News & Blog

The West Essex Amateur Radio Club returning to normal operations held our annual outing at the Grover Cleveland House in Caldwell. During this event the club operates station W2EF at the birth place of President Grover Cleveland. This event provides an opportunity for the community to visit a historic location and learn about Ham Radio as the club members work to make contacts all over the world during the event. During the event scouts from Troop 12 of Livingston…

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Meshtastic is an open-source, low-cost, long-range, and secure mesh networking platform that has been gaining popularity among technology enthusiasts and outdoor adventurers. This platform enables people to create decentralized, private, and resilient wireless networks that can operate without the need for centralized infrastructure or internet connectivity. In this article, we will explore what Meshtastic is, how it works, and why it matters. NO license needed! What is Meshtastic? Meshtastic is a software and hardware platform that allows users to…

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Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) is a mesh networking solution that utilizes amateur radio frequencies for communication. This technology provides a versatile and reliable solution for emergency communications during natural disasters or other emergency situations. Ham radio operators have long been involved in emergency communication efforts, providing a means of communication when traditional communication methods fail. AREDN takes this concept to the next level by creating a mesh network that allows multiple nodes to communicate with each other,…

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I am shocked and sad to have to report that Don, our club president, has joined the silent keys on the other side of the DX. Don passed on 26th December 2022 from complications recovering from COVID. None of us anticipated losing Don so suddenly and I am sure many of us would have wanted to share the New Year with him, all of us will miss his wisdom, experience and humor that helped keep our club together. Don…

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Our satellite tracker has finally come of age. It made its first public appearance during Field Day 2022. After some last-minute upgrades, the project was considered deployable and set to work tracking satellites for real. After a night research we were armed with a list of potential targets. The list was short, only 14 possible satellites and only three with FM transponders. The majority, and current trend is inverting linear transponders. When you take out paths that were not…

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I’ve been out a number of times with the guys running portable, but always using all or mostly their stuff. I was hemming and hawing over batteries and first portable antennas. But sooner or later you just have to jump in. I recently purchased a Bioenno BLF-1212A and made a 20M dipole. I chose the battery mostly due to its max continuous current draw of 20A which I figure will cover just about anything I might do. With that…

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 Had a Great time at our Park’s on the Air Activation of Park K-1636 Wawayanda State Park. Thanks to Matt Kaufman, K2ATV, Metin Serdar Serbetci, KD2UAF, Rich Kopelaw, KD2WJR, and Stan Rogacki, K2EXX. And we even had our newest Member Max, K9D0G show up!! LOL!! Forecast was supposed to be rain all day, but it turned out to be a Totally AWESOME DAY! Looking forward to seeing more Members on the next Activation. Lou, K2TAC. The Parks on the Air…

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 West Essex Amateur Radio Club’s 2021 ARRL Field Day Event.  Thanks to all that showed up to make this event a memorable one. Special Thanks to all my Friends from the Montclair University Repeater Group! You guys are awesome. More pictures and videos to come.   We had a great turnout of Club Members for this years Field Day.  We were able to utilize the grounds at the Rockpoint Community Church, in North Haledon, NJ.  Several of the Pastors from…

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Come Join Us!!! We at the West Essex Amateur Radio Club, will be having a Field Day Event at Rockpoint Community Church, 400 North Haledon Avenue, North Haledon, NJ 07508 starting at 2PM Saturday, June 26th, and continue through the night for a full 24 hours, until 2PM Sunday, June 27th. All are invited!! Come see us operate, learn more about how you can get involved, and even make contact with other operators both here in the US, Canada,…

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