April Club Meeting

The next regular club meeting will be held on Thursday, April 18, at 7:30 P.M. at the East County Sheriff’s Station.

Topic: Radio Tracking in Animal Conservation: Nadya Seal Faith of the Santa Barbara Zoo will be joining us via Zoom to discuss how VHF radio telemetry is used in animal conservation. Nadya will share her experiences tracking animals such as California condors and island foxes.

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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A Backpack Portable 20-Meter Zepp Antenna

CVARC member Charlie Richards – KN6CX wrote an article on his portable 20-meter Zepp antenna for the March issue of QST Magazine. For space considerations, the QST editors trimmed some information from Charlie’s article including some background on the Zepp antenna and some of the theory on how it operates. Charlie sent along his full version of the article which we have added to the Technical Articles on this website. It’s a great read, here’s a quick link to Charlie’s article.

2024 CVARC Spring Fling-Rover Roundup

Save the date!  CVARC is planning a special amateur radio event for Saturday, April 20, 2024, with the goal of keeping alive the spirit of camaraderie and togetherness among hams in the Conejo Valley.  Let’s connect over the air and in person.  The idea is to have some fun.  Feel free to participate in whatever part of this event interests you.

Rover Roundup Contest: 10:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.

Picnic at Conejo Community Center: Noon to 3:00 P.M.

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Results of the February 11th VE Session

CVARC held a VE session on February 11, 2024. There were 8 candidates, and 8 new licenses or upgrades were earned: 3 Technician, 3 General, and 2 Extra. Among those who earned new licenses or upgrades at the session were:

Lance A. DesBailletsTechnicianKO6DMG
Diana J. DeCosteGeneralKN6ZXP
Philip R. BoehmeExtraAK6FL
David B. KingExtraKN6YPH
William S. BulkleyTechnicianKO6DMC
Praveen R. KumarGeneralKO6DME
Geoffrey J. RoblesGeneralKM6MIO
Nathan G. ByrdTechnicianKO6DLN
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Goal Surpassed in Repeater Building Fundraiser 

CVARC members responded to the call for help and raised $1,000 towards painting and upkeep at the Sulphur Mountain repeater site operated by the Pleasant Valley Amateur Radio Club.

With the fantastic response by CVARC members, we significantly exceeded our goal of raising $700 for the project. The building that houses the repeaters on Sulphur Mountain hadn’t been painted since it was installed there years ago and was in desperate need of a paint job.

Thank you for your help and generosity!

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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License Classes Set for March

CVARC has license classes coming up in March at the East County Sheriff’s Station at 2101 E. Olsen Road in Thousand Oaks. The classes are held in the Community Room (enter from the patio to the west of the main entrance). Don’t miss this chance for a new license or an upgrade to General class!

Technician Class License Course

We’ll be meeting from 8:00 A.M. to noon on five Saturdays, March 2, 9, 16, 23, and 30. You’ll need a copy of the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual, 5th Edition, available from ARRL or Amazon (be sure to order the correct edition.) We will cover all chapters in the book, plus every question from the FCC License question pool. There is an exam session on April 14th.

General Class License Course

In a new twist, our advanced classes will now be held in the Community Room on the same days as the Technician classes from 12:30 P.M. to 4:30 P.M. The March classes will be for the General license. We’ll be using the ARRL General Class License Manual 10th Edition, available from the ARRL or Amazon (again, be sure to order the correct edition!)

For questions or to register, contact Keith Elliott-W6KME at keith@w6kme.org.

President’s Message

Hello, CVARC Members and Visitors,

Daphne Vandervalk-KN6TXX

Wow, it’s already February! I hope you enjoyed our January club activities. Our January meeting about test equipment with Alan Wolke-W2AEW was very informative – everybody learned something new, and we heard some very positive feedback from meeting attendees on the air in the days following. We are fortunate to have had such a notable guest join us for a club meeting – Alan’s YouTube channel is a great teaching tool you should take a look at if you haven’t discovered it already. 

Winter Field Day was a success – we had a great turnout and lots of fun socializing, as usual. The day had its share of challenges, as it was so windy, we witnessed antennas, tables, and sandwiches taking flight across the grass, but everyone made the best of it – we’re hams! I was happy to be able to meet and talk with some of our new members and had some great discussions with many of you regarding ideas for the club. Thank you to Martin Hickey-AJ6CL for organizing another successful CVARC event!

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