CAREN Partners with RadioReference.com to Provide Live Audio Feed

Traffic on Popular 146.940 MHz Repeater Now Heard Everywhere

by Danny Straessle (KE5WLR)

The Central Arkansas Radio Emergency Net (CAREN Club) is pleased to announce that a live audio feed of the popular 146.940 MHz repeater in Little Rock is now available on RadioReference.com. In service for several decades, this repeater is owned and operated by CAREN as station W5DI and has an approximate range of 100 miles.

Offered as a public service to the Amateur Radio community in Arkansas, the CAREN live audio feed is available at no cost to anyone with an Internet connection and is provided 24/7 to enable monitoring of the repeater at all times from most anywhere.

“Although it’s one-way audio, Amateur Radio operators already spend more than 90-percent of their time listening,” says CAREN Club President Mark Barnhard (KD5AIV). “We recognized a high demand for monitoring the 146.940 MHz repeater from those who cannot do so at any given time with a receiver. The CAREN live audio feed provides that ability to monitor for those who may spend most of their day in an office environment or are perhaps traveling outside Central Arkansas for an extended period of time.”

Activity on the 146.940 MHz repeater varies from public service events and emergency nets to training and traffic nets. It is routinely linked to other CAREN owned and operated repeaters throughout the state to provide wide-area coverage. The W5DI linked repeater system hosts Arkansas SKYWARN® when activated by the National Weather Service Little Rock Forecast Office.

To access the CAREN feed, click on the Live Audio link found at www.radioreference.com to display a map of the United States. Click on the state of Arkansas and then click on Pulaski County to display a list of the feeds provided. Click on the feed titled “Central Arkansas Radio Emergency Net (CAREN) 146.940 MHz Repeater” and select from a number of popular web players to begin streaming the audio.

RadioReference.com also provides direct connect mobile device support for Droid, Blackberry, iPhone, iPod Touch and soon iPad. On-the-go access to the CAREN live audio feed is easy to obtain by simply entering the search term “Mobile Device” on RadioReference.com and selecting from a number of native apps that are officially licensed and sponsored by the site.

Although a user account at RadioReference.com is not required to access the CAREN live audio feed, the site does offer both free and premium (annual subscription) accounts that open a wealth of radio communications data to Amateur Radio operators, scanner enthusiasts and the public at-large.

The CAREN live audio feed is recorded and archived in 30-minute time segments which are available for download and playback as individual MP3 files. Each 30-minute segment is only available for a period of 30 days. Users must hold a premium subscription to RadioReference.com to gain access to the archive and download recorded audio.

About RadioReference.com

RadioReference.com is the world’s largest radio communications data provider, featuring a complete frequency database, trunked radio system information, and FCC license data. RadioReference.com is also the largest broadcaster of public safety live audio communications feeds, hosting thousands of live audio broadcasts of police, fire, EMS, and other associated communications. With hundreds of thousands of members, RadioReference.com provides the most comprehensive collaboration platform for public safety communications professionals and hobbyists.

About the Central Arkansas Radio Emergency Net (CAREN Club)

Established in the late 1950s, the Central Arkansas Radio Emergency Net (CAREN Club) is one of the oldest Amateur Radio organizations in Arkansas and remains a state leader in public service and emergency communications. CAREN is a non-profit 501(C) 3 membership organization of Amateur Radio operators organized for the promotion of amateur radio communication, education and experimentation. On average the club provides communications support to charitable and other non-profit organizations for 12 public service events annually. This provides Amateur Radio operators an opportunity to test and operate their equipment in a net-controlled field exercise while advancing the overall preparedness of these Amateurs to step forward as volunteers and provide emergency communications when all else fails.

- Danny Straessle

KE5WLR