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ARES Camping & POTA Event

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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

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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

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Meeting was called to order.  One new member attending.  Welcome Bob!  17 members present.
Secretary & Treasure’s Reports were read and approved.
Reports of last months NNSN Workday on Power Supplies demonstrated by Steve, Al & Bob JV’s visit to Dothan Dodge to help find the culprit of discharging batteries and not working key fobs, and the impromptu POTA get together at Dale County Park were all purveyed.
Under Topics:
A question arose as to if WARC carries insurance on all our equipment.  No one knew off the top of their head, so Al said he would check into it.  It was mentioned that ARRL carries such insurance should we need it.
The Future WARC Activities Sheet was mentioned to keep members up to date on happenings.
April 4th is the RaDAR Rallies.  Greg will be at Dale County Park.
April Tailgate is coming up on the 25th.  The Spring Tailgate Opportunities List STILL needs some helpers.  I expect to see volunteers to be on hand for the Tape Measure Antenna with Steve and some volunteers to help Alan with the Antenna Park.  We need some back up folks for the Kids Educational Station.  WE NEED VENDORS and people to get the flyers out.  It would be preferrable if you would let us know that you will make the commitment to help in a particular area.
Rookie Roundup is April 19th.  Charles and Jimmie will be at the club helping newbies (hams licensed less than 3 years) get on the air and making contacts and answering any questions.  Charles will put out information closer to the date with times.
June 6th is the Tri-States Bike Ride.  Charles will check with bike club and see if they want to come touch base with us next meeting.
Clinton then did a presentation of a Jungle Antenna.
At the NNSN Workday, Jimmie did the build for Clinton.  Simple and works!  Just like Hams like it!  Great job!
Attached are flyers for you to pass out, post, disseminate…. do something with to get people to come!
New Not So New Workshop Pics:
Flyer to disseminate:
BLC

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 21, 2026 Fox Hunt

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All those who participated had a fun filled morning.  Three clubs were represented well,13 in all.  Weather looked bleak early in the morning but cleared out for a wonderful
day.  Everyone present were talented enough to find both foxes (although a few were seen wandering aimlessly at times). Door prizes were handed out, followed by a
good round of tech talk. Talks were held about a hunt for next month; all were exited about it.  A third fox was donated by Carl of the Enterprise club.  Many, many thanks for that.  That will make the next hunt even more fun.  Thanks again Carl!

Al declared himself the winner as he found both foxes first, way to go Al.

                  

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!