Radio Amateurs of the Gorge is hosting “CQ Gorge!” which coincides with Winter Field Day. It’s an area-wide QSO party with foxes and hounds.

Saturday, January 24, 9am-noon

Foxes will operate POTA-style, self-spotting via repeaters, simplex (147.5 and 446.0), and the internet. Hounds will attempt to make contacts with as many foxes (and other hounds) as possible, using all bands and modes available.

This is not a contest! This is a communications exercise to build your skills and test your gear. The prize is knowing where and with who you can communicate. Please log your contacts, we will be aggregating data from across the gorge to learn more about our strengths and weaknesses.

Click here for details including coordination frequencies and spotting.

Links to the spotting tracker have been posted to the GEAR and RAGS mailing lists.

We’ve changed out license exam sessions to be held at 7:15am. Still on the second Saturday of the month and free! Please note preregistration is required.

Upcoming sessions:

The RAGS club repeater has moved from Underwood Mtn to 7 Mile Hill.

Frequency and tone remain the same, it’s now 15 miles to the east with coverage of Hood River, Lyle, Mosier, Underwood, and White Salmon. The hardware was upgraded from an older Kenwood to a Yaesu DR-2X.

147.200+ tone 100

Radio Amateurs of the Gorge will be operating from Mt Adams Horse Camp for the biggest day of the year for: amateur radio: Field Day!

Dates: June 28/29

When: Operations commence at 11am, some folks may come up early on Friday.

What are we doing? A contest-but-not-a-contest! The goal is to make as many contacts as possible in 24 hours. Simple as that.

Technician? No gear? No problem! There will be radios and antennas a plenty. Technicians can work HF as we’ll have a gaggle of Extras as “control operators”.

Please feel welcome to camp, there’s a ton of space! There will be food too!

Please join us! Make it a weekend. 🙂

The May monthly club meeting will be held at the Bingen Marina Park at 0830.

After the meeting we’ll be doing a club POTA activation. The park counts as US-0731, US-3424, and US-4572. No gear or license required, join us!

Radio Amateurs of the Gorge has added an affiliation with Laurel VEC for administering license exams. We will be holding them regularly after our monthly club meetings. The kicker? It’s free!

Please note that pre-registration is required.

Upcoming sessions:

The April meeting of Radio Amateurs of the Gorge will be followed by a swap meet.

Please bring your wallet and any gear you’d like to sell.

Amateur radio stuff only, please.

The January RAGS meeting will be held on Zoom, as the training room at HRFD is being used by another group. Still January 11 at 0830.

Radio Amateurs of the Gorge is hosting our annual exam session with *free* Technician test review session.

The review session is Friday and Saturday, and covers all questions on the Techincian test. Folks looking to take the exam are expected to study on their own, the review sessions are to build confidence and get you over the hump.

We recommend using the free flashcards and practice exams at hamstudy.org. Study each sub-element to mastery, then move on to the next. Once you do this for all sub-elements, you should be able to pass a practice exam with ease.

For questions or mentoring, please email w7rags [at] gmail [dot] com.

Review Session:

When: November 15, 2024, 5:30pm to 9 pm, November 16, 2024, 9am to 4pm

Where: Hood River Fire Fire Department

Cost: free!

Exam information:

When: November 16, 2024, 4:30pm

Where: Hood River Fire Fire Department

Registration: https://hamstudy.org/sessions/6723d34ec590bd8393dc4128/1

Cost: $15 for those over 18

Preregistration is required for those taking the Technician Exam.

The October meeting of Radio Amateurs of the Gorge will be followed by a swap meet.

Please bring your wallet and any gear you’d like to sell.

Amateur radio stuff only, please.