Welcome to the website of the Marlborough Amateur Radio Club (MARC).
We are Branch 22 of NZART (New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters). Radio operations are usually done under the call-sign ZL2KS.
Regular meetings are held every month, we try to keep the boring general club business to a minimum and encourage face-to-face time between members. We usually get someone to give a talk, or organize something radio related, like ‘Constructors night’, or ‘Bring-and-tell’. Our committee deals with the day-to-day club business, also meeting once a month.
As a club we are involved with a number of community or sporting events, usually providing communications. These events range from the local Christmas Parade, Marlborough Wine and Food Festival, Marlborough GrapeRide, to local mountain bike rides, endurance horse riding events and car rallies. We also have provided South Island wide comms for the Silver Fern Classic Car Rally.
Every year we try to participate in the Jock White fieldday NZART competition, which is a great event to have some fun, practice setting up a site and catch up with friends. This is always on the last weekend of February.
International Lighthouse Weekend, held in August, is another event where we try to put a station on the air. We do this from the Cape Campbell Lighthouse, on the southern tip of Clifford Bay, south east of Seddon.
There are a number of repeaters that we have built around the Marlborough area, 2m and 70cm. Details on these are on the Repeater page.
Regular Events:
General Meetings: every 2nd Thursday of the month, 19:30hrs EOC Wither Road Extension, Blenheim
Social Group: every 3rd Thursday of the month, 12:00hrs Dodson’s Beer Garden, Dodson St., Blenheim
Committee Meetings: every 4th Thursday of the month, 19:30hrs EOC Wither Road Extension, Blenheim
Radio Nets (times in local NZ time):
VHF: Mondays 19:30 hrs 146.950 MHz, 145.600 MHz, 147.225 MHz
Net Controller Rob Carter ZL2IW
VHF – USB: Wednesdays 19:30 hrs 144.150 MHz
HF: Tuesday & Saturday nights at 20:30 hrs 3876 kHz LSB