West Georgia Amateur Radio Society

Spring POTA 2024

The West Georgia Amateur Radio Society held a Parks On The Air (POTA) event at Cheaha Mountain in Cheaha State Park, Alabama on Saturday, April 20th, 2024 in conjunction with "Support Your Parks" weekend. Participants experienced unusually cool temperatures for late April, brought on by a cold front and accompanied by some early morning light rain, and fog.

Vanity Call Signs

Amateur radio operators are issued call signs by the FCC upon qualifying for their Technician license, and have the option to be issued new call signs that reflect their new class when they upgrade to General or Extra. The form of call sign is limited by license class, where higher class of licenses allow simpler/smaller call signs.  For instance, a Technician class licensee may be issued something like KX4XTT (often referred to as a two by three, two letters before the number and three after); however an Extra class licensee may have a call sign like W4BK (often referred to as a one by two). There are various call sign formats between these extremes, often limited by license class. You can view the "rules" by going to this link and clicking on "Sequential Call Sign System".

Winter Field Day January 27th-28th, Little Tallapoosa Park

Winter Field Day will be held January 27th and 28th, 2024 at Little Tallapoosa Park Equestrian Campground located at 1930 Hwy 113 N., Carrollton, GA. 

WGARS 2024 Officers

Elections were held at the November meeting.  Your officers for 2024 are:

Board Members:  KO4DKS, Wayne and KF4DVW, Joshua
Secretary Treasurer:  KM4UPX Brian
Vice President:  KM4WQC Matt
President:  WD8LQT John

POTA Weekend 2023

 WGARS members participated in POTA Weekend 2023 at Cheaha State Park and KK4Z was among the participants. Scott blogged about it at his site ...

"The West Georgia Amateur Radio Society (WGARS) is a great group. We like to do three things: 1) talk on the radio, 2) get together, and 3) eat. We did all three this past weekend during the Fall Support Support Your Parks on the Air weekend (POTA). We like to do about 4 gatherings a year namely Field Day, Winter Field Day, and the Spring and Fall Support Your Parks on the Air Weekends" ... Read The Article.

AF4BA Joins AFMARS

During our September 12, 2023 club meeting at First Christian Church, 306 College Street, Carrollton, GA., we had an awesome presentation from Tony, AF4BA, on \Air Force Military Auxiliary Radio System.

 First, let me tell you just a little bit about AF4BA. In 2020, he started getting involved with Amateur Radio and decided this complex but yet simple communication style really interested him. In the same year, AF4BA joined WGARS with just a Technician barely in his pocket. He pressed on, asking questions, learning, digging for information, attends meetings regularly, helping out at events where is could and always participating, Tony is now the club’s Net Manager. Pressing on, he obtained his “General”, in a very short time, and then he made that “Extra” all his! Congratulations AF4BA.

Our Future Is Today

It takes a lot of energy and time to direct an active Amateur Radio Club, but once a club has active and participating members, the sky is the limit!

West Georgia Amateur Radio Society is fortunate enough to be one of those Clubs that is sailing towards endless limits. This Club is on the move! They launch Pico Balloons frequently, have regular Monday night Nets and a Carroll County ARES Net every Thursday evening; they have eating meeting at least six times a year, conduct monthly licensing exams for inspiring new Hams, participates in Toys for Tots and the Talladega National Forest Parks on the Air Weekend.  Just recently, the Club held a very successful 24 hour Summer Field Day event at Little Tallapoosa Park, Carrollton, Georgia, and on July 22, 2023, the Club will have a “two part” Squirrel Hunt, which allows WGARS club members to work together – collaborate – to locate a transmitter using triangulation.  These activities are just a slight mention of the many activities WGARS have.  The Club’s leadership strives very hard to keep their club active and moving in a positive direction.

You may think this Club has its hands full.  And, if you do, you would be wrong.  WGARS’s goals for the Club expand much further.  Right now, and I mean right now - they are in the process of purchasing a rv camper with the goal of converting it into a STEM* Lab Educational Mobile Unit. The mobile unit will be driven to various locations around the state, teaching youth about Amateur Radio, explaining its continued importance in a digital society, giving live demonstrations and showing youth how to get involve in Amateur Radio.