On Saturday, September 12, 2026, members of ACARA participated in the 19th annual PCARS “Ohio State Parks on the Air” (OSPOTA, https://parksontheair.com/), activating Strouds Run State Park at the Bulldog Shelter and operating under the club’s callsign, W8UKE. Participants:Phil Armstrong, Ben Brewster, KF8DESBob Curtis, KD8FRQJohn McCutcheon, N8XWODrew McDaniel, W8MHVEric McFadden, WD8RIFPaul Schulz, WD8SCVJeff Slattery, N8SUZ Paul and Ben deployed an 80m end-fed halfwave antenna and the club’s Chameleon EMCOMM IIIP end-fed antenna for the operation. Operations started using the club’s Elecraft . . .
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Upcoming Event: Ohio State Parks on the Air, Saturday, September 12, 2026
ACARA will participate in Ohio State Parks on the Air (OSPOTA) on Saturday, September 12, 2026. OSPOTA is an annual field operating event wherein participants try to work stations at as many Ohio State Parks as they can. The event runs from 10am until 6pm. The ACARA operation will take place at Strouds Run State Park’s Bulldog Shelter (map). Station set-up will begin at 9am. Operations will commence at 10am and will continue until the potluck starts at 5pm. Operations . . .
Report: ARRL Field Day 2026
A big thank you to everyone who showed up to help (and operate) this year for ARRL Summer Field Day! While I don’t have the official points count, I wanted to give a preliminary update: All K8V stations were successfully logging to a central server using N3FJP ARRL Field Day Contest Logger over a temporary WiFi network. The GOTA station (W8UKE) logged to a separate instance of N3FJP ARRL Field Day Contest Logger. Our new band pass filters, coupled with . . .
Free Summer Trunkfest: Saturday, September 5, 2026
Annual June Picnic — Tuesday, June 16, 2026
ACARA does not hold a business meeting in June (or July and August) but will, instead, meet for the Annual June Picnic on the third Tuesday in June. This year, the Annual June Picnic will be held on Tuesday, June 16, 2026 at the Dairy Lane Picnic Shelter on South Park Drive in Athens. (Here’s a map.) We’ll meet at 5:30pm and will eat at 6pm. The club will provide burgers, brats, buns, and condiments. Members and guests are asked . . .
Meshtastic Node Club Build!
It is with great pleasure I announce the ACARA Meshtastic build day. Please see the attached flyer for all information. This will occur on Sunday May 3rd at the red cross from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. The cost to participate will be $70.00 per person, due by check send to ACARA, PO Box 72, Athens, OH 45701. Alternatively, payment can be made via PayPal to treasurer@ac-ara.org.If paying through PayPal please include the note “Meshtastic Project” with your payment. Payment to participate . . .
Kroger Community Rewards Program
Athens County Amateur Radio Association is now available as an organization within the Kroger Community Rewards Program. This means that Kroger shoppers can select ACARA as their organization of choice, and ACARA will earn a small donation based on the Kroger shopper’s purchases made using the shopper’s Kroger Shopper’s Card. The Kroger Community Rewards Program is described here: https://www.kroger.com/i/community/community-rewards. ACARA members who wish to support ACARA will need to have a Kroger Shopper’s Card, and they will need to be . . .
Report: Winter Field Day 2026
On Saturday, January 24, 2026, members of ACARA met at the Jim Crouse Memorial Radio Station in the Athens Red Cross chapter house to participate in the annual Winter Field Day (https://winterfieldday.org/) event in class “2I” (two transmitter, indoors). While waiting for the arrival of a major winter storm, ACARA members operated as W8UKE from the start of the event at 11am EST until the snow arrived at 9pm EST. The group succeeded in making 157 QSOs using CW, SSB, . . .
Annual Holiday Dinner: Tuesday, December 16, 2025
The ACARA’s annual Holiday Dinner will be on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, at Applebee’s in Athens. All members and their guests are invited. We will meet at 5:30 pm for hors d’oeuvres and we’ll order our dinners from the menu at 6pm. As has become our tradition, the club will pay for hors d’oeuvres. Applebee’s is located at 547 East State Street in Athens and the menu is available online: https://restaurants.applebees.com/en-us/oh/athens/547-e-state-st-75062. During the holiday party, we will announce the winner . . .
ARRL 10-Meter Contest + NC8V Memorial Trophy – December 13-14, 2025 (Updated 2025-12-18)
The ARRL 10-Meter Contest is the weekend of December 13-14, 2025 UTC. Full rules for the ARRL 10-Meter Contest can be found at http://www.arrl.org/10-meter. The ARRL 10-Meter Contest is important to Athens County Amateur Radio Association (ACARA) members for two reasons: I will be announcing the winner of the NC8V Memorial Trophy at the annual Holiday Dinner on December 16, so please send me the number of stations you worked and your submitted score prior to the evening of Monday, December 16. I hope to . . .