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Club Donates Books to Library |
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The Great Falls Masonic Amateur Radio Club (GFMARC), KK7MR, in Great Falls, Montana, received a grant from the ARRL Foundation to purchase five library book kits to give to local and rural libraries in Montana.
The library book kits contain 11 books dealing with amateur radio and testing guides for all three license classes.
Two kits were given to the Great Falls Public Library for their shelves and bookmobile.
One kit was given to the Wedsworth Memorial Library, the Fairfield Public Library, and the Arden G.
Hill Memorial Library within the Malmstrom Air Force Base.
All the libraries lacked information about amateur radio, and providing the books will allow patrons throughout Montana access to the information.
With many libraries in Montana being rural, it is another way to reach more patrons, inspire a small community about becoming licensed to help with emergency communications within their community, or even help a farmer or rancher while out in their fields tending to crops or cattle touch base with their home station or contact emergency services.
The ARRL library book kits will provide information and start them on their journey to becoming licensed amateur radio operators.
By GFMARC Public Relations & Media Chair Char Ross, KK7KBM.
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From left to right: Great Falls Masonic Amateur Radio Club Vice President John Ross, KD7HKF; Great Falls Public Library Community Engagement Coordinator Sarah Cawley, and Great Falls Masonic Amateur Radio Club Public Relations & Media Chair Char Ross, KK7KBM. [Char Ross, KK7KBM, photo] | | | |
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Win a Dream Station with the Latest Gear from Icom. |
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Members who join — or renew — their ARRL membership any time from January 3 through December 31, 2025, are automatically entered into the ARRL Sweepstakes to win a dream station from Icom. If you’re not an ARRL member, you can join today!
If you are already a member or Life Member, there are even more ways to automatically earn entries. See how by clicking here!
Improve Your Club’s Message Fair Using the Radiogram Gateway!
Your club is planning to staff a table at a local community fair or event.
Offer to send radiograms.
Recruit volunteers to explain what a radiogram is and, later, send the messages.
Who in your radio club is active on the traffic nets? How many members know the radiogram format or know how to send a radiogram message on the air? Fear not! Your club can put its best foot forward and hold an amateur radio message fair with minimal traffic-handling skills using an exciting new tool: the Radiogram Portal!
Jonathan Taylor, K1RFD, inventor of EchoLink, has developed a web-based tool that the public can use to enter a short message by following simple instructions.
The message will be picked up by a participating amateur radio volunteer operator (called a “radiogrammer”) who logs in to a restricted portion of the website, takes the message off the gateway, and sends it over the air on a National Traffic System (NTS) net for relay to its destination.
The recipient will get a local phone call from a nearby ham.
Along the way, ham operators will relay the messages by voice, digital, or even Morse code and get valuable practice in emergency public service.
“It’s not a problem if your club lacks an active traffic handler to check into the traffic nets,” says Phil Temples, K9HI, who chairs the ARRL EC-FSC NTS subcommittee.
“You merely set up a laptop at your message fair using a Wi-Fi connection and allow members of the public to enter their own messages.
Later, a skilled traffic handler in your area will pull the message off the portal and send it in a timely fashion.”
The Radiogram Portal was successfully demonstrated at the 2024 New England Division Convention.
An extensive display sponsored by the Nashua (New Hampshire) Area Radio Society highlighted the NTS and the Radiogram Portal running on a computer, along with a trifold that pictured the NTS2 website, the NTS Letter, training videos, and a downloadable handout available for clubs and public gatherings.
For more information on the Radiogram Portal, visit nts2.arrl.org/radiogram.
By Phil Temples, K9HI
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ARRL Ham Radio Open House |
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Momentum is building for ARRL’s Ham Radio Open House — an amateur radio event for clubs to put their most technological foot forward and show the public the true modern state of amateur radio. The events will be held in April, on or close to World Amateur Radio Day (WARD) on April 18, across the United States. This year’s WARD commemorates 100 years of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU).
The participation goal is 50 clubs from 50 states, but the more the merrier. ARRL is working with Ham Radio Science Citizen Investigation (HamSCI) and SciStarter to promote the event as part of April, which is Citizen Science Month.
“We’ve had a lot of clubs express interest and commitment to be a part of Ham Radio Open House,” said ARRL Public Relations and Outreach Manager Sierra Harrop, W5DX. “Thanks to some great volunteer outreach efforts, clubs are seeing the value of showing off the true current state of amateur radio,” she said.
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Many other clubs in overlapping hobbies are engaged. Several astronomy clubs have agreed to partner with local ham clubs to co-host the event.
Plan your Ham Radio Open House in April using the resources and tips at www.arrl.org/world-amateur-radio-day.
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Field Day Is Just Around the Corner |
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ARRL Field Day is the most popular on-the-air event held annually in the US and Canada. During the fourth weekend of June, more than 31,000 radio amateurs gather with their clubs, groups, or friends to operate from remote locations.
We welcome the public to come learn more about ham radio! Use our Field Day Locator to search for a Field Day site near you.
Find more information and the latest rules and guidelines, visit www.arrl.org/field-day.
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Submitting Info for this Newsletter |
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ARRL Club News is for radio clubs to show how they are working in the community and the hobby to advance amateur radio.
If your club completes a project, supports an event, does an EmComm activation, or activates a park, we want to hear about it.
You can submit your newsletter article to us at
clubs@arrl.org. We like to get them as text or Word files instead of PDFs.
If you have pictures, please submit them with caption information, as well as the name and call sign of the photographer.
We want to highlight the good work being done by the clubs and show others in the community.
Think of this as a chance to show off your club and your programs.
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How to Plan and Apply for an ARRL Hamfest or Convention |
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If your amateur radio club is planning to host a convention, hamfest, tailgate, or swapfest, please consider applying for it to be an ARRL-sanctioned event. To learn what it means to be an ARRL-sanctioned event, and to get some ideas on how to prepare for and conduct a hamfest or convention, visit
www.arrl.org/arrl-sanctioned-events.
To have your event sanctioned, complete the online application at
www.arrl.org/hamfest-convention-application.
Please send a copy of the application that returns to you to Steve Ewald at sewald@arrl.org.
The ARRL Hamfests and Conventions Calendar can be found online at
www.arrl.org/hamfests. In addition, the Convention and Hamfest Calendar that runs in QST each month also presents information about upcoming events.
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ARRL Home: www.arrl.org
Find an ARRL Affiliated Club: www.arrl.org/clubs
Find your ARRL Section: www.arrl.org/sections
Find a license class in your area: www.arrl.org/class
Find a license exam in your area: www.arrl.org/exam
Find a hamfest or convention: www.arrl.org/hamfests
Email ARRL Clubs: clubs@arrl.org
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ARRL Club News is published every month (12 times each year). ARRL members may subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by editing their Member Data Page at
www.arrl.org/opt-in-out. Archived issues can be found at
www.arrl.org/club-news
Copyright © 2025 American Radio Relay League, Incorporated. Use and distribution of this publication, or any portion thereof, is permitted for non-commercial or educational purposes, with attribution. All other purposes require written permission.
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