W7VMI is the ARRL registered Amateur Radio club for Vashon and Maury Islands. Vashon has more than 100 registered ham radio operators, and many of them are club members. The club has no dues. Hams in the past have donated equipment for the club to sell - often by bequest as “silent keys”. And we've been very fortunate to receive grants from the Fire Department, VashonBePrepared, and Rotary for some gear. We're also pretty much all skinflints and pool our skills, so we don't spend much.

W7VMI club calendar

Field Day is an annual amateur radio exercise, widely sponsored by IARU regions and member organizations, encouraging emergency communications preparedness among amateur radio operators. In the United States, it is typically the largest single emergency preparedness exercise in the country, with over 30,000 operators participating each year. Field Day is always the fourth full weekend of June, beginning at 1800 UTC Saturday and running through 2059 UTC Sunday. The W7VMI radio club always turns out for field Day. Check the W7VMI calendar for details of this years field day events.

Learn more about Field Day on wikipedia

Watch the documentary film The last big Field Day on Youtube.

past field days

Internation lighthouse lightship weekend

w7vmi club calendar

Weekly Breakfast Saturdays, 0900 at Sporties Eatery, 17611 Vashon Highway This is a very informal breakfast meeting to socialize and optionally discuss HAM related matters. People often announce their attendance on the local repeater (443.50 MHz) as they commute, so we can grab an appropriately sized table.

Other notable dates:

August Picnic: We hold an annual picnic every summer. Lots of fun, rain or shine. Consult the W7VMI calendar for our next August party

December “White Elephant” Holiday Party calendar

June - Join us for Field Day June 27-28 2020

White Elephant, Friday December 12th. See the calendar for details

lost to history

We get together in person for an “eye-ball” on alternating 2nd Saturdays and Thursdays of odd numbered months. For 2016 the schedule is:

• Thursday March 10th 7:00-9:00 p.m.
• Saturday May 14th. 10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.
• No meeting in July
• Thursday September 8th 7:00-9:00 p.m.
• Saturday November 12th 10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m

We generally meet at the Main Fire Station, but make sure to check the calendar for details

Find Frequencies associated with w7vmi here

Handy Dandy Vashon Frequency List in pdf format

Many of us have elected to purchase similar VHF/UHF radios in order to improve ease of use and familiarity during emergency situations. Standardizing on gear has allowed us to share radio programming tasks and buy fewer programming cables. It's especially useful for Amateurs who also participate in Vashon's CERT and Vashon ACS drills

Here's a list of Radio Equipment and Frequencies we use

Interested in Amateur Radio? Want to become a ham? Know someone who is interested? The Technician class license is the first of the FCC Amateur Radio licenses.

Ham Radio Classes

Learn more about our emergency preparedness activities here

Here's a list we've compiled of interesting links.

Electronics parts and Tools

Fabrication Materials

Repairs

W7VMI is a registered 501c3 Non profit organization in the State of Washington.

Here's a summary of our club finances over the years click here for the report in PDF format.

https://www.dokuwiki.org/wiki:syntax