Updated 07/24/10 09:32:02


CVARC monthly club general meetings start at 7:30 P.M. the third Thursday of each month and are held at:

East County Sheriff's Station (ECSS)
2101 East Olsen Road
Thousand Oaks, CA 91360

See the CVARC calendar at the bottom of the page for a complete list of dates.

To contact the members of the Board of Directors, use this list:

CVARC Board


Amgen IRLP Node

Todd Kleopfer, KD6RCM

There is a feature on a Ventura County repeater that allows you to talk all around the world with only a technician license! An IRLP node has been connected to the Amgen W6AMG repeater at 449.440- pl 131.8.
Node: 3785

The IRLP, or Internet Radio Linking Project, uses Voice-over-IP software and hardware to connect to any other amateur radio repeater that has the same set-up. It is a worldwide network of dedicated servers and nodes offering worldwide stable voice communications to hundreds of towns and cities.

One of the reasons we chose IRLP rather than Echolink is that you actually have to use a radio to connect to the node.

The node also helps us connect to our other sites, using a reflector, through quarterly 'On-Air nets'. Amgen Amateur Radio Club members in Colorado, Washington and Fremont, Ca. have participated.

To use IRLP on the Amgen repeater or any other repeater that has IRLP, you need to know the node number of another repeater. Either your friend can tell you the number or you can look it up on this list:

http://status.irlp.net/index.php?PSTART=3

Clicking on the Node ID link on the left side of the page will give you more information on the node and any special instructions. There are two connection modes for an IRLP connection: Direct one-to-one, or one-to-many via a reflector.

It is real easy to use IRLP. There are only two basic commands to remember: To connect to a node or a reflector, dial the 4-digit node number. (I.E. 9990 for the Echo Reflector) To disconnect from a node, dial 73.

On this repeater, you will need to wait for the node to unkey before issuing a command.

As a courteous operator, you will want to announce your call first, and ask if the node is in use. If the node is currently connected, you may want to ask if it.s okay to disconnect. If it.s not connected anywhere, announce that you.re connecting or controlling, then dial up the node you want to connect to. If the node is already connected somewhere, you.ll hear a friendly, automated voice that will say .You are currently connected to node number XXXX.. If nobody objects, just disconnect with a 73, and connect to the node you want to use.

IRLP guidelines can be found at http://www.irlp.net/guidelines.html. Everything you always wanted to know about IRLP can be found at http://www.irlp.net/.

Talking on IRLP

Before you communicate using IRLP please familiarize yourself with how using IRLP differs from using conventional repeaters. The most important guideline to remember is to leave a 2 second pause after pressing the PTT button as well as between transmissions. Just as with any linking system, the IRLP is subject to some audio delays. These delays are caused by the amount of time digital information can take to be compressed and travel across the internet between the nodes and PL decoder boards on all of the participating repeaters. So the first thing to remember is to slow down and be patient. When in a conversation, remember to leave a second of dead air before speaking. Due to the timing issues with the system some nodes may require a longer period. By leaving a pause between transmissions you

Here is a quick summary of DO'S and DON'TS:

Use of the node is available to all amateurs that can access the repeater. If you have a licensed friend in another state or country that has an IRLP node on their repeater give it a try. There are over 1000 nodes out there.

Todd Kleopfer /KD6RCM
Amgen Amateur Radio Club


Pasadena Radio Club CW Net

Kate Hutton, KD6HTN

The Pasadena (CA) Radio Club W6KA is starting up a CW practice net, which seems to have generated quite a bit of interest. We are on 28.13 MHz, where even the Techs can participate if they choose to. The time is 8 pm on Sunday evening. We have a script (which we mostly borrowed from the Associated Radio Amateurs of Long Beach) that we are going to follow very closely, to help the check-in process. Once that is accomplished, everyone will get their turn on a small soapbox, if they choose. There will be some kind of club announcement at the end.

Our nominal speed is 10 WPM, but we are glad to slow down if need be to include all interested stations. Neither of the organizers (Kate KD6HTN and Mary AG6MB) is an old hand at the code. It was just a little bit over 1 yr ago that I wrote "Loaded the Morse program onto the PC and it works fine" in my journal, followed a few days later by "I'm certainly glad I'm being trained in the code by a computer [and not a live person], because it's training an idiot". Now I take my turn as Net Control.


Operation Golden Gaurdian/The Great Southern California Shakeout

Neil Waybright, AF6CD

The organization chart in the article Ken wrote for the October issue of the newsletter came out so small that it was difficult to read. That was due to the two column format of the newsletter. Here the article is in a single column format where the chart is easier to make out.

The article is here as a PDF so it is easier to read.


Results of the June 13, 2010 CVARC VE Session

Jeff Reinhardt AA6JR, CVARC VE Session Coordinator

The CVARC VE session of June 13th served 31 candidates, the highest number in a single session over the last several years. It reminded some of the VE 'veterans' of the early 1990's following the creation of the no-code license. Our candidates and the VE team all pitched in to make the session run well. Among those who passed elements were:

Name Callsign New License Class
John C.Rager AF6XS Extra
Christopher Stead KJ6JDT Technician
Allan Michaels KJ6JDU Technician
Thomas A. Palmer KJ6JDV Technician
Damon E. Farnham KJ6HCZ General
Omid Moradshahi KJ6JDW Technician
Alan G. Hutchison KJ6JDX General
Larry E. Wilkin KJ6JDY Technician
Nanette M. Hutchison KJ6JDZ Technician
Matthew L. Burnett KJ6JEA Technician
Ryan M. Campbell KJ6JEB Technician
Ray J. Campbell KI6LKD General
Edmund A. Stoll KJ6JEC Technician
Julian T. Wheeler K6POI Extra
Barry J. Stephens AF6XT Extra
Richard L. Hutchison KR6LH Extra
Bernard Schwartz KJ6JED Technician
Arlene S. Bivins KJ6JEE Technician
Norman L. Olsen KJ6JEF Technician
Mark L. Bivins KJ6JEG Technician
William P. Munday KJ6JEH Technician
Francis V. Salata III KJ6JEI Technician
Diane W. Wainwood KJ6JEJ Technician
David C. Cravens KI6JHO General
James D. Whitaker KJ6JEK Technician
Edward M. Lyum KG6TPI Extra
Annelie S. Ginn KJ6JEL Technician
Rodrick C. Zierenberg KJ6JEM Technician
Miguel Olivera KJ6JEN Technician
Aviram Carmi KJ6JEO Technician

Special thanks go to our team of Volunteer Examiners who ran a very large session in a professional manner - Rob Hanson, W6RH; Charlie Geiger, AF6NJ; Ken Sandberg, KS3I; Hugh Bosma, AE6YC and Neil Waybright, AF6CD. VE sessions are one of the components that help qualify CVARC for special service club designation by the ARRL.

The next VE session is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Sunday, August 8 at the East Valley station.


Parking At East County Sheriff's Station

We have filled up the Visitor's Parking area at the East County Sheriff's Station (ECSS) during our last couple of CVARC General Meetings due to the excellent turnouts that we have had. If the Visitor's Parking area is filled when you arrive for a CVARC meeting, you can park in the Employee's Only parking area which is to the immediate right of the Visitor's Parking area as you drive into the sheriff's station. There may be people coming to the sheriff's station during our club meeting looking for police department assistance. For that reason we should not park in the Visitor's Parking area "15 Minute Only" parking spaces.

Ken Larson


Technician License Classes for 2010

Class Instructor: Todd Kleopfer, KD6RCM

The Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club, (CVARC ) sponsors amateur radio license classes throughout the year. The Technician Class license, which is the entry level license for amateur radio is presented this a year and each class lasts for eight weeks. Classes are held on Friday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. and are free. The only cost related to this class is the refundable deposit for the Ham Radio License Manual which is $25.00. Students who wish to purchase this manual through the CVARC class may do so at the time of class registration. This book is a course manual presented by the Amateur Radio Relay League. The new manual covers the new FCC test requirements for all Technician exams.

This year's class will be taught at the East County Sheriff.s Station, Community Room (First room off to the right of the entrance to the station.

Classes are open to all ages, and CVARC is proud to report that our graduates include 7 year old children and 84 year old adults. There are no age limits imposed by the FCC on the Amateur Radio license, and both men and women participate in the magic of radio.

Whether you are interested in radio communications with other amateur operators around the world, or just want to have your radio license for emergency preparedness, the Technician Class license is your entry to amateur radio. If you are interested, or want to know more about amateur radio, call Todd Kleopfer 805-844-8708 for information regarding the next class.

Start Date End Date Date of FCC Exam following class
April 2, 2010 May 21, 2010 June 13, 2010
September 29, 2010 November 17, 2010 December 12, 2010


Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club
2010 FCC Exam Schedule

By Jeff Reinhardt, AA6JR

The Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club (CVARC) has scheduled examinations for FCC Amateur Radio (Ham Radio) licenses six times during 2010.

Exams are conducted by accredited Volunteer Examiners and sessions are sponsored by CVARC. Exams are conducted for all FCC Amateur Radio license classes under the supervision of the ARRL VEC. No pre-registration is necessary, walk-ins are welcome. The Exams listed below will be conducted at the Ventura County Sheriff's East County Station at 2101 E. Olsen Road between Hwy 23 and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library at 8:30 a.m.

Candidates need to bring:

  1. A form of government-issued photo I.D. (eg: Driver's License, Passport or School District ID).
  2. Social Security Number or Taxpayer ID or FRN.
  3. The original and a photocopy of any existing FCC license or CSCE notice of passing an exam element.
  4. $15 Exam fee (exact change preferred).
  5. Pens, pencils, calculator. Calculator memory must be cleared prior to exam

2010 Exam Schedule:

Should there be questions not addressed above, please contact Jeff Reinhardt AA6JR at aa6jr@sbcglobal.net or phone 818-706-3853.


CVARC Web Site Performance

The club has been successful in acheiving a reliable and high performance web site for the benefit of our members. Looking at the web site's performance over time shows that we have made dramatic improvements in the site's response time and availability. I'd like to thank each one of you that helped me in these efforts and let me know about outages as early as possible so that I could work on them promptly. Your efforts have made a difference.

last ten days of web performance last 400 days of web performance

Graph of web site access latency - lower is better

Thanks,
Neil Waybright, webmaster


Event Calendar 2010

Date Event Comments
January 21 CVARC Club Meeting Visitors welcome. Begins at 7:30pm at East County Sheriff Station
January 30 TRW Swap Meet Mention at the club meeting if you are interested in car pooling
February 14 FCC License Exam Begins at 8:30AM at East County Sheriff Station
February 18 CVARC Club Meeting Visitors welcome. Begins at 7:30pm at East County Sheriff Station
February 27 TRW Swap Meet Mention at the club meeting if you are interested in car pooling
March 7 CROP Walk Annual CVARC/ARES support T.O. CROP Walk (afternoon)
March 5 - 7 Coyote 2 Moons (C2M) 3 day Cross Country Race in Ojai and Santa Monica Mts.
March 18 CVARC Club Meeting Begins at 7:30pm at East County Sheriff Station
March 27 TRW Swap Meet Mention at the club meeting if you are interested in car pooling
April 11 Westlake Village Street Fair CVARC radio support for Westlake Rotary (morning)
April 11 FCC License Exam Begins at 8:30AM at East County Sheriff Station
April 11 Amgen Tour of California 3500 Cyclists Ride through the Thousand Oaks Area
April 15 CVARC Club Meeting Visitors welcome. Begins at 7:30pm at East County Sheriff Station
April ? Arbor Day CVARC/ARES radio demo at N. Conejo Creek Park
April 24 TRW Swap Meet Mention at the club meeting if you are interested in car pooling
May 8 Cruisin Conejo Bike Ride Major yearly CVARC field activity
May 8 Sea-to-Summit Bike Ride Ocean to mountain peak
May 14 - 16 Dayton Hamvention Dayton Ham Convention. See http://www.hamvention.org site for details
May 20 CVARC Club Meeting Visitors welcome. Begins at 7:30pm at East County Sheriff Station
May 29 TRW Swap Meet Mention at the club meeting if you are interested in car pooling
June 13 FCC License Exam Begins at 8:30 am at East County Sheriff's Station
June 17 CVARC Club Meeting Visitors welcome. Begins at 7:30pm at East County Sheriff Station
June 26 - 27 Field Day CVARC annual field day event, you don't want to miss it!
June 26 TRW Swap Meet Mention at the club meeting if you are interested in car pooling
July 3 Moorpark Fireworks Support for Moorpark's 3rd of July Fireworks
July 15 CVARC Club Meeting Visitors welcome. Begins at 7:30pm at East County Sheriff Station
July 24 TRW Swap Meet Mention at the club meeting if you are interested in car pooling
August 8 FCC License Exam Begins at 8:30 am at East County Sheriff's Station
August ? SB Section Hamfest Santa Barbara
August 19 CVARC Club Meeting Visitors welcome. Begins at 7:30pm at East County Sheriff Station
August 21 CVARC Summer Picnic Family and visitors welcome. See web site for details
August 28 TRW Swap Meet Mention at the club meeting if you are interested in car pooling
September 16 CVARC Club Meeting Visitors welcome. Begins at 7:30pm at East County Sheriff Station
September 25 TRW Swap Meet Mention at the club meeting if you are interested in car pooling
No official date yet ARRL SW Division Convention Inland Impire?
October 10 FCC License Exam Begins at 8:30 am at East County Sheriff's Station
October 21 CVARC Club Meeting Visitors welcome. Begins at 7:30pm at East County Sheriff Station
October ? - ? Boy Scouts Jamboree on the Air (JOTA) http://home.tiscali.nl/worldscout/
October 30 TRW Swap Meet Mention at the club meeting if you are interested in car pooling
Nov ? Malibu Endurance Ride Early morning horse ride event
November 18 CVARC Club Meeting Visitors welcome. Begins at 7:30pm at East County Sheriff Station
November 27 TRW Swap Meet Mention at the club meeting if you are interested in car pooling
December 4 CVARC Holiday Party CVARC party at the Cameron Center
December 12 FCC License Exam Begins at 8:30 am at East County Sheriff's Station
December ?? TRW Swap Meet Mention at the Christmas party if you are interested in car pooling


Correpondence should be directed to

CVARC
P.O.Box 2093
Thousand Oaks, CA 91358-2093

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