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Nashville Amateur Radio Club Supports the 6th Annual Gravel Revival |
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The Nashville Amateur Radio Club (NARC), joined by members from surrounding clubs across the middle of Tennessee, once again demonstrated the power of amateur radio in action by providing vital communications support during the 6th Annual Gravel Revival bike and run event in Hickman County, Tennessee.
Hosted by MOAB Bike Shop, the 2025 event brought together 600 riders from 24 states to ride rural gravel routes ranging from 11 to 100 miles, along with trail-running events of 5K, 20K, and 30K. The weekend included camping, live music, food trucks, and family activities.
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Riders during the Gravel Revival event. [Dan Sigmund, W4WWF, photo] | | | |
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Hickman County is among Tennessee’s most rural and rugged areas, known for its rolling hills, winding backroads, and extremely limited communications infrastructure. The county has only two known amateur radio repeaters, one of which was off the air during the event weekend. Most of the course had no cellular or internet coverage, creating an ideal test for the capabilities of amateur radio during real-world conditions.
Despite the challenges, NARC and supporting club members deployed a coordinated network of operators positioned at rest stops, aid stations, and along the event’s course routes. Using VHF/UHF simplex and the one operational repeater, hams maintained reliable contact across dozens of miles of remote terrain.
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Pumpkin Patrol Returns for 2025 |
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Every year on Halloween, the Fort Herkimer Amateur Radio Association, W2FHA, and the New York State Police watch the thruway overpasses in Herkimer County, New York. This year was the 49th year of this cooperative effort designed to keep drivers safe. Each overpass is monitored by amateur operators, in their own vehicles, with communications coordination through the club’s Disaster Action Response Trailer (DART). The operation spanned 2 nights and involved 24 operators.
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The Fort Herkimer Amateur Radio Association Disaster Action Response Trailer. [Don Peterson, KD2ILO, photo] | | | |
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ARRL’s Year of the Club Brings Contests and Opportunities for Clubs |
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As part of the Year of the Club
in 2026, ARRL is sponsoring two contests and seeking club photos for publication.
Submit Your Club’s Newsletter or Website
The Year of the Club
contests for ARRL Affiliated Clubs include a Club Newsletter Contest and a Club Website Contest.
ARRL wants to see what your club does with the mix of information that can go into a newsletter or onto a website.
Enter one or both of our Year of the Club contests for a chance to have your club newsletter or website honored in QST.
The Club Newsletter Contest is open to ARRL Affiliated Clubs that have published a newsletter for at least one (1) year.
The Club Website Contest is open to ARRL Affiliated Clubs that maintain a club website.
Winners will be notified in May 2026, with awards presented at Huntsville Hamfest in August 2026.
Winners will be announced in a 2026 issue of QST, as part of ARRL’s Year of the Club celebration.
The submission deadline for both contests is Friday, January 30, 2026, 4 p.m. Eastern time.
For more information and complete rules for both contests, visit https://www.arrl.org/year-of-the-club.
Submit a Club Photo to QST
QST will feature club photos in every 2026 issue, as just one way of honoring various clubs. If your club wants a shot at being highlighted in the pages of QST, visit https://www.arrl.org/year-of-the-club for details on how to take photos for publication in QST.
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Get your club together like the Metrocrest Amateur Radio Society in Argyle, Texas, did and take a photo to send to QST. Each 2026 issue of QST will include club group photos. Get all the details at https://www.arrl.org/year-of-the-club.
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ARRL Call for Technical Manuscripts |
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Share technical insights on your Field Day setups and Emergency Communications activities.
QST invites submissions of technical manuscripts from licensed amateur radio operators for upcoming issues focused on ARRL Field Day and Emergency Communications operations. We're looking for educational, how-to pieces that help fellow hams improve their setups, strategies, and technical know-how.
What We’re Looking For:
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Innovative or proven techniques for emergency preparedness and response.
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Technical solutions for Field Day operations—power, antennas, logging, digital modes, etc.
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Integration of new technologies (e.g., SDR, mesh networking, solar power) in field scenarios.
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Examples of how the popularity of Parks on the Air (POTA) portable activations has changed your approach to setting up Field Day and EmComm stations.
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Examples of how portable antennas and LiFePO batteries have replaced base station antennas and generators.
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Manuscripts should have a strong “how-to” component. Tell us what you did, but more importantly, tell us how you did it.
Submission Guidelines:
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Audience: Licensed amateur radio operators
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Length: 1,000 – 1,800 words, plus high-resolution images with caption and photo-credit information (name and call sign of photographer)
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Tone: Educational and collaborative — share what works
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Format: Plain text or Word document
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Deadline: January 31, 2026
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Submit to: qst@arrl.org
Why Contribute? Your article could be published in QST, ARRL’s membership journal, which reaches thousands of fellow amateurs across the country and beyond. It’s a great way to give back to the community and inspire others with your experience.
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ARRL would like to know just how your club greets and deals with new members and especially new hams. Please take a few minutes and fill out the survey at Club Spotlight on New Members. Your answers may be featured in future publications.
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Submitting Info for this Newsletter |
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ARRL Club News is for radio clubs to show how they are working in the community and the hobby to advance amateur radio.
If your club completes a project, supports an event, does an EmComm activation, or activates a park, we want to hear about it.
You can submit your newsletter article to us at
clubs@arrl.org. We like to get them as text or Word files instead of PDFs.
If you have pictures, please submit them with caption information, as well as the name and call sign of the photographer.
We want to highlight the good work being done by the clubs and show others in the community.
Think of this as a chance to show off your club and your programs.
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How to Plan and Apply for an ARRL Hamfest or Convention |
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If your amateur radio club is planning to host a convention, hamfest, tailgate, or swapfest, please consider applying for it to be an ARRL-sanctioned event. To learn what it means to be an ARRL-sanctioned event, and to get some ideas on how to prepare for and conduct a hamfest or convention, visit
www.arrl.org/arrl-sanctioned-events.
To have your event sanctioned, complete the online application at
www.arrl.org/hamfest-convention-application.
Please send a copy of the application that returns to you to Steve Ewald at sewald@arrl.org.
The ARRL Hamfests and Conventions Calendar can be found online at
www.arrl.org/hamfests. In addition, the Convention and Hamfest Calendar that runs in QST each month also presents information about upcoming events.
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ARRL Home: www.arrl.org
Find an ARRL Affiliated Club: www.arrl.org/clubs
Find your ARRL Section: www.arrl.org/sections
Find a license class in your area: www.arrl.org/class
Find a license exam in your area: www.arrl.org/exam
Find a hamfest or convention: www.arrl.org/hamfests
Email ARRL Clubs: clubs@arrl.org
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ARRL Club News is published every month (12 times each year). ARRL members may subscribe at no cost or unsubscribe by editing their Member Data Page at
www.arrl.org/opt-in-out. Archived issues can be found at
www.arrl.org/club-news
Copyright © 2025 American Radio Relay League, Incorporated. Use and distribution of this publication, or any portion thereof, is permitted for non-commercial or educational purposes, with attribution. All other purposes require written permission.
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