October 2025 Presentation – Kit Building
Randy Paulson, N4OPI demonstrates kit building and brings a number of his builds to share with the audience.
September 2025 Presentation – Chasing DX: 20 Years of Fun!
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
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
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
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.
May 2025 Presentation – Making Voice Contacts in Ham Radio
It can be intimidating to make your first voice contacts when you’re a new ham.
Paul Havlik (WD9IOK) gave this excellent presentation to help motivate new hams to overcome their anxiety and get started.
See also: a video made by another WCARES member Cliff Batson (N4CCB):
May 2025 Presentation – What Is Emergency Management?
Joshua Walter, Operations Manager for the Williamson County EMA, provides an excellent overview of Emergency Management and how it works to coordinate responses among all local partners.
Recorded May 10th, 2025, at the WCARES Monthly Meeting.
December 2024 presentation – Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) batteries
Hoop (K9QJS) operates all his radios on these batteries and their small chargers. He no longer has a 12-volt, 25-amp power supply in his shack! In this video, Hoop talks about LiFePO4 batteries, their charging requirements, and their advantages to ham radio.
December 2024 presentation – Overview of the Incident Command System
Have you ever wondered “Who is in charge?” when you see Police, Fire, and EMS personnel on scene at emergency? The answer is spelled out in the Incident Command System, or ICS. And because WCARES exists to serve Williamson County for emergency communications support, all of us should be familiar with this important system. Phil Sherrod (W4PHS) was our featured speaker at the December 2024 WCARES monthly meeting and gave this comprehensive overview of the Incident Command System.
November 2024 presentation – Portable Emergency Radio Kits (PERKs)
In this video, Hilton Dean (W4GHD) walks you through the design and completion of the WCARES go-kits or PERKs, Portable Emergency Radio Kits.
The radio kits consist of a rack case of radio and power gear AND a separate Milwaukee PackOut rolling toolbox that contains the cabling, etc.
This presentation was recorded on November 16th, 2024, at the monthly WCARES meeting.
Apologies to Hilton for my assumption that he would be standing behind the lectern during his presentation. My camera position and lens choice were inappropriate for optimal capture of his presentation. However, I don’t think it detracts too much from his excellent talk. – Cliff (N4CCB)