What’s happening at SBARC? Here you will find the latest club news, events, projects, net activities, and news from our special interest groups (SIGS).
Be sure to check in frequently so you don’t miss out on any of the interesting things going on with the club and its members!
We have moved content for the Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net here, and content for the Digital Modes Net here.
by David Hackleman, K6VML
Per Ken Alker’s request on the SBARC listserver, here is my account of Pacificon, October 15-17, 2021.
My trip to Europe had been cancelled due to COVID. Pacificon was coming up at about the same time that the trip would have been. I had never been to it and decided it would be a worthwhile alternative. Earlier in the week I made a reservation at the San Ramon Marriott, site of the convention, even though the special rate had expired. Turns out I got the room at about the same rate. This was the first time ever I reserved a room at a division convention!
I wanted to get the most out of it, so I arrived in good time Thursday for a three-night stay, after a pleasant drive mostly on I-5 from San Bernardino. As I already told you that this web page made clear that COVID protocols would be observed, and I was ready with my mask and proof of vaccination at check-in.Derrick can help you to have an extra ordinary equipment with improved technologies. You can also visit afcurgentcare.com/covid-19-services/rapid-testing to in case of covid symptoms.
That night I had a Marriott Burger for dinner in the hotel restaurant. I took advantage of “Cash Only” buffet meals as often as possible thereafter, provided for convention goers, that were quite good. Friday featured an all-day antenna seminar, but I decided to relax and enjoy my room and wander the convention floor until the vendor exhibit hall opened at 3:00.
The vendors were much the same as I have seen in Southwestern Division conventions, which was fine with me. One was John Stanford, KF6I, of Island Amplifier. Turns out he is located in Placentia and repairs and refurbishes amplifiers. I had a Clipperton-L amplifier that needed service that he was very familiar with, so discovering John alone made Pacificon worthwhile for me. And it was only Friday.
Elecraft and Buddipole were also there. Elecraft had three refurbished KX3’s for sale. All were loaded with options, and one had the 2 meter module. I kept coming back to their booth to ask about them. I also stopped to look over the IC-705 QRP rig at the Icom booth, so the rep gave me a quick rundown on it. It was also nice to see Alex manning the Aventrade booth. He was a vendor at one of the Santa Barbara Hamfests years back.
The vendor exhibit closed at 6:00. After dinner I wandered the convention hall some more. Left at one booth in the hall was a basket full of vacuum tubes. And right on top was a 5U4GB made by Sylvania, which I recognized as the rectifier for my Hammarlund HQ-180. So I snatched it up. (I verified later that it was for the taking.) The special event station was up and running, and I thought I would take advantage of it to keep my sked with Leigh KM6JE in Santa Barbara. I waited only a short time for two young guys to finish working the 80 meter station, an IC-7600. After a volunteer disinfected the station for me, I quickly made contact with Leigh and we had our usual Friday night QSO.
So I’m batting 1000 here! Saturday came, and though normally I make a point of attending the forums, I just wasn’t into them this time. They were good, but I went to a couple for a few minutes and quickly got antsy and left. Once again I wandered the hall, and I hear Rod Fritz WB9KMO say something to me from behind. It was good to see him again and we had a good long eyeball QSO. I also spotted Dick Norton N6AA and detained him briefly about a section matter. I remarked that I saw Rod but no others from our division, whereupon he proceeded to rattle off the call signs of a number of them who were indeed attending.
After sauntering through the vendor exhibit hall once more, I went up to my second-floor room to take a break. It was there that I got to thinking, and decided I would treat myself and go buy the KX3 with the 2 meter module. Michelle at the Elecraft booth was familiar with me because I had already bought the AX1 QRP antenna there earlier, and the 40 meter extension. It turns out I unwittingly beat out another guy by mere seconds who wanted the same one! He settled for one without the 2 meter module. As Michelle told me, “Your timing was perfect!” Still batting 1000.
The day was still young. I spotted Dave Casler, KE0OG, at the outdoor lunch tables. He has a YouTube channel devoted to ham radio that I enjoy and I told him so. I met several other interesting hams at our lunches. Dave KM6QKI had served on a navy submarine and had stories to tell. I mentioned I planned to see the USS Hornet museum ship after the convention. Wouldn’t you know, Randy K8TR at our table happened to work security for it and said not to miss the “Engine” and “Island” tours. Also enjoyed talking with KF6FIO and AC6MN who came for the day.
Sunday was the swap meet. It was big! Lots of interesting gear. I scored several items, including a dual fuel Coleman lantern for $35, something I had been wanting. Works perfectly! It was time to pack up, and I found myself in the middle of a train of attendees rolling our suitcases out to our cars ahead of check-out time. Dave KM6QKI and I attended the ARRL Forum together, then it was time to head out.
One person I talked to said the convention was almost cancelled due to COVID. Though turnout may have been less than usual under the circumstances, to me it appeared to be very well attended. Congratulations to the Mount Diablo Amateur Radio Club, and to the San Ramon Marriott, for putting on a great event!
Several people have asked about FT8 in recent months, so we thought we would do an introductory presentation to explain what it is and how it works. FT8 is a fast paced digital mode for HF and it works even when most other modes don’t. It’s high sensitivity to weak signals makes it a favorite mode for many of us without amplifiers and big beam antennas. It typically takes about 35 watts and a modest dipole or wire antenna and you can easily make contacts world wide. Many hams do quite well with QRP rigs and simple wire antennas.
Next month is also our annual election month. So, this meeting we will be submitting the slate of candidates chosen by the nominating committee. We’ll also open up nominations from the membership. It is not yet determined if we will be able to have an in-person meeting in November, so we are making plans for online voting like we did last year. If we do have an in-person meeting, we’ll use a combination of regular ballot voting and online voting for those who choose not to attend.
For those to you interested in the PowerPoint presentation it can be downloaded here: https://www.sbarc.org/Downloads/wsjtx_and_ft-8.pptx
Post expires at 11:59pm on Friday October 15th, 2021 but will still be available in the archives.
L to R: Abhilekh, W6WV; Levi, K6LCM; Rovermaster Bob, K6CTX
The Rover team set up the mast and HF station at the Red Cross Club Station on Saturday 9/18/2021 making CW and SSB contacts with Alberta and New Jersey. The team will try and do this once a quarter. They are also planning to activate La Cumbre Peak with the Rover in the next month!
We’re sure many of you have heard club members talk about Raspberry Pi’s and how we use them for performing tasks on our network as well as other things we do in our own shacks. Raspberry Pi’s are small but powerful, full featured computers that can be used for a variety of purposes. And, they start at $5 for RPi Zeros and $35 for the more powerful, original sized boards. The newest Raspberry Pi 4 series are even more powerful and start at $45. They are ultra reliable and will run for years.
This month we had a PowerPoint presentation on how you can use Raspberry Pi’s with amateur radio. There are many things you can build with these little machines for use with APRS, DMR, test equipment, digital modes for HF, clocks, weather stations, maps and on and on.
Our speaker this month will be Orv Beach W6BI. They will bringing us up to date with everything that is going on in mesh networking. There have been a lot of changes in the past 4 years since Orv last presented to out members. A lot of us have mesh nodes deployed, but most of us have not kept up with the latest firmware and equipment. The Mesh community has grown considerably. This will be a very informative meeting and anyone interested in Mesh Networking should make plans to attend.
We had hoped to return to in-person meetings but with the Delta variant of the virus now going around, we felt it would be a good idea and reassess next month.
SBARC General Club Meeting
Friday, August 20, 2021 at 7:30 PM (Check-ins at 7:00pm)
ZOOM Details
Topic: General Club Meeting – August 20, 2021
Time: Aug 20, 2021 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84922888250
YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwYzxhvGFuI
We hope to see you all at the meeting!
Post expires at 12:02am on Saturday August 21st, 2021 but will still be available in the archives.
We will be having our meeting on Zoom again this month but hope we can resume in-person meetings soon. Officials in charge of our normal meeting facilities have not yet adopted a post-pandemic policy and outside groups are still not allowed to hold meetings there. We hear they are going to revisit this policy later this month, so hopefully we’ll get the go-ahead soon.
We were hoping to have a presentation on Mesh networking this month but had a date mix-up and we are rescheduling to the August. So, this month we are going to talk about the new SpaceX Starlink internet system. Elon Musk has launched an ambitious project to bring internet to the entire globe and how but works is the next generation in communications.
SBARC K6TZ is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: SBARC General Club Meeting – July 16, 2021
Time: Check-in on Jul 16, 2021 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Meeting starts at 7:30.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88508754377
Live on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-eSyHD8dX0
Post expires at 1:50am on Saturday July 17th, 2021 but will still be available in the archives.
Over the past few months there has been a renewed interest in AllStarLink FM simplex nodes among our members. These low power devices allow users to connect to remote VoIP nodes and repeater systems using an internet connection and an HT. Most opt to buy or build a device on 70cm.
A couple years ago, during the initial DMR hotspot craze, SBARC expert consultant Matt W6XC identified a few frequencies around 431 MHz that were useful for digital hotspots like the OpenSpot and ZumSpot. HOWEVER, these frequencies are NOT appropriate for analog FM nodes. We must use a different part of the 70cm band for FM emissions.
Matt suggests the following options for low-power, analog FM usage:
440.000/445.000; 446.860/441.860; 446.880/441.880 may be used as pairs for a low-power duplex node or as separate simplex node frequencies. Please listen to these frequencies with low squelch settings and no CTCSS for a few days before permanently parking your node here to see if and how these frequencies are used. FM simplex nodes are best PL/CTCSS protected, especially if they are left connected to a system like K6TZ or WIN System.
Definitely avoid 446.000 altogether. This is the National Calling Frequency for 70cm. 446.500 and 446.520 are “General Simplex” frequencies. Others many want to use these for simplex QSOs or other itinerant purposes so please don’t park your node on any of these three frequencies. Also note that 432.000-439.999 MHz is allocated to weak signal, Amateur Television and digital emissions only. 440 is tough given the lack of simplex allocations. It’s a truly stuffed band!
Perhaps just as important as which frequency you choose for your node is setting the PL/CTCSS tones. In Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, DO NOT use 131.8 or 88.5 127.9 Hz as a tone for your node. Picking almost anything else will ensure that you don’t inadvertently open the receiver of a repeater on the same or nearby frequency.
If you are interested in these FM VoIP nodes, consider the ClearNode and SHARI projects.
Levi, K6LCM
K6TZ Trustee
