The Tallahassee Amateur Radio Society (TARS) is a general interest radio club with membership concentrated in the greater Tallahassee area, although the club’s members also come from many other areas in and around Florida’s Big Bend. Students at any level can join for free. The Tallahassee club is affiliated with the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the national association of Amateur Radio operators.
The club’s service activities include public safety communications for the annual Gulf Winds Track Club Marathon, Spaghetti 100 ride, cooperation with the county’s hospitals and the American Red Cross Disaster Service and the operation of a weekly net to drill members to prepare for providing emergency communications in natural disasters such as the 2005 Katrina and Rita Hurricanes for which several members provided support. Many members are active in the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), volunteering their time and equipment for communications duty for public service when disaster strikes.
Other activities include an annual Field Day emergency communications exercise, an Amateur Radio equipment auction and maintaining several repeater stations serving amateurs in Leon County. Periodic Get on the Air Days are popular with new hams and old-timers alike. Some activities are less technical and more social such as weekly luncheons at a local restaurant.
The club regularly conducts free licensing classes. Our volunteer examiners, certified by the American Radio Relay League, administer periodic examinations leading to Federal Communications Commission licenses.