The S.S. Red Oak Victory is a World War II Victory Ship that was built right near its current location in Richmond, California on the San Francisco Bay. It's named for the town of Red Oak, Iowa, which saw more casualties per capita during World War II than any other town in the United States.

Restoration of the ship is underway by a group of dedicated volunteers. It is already a living, breathing memorial to the memories of an important piece of local and national history and is open to the public for docent-led and self-guided tours. The ultimate goal is to really bring the ship back to life, making it seaworthy once again, and providing a one of a kind educational opportunity for the Bay Area community. And through our ham radio contacts we seek to extend the reach outside our local community to a much wider audience around the world. A lot more information about the S.S. Red Oak Victory is available on the web, so be sure and visit our links page.

The Red Oak Victory Amateur Radio Club (ROVARC), an ARRL affiliated club, was incorporated in 1999 as a non-profit organization. Our goals are to promote interest in the S.S. Red Oak Victory and maritime and amateur radio, assist in the restoration of the ship's electronic equipment, and generally support the S.S. Red Oak Victory in any way we can.

ROVARC operates a club station on the ham bands with the callsigns K6YVM and NY6CI. The former comes from the ship's original commercial call KYVM, and the latter from the original Navy call NYCI. We participate in the annual Musuem Ships Special Event, a weekly WWII memorial ships net, and are on the air as much as possible on special holidays and at various random times (see our "Events" page).

Regular membership in this club requires a valid FCC Amateur Radio License. The dues are $15 per year. Associate membership is available to any interested persons, dues are the same as regular membership, but associate members have no voting rights and can't be club officers. For more information on becoming a member, please contact a club officer.

An application for membership is availible for printing - Application Form. Or send a self-addressed-stamped-envelope and request an application from the club secretary: David Jackson, 1451 Keiser Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95404

Our meetings are open to the public and are generally held on the second Saturday of each month at 10:00am on board the ship. Click for a map and directions. An archive of the minutes of past meetings is available here.

Welcome aboard. . . And please sign our Guestbook