Dec 22

W6TRW Winter Field Day 2024

W6TRW Amateur Radio Club

Winter Field Day 2024

Welcome to our first W6TRW Winter Field Day!

WHEN:

  • Date January 27-28, 2024
  • Time 1100 Saturday – 1059 Sunday (PST)

WHERE:

  • Chino Hills State Park at the Rolling M. Ranch Campground, Site #GC1

PLANNING TO ATTEND?

  • Please RVSP to Winter Field Day Chairs by email
    • Dylon Mutz, N6MX, n6mx@arrl.net
    • Mark Knight, KD7DTS, kd7dts@arrl.net

WINTER FIELD DAY

The mission of Winter Field Day (WFD) is to encourage emergency preparedness during winter months when weather presents unique operational challenges. WFD will:

1 – Build your skills/confidence for winter camping

2 – Provide experience conducting outdoor radio communications under unusual conditions

CAMPING

Tents only. The group site we have reserved is a drive-up primitive site. There is a bathroom, but no other amenities. (you can reserve your own adjacent site if you want to bring a camper)

Chino Hills typically has January temperatures in the range of 69° / 40° – make sure you bring enough layers and a warm sleeping bag.

FOOD

Bring your own food! The club is not providing food – this is a chance to plan how you’d eat in an emergency. Bagged, dehydrated food is an option – or you can bring a stove and get creative!

SOTA/POTA

Chino Hills SP offers opportunities for both Summits on the Air (SOTA) and Parks on the Air (POTA) activations – you can do these in addition to participation in WFD!

  • SOTA San Juan Hill, W6/CT-230 (5.5 mile round trip hike from camp, with 1200 ft of ascent)
  • POTA Chino Hills State Park, K-1139

Click here for more W6TRW Winter Field Day Information

Nov 28

W6TRW Club Meeting December 12th, 2023

Speaker Topic for this Month:

“Backcountry Safety for the Portable Operator”

Adam Kimmerly, K6ARK

“That Others May Live” – These four simple words define the passion and drive Search and Rescue (SAR) people have, and adverse conditions they put themselves through, to save others in distress.

The talk will focus on hams operators taking part in portable activity. Adam K6ARK will show us planning and preparation, what to do in an emergency, and how search and rescue works.

Adam K6ARK has been a ham since 2010 when he earned his technician license. It all started because Adam wanted to learn more about the radios he was using on the SAR team he joined in 2005.  Ham radio is found to be a slippery slope as Adam earned his general class, then extra class license, became addicted to Summits on the Air (SOTA), and went deep down the rabbit hole of antenna design and construction. He is still a member of that same SAR team and spends as much of his time as possible outside and in the mountains.

When: Tuesday, December 12th at 6:30 PM

Where: Virtual Meeting on Zoom

Meetings will continue virtually online for the time being. We will remain Virtual until the S-cafeteria renovation is complete.

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

Meeting ID: 827 9465 4895

Phone dial-in: 1 669 900 6833

Oct 10

W6TRW 55th Annual Awards Banquet – Nov 11, 2023

W6TRW 55th Annual Awards Banquet 2023!

“Surprises in Ham Radio”

Presented by: AI6DF Diana Feinberg

Welcome back to our Annual Awards Banquet! Diana Feinberg, AI6DF, will be presenting Surprises in Ham Radio. While there are some “technical” surprises in ham radio, many ham surprises are part of everyday life that reflect who we are.

Diana Feinberg, AI6DF, has served as ARRL Los Angeles Section Manager since 2016 and in numerous other ham radio capacities since 2006. She has been most closely associated with the Palos Verdes Amateur Radio Club at the club level and for emergency communication with the Los Angeles County Disaster Communication Service’s Lomita/South Los Angeles/Marina del Rey districts. Despite living in an antenna-restricted HOA she has worked 95 countries on the HF bands using simple indoor wire dipole antennas with 100 watts or less.

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!

When: Saturday, Nov. 11th, 2023, 5:00PM – 8:00PM

Where: The Depot Restaurant – Kimono Room, 1250 Cabrillo Ave., Torrance, CA

Click here for the REGISTRATION FORM

Your RSVP needs to be received by Friday, October 27th

Have you renewed your membership? If not, click Here

NOTE: The Banquet takes the place of the monthly Club Meeting. There will be no regular Club Meeting in November!

 

Oct 03

W6TRW Club Meeting October 10, 2023

Speaker Topic for this Month:

“This is Not a Drill” – When a Mass Casualty Incident Drill Turns Real”

 

Orange County regularly conducts county-wide mass casualty exercises. Guest speaker, Dennis W6DQ, will be sharing the story of how a mass casualty exercise became a REAL MCI, ultimately the largest MCI in Orange County’s history.

Dennis was first licensed as WN6NIA in 1969 and was granted W6DQ, the callsign of one of his Elmers, a little over 10 years back. He is a retired systems engineer out of the aerospace industry, having worked on everything from satellites to airport telecommunications systems, military air traffic control to battlefield comms. His interests in ham radio range from weak signal VHF/UHF/microwave to boat anchor collecting and restoration.  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, October 10th at 6:30 PM

Where*: Virtual Meeting on Zoom

* Please note that this meeting will be Virtual via Zoom. We will remain Virtual until the S-cafeteria renovation is complete.

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

Meeting ID: 827 9465 4895

Phone dial-in: 1 669 900 6833

Sep 05

W6TRW Club Meeting September 12, 2023

Speaker Topic for this Month:

“Phenomenally cool microwave kit”

Tony Long, KC6QHP

Guest speaker, Tony Long, KC6QHP presents some phenomenally cool microwave kit!

Since the mid 1990’s, Tony Long has been captivated by 10 GHz and beyond and has built numerous radio systems for those higher bands. In this presentation, he will discuss some of the equipment he has built and share the reasons for his design and fabrication decisions.

Tony Long’s current ham radio goal is to make at least one QSO on all the amateur radio bands, from 137 kHz to 241 GHz. Between 1.8MHz and 1.2 GHz, it is reasonably easy to find commercial equipment, but at the extremities, things become a bit more challenging.

Attached photo: Tony KC6QHP’s dual band (10 and 24 GHz) station operating during the 2022 ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest from Los Arboles Rocketship Park in Torrance.

 

When*: Tuesday, September 12th at 5:30 PM

Where*: Northrop Grumman S-Cafe and Virtual Meeting on Zoom

* Please note that this meeting is both On-Campus and Virtual via Zoom. The time is at 5:30 PM (previous meetings were at 6:30 pm).

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

Meeting ID: 827 9465 4895

Phone dial-in: 1 669 900 6833

Aug 03

W6TRW Club Meeting August 8th, 2023

In-Person Meeting

We will be holding the monthly W6TRW general meeting at noon on Tuesday August 8th, in the east patio of the Building S Cafeteria on the Northrop Grumman campus in Redondo Beach.  This lunch meeting takes place of the W6TRW evening Zoom meeting for August.

See the map below if you are not familiar with the Northrop Grumman Space Park Redondo Beach campus.  Look for Building “S” on the map, head North of the building and walk down the stairs. The meeting will take place on the left (east) patio.

When: Tuesday, August 8th at Noon

Where: Northrop Grumman S-Cafe

No Zoom Meeting for August

 

Jul 03

W6TRW Club Meeting July 11, 2023

Speaker Topic for this Month:

“PVARC expeditions to Catalina island”

Ray Day, N6HE

Guest speaker, Ray Day, N6HE presents the 2014 Palos Verdes ARC (K6PV) Trip to the Santa Catalina Islands!

Ray N6HE started as WN4LFP in Miami Springs, FL on 12/7/62.  He currently uses an IC-7300 as a travel/portable rig, got hooked on direct-sampling SDR, and now has a Flex 6600.  His homestation uses an Alpha 9500 RF amp for QRO when needed, into a 129′ end-fedlong wire with Balun Designs 9315 9:1 un-un.  For VHF/UHF, Ray uses a Tera 7400UHF DMR handheld, a Yaesu ID-5100A FM/D-Star base station, all connected to the internet, and FM VHF/UHF handhelds.  Ray graduated from Georgia Tech in 1966 as an RF-oriented Electrical Engineer and a member of TKE fraternity.  Ray is an ARRLVolunteer Examiner and was a ARRL Official Observer and LAX SectionOfficial Observer Coordinator.   Hobbies other than radio: Photography, scuba diving, and international travel (preferably, all at once!). Link to bio: https://www.qrz.com/db/N6HE.

 

When: Tuesday, July 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

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

 

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

Want to participate? Contact Greg Shreve, greg.shreve2@ngc.com

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, Carey R. Briggs, 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