Category Archives: Club Meetings
ARES Camping & POTA Event
On April 10-12th, the Houston WARC ARES group camped at Blue Springs State Park and activated for POTA (Parks on the Air). In total 17 folks attended and most made at least the 10 activations with overachievers making 30+. A variety of antennas and rigs were brought out and lots of CQ’s rang out. Friday night was semi-quiet, but after the pancake and sausage breakfast it was all hands to the mic’s and knobs! A break for hamburgers and hotdogs for a late lunch and we were back at it. Was a busy weekend but oh so fun! We did do a wind down campfire on Saturday night.
Thank you to all who participated!

April 9, 2026 ARES Meeting
Thursday evening, April 9, 2026, the Dothan W4DHN ARES group had it’s monthly meeting at the American Red Cross located on Montezuma Avenue. After the welcome, Alan went over task books and updates. We discussed previous events such as the Pizza and VarAC Friday night event. We then moved on to future events. April 10th – 12th, the ARES group will host a camp-out and POTA activation at Blue Springs State Park. We will be working totally off battery and not using the repeater. This is an exercise to see how well we fare should we have to go portable during a storm or other disaster. We also discussed the Tri-State Bike Ride and that we are tapped in to help.
We had discussions on future topics and then did WinLink on the club computer.
As always, great night with ARES!
April 2, 2026 W4DHN Meeting


March 7, 2026 New-Not-So-New Workshop
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
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.
Great meeting y’all!
BLC
February 12, 2026 ARES Meeting
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 7, 2026 New-Not-So-New Workshop
On Saturday, February 7, 2026, WARC ham members met to be involved in Doug Bates constructing a half-wave dipole. After our eat, greet and work on radios time, we got started and learned some interesting facts of dipoles and cables and what are the best parts to use in connections. Doug presented a fantastic session!

February 5, 2026 WARC Club Meeting

January 3, 2026 WARC Meeting

