Ideas for Your First HF Station

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New to Ham Radio?Questions about setting a up station?Which radio do I buy?Which antenna should I use? WEARC will help you find the answers to these questions and more. This is not a sales pitch. This presentation will highlight the options available for setting up a station in your home or apartment. You can enjoy all of the fun of communicating h...

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In the midst of a Global Pandemic what are we to do?

The Absolute Fact is Clear. We are in the Midst of a Global Pandemic. With so many casualties due to Covid-19, and the World Powers frantically looking for a cure. What are We to do? Are we to live our lives in Fear? Or, like many others, would we choose to Live? Yes, there are the obvious truths that many are walking around with the virus unknowin...

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2021 Winter Field Day - The Rookie's First

20210131_115611 Lou , KD2TSC with Gary DeYoung, KB2JXM and 3 different Antenna's. BuddiStick, Moonraker, and Dual Band DIY Dipole on 15 ft. tripod.

Winter Field Day 2021 was a new experience for me in my Ham Operators Journey.  This was my first Contest that I ever participated in. Had no idea what to expect.  Except, that I was going to have a Blast!  While no Records were broken, Lessons were Learned.  New Friendships were started.  Old Friendships were For...

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Neither Cold, Nor Snow, Nor Howling Winds!

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That's right! Neither Cold, Nor Snow, Nor Howling Winds, will keep these Hams from going out and testing their gear and making contact. The same held true for a couple of us WEARC Club Members. Lou Mercado - KD2TSC, Wayne Oshin - KD2UXU, and Metin Serdar Serbetci - KD2UAF. This past Saturday we packed our gear and went to Eagle Rock Reservation, in...

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2021 Field Day

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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 y...

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2021 ARRL Field Day Event

 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.&nb...

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WEARC Parks on the Air Activation of Wawayanda State Park - 10/16/2021

 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 AWE...

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2 Days with an X6100

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This is that radio that people either love or hate. I'm in the middle. Right out of the box it feels solid but that was the last moment I felt only one way about this radio. The manual states that the initial few charges should take about 8 hours. I found that it took much less time to get the steady green light. And that unsettled me, because a fa...

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Simple Guide for a POTA activation

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To conduct a POTA (Parks on the Air) activation, which involves operating amateur radio equipment from a designated park or natural area, follow these general steps: Research Parks: Identify parks or natural areas that are eligible for POTA activations. You can visit the POTA website (https://parksontheair.com/) or use the POTA mobile app to find e...

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Grover Cleveland Special Event - 2022

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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 ...

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WEARC Fox Hunt April 2023

WEARC-Fox-Hunt Fox Hunt 2023

The fox: Bionics MicroFox 15 (@146.565 MHz) https://www.byonics.com/mf The "hunting weapons": MWRF Source SMA Male to SMA Female 6GHz Attenuator 2W (30 dB) The greatest transceiver of all times: Baofeng UV5R   SDR: Nooelec RTL-SDR v5 SDR - NESDR Smart HF/VHF/UHF (100kHz-1.75GHz) USB C Male to USB female adaptor Compass: BIJIA Orienteering...

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AREDN

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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 e...

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Meshtastic

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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 con...

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Unexpected passing of our President Don K2DEG

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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 wisdo...

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First Public Display of the WEARC Satellite Tracker

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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...

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Starting a New Life for the Clubs Donated IC-701

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Long before I joined the club a couple of years ago, a club member, now a silent key, donated his IC-701. He was Harold K2IBM an active member who recently went silent key. Since we have been getting some new club members there is a need for a "loner HF station" so a new member who has not yet invested in a rig can get on the air. In the past these...

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"Flying Solo"

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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 dr...

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How to Set-Up and Test Your Station

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A beginners guide to practical testing, setting up your equipment and how to start at Homebrew. This is a blog of the first run of this presentation captured from a Skype Club Meeting held Wednesday January 27th, 2021. The recorded video and a downloadable set of slides are below.  Part One – How to set-up and test your station • We review typ...

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New Operator Considers HF Antenna Options

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For someone that has no technical background in engineering or electronics, getting started in amateur radio during a global pandemic presents some unique challenges over and above that which would normally be faced by such an individual. This blog post will chronicle one man's journey through the uncharted waters (for him) of getting started in am...

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Sharing my antenna tuner

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After a club.meeting some members asked for a demonstration of using an antenna tuner. Although there are a lot of YouTube videos and articles online I did not see an example like the one I was given as a young operator. Loading an incandescent light bulb Using a light bulb as a dummy load is a good way of seeing how tuning affects power. Fun as we...

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Covid Has Not Deterred VE Testing by WEARC

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The West Essex Amateur Radio Club of Essex Fells, NJ, continues to conduct VE testing with the examinees remaining in their cars under a covered car port at a local office building in Fairfield, NJ.The club has been conducting the VE testing concurrently with the American Red Cross Amateur Radio Club so they could utilize the facility as well for t...

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Sad passing of member Harold - W2IBM

HAROLD-FRANK Harold, second from the left with red tie

Born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Harold was a resident of West Caldwell, New Jersey since 1973. In his later retirement years, Harold became a snowbird who spent his winters in Longboat Key, Florida. An army veteran and a graduate of University of Wisconsin-Madison, Harold was an electrical engineer who worked on the space program at Genera...

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So you passed your Technicians Exam, What Next?

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OK, you finally got the nerve to go and take the Technician Exam, and Wallah! You passed! What next? Well, I believe we've all been in that same position. Lucky for you, you're in the right place if you took the Exam at a local Radio Club.Stick around and ask questions. Pretty much everyone in the Hobby is willing to help out a New Ham. If you're a...

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Our Holiday Party

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Our annual Holiday party was held on Saturday December 14th, 7PM at Don Pepe II. Spouses, significant other, and other were invited. We had a great record breaking turn out this year, over 20 people attending! Our President Don awarded a liquid prize to the person having the nearest birthday. This was won by Harold W2IBM.

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Battleship New Jersey Visit

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On November 2, 2019, members of the West Essex Amateur Radio Club embarked on a ham-centered field trip to the battleship New Jersey located in Camden New Jersey. In attendance were members Bret, (AC2NI), Steve, (AC2EI), Phil, (KD2PQZ), Henry (KC2WRQ), Steve, (N2DH), with the group being led by our esteemed president, Don (K2DEG). We were warmly re...

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WEARC Goes to the ARRL

WEARC Trip to ARRL Headquarters The view as we drove up.

Don K2DEG and Benett AC2NI took a trip to the ARRL on June 11th, 2019. We won't bore you with all the details but.....  Both Don and I have been hams for many, years yet neither of us had ever been to the ARRL. We decided it was about time. Our group was supposed to be larger but 2 members' personal commitments caused ...

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DMR Hot Spot Night

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Tonight's general meeting turned into a show and tell for DMR Hot Spots, three members showed their personal Hot Spots and these covered the range from home made to commercial supported unit. You see all three in the photo. The one on the left was from Benett AC2NI who was the first member to build his Hot Spot and use DMR. In turn the middle unit ...

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Education Lesson on FT 8

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The following outline is an introduction to the digital mode on hf. 1.Get the latest software at https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/k1jt/wsjtx.html2.Your computer needs digital audio drivers3.Your computer has to be in sync with the time and must be within +/-.5 seconds https://time.gov/4.Regardless of what band your rig is on it must be in USB5....

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Ted - W2PNE Looks Back

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My interest in ham radio began when I was a sophomore in high school, age 14, and KN2VVN demonstrated his ARC-5 World War II receiver and transmitter. Having told me about all the countries he previously contacted I was somewhat surprised when all I heard were these strange sounds of dots and dashes, and yet, there was something about putting on th...

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Anonymous Equipment Donation

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At our general meeting on 6/19/2019 we were about to start planning the upcoming Field Day when a stranger appeared at the door. We think W3??? Announced himself and offered us the remnants of his ham gear because he wanted it to go to a good home. He was downsizing and leaving Ham Radio and had found us from our website. In the excitement to see w...

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My new Kenwood TS890

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 This is an amazing radio. The receive clarity is outstanding. I am a SSB rag chewer so I really enjoy clean clear audio. My previous rig was the Kenwood TS590S. I enjoyed using that radio. It has excellent clarity but the TS890 take the receive to a new level. The quality of the signals I receive are so clear and crisp. It makes listening muc...

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Repairing our Alpha Delta Parallel Dipole Antenna

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Our May 15th club meeting was used to repair our "new" Alpha Delta Parallel Dipole Antenna. This antenna is a Parallel Dipole Antennas which consist of the Alpha Delta DELTA-C center insulator and end insulators, ISO-RES coils connected to the 80/40/15 meter wires, and separate wires for 20 and 10 meters. You can find details of the antenna here. &...

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The New Beginning - From Our President Donald Saltzman, K2DEG

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The WEARC started in 1994 with the main goal to come together in an atmosphere where like-minded amateur radio operators could both discuss and engage in contesting, DX'ing and all modes of ham radio communication. As expected, the annual Field Day is the most-anticipated club event for WEARC, as it is for most amateur radio clubs. Our club will of...

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Sad passing of our President

John-N2NO

I am very sad to announce that John Weinfeld N2NO has gone silent key. He was our club president and will be missed by all who knew him. Rest in peace our friend. 73 N2NO remembered by Mike Hartmann, NI2S I first met John on the front steps of the Grover Cleveland Junior High School in Caldwell, waiting for the doors to open on the first day of sch...

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We did some great DX that day

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Looking cautiously round, to ascer-tain that they were not overheard, the two hags cowered nearer to the fire. She was bouncing away,  Looking cautiously round, to ascer-tain that they were not overheard, the two hags cowered nearer to the fire. She was bouncing away,

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We had a field day at sometime

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With the blog, you can be assured of quality blogging with the following features:​ Blog now, post later You can compose a blog now, suffer temporal writer's block, save and write again, later.​ Browse media Embedding images and videos is fast and easy.​ Blog rating Users can show intensity of their favorite blog post by rating them with stars.​

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Club Meeting Location:

American Red Cross Office

209 Fairfield Rd

Fairfield, NJ 07004

2014 Affiliated Club Logo Round 200