Here are the latest updates to the KCARC website:
The next meeting for the Kittitas County Amateur Radio Club (KCARC) will be held on Saturday June 6, 2026 at 8:00 am in the Teanaway Room at the Palace Cafe, in Ellensburg. The Agenda has been emailed.
As a new feature for the KCARC website, we are adding The Elmer Page. This will be a place for club members and contributors to publish an article of some kind that is designed to help hams with topics they are not familiar with, and in some cases, haven't considered.
Towards that end, I'd like to say that Roger, W7WKB has kindly contributed an interesting article entitled "Antenna End Loading With Spiral or Helical Coils." For most hams, this isn't something that we would normally try, but it does offer insight on how to improve performance on antenna loading. The article will well worth the read. I'd like to thank Roger for his contribution of this first article! Link to article.
For those of you who do a lot of operating, particularly in the HF bands, QRZ has announced a new award for 2026.
QRZ is granting The USA 250 award in celebration of the US 250th birthday. To earn the award, you must have logged on QRZ 250 confirmed contacts with US based ham radio stations over the course of 2026. For more information, go the the QRZ website.
Due to the price increase for the club mailbox, the decision was made at the last meeting to change locations of our mailbox. The new mailing address for KCARC is:
There are a number of operating events coming up that offer good opportunities to either contest or get your feet wet making contacts around the bands.
| Lewis and Clark Trail On The Air - LCTOTA |
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June 6th, 2026 to June 21st, 2026 UTC
Background: The Kittitas County Amateur Radio Club (KCARC) is a participating club in the Lewis and Clark Trail On The Air (LCTOTA) Special Event. We will be able to operate as N7KGS during the 2 week special event operation. You may operate from home, a portable operation, or even mobile. We are looking to set up a group operation, and will make details available as we get them. Hams from all over will contact operating clubs in the hopes of not only working all states on the Trail, but also all clubs. Both activators and hunters are eligible for certificates from LCTOTA's sponsor, the Clark County (WA) Amateur Radio Club. To participate in the LCTOTA for the club, you'll need to work with Bob, AI7CS, who is the club liaison for the event. Activators are registered with the LCTOTA system, and you will get account credentials allowing you to spot yourself and upload logs. You'll need to put your activation into the LCTOTA so that hunters know where and when to find you. Your logs need to be uploaded, hopefully daily. Logs are submitted only by the activators. As a result, hunters are depending on the log submissions so that they get credit for the certificate awards. If you have questions on logging software, Bob can give a demo of a couple of packages. One thing to keep in mind is that you can go hunting other clubs, or even N7KGS, under your own callsign, and work towards some of the certificates available to you. LCTOTA starts 0000 UTC June 6th, 2026 and runs to 2359 UTC June 21st, 2026. Local times are June 5th, 5pm Pacific - June 21st, 5pm Pacific Time. You can try to contact all of the states in the trail, or participate as a trail station. All bands and modes are available. For more details, see the LCTOTA website. |
| Field Day 2026 |
June 27 and 28, 2026
Starts at 11am PDT (1800 UTC) on Saturday June 27 and runs through 159pm PDT (2059 UTC) on June 28. Note: Generally speaking, Field Day runs 24 hours, but you may extend it to 159pm if you set up at the start of the exercise. You may operate individually or as a group. Operation on HF is limited to 80/75m, 40m, 20m, 15m and 10m. All VHF and UHF bands are open for the contest. For more details, see the ARRL Field Day website. |
I'd like to take a moment to thank KCARC's 2025 officers for their service and contributions to the club. If you get a chance, give them a thanks. -Bob, AI7CS
| President: | Gary LaHaie, W7DVB |
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| VP/Pres: | Josh Nelson, KF7QNM |
| Secretary: | Dave Douglas, W7JAA |
| Treasurer: | David Broweleit, KI7DZK |
Just a reminder, the Kittitas County Auxilliary Communications Service (KCACS) has moved its net back to Sunday evenings at 19:00 local time. As a reminder, this is a directed net. However, visitors are welcome to check in once the roll call has been completed.
At the suggestion of Colby, KK7AGW, we've started a new net on Wednesday nights, called the "What's Up Wednesday Net", 7 pm on the Sky Meadows UHF repeater. 442.200 MHz, +offset, tone: 131.8 Hz. The net is open to anyone who can hit the Sky Meadows UHF repeater. This is a purely social net, so drop on by, and say hello!
Some of you may be coming to this website for the first time as a result of the mailing of a flyer put out to the club to the active Amateur Radio licensees in Kittitas County. I would like to welcome you here. Please take a look around at some of the things we've been working on, or the activities we've had in the past. We have a new slate of officers nominated for next year, so it will be interesting to see what they have planned for us. As soon as the election takes place, and as soon as I get any information, I will post it here.
I'd like to thank Dave, KI7GMG and his wife Jan, and my wife Maryann, for their help in getting the mailers out to the hams in the county.
KCARC would like to thank Carly Brettman for her work in putting together the new club mailer and flyer. For a glimpse of the new flyer, click on the image below.
Check out more of Carly's work at her website.
The Kittitas County Amateur Radio Club (KCARC) is now an ARRL Affiliated Club.
KCARC changed its name at the December 2, 2023 meeting from the Kittitas County Amateur Communication Service (KCARCS). We are keeping old content from the KCARCS days, as it is part of our club history. We are also updating the website, and adding new sections and more information over the coming months, so please check back often.
If you are interested in joining the club, or just visiting with us to see what's going on, in-person meetings are generally the first Saturday of the month at 8am, unless there is a holiday or special event. Meetings are generally held at The Palace Cafe in Ellensburg, but we also try to hold them in the Upper Kittitas County.
Meeting dates and times are posted on the website, and are sent by email to club members.
Find us on Facebook: Kittitas County Amateur Radio Club
Find us on QRZ: N7KGS
Dues paying members are welcome to join us on: Groups.io
| When: | Saturday June 06, 2026 at 08:00 AM |
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| Where: | The Palace Cafe in Ellensburg, WA. |
| Output | Input | Tone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sky Meadows VHF | 147.360 | 147.960 | 131.8 |
| Sky Meadows UHF | 442.200 | 447.200 | 131.8 |
| Ellensburg VHF | 146.720 | 146.120 | 131.8 |
| Stampede Pass VHF | 147.360 | 147.960 | 141.3 |
| Stampede Pass UHF | 442.200 | 447.200 | 141.3 |
| Beverly UHF | 442.200 | 447.200 | 141.3 |
| Wilson Creek VHF | 147.160 | 147.760 | 131.8 |
| Output | Input | Tone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun East VHF (2m) Repeater | 147.000 | 147.600 | 131.8 |
| Sun East UHF (70cm) Repeater | 444.45 | 449.45 | 131.8 |
| Sun East 6m - 50 MHz | 52.800 | 51.100 | 131.8 |