KC7KEY - Maple Valley Amateur Radio Club

WELCOME

The Maple Valley Amateur Radio Club (MVARC), an ARRL Affiliate club, is a group of amateur radio enthusiasts in the greater Maple Valley area who meet and engage in activities to further the advancement of this hobby for the good of ourselves and the community.

WHAT IS AMATEUR RADIO?

Amateur Radio is a non-commercial radio communication service whose primary aims are public service, technical training and experimentation, and communication between private persons. Amateur Radio operators are commonly called hams. Hams generally communicate with each other recreationally but also provide communications for others at public events or in times of emergency or disaster. Hams are licensed to operate radio transmitters by the Federal Communications Commission, and are assigned call letters. The call letters KC7KEY are assigned to the Maple Valley Amateur Radio Club. Licensing involves taking a test demonstrating knowledge in radio theory and the rules and regulations that govern the use of radio spectrum.

Emergency Communications
MVARC has an active role with King County OEM through our ARES team. See the ARES page for more details

Weekly Radio Net
MVARC holds a weekly social net on simplex and on the Maple Valley Repeater. The net starts at 2000 hours local time, Tuesday nights, on the repeater on 147.260+ (103.5). After the first round we switch to 146.540 simplex. This is an informal net and all are welcome to check in. For more information contact Chuck KK7CB. The net preamble is available here.

Maple Valley Repeaters
MVARC, working with the Maple Valley Emergency Repeater Association, sponsors two local repeaters using call sign KF7NPL:

Analog Voice on 2M FM (KF7NPL)
147.260MHZ Plus offset and tone of 103.5Hz
IRLP (Node 3615) and Echolink (KF7NPL-R)

D-Star Digital Voice on 70CM (KF7NPL_B)
442.675MHz Plus offset
Contact Scott NS7C for details and usage guidelines.

Monthly Meetings
Held at 10AM on the Fourth Saturday of each month. All are welcome to come. Location varies so please check the newsletter and this site. Talk-In available on 146.54 MHz simplex.

Special Events
MVARC participates in events in the Maple Valley area. This includes the Maple Valley Days, bike races, triathlons, and other community events. For more information, contact Doug N7BVT.

Field Day
Field Day is an annual event in which hams exercise their Emergency Communications skills. MVARC participates in this event each year with increasing success. See the ARES team page for more info and the Pictures page for photos from past years.

Education
MVARC periodically holds license classes and VE test sessions to help get people started in Amateur radio. Please see the Getting Started page for more info.