Randolph-Macon Academy Radio Stations (WA4RMA) joins Winlink Wednesday Century Club

On Wednesday, May 3, the Randolph-Macon Academy Amateur Radio Station (WA4RMA) became the 188th station to join the Winlink Wednesday Century Club signifying that the club station participated in Winlink Wednesday for 100 weeks. It recognizes the substantial commitment required to achieve this milestone. Cadet Jordan Avery, sent out the 100th Winlink check in message with a weather report to the net control station KN4LQN. Each week, more than 700 messages are received from more than 500 individual participants worldwide. Winlink Wednesday has been operating continuously since August 24, 2016, when it enjoyed a total of just 16 participants. May 3, 2023 was the net’s 347th week of operation, with 727 messages from 564 unique participants. Each week, there is a scheduled message type to send which is advertised on the web and through a message sent out by the net control station, KN4LQN.

Winlink Global Radio email is a network of amateur radio and authorized government stations that provide worldwide radio email using radio pathways where the internet is not present. The system is built, operated and administered entirely by licensed “Ham” volunteers. It supports email with attachments, position reporting, weather and information bulletins, and is well-known for its role in interoperable emergency and disaster relief communications. In fact R-MA’s ham station participates in several Winlink nets in Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, Ontario Canada, California, Ohio, and Kentucky throughout the week. Practicing these messages enables amateurs to communicate accurately and quickly should an emergency event occur.

Randolph-Macon Academy offers an amateur radio intramural where students learn about amateur radio and prepare to pass their amateur radio license, and exam if desired. Past activities have included radio licensing preparation, antenna setup, soldering, and participation in the school club roundup which is a contest to see how many stations world-wide a school club station can contact within a 5 day period.

There are many activities a licensed operator can participate in including general conversations, contesting, operation from national parks (Parks on the Air), digital modes such as FT-8, operating on satellite frequencies, or even contacting the amateur station on the International Space Station. R-MA’s station has already received slow scan TV images transmitted from the Russian Service module. For service minded operators, they can join Amateur Radio Emergency Service®, become a SKYWARN® Weather Spotter for the National Weather Service, or join other local groups that support the community. Both Stephen Pederson (KN4IOU) and guest Greg Butler (KW6GB) volunteer with the Warren County Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Group (Warren County EmComm), supporting Warren County’s Office of Emergency Management.

Witness 100th message being sent: 

[spacer height=”30px”]Greg Butler explains how amateur radio is applied in our local community: 

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