Help — Using the BARC Website

Finding Your Way Around

  • The top menu has dropdowns. Hover over (or tap, on a phone) Home, Events & Programs, Resources, Ham News! or Members to see the pages underneath.
  • Home holds the club's own information: About BARC, Officers & Coordinators, Bylaws, Past Membership Meetings (with Meeting Minutes under it), the Communication Center, Other Club Documents, and the Privacy Policy.
  • Events & Programs has two columns: On the Air (Field Day with its Field Day Logs, Parks on the Air, Digital Radio, Hamfests, Public Service & EmComm) and Club Programs (Tech Night, Presentations, Educational Programs, Other Area Clubs, Ham Radio Reference Links).
  • Resources has the Photo Gallery and Field Day Videos — a photo-and-music video for every Field Day since 2012, to watch online or download.
  • Repeaters & Nets and Contesting/QSOs/QSL/DX go straight to their own pages.
  • The amber items — Newsletter, Calendar and Ham News! — change most often.
  • Most pages have a left-hand sidebar with related pages. Breadcrumbs above each title ("Home › Page") show where you are.
  • On phones and tablets the menu folds into the ☰ button in the upper right.

News, Newsletter & Documents

Ham News!
  • Headlines shows the latest stories from ARRL News, Amateur Radio Weekly, DXZone, SDR & Digital Radio, the Digital Library of Amateur Radio and Amateur Radio Newsline. Each list updates by itself; click a headline to read the full story on the source's site.
  • DX Section shows live DX cluster spots, updated every minute. Pick a band or mode, or tick Hide US & Canada for real DX. Click a call sign to look it up on QRZ.
Newsletter (Full Quieting)

The Newsletter page shows the current issue at the top and every issue from this year under Recent Issues — new issues appear automatically. Older issues are in the Archive by year. Each issue has Read Online (opens the PDF) and Download. The sidebar's Article Index lists every article that has run in Full Quieting.

Presentations

The Presentations page (Events & Programs › Club Programs) is a searchable library of past club presentations. Search by title or presenter, click a category to open it, and use the PDF button to view a file. Have a topic idea? Use Submit a Topic in its sidebar.

Meetings, Minutes & Club Documents

Home › Past Membership Meetings lists past meeting presentations by year, with Meeting Minutes beneath it. Bylaws and other official documents are under the same Home menu.

Members: Logging In & Out

  • Open Members › Member Login and sign in with your username and password. If your account was set up from the club roster, your username is your first initial + last name, all lowercase (for example jadams).
  • First time, or forgot your password? Use Members › Reset Password and enter the email address the club has on file. A link to set a new password arrives by email — check your spam folder if you don't see it.
  • Once you're logged in, the Members menu shows Member Portal, My Profile, Member Directory and Log out.
  • When you're finished, choose Members › Log out — especially on a shared or public computer.

Members: Portal, Profile & Directory

Member Portal is your members-only home page: a welcome with your membership status, the What's New box, meeting minutes, forms and documents, net-control resources, and the officers.

My Profile is your club record. Keep your contact details, call sign, license class and expiration, ARRL membership and interests up to date, change your password in the Account card (which also shows your username), and click Save profile. The Membership Details section is kept by the Membership Coordinator — contact them if anything there looks wrong.

Member Directory lists current members with call sign, license class, member type, email, phone and city. You can hide your email, phone or city — or leave the directory entirely — in the Member Directory card on My Profile. Only logged-in, current members can see the directory.

The badge next to your name shows your status:

  • Active — paid up for this year
  • Pending approval — a new application waiting for the Membership Coordinator
  • Renewal due — January and February, when last year's membership has ended; renew by March 1
  • Expired — not renewed by March 1; members-only pages are closed until you renew

Joining & Renewing

Join: choose Members › Join BARC. Dues are $15 individual or $18 family (your whole household). Membership runs January through December; join after July and dues are half price. Newly licensed hams can choose a free first year or a low-cost handheld radio.

Renew: dues for the coming year can be paid from November and must be paid by March 1. Pay at a monthly meeting, by PayPal (Friends & Family) to treasurer@bellbrookarc.org, or mail a check made out to BARC to BARC Treasurer, P.O. Box 73, Bellbrook, OH 45305. Your status updates once the Membership Coordinator records the payment.

Officers: Creating a Post

  1. Log in at bellbrookarc.org/wp/wp-admin, then choose Posts → Add New.
  2. Add a title and your text. Use + → Image for photos; select words and press Ctrl+K to add a link.
  3. On the right, pick a Category (tick What's New to show it on the Member Portal), set a Featured Image, and write a short Excerpt — that's the summary shown in post lists.
  4. Preview, then Publish (or Schedule for a later date). Edit later from Posts → All Posts.

Membership Coordinators

You see this section because you manage membership. Members don't.

Members › Membership Dashboard is your workspace:

  • Tiles at the top count members by status (Active, Renewal due, Pending, Expired and so on). Click one to list those members. Search always looks through every member, by name, call sign, email or phone.
  • New applicants arrive as Pending. Use Approve or Reject. Approving opens the members-only pages to them and emails them a welcome.
  • Open any member by clicking their name. You can edit everything, including the Membership Details card: paid-through year, member type, household link, approval status, notes and payment history.
  • Record a payment from the member's record. The rates box shows $15 / $18 and the half-price rule after July. Payments made in November or December count toward the next year. A household payment renews every linked family member.
  • Families: each person has their own record. Anyone with their own email gets their own login; others are linked to the household's primary member.
How status is worked out
  • Active through December 31 of the paid-through year · Renewal due January–February · Expired from March 1 · Life members never expire.
Reports

The Reports tab has nine reports — Current Active Members, Inactive/Expired, New Members, Members by Type, Renewals/Expiration, Contact List, Membership History, Members Missing Information and Membership Counts. Each one can be printed or downloaded as a CSV for Excel. The dashboard's roster CSV exports every member and field — a good monthly backup.

The Contact List shows details members have hidden in the directory. Keep printouts and CSV files private.

Site Administrators

Only administrators see this section. Before any big change, take a WPvivid backup.
Everyday jobs
  • Newsletter: upload each issue to the /newsletter/ folder with File Manager, named Full_Quieting_MonthYear.pdf (e.g. Full_Quieting_November2026.pdf). It appears automatically. In December, add the year's issues to the Archive widget.
  • Ham News feeds: add a feed in Aggregator › Sources, then a Display for it (5 items, no pagination), and paste its shortcode into a new card in the Ham News Shortcode widget.
  • After editing a page: click Update, then LiteSpeed Cache › Purge All, and check it in a private window.
  • Roster import (CSV) is at the bottom of the Membership Dashboard, visible to admins only.
Page-building rules
  • Standard page: Container 1 (title bar + styles), Container 2 row with a 210px sidebar and a content column set to Size: Default — never Grow.
  • Shortcodes go in Shortcode widgets, never HTML widgets. Internal links use /wp/page-slug/ with the trailing slash.
  • Members-only pages: edit the page, set Simple WP Membership Protection to Yes, tick all levels.
Security & settings
  • Wordfence: two-factor login is required for administrators. Locked-out users are unblocked under Wordfence › Tools › Blocking.
  • Email Hold snippet: while active, no email reaches members. Blocked messages are listed under Tools › BARC Email Hold. Deactivate it to send member email.
  • Keep your admin login separate from your member login — never give an admin account a membership level.

Something not working? Let us know — no detail is too small.
Email the webmaster — webmaster@bellbrookarc.org

2024 Field Day Updated June 20, 2024

Update June 20, 2024

The June Membership presentation is available under Programs …Field Day or by clicking here.

Update June 11, 2024

The Field Day Committee completed inventory and testing of all cables and made sure all equipment in the trailer was ready for transport to Sackett-Wright Park. Repairs had to be made on the trailer cables for the turn signals and lights and some bulbs were replaced. The final Planning meeting was held Saturday, June 8, and decisions on antennas and schedule were completed. Members are encouraged to volunteer to help with set up Saturday morning at 9:30 am at the clubhouse and tear down on Sunday around 2 pm. The final presentation for the General Membership[ Meeting is available on the Field Day page under Programs or by clicking here.

Update April 13, 2024

The Field Day Committee held its second planning meeting Saturday, April 13, 2024, at 9:00 am. We need volunteers to set up the antennas and the canopies. Please volunteer by clicking here.

You can also download copies of the Planning Meeting presentations by going to the Field Day page under Programs. Please review these to understand the changes in our set up for this year as well as timing for the event.

Update April 11, 2024

Quick reminder of our Field Day Planning meeting this Saturday, April 13, 09:00 am at the BARC Clubhouse.  Things we will discuss and finalize include reviewing our Positions Roster, additional volunteer opportunities, detailed info of the Field Day Site, food / station table layout in the shelter, information on the Computers & Radio capabilities including antennas and final determination of their layout.  We will also talk about food and get an initial headcount for Tink so we have a starting point. 

In addition, we will discuss the Field Day Weekend Schedule and logistics.  This meeting will be a bit more information than I had originally planned, so please try to attend if you’re available.  I know a few members have already let me know they will be unavailable this Saturday and I can review individually with anyone who can’t make the meeting but would still like to be aware of what is covered. 

Our May meeting will only require a few people (5-6 probably enough) and we will be moving a table to the trailer for an inspection of contents; remove, examine, test & repair / replace as required, and repack. 

Hope to see as many members as possible this Saturday. Thank You!

Your Field Day Coordinator,
Glenn
WI8O

Update March 18, 2024

The volunteer sign-up page is now available on the Field Day page (see below) or by clicking here.

Original Post

The Bellbrook Amateur Radio Club Field Day Committee held its first meeting of the year last Saturday, March 16. Several items were discussed including the antennas, shelter layout, and the Committee positions. The committee also thanked Ray Hitt, N8VMX, who recently stepped down as the Field Day Chairperson for all the great work he has done over the past several years.

More information including the presentation by Glenn Rodgers, WI8O, the new Field Day Chairperson are available under Programs…Field Day above or by clicking here. Please email Glenn if you have any suggestions or would like to volunteer to help out. Watch the website for a sign-up page to help with various activities.