Based on the windward side of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, the Koʻolau Amateur Radio Club (KARC), operating under the club callsign KH6J, has been part of Hawaiʻi's amateur-radio community for several decades.
Although some older club listings associate the year 2000 with KARC, that date refers to the club's formal ARRL affiliation on June 20, 2000, rather than its founding.
Historical amateur-radio directories show that the Koʻolau Amateur Radio Club was already meeting in Kāneʻohe by at least 1997, and members of the club were involved in developing the Hawaii QSO Party in the late 1990s.
Today, KH6J remains associated with the Koʻolau Amateur Radio Club, and recent activity shows that the group continues to take part in amateur radio on Oʻahu.
Monthly Meetings at Hoʻomaluhia
One of KARC's longest-running traditions is its monthly gathering at Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden in Kāneʻohe.
The club's current web presence lists meetings on the:
Second Saturday of each month
9:30 AM
Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden
Kāneʻohe, Oʻahu
More specifically, older club information identifies the meeting point as the Visitor Center within the garden.
Remarkably, this meeting pattern has remained associated with KARC for decades. Amateur-radio club directories from the late 1990s were already listing the club as meeting on the second Saturday of each month at Hoʻomaluhia.
Visitors should nevertheless check with the club before travelling, since meeting arrangements can occasionally change.
A Club with Deep Field Day Roots
Field Day has long been one of the most visible parts of Koʻolau Amateur Radio Club activity.
Historical records show KARC operating portable amateur-radio stations around Oʻahu for ARRL Field Day, combining emergency-preparedness exercises with contest-style operating and public demonstrations.
In 2006, for example, KH6J operated from the eastern side of Oʻahu and even completed contacts through the cross-band repeater aboard the International Space Station.
More recently, ARRL's 2022 Field Day results featured the Koʻolau Amateur Radio Club's KH6J 1A station at Kualoa Regional Park, including a photograph of its portable operating site.
That Field Day tradition was still visible in 2026.
During ARRL Field Day 2026, local amateur-radio operators reported visiting a Koʻolau Amateur Radio Club Field Day site at Sand Island, where antennas and operating setups were on display and newer operators were participating alongside experienced hams.
For a club whose history stretches back several decades, that continuing participation provides useful evidence that KH6J remains more than simply a historic callsign.
Contesting and the Hawaii QSO Party
Contesting has also played an important role in KARC's history.
In the late 1990s, members of the Koʻolau Amateur Radio Club helped develop the Hawaii QSO Party, an event designed to increase amateur-radio activity from the Hawaiian Islands and give operators elsewhere more opportunities to work Hawaiʻi.
The event grew into a significant statewide operating activity.
By 2010, the KH6J station operated during the Hawaii QSO Party from Camp Mokuleʻia and completed more than 1,600 contacts, while dozens of other Hawaiʻi stations participated around the islands.
KARC operators have also used KH6J in major amateur-radio contests, giving the club callsign a history that extends well beyond local VHF communication.
Technical and Emergency-Communication Interests
ARRL's existing club profile historically lists Koʻolau Amateur Radio Club interests including:
- Contesting
- Digital modes
- General amateur radio
- Public-service and emergency communications
- School and youth activities
The same profile has also listed services such as amateur-radio licensing classes, mentoring, newsletters and hamfest activities.
However, the ARRL club record containing those details was last formally updated in 2012.
For that reason, these activities are best regarded as part of KARC's documented club interests rather than a guarantee that every programme continues to operate on the same schedule in 2026.
What can be confirmed more recently is that the club continues to participate in Field Day and maintains a presence within Oʻahu's broader amateur-radio community.
Amateur Radio and Emergency Preparedness in Hawaiʻi
Emergency communications have particular relevance in Hawaiʻi.
The islands face hurricanes, tropical storms, tsunamis and other situations in which conventional communications can be disrupted or overloaded.
Amateur-radio Field Day activities therefore serve a dual purpose: they are enjoyable opportunities to operate portable stations, but they also allow operators to practise setting up antennas, radios and independent communication systems away from normal infrastructure.
KARC's long-standing participation in such activities fits naturally within that wider culture of emergency communications in Hawaiʻi.
In 2018, ARRL reporting on Typhoon Yutu also identified KH6J among the Hawaiʻi amateur-radio stations with substantial HF capability that could potentially support communications toward Guam and Saipan if required.
Membership Information: Treat Older Numbers with Caution
Older ARRL records list:
75 club members
75 licensed amateur members
61 ARRL members
Those figures should not be treated as current membership totals.
They come from KARC's 2012 ARRL annual report, and no newer official membership count is currently shown in the ARRL club database.
Rather than describing KARC today as a “75-member club,” it is more accurate to describe it as an established Oʻahu amateur-radio organization whose current membership size has not recently been published through ARRL.
Club Leadership
The ARRL database currently displays:
Kimo C. Chun (KH7U) – President
Walter P. Niemczura (AH6OZ) – Club Contact
Richard M. Tuggle (WY3B) – Editor
However, these names appear alongside a club record whose most recent annual report dates from February 22, 2012.
Unless confirmed directly by the club, they should therefore not be presented as definitively being the current 2026 officers.
Walter Niemczura, AH6OZ, also remains associated with the KH6J club callsign in publicly available licensing data.
The KH6J Callsign
The Koʻolau Amateur Radio Club continues to be associated with the callsign:
KH6J
Current callsign records in 2026 still identify KH6J as belonging to the Koolau Amateur Radio Club in Kāneʻohe, Hawaiʻi.
The callsign has accumulated a substantial operating history through Field Days, contests and other amateur-radio activities, making KH6J one of the recognizable club callsigns within the Oʻahu amateur-radio community.
Getting Involved
The club's current web information continues to advertise monthly meetings at:
Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden
Second Saturday of each month
9:30 AM
The traditional contact address appearing in the ARRL database is:
Because some of KARC's online records have not been formally updated for many years, prospective visitors are encouraged to confirm the meeting before travelling.
The club's older karc.net web material should also be treated cautiously: an archived version of the site still displays announcements from 2015, while a newer Koʻolau Amateur Radio Club web presence continues to show the monthly Hoʻomaluhia meeting schedule.
A Continuing Part of Amateur Radio on Oʻahu
Koʻolau Amateur Radio Club has seen amateur radio change dramatically over the decades.
Its operators have experienced the hobby through HF contesting, Field Day, satellite communication, digital modes and emergency-preparedness exercises.
The technology may change, but portable operating and getting people together around radios remain recurring themes in KARC's history.
Its participation in Field Day 2026 provides a recent example: experienced amateurs, newer operators, antennas and portable stations once again came together on Oʻahu.
Rather than describing KARC simply as a large 75-member organization based on an old database entry, its story is better understood as that of a long-established Oʻahu amateur-radio club with a strong Field Day and operating tradition that remains visible today.
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