Club News

Stearns Electric Donation for Building Improvements

Through the Operation Round Up® (ORU) program, Stearns Electric Association gives our member-owners the opportunity to give back to the community. The rounded-up funds (between 1¢ and 99¢) are placed in a trust fund that is administered by a trust board appointed by the Cooperative’s elected Board of Directors. Operation Round Up® funds are given to local civic organizations and worthy causes through an application and selection process. In March, the St. Cloud Amateur Radio Club was chosen as one of those recipients.

HAM Radio

HAM radio is popular hobby where licensed individuals come together to operate radio electronics in order to communicate across town, around the world or even into space. HAM radio has been around for over a century. The St. Cloud Amateur Radio Club began as the Mic and Key Club in 1917 and is one of the top ten oldest clubs in the nation.

In 1922, the club affiliated itself with the American Radio Relay League and became the St. Cloud Amateur Radio Club (SCARC). Today, the club has nearly 100 members. Headquartered in their own clubhouse on Fourth Street North in Waite Park, club members range from teens to 80-year old’s, and include farmers, radio engineers and financial professionals, to name a few.

“We have two main focuses in the SCARC: public safety and community,” Charlie Chirhart, volunteer and member, said.

NWS Connection

The SCARC houses the National Weather Service (NWS) SKYWARN Program for Benton and Stearns counties in Central Minnesota. SKYWARN is a program where trained volunteer weather spotters provide first-hand reports of severe and hazardous weather conditions. Spotters help meteorologists issue severe weather warnings, which are oftentimes life-saving. Despite the advanced Doppler Radar technology available to the NWS, weather spotters are necessary to help determine accurate and credible weather conditions in order to issue timely severe weather warnings.

How did the partnership begin between the NWS and St. Cloud Amateur Radio Club?

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SCARC 2018 Field Day

SCARC 2018 Field Day

Again this year we will be operating from our clubhouse. We will be operating on emergency power supplied by a generator. We plan on having 3 stations running operating SSB, CW, and digital. For current information please visit our website at w0sv.club.

What is ARRL Field Day?

Field Day is the single most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. On the fourth weekend of June of each year, more than 35,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups or simply with friends to operate from remote locations.

Field Day is a picnic, a camp-out, practice for emergencies, an informal contest and, most of all, FUN!

It is a time where many aspects of Amateur Radio come together to highlight our many roles. While some will treat it as a contest, other groups use the opportunity to practice their emergency response capabilities. It is an excellent opportunity to demonstrate Amateur Radio to the organizations that Amateur Radio might serve in an emergency, as well as the general public. For many clubs, ARRL Field Day is one of the highlights of their annual calendar.

The contest part is simply to contact as many other stations as possible and to learn to operate our radio gear in abnormal situations and less than optimal conditions.

We use these same skills when we help with events such as marathons and bike-a-thons; fund-raisers such as walk-a-thons; celebrations such as parades; and exhibits at fairs, malls and museums — these are all large, preplanned, non-emergency activities.

But despite the development of very complex, modern communications systems — or maybe because they ARE so complex — ham radio has been called into action again and again to provide communications in crises when it really matters. Amateur Radio people (also called “hams”) are well known for our communications support in real disaster and post-disaster situations

2018 2M QSO Party was a Blast!

Our 2018 2M QSO Party was a Ton O’ Fun!

Tom worked as W0SV, Club Call, from the clubhouse, and I worked as KE0EMB, Board Member, also from the clubhouse. And we had a prospective new member with us as well!  Although the Memorial Day weekend might have kept our participation a little low, we had plenty of contacts to make.

Stay tuned for the final results which we will publish shortly.

Thanks to all that participated!

More Changes to the Board of Directors

At a Special Board of Directors Meeting, more changes were made. Following is your new current board.

President: Tom Weyhrauch KD0DOS
Vice President: Randy Welsand WJ0L
Secretary: Kay Welsand KB0CEF
Treasurer: Chad Gross W0SAV
Past President: Scott Hall N0UV
Director of Emergency Communications: Lee Denny KE0EMB
Director at Large: Jesse Abfalter KC0TAB
Director at Large: Charlie Chirhart K0SV

Trustee: Art Carlson WA0NJR