Our next WVARA meeting will be this Wednesday, September 10, in Meeting Room 3 at the Silicon Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, 2731 N. First Street at Plumeria Drive (southwest corner) in San Jose.   If you haven’t been to the Red Cross in a while, “talk-in” is usually available on the Association’s repeaters. Best choice would be 2m/220.   

BTW, several of us meet for dinner prior to the meeting at 5:30pm nearby at Disn-N-Dash (2551 N. 1st St. San Jose):  https://dishdash.com . Feel free to join us.

At this month’s meeting, Dave Brown (WR6Z) will give a presentation on How to Get On 900 MHz. 

The 902-928MHz amateur band poses some interesting obstacles to get on the air and operate as there are no amateur specific radios commonly available.  This makes the band ideal for the ham radio DIY experimenter to get on the air and is not expensive to do so.  This presentation will cover the origins of the 900MHz ham band, how to obtain and modify equipment to get on the air and where to operate.

A Bay Area native, Dave Brown was first licensed in 1977 as WD6EBC and later upgraded to the extra class, changing call signs to WR6Z.  Being active in the hobby since he was first licensed, he enjoys working on radio equipment, operating portable on HF, VHF and UHF as well as owning and maintaining a 900MHz repeater located on Loma Prieta that is open for all amateurs to use. A graduate from Cal Poly, SLO in Electronic Engineering, he has worked in the field for over 35 years specializing in RF, mixed signal and power management systems.  He is an active WVARA member and is currently working in R&D application engineering focused on semiconductor products for mobile platforms at Kinetic Technologies, Inc.

Three things to remember:

• Since the west side entrance to the Red Cross Building is always locked, we recommend entering the Red Cross Building through the main entrance situated on the north side of the building.

• The Red Cross locks the main entrance at 7pm sharp, so please come early in order to get access to the building.  

• We will be in Meeting Room 3 — about 100 feet from any entrance.  As a result, late comers who knock on an outside door won’t be heard from our meeting room.  If you need help getting in the door, you can call my cellphone (408-636-6172) or Tim’s (408-929-9311).
See you there!

Jim, K6EI
WVARA Vice President

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