You’ve made a great decision to become a ham, earn a license, and/or to upgrade your license. Congratulations on all of that. Now, how can we help you enjoy and develop your interests in the hobby? The North Fulton Amateur Radio League (NFARL, pronounced nar-fal) is a full service club with over 350 members. No matter your question, no matter your interest, there are folks in the club eager to help you.
Your first best resource to find help and answers is to ask a member of the club. Your second best resource will be the NFARL web page at www.nfarl.org. You’ll see that a list of upcoming events and activities is listed front and center there. To the right, is a long menu bar that will provide information on a full variety of topics. Notice the “Contact Us” option. That will take you to a list of the club officers and folks who are in charge of several of the club’s activities. Everyone is ready to help you with whatever you need.
As you know, this is not a normal year yet we at NFARL are trying not to let this pandemic shut us down completely. First off, there are the monthly NFARL club meetings. NFARL holds club meetings on the third Tuesday of month beginning at 7:00PM. We hold these meetings in person at Preston Ridge Community Center, 3655 Preston Ridge Road Suite 100, Alpharetta, GA 30005. We also broadcast the meetings on Zoom (Zoom credentials are emailed shortly before each meeting to club members and are available on request to Mike KN4OAK at mjrwrr@hotmail.com). We have been bringing in dynamic speakers who present programs on interesting topics. The club meeting begins at 7:30 PM. Our pre- and post-meeting social half hours allow us to chat with each other. The pre-meeting social half hour runs from 7 PM to 7:30 PM; the post-meeting social time begins after the program and continues until folks stop talking. Please join us.
You need to sign up to receive emails from the NFARL groups io reflector. This will provide you the latest info about what’s going on in the club. Go to main+subscribe@NFARL.groups.io and sign up.
Another big area of support of your interest in Amateur Radio is the ARRL, the American Radio Relay League, the national organization for Amateur Radio in this country. ‘A double R L,’ or sometimes simply called ‘the league’ is a little over one hundred years old and has been helping hams all along. They have folks checking out new equipment, hosting contests, advocating for legislation that helps the hobby, and more. Check out their website at www.arrl.org. The pages you can go from there are nearly endless. Members of ARRL receive its monthly publication QST which features articles to tantalize and educate its members. Their On the Air monthly publication is especially focused on hams new to the hobby (like you?). It is highly recommended that you join ARRL.
Hamfests: The ARRL website defines a hamfest as “… a meeting of people interested in Amateur Radio. Hamfests offer exhibits, forums, and flea markets for Amateur Radio operators …” Well, this pandemic shut down nearly all in person hamfests but they are beginning to come back. Check the list of “Upcoming Activities” at the top of our web site home page to learn about upcoming hamfests and other NFARL activities.
Social Media: Want to get or share a ride to one or more of those events? Want to ask a question of ‘anyone’ who may know the answer? Are you on Facebook? So is NFARL. Find us at https://www.facebook.com/groups/NFARL.
Nets: A net is a dedicated time when folks of a certain interest get on the air and chat with each other. NFARL currently sponsors two nets that may interest you. Tech Talk, which begins at 8:30 PM on Mondays, is designed to help answer technical questions related to ham radio. YL Net meets from 8 to 9 PM on Thursdays and it provides an opportunity for YLs (young ladies of all ages) to chat with others around the world. Set your radio to 145.47 (-) 100 Hz PL to join any of these nets. Both of these nets take advantage of the NFARL Discord site which is used as a chat room for those two nets. This Discord chat (https://discord.gg/spr2a9D) runs concurrently with those nets. For more information about any of the NFARL nets, go to http://www.nfarl.org/nets.html .
EchoLink: Did you know that you don’t even need a radio to get on the radio? If you have an Amateur Radio operator’s license, you can use the computer program called EchoLink. Go to http://www.echolink.org/ and download the free program. You can also download it to your phone. To log into the NFARL repeater for any of those nets listed above (or for any other reason), go to EchoLink node 560686 and set it (NF4GA-R) as a favorite.
Who’s that ham? By using, www.qrz.com you can put in someone’s call sign and find his/her name, address, and possibly email address. Soon after your call sign and name is entered in the FCC database, you will have your own QRZ page that you can update and personalize.
Mentors: Ham radio by its nature is filled with folks who enjoy helping other hams, especially those new to our hobby. We call it “Hams Helping Hams”. You will also hear the term “Elmer” which is a synonym for Mentor. Check out what the NFARL has to offer here and don’t hesitate to ask for help! https://nfarl.org/nfarl-elmers/
Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES): If you are interested in the public service part of ham radio, you should join NFARES (North Fulton ARES). This group has a Net every Sunday starting at 8:30PM on 147.06 (+) 100 Hz PL and EchoLink N4SBD-R. They also meet from 7-9PM on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. Normally held at Fellowship Bible Church, Room 203, 480 W Crossville Rd, Roswell, GA 30075, due to pandemic, their meetings are being held on the Zoom platform these days. This group works with public service agencies, like Police, Fire and Hospitals to provide backup communications during emergencies. Membership is not required to attend and everyone is welcome to the Nets and meetings. Check out https://groups.io/g/NFARES for more information and to get the link to their Zoom meetings.
NFARL Mart
Want to celebrate your membership in NFARL with a personalized shirt, jacket, hat, or insulated mug? Go to the NFARL Mart. https://nfarl.org/mart_catalog/ The Mart catalog has pages dedicated to different categories of NFARL items.