The Tri-State Amateur Radio Association (TARA) is based in Huntington, West Virginia and serves Amateur Radio Operators (commonly known as Ham Radio Operators or “Hams”) in West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky.
TARA was organized in 1924, incorporated in 1956 and is an ARRL affiliated club. Our club call is W8VA. Our goals are to advance the art of amateur radio, promote good fellowship between amateurs and would be amateurs and to cultivate the good will of the public. We strive to provide in the public interest, reliable communications in time of emergency as well as other communications of help to civic organizations in the community.
TARA is a full service club with many members enjoying many facets of amateur radio. We have a great club hamshack located at the Museum of Radio and Technology which is available to members when the museum is open. We sponsor an annual hamfest that is well attended each year. We coordinate field day events for members to operate and be available to the general public should anyone be interested in learning more about our hobby. We maintain a Laurel VE test team and hold testing sessions every other month. We own and operate the W8VA repeater. We have many events including Elmer Q&A virtual meetings weekly, club POTA activation’s and tech talks each month following our regular business meeting.
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Summer Field Day June 27-28 2026
Join us for the largest amateur radio event in North America! Field Day is a 24-hour emergency preparedness exercise and on-air operating event open to all ham radio operators and the public. This year since we are operating from a park we will also be activating US-1800 with all contacts. We will be making live…
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TARA VE Testing 6-13-2026
re-registration is preferred. Walk-ins are allowed. You can pre-register on our website at – https://w8va.org/laurel-ve-testing/ You have to make sure you have your FRN before coming to take a test. If you have any questions please send us a message or you can call or text 304-691-0101 to get more information.
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POTA summer support your parks – 7/18-19
July 18th and 19th will be the summer POTA support your parks weekend. We will be planning to have a organized club POTA activation as we did for the spring event this year. As we get closer we will decide where and when we plan to setup and operate during this event and will share…
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June Business Meeting 6-16-2026 7pm
This month we will be going over the plans for field day. Talk through any outstanding needs and planning for the upcoming Hamfest. Discuss any updates and events that are upcoming in our area. We will have a technical presentation on APRS following the meeting.
Meeting and Testing Location
Our home is the Museum of Radio and Technology, 1640 Florence Ave, Huntington, WV 25701. It is located near the western end of Ritter Park in Huntington. We meet on the Third Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm at the museum. Visitors are always welcome!!!