W6TJ 2 Meter Net

The Riverside County Amateur Radio Association provides communications support during many Public Service Events throughout the year. A weekly net is held to foster emergency preparedness every Monday evening at 7:00 PM. The Monday night net provides bulletins of upcoming club activities and events.

For the first three Mondays of the month, we host the Net on the W6TJ club repeater. It is also possible to check into the net via the W6CDF repeater located on Box Springs Mountain which is linked to the W6TJ repeater.

The fourth Monday of the month is a SIMPLEX net on 146.880 MHz, no offset, no PL, no squelch. This is done as practice for emergency preparedness as an exercise in being able to operate in a power outage WITHOUT the repeater.

NET Tally for Monday Night Net Results:

April 7,
2025
April 14,
2025
April 21,
2025
April 28,
2025

May 5,
2025
Regular Check-ins: 26 25 33
Guests/Visitors: 2 1 2
TOTAL CHECK-INS: 28 26 35
Courtesy Check-ins: 5 2 4
220 Check-ins: 0 2 0
EchoLink Check-ins: 4 4 5
Early Check-ins: 0 3 1
Marlene
KK6CTX
Jim
AG6EA
Bruce
W6SOW
Shannon
KO6AYV
Marlene
KK6CTX

Regular 2M Net Operators:

  • Week 1: Marlene KK6CTX
  • Week 2: Jim AG6EA
  • Week 3: Bruce W6SOW
  • Week 4: Juan AJ6PH (SIMPLEX)
  • Week 5: Shannon KO6AYV

Club Membership

RCARA Annual Club dues are $25 per person or household
(includes all family members living at the same address with a valid ham license)
Each licensed ham operator must fill out and submit a separate application
(Fill in & Print or Online form).

Complete your online application by clicking on the link above.
A payment link will be available at the end of the online application.

You may also bring your completed application to the next in-person meeting or
mail it to the Director of Membership at the address below.
Checks should be made out to RCARA and can be submitted with paper applications.

Dues include: Membership Card, Access Code to the Members Only Link, W6TJ Two Meter Repeater Auto Patch Access Codes for local telephone calling, Club Voting Rights and Board of Directors Membership Eligibility.

Director of Membership
C/O RCARA
P.O. Box 894
Riverside CA 92502

Field Day 2022

Riverside County Amateur Radio Association’s Field Day 2022

Our Field Day event will be held at:

Fairmount Park

2601 Fairmount Blvd, Riverside, CA 92501-2113

Shelters 2 & 3

Saturday, June 25th 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM

 

 

ARRL Field Day 2022 Rules – (ARRL Article)

Members who operate from home, please remember to include “RIVERSIDE COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION” (NOT “RCARA” or “W6TJ”) on your submission. 

 

Stay Safe and keep making contacts!

2025 Board of Directors

Riverside County Amateur Radio Association Board of Directors

Elected Officers for the Year 2025

President

Steven DeLong
W7DTH

Vice President

John Salisbury
W7RSO

Treasurer

Jim Wiley
AG6EA

Secretary

Shannon Johnson
KO6AYV

Director of Communications

Ron Braley
KE6RYX
(951) 369-5149

Director of Membership

Adrian Bravo
KO6DEZ

Appointed Positions for 2025

Editor of the Monitor

Madeline Haas
AJ6MF

W6TJ Repeater Trustee

Don Williams
KD6UVT

Webmaster

Juan Mejía
AJ6PH

 

Paul Mathews (WA6DDL) Memorial Award

The Paul Mathews WA6DDL Memorial Award for

Achievement in Amateur Radio Education

In 2021 we have created a new award to recognize the teachers and educators among us.  It is through the work of these people that amateur radio is able to be passed on to the next generations.

Paul Mathews (WA6DDL) was a longtime member of RCARA, he was also an Electronics teacher at Riverside City College – I had the pleasure and honor of being one of his students.

– Alan Serl (KM6KPW)
RCARA President (2019 – 2022)

2023 None ——
2022 Juan Mejia AJ6PH
2021 Clair Cessna K6LG

 

 

Field Day 2021

Riverside County Amateur Radio Association Field Day 2021

Our Field Day event was held at:

Martha McLean – Anza Narrows Park (Pavillion #2)

Saturday, June 26th

Enjoy the pictures

Martha McLean-Anza Narrows
5759 Jurupa Ave
Riverside, CA 92504

We had three operating stations working multiple bands.  Our original site plan allowed for 4 operators with the antennas spaced to reduce crosstalk.

 

 

Updated ARRL Field Day Rules (Including club totals) – (PDF or Original Article)

Members who operated from home, please remember to include “RIVERSIDE COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION” (NOT “RCARA” or “W6TJ”) on your submission.  See the ARRL COVID-19 2021 Waver document for more information

 

 

We may have to be away from each other but that does not mean we have to be out of reach!

Stay Safe and keep making contacts!

Club Meetings

RCARA Board Meeting

Join us for our RCARA Board Meeting each Tuesday
before our monthly general meeting (second Thursday of each month).
Board meetings are open to all members.
Meeting will be conducted through Zoom and begin at 7:00PM.

Join the Zoom meeting by clicking here:

Meeting ID: 892 0677 9676
Passcode: 354033

General Meeting

Riverside County Amateur Radio Association
meetings are held on the 2nd Thursday of the month and alternate between
the City of Riverside EOC and 
Kountry Folks Homestyle Restaurant.

January, March, May, July, September, November
City of Riverside Emergency Operations Center
3085 Saint Lawrence St.
Riverside, CA 92504

Meetings at the EOC begin promptly at 7:00PM. Please arrive early to ensure we begin on time.

These meetings will also be held via Zoom for those wishing to attend remotely.
Zoom will start at 6:30PM for a pre-meeting social.

Join the Zoom meeting by clicking here:

Meeting ID: 892 0677 9676
Passcode: 354033

February, April, June, August, October and December.
Kountry Folks Homestyle Restaurant
3653 La Sierra Ave
Riverside, CA 92505

Meetings start promptly at 6:00PM, but many arrive by 5:30PM for a pre-meeting social.

mini Monitor Flash Newsletter

Historically, the Riverside County Amateur Radio Association has published a newsletter called The Monitor with club news & activities, tech tips, upcoming contest information and a lot more.  Archived versions of The Monitor are available on our website.

Thank you Madeleine AJ6MF for bringing back our newsletter.  The “mini Monitor Flash” is a smaller format newsletter than the original but we hope you will enjoy the new content as of December 2020.

SnappyPortableDipoleAntenna

“Snappy”…A Band Switching Portable Dipole  by Clair Cessna, K6LG

Since I enjoy outdoor operating activities, QRP events, Field Day, and others, I needed an antenna which could be thrown in a backpack,  quickly deployed, and easily used on several HF bands.  A segmented dipole was put together, using bullet connector “switches” across insulators to change bands… reducing the necessity of using an antenna tuner.

The antenna is usually configured as an inverted Vee supported in the center at about 16 feet, using a SD-20, 20 foot, telescoping, fishing pole. Alternatively, it can be suspended from a tree branch. The ends are usually near ground level or supported by bushes, trees, rocks, etc.

“Band switching” for the five bands is simply a matter of shorting across selected insulators to adjust the antenna, using the bullet connector shorters (switches.) Since the antenna is usually relatively close to the ground, or can be easily lowered from the ends to clothesline height, one can rapidly walk along, and change the antenna length.

Materials needed for construction: Forty feet of #16 or #22 plastic jacketed speaker wire (Lowes or Home Depot); small sheet of one-eighth inch thick Lucite or other plastic for insulators, ten bullet or spade connectors (Radio Shack), piece of quarter inch thick plastic, two inches square, SO-239 connector.

Cut to the lengths shown below, but add 3 inches to each for connecting through the insulators. Since you will be unzipping the speaker wire later, both sides of the antenna will be the same for each segment. Strip an inch and a half off the ends of each segment and insert the insulators. Solder short leads to the male and female parts of the bullet connectors and solder in place across each insulator, leaving enough slack so they can be easily plugged in or unplugged. (I prefer the bullet connectors since they are easier for my fingers to manipulate.)

Measurements beginning from the center (middle of insulator to middle of next 2” insulator) should be 12‘ 7“, 3‘ 6“, 6‘ 0“,  9‘ 1“, 1‘ 7“. (Remember to add 3″ to each of these lengths for attaching to insulators and bullet connectors.) These measurements are for 17, 20, 30, 40/15M, and cut for the low end of these bands. Notice that for 15M the entire antenna length is used. The 1′ 6” end section is used on 40/15M to facilitate matches on those bands depending on whether the end of the dipole is staked to the ground or elevated in a tree. The antenna is fed with RG-58 coax. No balun is used.

 Generally these measurements provide a satisfactory match.  Of course in the field, antenna height, configuration, and environment may sometimes be different, so, when possible, I carry an MFJ Tiny Travel Tuner to deal with any variations. 

The “Snappy” is a snap to build, and to set up in the field. For band changes, just snap or unsnap the connectors!

de Clair Cessna K6LG 8-22-2011