March Club Meeting

The next regular club meeting will be held on Thursday, March 21, 2024, at 7:30 P.M. at the East County Sheriff’s Station.

Keith Elliott-W6KME

Topic – Turning Random Metal Objects into Antennas: In this entertaining presentation, Keith Elliott-W6KME reveals the secrets of how random metal objects can be turned into effective antennas with a basic understanding of how antennas work.

Special note: if you can’t attend the meeting in person you can still participate via ZOOM, details below.

Members gather as early as 7:00 p.m. to socialize.

The East County Sheriff Station is located at 2101 E. Olsen Road in Thousand Oaks.

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February Club Meeting

The next regular club meeting will be held on Thursday, February 15, at 7:30 P.M. at the East County Sheriff’s Station.

Topic – Testing Your Handheld: Ed Zimmerman-N6XEW demonstrates how you can use relatively inexpensive test equipment to evaluate the performance of your handheld. Ed will also discuss testing band pass filters. Members are encouraged to bring an HT to the meeting for testing.

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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January Club Meeting – Special Location

The next regular club meeting will be held on Thursday, January 18, 2024, at 7:30 P.M.

Due to remodeling at the East County Sheriff’s Station, the January club meeting will be held in the Oak Room at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza/City Hall. (Those of you who are ACS members know this room as the Thousand Oaks EOC.)

The Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza is located at:
2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91362

  • From the 101 freeway take the Hampshire off-ramp. 
  • Go north to Thousand Oaks Blvd.
  • Go 3/4 miles west on Thousand Oaks Blvd. to the Civic Arts Plaza on the left.
  • Go to the “theater area” on the 2nd level of the Civic Arts Plaza.
  • The EOC is in the Oak Room at the east end of the Reflecting Pool.
  • There are no events at the Fred Kavli Theater Thursday so parking should be available in the City Hall parking lot.
Alan Wolke-W2AEW

Topic – Using Test Equipment: Alan Wolke-W2AEW discusses the use of basic test equipment in your shack. He’ll focus on the practical use of VOM, DMM and analog/digital oscilloscopes.

Special note: if you can’t attend the meeting in person you can still participate via ZOOM, details below.

Members gather as early as 7:00 p.m. to socialize.

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URGENT NOTICE: New Location for November Meeting

Due to remodeling at the East County Sheriff’s Station, we had to move the location of the Thursday, November 16th club meeting. It will be held in the Oak Room at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza/City Hall. (Those of you who are ACS members know this room as the Thousand Oaks EOC.)

The Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza is located at:
2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91362

  • From the 101 freeway take the Hampshire off-ramp. 
  • Go north to Thousand Oaks Blvd.
  • Go 3/4 miles west on Thousand Oaks Blvd. to the Civic Arts Plaza on the left.
  • Go to the “theater area” on the 2nd level of the Civic Arts Plaza.
  • The EOC is in the Oak Room at the east end of the Reflecting Pool.
  • There are no events at the Fred Kavli Theater Thursday so parking should be available in the City Hall parking lot.

The next regular club meeting will be held on Thursday, November 16, 2023, at 7:30 P.M. at the Oak Room at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza/City Hall.

Topic – Gadgets For Your Shack, Radio Gifts for Yourself: The CEO of DX Engineering, Tim Duffy-K3LR, an active ham for over 50 years, will talk about new and upcoming products – everything you’ll need to complete your holiday shopping wish list!

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

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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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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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August Club Meeting

The next regular club meeting will be held on Thursday, August 17, 2023 at 7:30 P.M. at the East County Sheriff’s Station.

Topic: Chasing SOTAs. Most of us have heard about SOTA (Summits on the Air) activations where amateurs originate portable operations from mountain tops. Ron Topolinsk-K6CPR introduces us to radio fun you can have without all the hiking – chasing SOTAs!

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July Club Meeting

The next regular club meeting will be held on Thursday, July 20, 2023 at 7:30 P.M. at the East County Sheriff’s Station.

Topic: Go Kits Return – Last year’s hit program returns! The newest approaches to mobile operation – go-kits -will be set up and displayed and the advantages of each will be discussed.

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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June Club Meeting

The next regular club meeting will be held on Thursday, June 15, 2023 at 7:30 P.M. at the East County Sheriff’s Station.

Orv Beach-W6BI

Topic: Mesh Networks – Orv Beach-W6BI will discuss ham radio networking or “mesh” networking, one of the fastest growing activities in amateur radio. The Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN) Mesh Network Project is a very large, long-range WiFi-type network system for licensed amateur radio operators and can operate on amateur radio frequencies.

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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President’s Message

Hello CVARC members, families, and guests!

Ed Zimmermann-N6XEW

June is here and another very busy month is ahead for amateur radio in Ventura County. We had the Love Run this past Sunday. Coming up is the CVARC VE session on the 11th. And let’s not forget that Field Day preparations are well under way. Field Day setup starts on Friday June 23rd at noon. Field Day operating hours begin on Saturday June 24th at 11 A.M. and continue to Sunday June 25th at 11 A.M. After that, we break everything down, pack up, and clean up the field.

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