Category: club

Club posts and pages maintained by the Club Officers and Board Members.

Returning to in person meetings

Posted on by w6tj-admin

July 12, 2021

Hi All,

This virus has been a real kick in the backside, hasn’t it!  I for one am very glad to be seeing lockdowns and quarantine restrictions moving into our rearview mirror.

We planned the 2021 Field Day with the possibility that the COVID restrictions might be extended which translated into a one day park event without our normal banners, advertising and public table.  Although we kept a lowered profile we still had a few visitors.  John (W7RSO) made his chili and while the “secret ingredient” still needed to steam off it was darn good!

For the first time in over a year, we have had an in person meeting.  We had to change our venue but the feedback I’ve received from the members in attendance was encouraging.  Our heartfelt thanks go out to the Riverside Seventh Day Baptist Church for the use of their Fellowship Hall.

We covered planning of the club’s upcoming 66th Anniversary and Carrie (N6LMA) gave us a great presentation on Net Etiquette.

Please join us for the August meeting to help celebrate 66 years of Ham Radio in Riverside County!  Watch your email for an RSVP from Juan (AJ6PH), we need to know how much pizza we need to order.  We will have a “show and tell” so bring out your projects and brag about your endeavours!

73

Alan / KM6KPW

Meetings

Posted on by w6tj-admin

Riverside County Amateur Radio Association Meetings

As the pandemic restrictions draw to a close, our in-person meetings are scheduled to resume starting July.  Our final Zoom only meeting will be June 10th.  An email containing the meeting number and passcode will be sent out in the first week of June to all current members. 

If you are not a member or are not receiving our emails, please contact us at president@w6tj.org and the meeting info will be sent to you.

Meetings are held at the Riverside Seventh Day Baptist Church on the 2nd Thursday of each month beginning at 7:00 PM

 

Riverside Seventh Day Baptist Church
Fellowship Hall
5901 Chicago Ave
Riverside, CA 92506

Park behind the church and use the rear entrance.

 

 

 

RCARA Club Swag

Posted on by w6tj-admin

New RCARA club items are available from our Teespring store –
https://teespring.com/stores/rcara-gear

There are t-shirts, hoodies and stickers available with the black and yellow Riverside County Amateur Radio Association logo emblazoned on the back.

 

Additional items have been suggested such as keychain fobs and refrigerator magnets.  We are looking to source those as well.  

Club Officers for the year 2021

Posted on by w6tj-admin

Riverside County Amateur Radio Association

Elected Officers for the Year 2021

 

Alan Serl KM6KPW

President

km6kpw @ scrnet.com

Juan Meja AJ6PH

Vice-President

Jim Wiley AG6EA

Treasurer

jameswiley757 @ gmail.com

Open Position

Secretary
Volunteer Needed

 

Ron Braley KE6RYX

Director of Communications

(951) 369-5149

 

 Carrie Smith N6LMA

Director of Membership

jjschina @ hotmail.com

Appointed Positions for 2021

Pending

Sunshine Chair
Volunteer Needed

 Rick Schirmer KK6CTT

Photographer

rngr86 @ juno.com

 Alan Serl KM6KPW

Webmaster

km6kpw @ scrnet.com

 

Club Awards

Posted on by w6tj-admin

Our club, Riverside County Amateur Radio Association has existed for 65 years and there are several awards that our club has achieved.  Many of those awards have gone unclaimed and the efforts of our past members have gone unrecognized.

 

If there are any additional awards that should be posted for RCARA, please notify Alan Serl KM6KPW at km6kpw @ scrnet.com.

Riverside County Amateur Radio Association is a member of eQSL.cc and actively reports QSO’s from members using the club call sign.  Please forward contact logs made using the club callsign to the webmaster so the contacts can be claimed (ADIF export prefered)

Field Day 2020

Posted on by w6tj-admin

Riverside County Amateur Radio Association Field Day 2020

Here is the picture slideshow from Field Day 2020

  • RCARA Members and visitors pause for a pic along side a VW Bus
  • Moving the supplies and equipment from the parking lot
  • Juan KM6CFH packing in his portable rig
  • A new battery technology was introduced at FD this year.
  • For 2020, there was no line power in out location for even non-radio gear. Battery and solar powered the show this year!
  • Power management in a box with power pole connectors and a built in volt meter.
  • Rick KK6CTT - large battery box and solar panels included an inverter which provided line power for laptops and HT & Cellphone charging.
  • John W7RSO operating under an EZ-UP, socially distanced but racking up the QSO numbers
  • John W7RSO came wearing his FD 2020 hat.
  • APRS Map showing that Alan KM6KPW is at the park
  • An APRS controller with GPS and simple telemetry. This module uses a Baofeng UV-5R type of HT for it's transmitter and receiver.
  • An APRS controller with GPS and simple telemetry. This module uses a Baofeng UV-5R type of HT for it's transmitter and receiver.
  • Steven W7DTH brought out his shelter and portable rig
  • Steven W7DTH displays a clean power distribution module. LED indicators and fuses are a great features.
  • Field Day is great to see what others are using in their portable and mobile rigs
  • Just waiting for the 11:00 AM whistle to start making contacts
  • Our newest Extra class operator making contacts. Congrats to Juan AJ6PH !!
  • Juan finding the balance between sun for the solar panel and shade for the operator
  • Alan KM6KPW ran 10M FT8 on 15 watts QRP power.
  • Alan KM6KPW on the Xiegu working FT8 on 10 meters. The band was like a revolving door
  • John W7RSO brought out the hitch mounted extending mast antenna.
  • A close up of John W7RSO's trailer hitch mast mount
  • Alan KM6KPW brought out a 10 meter dipole that fits into the go bag.
  • Rails to save the face and rear connectors of his mobile transceiver. Lite and solid, nice!
  • All gathered around the picnic table
  • Both the US flag and our ARRL FD mascot on display in front of the pavillion


Updated Q&A from the ARRL about club totals – (PDF or Original Article)

Members operating from home, please remember to include “RIVERSIDE COUNTY AMATEUR RADIO ASSOCIATION” (NOT “RCARA” or “W6TJ”) on your submission.  See the ARRL COVID-19 2020 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!

Remote VE Testing Information

Posted on by w6tj-admin

During the 2020 COVID-19 isolation lockdown the Ham Radio community has seen the need to continue with VE testing.  New licensees testing for their Tech license as well as those upgrading their license ticket while they have time to study.

The Greater Los Angeles Amateur Radio Group VEC has created a protocol for VE remote testing.  Below are two documents contributed by our members that are VE’s participating in the GLARG testing:

Remote VE Testing  Short Overview and the Long Version. 

Study hard and when you are ready to test, get on the GLARG’s calendar.

 

Thank you to Doug (KK6D) and Jim (AG6EA) for filling in the blanks!

First ‘Meeting on the Air’ success

Posted on by w6tj-admin

To the RCARA members,

Holy cow, we did it!  This thing really worked!

Thank you all who made this “Meeting on the Air” a success.  We had a good working check in round and an even better round of discussion about the 2020 Field Day.  The discussion for all the ideas worked out great with members contributing to all sides of Field Day in world where we all have to live in our own isolation bubble. 

I want to say a sincere “Thank You” to the members that pointed out the faults and flaws in some of the ideas brought up – “It’s easy to stay quiet and go with the flow but pointing out the bad idea and why it’s a bad idea is honestly just as important.  Sometimes more so.”

Thank you Rick KK6CTT for turning the “Parking Lot Picnic” into the “Mobile Simplex Breakfast“.  You turned a good intentioned idea into a working Ham Radio exercise that we can still keep as a social event within the club.  Please join us this Saturday (Apr 11, 2020) for breakfast in your driveway!

73!

Alan KM6KPW

Simplex Social Brunch Net

Posted on by w6tj-admin

New time for this Net is 11:30 AM

Formerly the Simplex Social Breakfast Net, the Net Controller for this net has had to move the time up from its original time slot so much that we’re just going to call it a Brunch Net…

Please join us on the third Saturday of the month for a for a social simplex breakfast Net!  Grab your coffee and bagel or other breakfast items, get on your rig and be social!  Our original Net plan is to be a round robin Net with relays from operators that are able to hear a weak signal and pass on the traffic where possible.

This Net will be a once a month Saturday morning Net to hone your Amateur Radio skills in Simplex communications.  The frequency being used will rotate from month to month, please see the frequency plan below. 

 


Take a break, grab your coffee and join us on the air!

 

When: The third Saturday of the month at 11:30 AM

Where: Your choice

How: Simplex mode – No offset / No PL tone / No Squelch 

Send topic suggestions to: km6kpw @ scrnet.com

 

Monthly Frequency Plan

Month Band Frequency Coordinator
January 70 CM 446.00 Mhz Alan KM6KPW
February 2 M 147.510 Mhz Alan KM6KPW
March 70 CM 446.00 Mhz Alan KM6KPW
April 2 M 147.510 Mhz Alan KM6KPW
May 2 M 147.510 Mhz Alan KM6KPW
June 2 M 147.510 Mhz Alan KM6KPW
July 70 CM 446.00 Mhz Alan KM6KPW
August 2 M 147.510 Mhz Alan KM6KPW
September 70 CM 446.00 Mhz Alan KM6KPW
October 2 M 147.510 Mhz Alan KM6KPW
November 70 CM 446.00 Mhz Alan KM6KPW
December 2 M 147.510 Mhz Alan KM6KPW

Additional Net Coordinators are needed!  If you are interested in hosting a net, please notify Alan (KM6KPW) or any other Board member know.