Community

One of the reasons that the FCC established the amateur radio service was for the “recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary non-commercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.” The use of ham radio for communications during truly emergent conditions, such as floods and tornadoes, is one of the key services that CVARC provides.

Public service extends well beyond the more occasional emergency situation. CVARC members, like many other hams, volunteer their time and equipment to help with communication during public events, like races and parades, as a way to serve the community. By working with the event organizers, hams can get a message through from one end of an event to the other, helping the organizers stay on top of things. Every ham, regardless of experience has the opportunity to participate and hone their skills at these events.

The biggest perceived barrier to event participation is not having the right equipment. However, for CVARC members, this is not a barrier at all. Loaner radios of various types are available during these events. Public service events are a great way to learn and gain experience with your radios and equipment. The events are usually low key and fun. When the big emergency happens at 3 AM some Wednesday, you’ll be glad you worked the bugs out during a noon weekend 5k Fun Walk. The free t-shirts aren’t bad either.

Everything! Examples include:

• Marathons (full and half, and sometimes simultaneously)
• Smaller runs or fundraising walks
• Emergency Management Agency drills
  • (Primarily pertaining to our local nuclear power plant)
• Triathlons (typically two per  year)
• Holiday events with city officials

This list is not exhaustive. Over the years, we’ve been asked to help with many different things.

Some of them are remarkably so! The marathons, for example, are large events, and the planning takes months and involves police, fire, ambulance, many volunteer groups, and local city departments. But even at a marathon, there are tasks that do not require a lot of experience! And if you are new, we can assign you to work with an experienced partner.

Other events are very simple, and anyone can work them, even without a mentor. We can use all skill levels.

Every event includes a briefing, and materials sent out prior. Those are generally sufficient.

Amateur Radio is a big hobby that covers many interests. There are other local clubs that cater to some of these that you can join in addition to CVARC — or even instead of! But don’t worry, we all get along just fine. In fact, most local hams who belong to a club belong to more than one. Click on a link below to check them out.

• Rockwell Collins Amateur Radio Club (RCARC)
  This is the club at Rockwell Collins (formerly Collins Radio). They have some nice stations set up, and (of course) Collins radios. Membership is limited to Collins employees and retirees due to funding and facilities access. CARC sponsors Linn County’s only DSTAR repeater.
  
  
• Radio Farm
  Just a bunch of fun folks who really enjoy the hobby!  They host a contest station based in a farm house in Linn county.  There are ALWAYS adventures on the farm.
  
  
• Eastern Iowa DX Association
  The Eastern Iowa DX Association, founded in 1975, is a club with interests centered on DXing and contesting. They maintain a local repeater and a packet cluster.
  
  
• Softronics Amateur Radio Club (SARC),  KSØFT – This is the club at Softronics LTD in Marion. Membership is limited to Softronics employees, family members, and retirees.

The most asked question about the repeaters is “Where is the repeater located?”

Single-site 2 meter repeaters are extremely difficult to implement due to the 5kW 600 kHz WMT radio station in town.  The intermod generated between a repeater transmitter and WMT falls directly on the repeater input frequency which makes it nearly impossible to make work.  This is why in Cedar Rapids, all of the 2 meter repeaters use a split-site receiver and transmitter configuration, using physical separation to mitigate the intermod effects.

The 2 meter repeaters in Cedar Rapids all share a receive site which is located at the KCRG tower, in Hiawatha.  The audio from the receivers are sent via various UHF links to the transmitter sites around town and re-transmitted on their respective 2 meter output frequencies.

• The W0GQ transmitters are located on the tower at the Rockwell Collins C Avenue complex.
• The W0WSV transmitters are located at the Hiawatha water tower at Robins Road.

We are very grateful for the continued support we receive from KCRG, Rockwell Collins and the Hiawatha Water Department for hosting our repeater equipment!