Last updated
Last updated September 19, 2026 at 1500 EDST.
View from the WA4NC DMR Sugar Mt. Repeater site. In the distance is Rich Mt. and Howard’s Knob near Boone – Rich Mt. Is the home of the WA4J repeater and the other WA4NC DMR repeater.
WELCOME! Looking for information about Amateur Radio? CLICK HERE.
NEXT MEETING: SEPTEMBER 16, 2026-. NOTE: THIS IS A ONE-TIME CHANGE FROM OUR NORMAL MONDAY DATE – WE WILL MEET ON WEDNESDAY THIS MONTH.
NEW HAM SPOTLIGHT FEATURE – MARVIN GRAGG KM4MCK. Click here.
WARC FIELD DAY 2026
WARC once again participated in the annual ARRL field day event. Three stations were set up to cover 20, 15, and 10 m. JD, AD4JD set up a station on 10 m, and made many contacts. Scott, K2SD, provided a 20 meter station, , and Corey, WB0RXQ, set up his solar powered station on 15 m – see the photo below of his great installation. A great time was had by all, and we look forward to next year’s event.
A new Ham Radio Spotlight article is now available. Click here.
A VERY BUSY MAY 16!
On Saturday, May 16, WARC once again participated in the Watauga County Emergency Fast held at Watauga High School in Boone. This was a great opportunity to show the general public what amateur radio is capable of doing an emergency situations. Thanks to all club members who participated
At the same time, other club members were assisting the ASHE County amateur radio club in providing communications for the New River 100 Marathon. Thanks to these members as well.
Remarkably, WARC was able to cover both events, even in the absence of some club members who were attending the Dayton Hamvention.
SEPT FOX HUNT ANNOUNCEMENT.
Announcement: The WARC Autumn Fox Hunt will be Saturday, Sept. 26, at 10:00am
The Fox team will call for check-ins (on the repeater) at approx 9:50am. The Fox will go live at 10:00am. The hunt will continue until several teams have found the fox, or until 11:30 am (whichever comes first, decision to be made by the Fox team). As some hunters are carrying only one radio, the end of hunt announcement, and lunch location, will be made on the Fox frequency. Those same announcements/communications will be repeated on the repeater immediately afterwards.
Please drive safely while hunting. You are forbidden to take directional/triangulation readings while in motion on a public road/hwy.
We’ll proceed to lunch after the hunt, the lunch location being somewhat dependent on the Fox location.
The Fox Hunt winner gets free lunch, along with a nice trophy.
We look forward to seeing many of you Saturday, Sept 26.
WA4J NC QSO Party results
On Sunday, March one, 2026, WARC operated in the North Carolina QSO party. This annual event, held each March, is a fun, but intense, contest in which stations in North Carolina attempt to contact as many US states and North Carolina counties as possible and to make as many additional contacts worldwide. This year we operated from K2SD’s station in Fleetwood. The following club members participated: K2SD, K2ODV, K4ANC, K1HE, NI4E, WB0RXQ, and KQ4ZHY.
The results are in – WARC Took second place in the High-Power Multi-Op category. The NC QSO Party website has extensive comments on the results. The following is a small excerpt, describing our effort
“First, using High Power, its no jolt that Bruce and Laurie Meier using their club call NC4KW, the North Carolina Kilowatts, came in with the leading score resulting from nearly 1000 Q’s and 115 different county/state/provinces/dx multipliers. WA4J, Watauga Amateur Radio Club, took second place running their amplifier from Ashe county. These ops did a great job compiling 847 QSOs and 103 multipliers.”
It should be noted that although we were in the high power category, only one of our two stations actually ran 1KW. The other station was running 100 W. jNext year, we hope to have both stations at the KW level and we shall see how that works!
Coming Events
Click the link below to connect to the official WARC event calendar. If this is your first time accessing this calendar, follow the on-screen instructions.
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/r/month/2026/8/1
WATAUGA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB NETS
| NET NAME | DAY/TIME | REPEATER | NOTES |
| WARC 2-METER NET | EACH THURSDAY 8:00 pm | WA4J 147.36 103.5 Hz | WIDE AREA COVERAGE |
| HIGH COUNTRY DMR NET | EACH TUESDAY 8:00 PM | WA4NC 443.0375 DMR | ALSO ON MANY OTHER AREA DMR REPEATERS |
| WATAUGA SKYWARN INFORMATION NET | FIRST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH 8:00 pm | WA4J 147.36 103.5 Hz | PROVIDES TRAINING AND INFORMATION FOR WATAUGA COUNTY SKYWARN MEMBERS |
Our club meets on the first Monday of the month. If the first Monday falls on a holiday, the meeting will be rescheduled.
Beginning September 8, 2025, the club will meet at the Blue Cross Blue Shield office at 2640 highway 105, suite 1 01, Boone, NC 28607. You may also attend remotely via ZOOM
If you want to get involved in Ham Radio in the High country, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO STOP BY. If you would like to attend remotely, please email k2sd@arrl.net
WARC 2026 OFFICERS
President Corey Brown WB0RXQ
Vice-President Danny Horney KE4AAP
Secretary Rob Thompson KQ4OYC
Treasurer George Bartholomew, Jr. K2ODV
NEW WARC HAT, SHIRTS, AND JACKET NOW AVAILABLE – ORDER TODAY!!
WARC members may now order custom, hats, shirts, and jackets from JSE Custom Embroidery. These very stylish and affordable items feature the new WARC logo. No amateurs wardrobe is complete without one of these items. Visit https://www.jse-repair.com/product-category/club-apparel/watauga-arc-wa4j/
WARC MONTHLY LUNCH – JOIN US!
We gather at 11:30 AM on the third Monday of the month at the Cracker Barrel restaurant in Boone. No business is conducted, just a chance to talk about any and all topics related to Amateur Radio. Everyone is welcome!
Solar-Terrestrial Data & HF Conditions