Always a big event with good food, good prizes and the only yearly club event featuring a "Happy Hour". This year's party was held at Mimi's on 17th St. in Tustin. After happy hour, we all sat down for a good Mimi's dinner followed by entertainment by our own President, Tim - N6GP followed by Chip - K7JA who told a ham related story that kept everyone on the edge of their seat. The new board was introduced and the Good of the Club award was presented to Ron Mudry who is sporting his new call W6WG. Finally the drawings were held. After numerous smaller prizes were won by participants, the big drawing, an ICOM IC-7300, was won by Joel - KM6EMP. Congratulations to all the winners.
Map:
Doug Millar, K6JEY, will speak on “Test Equipment & Measurements for Amateur Radio”. Doug will bring an accurate voltage source. He asks that members bring a personal meter to the meeting and he volunteers to calibrate member’s voltmeters at the meeting.
For meeting time, location and map Click here.
Club elections were held at the November meeting to select the 2018 Board of Directors. Here are the results:
President: N6GP Tim Goeppinger Vice Pres: KI6X Dan Violette Secretary: AF6N Jim Schultz Treasurer: W6HHC Ken Konechy Activities: W6WG Ron Mudry Membership: AF6C Bob Eckweiler Publicity: N6TMT Tim Millard Technical: KR6J Kenan Riley Dir at Lrg: WØMEC Clem Brzoznowski Dir at Lrg: KE6YHX Corey Miller
This was the annual OCARC auction night with Chip Margelli, K7JA returning as auctioneer. Members emptied garages and offered those treasured boat anchors for sale. Even valuable working equipment was welcomed for sale.
The OCARC Radio Picnic was held at the Jeffrey Open Space Preserve in Irvine. Participants brought their own food and drinks. Besides the fun of the picnic, the club operated, using our 1 KW Bioenno Power LiFePO4 battery, in the 2017 California QSO Party. View Flyer.
Michael Rickey, AF6FB sp0ek on both the PAPA repeater system, D-Star and DMR equipment and technology. Michael is very active on the PAPA repeaters using DMR, D-Star, as well as analog modes. He also hosts an amateur radio blog at http://www.af6fb.net
Ham Radio Mesh networking is a rapidly developing interest. Don Hill, KE6BXT and Joe Ayers, AE6XE have reported in the past on Orange County Mesh networking. They brought us up to date on the latest activity and growth of the broadband ham network here in Orange County.
Wayne Spring, W6IRD is widely known for his restoration of Collins Radio equipment. He presented information on how to restore our own collection of “Boat Anchor” radios and encouraged us to so.
For meeting time, location and map Click here.
The OCARC will once again participate in the annual ARRL Field Day. Details appear on our Field Day webpage
June marks the annual ARRL Field day event. Field Day is OCARC’s major participation activity. Chip Margelli, K7JA presented valuable set up/operating tips while sparking interest in the fun event.
OCARC member, NI6E, Peter Putnam, has been an active VHF rover and contester. He has used trailer mounted towers and has converted vans for portable use. Recently he converted a television news van to amateur radio use. Peter demonstrated his interesting conversion and discussed future plans for it..
Paul Gacek, W6PNG spoke on “Summits on the Air (SOTA)”. Paul is the current W6 Association Manager for SOTA. During 2016, in addition to his very active travels overseas, he visited and activated 30 National Park entities. Paul is an accomplished photographer as well as mountain topper.
Again this year a group of members of the OCARC supported the City of Orange Police with their radio communications prowess in this annual law-enforcement race. This is a foot relay race 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 into Las Vegas.
This year the Orange Police Department finished 40th overall out of 274 teams, and second in their division of 150 or less sworn officers. Their time for the 120 miles was 15 hours 46 minutes and 29 seconds. They started at 3:00 PM Saturday and finished at 6:46:29 on Sunday morning. They achieved their goal of finishing in under 16 hours.
Club Members Participating were: Kris Cutting W6KJC Bob Eckweiler AF6C Nicholas Haban AF6CF Ken Konechy W6HHC Jeff Mikoleit KK6YUP Robbie Robinson KB6CJZ
During December 2015, Art Goddard, W6XD/ZD8G met with W6NV and N6AA on Ascension Island. They operated ZD8W as a three man team in the CQWW – CW contest completing 10,605 QSO’s. Art will present highlights of his trip and the contest operation.
For meeting time, location and map Click here.
Another meeting another storm; this one supposedly a record-breaker. Still 28 members and visitors braved the wet and windy weather to make the meeting to hear a worthy double presentation.
First, Greg Campbell - W6IT presented a show on the multi-band UHF/Microwave station he is just finishing. Most of the equipment mounts in a box on the tower, Two 8-wire cables and two coax cables come down to the shack where a simple switch box and transceiver allow fast switching between numerous UHF and microwave bands.
Then, Wayne Overbeck - N6NB talked about tropo-ducting and the distance records he and Greg broke in 2015 (2304 and 3456 MHz)and 2016 (902 MHz). These were between Wayne on Mauna Loa Hawaii and Greg in Southern California.
Checkout Wayne's website at http://n6nb.com/uwavercrds.htm
The Palm Springs HamFest was being held this year at the Palm Springs Air Museum to the joy of a group of club members. Entrance to the Hamfest included access to the museum..
Thirty-four members and visitors braved the second of three storms, that hit over a six day period, to hear Brenda Emrick - KI6EXL present an interesting and dynamic talk on Emergency Preparedness. Brenda is CERT Program Manager of the Costa Mesa Fire Dept. Flood, earthquake, fire and other events Mother Nature can, and someday will, throw at us means we need to be prepared. During her talk, she warned us - and I paraphrase: "If you don't start planning in the next 24 hours, you most likely won't!" Brenda talked about preparedness and how we can put together sensible emergency
Some members of the club ventured to Quartzsite for this ARRL Specialty Convention.
Except as noted, club Breakfasts and Board Meetings were held at Maria Callender's, 1821 N. Grand Ave. in Santa Ana on Saturday on:
* Held at the Jeffrey Open Space Preserve prior to the Club Radio Picnic & California QSO party event.
| INDEX - EVENTS BY YEAR | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| This Year Upcoming | This Year Past | ||
| PAST YEARS | |||
| 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 |
| 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 |
| 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 |
| 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 |
| 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 |
