The Holland Amateur Radio Club will be holding our next membership meeting starting at 6:30pm on Tuesday, October 13, 2026 at the Herrick Public Library downtown location, 300 South River Ave., Holland.
As always, you need not be a member of the Holland Amateur Radio Club to attend any of our functions. You don’t need to be a licensed operator – just have an interest in amateur radio. Or just tag along with somebody who does. But watch out, you could get hooked on the hobby.
The Education and Training, “E.A.T.” meeting will be held the fourth Tuesday of October, at 6:30pm, at the GroundWorks space (on the west side of the first floor) inside Herrick District Library, 300 S. River Ave., in Holland MI. All registrants under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Registration opens one month before the event.
If you have questions about amateur radio equipment, operating practices, licensing, test and measurement, or anything remotely related to amateur radio, this is the place to be. And, for more information regarding anything connected to the E.A.T. meetings, please contact Jeff Nonhof, KD8THX, the program’s originator, leader, and just general guru of all things radio, computer, and electronics related. (His email is on his QRZ webpage.)
HARC education and training sessions are open to the public and you do not need to be a HARC member or have an amateur radio license to attend.
For more information regarding the Herrick Public Library and to register for events, see their website: https://herrickdl.org.
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On Saturday, November 14, 2026, the Holland Amateur Radio Club will be holding licensing exams for anyone wishing to obtain or upgrade their amateur radio license. The testing session will begin at 6:00 p.m. The Holland ARC has no charge for any testing; however, the FCC does charge a $35 application fee for new licenses. Upon passing your Technician exam, the FCC will email you instructions for payment. (This $35 fee also applies to license renewals and vanity call requests, but not upgrades.) No Morse code is required for any grade license.
The testing location is the Chick-Owa Sportman’s Club, located at 9279 E. Ottogan St., Holland, MI 49423. Again, the test session begins at 6:00 p.m.
For registration and more information, please go: http://tinyurl.com/holo-hiad-ve
What to bring with you: If available, bring a legal photo ID such as a driver’s license or passport. If no legal photo ID is available, bring 2 pieces of legal ID. Anyone 18 years old or younger must have a parent or legal guardian present for the entire testing session. IMPORTANT… If you currently hold a ham radio license, bring the license and a copy of the license to the test session. (Copy will be sent in with the testing results.)
Note: This is a federal exam and the FCC requires you to have a Federal Registration Number (FRN.) You can obtain your FRN before the test by going to this website: https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do. The FCC FRN process is simple and quite fast.
For further information on license testing, please email Bob Broene, K8RJB, at k8rjb[dot]ham[at]gmail.com.
“Ham in a Day” will be held on Saturday, December 12, 2026. This is an opportunity for anyone wishing to get their amateur radio technician license to study and take the exam all in one afternoon. Directed study begins at 1:00PM and continues till 6:00PM, when the test will be given.
The testing location is the Chick-Owa Sportsman’s Club located at 9279 E. Ottogan St., Holland, MI 49423. Again, the “Ham in a Day” study hall begins at 1:00 PM, and the test session begins at 6:00 PM.
For registration and more information, go to: http://tinyurl.com/holo-hiad-ve. Cost for the Ham in a Day study session is $15. After you pass your Technician exam, the results will be sent to the FCC, who will in turn send you an email with instructions on how to pay their $35 application fee to receive your license. (The FCC charges $35 only for new licenses, renewals, and vanity call requests – not upgrades. The Holland Amateur Radio Club does not charge for any paperwork whatsoever.)
Note: This is a federal exam and the FCC requires you to have a Federal Registration Number (FRN.) You can obtain your FRN before the test by going to this website: https://apps.fcc.gov/cores/userLogin.do . The FCC FRN process is simple and quite fast.
In addition to the Ham in a Day students, anyone can arrive at 6:00 and take the technician, general, or extra class exam. Please see the post regarding license testing for additional testing requirements.
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This year’s Field Day for the Holland ARC was something wonderful.
Saturday morning watching the entire Mol and Rose families putting up antennas.
Witnessing, once again, Jeff Nonhof with his educational materials. Why was I fascinated by the EH wave simulation?
The older Mol brothers on the grill and Jay Mol championing the tables of food.
The “young kids” staffing the digital trailer out front. And having one of the best dogs in the world with them.
Youthful operators? Try over 14 of them. I challenge any club to beat that number.
Morse code? Did anyone watch Dave and Gan pounding the brass on one of 58 different keys?
Safe? Was Field Day safe? With Mike Koster in charge, it was. No one died.
But behind all of it. Doug Papay. With support from Carrie and Grace.
Doug and the ladies simply rocked the place. Doug’s 85 page Excel database document listed everything. No details overlooked. Doug’s concern to get it right and have fun was evident.
If you see Doug, please thank him for the tremendous number of hours (hundreds?) and concern that he put into this club activity.
Me? So thankful to have Doug on our Team.
Tom Bosscher K8TB
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In case you haven’t heard, the Holland Amateur Radio Club has a new logo! We’ll be using this new logo on T-Shirts, caps, hoodies, desktop backgrounds, screensavers, and anything else you can stick a logo on! HARC would like to thank Rob and Christina NR8J and KJ8FIZ for making this beautiful new logo for HARC. Rob has asked us to share the designs here so people can check it out and download them for their desktop or screensaver if they so wish. Please enjoy. There are 4 file types for you to choose from: TIFF, PDF, PNG, and JPEG. Click on link and right click to Save Image
