Jun 07

W6TRW Club Meeting June 13, 2023

Speaker Topic for this Month:

“W6TRW Field Day 2023 – An Experiment in QRP“

Greg Shreve KE6YEX, Dylon N6MX, Mark KD7DTS

 

We’re planning for Field Day 2023.  We’ll be at Friendship Park again, and this year we’re doing something different – QRP (5-watt transmitter power maximum, battery/solar power only).  W6TRW Field Day 2022 was a dry run for QRP, using only portable antennas, no crank-up towers.  The solar cycle is excellent this year, so QRP will be exciting!!

Greg Shreve, KE6YEX

Greg has been the Field Day Co-chair for the past couple of years, along with the veteran radio operators and co-chairs for all the other Field Day activities, the people who have really made Field Day a success, year after year.  Greg is a past president of the W6TRW Amateur Radio Club.

Dylon Mutz, N6MX

Dylon is President of the W6TRW Amateur Radio Club, multi-talented W6TRW Shackmaster, and admin for our Discord server. Dylon is currently managing our Tower 2 refurb, and in the past two years, he has organized a number of work parties for new HF antennas, a complete re-build of our club’s satellite station, as well as implementing and assisting our repeater upgrades and AllStar nodes and participating in the annual ARRL VHF contests.  Dylon has been a key member of the W6TRW Field Day team for the past few years and is taking on an even bigger role this year.

Mark Knight, KD7DTS

Mark was originally licensed in the late 1990s.  After moving to California, he started volunteering as a forest ranger with the San Gorgonio Wilderness Association (SGWA). Part of being a ranger is keeping in radio contact with the Forest Service to respond to emergencies. He modified his original Yaesu FT50R, to get back on the air while in the mountains – and he discovered an amazing SOTA and POTA community. All Mark’s operations are QRP from a backpack or a bicycle, powered exclusively by batteries and coffee. Mark is W6TRW Amateur Radio Club Secretary this year, and he has a key role in engineering our QRP Field Day 2023.

When: Tuesday, June 13th at 6:30 PM

Where: Virtual Meeting on Zoom

Due to continued COVID-19 public health guidelines, the W6TRW Club Meetings will not be held in person. Instead, there will be a Virtual Meeting held on Zoom. Click on the link below on your computer, tablet, or smartphone.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82794654895

Meeting ID: 827 9465 4895

Phone dial-in: 1 669 900 6833

 

Field Day QTH: Friendship Park
1805 W 9th St, San Pedro, CA 90732
Event Schedule: Club Set-Up Saturday 24 June 2023 11:00am
Weekend of 24-25 June 2023

Begins at 1800 UTC Saturday ending at 2100 UTC Sunday

The W6TRW Amateur Radio Club will set up their antennas and emergency
communications equipment in Friendship Park for the annual emergency response
drill, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) Field Day. American Radio Relay
League Field Day is a nationwide annual public service drill put on by amateur
radio operators to prepare for volunteer emergency and disaster response.

http://www.arrl.org/field-day

 

May 12

Check out our Crosstalk Newsletter Archive!

NEW! Check out our Crosstalk Newsletter Archive!

Decades of club history now available to browse! Lots of articles dating back to the early days of the club circa 1968!

Check it out by clicking here!

Special thanks to past President Bob Briggs, KD6WYQ, and Son for digitizing and keeping these safe over the years!

 

May 03

W6TRW Club Meeting May 9, 2023

Speaker Topic for this Month:

“Saving History From the Landfill – The Last Collins
Radio VOA Broadcast Transmitter”

Dennis Kidder, W6DQ

The story of one of the largest shortwave broadcast transmitters built by Collins Radio for
the Voice of America (VOA)! Taking the preservation of vintage Collins equipment to a
whole new level: The Collins 821A-1, 250kW HF Transmitter, weighing in at 22 tons!

 

Dennis Kidder, W6DQ
Dennis was first licensed as WN6NIA in 1969 and was granted W6DQ, the callsign of one of his Elmers, a little over ten years back. He is a retired system engineer out of the aerospace
industry, having worked on everything from satellites to airport telecommunications systems, military air traffic control to battlefield comms. Dennis is an amateur radio renaissance man, a collector of the game changing radios from pre-World War 2 to the present. He enjoys 80 meter AM on his Collins broadcast transmitter and working 10 GHz SSB with the San Bernardino Microwave Society. Dennis is the co-author of Arduino Projects for Amateur Radio and a sought-after speaker at ham radio events.

 

When: Tuesday, May 9th at 6:30 PM

Where: Virtual Meeting on Zoom

Meetings will continue virtually online for the time being, but we plan to discuss returning to in-person meetings in 2023! Stay tuned for future updates!

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82794654895

Meeting ID: 827 9465 4895

Phone dial-in: 1 669 900 6833

Apr 04

W6TRW Club Meeting April 11, 2023

Speaker Topic for this Month:

“Electric Aircraft – Survey and Applications”

Rhon Williams, KJ6IRJ

A survey of past, present, and future aircraft using electric motor(s) to drive propeller(s), within a rapidly changing industry. Discussions will include the technologies and applications that drive the aircraft design.  There are currently new models of flight training aircraft coming to the market that promise lower costs per hour, while providing sufficient flight endurance for much of the typical training activity.  Also in development are personal use, urban air mobility, and even hybrid powered transport aircraft.

 

Rhon Williams (KJ6IRJ) is an FAAST Representative and holds Commercial-SMEL, Helicopter, Glider, and CFI-AIG pilot ratings and is an A&P mechanic.

He is co-owner of a Cirrus SR22, in which he and his wife fly throughout the country.

Rhon is also an active experimental home-builder having completed a plans-built Early Bird Jenny

which first flew in December 2015.

 

When: Tuesday, April 11th at 6:30 PM

Where: Virtual Meeting on Zoom

Meetings will continue virtually online for the time being, but we plan to discuss returning to in-person meetings in 2023! Stay tuned for future updates!

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82794654895

Meeting ID: 827 9465 4895

Phone dial-in: 1 669 900 6833

Feb 23

W6TRW Club Meeting March 14, 2023

Speaker Topic for this Month:

“Diplexers, Triplexers, and the Low-Profile Mobile”

Allen Wolff, KC7O

A presentation about hiding radio equipment and yet have the ability to transmit using two antennas on 2, 220, 440 along with simultaneously APRS operation. The use of Diplexers and Triplexers make this possible.

Also, installation techniques with safety and functionality considerations.

 

Allen Wolff, KC7O, has held an Amateur license for 59 years (in NY, NJ, IN, UT and CA), is an ARRL Life Member, and earned his First Class FCC Radio Telephone License (now General Radio Telephone) in 1974. He is an ARRL Life Member and has had his Extra Class License since 1980.

Allen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering, RF Communications from Drexel University, Philadelphia PA and is retired from a career mostly in aerospace manufacturing.

In 1999 he was awarded the ARRL Herb Brier Instructor of the Year award, for 17 years of teaching Novice and Technician classes accounting for at least 450 new Ham Radio licenses.

 

When: Tuesday, March 14th at 6:30 PM

Where: Virtual Meeting on Zoom

Meetings will continue virtually online for the time being, but we plan to discuss returning to in-person meetings in 2023! Stay tuned for future updates!

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82794654895

Meeting ID: 827 9465 4895

Phone dial-in: 1 669 900 6833

Feb 12

W6TRW Club Meeting February 14, 2023

Speaker Topic for this Month:

“HF Update – Making The Most of Your Operating Time”

Bill Shanney, W6QR

In this presentation, Bill reviews transceiver performance with an emphasis on making sure you get what you want and also a radio that has a clean transmitter. Following is an antenna overview leading into some examples of how to use available critical frequency data to compute optimum operating times. Bill will end with a brief summary of propagation during today’s good conditions.

“My first call was WV2RDG in NJ. I became WA2RDG when I got my general in 1961. I operate 99.5% CW on 160-6M. After a long period of inactivity (career and family) I upgraded to extra class in 1988 and became very active. That is also the year that I joined the TRW ARC. I have a BSEE from NJ Institute of Technology and worked for 45 years in RF and microwave design. I retired from NG/TRW in 2007 after 31 years with the company.”

When: Tuesday, February 14th at 6:30 PM

Where: Virtual Meeting on Zoom

Meetings will continue virtually online for the time being, but we plan to discuss returning to in-person meetings in 2023! Stay tuned for future updates!

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82794654895

Meeting ID: 827 9465 4895

Phone dial-in: 1 669 900 6833

Jan 10

Happy New Year! Don’t forget to renew your 2023 Membership!

Welcome to the New Year 2023!

We hope you had a great holiday season!

This is a friendly reminder to fill out your annual membership form. We are planning some new events for 2023 that you won’t want to miss as well as a return to in-person meetings! We won’t completely abandon online Zoom meetings though and we are discussing ways to do a hybrid meeting.

Also starting this year we are expanding our capabilities by offering ways to digitally pay membership through Venmo, Zelle, or PayPal. We received some feedback that the application process was a bit cumbersome, so we hope this helps make things easier! See the application form for more details.

We hope to see you soon and hear you on the air!

2023 W6TRW Membership Application

 

Jan 09

W6TRW Club Meeting January 10, 2023

Speaker Topic for this Month:

“Intro to Amateur Microwave Radio — History of amateur microwave and how to get started”

Dennis Kidder W6DQ

“Hams have always pushed technological limits … in the 20’s SHF meant 28 mcs, and today, we are pushing into mm wavelengths.  We will share a brief history of microwave communications by amateurs, and describe what is needed to get started yourself.”

Dennis was first licensed as WN6NIA in 1969 and was granted W6DQ, the callsign of one of his Elmers, a little over ten years back. He is a retired system engineer out of the aerospace industry, having worked on everything from satellites to airport telecommunications systems, military air traffic control to battlefield comms. Dennis is an amateur radio renaissance man, a collector of the game changing radios from pre World War 2 to the present. He enjoys 80 meter AM on his Collins broadcast transmitter and working 10 GHz SSB with the San Bernardino Microwave Society. Dennis is the co author of Arduino Projects for Amateur Radio and a sought after speaker at ham radio events.

When: Tuesday, January 10th at 6:30 PM

Where: Virtual Meeting on Zoom

Meetings will continue virtually online for the time being, but we plan to discuss returning to in-person meetings in 2023! Stay tuned for future updates!

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82794654895

Meeting ID: 827 9465 4895

Phone dial-in: 1 669 900 6833

Dec 08

W6TRW Club Meeting December 13, 2022

Speaker Topic for this Month:

“2022 W6TRW Equipment Upgrades”

Chris Wachs WA2KDL and Dylon Mutz N6MX

With another year coming to an end, it’s a good time to reflect on all that has happened throughout the year.  And there was A LOT that happened this year within the club. This meeting will cover the various upgrades made in 2022 to the W6TRW repeaters, shack, OSCAR station, and tower antennas.  We’ll also cover some of the plans for 2023 and continuation of ongoing projects.

We’re happy to have you join us for the last meeting of the year! Happy Holidays and New Year!

When: Tuesday, December 13th at 6:30 PM

Where: Virtual Meeting on Zoom

Meetings will continue virtually online for the time being, but we plan to discuss returning to in-person meetings in 2023! Stay tuned for future updates!

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82794654895

Meeting ID: 827 9465 4895

Phone dial-in: 1 669 900 6833

Oct 27

W6TRW 54th Annual Awards Banquet 2022

W6TRW 54th Annual Awards Banquet 2022!

“RF Safety and Amateur Radio”

Presented by: Wayne Overbeck, N6NB

When: Tuesday, November 12th at 5:00PM – 8:00PM

Where: Northrop Grumman Space Park (Bldg S) Cafeteria

One Space Park, Redondo Beach, CA

Image courtesy of pexels.com

Welcome back to our FIRST in-person event since before the pandemic! Wayne Overbeck, N6NB, will be presenting on RF Safety in Amateur Radio. Wayne previously presented for our club meeting in September on “Roving even before there was roving: A 65-year Odyssey” which was very interesting and really showed off the creativity, ingenuity, and history of the activity! We are very much looking forward to having Wayne back for this banquet presentation.

Join us for a fantastic catered dinner, socialize with other club members and hams, and learn more about our great hobby! Club members also have the opportunity to win door prizes!

Attendees, please fill out form linked below to RSVP.

The RSVP deadline has also been extended to November 4th!

Click here for the W6TRW 54th Annual Awards 2022 RSVP Form