Aurora Amateur Radio Group

About Us

The Aurora Amateur Radio Group is a licensed club in the United States (Callsign: WL9Z) and Canada (Callsign: VO2AUR).  We are also registered as a Non-Profit Corporation in the State of Alaska.  Our organization was created to bring new and seasoned amateur radio operators into one fold through our desire to serve.  We have come together to bring our experience, knowledge and wisdom into a long time hobby with the focus of expanding one's understanding of it, as well as providing a solid foundation for those who have an interest in getting their license.  This was initially formed to be a group on Internet Relay Chat, but has since rapidly expanded to becoming an on-air gathering to share information and propose new ideas for the expansion of our group.

We remain focused in greeting newcomers to our great hobby by offering them a warm welcome into the ham radio family and are steadfast in providing help when they need it.  Very few groups like this are in existence today and we are proud to be among the few offering such a unique service.  We became a club on September 10th, 2016 and our club call, WL7CXY was issued to us on Monday, September 19th, 2016.  Our founding members were: Brandin Hess - WB1BR (ex. WL1B) (President), Shane Ball - W7SAK (Vice President), Benjamyn Potvin - WL7PT (Treasurer) and Jesse Thompson - WL7JT (Director).  We are a group of amateur radio operators who have offered our time, resources and knowledge toward a long time hobby, with the vision of carrying on the tradition for many years to come.

While most radio clubs offer little to their members, our focus in the amateur radio world covers a wide variety of subjects.  Here is a consolidated list:

a.)  Educational resources for getting their first license or their license upgrade
b.)  Resources on building and troubleshooting circuits of all types
c.)  Resources on reading schematic diagrams
d.)  Informational resources on utilizing all of the digital modes of amateur radio
e.)  Instructional resources on the Winlink amateur radio e-mail system for Mac, Linux and Windows
f.)  Resources on antenna building and installation
g.)  Resources on safety in the shack and on the tower
h.)  Instruction and guidance for net etiquette
i.)  Emergency communications and traffic handling, if necessary
j.)  Resources on audio optimization with your radio and computer, for VOIP software such as AllStar, D-Star and Echolink
k.)  Information and instruction on programming your radio
l.)  License classes for amateur radio licensing
m.)  License examination testing

A closing note...

Before closing what has been mentioned above, we would like to give a personal thank you to Preston, KG5HEU in Arkansas who has inspired the idea of creating a group for this purpose.  We know that amateur radio operators aim to inform by means of informal round table discussions, nets and via other means of traffic passing which makes us versatile when we are needed the most.