A summer CVARC picnic has been planned for all CVARC members, family, and friends beginning at 3 PM Sunday afternoon August 15th at the Conejo Community Park in central Thousand Oaks (know to some of us as the Dover and Hendrix Park). Like our Holiday Party in early December, the picnic is an opportunity for members, spouses, and friends to social and become better acquainted. The picnic will be a pot luck. Bring a main dish for you and your family plus a side dish or dessert to share with others. CVARC will bring a bag of charcoal for those who wish to barbeque.

For entertainment we plan to have a family style T-Hunt (transmitter hunt). No fancy T-Hunting equipment. The idea is for family members to use simple 2 meter handheld radios to search for and find a 2 meter transmitter hidden somewhere in the park. The event will be timed so that people do not all have to participate at the same time. Each T-Hunt team will check in with the judges prior to starting their hunt and report back when they have found the transmitter. The team finding the transmitter in the shortest amount of time will win a prize. While at Northrop Corporation, Hugh Bosma KF6HHS and his technical team developed very complex state of the art Drone aircraft. But their most stunning accomplishment was the development of Northrop Horse ShoesTM. Hugh will bring the game to the picnic and claims that it will be the most exciting game of horse shoes that you have ever played. If you have a favorite game suitable for a picnic, bring it along.

For those living in Newbury Park, the easiest way to get to the Conejo Community Park is to take Lynn Rd North from the 101 Freeway to Gainsborough Rd. Turn right on Gainsborough and follow it to Hendrix Ave. Turn right on Hendrix and follow it to the park (about 2 blocks South of Gainsborough). Those living near Los Robles Hospital and CLU will want to take Lynn Rd. South to Gainsborough. The other route to the park from the 101 Freeway is to take Moorpark Rd. North from the freeway to Gainsborough Rd. Turn left on Gainsborough and follow it to Hendrix Ave. Turn left on Hendrix and follow it to the park. Those coming South on the 23 Freeway from Moorpark and Simi, exit at the Janss Rd. exit. Take Janss Rd. to Moorpark Rd. and turn left on Moorpark to Gainsborough. Go South on Moorpark and turn right on Gainsborough. Follow Gainsborough to Hendrix Ave, left on Hendrix and go two blocks to the park. There are several parking areas at the park all of which are visible from the park entrance. We will set up the CVARC Comm. Van next to our picnic site. So look for the Comm. Van when you enter the park. We will also be monitoring the Bozo Repeater. So if you can’t find us, give a call on Bozo.

Hope to see you all there.

Neil Waybright, KG6QEL, has prepared an excellent talk on the origin, evolution, and current status of Ethernet local area networks to be presented at our August 12th CVARC General Meeting. This subject is particularly pertinent since all of us that interconnect personal computers at home and connect into the Internet via DSL and other high speed services are making use of Ethernet technology. Our CVARC club meeting will begin at 7:30 PM at the Elks Lodge on Conejo School Rd., with a social session prior to the meeting. Hope to see you there.

Alan Stine, KG6LVU, and I were having a discussion several weeks ago concerning the proper way to fuse the 12 VDC power cable between a battery and a mobile radio. We concluded that fuses should probably be placed as near to the battery as possible. The installation instructions for several brands of mobile radios confirmed that we were mostly correct. All of the manuals recommend that two fuses be placed on the battery side of the power cable connector, as close to the battery as possible, with a third fuse on the radio side of the power cable connector. The recommended approach is shown in the figure below. The two fuses next to the battery protect the battery from a short circuit. Hugh Bosma, KF6HHS, recommends that these fuses should be rated at twice the current that you expect to draw from the battery. A 50 watt mobile radio typically draws 10 to 15 amps of power, so 30 amp fuses are a good choice for protecting a car battery. 10 amp fuses will do a good job protecting a 5 to 7 ah battery if you are running a low power QRP radio. The fuse on the radio side of the power cable connector protects the radio. The size of this fuse will usually be specified by the radio manufacturer. Mobile radios typically use a 15 amp fuse.

CVARC hosts FCC License Examinations at 8:30 AM on the second Sunday of even numbered months at the Ventura East County Sheriff Station on Olsen Rd. (near the Reagan Library). CVARC conducts exams for all license classes . Exam candidates must bring a form of government issued photo I.D., the original AND a photocopy of any existing license or Certificate of Exam Element Completion, a Social Security (or government issued Taxpayer I.D.) number, and $12 ARRL VE Exam fee (cash is preferred). No advance reservation is necessary, walk-ins are welcome. Advance notice is needed for special circumstances, such as reading the exam to sight-impaired candidates. If you have any questions, contact CVARC VE Coordinator Jeff Reinhardt at 818-706-3853.

CW Net... Slow code.  If you want to brush up on you CW now is the chance.  Greg and Bruce are setting up a slow CW net on Wednesday evenings on 40 and 10 meters. The 40 meter net will meet from 7 to 7:30 PM on 7.123 KHz. The 10 meter net will run from 7:30 to 8 PM on 28.123 MHz. 40 meters was selected since most people operating HF have 40 meter antennas of one kind or another. Of course, transmit power and antenna orientation (vertical or horizontal) is not a problem for communicating in the Conejo Valley area. The 10 meter net permits operators with a Tech + license to participate since they are allowed to operate on the 10 meter HF band.

Gaining some proficiency in CW is well worth the effort. It's the one mode on every band where you can make contacts when nothing else works. Bruce likes to operate from his mobile and has worked other CW ops around the US as well as Europe, Asia and the Pacific. Unlike phone, a low power station can work rare DX through a pileup - it just takes a little patience. And code speed isn't as important as it once was. Many ops like to QRS (slow down) to practice their character element timing. You'll find people to be very courteous and friendly, and even a short conversation is both pleasurable and gives a sense of accomplishment.  

Please check in using the following conventions.  You can find the entire QN Signal list in any ARRL handbook or operating section of an ARRLmanual.

The net control station will send:

QNI? QNI? QNI? DE K7SDW K7SDW K7SDW K

  The check in station will send:

QNI de yourcallsign K

When more than one station has checked into the net, the net control station will send QNS with a list of call signs. In a formal CW net, QNT is used to ask to leave the net. QNX is used by net control to excuse one from the net. We will not be that formal. We will just use the QNI part. It would also be good for the net control station to first send QNZ... . to give everyone an opportunity to zero beat their radios on the net frequency.

We expect some overlapping in stations responding to the QNI call, just like on 2 meter phone nets. So eventually, if we have "regulars" checking in, then a quick roster call will be sent out by net control in rotation to allow check in to occur more quickly and minimize the amount of call overlaps. When you hear your call sign and a BK you should reply by sending a C to check into the net.

  The purpose of the net is to encourage slow CW ops to improve their sending and receiving capability and not to have a net just for checking in and out.

It will take a bit of time to get use to the procedures as every net has their own. It may also be a challenge to operate at a 7 wpm slow speed. Be patient, by sending at a slow rate you can help others to build up their code speed so that they too can enjoy the wonderful world of CW operation.

We hope to hear you on the net.

My son came up to me one evening after a hard day of work and said “Dad you need a vacation”! Well that sounded like a pretty good idea. But then he continued “I would like you to come with me to Boy Scout summer camp for a week on Catalina Island”. My wife and daughter, who were conveniently sitting next to me, were quick to respond, “that would be great you should go; you will have time to relax and not think about work”. I sensed a conspiracy. But, when your 15 year old son still wants to do something with you its pretty hard to say no, so I agreed to go.

I had 1 week to get ready. Ready for what? A ham radio DXpedition to Catalina Island of course. There was no way I was going on a week long vacation without being on the air. That is like going outside with no clothes on. So I ran down to the local Ham store and bought a 10-element 2meter/440 yagi antenna, antenna connectors, and cable for my Kenwood F6a radio.

Sunday, the day of our departure finally arrived and I was ready. Well ….. I thought that I was ready until I started watching all the gear for this 5 star Boy Scout camping trip being load on the boat. Doubt started to set in. You see, I was scheduled to run the Area 2 (Thousand Oaks) ARES/RACES Check-in Net on Tuesday night. I knew Jerry Goldman, KC6JSO Operations AEC for Area 2, would kill me if I didn’t keep my promise to run the net that night. I had figured that with my 10 element yagi pointed right at the Bozo Repeater, that it wouldn’t be any trouble at all running the net from Catalina Island. In fact it would be kind of a neat think to do. But standing on the dock, I began thinking to myself, do I have everything that I need? Lets see, I had a small shoulder bag which contained the Kenwood F6a, a triband radio covering 2 meters, 220 MHz, and 440 MHz. Also in the bag was an Icom 22a 2 meter handheld radio, 2 antenna connectors for each radio, 2ah gel cell, power connectors for each radio to hook up to the gel cell, and 25 yards of nylon rope. I also had a cell phone. Why a cell phone you ask? Well just in case my wife wanted to talk to me about on going work in the family business. I was also wearing a small backpack, which contained 30 feet of LMR400 coax, a 5 ah battery, more assorted connectors, wire, fuses, and a solar panel. In my left hand I had a tube 2 ½ inches in diameter and 46 inches long which contained a fishing pole and the 10 element yagi antenna. I finally convinced myself that I had everything that I would need. What about cloths, food, camping stove, fuel, lantern, flash light, batteries, sleeping bag, a tent? Well my son had to carry something!

On the boat trip over to Catalina, I was thinking to myself, I have 2 days to set up for net control. No problem. As I step off the boat, the Scoutmaster welcomed me as the Assistant Scoutmaster and handed me a 1 foot thick 3 ring binder with the comment “here are your duties for the week”. Clearly I had not read the fine print when signing up for this “vacation package”.

On Monday, squeezed in between my Assistant Scoutmaster duties, I loaded my radio equipment into a row boat and rowed 100 yards off the shore in Emerald Bay. I thought that would be a simple solution. I could work net control the following evening as a maritime mobile from Emerald Bay Catalina Island. It sounded impressive to me and the ocean should make an excellent ground plane for my signals. It worked. In fact, it worked very well. I had no problem at all hitting the Bozo Repeater, but I had to stand up in the boat. Have you ever tried standing up in a row boat holding a 10 element yagi in one hand and a mic in the other as the boat rolls back and forth in the ocean swells? To complete the picture, back on shore the Scoutmaster was reassessing his choice for an Assistant Scoutmaster as he began organizing a rescue team. Fortunately, I came to my senses and sat down before I and all my radio equipment ended up fully submerged. So much for the glory of operating as a maritime mobile.

I was beginning to get slightly desperate as time was running out. I ran around the island with my HT in an attempt to find that perfect operating spot. Instead, I discovered that the hills are just as steep on Catalina as on the mainland. Finally, perched on a small hilltop, I set up my portable station. I found a tree branch that made a perfect mast for my yagi antenna. The branch was vertical and 4 meters above the ground. Using nylon rope, I attached the yagi to the tree branch. Interestingly this hi gain 10dbi yagi antenna was so directional the movement of 5 degrees right or left made the difference between hitting the Bozo Repeater or missing it. I connected the LMR400 coax from the yagi and an external 2ah battery to my radio, only to discover that the paging systems from the mainland were all pointed at me rendering my F6a wideband receiver useless. So I switch to my Icom 2 meter only HT and it worked great, that is until the wind picked up and started blowing my yagi around like a wind mill. To solve that problem I held the antenna from the back with my left hand and held my HT mic in my right. It worked! I was into the Bozo Repeater, but there was no way for me to write, so with Tuesday night upon me, the best I could do was check into the Area 2 ARES/RACES net and let someone else take net control. So much for glory. I listen to the Area 8 net (Moorpark) and the Ventura County ARES/RACES main net. The signal report that I received from Area 2 was very good. Murphy won 1 or 2 battles but I won the war and my family was right, I had a great time!

73s Rory

We have added more pictures to the CVARC website. The pictures incluse those taken at the Field Strength Meter project last fall, the December Holiday Party, Field Day, and many more. To see the pictures to to the CVARC website at www.cvarc.org, and clock on the Pictures naviation link. Many thanks to all of you who sent in pictures. The pictures are a lot of fun to look at.

Ventura County Area 2 R.A.C.E.S. members are encouraged to check in every Tuesday night at 7:00 pm on the Area 2 Check-in Net. Specific ARES/RACES times and frequencies are as follows:

The Net Controller’s script for the Area 2 weekly RACES check-in net is on the CVARC website, in printable form. Every member is encouraged to periodically serve as net controller. RACES members should remember that their RACES card is issued for only two years. When your card is due to expire call Jackie at the Office of Emergency Services in Ventura for an appointment to renew your card. Call (805) 654-2551 or toll free from the east half of the county at (800) 660-5474. For packet, call coordinator Dan Dicke KE6NYT (805) 983-1401. To register for Red Cross Disaster Services Classes, call (805) 339-2234 ext 0 Ventura County ARES/RACES web site: http://home1.gte.net/res19999/

The Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL affiliated Special Service Club. Meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month, unless otherwise noted. Meeting location is at the Elks Lodge, 158 Conejo School Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA. Meetings start at 7:30 pm. with a pre-meeting social and technical assistance session, for those who are interested at 7:15 pm. Meetings are open to the public, and members are encouraged to bring their friends.