West Georgia Amateur Radio Society

NVIS Test

On October 5th, 2024 Carroll County ARES hosted a Near Vertical Incidence Skywave (NVIS) test, and WGARS was well represented at the event. A little over a dozen members joined in to test our ability to engage in local and regional communications using HF in the event local repeaters are unavailable.

From this article written by WX4BK: The rule of thumb for HF is that you'll get better DX the higher your antenna. The reason for this is that as a typical dipole antenna is raised higher, the take-off angle of MOST of the radio signals become shallower, closer to the horizon.  This shallower angle provides for greater skip of the radio signal off the atmosphere, just like skipping a rock on water.  Remember, however, that not all the signal is on one narrow angle, just the largest single component.  It's like a Bell Curve, where angles above and below the take-off angle will have decreasing levels of signal.

Gold Rush Special Event 2024

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The West Georgia Amateur Radio Society will hold its second annual “Villa Rica Gold Rush” special event September 21^st-22^nd, 2024 using the W4G Call Sign on 15,20,40, and 80 meters in CW, Phone, and Digital modes. Operation on all modes and bands, including the 10 meter “bonus band”, will occur on September 21^st from 12:30Z until 19:30Z from the original Pine Mountain Gold Mine Operations Building at the Pine Mountain Gold Museum in Villa Rica, GA. W4G will operate outside those hours using bands and modes chosen by our individual operators.

STEM Activity on Steroids

What activity entails playing with hydrogen gas, sending a fox to 105,000 feet in altitude, ingesting large plates of comfort food, hiking through dense brush, wading through creeks, and running from the bulls?  A recent WGARS (West Georgia Amateur Radio Society) high altitude balloon launch included all these things and more.

In case you missed it, on August 31, 2024 at approximately 10:00 a.m. the West Georgia Amateur Radio Society launched a high altitude weather balloon from the V-Plex

in Villa Rica, Georgia.  Blake Raab, N4BWR is the launch engineer who completes the predictions for the balloon track (which he’s usually extremely close to where it lands) as well as the amount of lift needed to get the balloon just right...not too fast, not too slow.  True to form,

The World comes to Little Tallapoosa Park

Over the weekend of June 22 and 23 the West Georgia Amateur Radio Society (501 c3) participated in a nationwide emergency communications exercise.

The objectives of the exercise included setting up communications equipment in a remote location, exchanging information with other stations around the country and the world over a 24-hour period, providing education, and having fun while learning.

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.