Welcome to the Frederick Amateur Radio Club!

Hi all,

It’s time to start ramping up for the biennial Hike Across Maryland (HAM), which will be held on Saturday May 23^rd. The HAM is an adventure where ~80 hearty souls hike the 41-mile Maryland segment of the Appalachian Trail southward from Pen Mar Park on the Mason-Dixon line to Harpers Ferry, WV in a very long day. Our mission is to provide radio support for the hike organizers, operating from ten checkpoints plus one welfare-check location, all along the trail. We primarily pass requests for assistance, as well as listing of hikers that have passed through each of the checkpoints.

Couple more points (in no particular order):

• Hikers leave Pen Mar Park around 5:30am and the last will likely arrive in Harpers Ferry around 9pm.
• Checkpoints open and close based on previous HAM hiker data. For example, Pen Mar will open at 5:15am and likely close at 5:40. As the day (and hike) progresses, checkpoints open later but remain open longer.
• We go rain or shine, unless conditions are dangerous.
• The majority of the checkpoints are a VERY short walk from parking.
• The POGO Campground welfare check is located between two relatively distant checkpoints, and requires a ~two mile hike (each way) via the Thurston Griggs Trail. If you’re interested in this role, let me know in the comment section of the sign-up sheet.
• High Rock checkpoint is a couple hundred yards into the woods from parking, and Ensign Cowell checkpoint is maybe a half mile up the trail from parking. If you’d like either of these, let me know in the comment section of sign-up sheet.
• While most checkpoints require only a handheld radio, one or two require handheld with enhanced antenna, and one or two require mobile-type radio and large antenna. We have loaner equipment, so please don’t let lack of gear prevent you from volunteering.
• An amateur technician license or better is required.
• This is an excellent first-event for new hams – if you’ve participated in any of the radio nets, you have the skill-set for this event. If you’d prefer, we can pair you up with a more experienced operator.
• We plan to use a combination of voice and digital data modes (Winlink/FLDigi) to transmit hiker data – whatever works for the operator at a particular checkpoint.
• Our primary repeater will be the W3CWC 146.94 in Clear Spring.

If you can help support this event, please complete the sign-up form here: https://forms.gle/7Gq9dC6nRDLkyz4M7 On the form, there is a place to provide free-form comments, questions or other useful information.

If you have any questions about this event, please send me a note using my call sign @arrl.net

Thanks and 73!
Mike K3MMM

A few pictures from Fred Fest 2026!

Hi all,

Quick reminder that the March 2026 meeting of the Frederick Amateur Radio Club is on Monday March 16^th at 7PM. The social hour begins at 6PM. In addition to the regular business meeting, Christy K3CI and Steve K3STE will present Getting Started in CW

As since it’s the talk of the town, here are a few items about FredFest on Saturday March 21^st:

• At 6:30 tomorrow (Monday) before the club meeting, I’d like to convene those that plan to assist with FredFest on Saturday. Note that if you can’t make it to this get-together, don’t let that dissuade you from volunteering on Friday afternoon or Saturday
• FredFest setup is Friday at 5PM. If life is good, we can have the space totally ready to go when we leave on Friday.
• I plan to be at FredFest at 5:30 am (aka zero dark thirty) – any volunteers can arrive before/after. If Friday setup is a success, we can allow vendors early access for setup.
• I have an ongoing list of FredFest tasks and notes that I’ll share with interested volunteers. Send me a note if you’d like access to the shared Google doc.
• We have a GREAT NUMBER of items that were donated to the club – lots of small items. I’ll need a few volunteers who aren’t shy about assigning a price to an item to manage this process. There will certainly need to be some separation of wheat from chaff, with chaff being free to good home.

As always, meetings of the Frederick Amateur Radio Club are open to all members of the local community – no need to be a club member or licensed ham. We meet in the social hall of the Independent Hose (fire) Company, located at 310 Baughmans Lane in Frederick. Parking and entrance to social hall are in the rear of the building.

While it’s best to meet in person, second best is via Zoom using this link:  FARC Zoom 2026.
Please put your name and/or call sign in your Zoom profile.

Check our Upcoming Activities post on the club website: https://frederickarc.org/upcoming-club-activities/

Please let me know if there are questions – use my call sign @arrl,net

73!
Mike K3MMM