Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club Bulletin

June 2023

We Will Be Doing A Live In Person Meeting June 3

On Zoom Will Be Testing A Different Computer Setup

So May Not Work Perfectly

Members To Get Email Invite
Visitors Will Need To Contact Webmaster.

[email protected]

The Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club normally meet at 3:00 PM on the first Saturday of the month.

Normal Meeting Location, The Scout Hut, 231 E. Hawthorne St. Map

THIS MONTHS MEETING AGENDA

• Field Day, June 24-25
• Field Day Logging Program

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New Club Members

• Don Hale, KA6ILV
• Craig Tantalo, N6WJQ

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Fallbrook Amateur Radio Renewals

	Name	Call	Date Expires
Second Notice
	Kadan, Kenneth	K1KRK	4/30/2023
First Notice
	Beach, Paul	WA6SYA	5/31/2023
	Turner, Forrest	KK6BYR	5/31/2023
	King, Wayne	K6BFR	5/31/2023
	Zeimantz, Jane	KK6LBQ	5/31/2023
	McGowen, Timothy	AF6GL	5/31/2023
	Magaldi, Mike	K6YNP	5/31/2023

Member Renew

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Upcoming ARES & Community Events 

Join ARES to get more information. https://www.sdgares.net/

June 2, 2023 (Friday) Hams support SD100 Mile Endurance Run (for info contact Rob K6RJF [email protected])
June 3, 2023 One-Day Technician Cram Class & Exam (for info contact AF6GM <[email protected]>)
June 10, 2023 ARES Meeting (with Hospital Exercise recap and Field Day prep) 
June 10, 2023 ARRL VHF Contest http://arrl.org/june-vhf
June 17, 2023 Hams support Black Mountain 50K Endurance Run (contact Rob K6RJF <[email protected]>) 
June 24, 2023 ARRL Field Day
July 8, 2023, ARES Meeting (presentation topic: Logbook of the World [LOTW] by Bruce AG6X) 
July 29, 2023 ARES Activity Day 
August 26, 2023 One-Day Technician Cram Class & Exam (for info contact AF6GM <[email protected]>) 
September 9, 2023 ARRL VHF Contest http://arrl.org/september-vhf
September 30, 2023 ARES Activity Day 
October 7, 2023 San Diego (Lakeside) Hamfest http://lakesidearc.org/
Oct 27 & Nov 4, 2023, Two-Day Extra Cram Class & Exam  (for info contact AF6GM <[email protected]>) 

Recordings of past meetings: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-7mirT-kjfvMtIy27R505aqnmfCQuWNQ 

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Hams start going to Dayton for the technology.
They keep going for the people.

By: Dan Romanchik, KB6NU

Dayton, Ohio becomes the center of the amateur radio universe every third weekend in May. That’s when the Dayton Amateur Radio Association holds Hamvention, the largest gathering of radio amateurs in the world. This year, approximately 30,000 converged for the event.

Most people start going to Hamvention for the technology, and there was plenty of that this year. All the major manufacturers were there, including (in alphabetical order) Elecraft, Flex, Icom, Kenwood, MFJ, and Yaesu. There were some less well-known manufacturers there, too, including Alinco, HobbyPCB, QRPLabs, and QRPWorks. They were joined by a host of niche suppliers, who make and sell everything from antennas to Morse Code keys to batteries. And, of course, there’s the flea market, where you can find all kinds of weird and wonderful electronic stuff.

People come for the forums, too. The theme for this year’s Hamvention was Innovation! and many of the forums emphasized this aspect of amateur radio. This year’s forum lineup included presentations on digital communications, software-defined radio, fast-scan TV, and Linux-based ham radio software.

People over technology

Technology was certainly the initial draw for me, but it’s not why I keep returning. I didn’t buy a single thing this year. What keeps me going back are the people. Every year, I meet old friends, hams who I’ve only met on the air, and make new friends.

Last year, for example, I had dinner on Saturday with a fellow with whom I’d had many CW contacts, but never met in person. In fact, because we were operating CW, I’d never even heard his voice. We hit it off so well, that we again met for dinner this year. Not only that, we expanded our circle to include several other hams who we’ve worked before.

Here’s another example. On Friday, an old friend came up to the booth to say hello. As it turns out, he was recently elected to the board of directors of the Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA). About 15 years ago, I was a member of QCWA, but let my membership lapse when I became disenchanted with the organization.

One of the reasons for my departure was that they actively discouraged me from starting a chapter here in Southeast Michigan. Their reasoning, as I recall, is that there was already a chapter in Michigan, even though its activities were mostly on the west side of the state. That made no sense to me at all.

This didn’t seem to make much sense to my friend–the newly-elected QCWA board member–so we plan to explore this further at a later date. Who knows? We may yet form a SE Michigan chapter of QCWA.

This is just a small sample of the people I met this year. I also got to talk to some podcasters and YouTubers, a couple of fellows who recognized me from reading my blog or listening to me on the ICQ Podcast, and hams out in the flea market who had some interesting stories about the stuff they had for sale. You never know who you’ll run into, what stories they’ll tell you, and what you’ll learn from them.

It’s meeting people that keep me returning to Hamvention. If you’ve never been to a Dayton Hamvention, I’d encourage you to go at least once. If you do, I”m going to guess that you’ll go back, and it won’t be for the technology, but for the people.

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Dan Romanchik, KB6NU, is the author of the KB6NU amateur radio blog (KB6NU.Com), the “No Nonsense” amateur radio license study guides (https://KB6NU.Com/study-guides/), and often appears on the ICQPodcast (https://icqpodcast.com). When he’s not at Hamvention, he teaches ham radio classes and operates CW on the HF bands.

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Meeting Minutes

Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club

May 6, 2023

President Ron Patten, KG6HSQ, called the Zoom meeting to order at 1500 hrs.

The pledge of allegiance was conducted by Ron Patten, KG6HSQ.

Ron, KG6HSQ, conducted a recap of the Avocado Festival, asking for any problems and/or comments from the participants.

Brent, KJ6UMY, gave the following financial report.

Checking Balance March 31, 2023	$7,331.59
Petty Cash Balance March 31, 2023	$226.81
Total	$7,558.40
APRIL INCOME
Hat Sales	$36.00
Membership Dues	$120.00
Total	$156.00
APRIL EXPENSES
None	$0.00
Total	$0.00
PETTY CASH
Petty Cash Balance March 31, 2023	$226.81
Cash Additions	$96.00
Total	$322.81
Checking Balance April 30, 2023	$7,391.59
Petty Cash Balance April 30, 2023	$322.81
Total	$7,714.40

Stephen, KC6MIE, gave a report on the April 29 Activity Day, held in the parking lot behind the Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce. He suggested that for the next Activity, scheduled in July, that there should be more of a structured program. This program could include a drill and a simplex frequency and/or repeaters to coordinate activities across the county.

Ron, KG6HSQ, asked for attendees to introduce themselves.

Ron, KG6HSQ, made a presentation on the basics of DMR. He concentrated on repeater operation, channel utilization, zones, talk groups and radio programming.

President Ron Patten, KG6HSQ, adjourned that meeting at 1626 hrs.

Brent Dussia, KJ6UMY
Secretary/Treasurer
Fallbrook Amateur Radio Club