Category Archives: Club Meetings

March 7, 2026 New-Not-So-New Workshop

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The March 7, 2026 New-Not-So-New Workshop had about a dozen folks that showed to learn about power supplies.  Steve laid out a sweet presentation on taking “old” power supplies and refurbishing them into useful power supplies for such things as our radios.

From this picture you can see that he took two power supplies and connected them to a buck converter (after adding in Schottky diode in between each lead).

It powered up his radio nicely!  Thank you Steve 😉

You missed an informational and ‘just great group of people’ time if you didn’t make it.

 

March 5, 2026 WARC Club Meeting

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The meeting was called to order with 20 members present.  After the welcome and all the reports were given and voted on, we heard reports of recent Amateur Radio activities (i.e., the last New-Not-So-New Workshop where Doug gave us the low down on Half Wave Dipoles, the SEARS rocket launches held in Samson, AL and the Fox Hunt at Southeast Parkway.)

A break from the actual meeting was taken for a Hands-on Activity to introduce an activity that will be used for the Tailgate in April.  The Daleville Library (Rachel Horne, Head Librarian) had previously turned us on to the SNAP Circuits for kids to learn about electronics (and some skills needed for the Amateur Extra Exam).  We assembled 5 different projects in teams of 3 or 4 folks.  Resistors, switches, speakers, and LED’s were assembled in various configurations for the projects assigned.  All groups completed their projects in under 15 minutes with laughter and delight abounding.

We then settled down and returned to the meeting.  The WARC Activities Sheet is pleasantly being filled in with names for folks offering demonstrations and helping with activities.

Greg Lane has informed us of the RaDAR Rally upcoming on April 4th.  He sent a link to help understand what happens:  https://youtu.be/hDh9sdOAX4M?si=XERvNqGH-Rc8dhuR

We discussed the April 24th Tailgate in depth.  We approved the flyer.  The Duty Roster was passed around and names were added as helpers/anchors/volunteers.  WE STILL NEED MORE!

We talked of the Rookie Round-Up.  Charles Woodall is heading this up.  Jimmie Hassell has agreed to help get it going.  https://www.arrl.org/rookie-roundup is a site to help you understand what this event is about.  The April 19th (Sunday) event is Single Side Band (SSB) and is open to all Amateur Radio Operators who have been licensed 3 years or less (that’s a Rookie).  Other helpers are needed as well and they need folks to contact,… so get with Charles and let’s make it happen.

June 6th is the Tri-States Bike Ride this year.  We voted to participate in this event again.  Charles is heading up this one too.  A sheet was passed around to sign up.  The New-Not-So-New Workshop that was scheduled for that date has been canceled to accommodate folks helping with this event.

A few in-house items were discussed and then we learned about power supplies and how they work from Steve Norris.  He demonstrated a Flyback Transformer with a memorable story to share.  This Saturday he will teach how to make our own power supplies.  (Starts at 9AM – don’t be late;-)

Afterwards, the meeting was adjourned and Doug sold raffle tickets which are now on sale!  The grand prize for the Spring Tailgate on April 24th, 2026 is the Yaesu FTM-150R.  You do not have to be present to win the grand prize.  You do have to be present to win door prizes given throughout the day.

I have attached the flyer for the tailgate in case you can’t find it anywhere else.

TriClub Spring Tailgate

Great meeting y’all!

BLC

February 12, 2026 ARES Meeting

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Thursday, February 12th, 2026, the WARC ARES members met at the Red Cross building in Dothan.  After welcome and roll call, task books were signed off for completed works by our Emergency Coordinator, Alan Curtis.  Current ID badges were distributed.

Discussion of Upcoming Events:

February 21st Fox Hunt at Eastgate Park in Dothan.  Coordinator Jimmy Hassell has it under control.  Eastgate is located at 2049 Sanitary Dairy Road.

SkyWarn Basic Training.  Virtual Class signups going on now.  Dates:  Feb 19 & 25.  2 more in March.  Advanced Class is March 10th.

Jim Bell Wireless Association Club Visit March 7th.

Camping Trip at Blue Springs for POTA activation.  April 11th date selected.

Project for NNSN Workshop:  Clint’s Jungle Antenna

Discussed June 6th Tri-State Bike Ride.

Routine Message recaps.  Phone Tree exercise information.

After some lively discussion on antennas and POTA, we adjourned at 7:25pm.

BLC

February 5, 2026 WARC Club Meeting

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We had two visitors last night, both of whom are already licensed. Very nice gentlemen.
It was great to hear how many participated in some way for Winter Field Day!  Thank you all for making that happen 🙂
We discussed the April 25th Tri-Club Tailgate being held in Headland.  Daleville and Enterprise are working with us to make this a fantastic event.  We have classes planned, testing, an antenna park, and a raffle with a sweet grand prize.
We are cancelling our October 24th Tailgate in Headland and moving testing to the American Red Cross because we voted to combine with DARC and EARS again for a HAMFEST to be held at the Daleville Convention Center/Armory on September 12th, 2026.  Hopefully we will have a bigger event with more classes and more vendors if we can gear-up enough at the Spring Tailgate in Headland.
Charles Woodall has agreed to head up the Rookie Roundup this year at our clubhouse.  It will be April 19th.  More info to come on that.
Doug Bates gave a talk on Half Wave Dipoles and created a lively discussion.  Great job Doug and we are looking forward to Saturday’s (tomorrow’s) Workshop on them.

January 3, 2026 WARC Meeting

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The first meeting of WARC was this morning.  No new guests or visitors, just the home crowd.
Under topics, the Future Activities Events Sheets was passed around.  Some additions were added.  There is still more, especially for Demo/Informational Talks during the monthly meetings.  Jimmie Hassell is the head of the committee to hog tie y’all into doing these, but I thought I’d ask sweetly first 🙂  He also could use a few folks to help organize these or help come up with ideas.
January 24th-25th is Winter Field Day.  Ed Winkler and some others will be out at Blue Springs State Park.  Alan and I will make a plan to be there and support this event.  (Ed, please send times/itinerary so we can all be up to speed.)
April 19th will be the Rookie Roundup.  This is a chance to wrangle up all newbies (those licensed 3 years or less and maybe some wanna be’s).  Al DeWeese has offered to open the station.  Charles doesn’t know that we have him as coordinator – surprise Charles 😉
April 25th is the Spring Tailgate which will be a joint effort with Daleville and Enterprise Clubs.  We should have more details and flyers soon.  Any input or comments would be greatly appreciated.  Yes, we will be looking for vendors… could use help in asking them to come.
And,…. we would like a few volunteers to be on the Club Events Team.  This team just keeps an eye on all things Ham Radio and opportunities to make our club shine and then suggest these ideas to the club in a timely manner.  I confess, that I do not have enough time to keep up on all fronts and could really use the help here.  I would like our club to have a really fun, educational and successful year.
Thank you to all you participated today!
KM4RBE
Barbara
Jimmie Hassell did an informational talk on putting together a portable antenna which created quite a lively discussion.  Thank you Jimmie!

Saturday, August 9, 2025 New-and-Not-So-New Hams Workshop

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On Saturday, August 9, 2025, at the W4DHN Workshop, Hams met to have a “practice” Fox Hunt.  Antenna’s were tuned and tweaked and radios prepped.  There was a general explanation of what was going to happen and then Doug went out and hid the Fox for all the participants.  The action then began.  Participants scoured all directions looking for the elusive transmitter.  The first hunt really got folks on their toes trying to “bond” with their equipment and figure out all the nuances.  Therefore, the second hunt went pretty smoothly; well, you had to get below the trailer bodies to get a better signal:-)

We had 15 participants and a really fun time!  Thanks to Jimmy and Greg for getting this together for us.  We will be coming up with another one in the near future with a little more difficulty.  Hurah!

Thanks to all who came out and made this a success!

 

August 7th, 2024 W4DHN Meeting

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At our August 7th, 2024 W4DHN Club Meeting held at 6:30pm in the American Red Cross Building on Montezuma Avenue, Vice President Dave presided over the meeting.  There was a call to order and introductions of visitors and then general introductions.

Reports were given.  There was a special report by Alan regarding the October Simulation Emergency Test.  All States will engage in this testing with each state competing against each other.  The state with the most points gained during the activation wins.  Last year, Alabama won (and we didn’t compete).  September is the season prep month for emergencies.

A recap of the 2025 Field Day was given. (There is one on the website for those of you who missed it.)  We had over 300 contacts.

There was a discussion of the repeater equipment that needed to be purchased which was a rack for the UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) to get it up off the floor and out of the way for the building maintenance guy.

Requests for volunteers to come up with a program for a club meeting was made.  A program should be between 5 to 15 minutes or so.  It can be anything from technical (How to Make something) or social (How you contacted a specific contact) or travel (A special trip making various contacts.  There is a wide band of Ham Radio Operations and our club only touches a few.  If you are involved or want to be involved in another area of Ham Radio, bring your research or how you got involved and sign up for a date.

For those of you who haven’t joined the W4DHN Groups.io, or if you aren’t getting all the messages, make sure to ask Al if you haven’t joined and then check that your own profile is set up and make it public.  This will only be visible inside our group.

We then had a recap program from Greg for Saturday’s Fox Hunt.  Byonics.com is where he got his Fox from.

Meeting was adjourned.

BLC

Fox Hunt Information and Exercise

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On Thursday, August 7th, 2025, during the W4DHN monthly meeting which starts at 6:30pm, Greg will give information and tips for what to do in Ham Radio Fox Hunting.  This is another skill available to Ham Radio Operators that involves finding a hidden radio transmitter.  It’s a lot like a scavenger hunt, orienteering, or geocaching involving radios.  It requires simple direction finding equipment.  It is relatively easy to learn with just a few basic skills needed.  Also, it is recognized as a competitive sport called ARDF.

Why is Fox Hunting an important skill?  It is used in Search and Rescue (crash sites, stranded people, wildlife beacons, and distress signals).  It is also used for locating interference (i.e., jammers, illegal transmissions, stuck transmitters, and other sources of noise).

On the following Saturday at the New-and-Not-So-New Ham Workshop, held at the Red Cross building, 1004 Montezuma Avenue, Dothan (same place at the monthly meetings), we will meet at 9am and progress to the next door parking lot and work on actual skills.  Bring your antenna finding rig and your thinking caps and have some fun as Jimmy and Greg will put us through the paces of becoming adept at finding the “Fox”.  This will be sure to be an informative and fun time.  Hope to see you there!

       

 

June 12, 2025 ARES Club Meeting

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Thursday evening at 6:30pm, the W4DHN ARES group had it’s monthly meeting.  After the roll call and information dissemination and Task Book updates, we assembled in the radio room and Al DeWeese gave us a run down on how to turn on/turn off/ and how to use the antennas with the club radios.  A very informative time!  We decided to have a Saturday workday that we each do it a few times to make sure we have a firm grip on the process.  We also decided to get a copy of the manuals for the radios for familiarity with each one and to make sure that they are loaded on the computer in pdf form for ease of use should the need arise.  Al said he would check into that.

We then reassembled back in the meeting room and discussed the Radiogram Multiple Frequency Exercise and decided to table it until August.

The Rag Chew on 80 meters was discussed and was voted to move to Friday evenings at 8:30pm beginning in August.  A discussion of the Rag Chew on our ARES net each Tuesday night to see if folks liked it or not and was agreed upon to keep it on the Tuesday 2M FM nets.

Bruno discussed the QST articles regarding the FEMA disasters and the Ham operator that was such a blessing to many by getting information to loved ones and to get help to the areas that needed it.

We discussed about finding the highest areas around the Houston and Dale County areas for ease of line of sight Simplex communications.  Dan said that he would find some topo maps for next meeting.

The July ARES meeting is cancelled.   We will resume August 14th.

Another fantastic ARES meeting!

     

BLC