The DCAR (Douglas County Amateur Radio) Club was in the Christmas Parade for the first time, this year; and we appreciate all our local ham radio club operators for making that happen.
The past year we have seen a lot of changes in our club. Our new officers for 2012 are Teresa Tost, President; Paul Hillhouse, Vice-President; and Jan Hillhouse, Secretary/Treasurer. Also, we are very happy to have had one our members, Ron Tost, appointed the Douglas County ARES Coordinator. Ron will coordinate emergency communications for our county and is available to help in neighboring counties.
At the present time, we have ten ARES members that are trained in NIMS/ICS 100, 200 and 700, which is required to assist with communications at a disaster event. The DCAR club is very proud of our twenty-five members, and we are still growing. We work well as a team so we can assist citizens and fellow Hams with radio communications.
December 5th the new amateur radio repeater (K0DCA) was put into service. This is an open repeater and welcomes all Ham radio operators, and will be used to report severe weather for Douglas, Ozark, Webster, Taney, and Wright Counties, as well as working in coordination with repeaters in their areas. We have also been able to send and receive reports to Ham radio operators in Mountain Home, Lakeview, Harrison and other areas in Arkansas. The DCAR Club was able to acquire this repeater with the help of donations, fundraisers, volunteer hours, and the love of communications between Ham radio operators. This project could not have been accomplished without all the help and hard work our club has done as a “TEAM.” If you would like to put this repeater’s frequency into your scanner to hear weather information and important announcements, or you are a Ham radio operator and would like to join us on the air, the frequency is 146.925 with a minus offset and PL tone of 162.2.
The DCAR Club has a meeting the third Saturday of each month at St. Francis Anglican Church, which is 1.1 miles west from Hwy. 5 South and Hwy. 76 West intersection on Hwy. 76. Our meetings are potluck starting at 11:00 a.m. with a meeting to follow. We do hold test sessions, periodically, so you can get your Ham Radio license or upgrade your current license in Ava, without having to drive to Springfield or Mountain Home, AR.
Events for 2012 include a CPR class for our members, Technician and General Amateur Radio Classes (taught here at the church), CERT Training, Filed Day in June, and continue training in communications and having fun talking with other Ham radio operators. If you would like more information, come to our meeting or contact Teresa Tost by email kc)okp@yahoo.com or call 417-686-4025. You do not have to be a Ham radio operator to come to our meetings or for some of our training.
