Wow, CVARC sure had a really fantastic Field Day this year! Once again we had what was possibly the largest group in the country – a “21 Alpha” – which means that 21 radio stations all went live together at 11 A.M. on Saturday morning. Be sure to watch this YouTube video of our team at start time to get a sense of the excitement.
This amazing accomplishment would not have been possible without the many volunteers in our club who worked so hard and put so much time into pulling it off – planning, setting up our little radio “village” in an empty field near Lake Sherwood, lending tables, chairs, and canopies, providing water and food, welcoming visitors…not to mention the dozens of radio operators who were busy making contacts and were training newer hams in the various modes on their first Field Day.
Can you feel the excitement? Field Day is almost here! On June 22nd and 23rd, CVARC will once again hold one of the largest, if not the largest, ARRL Field Day setups in the country, with 20 stations transmitting from our location near Lake Sherwood on Potrero Road (see below). Plans are well underway to make this another fun and successful event.
For new hams or the uninitiated, Field Day is an event held every year since 1933, during which hams set up amateur radio stations in public places all over North America and contact each other over a 24-hour period to earn points. It’s a way to demonstrate what we do, practice using our radios in remote locations, and have a great time with other hams and visitors. For CVARC’s event, we will set up the stations in large tents in a field at a lovely location with views of oak trees and rural surroundings. The public is welcome to visit, observe, and give radio a try. On Saturday we will take a break for an evening barbecue (be sure to buy your tickets in advance if you plan to join the meal), and some members will stay overnight making radio contacts until the event ends at 11am on Sunday morning. We encourage everyone to come by sometime Saturday or Sunday and see what it’s all about.
Besides Field Day, don’t miss our general meeting where Martin Hickey-AJ6CL will demonstrate how to make radio contacts using satellites, a skill we expect to use during Field Day. In addition, there is a special event being held on Tuesday the 18th at 10:00am by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors where all Ventura County Amateur Radio operators will be recognized with a proclamation honoring their service to the community. I plan to attend, and I encourage any hams who are available to come out to the Ventura County Government Center and share in this special honor.
73!
Daphne-KN6TXX
Field Day information:
Saturday, June 22nd, 11:00am (start time) to Sunday, June 23rd, 11:00am (end time)
Sherwood Development Company Field
377 W. Potrero Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91361
Many hands are needed to help set up and break down – contact Keith Elliott-W6KME at keith@w6kme.org if you would like to participate.
April was a very busy month for CVARC with a variety of fun events to be part of. The VE session on the 14th resulted in another successful batch of new hams and upgraded licenses. We had a fantastic guest speaker at our general meeting, Nadya Seal Faith, who gave us a unique and interesting presentation on how radio is used to track wildlife that our club members were talking about for days. The following Saturday we held our special club event, the “Rover Round Up,” which had hams traveling around town to different grid squares (map areas), contacting each other on simplex to earn points and culminating with a picnic meet-up. Finally, on the 27th we held an antenna-building session which was successful by all accounts.
Our club members enjoyed our last two general meetings very much. February featured Ed Zimmermann-N6XEW testing various handheld transceivers on a spectrum analyzer, with “oohs” and “ahhs” from the crowd as we watched the screen for spurious emissions. At our March meeting Keith Elliott-W6KME showed us how random metal items such as guitar strings and a white board shelf can become radio antennas under the right circumstances. I’m excitedly looking forward to the April 18th general meeting, where Nadya Seal Faith of the Santa Barbara Zoo will show us how radio “fox-hunting” has real life applications in animal conservation.
Other events to note for April are the Spring Fling-Rover Roundup contest and picnic on Saturday, April 20th, and the 2-meter J-pole portable antenna build on Saturday, April 27th at 9 A.M. at the East County Sheriff’s Station. See our Technical Director James Smith-KK6YAM to sign up for the build project and to get more information.
It looks like we may finally be getting some normal pleasant California spring weather after what has seemed like the longest winter ever. Enjoy the outdoors while you can and get in that POTA and SOTA fun wherever you may be.
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!
First, I’d like to thank you for electing me as the new President of CVARC. I had the pleasure of serving as Vice President in 2023 – the board is such a great group of people! As far as personnel changes, our former President Ed Zimmerman-N6XEW and I have switched roles, as he will serve as Vice President this year. We would like to welcome Huston Herman-KK6WT as our new Member at Large, who will be replacing Phil Bartlett-K6UJO. Thank you to Phil for serving on the board – you are appreciated, and I really enjoyed our conversations.
As much as I’ve gotten to know many of you already, I figured I should start out by introducing myself and give you some background information that will answer some common questions.
It’s December, and we’ve made it through the year, and what a year it has been for CVARC:
Welcomed 18 new members
Held a Winter Field Day event
Hosted two club building projects
Continued the Spring Fling Rover Round Up
Staged a very successful 2023 ARRL Field
Conducted our first club SOTA event,
Gathered for the annual club picnic
Held two Technician, two General and one Extra licensing class
We had some excellent speakers at our monthly meetings and to top it all off, we are expecting a record turnout for our upcoming CVARC 2023 Holiday Party.
October is in the books. 10 Meters was still on fire! Get on the air and make contacts. The CVARC Extra Class starts in November. Also starting up is an ZOOM self-paced General Class.
The CVARC Picnic was Sunday, October 22nd at Conejo Community Park in Thousand Oaks – and wow, what a great location! Beautiful surroundings, plenty of room to spread out and as usual Mike Felio–K6MJF did an excellent job grilling the hamburgers and hot dogs. As it was potluck, there were some wonderful homemade dishes presented and consumed. A great, and filling, time was had by all who attended. Thank you all for making this a success. And thanks to Martin Hickey–AJ6CL for scouting and reserving the location. I am sure we will be there again very soon.
September was a busy month. 10 Meters was on fire! The Route 66 special event, and the CVARC Technician Class started up. October promises to be just as action packed.
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!
