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Promoting Amateur Radio in Scouting |
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Many members of the Occoneechee Amateur Radio Society (OARS), KN4TRE, in Holly Springs, North Carolina, are also Scouting America Scout leaders teaching youth about the services that amateur radio can provide in the event of a disaster.
OARS President Rob Rousseau, KI4BKE, and Vice President Chris Cancilla, W4CEC, take teaching the Radio Merit Badge seriously.
During classes (which take roughly 4 hours if the Scouts have completed the prerequisites), the Scouts are introduced to VHF, UHF, and HF communications.
One of the Radio Merit Badge requirements involves having a QSO, and when conditions are good, the Scouts have talked to others in Austria, the United Kingdom, and Australia! This aspect of the Merit Badge has been known to draw Scouts to learn more about getting their license and advancing in amateur radio.
One such success story is Cassie Bell, KO4ILS. During Jamboree on the Air, she completed her Radio Merit Badge and got the amateur radio bug.
The next morning, Cassie worked for a few hours with Leanne Bulger, W4LEA, and took and passed the Technician exam that afternoon.
A few months later, Cassie started college at The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and heard there was an exam session.
She studied and passed her General and Amateur-Extra exams in that session, and she has since been instrumental in the school’s amateur radio club.
Cassie also became a VE for the W4CEC Team. She has since created her own VE team, so her fellow students at the university can access exams and mentors to learn about the fantastic world of amateur radio.
Cassie has won awards from ARRL, CQ magazine, Parks on the Air®, and QRZ.
OARS also created a project to increase the communications capabilities at Scouting America’s Camp Durant in Carthage, North Carolina, enhancing safety during the multiple weeks of summer camp each year.
The camp went from having a single repeater and a single simplex frequency, to having three repeaters and six simplex frequencies, revitalizing camp communications.
The project, spearheaded by Chris Cancilla, W4CEC, has also involved installing an HF radio in the STEM building for use during summer camp and Radio Merit Badge training.
Lastly, the club installed an amateur repeater at the camp for use by licensed youth and adults and the surrounding community.
The repeater, KN4TRE, recently came online and is quickly becoming a well-used repeater in the area.
Thanks to the donations from Scouting America supporters, this is all available for use at Camp Durant.
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Field Day 2026 — Get Ready Now |
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With the annual ARRL Field day fast approaching, let’s talk about some ideas for how your club can peak some interest.
As you know, 2026 is ARRL’s Year of the Club. The goal of Year of the Club is to promote clubs and give them tools to help them grow.
One way to do this is for the club to be active.
We’ve seen a trend with clubs who are hosting events, having on-air activities, and doing more than meeting for coffee once a month, in that they tend to be the ones growing.
They see interest from the community, and even see youth get involved in the club.
This is good not only for the club but for ham radio.
We want you to think about how ARRL Field Day can be a recruiting tool and a great club activity at the same time.
ARRL encourages you to begin your community outreach now, ensuring you get a park location that’s visible to the public so they can come and experience ham radio firsthand.
Get information out to public officials, media, and community groups now, so they can begin planning.
If you have an active chamber of commerce, they may have resources to help spread the word.
Begin working with all these outlets now and be in communication with them periodically until the event.
If you usually participate in Field Day from your Emergency Operations Center with limited access to the public, consider planning a remote operation at a park location.
Think of ways to keep your club and members of the community engaged, and provide opportunities to get on the air.
Whatever you plan to do, start planning early, and make 2026 the best Field Day yet.
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Ham Radio Open House in April |
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It’s the Year of the Club, and the second annual ARRL Ham Radio Open House event in April offers a chance to show off your club’s high-tech gear and skills to your community! The event is built around World Amateur Radio Day on Saturday, April 18, but your open house may be scheduled at any point in the month.
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Clubs are encouraged to showcase the latest digital modes such as FT8 using WSJT-X, or others. This could be a great opportunity to explore new areas of amateur radio and demonstrate how the service is at the cutting edge of electrical engineering.
Imagine your open-house visitors seeing a software-defined radio (SDR) waterfall display and then hearing what the signal they see on the screen sounds like and seeing the message it contains.
World Amateur Radio Day, held on April 18 each year, is celebrated worldwide by radio amateurs and their national associations, which are organized as member-societies of the International Amateur Radio Union (IARU). It was on this day in 1925 that the IARU was formed in Paris.
American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Co-Founder Hiram Percy Maxim was its first president.
This year’s activity is part of ARRL’s “Year of the Club” theme.
Look for resources to help organize and promote the event soon, including an interactive Ham Radio Open House Locator. Find details at www.arrl.org/world-amateur-radio-day.
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On The Air Live Offers Learning Opportunities for ARRL Members |
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“On The Air Live” offers hams the opportunity to receive instructional content each month from ARRL Education Specialist Wayne Greene, KB4DSF. Wayne provides a monthly topic that is related to various capabilities, practices, and abilities within amateur radio.
“My goal is to inspire ham radio operators to try something new or try different approaches to enhance their ham radio experience,” says Greene. “In the past year, we have covered topics including how to use your HT, a deep dive into APRS, how to send and receive SSTV images, and how to use your ham radio privileges to keep in contact with family and loved ones outside of a disaster area where you may be at that moment.”
“On the Air Live” airs on the ARRL Learning Center website, learn.arrl.org, on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 8 PM eastern.
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Get your club together like the Metrocrest Amateur Radio Society in Argyle, Texas, did and take a photo to send to QST. Each 2026 issue of QST will include club group photos. Get all the details at www.arrl.org/year-of-the-club.
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ARRL would like to know how your club greets and deals with new members — especially those who are new hams. Please take a few minutes to fill out the survey at Club Spotlight on New Members. Your answers may be featured in future publications.
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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.
Copyright © 2026 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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