Click below to see the photos from the 2024 Spring Fling Rover Roundup on April 20, 2024. Thanks to AJ6CL, KN6QQW, and W6EN for the great photos!
Continue reading “Spring Fling Rover Roundup Photos”May Club Meeting
The next regular club meeting will be held on Thursday, May 16, 2024, at 7:30 P.M. at the East County Sheriff’s Station.
Topic – Field Day: CVARC Field Day Chair Keith Elliott-W6KME outlines the plans for the club’s Field Day on June 22-23. CVARC members join more than 40,000 hams throughout North America in setting up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio’s science, skill and service to our communities and our nation.
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.
Continue reading “May Club Meeting”Get Ready for CVARC Field Day
Dave Arata KA9WMI, SK
It saddens us to announce that CVARC member Dave Arata-KA9WMI passed away on April 10th after a brief illness. Below is a tribute message from his friend and fellow ham, Casey Cryer-KJ6GSV:
In our unique hobby, everyone seems to find something special that they enjoy above the other aspects of ham radio. Some love the tech, some love the versatility, and others love the people. For me, Dave Arata was all about people. Dave and I met at Winter Field Day 2023, which was my first field day and introduction to the social side of ham radio. Dave and I instantly hit it off and it felt great to chat about radios without feeling like I was speaking Mandarin.
Dave comes from a family of hams. His dad, Russell Arata (KA3RRS), his brother, Joe (KZ4DN), and his son, Matthew (KB9IVG). Their love for ham radio shows the legacy Dave leaves behind.
Dave and I had a great time at the 2023 Visalia DX Convention. We explored all the latest ham radio gear and enjoyed the seminars together. Dave’s upbeat spirit and wealth of technical know-how made him a truly unique person. He was always ready to help tackle any radio question I had. Folks like Dave leave a lasting impact on those around them and his presence will be truly missed by everyone at CVARC.
The memorial service for David will be held on Monday, April 29th at 10:00 AM at Holy Cross Catholic Church, located at 13955 Peach Hill Rd in Moorpark. All are welcome to attend.
73,
Casey-KJ6GSV
CVARC Club Project – 2M Slim Jim Antenna
When and Where: 9:15 A.M. April 27, 2024 at the East Valley Sheriff Station
Cost: $25.00 Please pay in advance so materials can be ordered. Payments can be made to CVARC at the next meeting on April 18th.
Contact / Sign up: James E. Smith-KK6YAM
805-294-3009 Text/Phone if needed.
The 2M Slim Jim Antenna will be constructed with the group, all materials provided. A discussion on the theory will be made and can be seen at the website listed below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-pole_antenna
The design is based on this with a 1inch PVC pipe for stationary self-supporting or can be coiled up for portable use. Will also work on 70cm band but not as efficiently as the 2M band.
By using the larger 450 Ohm ladder line vs the 300-ohm ladder line, this antenna is larger but much easier to construct. The design can be made smaller by using RG-174 coax and 300-ohm ladder line or twin lead, but I found that soldering the coax to the twin lead difficult since multiple locations may be needed to be tried/re-soldered for best tuning.
CVARC Technician and Extra Classes Start May 4th
We have class sessions approaching fast… starting Saturday May 4th, continuing on May 11th, 18th, 25th and June 1st. We’ll have a Technician License class from 8:00 A.M. to noon, and an Amateur Extra license class from 12:30 P.M. to 4:30 P.M. All classes are in the Community Room of the East County Sheriff Station, 2101 E. Olsen Road in Thousand Oaks.
The Technician class will be using the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual, 5th Edition:
https://home.arrl.org/action/Store/Product-Details/productId/2003373064
The Extra class will use the ARRL Extra Class Manual, 12th edition:
https://home.arrl.org/action/Store/Product-Details/productId/120286
(Note that this will be the last time with this edition; a new one comes out in July. If you already own the 12th edition, this is the last chance.)
Email Keith Elliott-W6KME at keith@w6kme.org to get your name on the list.
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.
Continue reading “April Club Meeting”KK6WT’s Waterman Mountain SOTA Activation
Huston Herman-KK6WT conducted a successful SOTA activation March 21st on Waterman Mountain (W6/CT-012.) Waterman Mountain, at 8,041 feet, is a prominent peak in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County within the Angeles National Forest and San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.
Continue reading “KK6WT’s Waterman Mountain SOTA Activation”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.