The National Weather Service in Birmingham requests ALERT activation from now until 10pm CST.The National Weather Service in Birmingham requests ALERT activation from now until 10pm CST. Continue reading →

The Alabama Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) will once again conduct a FM Simplex Exercise designed to encourage members to test their range on FM Simplex. This will be a two-hour exercise starting at 4:00PM Central until 6:00PM Central time on Saturday, June 13th. This test is held during the ARRL June VHF QSO Contest to allow ARES volunteers to have the opportunity to contact more distant VHF contest stations, many of whom run high power and gain antennas. During last year’s event, some ARES volunteers were able to make contacts over 200 miles away from their QTH! During the event, stations will exchange call signs and “grid squares”. You can also obtain your grid square from www.qrz.com by looking up your callsign and then clicking on “details”. Birmingham, Shelby, and Tuscaloosa are in EM63, Huntsville is in EM64, Montgomery is in EM62, & Mobile is in EM50. Find your grid square today & be ready for the exercise.A typical QSO might go something like: Continue reading →