What is NARA?

The North Alabama Repeater Association is an organization of Hams who maintain several amateur FM repeaters in the Huntsville, Alabama area. At present we have three VHF and three UHF machines located at several elevated locations in the hills around Huntsville. What's this mean for us? Excellent repeater coverage! It's easy to work most of these machines using a handheld on low power. This is great during severe weather events, public service nets (like the Huntsville Marathon, etc), and for general recreational use.

Who can be a member?

NARA membership is open to all amateur radio operators. The NARA constitution allows us the option of a loosely defined “corporation acceptance” wherein we have voted in members in a similar manner to other clubs in the past. While this allows us to police ourselves in the event of malicious interference, it is difficult to implement in practice because NARA only meets twice a year. An open policy of membership upon payment of dues only has worked very well for us in the past few years and we will continue in this spirit unless changes become necessary.

NARA dues are $19 per year per family and are prorated to $5 per quarter beyond the midpoint of each quarter. NARA is glad to accept donations of any amount to improve its capabilities. While it is our policy to hold treasury funds in reserve for emergency repairs, there are times when special projects stretch our budget beyond what is needed to do the job correctly and designated contributions have really helped us out. CLICK THE "JOIN NOW" button and join us now.

Becoming a Ham

Amateur Radio is a fun, challenging, and rewarding hobby with more facets than this page could possibly cover. There are several license classes, each with its own unique requirements and privileges. The classes are Technician, General, and Extra. Many new hams these days opt to start out with a Technician class license. The Morse code requirement has been eliminated for all license classes.  The Tech license is the easiest to learn and with a little study on www.qrz.com , one can soon take and pass a 35 question written test. Exams are given at the Huntsville Red Cross building most first Saturdays of the month at 9:00 a.m.. Bring $15 Cash and a copy of your present license or FRN and ID. You will need to Pre Register and Get your FRN from the FCC web site prior to taking the test for the 1st time. When you pass your exam, you'll most likely have a call sign within a few days!

If you're interested in becoming a Ham, by all means email us and we'll be happy to help you! We can provide advice, suggest books, and assist with learning the various things a new Ham needs to know.