Welcome to the homepage of  the Vero Beach Amateur Radio Club (W4OT).

Message from the President:

So, what first interested you in ham radio? Maybe it was a friend or relative who was a ham. Perhaps you were fascinated by the exotic sounds emanating from an old shortwave or AM broadcast receiver. Many of us started on 11 meters (gasp!) and “graduated” to the ham bands. Whatever the path you took it led you to one of the most exciting and fulfilling hobbies ever.

My journey into ham radio started with my older brother Dennis. I was only seven years old when he joined the Air Force. He left behind an ancient shortwave receiver (I don’t recall the make) that had been painted blue and weighed something close to a ton! With it I was able to hear strange voices speaking in accents and languages I didn’t understand, but nonetheless fascinated me. Eventually my mother bought me a portable shortwave radio that was much easier to play with, and didn’t send the electric bill into orbit.

When I turned 13 I asked my father for a CB radio for my birthday. I ended up with the cheapest set Radio Shack sold, but for the first time I could actually talk back to the people I was hearing! Later that same year I built a Radio Shack AM transmitter kit so that I could broadcast to all the kids in my neighborhood. By this time Dennis was out of the Air Force and started telling me about ham radio. Wow! I can talk to people around the world? I thought it was thrilling to have someone in the next county hear me on CB, but other countries? That was it...I was hooked. I got a copy of Tune In The World With Ham Radio (from Radio Shack, where else?) and for Christmas Dennis gave me a 2-meter radio to whet my appetite for that license. When my Novice ticket arrived one Saturday the following May, Dennis called to tell me he had just received his Novice license. “Really?” I said. “Me too!” Unbeknownst to each other we had taken our tests just 3 days apart! The following Monday we went together to the Baltimore FCC field office and both of us passed the Technician exam, thus starting a lifelong journey into a hobby that would, in so many ways, define the rest of our lives.

73, Vince K4JC

        Spread the word about the club to your friends with our new brochure. Down load it HERE and print it out. (You will need Adobe Reader to view the page, simply print one page on each side of a piece of paper and fold it in thirds.)