Mount Beacon Amateur Radio Club

05/05/2026

PLEASE NOTE!! - The May MBARC In-Person Meeting has been changed to Thursday, 5/21 due to the Dayton Hamvention!

04/29/2026

The DUTCHESS COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY RESPONSE
and the MT. BEACON AMATEUR RADIO CLUB OFFER A FREE ONE EVENING / TWO DAY AMATEUR RADIO LICENSE TEST REVIEW SEMINAR TO BE HELD ON FRIDAY EVENING AND
SATURDAY / SUNDAY 5—7 JUNE 2026

FRIDAY: 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM; SATURDAY: 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM;
SUNDAY: 8:00 AM to Noon

FCC License Exam Session held starting Sunday @ 1:00 PM

Location: Dutchess County Department of Emergency Response
392 Creek Road (near Dutchess Community College)
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 {GPS: 41.7465676,-73.8983243}

Why Amateur Radio?
• To assist your community in time of need when all else fails
• To promote good will around the world
• To have fun communicating with fellow hams!
• Morse Code knowledge is no longer a requirement!

The seminar is open to all without age limit and is for the entry level FCC Technician Class Amateur Radio License OBTAIN & STUDY the text before the seminar: “ARRL Ham Radio License Manual 5th Edition” with FCC Technician class license questions July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2026 (ISBN 978-1-62595-155-7)

https://home.arrl.org/action/Store/Product-Details/productId/2003373064 or through Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/ARRL-Ham-Radio-License-Manual-dp-1625951558/dp/1625951558/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

This seminar will review all material and test questions for the FCC exam, but attendees are expected to study material ahead of time in the License Manual For class registration (cutoff date is May 20) and/or additional information:
Contact: Adam Nowik Jr. AE2AN at 845-849-3666 or [email protected]

FCC License Exams on Sunday 1 PM:
Open to all hams, regardless of whether they took the class.

A $15 FCC exam fee (cash or check) is due to take the test. Upon successful completion, a $35 FCC license fee will be charged directly by the FCC for all new licenses.

Open test session for those not in class to start at 10am. Register through "hamstudy.org”. Contact: Lynn Rightmyer KV2J at [email protected]

(Good luck to all - 73 de W2BOS)

ARRL Ham Radio License Manual 5th Edition – Complete Study Guide with Question Pool to Pass the Technician Class Amateur Radio Exam

04/25/2026

Happy 154th birthday, Guglielmo! Your advancement of the invention of radio remains one of mankind's most stunning achievements.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FZa2YqKWL/

We acknowledge and honor the inventor of the radio on International Marconi Day. Learn all about how the radio as we now know it came to be.

01/06/2026

I've been away from Poughkeepsie for about a year, but I didn't realize that John N2OXV & the rest of the engineering committee are putting 146.97 FM repeaters high in the sky.

73 de W2BOS

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1A6adrEWNQ/

11/17/2025

MBARC held its semi-annual Amateur Radio Technician Class license review session and FCC license testing session this past weekend, 14-16 November 2025. We taught/tested at the usual location, the Dutchess County Office of Emergency Management (aka '911 Center') in Poughkeepsie. Instructors were class manager Adam AE2AN, Frank W2GIO, Lynn KV2J, Michelle K2MJR, and Andrew W2BOS (his swan song as this was his last session since moving to Westchester county last year.) Michelle K2MJR takes over Andrew W2BOS's teaching assignments for the club in the future.

Lynn KV2J's VE team then tested those in the class wishing to sit for an exam as well as walk-ins with 7 new Technician class licenses and 1 General granted. Those other FCC Volunteer Examiners/Amateurs that helped were Marty KA2R, James KE2ADN, Jeff KE2I, Alex KE2CDG, Joe W2BCC, Mark WM2C, and Andrew W2BOS.

This was the 14th class the club has taught and conducted its testing/exam sessions starting 11 years ago. As always, we appreciate the time over the weekend these hams gave to continue to raise the ranks of the amateur radio operator community in the Mid-Hudson Valley.

It's "been real"! 73 de Andrew W2BOS

08/22/2025

I'm on my annual pilgrimage to Cape Cod. I stopped by the Marconi Maritime Center in Chatham (the elbow of the cape) yesterday. Here are some photos I took along with the link to their website. It ("WCC Chatham") was the most active ship-to-shore coastal radio radio in the mid to late 1900s.

Rumor has it I'll be a guest speaker on one of their upcoming Zoom calls doing my presentation on Marconi and his efforts in spinning the Atlantic. 73 de W2BOS

https://www.chathammarconi.org/

08/21/2025

With deep regrets, we must pass notice of the passing of our Director of Engineering's mother Mary Davison. The club offera sincere condolences to John N2OXV, and his family.

View Mary Lou Davison's obituary, contribute to their memorial, see their funeral service details, and more.

07/07/2025

Field Day 2025 from the Dutchess County Officer of Emergency Preparedness. We were on the portion of the property at the Ditchess County Fire Training Center. Great job to all the hams, especially those that helped organize, set up, operate, cook the food, tear down, obtained additional special bonus points, and logistical support for visitors. (Hope I didn't forget anyone's categories if you participated!)

Thanks to Bill NG2D for the pix. 73 de W2BOS

06/21/2025

On Friday, 19 June, a historic transmission was made from the Armstrong Alpine NJ FM tower, the world's first. Frequency was 42.8 mhz, very different from our usual ham-known freqs. For those that are interested, I put a small information link on the Hudson Valley NET page (https://www.hvnet.org/ %2042.8%20mhz ) that contains a link to the website that Steve Hemphill and the staff at the historic Alpine Tower posted, along with a short 30 second audio segment I recorded using a simple HT and my cell phone recorder. Hope this might be of interest to some. 73 de Andrew, W2BOS
https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/armstrong-broadcast-returns-to-new-jersey-in-june

The commemorative Armstrong broadcast station will return on June 19 to 42.8 MHz in the New York City Tri-State area.

06/15/2025

Our next hamfest - see you there! 73 de W2BOS