History

The Bellbrook Amateur Radio Club (BARC) began as a communications support group for the City of Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Township Disaster Plan following the 1974 Xenia tornado and was officially founded July 4, 1976, with 20 charter members.

BARC is a 501(c)(3) organization that has been continuously active over the past 37+ years as a general purpose club with monthly meetings, educational programs, emergency preparedness, public service and currently has over 80 members from Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Township and the surrounding area.

BARC acquired space for our club house at the old Sugarcreek Elementary School in 2007. This space became the clubhouse and is used as a meeting room, training center, and a four station communications center. BARC’s basic operation is funded through modest annual dues and occasional donations by members. The communications center is used for general on-air operations by members, for individual or club contesting, for demonstrations and training, and as a BARC/Greene County ARES Emergency communications center in time of a local, county-wide, or regional disaster or communications emergency.

Meetings

BARC meets every third Thursday of each month. BARC meetings begin at 7:30PM and end approximately at 9:00PM. The clubhouse is located at the former Sugarcreek Elementary School in downtown Bellbrook. BARC also hosts a movie night every last Thursday of the month. Dinner ($5 donation) is usually provided starting at 7:00PM with the movie starting at 7:30PM.

Address

Street Address
51 South East Street
Bellbrook, OH 45305

Club Mailing Address
P.O. Box 73
Bellbrook, OH 45305

Membership

To join the club, you can come to any of our meetings or movie night. Please fill out a membership registration and bring to one of our meetings or movie night.

ARRL Discounted Membership Offer BARC members are reminded that one of the benefits of Club membership is the opportunity to become an ARRL member at a discounted price. Effective January 1, 2016, ARRL membership will increase from $39 to $49 per year. This is the first increase in a number of years. BARC is an ARRL affiliated club and receives a commission for new first-time ARRL memberships transacted through the Club. BARC passes on this discount as a club membership benefit in order to promote ARRL membership. BARC members currently receive a $15 discount on a NEW first year ARRL membership cost when placed through the Club. Please contact BARC Treasurer, Paul Sharp KD8OPN, for details.

Kroger’s Rewards Program. Please remember to use your Kroger Card when shopping at Kroger’s and support BARC through the Kroger Rewards Program. If you have not yet signed up and need help, please bring your Kroger Card to the next BARC meeting and we’ll help you get registered. You can signup on line at Kroger.com, enter 83789 at organization prompt.

AmazonSmile Rewards Program. BARC is now registered in an Amazon rewards program called AmazonSmile. Charitable and non-profit organizations receive 0.5% of total purchase price (small but it adds up over time). A web page of basic Q&A info on the AmazonSmile program is available at: http://smile.amazon.com/about/ref=smi_se_ft_abt_saas. You must shop through smile.amazon.com for BARC to receive benefits. You can use your existing Amazon account. To sign up, simply select Bellbrook Amateur Radio Club as your preferred charity when prompted. AmazonSmile is a simple and automatic way for BARC members (and family and friends) to support BARC, at no cost to you, every time you shop at Amazon. When you shop at smile.amazon.com, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection & convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com with the added bonus that Amazon will donate a portion of the purchase price to BARC. So, be sure to register in AmazonSmile the next time you shop at Amazon and then log back in at AmazonSmile.

Repeaters and Nets

BARC operates both 2m and 70cm repeaters.
Remember to join your friends for the BARC weekly Net on Sunday evenings at 8:00 PM on the BARC 2m repeater, 147.045 (+)(no PL). The Net provides an opportunity between Club meetings to share news and information about Club and personal projects and activities.

Wires-X

W8DGN-ND Wires-X Node ID: 70262
W8DGN-Room Room ID: 80262
The W8DGN repeater has an active Wires-X node available on the 443.675 repeater. Check https://www.yaesu.com/jp/en/wires-x/id/id_active.php for the current status. Like IRLP, AllStar, and EchoLink, Wires-X is a way for digital radios to connect over the Internet and reach remote repeaters or “Rooms” where many hams can meet and talk about specific topics. One popular room is the AmericaLink Node 21080.

To use Wires-X on the W8DGN repeater, simply listen to be sure the repeater is not in use, then identify your station and state that you are connecting to Wires-X. You must have a Yaesu radio that supports C4FM digital voice. Every radio has a different method for connecting to Wires-X, but generally there is a DX or X button that connects you to Wires-X and allows you to get a list of nodes to which you can connect.
For more information, please check the Yaesu website or search the web for a tutorial that is specific to your radio.

AllStar and EchoLink

AllStar and EchoLink
AllStar Node: 53017
EchoLink Node: 353955
The W8DGN repeater has an active AllStar/EchoLink node available on the 147.045 repeater. Currently, outgoing connects and disconnects will not be audibly announced. Check http://barc.sytes.net/link.php?nodes=53017 for the current status.

To use AllStar on the W8DGN repeater, simply listen to be sure the repeater is not in use, then identify your station and state that you are connecting to AllStar. Every command must begin with a "Star" character ( * ). If a * is issued as part of a command string, it causes a reset of the decoder and the decode begins from the last entered * character. This is useful if you make a mistake; you just start again. Decoding is abandoned if the gap between digits is too long.
Available Functions:
*1 nnnn Disconnect from node nnnn
*3 nnnn Connect to node nnnn
*73 Shortcut to disconnect from any node
A list of active Allstar nodes can be found at this location.

To use EchoLink on the W8DGN repeater, simply listen to be sure the repeater is not in use, then identify your station and state that you are connecting to EchoLink. Allstar treats ALL EchoLink node numbers as 6-digits long. Nodes with shorter numbers need to have leading zeroes added.
e.g., EchoLink node 1234 = AllStar Node 001234
Also, in order to distinguish EchoLink node numbers from AllStar numbers, the 6-digit number has to he prepended with a "3". So the example above becomes 3001234; a total of 7 digits.
Having constructed the number of the desired node, we need to issue the command to make the link. To call EchoLink node 1234, you would dial
*33001234
Finally, please remember to disconnect from any call using *1nnnn or *73.

Special Services Club

On Thursday, 18 December 2014, BARC received a Special Service Club award from ARRL Ohio Section Manager, Scott Yonally. BARC is the 8th club in Ohio to receive this special certification. ARRL describes Special Service Clubs (SSC) as those that go above and beyond within their communities to:

• Recruit, assist, and train new ham radio operators
• Offer continuing technical and operational education and practical training
• Establish an effective presence in the community by publicizing and promoting Amateur Radio and providing public service and emergency communications support
• Promote individual and organized group operational activities and training
• Promote and maintain ongoing special interests and unique activities that give the club a special personality

Officers

Coordinators