This was the fifth QSO Today Virtual on-line Expo. The first was held in August of 2020 in response to the COVID lockdown. Many joined the Expo on their computer and listened to the keynote speech; then they toured virtual vendor booths with real offers and discounts, and listened to presentations from numerous "professional" hams.
For more information go to https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com
Our September guest speaker was Dr. Ed Fong - WB6IQN. He presented to the club a program on the design and fabrication of the J-Pole Antenna. The presentation was from Sunnyvale, CA via Zoom©.
August's guest speaker was Chris Claborne, N1CLC. Chris is very active putting California's mountain summits on the air. He presented an overview of the Summits On The Air program, and went into what it takes to do a summit activation, and explained how to chase them as well. Chris made the presentation over Zoom© from San Diego.
Numerous SoCal summits were on the air over the weekend as part of the SoCal SOTAFest. For more information about the SoCal SOTAFest, please visit the event page! The SoCal SOTAFest event has three main goals (besides having lots of fun):
Our guest speaker was Nicholas Haban AF6CF, club president. Nicholas talked on two of his battery boxes that he built to provide power in field operations and for emergency power.
The first battery box he showed is based on a 12V 12 AH Bioenno Lithium Iron Phosphate battery (LiFePO4).
The second battery box is a larger unit based on a 40 AH Bioenno LiFePO4 battery. Both units feature 12 V out for radio(s) as well as USB ports for charging phones and other USB devices. The larger unit also has a built in 10 Ampere charger as well as a 300 watt sinewave inverter that produces 120 VAC. Details for the larger unit are available in the June 2022 Issue of RF.
This was a hybrid meeting at the Red Cross as well as on Zoom© - our second in-person meeting since February of 2020 (Page 16).
The OCARC once again participated in the annual ARRL Field Day. Despite some poor propagation, we had what we feel is a successful event. Details are on our Field Day webpage
Rules are available on the ARRL website.
Our speaker was member Chip Margelli. He presented the Do's and Do Not's of preparing for Field Day. Always a fact laden yet humorous presentation from one of the big contesters of ham radio.
Our guest speaker was Clint Bradford, K6LCS. Be sure to visit his informative website (click on his card to the upper right.)
You do not need 100W of transmit power nor expensive antenna arrays to work the FM voice amateur satellites! Many hams already have the necessary equipment to "work the birds." This presentation walked us through ALL the steps needed to successfully work several ham satellites - includng the International Space Station.
At the April Meeting we had two programs presented:
Chip Margelli - K7JA presented a talk and slideshow on the operation NH7T at KH6YY from Oahu, Hawaii. Chip was part of the multi-operator operation competing in the CQ Magazine WPX (Prefix oriented contact scoring) contest. The operation resulted in 6,824 contact across the six non-WARC HF bands.
Tim Goeppinger - N6GP presented a talk and slideshow on the support the club provided in the Baker-to-Vegas law enforcement relay race. OCARC members operated the Pahrump communications station and supplied Rover support from Pahrump.
For the first time since 2019 The Baker-to Vegas race was run. This year a group of members of the OCARC supported the City of Orange Police with their radio communications prowess in the annual law-enforcement race. This is a relay footrace covering 120 miles in 20 legs. The race begins outside Baker, CA and goes along Rte 127 to Shoshone, CA; on Rte 178 to the Nevada border; through Pahrump NV and along Rte 160 into Las Vegas.
In 2022 the Orange Police Department finished 44th overall out of 216 teams, and third in their division of 150 or less sworn officers. Their time for the 120 miles was 16 hours 52 minutes and 25 seconds. this was 1:29:16 slower than their 2019 time. Generally times were slower due to conditions and the two year pause in the event.
Brenda Emrick - KI6EXL was our featured speaker at the March meeting. She talked on Emergency Financial First Aid and Planning for Personal Disaster Recovery Brenda is a renowned speaker on Emergency Preparedness. She last spoke at our club in January of 2017, and we were glad to have her back.
This was the fourth QSO Today Virtual on-line Hamfest. The first was held in August of 2020 in response to the COVID lockdown. Many joined the Expo on their computer and listened to the keynote speech: 'The importance of Amateur Radio and technical hobbies to advance the world's technology and "mankind's biggest projects" ' by Courtney Duncan - N5BF
There were over sixty ham related talks, and one could visit the virtual booths of many ham radio related manufacturers. Tickets were $10 ($13.50 after the event started), Once registered, you could continue to view the presentations until April 10th online
For more information go to https://www.qsotodayhamexpo.com
The 2022 ARRL Southwestern Division Convention was held in conjunction with the Yuma, AZ Hamfest at the Yuma County Fairgrounds. 2520 E. 32nd Street, Yuma, AZ 85365
For information on the Yuma Hamfest click here.
Wayne Overbeck - N6NB discussed the FCC exposure rules and how to make your station comply with them.
If you want to investigate this subject more, The ARRL has more at:
RF Safety Material
This meeting was held over zoom©.
Once again the Auction has been postponed until its normal October date. However if an opportunity arises it may be held earlier.
The club has won this event three years running. We have once again obtained a reasonal score during a weekend with poor propagation. Numerousother bonus points apply.
Contest period was Saturday 1900 UTC to Sunday 1900 UTC
Bands: 160m, 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 10m, 6m, 2m plus UHF and VHF
(No WARC Bands).
Scoring: 1 point for each phone QSO and 2 points for CW & digital QSOs. Multipliers are one for each mode operated per band.
Modes: SSB, CW, and Digital. A single Satellite contact is worth 1500 bonus points. See the rules for additional Bonus Points.
If you need help with your log submittal or you are interested in more information or his power point summary contact Ron by email.
Our guest speaker was Wayne Yoshida, KH6WZ. No matter what your favorite band or mode is, no matter what license class you are and anything else, sooner or later something bad may happen to your station. Before sending the rig away for service, Wayne showed us what can be done to correct the problem and get back on the air. It's called No Tools Troubleshooting.
The January meeting was held via Zoom©.
We start the year still in the Covid 19 pandemic (No Donald, it wasn't over by Easter 2020). So our breakfast meetings continue to be canceled and our board meetings are being held online on the first Saturday of the month2:
Board meetings were held on:
1 Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, breakfast was not held; instead the board met via Zoom© at 8:15 AM.
2 Due to New Year falling on Saturday, the meeting was rescheduled for January 8th at 8:15 AM.
3 These board meetings were hybrid meetings over Zoom and in person at the QTH of W6ETC.
| INDEX - EVENTS BY YEAR | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| This Year's Upcoming Events | |||
| PAST YEARS EVENTS | |||
| 2021 | 2020 | ||
| 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
| 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
| 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 |
| 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 |
| 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 |
