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October Club Meeting

The next regular club meeting will be held on Thursday, October 19, 2023, at 7:30 P.M. at the East County Sheriff’s Station.

Topic – What Makes a Repeater Tick – From the simple to the complex, Matt Lechliter-W6XC will explain how repeaters work and describe the hardware needed to keep them on the air. Matt looks after the hardware for the Rabbitt Network and other repeater groups.

Special note: if you can’t attend the meeting at the Sheriff’s station you can still participate via ZOOM, details below.

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Anacapa Island Dual Activation a Success

Bill Willcox-KF6JQO, Martin Hickey-AJ6CL, and Andy Ludlum-K6AGL

On September 17th, three CVARC members had a successful expedition to Anacapa Island to conduct a dual activation of the National Park with both Parks on the Air (POTA) and Islands on the Air (IOTA.)

Bill Willcox-KF6JQO, Martin Hickey-AJ6CL, and Andy Ludlum-K6AGL traveled by boat to the small volcanic island located about 11 miles off the coast of Port Hueneme, in Ventura County.

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CVARC Picnic Sunday October 22

The 2023 CVARC Picnic will be held on Sunday, October 22, 2023, from 11:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. at the Conejo Community Park, Picnic Area #1 in Thousand Oaks.  It’s behind Dover Hendrix Park.  The picnic area entrance is off of Gainsborough Road on Jeaunine Drive, just down from Tarantula Hill.  The parking lot is located here:  34.193320250646536, -118.8826924060862 

CVARC will provide burgers, hot dogs, and buns.  Our Social Chair Mike Felio will do the grilling.  We will bring everything else “pot-luck style.”  Bring your favorite picnic-style dish!

Follow this link to a spreadsheet to sign up for different picnic-style food items. Let’s keep track, so we aren’t overloaded with any one item and totally devoid of another.  Put your name and call sign in the row of the item you intend to bring.

See you at the park!

Martin Hickey-AJ6CL CVARC OPS

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President’s Message

Hello CVARC members, families, and guests!

August flew by, did it not?  We had a tropical storm, record heat, an earthquake, a VE session, an end fed half wave antenna build and a SOTA event. It was a busy and exciting month for sure. I can’t wait to see what September has in store. For one, September is National Preparedness Month. Also in August, we had our first recipient of the CVARC Newbie Net Challenge Coin. Congratulations to Huston Herman-KE6FGX!  You did an excellent job running the net!

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Results of the August 13th VE Session

CVARC held a VE session on August 13th. There were 11 candidates, and 10 new licenses or upgrades were earned: 1 Technician, 7 General, and 2 Extra. Among those who earned new licenses or upgrades at the session were:

Neil W. ThomsonExtraAK6CO
Terrie L. BiedermanGeneralKN6WEC
Gregory M. RamirezTechnicianKO6AZP
Douglas E. HewittExtraKN6YOY
Fernando HernandezGeneralKI6OKT
David M. NaughtonGeneralKJ7MMZ
Sarah C. RudolphGeneralKJ7MNA
Charles S. MaslinGeneralKD6AEJ
Kirk A. BellGeneralKN6ZNY
Mel J. ChandlerGeneralKO6BAN
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September Club Meeting

The next regular club meeting will be held on Thursday, September 21, 2023, at 7:30 P.M. at the East County Sheriff’s Station.

Ken Larson-KJ6RZ

Topic – The Early Days of Amateur Radio: Ken Larson- KJ6RZ talks about an exciting time in radio from Heinrich Hertz first experiments with radio waves in 1888 through Appleton’s discovery of the ionosphere in the late 1920s. This period includes Marconi’s first trans-Atlantic communications, spark gap “wireless “communications, the invention of the of the vacuum tube, and the discovery of skip distance.

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The Shrieks and Howls of “Bloopers”

A nearly 100-year-old inference problem was caused by radios using “positive feedback” which is found in oscillator circuits that are at the heart of today’s amateur radio equipment. This picture is of a radio direction-finding truck used by the British Post Office in 1927 to find illegal radio transmissions. At the time, the post office regulated radio communications in Britian. The truck was used to track down radio transmitters operated by unlicensed radio amateurs. It was also used in London to track down “bloopers” – regenerative radio receivers that produced interference.

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DX-Pedition to Anacapa Island

You have an opportunity to join fellow CVARC members on a DX-Pedition to Anacapa Island on Sunday, September 17th. Part of the fun will be a dual activation of the site with Parks on the Air (POTA) and Islands on the Air (IOTA.) We’ll be operating from the Visitors Center, about 1/2 mile from the boat landing near Arch Rock on the east end of the island.

To join the expedition, please read the following information closely. You must purchase a seat on the boat to the island to be part of the fun!

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Technician Level License Course Set for September

CVARC is offering a Technician Level amateur radio license course beginning in September. The FCC Technician license is the gateway to the world of ham radio, from the local VHF and UHF bands to worldwide on the “shortwave” bands. The course will be held on five Saturday mornings; September 2, 9, 23, 30, and October 7, from 8:00 A.M. to noon.

Zak Cohen-N6PK

The instructor will be Zak Cohen-N6PK. The location is the Community Room at the East County Sheriff Station, 2101 East Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks. A testing session will be held in the same location on October 15th. There is no fee for the course. We’ll be using the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual Fifth Edition, available here. Contact Keith Elliott at keith@w6kme.org to sign up for the course.