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Welcome!
Welcome!
We are the Lake County Amateur Radio Society (LCARS). Our purpose is to provide help and encouragement to hams and future hams, volunteer communication services for the community, exam sessions for new licenses and upgrades, assist all amateurs in abiding by Federal Communications Commission regulations and the Radio Amateur's Code as promulgated by the American Radio Relay League...and have fun!
We have monthly meetings and occasional functions such as family barbeques, Field Day and Operations Day. The club has done volunteer communications for the Davis Double Century, Clear Lake Seaplane Splash-In, Lake County Rodeo, Konocti Challenge, and taught kids about ham radio at the Ely Stagestop Science Camp.
Next Exam Session will be in Ukiah on 4/11/2026. Details here.
March LCARS Meeting: 6:00pm on Thursday, March 26, 2026 at DJ's Pizza in Lower Lake. Come early at 5:00pm to eat and socialize before the meeting. You can find the location and menu here.
Information regarding LCARS membership dues can be found on the membership app here.
New!! FREE ON-LINE AMATEUR RADIO OPERATING CLASS
A free, weekly, 3-hour Amateur Radio Operating Class on Zoom will begin on Thursday April 2 and run through June 18. Sessions will be 2 to 3 hours long beginning at 6:30 PM. EASTERN time. Typically, two topics are covered per evening. The presenters will be folks very experienced in the various subjects.
A detailed syllabus will be published before the classes begin. Attend them all, or any that you like, but you must register for the classes. To receive registration information, contact Rol Anders, K3RA, at roland.anders@comcast.net.
Subjects will include:
All About Operating--A general Introduction
Amateur Radio Organizations—Local to International
Ham Radio Operating Awards
DXing-History and Tips from the Experts
QSLing-How to get that needed confirmation for DXCC or WAS
VHF/UHF Weak Signal Work and “Roving”
Image Operating—Slow Scan and Fast Scan TV
Remote Station control over internet
Learning CW in the no-code era
Digital Modes—From RTTY to FT8 and beyond
Contesting—How to get started, tips for the beginner and intermediated contester
Logging Software—What’s available, how to use
Propagation—A general intro to HF Propagation with emphasis on the declining phase of the current solar cycle
Amateur Satellites—How to get started
Portable (backpacking) operation and POTA—Tips from an expert
Setting Up a Modern (or not so modern) HF Station
Lightning Protection and Grounding
Traffic Handling
Public Service, Emergency Communications
Propagation Map: This map shows real-time radio propagation on the HF bands. You can also click on "VHF" (in the menu on the left side of the screen) to see 2m propagation. Play around with the map. Plug in your grid square ID to zero in on your location. The propagation map can be found here. If you don't know your qrid square ID you can easily find it here by plugging in your call sign (or your address if you would rather). Enjoy!
To find repeaters near you try the RepeaterBook Proximity Search.
Have you heard about Parks On the Air? It is one of many ways to enjoy the hobby. If you would like to learn about it click on this link.
Interested in CW? There are people around here who would like to practice CW. Below is a link to a page on the ARRL website that has information about CW if you would like to learn more about it. If you are interested in practicing with others please contact the club at w6sbd.lcars@gmail.com. You can read about CW on the ARRL website here.
The Watch Duty App to monitor wildfires: Android iPhone
Are you a new or future ham who would like some information on a low cost hand held radio, the Baofeng UV-5R? Are you an older ham who has one but might not know about a couple of available accessories? Check out this article written by Kathy (KK6TNH) here.
During Disasters & Emergencies there are usually hams in the county monitoring the national call frequency 146.520 (simplex). There are also people who monitor the Konocti and Hunter repeaters. The programming info for those can be found on the Local Repeaters and Nets page on this site. You can also try 145.555 (simplex) and 146.550 (simplex)
Local news updates are normally broadcast on listener supported KPFZ 88.1 FM
Buy and Sell Page here
Want to learn about SOTA (Summits on the Air)? It's a lot of fun and all hams can participate. You can set up your station on a mountain peak and be an "activator" or communicate from the comfort of your ham shack and be a "chaser!" When the weather is nice there is a good chance you will hear activators calling CQ from the surrounding peaks. Check out the following links for more info and be ready to join in! And have fun!
History of the 146.775 Repeater by Tom Patton N6GJM (Silent Key)
Here is a link to the original LCARS website http://lcarsofca.yolasite.com/ which was used until 2016.
Unfortunately there is no link to the Classic Google Site which was created in 2016 but most of the information from that version transferred over to this one.
Page updated
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