Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club Bulletin
December 2023
No December Meeting
We Will Be Helping With The Christmas Parade.
This Months Meeting Agenda
- Christmas Parade, December 2, 1500 Stage, 1700 Start
Fallbrook Amateur Radio Renewals
| Name | Call | Date Expires | |
| Dropped | |||
| Kadien, Tom | AF6UL | 8/31/2023 | |
| Third Notice | |||
| Allen, Tony | KU6E | 9/30/2023 | |
| Second Notice | |||
| Carlson, David | WA6DKN | 10/31/2023 | |
| Somers, Robert | KN6PIL | 10/31/2023 | |
| Deville, Dennis | KN6QJL | 10/31/2023 | |
| First Notice | |||
| Febraro, Albert | W6AAX | 11/30/2023 | |
| Harper, Melia | KJ6GDD | 11/30/2023 | |
| Arnold, Chris | N3IZN | 11/30/2023 | |
| Gibbs, Gregory | KI6RXX | 11/30/2023 | |
| Berkey, David | KN6UXT | 11/30/2023 | |
| Shapiro, Larry | K6RO | 11/30/2023 |
Upcoming Local Events
– Field Day 2024, June 22-23
Upcoming ARES & Community Events
Join ARES to get more information. https://www.sdgares.net/
December 2, 2023 One-Day Technician Cram Class & Exam (for info contact AF6GM [email protected])
December 9, 2023 ARES In-Person Meeting (with presentation by MIDWAY Radio Room Volunteers)
January 13, 2024 ARES Meeting (with presentation on GMRS by Bruce AI6Q)
January 13, 2024 ARRL VHF Contest https://www.arrl.org/january-vhf
January 21-27, 2024 Quartzfest (desert camping) https://quartzfest.org/
Recordings of past ARES meetings: https://www.youtube.com
News & Views
de KC6MIE
FALLBROOK 10 METER NET Changing to Wednesday evening 8:00pm 28.340 USB.
Join the group for a good rag chew.
de KF6ODE
Banquet Speech by Lyle Johnson, WA7GXD
I recently discovered Zero Retries, a weekly “newsletter” written by Steve Stroh N8GNJ. If you are not already familiar with it, I highly recommend you give it a read – www.zeroretries.org.
In this week edition, Steve references a speech given by Lyle Johnson, WA7GXD at the ARRL and TAPR 1996 Digital Communications Conference in Seattle Washington, USA on September 21, 1996.
While the over-arching theme of his remarks is the need to develop spread-spectrum technology for use in amateur radio, the points he makes along the way are more relevant today then they were 27 years ago, and should be required reading for every amateur radio operator.
zeroretries.org
de W6VR
Handy Telephone Directory
This URL gives you a digital Yellow Pages but it contains White Pages telephone listings too. Very nice and it’s free:
therealyellowpages.com
De-Oxit Spray Contact Cleaner Warning
An artical on the Caig Laboratories website recommends that their DeoxIT D5 liquids be used exclusively on metal contacts, and not the surrounding non-metallic materials, such as phenolic. Phenolic and other materials can absorb the liquid with unintended negative consequences.
store.caig.com
Bill Gates backs novel device promising wind energy at 1/3 the cost
de KJ6UMY
Learning About Capacitors By Rolling Your Own Electrolytics
“Rolling your own” in a lab at a manufacturer of capacitors.
hackaday.com
Why Isn’t The Best Burger Stand a Nationwide Chain?
All About Cats, And What Ethernet Classifications Mean Beyond ‘Bigger Number Better’
Removing SMD electrolytics
Apollo Core Rope Memory (Apollo Guidance Computer Part 30)
Solar Max 2025–>2024
Gamma-ray burst charged Earth’s ionosphere from 2 billion light-years away
1956 STW-10 Friden Calculator | A little bit of computing history
I used one of these extensively when I worked at Point Mugu’s Naval Missile Center in 1968. They were usually on typewriter tables. If you got one too close to the wall, the carriage would smack into the wall and lock up leading to a very expensive repair. The repair tech cost $60/hr, equivalent to $530/hr today. It wasn’t until 1973 that the HP35 was introduced.
Will AI help us have more fun with amateur radio?
by: Dan Romanchik, KB6NU
In this morning’s email was a message from Inc. magazine with links to some articles in the magazine. At the top of the list was, “4 Unimaginable Ways A.I. Will Change Your Life Within the Next 5 Years, According to Bill Gates” (https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/4-unimaginable-ways-ai-will-change-your-life-within-next-5-years-according-to-bill-gates.html) Gates says that in the next five years, you will have your own artificial intelligence assistant, or agent, that will be a frequent voice in your ear and will help you with everything from deciding where to go on vacation to managing your friendships and more. Let’s think for a minute about Gates’ 4 Ways and how they might help us enjoy amateur radio more.
1. You won’t bother with software or operating systems anymore.
How cool would this be. You could simply tell your AI amateur radio assistant, “Hey, HAL. Let’s operate 20-meter FT8 this afternoon,” and the agent would set up the radio and begin looking for contacts. If the band wasn’t open, it would come back and tell you, “I’m sorry, Dave, but propagation on 20 meters is terrible this afternoon. May I suggest 30 meters instead?”
2. Your agent will be a frequent voice in your ear.
Gates believes that most of us will wear at least one earbud most of the time so that our agents can talk to us whenever they need to. So, for example, it might be monitoring the activity on 6 meters and notify you when the band is open. Or, you might want it to notify you when a particular contest or operating event is coming up so that you don’t miss it. “Dave,” it might say, “remember that the 2-meter club net is at 8 pm tonight.”
3. Your agent will get involved in your personal relationships.
We often don’t think of amateur radio as having a personal aspect, but it really does. For example, don’t we enjoy talking to some people more than others? Your personal agent could monitor your club’s 2-meter repeater or 40-meter CW and notify you when your friends are on the air.
Gates also notes that you could have your AI assistant talk to your friends’ assistants and set up lunch for you. If those friends are also radio amateurs, you could also use that capability to set up an on-air sked.
4. It might even help you solve personal problems.
The article notes, “One of the most intriguing predictions Gates made is that your agent could also become your therapist” While many hams probably do need therapy, I’m not so sure how applicable this will be to amateur radio.
What I could see happening is using an AI assistant to help you choose your next rig or maybe help you troubleshoot a problem. Here are some scenarios:
- You ask your AI assistant what rig you should buy next. Since it already knows what bands you like to operate—and the state of your finances—it can analyze all the options and find a radio that meets your operating needs and fits into your budget.
- You might describe your backyard and the bands that you want to operate, and your AI Assistant could come back with antenna suggestions.
- You ask your AI assistant about a problem that you’re having with your rig. It comes back with, “Dave, if you would just RTFM, you will find the answer on page 67 of the operating manual.” Or, after scanning the appropriate online forums, it would tell you, “Dave, several other owners seem to be having a similar problem. Here’s what they’ve done….”
All of this sounds kind of fun to me, but I can understand some of you having reservations. What do you think? Can you think of other ways an AI assistant would make amateur radio more fun for you?
* * * *
Dan Romanchik, KB6NU, is the author of the KB6NU amateur radio blog KB6NU.Com, the “No Nonsense” amateur radio license study guides KB6NU.Com/study-guides, and often appears on the ICQPodcast icqpodcast.com. When he’s not trying to decide if artificial intelligence will help us have more fun with ham radio—or destroy humanity—he tinkers with electronics projects and works CW on the HF bands. You can email your AI comments to Dan at [email protected].
Meeting Minutes
Roy Noon Meeting Hall, Fallbrook, California
November 4, 2023
President Ron Patten, KG6HSQ, called the meeting to order at 1500 hrs.
The pledge of allegiance was conducted by Ron, KG6HSQ.
Brent, KJ6UMY, gave the following financial report.
| Checking Balance September 30, 2023 | $7,635.36 |
| Petty Cash Balance September 30, 2023 | $371.81 |
| Total | $8,007.17 |
OCTOBER INCOME |
|
| Contributions | $0.00 |
| Membership Dues | $40.00 |
| Total | $40.00 |
OCTOBER EXPENSES |
|
| New Banner | $64.65 |
| Total | $64.65 |
PETTY CASH |
|
| Petty Cash Balance September 30, 2023 | $371.81 |
| Cash Additions | $0.00 |
| Total | $371.81 |
| Checking Balance October 31, 2023 | $7,610.71 |
| Petty Cash Balance October 31, 2023 | $371.81 |
| Total | $7,982.52 |
Ron, KG6HSQ, reported on recent club activities including the North County Fire open house
and the Fallbrook Harvest Faire. He presented pictures and a recap of the events.
Ron, KG6HSQ, reminded the member of the upcoming Veteran’s Day Parade on November 11
and Christmas Parade on December 2. The Veteran’s Day Parade starts at 1000 hours. Entrants
will stage east of the Major Market parking lot. FARC members working the Christmas Parade
will muster at 1500 hours in front of T-Mobile on the corner of Ammunition and Mission.
Ron, KG6HSQ, called for members to go around the room introducing themselves for the benefit
of guests at the meeting.
Ron, KG6HSQ, announced that Amateur Radio Field Day 2024 will be on June 22 & 23.
Ron, KG6HSQ, reminded the members that a club decal will be provided free of charge to those
who sign up as ARES members at sdgares.net. Brent, KJ6UMY, described the ARES and
RACES organization for the benefit of meeting guests.
Ron, KG6HSQ, reviewed a number of FARC website features including links to fire
information, HPWREN and Alert Wildfire cameras, getting licensed information, past events and
other general information.
Stephen, KC6MIE, related that Lucy Dixon, wife of Ken Dixon W6MF-SK, was in town last
week and that some of Ken’s equipment may be donated to the club.
Bob, W6VR, suggested that links to fire information be elevated to a more prominent position on
the FARC webpage.
President Ron Patten, KG6HSQ, adjourned that meeting at 1619 hrs.
Brent Dussia, KJ6UMY
Secretary/Treasurer
Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club