Lake County Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service Inc

08/18/2026

The Kopernik Observatory & Science Center is launching an educational high-altitude balloon, and they need help tracking it from Northeast Hams!

Here are the flight details you need to get involved:

📅 Launch Date: August 19

⏰ Launch Time: 10:00 AM EDT (1400 UTC)

⏱️ Flight Duration: ~2.5 hours

🎈 Target Altitude: Over 100,000 feet!

How to Participate:
APRS Tracking: Follow callsign K2ZRO-11
SSTV Images: Tune into 145.600 MHz (Mode: Martin 1) throughout the flight.
👉Last year, reports flooded in from all over New England, Canada, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Maryland. Let's see how far the signal reaches this year! 🌐✨

📩 Send your downloadable SSTV images and signal reports to: [email protected]

05/20/2026

Our June VE testing will be the last one to use the current element 2 (technician) question pool. The new question pool becomes effective July 1. Please pass this along to anyone you know who is studying for their technician license. We still have openings for the June session.

03/31/2026

02/16/2026

HAM CRAM Session, Saturday February 28th, 08:00-20:00 for the Technician License. Testing will follow the classroom session.

Lake County RACES/ARES
Lake County EOC building, Libertyville, IL

You must be registered in advance. The ‘fast & easy’ way to prepare for and take the Amateur Radio license exam ( technician)
Register at
https://ham.study/sessions/6967e9b8544ca6608255076f/1

The number of seats is limited.

09/08/2025

HAM RADIO VE LICENSE TESTING
Our next license test session is Monday 9/15. We can still accommodate a few more candidates. We welcome those wishing to become licensed hams, including CERT members, and current hams wishing to upgrade.

For more information, and instructions for registering, see our web page.

races.org/ve-testing
LICENSE TESTING (VE TESTING) – Lake County RACES/ARES®

09/03/2025

9/23/25: Andrew’s family has made contact with him. We are no longer working to make contact with him. Thank you to the community for their assistance!!

9/15/25 UPDATE: Andrew was last seen in the Palatine area over the weekend (see photo in the comments). If you see him, please call us at 847-549-5200, so his wellbeing can be checked.

🚨 Missing Person – Lake Barrington 🚨

The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help in locating Andrew Mcauliff, 30, of Lake Barrington.

He was last seen two weeks ago in the area of the 400 block of White Oak Lane, Lake Barrington, leaving his home on foot. Andrew does not have his phone and left without any electronics.

Description:
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 145 lbs
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

When he left, he was last seen wearing a grey tee shirt, black shorts, and grey gym shoes.

If you have any information about Andrew’s whereabouts, please contact the Lake County Sheriff’s Office (847-549-5200).

Today, Andrew’s family approved of us releasing this information to seek additional help from the community.

08/05/2025

HAM RADIO LICENSE TESTING
Our next VE license testing session is Monday 8/11. We can still accommodate a few more candidates. For more information and instructions for registering see our web page.

Amateur Radio License TESTING (VE Testing) Lake County Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services (RACES) conducts ARRL VE ham radio license testing for all license classes, the second Monday every month (3rd Monday in September and January) at 7:00 PM at the Lake County Sheriff’s EOC building in Libe...

07/22/2025

Dangerous heat and humidity will impact the area on Wednesday and Thursday . If you don’t have access to air conditioning, consider going to a cooling center. Before you go, call in advance to make sure the desired location is open.

See a full list and map to find a cooling center near you in Lake County: http://bit.ly/LakeCountyCoolingCenters

07/03/2025

Some showers & storms are possible Friday morning, mainly north of I-90. More widespread showers & storms are expected Sunday afternoon with locally torrential downpours possible. Otherwise, the majority of the upcoming holiday weekend should be dry, but toasty!

06/25/2025

FIELD DAY 2025.
An event when over 30,000 amateur (Ham) radio operators in the US enjoy operating away from home.

We invite everyone to visit us Saturday 6/28 1pm to Sunday 6/29 1pm to learn more about ham radio. For anyone interested, we will actually get you on the air to experience the thrill of making contacts with other operators across the country. Bring the family. No experience or license required, and kids are welcome. For more information and location see our website.

Lake County RACES Upcoming events FIELD DAY 2025Start date: June 28, 2025 - End date: June 29, 2025All-day event Click HERE for the signup sheets Next » More Events REGULAR ACTIVITIES General Membership Meeting at the EOCand on Google Meet on the first or second Monday of the month.See calendar bel...