New to radio
What amateur radio actually is, what it costs, and how to get your licence — written for someone starting from zero.
Start here →Use the repeater
Frequencies, tones, and a copy-paste guide to programming your first handheld so it actually works.
Get on the air →Emergency comms
When the power is out and the towers are down, amateurs still get traffic through. Here is how we train for it.
About ARES →The WR4EC repeater
A repeater listens on one frequency and retransmits on another from a high place — so a five-watt handheld in your car reaches the whole county instead of the next street over. Ours lives on the Edgefield County tower.
It is part of the SCHEART network, which links repeaters across South Carolina so hospitals and emergency managers have a path that does not depend on the phone system.
| Output (you listen) | 146.850 MHz |
|---|---|
| Input (you transmit) | 146.250 MHz |
| Offset | −600 kHz |
| Tone (both ways) | 91.5 Hz |
| SCHEART link / unlink | *38 / 73 |
First in South Carolina, three years running
The club operates the South Carolina QSO Party from the Edgefield County Hospital station each February — partly as a contest, partly to prove the hospital's radio room still works. It has taken first place in the state three years in a row.
What we do through the year
Four events anchor the club calendar. Dates are announced on the repeater and on Facebook.
Winter Field Day
Last full weekend of January
Field Day's cold-weather twin. Same idea, harder conditions.
South Carolina QSO Party
Last Saturday of February
Stations across the state work each other and the rest of the world.
ARRL Field Day
Fourth full weekend of June
The big one. 24 hours on emergency power. Visitors welcome.
SKYWARN Recognition Day
First Saturday of December
Operators thank the National Weather Service by working their stations.
Anyone may listen to 146.850 MHz with a scanner or a cheap receiver — no licence, no permission needed. Listening first is how most of us started. You only need a licence to transmit.