Our 3rd Rain or Shine for the 2026 season will take place on May 16 (Saturday): 9-12:30 at Wilmot Gateway Park in Woodinville.

Address:  17301 131st Ave NE, Woodinville, WA 98072. Find us under the covered walkway with the picnic tables, next to the small parking lot. Note that a very large parking lot is accessible across the street, connecting to the park with a well-marked pedestrian crossing.

Talk-in Frequencies: We will be using the N9VW (443.325 MHz/+5.0 MHz/103.5/wide) repeater for talk-in.

Accessibility Notes :  We will be gathering under the overhangs at this park, where there are some park tables and benches available for sitting. There are no stairs to contend with and we will be on a paved surface accessible to all wheeled mobility aids and bicycles. There is handicapped parking just next to the spot we will be at, off 131st Ave NE. If those spaces are full, a larger parking lot is available across the street at the Woodinville Sports Fields Parking Lot, with additional handicapped parking, and a very large crosswalk with timed traffic lights will connect you to our spot. There are nice bathrooms in a built permanent structure on site.

Feel free to bring your chairs or any comfort items you may need. For folks who have audio/sensory needs, this location is in an open, outdoor park space (aside from the overhang) so it is not as loud as the other locations we meet at. Calm spaces are available along the bike/river trail, with grass and benches along the way. All are welcome and we are an inclusive, friendly bunch.

Tips for HF stations:  This is a very busy park, with lots of people who won't be participating in our activity.  Please limit your HF footprint at this park so as to not interfere with others there to enjoy the park.

We want to ensure that everyone who wants to play at the same time on HF can do so with a minimum of interference. Operating a multi-rig HF station takes a bit of extra equipment and skill to ensure that receiver's front ends aren't overloaded. It is recommended that any operator bringing their HF rig be prepared with the following:

• Be able to operate on at least 2 bands that are not harmonics of one another.
• Bring a suitable band-pass filter for any band you might wish to operate on. Cheap coax stub filters should work fine, but you'll need to make them up in advance.

Radios Not Required! Folks are not required to bring any radio gear in order to have a fun and engaging time at our Rain or Shine events. In fact, you'll find lots of friendly folks who come just for the social aspect, and who enjoy catching up with other hams. Please read below to discover more about our Rain or Shine events.

What are Rain or Shine Events?

Rain or Shines are a great opportunity for local hams to get together in person and make "eyeball QSOs," sometimes for the very first time! Come out to the park with your radio(s), a project you've been working on, or just yourself. The key is to enjoy our hobby together in the beautiful outdoors, and to strengthen our ham community, one interaction at a time. Lots of helpful mentors attend these events, and for many new hams, this is their first opportunity to get hands-on experience with radio equipment. It's also a great way to introduce our hobby to the public, as passersby will often take a look at our antennas and setups and ask what we are up to!

We have a very friendly and welcoming community here, and there's usually an abundance of donuts and coffee - so don't be a stranger, come on by and say hello!

For any questions about these events, feel free to contact our President (Mark, N7YD), or the club leadership at k7lwh@lakewashingtonhamclub.org.

Our club's next monthly club meeting will take place on Zoom only on Saturday, June 13, 2026, from 9-11am.

Zoom doors open at 9am. From 9 to 9:30am, join us in open conversation as we greet those who are arriving and catch up with each other. This a great time to ask for help on your radio projects and get to know your fellow community members before the official meeting begins. Those who have something to share are invited to participate in our Show and Tell time. Come as you are; all are welcome!

The Official Meeting begins at 9:30am.

• Our Announcements segment comes first. We'll start with brief reports on our club & net operations, the repeaters, and highlight upcoming events.
• Hear the latest news regarding our repeaters.

Field day is only a couple of months away.  We will have many more details to come, but we have once again been invited to join the Radio Club of Redmond for Field Day.  The dates are June 27 and 28, however the plan for this year is to only operate on Saturday, June 27.

Instead of the location we used last year, we will be at Marymoor Park, at a picnic shelter near the Velodrome.  The goal this year is to do more of a public outreach, and being in a well-traveled park will put us in a better position to do so.  There's lots of adjacent parking, and we will only be bringing a couple of radios, so set up will be minimal.  Details are still being worked out, so the schedule may change.

Because the event is smaller this year, the logistics of the event will be much smaller as well.  We don't anticipate needing nearly as many things to be brought in by volunteers.  There will be more details to come on this soon.

So, save the date, and we'll see you all for Field Day 2026 at Marymoor Park.

Here is the schedule for the Rain or Shine Events for 2026.  An underlined date is a link to the page for that Rain or Shine event.  Events in the past may have a photos page as well.

#1: March 21, 2026: Juanita Beach Park in Kirkland, Picnic Shelter #1 (Photos)

#2: April 25, 2026: Cottage Lake Park, Picnic Shelter #1

#3: May 16, 2026: Wilmot Gateway Park

#4: June 27, 2026 - Field Day with Radio Club of Redmond, Marymoor Park

#5: July 18, 2026: Harvey Manning (Cougar Mtn.), Shelter #1

#6: August 8, 2026: Blyth Park, Large Shelter

#7: September 19, 2026: Big Finn Hill, Picnic Shelter

Rain or Shines are a great opportunity for local hams to get together in person and make "eyeball QSOs," sometimes for the very first time! Come out to the park with your radio(s), a project you've been working on, or just yourself. The key is to enjoy our hobby together in the beautiful outdoors, and to strengthen our ham community, one interaction at a time. Lots of helpful mentors attend these events, and for many new hams, this is their first opportunity to get hands-on experience with radio equipment. It's also a great way to introduce our hobby to the public, as passersby will often take a look at our antennas and setups and ask what we are up to!

We have a very friendly and welcoming community here, and there's usually an abundance of donuts and coffee - so don't be a stranger, come on by and say hello!

For any questions about these events, feel free to contact club leadership at k7lwh@lakewashingtonhamclub.org.

We had a great time at Cottage Lake Park on Saturday.  Bren, KK7STN snapped a few photos she would like to share with everyone.  If you also have pictures, send them to n7yd@lakewashingtonhamclub.org and we'll add them to the gallery.

The Lake Washington Ham Club has the following openings for Board and Staff positions.  If you are interested in filling any of these roles or if you have questions, please reach out to Mark Galbraith, N7YD.

Treasurer

The LWHC Board is pleased to welcome Paul Osborne, KK7EJW as our new Treasurer.

Net Host Manager

We are looking for someone to help manage the various nets hosted by LWHC. The Net Host Manager's duties include:

• Recruits for and fills Net Host vacancies for the various nets
• Arranges substitute Net Hosts when needed
• Provides guidance to Net Hosts when issues arise

The ideal candidate would be an experienced Net Host.  Experience leading a team is a plus.  

This is a Staff Position.  The Net Host Manager reports to the Vice President.

Net Hosts

LWHC is looking for Net Hosts to fill out our roster.  This is a fun activity, interacting with the members and friends of LWHC.  The Net Hosts are vital to keeping our club vibrant and active.  As a Net Host you will:

• Lead and participate in LWHC on-air networks
• Encourage participation by selecting interesting questions and topics
• Manage the on-air activities during the nets they host
• Assist the Net Host Manager by providing feedback and suggestions

Any licensed operator can be a Net Host.  It may seem scary at first, but you will soon get over that mic fright.  If you want to check it out first before committing to a schedule, you can work with any current Net Host to co-host with them, or reach out to the Net Host Manager for more information.

This is a Staff Position.  Net Hosts report to the Net Host Manager.

A quick update on where we are with the Repeaters.  As you are probably aware by now, the City of Kirkland has asked us to vacate the Rose Hill site so they can proceed with a construction project.  We were hoping to simply move the repeaters to a new location, but finding and securing one is taking longer than we had hoped. So, we will be taking the repeaters off the air and putting them into storage until a new home can be found.

The last scheduled nets on our repeaters will be on Wednesday, 3/18, with the Louie Net being the last scheduled net on the LWHC repeater system.  Future nets will be on a repeater we've arranged to use.  The details for this repeater are:

Starting with the Health & Wellness Net on Thursday, all future LWHC Nets will be on this repeater until further notice.

LWHC would like to thank Stephen VanWambeck, N9VW, for the use of his repeater during our outage.

The LWHC Board of Directors met on April 6, 2026 for their Annual Meeting. Among the other business matters discussed, the board voted on the new officers for the coming year.  Except for our Treasurer, all Officers have agreed to continue serving LWHC.  The elected officers are:

• President: Mark Galbraith, N7YD
• Vice-President: Don Dodge, W6SNX
• Secretary: Mike Kelly, KJ7JNG
• Treasurer: Mike Kelly, KJ7JNG (Acting)
• Membership Officer: Anh Le, N7ANH
• Member at Large: Don Sayler, W7OXR

Of note, we are still in need of a Treasurer for LWHC.  Until such time as a volunteer is identified, Mike Kelly has stepped up and will be filling that important role as Acting Treasurer.

Don Sayler has stepped down from the Treasurer role, but has agreed to stay on as a "Member at Large", assisting the board in representing the membership.  Don will also retain his position as the Trustee for our repeaters.

The ARRL National Traffic System and Radio Relay International are asking hams around the country to consider sending Holiday Greetings using Amateur Radio. The NTS and RRI operate traffic nets around North America.  They send routine messages to maintain their skills so when an urgent need arises there are trained and ready operators to facilitate the message traffic.  You can help keep these operators busy by sending a Holiday Radiogram to friends and family.

The process is quite easy.  You can reach out to a traffic handler in your area (a few are listed below), and ask them to send a Radiogram for you.  If you want to "Do it yourself", just visit the ARRL Radiogram Portal and fill out the form.  A traffic handler in the area will pick up your message and move it on it's way.

There are a couple of things the traffic handlers will appreciate:

1. Please make sure you have accurate address information for delivery.  It's especially important to make sure the City and State are accurate so the message gets to the right local traffic net.
2. Provide a known-working phone number.  Some messages aren't able to be delivered because the phone number is old, out-of-service, or is now a wrong number.  Accurate phone numbers help with smooth deliveries.
3. If you have an email address, provide that too.  There is a special Radiogram form for delivering Holiday Greetings.  This will be filled in and attached to the email.  Delivery by email is the preferred path for Holiday Greetings Radiograms.

Using the Radiogram Portal

The enterprising programmers at ARRL have created a very nice Radiogram portal for people just getting started with Radiogram traffic.  Visit the link and read up a bit about Radiograms, and then scroll down and fill in the blanks to send your own message.  Provide accurate delivery information (address, phone, email) so the message can be more easily delivered.

When it comes to the message itself, most people will want to send one of the "Standard Text" messages.  Just select the message you want to send from the drop-down list.  Of course, the Christmas and Holiday messages are quite appropriate for this season.

Just a few more clicks to get to a preview of your message, and when it all looks good, you just send it on it's way.

What Happens Next?

One of the Traffic Handlers in the area will pick the message up and "Originate" it; that is, they assign it a number, tag it as being handled by their station, and put it on the traffic nets to move it along the path to reach an operator in the area of the destination.  That operator will pick up the phone and deliver the message, or drop it in an email to the recipient.  If you requested a reply, the operator will collect that reply and generate a new message coming back to you, which will flow back through the nets to reach your area, and an operator (possibly a different operator from the one that sent your message) will deliver it to you.

Getting involved

Traffic handling is fun, rewarding, and easy.  If you'd like to find out more, reach out to one of the local traffic handlers and ask about the next steps.  You don't need sophisticated equipment to get started, just a radio and desire to learn a new skill.  The traffic handlers in the area are:

• Central Sound:
• Mark Galbraith, N7YD
• Rob Horsch, N7RLV
• South Sound:
• John Hamilton, AD7AW (RN7)
• Tom Smith, N7CFI (RN7)

If you are outside the Central or South Sound, reach out to Mark, N7YD who can help you find a net in your area.

Find more information about Traffic Handling at:

• The American Radio Relay League: https://arrl.org/nts
• Radio Relay International: https://radiorelay.org

The Nanaimo Amateur Radio Association invites you and your local club members to participate in some NVIS radio propagation tests on the 60m band. Here is the essential information:

• Date - Sunday Dec 21 (shortest day)
• Time - 11:30am to 2:30pm
• Callsign - VE7NA
• Mode - USB
• Frequency - 5.346.5 MHz (dial freq.) (On channelized radios use 5.348 MHz center frequency.)  This is the second of the five channels in the 60-meter band.

NARA’s NVIS tests on Dec. 21 allow us all to get together again on the 60m band, to exchange season’s greetings and test the range that we can achieve on the 60m band in daylight when the D-layer prevents longer distance communication.

The scenario for these tests is to simulate voice communication (USB) from an emergency operations centre (EOC) trying to communicate on the 60m band over several hundreds of Kilometers during daylight.

One of the reasons that the Amateur Radio Service gained the 60m band in 2002 was because these frequencies were recognized as being very useful for emergency communications.

While the 60m band is often forgotten it can produce good ranges during daylight and much longer distance communication at night when the D-layer is not present.

Note that the attenuation through the D-layer is both as the signal goes upwards and downwards! Also because of the geometry, as distances between two stations does up the attenuation also increases.

Many amateur radio stations may not have 60m antennas but with some ingenuity amateurs should be able to load up one of their wire antennas to radiate a signal on the 60m band.

VE7NA will act as net control station for these tests. In addition to VE7NA transmitting from the Nanaimo area, we also welcome listener reports/logs from other stations. Especially noting what stations were calling VE7NA but who were not heard by VE7NA.

VA7NA will put out voice calls on the above frequency during the test period every 10 minutes but do call in at any time. Please do consider participating in these propagation tests and please advise your friends. Any queries or reports should be sent to: nvis@ve7na.ca.

Hoping to work you on 60m, 73 NARA.

It's almost time for the annual Great Washington Shake Out.  This is a preparedness exercise conducted to test your preparedness and educate family and friends on what to do in the event of a major earthquake.  

At 10:16 a.m. (local time) on 10/16, you can join millions of people across Washington practicing earthquake safety. While we encourage you to participate with everyone, you can register your ShakeOut drill for any day of the year, and drill at a time of your choice. You can also include people in multiple locations through video conferencing.

If you live or work in a coastal area, ShakeOut day is also a great time to practice your tsunami evacuation routes. Learn more about tsunami preparedness at TsunamiZone.org.

Getting Ready

Earthquakes can strike at any time.  The key is to be ready BEFORE the earthquake hits.  Some things you can do to ensure YOU are ready:

• Create a "Go-bag" for your personal needs.  This will have any identification documents you don't normally carry (like your passport), a change of clothes, any medications you take, and other items of need.  This bag is the one you grab on your way out the door if you have to evacuate.  Remember, SAFETY FIRST!  Nothing else will matter if you are a casualty.
• Create an "Emergency Stash".  This is a stash of food, water, and other needs for you and your family.  This should be stored in a safe location, and periodically inspected to ensure it is up-to-date and secure.  You can even create multiple stashes, just in case one becomes unavailable.  Buildings can collapse, so perhaps one of your stashes should be in a secure location outside your primary residence.
• Create a "Communications Plan".  How will you communicate with friends and family, both in and outside the affected area?  Remember, the phone systems (including cell phones) may be disrupted.  You should designate at least one contact outside the area.  This is the person you would contact in the event of an emergency.  They would then contact other family and friends to pass along your message.

Use this handy worksheet to help create your preparedness plan.

A more detailed planning aide is the "Two-weeks Ready" worksheet.

After the Earthquake

When the shaking stops, gather your family in a safe place.  Ensure your immediate needs are met.  When able, begin to execute your plan.  Communicate your status to your out-of-area contacts.  Communicate any emergency concerns to your local emergency resources.

LWHC is coordinating with local ARES and RACES teams on the possibility of using LWHC repeaters for communicating status and needs.  We will have more information on this later.

In Conclusion

We hope to see you all for the Great Washington Shake Out.  If you have further questions, you can probably find everything you need on the Shakeout website: https://www.shakeout.org/washington/

Our first Rain or Shine of the season is in the books.  Here are a few photos from the event.  If you have additional pictures you'd like to share, send them to n7yd@lakewashingtonhamclub.org.

For a visual tutorial on how to join us on Groups.io, please view the screenshots below.

Step One: Join Groups.io

Create your account by entering in the email address you wish to use for Groups.io. Create a password, and click on "Create An Account."

Step Two: Confirm Your Account by Email

Groups.io will send you an email to confirm your email address and creation of your account. Please click on the link to confirm your account.

Step Three: Join LWHC on Groups.io

LWHC is not publicly searchable. Find us by going to this link: main@lwhc.groups.io | Home. Click on the blue button near the bottom left:
"+Apply for Membership in this Group". Or, you can also send an email from your email account associated with Groups.io, to main+subscribe@lwhc.groups.io.

Step Four: Join Our Subgroups

After our Membership Officer approves your request to join us on Groups.io, you are welcome to join our subgroups.

You can find our subgroups by clicking on "Subgroups" on the left-hand panel, or by navigating within our Main page on Groups.io. Subscribing to the subgroups involves a similar process as subscribing to Main.

You are on your way to online community greatness! We can't wait to see you online.