Service groups that we are involved with in the area

MORE AMATEUR RADIO SERVICE GROUPS

IN AND AROUND HENDERSON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA

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ARES - RACES - Every amateur radio operator is encouraged to join. ARES training and training material are made available to the newcomer. Special attention is diligently paid to the operators who are coming on board, as they are the future of the program! ARES is a lot of fun and every member has the chance to help out the community during times of emergency. The members of this group find that they will be able to communicate between various interest groups depending upon the circumstance in an actual situation, be it an emergency, or a volunteer function. ARES members in Henderson County also work with other ARES groups in the area, depending upon the circumstances. "Emergencies know no boundaries."

The ARES folks have a weekly net every Wednesday at 9 pm Local, on the 146.640 mhz (-600, 91.5hz tone access) repeater. In case (it's very rare) the repeater is down, ARES uses 146.520 mhz simplex utilizing relaying if necessary. ARES meetings are held monthly on the third Thursday of each month except October which is the second Thursday. Meeting place is the Henderson County EOC inside the Land Use Building at 101 E. Allen St., Hendersonville and nets are held weekly on Wednesday evenings at 9:00 pm, where training and traffic handling are covered. The training is presented by Duke, W4DK.

Henderson County ARES has also obtained the call NC4HC for use during nets and during emergencies. This group also has monthly meetings on the 3rd Tuesday of the month. Contact our EC, Duke, W4DK for more info.

SKYWARN is very active here in the mountains of western North Carolina (WNC), and especially during the summer months. The WNC area gets is share of thunder storms. Many of them are gully washers. The WNC Skywarn operators report to the National Weather Service (NWS) in Greer, SC, via 2 meter repeaters. The repeaters located on the mountains are some of the best in the USA (see Mount Mitchell 145.190 repeater below). The Flattop repeater (145.130-) is used as the primary link to Greer with the "64 machine" (146.640- WA4FOT & WA6YAO) repeater on Bearwallow Mountain (4,600' elev.) being used as a backup and as a good link to the western part of the state. Other repeaters used during Skywarn operations are Mount Pisgah's 5,600' elevation 146.760- WA4BVW repeater, Mount Mitchell's 6,600' elevation 145.190- WA4BVW repeater, and other "long haul" repeaters.

Skywarn invites amateur operators to join. Training and materials are available for the prospective Skywarn member as well as training and material for the present members. The National Weather Service (NWS) graciously assists Skywarn with training from time to time. Wolf, K4DDY, formerly of Henderson County, has given the Skywarn course at the Blue Ridge Community College in the past ,and to him, much credit is due. Credit is also due to the radio operators in Buncombe County, who for many years have had Skywarn courses. Skywarn is an area type of operation which operates in the mountain region of Western North Carolina. To inquire about Skywarn, check into one of the weekly nets.