An ARRL Special Service Club since 1970
Written by Bill Willcox-KF6JQO
The Monstrosity Solar Generator is an ongoing project to provide a semi-portable, high-capacity, 12 VDC power supply for amateur radio and limited power for household appliances.
I’ve coined the name because it consists of bits and pieces spliced together like Frankenstein’s monster.
Continue reading “The Monstrosity Solar Generator”The CVARC Holiday Party is coming up fast. It’s Thursday, December 19 at the Best Western Posada Royale, 1775 Madera Rd in Simi Valley, starting at 6:00. We’re able to accommodate a few more people, but you must act fast because we have to give the venue a final count within the next few days.
If you would like to attend the Holiday Party, please email me as soon as possible at ad6sf@cvarc.org The cost is $27.50 per person. You can send your payment to PO Box 2093, Thousand Oaks, CA 91358 or bring a check to the party.
The Holiday Party includes appetizers, a delicious buffet dinner, raffle prizes and, of course, we’ll be announcing the winner of the Hugh Bosma Legacy Award.
Continue reading “CVARC Holiday Party”
The 2020 CVARC Board of Directors was elected by members attending the November 21, 2019 general meeting. These board members will serve for one year terms beginning January 1, 2020.
Join CVARC members and their spouses at our annual Holiday Party, complete with a buffet dinner, awards and raffle prizes. The Holiday Party is on Thursday, December 19 starting at 6:00 at the Best Western Posada Royale, 1775 Madera Rd., Simi Valley. The cost is $27.50 per person. Sign up and pay at the November club meeting, or send your payment to CVARC, PO Box 2093, Thousand Oaks, CA 91358 by December 1.
Continue reading “CVARC Holiday Party – Sign Up & Pay Now”
Recently, Yahoo announced major changes with all Yahoo Groups including our group, CVARC Discussion. As of October 28th, new content could no longer be uploaded to the site. All previously posted content on the site will be permanently removed after December 14th.
Obviously, this did not meet our Club’s needs, so we began the process of moving to a new group service, groups.io. If you are an ACS member, you are already familiar with groups.io. Other clubs and organizations have made similar moves.
The good thing is you don’t have to do anything to be a part of the CVARC discussion group on groups.io. The migration has been completed. If you were a member of the Yahoo group, you should have received an email telling you that your email address has been used to subscribe to the new group. You can set your preferences for message delivery by going to the group’s home page.
Continue reading “CVARC Discussion Moving to Groups.io”
On Saturday, November 2, Andy Moorwood-K3CAQ and Bill Willcox-KF6JQO went on a mini DX-pedition to Mt. Pinos, the mountain in the Los Padres National Forest located on the boundary between Ventura and Kern counties.
The summit of Mt. Pinos is 8,847 feet, making it the highest point in Ventura County. To reach the summit, however, means a three mile hike. Understandably, Bill and Andy chose to operate from the Nordic Base, which is still an elevation of roughly 8,300 feet.
During their two hours on 20M they made a total of 9 contacts, including stations in Ohio, Wisconsin, Vermont, Tennessee, South Carolina, Texas and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Colombia. They reported hearing an operator in Grand Cayman but say they were unable to make the contact.
Continue reading “A Mini DX-pedition to Mt. Pinos”
The next regular club meeting is Thursday, November 21, 2019 (always the third Thursday) at the East County Sheriff’s Station’s Community Room, 2101 E. Olsen Rd, Thousand Oaks at 7:30 pm.
Talk-in coordination is on the Bozo repeater, 147.885 (- 127.3)
Topic/Guest Speakers – AREDN Mesh and Emergency Communications: Oliver Dully-K6OLI and Tran Huynh-K6NHI will discuss the AREDN Mesh Tunnel used for the Baker 2 Vegas Relay Race.
Raffle Prizes: 28 ft. Heavy Duty Fiberglass Telescopic Pole, Triband Portable VHF/UHF Antenna, Helping Hand Soldering Tool
Pre-Meeting Dinner: Join fellow club members for dinner at 5:00 p.m. at Bandit’s 589 N. Moorpark Rd. Thousand Oaks.
Diane Wainwood-KJ6JEJ visited ARRL headquarters and operated as W1AW. Diane said she made several contacts, mostly in the Carolinas and other states along the east coast. She also visited the Hiram Percy Museum and, of course, the gift shop.
Continue reading “The Ham Cam”October 9, 2019 – 70 cm (420 – 450 MHz) SPRINT Operation
Just 8 days after participating in the 135 cm (222 -225 MHz) SPRINT, Woody-WA6WDY, and I traveled again to the top of Stunt Rd. in the Santa Monica Mountains (DM04qb) to participate in the 70cm (420 – 450MHz) SPRINT. From our location more than 2000 feet above sea level, with an unrestricted RF horizon in many directions, 100 watts of SSB & FM, and an 18 element horizontally polarized Yagi, we made 20 contacts (QSOs) in Ventura, Los Angeles, & Orange Counties in 1.5 hours of operating. Interestingly, we worked 8 stations in both Ventura County and in Grid DM13 to the East/Southeast of Los Angeles. Thanks to CVARC/VCARS/ACS members who got on.
Continue reading “More SPRINT Ops with Pete Heins-N6ZE”
