2026 MVARA Spring Fever Swap Meet Bigger Venue!!   Even More Door Prizes!! WHEN? Saturday, March 7, 2026 SET-UP: 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM SWAP: 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM WHERE? Holmen American Legion 419 1st Avenue W. Holmen, WI 54656 [Google Map] Click here for all the details:  https://www.mvara.net/about-us/swap-meet/

The 2026 MVARA Raffle Fundraiser is now in progress!  Proceeds from this fundraiser make it possible to help cover some of our expenses, including the maintenance of our emergency communications bus. $4,000 in Cash Prizes will be given away! Tickets are $10 each and available from MVARA club members. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the MVARA Spring Fever Swap Meet on March 7th, 2026.  The Prize Drawing will be held on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, at 6pm, at the Onalaska American...

The 2026 MVARA Christmas Party was held on Saturday, January 24, 2026, from 3-6 pm (food at 3:30pm) in the Event Room at Corky's Pizza, 25 S. Walnut St., La Crescent, MN.  We enjoyed a delicious pizza buffet with salad, breadsticks and soda.  I hope that everyone who attended had a good time. Big thank you to Wayne K0WLO for handling the arrangements with Corky's Pizza for our party.  Thank you Scott KA9FOX for running the gift exchange and drawings.  Thanks Dan W9FCC for the pictures of our...

The MVARA "Christmas In The Park" event took place on Saturday, December 20th, 2025, from 10am until 2pm, at the Apple Blossom Overlook Park in La Crescent, MN.  The goal of the event was to just enjoy operating ham radio together in a casual atmosphere.  All area ham radio operators were encouraged to attend. By all accounts, the event was a success.  Those in attendance said it was a lot of fun, and it is hoped that other similar will take place.  Thank you to those that came out to have a...

MVARA took the bus to the Wisconsin ARES/RACES conference in Wisconsin Rapids on October 11, 2025.  We setup our "B1" bus and a tower trailer. There was a lot of interest, with many visitors inside the bus taking pictures, and lots of questions. I would say nearly all of the 50 plus people who attended the conference visited our setup. Our HF radio and antenna setup was working great -- we were making contacts all over the world on 10 meters with 100 watts and the Tune-A-Tenna dipole at 55 ft....

MVARA participated in the Simulated Emergency Test (SET) on October 4 - 5, 2025. This nationwide exercise is the chance to test our emergency-operating skills and the readiness of our communications equipment and accessories in a simulated emergency-like deployment. The Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), the National Traffic System (NTS), the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service (RACES), SKYWARN, Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network...

Sunday September 28th, 2025 The Mississippi Valley Amateur Radio Association was formed in 1990. To celebrate our 35th Anniversary, the MVARA hosted a celebration picnic on Sunday, September 28th, 2025, from 1pm-5pm.  The picnic took place at the Weiser Memorial Park Community Building at 1817 County Road 6 in La Crescent, MN. All current and past MVARA members and their families were invited to attend. Brats, hot dogs and cake was provided by the club, with members providing additional dishes...

Touch-a-Truck event at Hintgen Elementary School: MVARA participated in the La Crosse "Touch a Truck" event (AKA "Night of Wheels") at Hintgen Elementary School, at 3505 28th Street S, La Crosse, WI., on Thursday Sept 18th from 4:30 to 6:30 pm, with our "B1" Emergency Communications Bus. Attended by Craig N9ETD, Tom WA9TS, Rob W9LUP & Jason N0MOE, with Bill N9FDE working his radio from his house. We had good traffic on the bus and many kids were able to get on the air with Bill. Overall a...

2025 Old Fashioned Gravel Ride - Communications Assistance On September 13, 2025, from about 5:30am to 3pm, MVARA provided communications assistance at each of the 7 stops on the "Old Fashioned Gravel" bike route in SE Minnesota.  Wayne Oliver, K0WLO coordinated our assistance with the bike ride leadership.  Some notes from that day: Wayne said we did well, no one was injured. The mapping App for this year did not work as well as the year before. The Decorah repeater does exist! Paul Reardon...

MVARA attended the Holmen National Night Out (NNO) on Tues Aug 5th, 2025. It ran from 5 to 8 pm, and was located at the Halfway Creek Park and the Holmen Public Library grounds, on 1st Ave W and S Roberts St, by the Holmen American Legion Post. Setup started around 3:30pm, although Greg KD9TMZ and Tom WA9TS started early in the morning, making it a mini work day, doing a bunch of little projects on the bus.  Big thanks to Greg and Tom!! Photos from the event, as well as the original...