SEMARC is a general interest amateur radio club based in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, devoted
to serving its members and the amateur radio community in general. It
is affiliated with ARRL (The National Association for Amateur Radio) and
supports the programs of that association.
The club has programs that support the community as with
our youth education and student scholarship
program, public service and emergency communications, participating with the
Washington County
Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) organization as a partner with
the Stillwater Amateur Radio Association (SARA), and providing testing
opportunities to get your amateur radio license with our
volunteer examiner teams.
Our public service participation includes special events
for the city of Cottage Grove. In the past
our members have participated in "Darien's Dash", "The Woodbury Country
Mile", "Strawberry Fest", National Night Out and other charitable events requiring
radio communications.
The club maintains three repeaters on the 2 meter band. The first is 146.985
with standard (-) offset and no access tone. The transmitter is located in Hastings, MN and the
receiver is in Cottage Grove, MN. The second is 147.180 with standard (+) offset and
access tone of 74.4 Hz for FM and DCS 023 for digital. The third is 147.180 with a standard
(+) offset and access tone of 100 Hz located in Forest Lake. The pair of 147.180 repeaters is used during ARES
callouts and may not be available for general amateur use during those times. Otherwise all amateur
operators have use of our repeaters.
For fun, we have special events like Fox Hunts, an annual Special Event commemorating
the U.S.S. Ward naval ship, and we
operate during the annual amateur radio "Field Day" in June.
Meetings* are held at 7:00 p.m. on the last Tuesday of the month from February through November at the
Zion Lutheran Church in Cottage Grove. The club draws members primarily from South
Washington and Northern Dakota Counties but everyone is welcome. Our
meetings include a short business meeting and programs that are either educational or entertaining.
Join us for our monthly breakfast** at 7:30 a.m. on the 3rd Saturday at the North Pole Restaurant in Newport.
*Meetings are currently conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Visitors should contact the Secretary
or Treasurer to be notified of meeting access.
**Breakfasts are temporarily suspended.
You can follow us on Twitter at WØCGM.
Link to Membership Application
