Gold Coast Amateur Radio Association Inc.
The GCARA is a not-for-profit Amateur Radio club serving South Florida's Fort Lauderdale area. It is one of Florida's oldest, largest and most active radio clubs whose members' interests cover the entire spectrum of what the Amateur Radio Service has to offer. The club is a long standing member of the American Radio Relay League. It participates in Field Day, sponsors and operates special event stations for free on the Air. GCARA also provides public service communications for local organizations. The club participates in and encourages all aspects of Amateur Radio including license classes and exams to help people get started in this wonderful hobby.
CLUB MEETINGS
The club's monthly meetings feature presentations on a wide variety of topics. Speakers are chosen from the many community resources available to us as well as from the club's membership. They are held on the fourth Tuesday of each month (No Meeting inDecember), 7:30 PM, in the auditorium of the Imperial Point Medical Center. It is located at 6401 North Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale. Club meetings are open to the public and all are welcome. Please check the club web site W4BUG.Org for further details.
ARRL ACCREDITED VE TESTING
GCARA offers all amateur radio license written tests. The test session starts before the club meeting at 6:00 PM sharp. Please bring a pencil, fifteen dollars (exact change will help) and a copy of you license if upgrading.
SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST
Come and join us for breakfast on Saturday mornings at 7:30 AM. Club members meet every week at JJ’s Café located at 6051 NW 31st Avenue, Fort Lauderdale (954) 977-4303 in the shopping center on the west side of 31st Avenue just north of the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.
4rd ANNUAL FESTIVUS FOR THE REST OF US PICNIC
All are welcomed to our 4rd Annual Picnic. January 12th 2013. It will be held at the Gates of Hillsboro Park in Deerfield Beach. Breakfast sandwiches (Taylor Ham, Egg, and Cheese, on a Roll) will be offered at $5.00 each, coffee included.
The picnic will start at 11:00 AM and run until 17:00 PM. Price is $10.00 per person. Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Sausage, etc. All you can eat. BYOB. Sign up and pay at Mike's Electronics or at the GCARA meetings. Proceeds go to the Gold Coast Amateur Radio Club.
ARRL FIELD DAY
Field Day is an emergency preparedness exercise that takes place each year during the last full weekend of June. All are welcome.
The club's 2012 Field Day will be held on June 23rd and 24th. It will be at the Gates of Hillsboro Park in Deerfield Beach. Field Day is free,but, if you would like to eat and drink it is being offered @ $20.00 per person. Sign up and pay at the meetings or at Mike's Electronics - Fort Lauderdale - (954) 491-7110
The clubs's 2011 Field Day was held at the Gates of Hillsboro Park in Deerfield Beach. We operated under class 2A with two HF stations. Pictures can be found on the GCARA facebook page.
The clubs's 2010 Field Day was held at the Gates of Hillsboro Park in Deerfield Beach. We operated under class 2A with two HF stations. Pictures can be found on the GCARA facebook page.
The club's 2009 Field Day was held in Deerfield Beach atQuiet Waters Park. We operated in the 1A class with an HF station. In the past several years, Field Day, has been held at various locations such as Fort Lauderdale Beach etc.
FM REPEATER SYSTEMS
VHF repeaters: 146.610 – DUP PL Tone 110.9 located in Pompano Beach. 146.820 – DUP PL Tone 110.9 located in Boca Raton. UHF repeater: 442.500+ (110.9) located in Pompano Beach. Our repeaters are open to all licensed radio amateurs.
D-STAR REPEATER SYSTEMS
In December 2007 the club installed both 440 MHz and 2 meter D-Star voice repeaters and a 1.2 GHz D-Star data repeater at our Fort Lauderdale site. The frequency for the 440 voice repeater is 442.200 with a +5 MHz offset. The 2 meter repeater is 145.340 – offset. The coverage of this system is primarily Southern Palm Beach County, and Broward County. All are welcome to use this system, but you must either be a member of our club or another club with a D-Star system in order to be able to register for use of the gateway. Please visit the GCARA D-STAR web site W4BUG.Net
GCARA on facebook
Please look for our club facebook page.
Become a fan.
