Welcome to the Future of Ham Radio, our youth.    This photo shows the current view of our radio room, one that we're very proud of.

It has made the ham radio experience of D.A.R. youth a very exciting experience in communications, technology, and place geography throughout the world. 

  We have contacted 116 DX countries so far in our 3 years of operation, and hundreds of stateside and other contacts. 

*Note:  SASE much appreciated, and will speed our card to you.  Postage budget is very limited. 

The photo here shows our new banner, along with control op, Ed KG8CX.

K8DAR is the vanity call for the Menominee DAR Boys and Girls Club ham station.We were organized on Jan. 31, 2006, and now have a fully equipped station with two hf operating positions, one vhf/uhf, and a new two meter dedicated to monitoring our local repeater. HF Station #1 is a Kenwood TS-570S running in to one of two antennas (an R7 vertical, and a 20/40/80 loop, and station #2 is aHeath SB1400 feeding its signal into the same set of antennas via an MFJ antenna switch. The Kenwood has a digital voice keyer which many youngsters enjoy using, to perfect their voice technique.   Both rigs have a dedicated computer with logging software.

Our newest award is shown above...the best overall program of any Boys & Girls club in the state of Michigan.  We are very proud of that recognition.

This picture shows several youngster enjoying time in the K8DAR ham shack. 

Here we see a youngster putting a pin in our world map to mark a new DX country he just contacted.  As you can see, we have made many contacts all across the world.   Helping Hunter is Jim KS8O, a local ham and occasional DAR radio room volunteer. 

*Note:  We made contact with K5D on four bands with four different young ops, during the recent major DX-pedition.

We now have two newer computers connected to the internet.   One is dedicated to practice exams and checking out QRZ information.  The other is paired with our Heath SB1400 hf rig.  The two HF rigs have logging software so the DAR members can log their calls.   Thanks to Lloyd KG6KWY for helping us to get the additional computers.  We are now a full fledged contest station with our two rigs and computers.

The youngsters operate the station during hours when the facilityis open and a control operator is present. We have licensed NINE youngsters so far, and anticipate one or two more possibly adding to our "Ham Radio Honor Roll" plaque during the first half of 2009. Several of our young hams are also members of the nationwide  group YACHT ...Y-oung A-mateurs C-ontestH-am T-eam, which already has 48 members in 10 states, as well as South Africa and New Zealand.  http://www.wd8dx.com/yacht.html

Send QSL cards to the address listed with SASE.  The kids very much enjoy receiving their own cards. We usually ask for several cards...one for each of the youngsters making the contact, and the second for our large bulletin board and scrapbook. These youngsters are the future of ham radio. Look for us on the bands. We love making contacts around the U.S. and the world through the magic of radio. Check out our webpage http://www.thedar.org and click on our qsl card. 

Photo here shows KG8CX elmering Derek, a possible new ham.  He is using  station #2 which consists of a Heath SB 1400 and Yaesu dual band.                                                  

Listen for the international Echolink Youth Net on node #44407 the Sturgeon Bay 444.000 repeater at 1pm cdst on Saturday. 

Thanks to all who have responded to our calls, and have sent their QSL cards. 73 from... Ed Engleman, KG8CX Control operator and trustee for K8DAR... Asst. Section Manager for Youth, ARRL Wisconsin section