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President’s Message

Wow, what a great weekend of radio fun!

This past weekend was the 54th Annual California QSO Party.  This was my second year participating.  I operated for about 7 hours, over the two days, and I managed to make contacts in 26 California counties, 27 states, 3 Canadian provinces and two other foreign countries (France and Honduras).  79 contacts in all.  I worked fellow CVARC member Bob Hughes-K6HHW and heard Norm Campbell-AB6ET as we both tried to work an Italian station.  I also heard Pete Heins-N6ZE.  Hopefully other CVARC members were in on the fun, especially those who recently upgraded to General.

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135 cm (222- 225 MHz) SPRINT Report by Pete Heins-N6ZE

Unlike my 2 meter Fall 2019 SPRINT operation on Thousand Oaks’ Tarantula Hill for last week’s event, Woody-WA6WDY, and I traveled to the top of Stunt Rd. in the Santa Monica mountains (DM04qb) to participate in the 135cm (222 – 225 MHz) SPRINT. From our location, more than 2000 feet above sea level and with an unrestricted RF horizon in many directions, 100 watts of SSB & FM, and a 7 element horizontally polarized Yagi, we made 13 contacts (QSOs) in Ventura, Los Angeles, & Orange Counties in just over one hour of operating.

Several stations which we contacted were more than 40 miles distant; one, WA6EJO, used just a handheld with whip antenna from Ventura.

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DX On 6 Watts And Two Hiking Sticks by Ben Kuo-AI6YR

It’s been repeated again and again by speakers at club meetings: the only bad antenna is no antenna!

For all of the griping and hand wringing by members about how the band conditions are bad, and they are waiting to get a “perfect antenna” to get on the air, it turns out that yes—you can do DX on a horrible, horrible antenna, even on low power (QRP). How do I know this?

How about the Dominican Republic on 6 watts and two hiking sticks (on upper sideband)?

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N6ZE’s Very Minor DX-Pedition by Pete Heins

On Monday evening, September 23, 2019, I conducted a minor “DX-Pedition” to the peak of Thousand Oaks’ Tarantula Hill (T-Hill) to participate in the Fall 2 Meter SPRINT operating event.

I decided to bring a 2 meter rig up the .8 km trail to the 1017 foot Summit of “T-Hill” for a number of reasons. As a passionate VHF/UHF-oriented ham for several decades, I encourage others to operate and submit contest entries to demonstrate the use of the very valuable bands & frequencies assigned to Amateur Radio Operators.

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October Club Meeting Information

The next regular club meeting is Thursday, October 17, 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 Speaker – Flex Radio: Warren Wegerer-K6WKW will discuss the Flex Company history.  He’ll talk about historic and current products including costs and comparisons as well as the “non-technical technical differences.” (How will he do that?) Learn about practical operation with a live demonstration. Remote operation will also be discussed.

Raffle Prizes: Bioenno Power 12V, 9AH Charger, CigBuddy 12V Lighter to Powerpole, DC Power Meter

Pre-Meeting Dinner: Join fellow club members for dinner at 5:00 at Dugout Sports Grill, 109 W. Cochran St., Simi Valley.

Upcoming CVARC Programs

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Next Mini Field Day is Sunday, October 6

CVARC’s next Mini Field Day is set for Sunday, October 6, 2019 at Borchard Community Park, Picnic Area C. 

The park is located at 190 North Reino Road in Newbury Park.  The event officially starts at 1000, but we are allowed to set up as early as 0900.  The event will end at 1400 and we must leave the picnic area by 1430.

Directions: proceed west on Borchard Road, past N. Wendy Drive.  Turn Right on N. Reino Road.  Just past the tennis courts, you should turn right into parking lot.  Picnic Area C is located at the northeast corner of the parking lot.  There is ample space for antennas behind the picnic pavilion.

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Learn morse code

A morse code class organizational meeting will be held Saturday, September 14, 2019 at 9 a.m. at the East County Sheriff’s Station’s Community Room, 2101 E. Olsen Rd, Thousand Oaks .  The plan is to have classes weekly on Saturdays for 8 weeks.  CW academy guidelines will be followed.

If you’d like to learn morse code, please come to the meeting this Saturday. If you are planning on attending, please send Steve Gillis-KZ6H an email: sggillis@gmail.com

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September Club Meeting Information

The next regular club meeting is Thursday, September 19, 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 Speaker – “I’ve Just Upgraded to General, Now What?” Building on his “I Just Got My Amateur Radio License, Now What?” talk, Stuart Sheldon-AG6AG attempts to answer the questions that every new HF operator has. This presentation covers things like choosing the right antenna to proper monitoring of equipment while operating.

Raffle Prizes:Weller WLC1000 Soldering Station, Heil Handie-Talkie Headset, 150′ stranded 14 GA copper clad antenna wire

Pre-Meeting Dinner: Join fellow club members for a pre-meeting dinner at 5:00 at Brent’s Deli, 2799 Townsgate Rd. Westlake Village, CA 91361 .

Upcoming CVARC Programs