Next Club Meeting
April 17, 2025 @ Eisenhower Rec Center
MacArthur/Arnold Room 6:00 PM Social/Swap Tables/informal "Elmer'ing" 6:45 PM Business Meeting 7:30 PM April Presentation: Michael Kalter, W8CI - Hamvention Finance Chair and Awards Co-Chair Program on Hamvention 2025 TVARC club meetings
are held on the third Thursday of every month
(except for the month of December)
at the Eisenhower Regional Recreation Center,
3560 Buena Vista Blvd., in The Villages,
Florida. Click here for directions. Anyone interested in Amateur Radio is invited to attend our club meetings. You need not be licensed to attend or join. 
TVARC QSL Cards are now available
For ordering information select WHO WE ARE above, then select Logo Items & TVARC QSLs. Or, just click HERE. TVARC Reflector - Communicate with TVARC
Membership in TVARC is required to join this club Reflector. For general information or to join this reflector, click HERE. Contact George Briggs (K2DM), the Reflector's moderator, for more details.
Band Conditions
Space WeatherDr. Tamitha Skov/WX6SWW, the "Space Weather Woman" is on YouTube with Space Weather and propagation conditions: A Whole lot of Regions Appear & Storming All Week | Space Weather Spotlight 14 March 2025 : Click Here For everything you want to learn (and more) about HF Propagation, Click Here. |
Forecasts call for increasing solar activity
3/24/25 FYI - Space weather is predicting intense solar activity this week. Band noise will increase as a wave of solar storms rotate to face Earth. See Space Weather below for more informaton Events & Activities (Upcoming/Ongoing)
Weekly Nets
Upcoming Club Activities
The Villages Amateur Radio Club is active in the both in The Villages community and, as an ARRL affiliated club, many ham radio activites.
The following activities are scheduled:
Recent Events/Activities 2025 Outdoor Expo
TVARC participated in the The Villages Parks and Recreation's Outdoor Expo at the Everglades Recreation Center on Feb 28th and March 1.
We had over two dozen members participate, with a good amount of foot traffic through the outdoor exhibits. We enjoyed excellent weather and even
had to make extra TVARC handouts! We signed up some new members and had a great opportunity to explain and demonstrate Amateur radio to other outdoor enthusiasts, \
many of whom were interested in the capabilites of radio where cellular is unreliable or unavailable.
2025 Officers Elected
The February TVARC meeting included officer elections. The following is the new board elected by the membership:
"Hamming It Up" The Villages Magazine
Several members are profiled in a very nice article in the January issue of The Villages Magazine. Members
George Briggs, Michael Hissam, Art Fenn and Faith Olen were all interviewed for the article. Subscribers to The Daily Sun received
the issue with their paper on January 7, 2025.
2024 Fall Member Picnic a Success!
The TVARC Fall Member picnic previously postponed due to Hurricane Helene, was held at the Rohan Recreation Center on November 13 and was a great success.
Dozens of members came out to enjoy
the wonderful weather and lunch provided by the club. In addition to swap tables, a few of The Villages newest hams got a chance to meet up
with other enthusiasts of the hobby. Thanks to the TVARC board for their efforts at making the day a success.
2024 Fall Ham Radio class
The fall Technician Class has concluded, and the FCC tests were administered on October 28, 2024. We had 26 candidates take the test, and are pleased to welcome 18 new Technician Class hams, 3 new General Class hams and 1 new Extra Class ham. Outstanding! The next examination Session will be after the General Class concludes in early 2025. Thank you to the follow VE's who attended the session - KN9B, KU9H, AB3CR, KB9MI, KD8WAA, N2OXK, N4EDD, NO7GX, W3MJK General License Class underway! The current class, which is focused on the "General" license (which is level 2) began in early January. The Fall class, focused on the Technician (level 1) license will begin in September. If interested in the Technician class, email your full name, address and phone number to freehamradioclass@gmail.com to register of if you have additional questions. Note: Your class registration acknowledgement will be from a different email address, be sure to check your spam folder if you don't see anything after a few days. Report on Field Day 2024Forty TVARC members participated in the 2024 edition of ARRL Field Day, June 21-23. Set up began Friday afternoon and was completed by Saturday early afternoon. Two stations were in operation during the contest portion of Field Day – one running FT8 and the other running either CW or SSB, depending on the operator’s preference. Once again, we were fortunate to have the loan of the Sumter County Emergency Services trailer for the event. During the contest we made 200 CW QSOs, 546 SSB QSOs and 162 FT8 QSOs. Six members and guests made their first ever contacts at the FT8 station under the watchful eye of WB8PKK, and five YL members made their first ever SSB contacts with K2DM doing the mentoring. Our ambassador team chatted up amateur radio to a number of visitors, some of whom made their way into trailer to observe the stations in action. Midday Sunday we started taking everything down as threatening weather was forecast. As demonstrated by the most recent hurricane, the ability to practice not only setting up a stand-alone station, but also to reach new potential amateur radio enthusiasts, or new ham radio operators to unfamiliar modes and capabilities is why this is such an important activity. According to George Briggs (K2DM), club president, "We all started somewhere, and this is a great opportunity to get your feet wet." Ham Radio On the SquareSaturday, April 20, 2024 - Brownwood Square Some early fog burned off and dozens of TVARC members enjoyed a sunny day as we installed antennas, set up two radios and solved problems as they occurred. Overcoming minor obstacles is part of doing radio in the field, and our clubmates proved, once again, that they are up to the task. Then we set about doing what we individually enjoy doing. Some members operated the radios (FT8 on one and SSB/CW on the other) while sharing with others what they were doing. Some members who enjoy being ambassadors for ham radio and TVARC did so at our ambassador table, around the square and on the stage. And some members simply enjoyed the fellowship of being with each other talking radio. At least one newly-licensed ham made his first contact on SSB! Congratulations, Rush! Club president George Briggs remarked "In my opinion this was one of the best shows that we have put on at either square. Many thanks to everyone who participated, and special thanks to Mike Regan, KM4ZTE, for organizing this year's Radio Rodeo." Jan 20, 2024 - TVARC In the news
The Villages Daily Sun included a nice story on the role of The Villages Amateur Radio Club's Emergency Communications Team in providing backup communication capabilities. To read more about team and how to get involved, Click Here.
In case you missed the article, click here Interested in joining our DX spotting network? All you need is your cell phone (smartphone), and can receive/send text or SMS messages. Click here.
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