Henderson Amateur Radio Club
Open repeater system covering the Las Vegas Valley, including Boulder City, Pahrump, and select areas of Los Angeles, Orange County, and the Inland Empire.
My Story
How I Got Here
In the fall of 2023, I ran into a friend on the street and noticed an unfamiliar emblem on his shirt. He confirmed that it had something to do with ham radio, so we met for coffee and he told me about the Henderson Amateur Radio Club.
Until then, I had assumed amateur radio was mostly shortwave: large antennas, distant voices, and people listening patiently through static. Instead, I learned about FM repeaters, global AllStar and digital networks, Winlink, APRS, and satellites. It sounded fascinating.
The possibilities were overwhelming, and I could not see where I would find room for all of them. I set the idea aside, planning to return when life was less crowded. That took nearly three years. After wrapping up several other projects, I decided it was time to do something fun and interesting.
My friend told me that the Las Vegas Test Team offered free license exams. I went online to register and encountered another surprise: I already had an FCC Registration Number. Apparently, I had started the process in 2022 and then wandered off toward one of the ten thousand other things demanding my attention. I was determined to go all the way this time.
After passing the Technician exam in May 2026, the Las Vegas Test Team sent me home with a Baofeng 5R Mini, a list of local repeaters, and instructions that amounted to: start talking and keep studying.
So I keyed up. I made contacts on the local repeaters and learned how linked systems gave HTs global reach. The following June, I passed the General and Amateur Extra exams. I had gone from no license to the highest license class in a matter of weeks, but I was aware of how little I actually knew about radio.
The FCC originally issued me KM7FUI. After earning Extra, I changed it to K7XV. It took QRZ ten days to update my callsign, and some online sources may still list my call as KM7FUI.
As an Amateur Extra, I was ready to get into HF and work the bands, but my fortunes changed. Three days after receiving my license grant, my car suffered a catastrophic engine failure. My HF radio fund became a down payment on a new car. The bands would have to wait a little longer.
While HF is a big corner of amateur radio, it is not the whole show. I turned my attention to digital modes, APRS, AllStarLink, and talking on the local repeaters.