2026 Technician & General License prep Classes

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WCARES offers free classes to help prepare for the ARRL license exams for both the Technician (beginner) and General (intermediate) amateur radio licenses. You do not have to be a member of WCARES to attend these classes.

If you have ever wanted to learn about amateur radio (also known as “HAM” radio), or wish to upgrade from Technician to General license for more radio privileges, then we have the class for you. While the classes are not required to take the examinations, it may be helpful for those who would like to ask questions, talk with other radio operators, or like a classroom setting instead of self-study.

For all the details visit this page: https://wcares.org/wcares-university/

Severe Weather Awareness Day 2026 / SWAD2026

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Saturday, February 21, 2026
Details, schedule, parking and registration information for SWAD 2026 can be found here:

https://www.weather.gov/ohx/swad

From NWS Nashville:

Severe Weather Awareness Day (SWAD) is a FREE event open to weather enthusiats of all ages!

Hosted by NWS Nashville and Trevecca University, this event encourages weather safety and preparedness as we head into the peak severe weather season.

Meet your favorite Nashville TV meteorologists!

Special guest speakers and presentations are scheduled during the afternoon!

While all ages are welcome to attend, younger children may enjoy the morning activities over the afternoon presentation. So come early!

Location:

Trevecca Nazarene University
Boone Business Center
333 Murfreesboro Road
Nashville, TN 37210

WCARES Winter Field Day 2026 – CANCELED

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From Trey KI4ZIN, Craig N4BAX, and Hoop K9QJS, regarding Winter Field Day

Due to the inclement weather and the potential for dangerous travel conditions, we are cancelling the WCARES in-person Winter Field Day. We will not be assembling at the Public Safety Center or at Brightstone.

We encourage all to be weather aware and to be safe.

We do encourage you to participate in Winter Field Day (WFD), from your home using your own callsign. Winter Field Day rules are here: https://winterfieldday.org/downloads/2026-rules-v3.pdf This is open to all classes of amateur radio operators, including Technician class.

If you make at least one contact during Winter Field Day, submit your properly formatted Cabrillo file to the WFD sponsors, and email your WFD submission or acknowledgement email to Trey@KI4ZIN.com , you will be entered in a WCARES drawing for a $ 25 gift certificate provided by an anonymous donor. The gift certificate will be awarded at the WCARES February 14th Monthly Meeting, and you must be present to win. Our goal is to have as many WCARES Members participate as possible.

In addiiton, if at least 25 members submit their WFD acknowledgement email submission to Trey@KI4ZIN.com , Hoop K9QJS will buy donuts for everyone that attends the February 14th Monthly Meeting. You must be present to consume your donut. Coffee will be available as well, skillfully brewed by Jeff KC1DWP.

The WFD rules (link above) shows an example Cabrillo file, which you could create using a simple text editor and cut and paste for your callsign and the callsign of the station or stations you contact. Also, many free logging programs have provisions for creating the Cabrillo file as part of their application. You are welcome to do as many contacts as you would like and to use all of the possible multipliers available to you, per the rules, in order to increase your score.

How do you participate if you are a Technician class ham, and maybe a brand new ham, and only have an HT radio? Monitor the WCARES 2 meter simplex frequency 146.505 MHz with your HT or mobile radio, and make contacts there.

What is the exchange? To the other ham you are making a contact with, provide your callsign, your “Category” and “Class”, and “TN” for Tennessee. “Category” for you likely is the number “1”. “Class” is likely “H” for “Home station”. And then record the same information from the ham you are contacting into your log. If you were to contact Hoop, for example, you might record “K9QJS 1H TN”.

Again, use your own personal callsign. Do NOT use N4FR as we usually do during all field day operations.

We look forward to Summer Field Day in June! Hope everyone can join us then!

All the best,
Trey KI4ZIN, Craig N4BAX, and Hoop K9QJS

October 2025 Presentation – Kit Building

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Randy Paulson, N4OPI demonstrates kit building and brings a number of his builds to share with the audience.

WCARES Field Day 2025 – photos

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Photographs from WCARES Field Day 2025 taken by Joe Marler, KQ1Q and Dave Rogers, W4DER – thanks guys!

 
This year included CW and SSB stations as well as GOTA and we were grateful for the use of the climate controlled Williamson County EMA Communications Trailer!

(Click on the photos to see a larger version then click outside the photo to return to the gallery.)

WCARES Field Day 2025 / photographer W4DER

September 2025 Presentation – Chasing DX: 20 Years of Fun!

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Hilton Dean (W4GHD) has achieved the DX Honor Roll, having racked up 331 DX Entities! In this video, Hilton talks about his twenty-year journey working DX. Along the way, he provides helpful information for any ham interested in chasing DX and other awards.

Recorded at the WCARES monthly meeting on September 20th, 2025.

August 2025 Presentation – Ham Licenses Tell A Story

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Ted Edwards (W3TB) has held a number of ham licenses, both in the United States and abroad. In this presentation, he recalls the many licenses he’s held and the situations in his life at the time of each license. This presentation was recorded during the WCARES monthly meeting in August 2025.

August 2025 Presentation – MTEARS Severe Weather Operation

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Laura Marler (N4CLO) presents how the MTEARS Skywarn Net is organized and how it operates. Her presentation was recorded at the WCARES monthly meeting in August 2025.

July 2025 Presentation – Propagation & Solar Cycle 25

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Tim Kreth (AD4CJ) teaches us about HF Propagation. Tim teaches this topic each February during the WCARES series of classes designed to help hams with a Technician license upgrade to the General class license. Presentation recorded during the July, 2025 WCARES monthly meeting.

WCARES Simulated Emergency Test (SET Exercise) 2025

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Fall is just around the corner, and that means the WCARES 2025 Simulated Emergency Test (SET) is coming up!
Please mark your calendars for the morning of Saturday, October 11th and plan to take part in this important exercise.

This is a great opportunity to test your equipment, sharpen your skills, and gain valuable experience. This year, we’ll be working alongside the Williamson County EMA and their world-class team and resources.

A signup link is included below. The more participants we have, the more effective—and fun—the exercise will be! Additional details will be shared as we get closer to the date. Feel free to email me with any questions you may have

Signup Link

https://forms.gle/Kob9N4UBUqATJabL6