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If you haven't paid your 2026 dues don't forget. It's easy to do right here on our site...

Membership dues are payable as of January 1, 2026. Check the "Pay Dues" tab and please make sure your email address is current with the club.

CERT Basic Training

The Arlington Fire Department will be offering Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training twice this year. The dates are listed in the calendar. You can visit the Fire Department page for more info at CERT

Donation Button

There is now a Donation Button on the Pay Dues page, located at the bottom of the page.

Upcoming Contests - Things to Do

For 12 hours of low-power CW contesting fun, the North American QSO Party is coming up on January 10. Note that using more than 100 watts in this contest makes you a checklog! 160 through 10 meters, with per-band multipliers. Single and multioperator classes. And for an extra twist, teams of up to five separate stations can be registered in advance (see the rules) to compete against other teams. Make sure you read the rules to understand the multipliers, band change rules, and so forth.

The ARRL January VHF Contest is January 17 – 19. This is a grid-based contest, taking place on frequencies 50 MHz and above. Though digital modes are very popular, don’t neglect the analog modes in this contest. Some operating plans suggest trying CW and SSB at the top of every hour, and being attuned to the activity on FM frequencies.

Rovers have a big part in this contest, especially in the more populated portions of the US. Some rovers publish their operating plans in advance — here are AA2SD’s. His plans are very comprehensive, including details of his path, and how to sign up for text message alerts during the operation. He has also set up his QRZ.com page to make it easy to contact him in the contest.

Here in the more sparsely populated west, SOTA fans get climbing for the January VHF Contest to take advantage of more people being on the air. During 2026, there’s an emphasis on 2-meter and 70 cm contacts using SSB or CW as part of the 2026 SOTA Challenge. SOTA operators are looking for six-digit grid squares, so be ready with yours. On SSB, 144.200 MHz or 432.1 MHz are common frequencies (Etienne, K7ATN via PNWVHFS reflector).

(Information provided by the ARRL Contest Update)

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