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Welcome to PCARS The Platinum Coast Amateur Radio Society (PCARS) is located on the central east coast of Florida in the city of Melbourne. PCARS has been in existence for over 55 years and has more than 160 members. |
New PCARS Website
Back in November of 2020, the PCARS Website Committee started on a project to modernize the PCARS website. This process has been slowly moving forward. Some of the links on this page, and the left sidebar, already redirect to assets which are a part of the new website. Sometime in early 2022, we hope to switch over the main page as well. Most of the old site will still be available as an archive, but may not be up-to-date.
Technician License Classes
Don Winn AF4Z, PCARS Education Chairman will be teaching a Technician License Class twice a week for five weeks starting Feb 15. Don says:
Class will meet at the Melbourne Fire Training Center building (Club Station) on Tuesdays and Thursdays evenings from 7-9 PM each week. FCC Testing will be on Saturday March 19. There will be no cost for the test on the 19th. Cost for the class will be $20.00 due by the 2nd class. Anyone not completing the class or not getting their license will not get a refund. Those completed the class and getting their license will get their $20.00 PCARS membership paid with the $20.00 class fee. If you know of someone that would like to take the class, have them email classes at pcars dot org. I will respond and answer questions. I would like to know how many plan to take the class so I can get an idea of class size. We will be following the latest version (2018-2022) ARRL License Q&A Manual. I have some ARRL spiral-bound License Manuals available.
Melbourne Hamfest
PCARS signature event each year is the Melbourne Hamfest. The 2022 Melbourne Hamfest is tentatively scheduled for Fri-Sat Oct 7 & 8. You can also check out the 2021 event page on the new PCARS website for details.
PCARS Monthly Meetings
PCARS club meetings are held on the 2nd Monday of each month. Coffee, cookies, and cake socializing starts at 6:45pm followed by the program at 7:00pm. Club business is conducted immediately following the presentation of the program. All licensed amateur radio operators and other interested parties are invited to attend.
PCARS meetings are held at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) facility located at 3201 Dairy Road in Melbourne. The VFW building is painted bright blue and there is a tall large diameter flag pole at the rear of the facility. Parking on the grass is ample, just be careful not to park on the large mound that covers a former septic tank!
You can get to the VFW from US192 by driving south on Dairy Road for 1.2 miles (the VFW is on your left), or from Palm Bay Road by driving north on Dairy Road for 1.8 miles (the VFW is on your right).
The PCARS class is free...
PCARS Quarterly Tailgates
For more information, see the Tailgate webpage.
Are you interested in working Amateur Satellites? You can get started with just a little equipment and any Amateur Radio license.
Excellent storage for our radio equipment is provided by:
Midgard Self Storage
575 N Apollo Blvd Melbourne, FL 32935
321-426-1850
