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*** URGENT UPDATE ***
Due to COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the following events have changed:

  • ALL Meetings  – To be held online until further notice, more information and invitations will be on Facebook, Groups.io, Discord server
  • ALL Workshops – To be held online until further notice, more information and invitations will be on Facebook, Groups.io, Discord server
  • ALL Ham Radio Testing Sessions – CANCELLED
  • 2021 TechFest has been CANCELLED  ( http://techfest.info )

    (Please check back often for the latest updates)

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Welcome to the Gwinnett Amateur Radio Societygroup

The Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society (GARS) is an amateur radio club and a special service club serving Gwinnett County, Georgia, in the North Metro Atlanta area. With over 300 members, GARS is an active part of the Amateur Radio community and plays an important role in Gwinnett County.

 

MEETINGS: 2nd Tuesday of every month (except December) starting at 7:00 pm

WORKSHOPS: 3rd Tuesday of every month (except December) starting at 7:00 pm

 

Come join us at our next Meeting or Workshop — Guests are always welcome!

Due to COVID-19 (Coronavirus),
MEETINGS AND WORKSHOPS will be held Online using:
Zoom

 

*** LOCATION ENTRANCE CHANGE ***

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY:

Due to construction at the airport, the entrance we have been using is now closed. Instead, we will enter at the gate next to Advanced Aviation. Please CLICK ON THE IMAGE for the updated GARS Meeting Location page which contains a larger map with directions. If the gate is closed check the gate to the right. Follow it around the back of the buildings.

 

GARS MEETING

Due to COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the following events are not being held in person:

We meet on the second Tuesday of every month, except December. Guests are always welcome!

WHEN: Second Tuesday – Doors open at 6:30 pm, Meeting Starts at 7:00 pm.

WHERE: At the EAA 690 Hangar (click here for more info) Online Meeting using Zoom, invitations will be on Facebook, Groups.io, and Discord server.

PROGRAM:  January 12, 2021 – Lee Johnson N4WYE – NANO VNA (Vector Network Analyzer)

Lee began his Radio Amateur story at age 15 with a Novice license WH6DAK in Hawaii in 1957, then a Conditional KH6DAK.
With a BS in Electrical Engineering, he had a forty-year career in communication systems development and corporate management including Corporate Technology Officer with GTE Gov’t Systems. He served in product design, engineering, and marketing management roles in digital communications systems, cellular, satellite, fiber optics, and semiconductors.

He was a founding member of the Raleigh Amateur Radio Society, served as President, and designed and built the flagship 146.64 W4DW repeater in the 1970s. He is a lifetime member of the ARRL and is an active member of the North Fulton Amateur Radio League.

“Retired now and getting more active in Ham Radio. Enjoying the new technologies and have spent the last year learning and constructing End Fed Half Wave antennas. My primary tool used is the NanoVNA, as it gives you a unique insight into what it takes to really understand your antennas and how to optimize them”.

“I have used the more sophisticated commercial Vector Network Analyzers during my career, and when I saw the early announcements of the NanoVNA, I knew that I had to have one if I wanted to construct and optimize HF antennas for my new IC-7300 without an external tuner. I found it very easy to construct and tune the 49:1 transformer needed for the End Fed Half Wave antennas. Optimizing multi-band HF antennas can be difficult, but with the NanoVNA, the job is much easier. I was able to get the SWR below 2:1 on all the bands, and the IC-7300 internal tuner handled the rest”.

UPCOMING MEETINGS 

  • January 12, 2021 – Lee Johnson N4WYE – NANO VNA (Vector Network Analyzer)
  • February 09, 2021 – John Kludt K7SYS – The 4-Year Amateur Radio Upgrade to ISS
  • March 9, 2021  – Neil Foster N4FN – The Art of QSL’ing (or how I learned the hard way)

GARS WORKSHOP

Due to COVID-19 (Coronavirus), the following events are not being held in person:

The GARS Workshop meets on the third Tuesday of every month, except December. Guests are always welcome! Doors open at 6:30 pm, Meeting Starts at 7:00 pm. The presentation starts after brief introductions and announcements.

WHEN: Third Tuesday – Doors open at 6:30 pm, Meeting Starts at 7:00 pm.

WHERE: At the EAA 690 Hangar (click here for more info) Online Meeting using Zoom, invitations will be on Facebook, Groups.io, and Discord server.

PROGRAM:  January 19, 2021 – Brian Haren W8BYH – Georgia Amateur Radio Situation Awareness Map

Brian has collected a ton of information about repeaters and other useful items throughout Georgia and has created a website to present this information.  If you use any of these Amateur Radio repeater systems; Analog FM, D-Star, C4FM, DMR, Winlink Gateways, Digipeaters, or Linked repeaters you will want to attend. 

Brian is a geospatial program manager and does web mapping professionally.  His mapping project started simply as an exercise in trying to understand the distribution of repeaters across Georgia.

Brian will go through his trials and tribulations of getting accurate repeater info and the steps he took to create a database of repeater information.  His maps are designed as tools to help Amateur Radio operators in the State of Georgia visualize emergency communication and emergency response infrastructure across the State.  Over time Brian added more information layers to the map; NOAA weather radar, watches & warnings, emergency infrastructure (fire stations, hospitals, EOCs, shelters), traffic data, etc. that turned the map from a simple repeater map to a situational awareness tool.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS  

MORE INFO: Click here for more information about our Monthly Workshops

PREVIOUS WORKSHOPS: Click here to view our previous Workshops and Presentations

GARS BREAKFAST

Join GARS for Breakfast at the Cracker Barrel off Lawrenceville-Suwanee Rd and I-85 – Saturday mornings at 0730.

WHEN:  Most Saturday mornings – Starting around 7:30am

WHERE:  Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, 75 Celebration Dr, Suwanee, GA 30024