Recent Articles
Repeater System Update
The W4AVA repeater system is part of a broader linked system. Dave Jordan (WA3GIN) has been heading up the work on this as a labor of love for quite some time.
He has managed to put together a relatively nice linked repeater system with a couple of great friends down in the Northern Neck, Jeff KC8VFN and Andrew AF4AH, to provide awesome VHF coverage along the Potomac River from north of Great Falls to the mouth of the Potomac river and ChesapeakeBay (see attached). We fondly refer to the system as the Potomac River Repeater System (PRRS). We assume the coverage exceeds 10,000 square miles.
This linked system provides improved coverage to potential East and Southern evacuation routes from Arlington, NOVA and the NCR. It also provides hand-held VHF 5 watt radio access from the NCR to the Virginia State Emergency Operations Center in Richmond, VA.
There was nothing like this system in existence before 9/11 leaving the NCR vulnerable from an AUX COM capability perspective and to my knowledge this linked system is the only such system serving the NCR. There has been no downtime of the W4AVA repeater that was unplanned since it was activated 17+ yrs ago! The other pics are of our repeater maintenance facility here in King George. This is where we calibrate the transceivers, tune the duplexers, and program the repeater controllers, etc.
The W4KGC repeater’s Cellwave PD220-3A antenna has been upgraded to a COMSCOPSE DB-224E.
Arlington RACES Net Hams Go Portable During Winter Field Day
K3SRF, KC3ULX, and K4RT operated on battery power during a chilly, and at times, rainy winter weekend during the 2023 Winter Field Day.
Update to Club Officers
Now that we’re a few months into the new year, we’ve had our most recent board meeting and we’ve updated our club officers. As an all volunteer organization, we are very grateful for the folks that regularly participate in club activities from the club president to net control stations, each person makes a contribution to help things operate well and help us all be ready for any EMCOM situations that may come up.
The 2022 Marine Corps Marathon is Open for Volunteers
The 2022 Marine Corps marathon is open for ham volunteers. The marathon will be on October 30th. This event is the largest regularly held public service/amateur radio volunteer event in the area. It will be the first in-person marathon in two years. Because of demand, there will also be a virtual option in addition to the in-person marathon on the course. Amateur radio operators will, of course, help with the runners on the the in-person course.
Ham radio volunteers partner with the MCM organizers to provide communications assistance along the course to help ensure that the participants are safe and healthy. They observe what is happening on the course and report back to the race organizers. The call for volunteers is open to any amateur radio operator who would like to join.
If you’d like to participate, you can do so at the MCM Ham website.
You must sign up to help out. The signup process has two parts: you must sign up through the ham signup site so we know what your capabilities are, and through the Marine Corps Marathon volunteer site to be an official MCM volunteer. While you can sign up in either order (ham first, MCM second or MCM first and ham second),
In many of the past years, the ARPSC has been a supporter of the marine corps marathon. We have provided volunteers and use of our repeater system to help with logistics of the race. Radio amateur volunteers help ensure that runners are safe by helping communications between aide stations and other similar communications-oriented methods.
With our The W4AVA Repeater System’s excellent footprint, it has been a great asset to ensure that the marathon has working communication during the event.
It’s W4AVA’s 15th Birthday!
15 Years ago, Arlington County RACES was formed and along with it, W4AVA was registered with the FCC. Through the support of our county and the work of our most active club members, we are now the proud caretakers of our Nation’s Capital’s most powerful and widest area coverage repeater system!
RACES Training
As you probably know, there is a significant overlap between members of the ARPSC and Arlington County RACES. Our RACES is sponsored by Arlington County’s Office of Emergency Management. our goal is to provide support to augment county communications in the case of an emergency.
To join RACES, there are several steps:
- Get Training in RACES
- Take a RACES test
- Submit your application and receive a background check from the Arlington County Police
RACES Training is available on our website. The training provides for you to learn about several important topics including emergency communications, emergency preparedness and communications procedures.
We are not often activated to help out in an emergency. When one is in such a situation, the training that he/she has had really pays off. Thanks to training and our regular net exercises, our emergency nets can be well-run and and organized.
We look forward to your review of the training materials and your application to help support Arlington.
