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Volume XXXVI #4
April 2016 Q5
DOWNEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
Serving Downey and the surrounding Communities since 1951
Event Date Lead
Street Faire 4/9/16 Savage
Ride ‘n Stride 5/1/16 Norwood
DARC 2016 Public Service Events
ARRL and “National Parks on the Air” This year the ARRL in partnership with the National Parks Service has begun the year long “National Parks on the Air” (NPOTA) campaign to cele-brate the 100th an-niversary of the National Park Sys-tem. For one year Hams are encouraged to either activate a unit of the NPS system, or to chase those that have. Most of the information can be found online at: http://www.arrl.org/npota At our last general meeting some of the members indicated that they have already made contact with one or more Activators. There was discussion about DARC activating one of the local NPS units, in late Summer or early Fall. For those “Chasers”, there is no published list of con-tact frequencies. It was suggested that we use DX spotting sites instead. The ARRL does have a page that lists the registered Activators and their target dates at: https://npota.arrl.org/nps-events.php
Downey Street Faire
April 9th is the day for the annual Downey Street
Faire. This year we will again be in charge of the radi-
os for the Street Faire committee members and also
the parking lot just north of the police station. It is go-
ing to be used by the bands and entertainment.
We need volunteers to help set up and staff both sites
from 0800 to 1900 hours, shifts are available. Please
let me know by email if you are available. My email
address is: [email protected] or call me at 562-716-
6070. Your help is greatly appreciated. Kent Savage, K6WCI
Q5 Page 2
http://darcarc.wordpress.com/
THE DOWNEY
AMATEUR RADIO CLUB, INC.
P.O. Box 207
Downey, CA 90241
Q5 Staff
Editor
John Powell, KF6EOJ [email protected] Phone: (562) 862-4608 Alt Phone: (562) 985-8610 Assistant Editor
Rick Norwood, KD6KHJ Phone: (562) 865-5750 [email protected]
Proofreaders
Ken Carlson, N6SWO Mary Carlson, KC6BBJ Jon Olesen, KD6HXP Electronic Publishing
Rick Norwood,KD6KHJ Phone: (562) 865-5750 [email protected]
Permission to copy material from the Q5 is granted provided that credit is given to the “DARC Q5”.
Q5, as in: a signal that is perfectly readable, hence the name of our newsletter. We hope you agree.
Club Officers President
Dave Glenn, N6TEB Phone: (562) 928-8560 [email protected]
First Vice President Ron Eveland, W6QM Phone: (562) 860-3623 [email protected]
VP Service Rick Norwood, KD6KHJ Phone: (562) 865-5750 [email protected] VP Membership James Nielsen, KJ6WZW Phone: [email protected] VP Programs Kent Savage, K6WCI Phone: (562) 716-6070 [email protected] VP Ways and Means Steve Hartranft, KI6SUF Phone: (562) 923-0070 [email protected] Secretary
Bill Heather, KB6WKT Phone: (562) 863-6607
[email protected] Treasurer Frank Myllo, KC6YPV Phone: (562) 860-4045 [email protected] Director (One Year) Buck Kerns, AE6DT Phone: (562) 634-8441 [email protected] Director (Two Years) Paul Metzger, K6EH
Phone: (562) 900-2217 [email protected]
Trustee, W6TOI
Bill Heather, KB6WKT Phone: (562) 863-6607
Looking for an Elmer?
Here are a few resources that can get you going:
Bill Heather, KB6WKT, 562 863-6607 [email protected], Helping Hams, Contesting
Ivan Mikulich, KB6ATT, 562 862-4592 [email protected], Helping Hams, Field Trips
Glenn Allen, KE6HPZ, 562 928-2080 [email protected], Microwave
Harold ‘Buck’ Kerns, AE6DT, 562 634-8441 [email protected], Public Service
John Schroeder, N6QQ, 562 404-1112 [email protected], Contesting, DXing, DXCC and WAS Card Checker, QSL cards for CQ WAZ and WPX awards.
When and where we meet:
We normally meet the first Thursday of each month at 1930 hrs in room 120 of
the First Baptist Church in Downey. The church is between 2nd and 3rd
streets, near City Hall, address is 8348 E. 3rd St. Use 2nd St, east from
Downey Ave (1 block north of Firestone Bl), adjacent to City Hall. Entrance via
double glass doors on the north side of 2nd St.
Swap Meet Information: W6TRW Swap Meet Northrop Grumman Parking Lot Corner of Marine and Aviation Manhattan Beach, CA Held the last Saturday of each month, 0700 to 1130 hrs Talk-In 145.320, PL 114.8
Affiliations:
Affiliated ARRL Club
Los Angeles Area Council of Amateur Radio Clubs
Orange County Council of Amateur Radio Organizations
Club Frequencies:
Simplex: 145.595 MHz*
440 Repeater #1: 445.640 (-) PL 156.7 Hz*
440 Repeater #2: 445.640 (-) PL 88.5 Hz
* See Calendar for Net Schedule
Q5 Page 3
Treasurer’s Report—Income
Treasurer’s Report— Expense
2015 - 2016 Feb 16 YEAR-TO-DATE ANNUAL (OVER)/UNDER
INCOME ACTUAL ACTUAL BUDGET BUDGET
Club Merchandise $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Dues $105.00 $415.00 $900.00 $485.00
Misc.Income $2,332.00 $1,400.00 ($932.00)
Fund Raisers $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Total Income $105.00 $2,747.00 $2,300.00 ($447.00)
2016 Feb 16 (OVER)/
ACTUAL YTD ANNUAL UNDER
ACTUAL BUDGET BUDGET
EXPENDITURES
Repeater $36.79 $142.63 $750.00 $607.37
Club Merchandise $79.41 $158.82 $79.41
Correspondence
Printing $0.00 $25.00 $25.00
Supplies $7.63 $20.00 $12.37
Postage $0.00 $75.00 $0.00
Committees
Award $0.00 $75.00 $0.00
Education/Awareness $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Membership $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Publicity & Public Relations $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Sunshine $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Equipment/Maintenance $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Events
Christmas Party $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Field Day $0.00 $250.00 $250.00
Luncheon $900.00 $900.00 $0.00
Fund Raisers $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Other Events $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Insurance $325.00 $350.00 $25.00
Misc. Expenses $82.00 $100.00 $18.00
Officers' Expenses
Board Members $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Treasurer $0.00 $100.00 $100.00
Other Organizations
Dues $0.00 $20.00 $20.00
P.O. Box Rental $0.00 $140.00 $140.00
Refreshments, Meetings $0.00 $50.00 $50.00
Total Expenditures $36.79 $1,536.67 $3,013.82 $1,327.15
Q5 Page 4
President’s Message April 2016
Just got back from Baker to Vegas. Pretty tired had a good weekend. Again this year I ran Stage 2 and Kent, K6WCI ran Stage 4. We had our usual team of friends and club members, many of which have been doing this for several years. From our club we had Sam and Ivan, KB6ATT and K1SL, Greg and Amy Savage, K6AMY and K6SVG, David and Jim Brackett, KE6OPK and KE6FVN, Bill Navarro, KE6RPY and Glenn Allen KE6HPZ. Buck, AE6DT Had an auto accident just before the weekend and couldn’t make it. We here he is fine but his truck needs some work.
We had hoped for a cooler weekend however it ended up being about 105 at our stage in the shade. We had several over heat-
ed runners and 4 were serious enough to be helicoptered out (medivac). There was once again runners from all over the world with the most unique, at least for me was the team from Belize.
Frank Myllo and Rick Norwood, KC6YPV and KD6KHJ ran stage 6 again this year but I have not had a chance to hear how things went there.
I am looking forward to the JPole antenna building project at our next club meeting and we still have many ac-tivities coming up. The Street Fair will be April 23
rd this year and will run from 11am to 7pm so we need plenty
of volunteers to help with our booth. Please contact Rick Norwood or Kent Savage if you can spare a few hours to help out.
73 for now, Dave N6TEB
If we build it, they will come.
Contacts of course. This month’s meeting will feature our J Antenna building project. This is the first time we have tried such an ambitious project at a club meeting so please come prepared to build a copper j pole antenna. The cost is $15 and we have had several sign ups already.
I will bring enough extra ½ coper pipe for 3 or 4 extra antennas. You will have the option of building a dual band VHF UHF version or a mono band version. The difference being a mono band vhf or uhf will typically have a better match
as the dual band will be a compromise for reasonable match across both bands.
This project will require map gas torch soldering of coper pipe, if you have never done this or just plain don’t want to play with fire one of us will help you.
The trickiest part is the feed point. We will use a hose clamp to hold the coax or connector in place as we move it up and down for the best match. Once found it is up to you if you just want to solder some coax directly to the pipe or install a coax connector. Each method has its own challenges. Soldering coax means you will need to wrap the connection points with weather proof table and installing a connector requires some way of attaching the connector flange to the pipe. We will have both short pieces of coax and SO239 (UHF) female connectors commonly referred to as a “Hillary” available for your choice.
We will be doing this project out back of the building where we meet, in the parking lot so as not to drip molten solder on the carpet.
Someone bring a fire extinguisher and a bucket of water.
The ARRL has received a report of a "phishing" attempt to illegally obtain credit card in-formation from a member. The caller told the member that they needed $75 to “get his QST” and asked the member to provide their credit card number over the phone to com-plete the transaction.
While this is the only report we have at this time, attempts like these are becoming more and more frequent. Members should understand that ARRL would never contact you and ask for credit card information over the phone.
If you receive a phone call that is suspicious, you can contact ARRL at 1-888-277-5289 to report it.
Credit Card Scam
Page 5 Q5
US Amateur Radio Numbers Continue to Soar
Amateur Radio is alive and well! Growth in the US continued in 2015, with a record 735,405 licensees in the FCC’s Universal Licensing System (ULS) database by the end of the year. That’s up 9130 over December 2014, a 1.2 percent rise, continuing a steady increase in the Amateur Radio population in every year since 2007. In 2014, the Amateur Radio ranks grew by a net 8149 licensees. The figures, compiled by Joe Speroni, AH0A, on his FCC Amateur Radio Statistics web pages, exclude expired licenses that are within the 2-year grace period, and club station licenses. Compared with the same month 10 years ago, the Amateur Radio population in the
US has expanded by 72,805 licensees — or nearly 11 percent.
As expected, the biggest growth by license class was in Technician licensees, which rose by 6570 in 2015. General ranks increased by 3079, and Amateur Extra numbers went up by 3496. The 2015 overall numbers faltered a little in April before rebounding in July. The introduction of a new General class question pool on July 1 appeared to have only a slight effect on month-to-month numbers in that license class. ARRL VEC Manager Maria Somma, AB1FM, said 2015 was another banner year for ARRL VEC-sponsored test sessions.
“For the second year in a row, we have conducted more than 7000 Amateur Radio exam sessions in a year, an important milestone for the ARRL VEC,” she said. “A total of 7358 ARRL-sponsored exam sessions were ad-ministered in 2015, compared to 7216 in 2014. The number of exam applicants was down slightly in 2015, com-pared to the previous year, and the number of examination elements administered also dipped slightly, she not-ed.
“Since 2014 was a record-setting year, the numbers of 2015 examinees didn’t drop so much as return to more typical levels,” she explained.
Somma pointed out that the ARRL-VEC also processed and filed nearly 10,100 license renewals and address changes for members in 2015. This is a free service to ARRL members.
Technician licensees still comprise a little less than one-half of the US Amateur Radio population. As of Decem-ber 31, some 47,850 Advanced and 10,800 Novice licensees remained in the FCC database. The FCC no long-er issues Advanced and Novice licenses, and their numbers continue to decline.
Once again, California far and away was home to the largest number of licensees among the 50 states, with 103,938 at the end of 2015, up from 102,735 at the end of 2014. North Dakota remained the state with the few-est number of Amateur Radio licensees, with 1510, up very slightly over the previous 12 months. Club station licenses in the US number 11,599, according to Speroni’s web pages. — Thanks to Joe Speroni, AH0A; FCC
The ARRL August UHF Contest for 2016 has been cancelled, while the ARRL VHF Contest Revitalization Committee considers alternatives.
The Contest Revitalization Committee fielded dozens of comments from members concerning possible changes to this annual UHF operating event, traditionally held on the first weekend of August each year. Many commenters expressed dissatisfaction with the timing of the contest, occurring as it does at the hottest time of the year, and that it was too close on the calendar to other VHF/UHF Events
In Committee (PSC) that the 2016 August UHF Contest be cancelled, and the PSC agreed. er VHF/UHF events.
The ARRL VHF Contest Revitalization Committee continues to study the possibility of redesigning or replacing the August UHF Contest with a similar event at another point in the calendar — possibly in the spring — for 2017.
ARRL 2016 August UHF Contest Cancelled
W 6 T O I
Q5 Page 6
Treasurer’s Report— Summary
Paul Ashley, KD6GUP; Lloyd Hendrickson, K6NQY, Bill Navarro, KE6RPY; Rick Norwood, KD6KHJ
Hodge, KJ6GHW, 18th
Bill Navarro, KE6RPY, 21st
Jack Jones, W3OB, 28th
Paul Ashley, KD6GUP, 10th
DOWNEY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
TREASURER'S REPORT
Feb-16
SUMMARY
CHECKING-CHASE $6,327.50
BALANCE AS OF Jan 31, 2016
INCOME $105.00
EXPENDITURES $36.79
Raffle (Month)
Raffle (Total Holdings) $0.00
Brunch (Month)
Brunch (Total Holdings) $0.00
CHECKING-CHASE
BALANCE AS OF Feb 28, 2016 $6,395.71
Downey “Ride & Stride” DARC has been asked by the Downey Parks and Recreation Department to assist them with the City’s Ride and Stride event on Sunday May 1st (yes Sunday). This event features a five mile route that will have bicycle riders, walkers, and other forms of human powered transportation, so be prepared for a crowd. The route is a non-linear one, with activities all over the event area. The event runs from 1000-1400 hours. Infor-mation can also be found at: http://www.downeyrideandstride.com/ Contact Rick Norwood, KD6KHJ
Page 7 Q5
KD6KHJ Photography
Q5 Page 8
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April 2016 DX By Mike Gauthier, K6ICS 3-14 -2016
April Propagation Outlook Spring is here. Longer daylight conditions are here. 160-60 meters- Increasing noise will limit DXing until next winter. 40-30 meters- When the noise is low, there will be good DX conditions. 20 meters- good conditions. 17meters- improving conditions. Maybe the best DX band this month. 15-10 meters- Longer daylight conditions will bring more and longer spot openings. Monitor the DX spotting services, such as DX Summit http://www.dxsummit.fi/DxSpots.aspx for current band conditions, what DX is currently on the air, and where to find them. April DX Extras ARRL NATIONAL PARKS ON THE AIR 2016 The ARRL National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) event runs during all of 2016 to mark the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. - For information on rules, answers to frequently asked questions, activator tips, NPOTA documents, answers to basic questions from NPS employees, the Leader Board, list of NPOTA units, merchandise, NPOTA on social media, and latest news, see http://www.arrl.org/NPOTA . Tom, N4TL, has assembled a PDF checklist of NPOTA codes to assist in operating event that is running all year." For further information, see http://www.rars.org/ARRL%202016%20%20NPOTA%20Codes.pdf THE GREAT NORTHERN WAY 2016 - Arctic expedition, R3CA/8/9/0. On February 29, from Novy Urengoy (Yamal), the Arctic expedition "The Great Northern Way" 2016 started. The historical and geographical forwarding project devoted to the 400
th anniversary of the Northern Sea
Route is carried out within the comprehensive research program "Riddles of the Russian Arctic". Participants of the expedition by 2 all-terrain vehicles will drive a route about 10,000 km long on the ice of the Siberian rivers, open spaces of the Arctic tundra, the pripayny and drifting ices of the Arctic seas of Russia, the Ob River, the Yenisei River, Norilsk, Taimyr Peninsula , the settlement of Khatanga, the mouth of the Lena River, Tiksi, Chokurdah, Cherskiy, Pevek, Cape Schmidt, and Welen (Anadyr - Magadan). Change of the route de-pending on local conditions is possible. It is possible to watch the course of the expedition on a track - http://www.ec-arctic.ru/forum/all/topic_1004/ . LES NOUVELLES DX More than 13,500 old QSLs are waiting for your visit. They may be viewed at: http://LesNouvellesDX.fr . Deposit pictures of your rare & interesting QSLs. For more information contact Jean Michel, F6AJA [email protected] . Groups of QSL cards include: -The ten most wanted DXCC (2004 to 2014) countries (500+ QSLs). -At least, one card, for each 60 deleted DXCC countries (1700+ QSLs). -Nearest the totality of current prefix, disappeared now (4700+ QSLs). -Album for stations from North Africa 1945-1962 (400+ QSL). -900+ QSL from the Antarctic bases. -270 QSL from the TAAF (Terres Australes and Antarctiques Françaises). -more than 100 cards from eparses islands as FR/B/E/G/J/T. -More than 450 cards from "F" Pacific islands (FK,FK/C,FO/A,FO/M,FO/C,FW). -The FG, FM, FP, FS, FY stations from 1945 to 1969. -Commemoratives stations for ITU and IARU with more than 500 QSLs. -More than 2100 QSL cards for the old timer with more than 150 countries before 1945. -Cards from the french department before 1945. -At least one QSL card for each US americain states before 1945. -QSL cards that doesn't count for DXCC. April DX BARBADOS, 8P1W. 8P1W will be the CQWW WPX CW callsign from Barbados May 28-29 for 8P6ET,
Q5 Page 9
Charles. He will be in the single op all band low power category. QSL to KU9C. CAMBODIA, XU7AKC. SP5APW, Jacek, will be on Koh Rong Samloem (island, IOTA AS-133), as XU7AKC April 7-12. Jacek will be on SSB, RTTY, and PSK. QSL to his home call, direct or via the bu-reau, plus OQRS. CURACAO, PJ2/PB0AEX. Ron, PJ2/PB0AEX, plans to be on the air from Curacao May 16-June 6. He will be on 20, 15 and 10 meter SSB. For confirmation it's eQSL and LoTW only. HEARD ISLAND, VK0EK. Heard Island will be active until April 11, 2016. You can follow the DXpedition at: http://www.heardisland.org/ . You can follow their ship, the Braveheart, at: https://share.delorme.com/vk0ek. The VK0EK website has photos and more interesting news. JAN MAYEN, JX9JKA. Svein LA9JKA, says he will be operating as JX9JKA, on 160, 80, 40, and 30meters. He will be there on a six-month assignment. Svein expects to be on the air sometime after April 10th. MAURITANIA, 5T2AI. Ahmad, 9K2AI is on the air as 5T2AI for the next two to three years. Activity is on the HF bands. QSL via NI5DX. MEXICO, 4A1DX. 4A1DX is celebrating the 11th anniversary of the forming of the "Grupo DXXE," which XE1KK, Ramon, says is "Mexico's top contest and DX club." 4A1DX will be operating until June 14, all bands and modes including satellites and EME. QSL direct or bureau via N7RO. The log will be put on LoTW after the operation is over. POLAND, HF6FIRAC. Dionizy, SP6IEQ is operating with a special call sign HF6FIRAC during 2016. QSL to home call. ST. KITTS AND NEVIS, V47JA. John, W5JON will be on the air as V47JA from Calypso Bay until April 12. Activity will be on 160 to 6 meters using SSB. QSL direct to home call. TURKEY, TC101SO. Special event call sign TC101SO will be on the air until December 31 to commemo-rate Corporal Seyit, born in 1889 in Havran, Balikesir. Activity will be on 20, 15 and 10 meters using SSB. QSL via TA3AER. DARC Member DXCC Count N6QQ - 350 Mixed, 336 SSB, 313 CW, 252 RTTY, 8-Band DXCC, 6-Band WAS,
5-Band WAZ, 3052 WPX. K6ICS – 327 Mixed, 302 Phone (AM & SSB), 166 Mixed on 40 Meters. KB6ATT - 305 Mixed, 60 CW. K6TV - 257 Mixed, 240 SSB, 126 QRP, 151 CW, 30 RTTY. W6TOI - 215 Mixed, 145 Phone, 104 CW, 100 RTTY. W3OB – 200+ Mixed WA6OUD - 170 Mixed, 133 Phone on 10 Meters. KJ6YQV - 164 Mixed, 159 Mixed on 10 Meters.
AE6XC – 108 Phone.
K6EH - 57 on 30 Meters CW.
I am interested in receiving DX reports for this column, one contact or many. e-mail: [email protected]
Page 10 Q5
KD6KHJ Photography KD6KHJ Photography
KD6KHJ Photography
KD6KHJ Photography
KD6KHJ Photography
Q5 Page 11
DARC Board Minutes, March 8, 2016 The DARC Board meeting was called to order at 1900 hours by President Dave Glenn, N6TEB, in the EOC of fire station #1 in Downey. Those present were: Dave Glenn, N6TEB, President; Frank Myllo, K6YPV, Treasurer; Rick Norwood, KD6KHJ, VP Service; Steve Hartranft, KI6SUF, VP Ways & Means; Kent Savage, K6WCI, VP Programs; Buck Kerns, AE6DT, Director 1 Year. John Powell, KF6EOJ, was assisting as acting Secretary. Acceptance of the previous Board minutes was deferred as they were not available since Bill Heather, KB6WKT, is out of town. Officers’ Reports President, Dave Glenn: nothing further to report 1
st VP, Ron Eveland: absent
VP Service, Rick Norwood: deferred to calendar VP Ways & Means, Steve Hartranft: the issue of having to pre-pay for club merchandise is still a problem VP Membership, James Nielsen: absent VP Programs, Kent Savage: nothing to report Treasurer, Frank Myllo: nothing to report Secretary, Bill Heather: absent Director, Paul Metzger: absent Director, Buck Kerns: nothing to report Topics March meeting debrief: those present felt the meeting went well. Rick did mention a lack of notice for the guest speaker information in the Q5. Dave mentioned that there was some confusion as to who the guest speaker would be. Compendium: A “compendium” of past Club board activities was presented by Dave. This compendium is a brief summary of past Board meetings and was very interesting. Dave suggested that someone look at the past Q5s to continue this process, and possibly put it on the Club’s website. No further action was taken at this time. Next Project: The next project will be a continuation of the Copper J-Pole builds, scheduled for the April meet-ing. Dave will do a write-up for the Q5. Planning Calendar ARC Walk: Still scheduled for Saturday March 12
th. Rick says all positions are now staffed
Street Faire: April 9th: Per Rick more volunteers are needed. Members need to be on hand by 0800
hours, but the Faire itself runs from 1100 to 1900 hours. It’s scheduled later this year than other years. Special Event Station: date is still pending DARC NPOA: date is still pending T-Hunt: scheduled for Saturday April 30
th from 0900 to 1100 hours
Continuity/Planning Calendar: only change of note is that the Club Luncheon is tentatively scheduled for Sun-day, November 6
th.
Budget: The tentative budget was presented by Rick and discussed at length. Frank pointed out that the line item for misc. expenses does not require a monetary entry as it is used as a catch-all. This will be discussed at a later date. The Printing line item was raised to $100. The Repeater line item was discussed and will be bro-ken down into telephone line charges versus repair/maintenance expenses. Expenses for Field Day were dis-cussed, particularly costs for food. The Field Day line item was increased. With a motion by Kent, seconded by Buck, the amended Budget was passed unanimously.
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Q5 Page 12
Additional calendar item from Kent: The November luncheon is tentatively set for Sunday the 6th. A motion to adjourn was made by Buck, seconded by Kent and passed. The meeting was adjourned at 1945 hours. Respectfully submitted, John Powell, KF6EOJ Substitute Secretary
DARC General Meeting Minutes, 3-3-16 The meeting was called to order at 1935 hours by President Dave Glenn, N6TEB, with about 22 members pre-sent. Dave then asked Frank Myllo, KC6YPV, to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Dave next asked us to introduce ourselves with a short response on what we had been doing since the last meeting. There were many interesting responses, most notably from a member who has been in our club on and off since 1959. Dave then discussed the J-Pole Project, to be continued in the April time period. Sign-up sheets were available for the ARC Walk on March 3
rd, the Street Faire on April 9
th, and our upcoming Special Events Station. The
Baker to Vegas run in two weeks was also mentioned. Our club presentation was from our own member Steve Sherman, AA6IO, on Software Defined Radios. Steve went over the basics of the units and their need for high-performance PCs. This time he only brought SDR re-ceivers, but he uses a SDR transceiver at home. One of the SDR receivers he demonstrated was a Perseus unit. Steve also discussed SDR software, such as SDRSharp, HDSDR and SDR-Radio. Some SDR radios use pro-prietary software, but many others use open source software. He also showed us the RTL 820 “TV Tuner” he uses to watch digital TV, as it has a 100 MHz to 2 GHz range. Lastly he mentioned that many SDR units aren’t really “plug and play” as they take some work to make use of them. After Steve’s presentation the meeting was officially adjourned at 2045 hours for refreshments. Respectfully submitted, John Powell, KF6EOJ Substitute Secretary
Our next club T Hunt will be Saturday April 30
th at 9am
These are simple local hunts to get anyone started in T-hunting. The first finder of the last hunt hides the next time around. In this case that is Tino KK6UVR will be hiding. We will start at 9am at the top of the parking structure by the Kirkorian Theatre. From there we will get a bearing and head in that direction. After you travel a short way you stop and get a new bearing, repeat until you find it. The rest of us will be close by. We will monitor the club repeater in case you get lost. So come out and play the adult version of hide and seek. Dave N6TEB
Where is that Fox hiding
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DARC Annual Membership
Single: $20 Associate: $10
Maximum for Family: $35
Make checks payable to “DARC”,
Send to: DARC Membership
PO Box 207
Downey, CA 90240
Ever want to be a writer?
Do you have an idea for an article for the Q5? Remember, this is OUR newsletter, about OUR hobby. Please submit articles to: John Pow-ell, KF6EOJ, [email protected]
DARC INFORMATION VE Exams
The Downey Amateur Radio Club provides VE examinations for all clas-ses of Amateur Radio
licenses on the third Saturday of each even-numbered month. Exams are held at the Downey Fire Department Head-quarters EOC (rear building), at 1222 Paramount Boulevard, beginning at 8:30 AM. The upcoming dates are:
April 16 Contact Steve or Ginny Grudzinski 951-674-4699 prior to the session. The ARRL/VEC test fee is $15.00 for all tests which goes to the ARRL to cover their expenses in providing the tests and handling the applications. After the test session please wait 10 days before contacting the ARRL at (860) 594-0300 or http://www.qrz.com/callsign for new license information. Please do not call the FCC directly.
Serving Downey and the Surrounding Communities
since 1951
Downey Amateur Radio Club PO Box 207 Downey, CA 90240
place mailing label here
place postage stamp here
Saturday Breakfast Location
7900 Florence Ave.
Downey, CA
0630 hrs
www.darcarc.wordpress.com
