What the club builds

The club is small and run by volunteers, but it builds and runs its own systems. Here are five of them.

The members site

Members join, renew and manage their membership online, with card payments and yearly renewal. The site keeps each member's license details current from the public FCC database and sets up @w4vld.com email addresses for members. What members get

Repeater automation

The repeaters do more than repeat. They identify themselves with the W4VLD call sign on schedule, and at the top of the hour they announce the time, the local weather and a summary of HF band conditions. Repeater status

Weather alerts read out on the repeater

A system built by the club watches the National Weather Service alerts for Lowndes County and its neighbors. When a new watch or warning is issued, it is announced once over the 2 meter repeater, so anyone listening hears it right away. SKYWARN

The camera network

Cameras around the Valdosta area give weather spotters, and through them the National Weather Service, a look at approaching storms. Camera access is tied to the members site, so accounts are set up and removed automatically. Tower cameras

HamWAN South

HamWAN South Georgia is a high-speed microwave data network for emergency communications, run on amateur radio spectrum. It gives the region a data path that keeps working when commercial networks fail. HamWAN South

Volunteers build and run all of it.