Cyclone Amateur Radio Club

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Cyclone Amateur Radio Club
WØYI
WØISU
What is Amateur Radio?
What is the Cyclone Amateur Radio Club?
Who's the Typical Ham? Amateur Radio operators
come from all walks of life -- movie stars,
missionaries, doctors, students, politicians,
truck drivers and just plain folks. They are all
ages, sexes, income levels and nationalities. But
whether they prefer Morse code on an old brass
telegraph key through a low-power transmitter,
voice communication on a hand-held radio or
computer messages transmitted through satellites,
they all have an interest in what's happening in
the world, and they use radio to reach out.
What you can do with a ham license?

• Talk to people in foreign countries.
• Talk to people (both local and far away) on your
  drive to work
  
• Help in emergencies and natural disasters by
  providing communications.
  
• Provide communications in parades or walkathons
  and other public service events.
  
• Hook your computer to your radio and communicate
  "computer-to-computer."  Hams use radio modems.
  
• Collect QSL cards (cards from other hams) from
  all over the United States and foreign countries
  and receive awards.
  
• Participate in contests or Field Day events.
• Provide radio communication services to your
  local Civil Defense organization through ARES
  (the Amateur Radio Emergency Service) or RACES
  (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service).
• Participate in transmitter hunt games and maybe
  build your own direction-finding equipment.
  
• Receive weather pictures via satellites.
• Build radios, antennas, learn some electronics
  and radio theory.
  
• Talk to astronauts in space, or use the moon to
  bounce signals back to people on the Earth.
  
• Experiment with Amateur TV (ATV), Slow-Scan TV
  (SSTV), or send still-frame pictures by
  facsimile.
  
• Lash your ham radio to the public telephone
  system and call your friends toll free. (Auto
  patching)
  
• Communicate through orbiting satellites.

The Cyclone Amateur Radio Club or CARC, provides
a forum for students, faculty, staff, and family
of Iowa State University. The club holds weekly
meetings and holds numerous presentations
pertaining to amateur radio. We have the club
call signs of WØISU and WØYI. We provide a club
station at A147 Friley Hall for members use.
This station has HF, VHF, and packet operating
equipment available for licensed amateurs.
Access to this station is allowed to all paid
members of CARC. Any person, licensed or not, is
encouraged to join and participate in the club.
We will even help you get your license if
needed. The club also hosts two repeaters on the
Iowa State campus atop the Physics building.
They are open FM repeaters with the frequencies
of 147.375 and 443.375. CARC also maintains a
club web page including club announcements,
meeting information, current projects, and notes
from previous meetings. This page can be
accessed at http//www.stuorg.iastate.edu/radiocl
ub. The club sponsors and participates in many ev
ents and projects year-round. Here are just a
few examples of future and ongoing projects and
events

• Weather Spotting Many members of CARC also
  assist in public service functions such as
  weather spotting. SKYWARN is an association of
  amateur radio operators that assists local
  emergency management agencies and the National
  Weather Service in providing on the spot weather
  reports during times of severe weather.

Why a License? Although the main purpose of Ama
teur Radio is fun, it is called the "Amateur
Radio Service" because it also has a serious
face. The FCC created this "Service" to fill the
need for a pool of experts who could provide
backup emergency communications. In addition, the
FCC acknowledged the ability of the hobby to
advance the communication and technical skills of
radio, and to enhance international goodwill.
This philosophy has paid off. Countless lives
have been saved where skilled hobbyists act as
emergency communicators to render aid, whether
it's during an earthquake in Italy or a hurricane
in the U.S.

• Emergencies and Disasters As licensed amateurs
  and due to the conditions of these licenses, many
  members assist during times of emergency or
  disaster. Many CARC members are affiliated with
  the Story County ARESAmateur Radio Emergency
  Service. ARES holds seminars and emergency
  preparedness tests often and helps amateurs to be
  prepared in times of disaster such as tornados,
  fires, and accidents.

Field Day CARC also participates in contests
and events that our national organization, the
ARRL--American Radio Relay League sponsors. The
largest such event held annually is Field Day and
is held the third weekend in June. This event is
both a contest and a test for emergency
preparedness. All participants must operate off
emergency power only and therefore must not use
commercially available power. In a timeframe of
24 hours, amateurs try to contact as many other
hams as possible using as many kinds of modes
possible. For Field Day 2001 this past summer,
CARC combined resources with the Story County
Amateur Radio Club for practice in emergency
communications as well as just for the fun of it!
What Are the Amateur Radio Bands?
Look at the dial on an old AM radio and you'll
see frequencies marked from 535 to 1605
kilohertz. Imagine that band extended out many
thousands of kilohertz, and you'll have some idea
of how much additional radio spectrum is
available for amateur, government and commercial
radio bands. It is here you'll find aircraft,
ship, fire and police communication, as well as
the so-called "shortwave" stations, which are
worldwide commercial and government broadcast
stations from the U.S. and overseas. Amateurs are
allocated nine basic "bands" (i.e. groups of
frequencies) in the High Frequency (HF) range
between 1800 and 29,700 kilohertz, and another
seven bands in the Very High Frequency (VHF)
bands and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) ranges, as
well as Super High Frequency (SHF) bands. Even
though many Amateur Radio conversations may be
heard around the world, given the right frequency
and propagation conditions, Amateur Radio is
basically two-way communication.
ICARUS (Internet Controlled Amateur Radio
UHF/HF System), allows licensed amateur radio
operators the ability to achieve worldwide
communications by using a handheld radio and a
computers web browser to control a centralized
HF radio station.
Public Service CARC has assisted the annual
Cy-Man Dualthon and many other organizations and
events by providing communication services.
Who can help me get a license or get more info
rmation? The Cyclone Amateur Radio Club and its m
embers would be happy to assist anyone wishing to
learn about amateur radio. There are many clubs
and organizations throughout Iowa and the United
States. Any one of these clubs would be willing
to help you learn more about amateur radio and
its uses. Ask one of our members for more
assistance or look up a club in your area for
more information at www.arrl.org.
Social Activities Apart from the service and
serious side of amateur radio, CARC also offers a
forum for members to gather and socialize. Often
many of our members chat while on their portable
or mobile stations using our repeaters or in
person at our Friley shack or at weekly meetings.
Often CARC plans events, such as our annual
VEISHEA display and field trips for members to
gather and learn more about the world of amateur
radio and communications.
CARC is an Iowa State University GSB funded
organization.