The Illinois Valley Amateur Radio Club is making a significant upgrade in radio communications at the Illinois Valley with the installation of two ham radio repeaters on top of Eight Dollar Mountain.
The first, a digital repeater, was installed on Feb. 12, and the other, an analog repeater, is scheduled to go up in the next couple of weeks. Both digital and analog ham radio function similarly, but digital radio provides higher audio quality and extra functionality such as messaging.
The digital repeater is “the first of its kind in this area,” according to Judy Hinkel, Vice President of the Illinois Valley Amateur Radio Club, or IVARC.
Repeaters do what they’re named after: They “repeat” received radio signals so those transmissions can be heard across a larger area.
The two repeaters are the last pieces in a $50,000 grant from the state Office of Resilience and Emergency Management, awarded in 2025, which also helped fund the IVARC Communications Hub, a converted toy-hauler trailer that can be used in emergency situations for radio communications.
“We have five different radios in there, satellite backup, generators,” Hinkel said. “We can run it without any outside power sources and speak around the world.”
The Hub was making the rounds in the Illinois Valley last year, including visits to the Cave Junction Farmers Market and the Labor Day Festival, where IVARC members held trainings each day.
Ham radio, originally named for “ham-fisted” unskilled radio operators, is the name for the amateur radio movement that has been around since the early 20th century.
Ham radio has a high barrier of entry: certification requires passing a 35-question multiple choice test, and even basic equipment can cost hundreds of dollars. And there are multiple levels of additional certification that provide operators access to more frequencies for longer-distance communication.
However, General Mobile Radio Service, or GMRS, has surged in popularity in recent years for radio hobbyists. It requires no test and a basic radio, and a 10-year license costs only $35. However, it operates on limited frequencies and doesn’t have the range of ham radio.
GMRS can also work with repeaters, and there is already one on Eight Dollar Mountain. The new repeaters operate on ham frequencies.
Most new people joining the radio club are GMRS users, Hinkel said, and now about two-thirds of the club’s operators are on GMRS, not ham.
Hinkel said that what sets the IVARC apart from other radio clubs is its openness. Ham operators that run other clubs, she said, can be “snooty” and intimidating to newcomers.
“We are completely opposite of that,” she said. “We have a lot of low-income people that cannot afford a lot of different fees.”
IVARC provides free technical assistance to residents who want to see what kind of equipment they need to operate from their location. The club comes and checks the reception and transmission and selects an appropriate antenna, for example.
Another activity of the radio club is “nets”. In a net, a net control operator calls out members’ call signs (an alphanumeric code, usually 5-7 characters), and members respond with their condition (“green,” “yellow,” or “red”). Unless the transmissions are running off a repeater, members will have to do “relays” as the net expands outward beyond the range of the initial radio call.
“We have people relaying all the way up to Merlin,” Hinkel said.
Hinkel said about 30-35 people take part in the net exercises.For more information on meetings and how to join IVARC, email ivarc.org@proton.me