it’s never too early to start planning for next year!

Field Day is almost here!

The biggest day of the Ham Radio year (at least the day when the largest number of operators are on the air) is almost here!

Field Day is this coming weekend, and the Lakeland Amateur Radio Club will be operating K4LKL from the grounds of the Kathleen Historical Society, 8950 N Campbell Rd, Lakeland Florida.

Work begins Friday afternoon, June 24 with getting antennas ready and start of set up. The real work begins Saturday morning, and at 2:00 p.m. the station hits the air.

For more Field Day details, see the Field Day section of ARRL.org at https://www.arrl.org/field-day

See you there!

If you’re interested in Field Day, don’t miss this month’s LARC meeting!

Field Day is rapidly approaching (June 25-26 if you haven’t been paying attention), and this month’s meeting is where we’ll be finalizing plans and discussing details. If you’re at all interested in Field Day, don’t miss it!

As always, the LARC club meeting is held on the second Monday of the month (so June 13th this month) at the Parkview Baptist Church, 509 Parkview Place at 7:00 p.m.

See you there!