Welcome to the home of W4GTA, the Tri-States Amateur Radio Club!
The Tri-States Amateur Radio Club (TSARC) is a widely-based group of amateur radio operators, primarily located in NW Georgia and surrounding areas, who gather together for camaraderie, fun and to further our hobby. We enjoy all aspects and modes of Amateur Radio, Analog as well as Digital modes, from lower HF frequencies all the way up to frequencies you probably weren’t even aware of! All persons interested in learning about Amateur Radio are welcome to and to be a part of our meetings and/or events! The TSARC also maintains a Facebook presence, our Facebook page is located here: https://www.facebook.com/tristatesarc/. Contact Us for more information or if there is any way that we can be of assistance to you.
Join in with us on the weekly TSARC Club Net!
We have a great time every Monday evening beginning at 7pm eastern time. We welcome announcements from any station, regardless of club affiliation, as long as they are HAM radio related. Announce your clubs meetings, nets, local HAM Fest, etc. We’ll accept checkins from mobile, portable, short time, in and out stations along with Echolink and Allstar stations first. We move onto all other checkins, any mode, anywhere and start taking comments from all.
We are currently going through the Tech, General and Extra FCC Amateur Radio Exam pools and generally asking a couple of questions from each just to add a little fun and camaraderie. We’ll follow all that up with time for Tech Q&A, this can be a question, an announcement or just a FYI statement. After that, we’ll take time for a Swap Shop, you can buy, sell, swap anything as long as it’s a) HAM Radio related and b) you are selling personal.. nothing business related.
Join any of the Nets held on TSARC systems via one of the following:
- W4GTA 145.350 Repeater – minus 0.600khz offset and a 100.0hz tone required – located atop Lookout Mountain in GA
- N4LMC 146.640 Repeater – minus 0.600khz offset and a 146.2hz tone required – located atop Signal Mountain in GA
- N4LMC 224.560 Repeater – minus 1.6mhz offset and a 146.2hz tone required – located atop Lookout Mountain in GA
- Echolink – Conference Server *SELINK* (Used for ALL nets, W4EDP-R is disabled during nets)
- Allstar – N4LMC Node 46530 or 510130
- 2021/11/12 – TSARC Club Meeting – Meets every 2nd Thursday of the month @ 1900 (7pm Eastern). NEW Location!
- Every Wednesday Night – Join the new TAG Digital Voice Net! All modes welcome. See LMARC for more details.
- Every Tuesday Night – Walker County ARES Net, 730pm eastern. Learn how to help others when all else fails.
- Every Monday Night – TAG YL Net, 8pm eastern. Join in on the fun ladies! This is a ladies only check-in net. OM’s, feel free to listen in!
- Every Monday Night – TSARC Monday Night Club Net, 700pm eastern. Join us to catch up with other TSARC members and some good camaraderie.
- 2021/06/26 & 2021/06/27 – 2021 TSARC Summer Field Day. Will be held at Cedar Grove Community Center in McLemore Cove, we need your help!!
- 2021/06/25 – Field Day Antenna Building with Dinner. Will be held at Cedar Grove Community Center in McLemore Cove. Click to request more info.
- 2021/02/01 – REMEMBER, Dues are now past due! All TSARC Memberships renew prior to year end. Go here to renew online, it’s easy!
- 2020/04/12 – The N4LMC 146.640 (- offset & 146.2 tone) located on Signal Mtn is now linked full time to the W4GTA 145.350
2020/04/09 – Pre-Meeting Eating Meeting. Join us for a nice dinner and Board Meeting. Every 2nd Thursday of the month @ 1700 (5pm Eastern)- 2020/03/30 – The N4LMC 443.525 (+ offset & 146.2 tone) located Villanow, GA is now linked full time to the W4GTA 145.350
- 2019/08/04 – The first TAG (TN/AL/GA) YL Net on the W4GTA 145.350 repeater, make them feel welcome!
- Added information on new GA and TN Hands Free Laws to Documents page.
- Updated TSARC Rules of Conduct. Please familiarize yourself with these “common sense” rules!
- YouTube videos to learn all about Fusion and the new PDN modes, presented by Yaesu. Tons of great info!
- We now accept Paypal online for new and renewal Memberships as well as Donations!
- 287 Wire Antennas for HAMs is available! Check out this document, amazing content, diagrams and more in our files section.
- TSARC Christmas Dinner pictures have been uploaded for 2019! If you have more, send them to w4edp AT tristatesarc DOT com.
- Check out the new Coverage Maps page. You can get a good idea of where you expect usable coverage and/or dead spots for our systems.
Join the Walker County ARES Net on a Simplex “hop around”.
We’ll be utilizing simplex on both 10 meters and 2 meters to hone our skills, as well as test our radios and antennas! We’ll start on the W4GTA 145.350 (100 Hz tone), and follow net control’s directions from there.
- October 26, 2021 @ 1930: 2 meter Simplex – Frequencies will be announced at net time on the W4GTA 145.350.
- November 30, 2021 @ 1930: 10 meter Simplex – Frequencies will be announced at net time on the W4GTA 145.350.
Wednesday evenings beginning at 7:30 PM Eastern on the N4LMC Digital Systems
TAG Multi-Mode Digital Net: (TAG, which stands for TN, AL GA) is held each Wednesday night at 7:30 PM Eastern. This is a digital only net and is off to a great start! The TAG D-Star (D-Plus Only) net follows starting at 8:30 PM Eastern time.
The TDARG (TN Digital Amateur Radio Group) is held each Friday night at 9:00 PM Eastern. See below for connection information and check out our Nets page for more information, days and times.
Join the conversation on the TAG Multi-Mode Digital Net by using one of the following methods:
- Allstar – Node LMARC 510131 – SouthEast Link Bridge System
- D-Star – N4LMC-C 145.160 – located atop Lookout Mountain, GA
- D-Star – W4RRG-B 444.725 – located atop Signal Mountain, TN
- D-Star – XReflector systems XRF913-D (primary), XRF139-D (secondary)
- DMR – N4LMC 444.7125 – located atop Lookout Mountain, GA – TS2, TG 43389
- DMR – W4PL 444.150 – located atop Signal Mountain, TN – TS2, TG 314722
- DMR – via the Brandmeister Network, Talkgroup 314722
- DMR – via the DMR+ Network, QuadNet IPSC2 server, TG323
- DMR – via the QRM Netowrk, Talkgroup SouthEast Link #43389
- DMR – via the TGIF Network, TalkGroup SOUTHEAST-LINK #43389
- Echolink – Node N4LMC-L 94680 – SouthEast Link Bridge System
- FCS Reflector – FCS002 Room 89 SouthEast Link,
- FCS Reflector – FCS003 Room 89 SouthEast Link
- NXDN – via the SouthEast Link NXDN Reflector #43389
- P25 – via the SouthEast Link P25 Reflector #43389
- Wires-X – N4LMC 442.650 – located atop Lookout Mountain, GA
- Wires-X – N4LMC 442.725 – located atop Signal Mountain, TN
- Wires-X Room – (digital only), Room #43389
- YCS Reflector – YCS310, Room #36 DG-ID 36 (Hotspot connects to FCS31036)
- YSF Room – “US SOUTHEASTLINK” Room #43389
Other repeaters and/or rooms, reflectors, talk groups can be linked in. Some that routinely link in are listed below, however those listed below are not guaranteed.
See LMARC’s Net page for information on all the nets that our systems carry that you can join in on. Join in on these nets, they won’t exist without participation and interest. Many of these nets are also looking for Net Control persons and Alternate Net Control persons!
TAG YL Net (TN, AL, GA) – Monday nights at 8 PM Eastern on the W4GTA 145.350 repeater as well as other methods, see below.
Net control will usually be Terri, N9ZEN. This net provides a forum for Licensed Female Hams of all ages and ham experience to meet on the air for fellowship, to discuss common interests, to discuss technical topics, to learn how to prepare for emergency events and communications, and more!
Each week we will cover many of those and other eclectic subjects, including providing information on topics such as FAQs, answers to technical questions, information about upcoming events and activities, and more.
We invite all female (YL) Hams everywhere to check in to this net. We invite OMs (Old Men) hams and non hams to listen as well (and many do), but only YLs are “allowed” to check-in and participate. Be sure to check out our website located at https://lmarc.net/club/resources-tools.
Join the TAG YL Net via one of the following:
- W4GTA 145.350 Repeater – minus offset and a 100.0hz tone required – located atop Lookout Mountain in GA
- N4LMC 146.640 Repeater – minus offset and a 146.2hz tone required – located atop Signal Mountain in GA
- N4LMC 224.560 Repeater – minus offset and a 146.2hz tone required – located atop Lookout Mountain in GA
- Echolink – Conference Server *SELINK* (Used for ALL nets, W4EDP-R is disabled during nets)
- Allstar – N4LMC Node 46530 or 510130
We test every 2nd Thursday of the month at 6pm eastern at our club meeting location. While it’s not required that you register, it is advisable that you contact us so that we can make sure to have the resources on hand for your session and also so that we can contact you with any last minute changes such as times, locations, etc. If you have a need for other testing times and / or location due to shift work, work travel, etc, please contact us and we can attempt to work out something or help you get in contact with another test session that can help. We want you to succeed!
With any passing of the Tech exam (does not apply to test after license lapse or revocation), the TSARC rewards you with the remainder of the current calendar year of membership in TSARC as our gift to you for all of your hard work and successful completion of the exam! We hope that you like us and will renew for years to come after your gift ends.
We had another great testing session, we added / upgraded HAMs! They all did an outstanding job and as always. Aaron and Tiffany Pontier passed their Tech and Raymond Bentley passed his Tech and General, congratulations to all of them!
Welcome to the fun and excitement of HAM radio, the world’s greatest hobby! Now that you’ve earned your license or upgrade, you probably can’t wait to get on the air and make use of those privileges, and we’d like to do our part to help you get going. If there is anything that we can do to help you get going, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any club member, we want to hear you on the air!
And as always at TSARC, all who pass a new Technician Class exam, (1st time pass) are given the rest of the calendar year membership to the TSARC at no cost. We hope to see you back next year as a member as well!
A Bit About Us
The TSARC owns and operates one of the amateur radio repeaters in the NW Georgia area. Our W4GTA 2 meter repeater located high atop (2473′ ASL) Lookout Mountain in GA, operates on 145.350 (minus offset & a pl tone of 100.0 Hz) and is open to all properly licensed Amateur Radio Operators. The W4GTA repeater has some of the best coverage in this area, it covers all of NW GA, South down toward Calhoun, West into Alabama as well as Chattanooga, TN and North.
If you would like to help support our efforts to maintain this repeater and it’s coverage, think about joining the Tri-States Amateur Radio Club. At only $20 per year, it costs less than 1/3 of a cheap cup of coffee per month!
Also, some of our members own, operate and maintain repeaters and other types of systems that are open for all properly licensed Amateur Radio Operators to use. You can find out more about many of these systems by checking out our Repeater Listings.
Come try us out, we think you’ll find what your looking for here!
The TSARC is an ARRL (American Radio Relay League) affiliated club and we encourage all of our members to become and remain ARRL members. For more information visit the ARRL TSARC Club page. We also offer ARRL Volunteer Examiners (VE’s) to help you obtain your license. We can test for Technician, General and Extra Class and generally offer a test session 1 hour prior to our Monthly Club Meeting. (Please Contact Us prior to the month you want to test so we can make sure that we can accommodate your needs.)
We are very good at communicating! If you’re having a public event where communications are important, we might be able to help. Amateur Radio Operators assist in events such as bike races, triathlons, parades, large events and more. All the practice we get from helping out, is preparing us for emergencies that we hope we’ll never have to deal with. Let us know if we can help by Contacting Us.
A brief note: The key to success on the air is described by one word: Courtesy. There’s no other way to explain how hundreds of thousands of Amateur Radio Operators can share the same radio frequencies all over the world with minimum interference and conflict. If you keep courtesy at the front of your mind you’ll rarely have difficulty on the air. An attentive and courteous operator is welcome on our systems, It’s not the class of license the amateur holds, it’s the class of the amateur who holds the license”!