About OCARC

The Orange County Amateur Radio Club, Inc. is a non-profit educational and service organization chartered under the laws of New York State. OCARC is affiliated with the American Radio Relay League, a national association of Amateur Radio clubs.

Our Members’ interests range from message handling to contesting, experimentation to public service… and even just plain chatting on the air! We share the love of Amateur Radio and fellowship.

OCARC was established to be an all-volunteer membership club focused primarily on educational and public service aspects of the Amateur Radio Service. Through lectures, formal Amateur Radio classes, and American Radio Relay League-coordinated FCC exam sessions, ham radio is taught to both hams wishing to advance to higher levels of FCC license class and non-hams wishing to obtain an entry level license.

 

About Wilfred (Bill)  Volkummer – W2HO (SK)

The person we honor by using his Callsign for the Club Call.
By Steve Schumm – WB2OEE

The following is from the memories I have when Bill told me about his ham radio hobby when he was a club member in the 1970’s. He passed from this life in 1977.

Bill started his Amateur Radio Hobby when in high school. He built a coherer radio (spark). In the 1930’s and 40’s, he was in charge of coastal harbor maintenance in the NY-NJ harbor area. Later he went to work for New York Telephone Co. as an Engineer. He designed communication circuits for the NYC Fire Department and military bases on Long Island. Upon retirement he moved to Monroe, NY.

When the club decided to participate in Field Day in June of each year, Bill volunteered to build the dipoles, which were used for many years. When QST magazine first published articles on Heterodyning, he forwarded his ideas to the magazine. The tower behind his QTH could be seen for quite a distance. His phased arrays for DX worked very well. A two-meter beam on top, so he could communicate with his Radio Club, the Hard Boiled Owls on Long Island when the DX rolled in, a forerunner of today’s DX cluster packets.

For those who remember him: a first class ham, friend and gentleman. These are the memories I have included, there are more. I wish to thank Andy Maroney – W2SON and Mike Shovan – WB2KHE for their assistance in this memorial write up.

 

OCARC History

Our First Meeting was in the basement of Cornwall’s Town Hall (now a municipal courtroom) on a warm Summer evening on June 30, 1972.

Highlights of the Minutes of that organizational meeting, as recorded by our first Secretary, Sally Clark (Parmerter) include:

  • Meetings to be held the last Friday of each month
  • Dues of 50 cents per Meeting, or $6.00 per year
  • Refreshments (and social period) midway through Meetings
  • Promotion of emergency communications preparedness
  • Adoption of Club name
  • Election of interim Officers
  • Establishment of prudent fiscal procedures and policies

Since that first night, our Club:

  •  Raised annual dues only twice(!) in 30 years to keep up with inflation
  •  Sponsored successful auctions, Hamfests and Picnics
  •  Published a regular Newsletter (which developed into this Website and a message reflector hosted by Yahoo Groups)
  • Participates annually in Field Day activities
  • Offers regular license examinations
  • Members support local public service events and train for communications emergencies

We invite you to attend one of our meetings and get to know us. We hope to meet you soon!