Nets & On The Air Activities

Meeting On The Air – First Monday

We hold a Meeting on the Air – “MOTA”, using the Klub’s main two-meter repeater (147.120 MHz / 110.9 PL), on the first Monday of each month starting at 7:30 P.M.

The Meeting on the Air provides members and guests, who may not be able to attend a regular meeting, a chance to chat with other RWK members and keep current on the Klub’s and other members’ activities. Each month is different. The number of members participating will vary as will the topics of the conversation. It’s always fun to hear what other klub members have been up to.

If you are a new ham, why not join the meeting on the air and practice your operating techniques in a friendly, informal environment? You will soon learn how a “net” consisting of a group of operators keeps everyone ‘in the loop.’

Local VHF Nets

The Klub hosts several nets on our repeaters each week. Both Klub Members and non-members are free to participate.

Our Current Net Schedule:

RWK New Ham Net – First/Third Weds@7pm – 147.12 Repeater

The primary purpose of the RWK new hams net is to foster education and participation from new amateur radio operators. The net is used to augment and reinforce topics from our RWK University for new Technicians and Generals with support from designated mentors.

Richardson Monthly Siren Test Net – First Wed@Noon – 147.12 Repeater

The RWK along with Richardson RACES monitors the monthly Warning Siren Test by the City of RIchardson. Operators are dispatched and pre-staged at each of the city’s 25 warning sirens prior to the test at noon, and then report the outcome of each siren to the Net Control who reports the info to the City OEM. The monthly net lasts about 15 minutes.

“Digitally Speaking” Net – Sunday@2pm – 147.12 Repeater

Operated by DCARA, this informal net runs every Sunday and is a combination of local news and announcements and technology. The net is linked via ALLSTAR between W5NGU (Denton), K5RWK (Richardson), and College Station, and sometimes other texas repeaters.

Texas Statewide DMR Net – Wed@7:30pm – 440.375 DMR Repeater TG3148

We participate in the Texas Statewide DMR Net every week. The net promotes the use of DMR throughout the state, with more than 25 DMR repeaters linked throughout the state on TG3148. For more information: https://dmrtexas.net/

Richardson RACES Training Net – Fourth Mon@7pm – 147.12 Repeater

The Richardson RACES group holds a monthly on-air training net every 4th Monday on the primary RWK repeater. The purpose of the net is to train and reinforce the education of the RACES group members, and usually focuses on Weather-related training and exercises. While participation is limited to formal members of the RACES group (check-ins use assigned RACES numbers), non-members are welcome to listen and learn.

ARRL Field Day / Winter Field Day

The Klub regularly participates in the ARRL Field Day and Winter Field Day activities, the flagship Emergency Preparedness exercise for Radio Amateurs. Field Day is a 24 hour exercise designed to test the group’s ability to respond to emergency conditions by conducting a sustained operation in the field and under non-commercial power.

The RWK has participated in ARRL Field Day most years since the early 1960s. You can read more about RWK Field Day and see photos of our participation through the years on the RWK Field Day page.

Radiosport / Contesting

Hams regularly participate in “Radiosport” (communications contests between radio amateurs). There are many contesting events throughout the year that encompass all radio modes, geographies, and ham bands. However you like to operate on the air, there’s probably an opportunity to prove your skills in a contest activity.

Some of the more popular time-limited contest activities are:

• Sweepstakes – North American contest to communicate with as many stations in as many North American geographies as possible.
• CQ Worldwide DX – Worldwide contest to communicate with as many stations in as many countries and call zones throughout the world as possible.
• CQ Worked Prefixes (WPX) – Contest to work as many stations with different callsign prefixes as possible.
• ARRL DX – Similar to CQWW but sponsored by ARRL
• IARU Championship – Sponsored by the IARU
• Band Specific Contests – Work as many stations on a given band as possible
• Mode Specific Contests – Many of the major contests (above) are separated into specific periods for Phone and CW. Other contests are specifically dedicated to single modes, such as FT-4/8 or RTTY.

In addition to the timed contests, there are other ongoing radiosport activities that hams can pursue:

• Parks On The Air (POTA) – Stations operating portable in state and national parks
• Islands On The Air (IOTA) – Stations in most of the world geographies, regardless of country affiliation.

Many RWK Members participate in these and other contests, some as individual operators and some as groups. Please check our Calendar as well as the Contest Calendar (on the right) to see more about upcoming contests.