Category Archives: News

Oh Great WVARA FD Team,

While in the middle of FD, I know there was much talk about “dead bands” and such, but it seems that was all talk. I will be submitting our score shortly, and the ARRL may have some QSO matching to do, but according to N1MM+ and a pile of XLS time, our final score was 19,250. This would be a second place score in the 2016 event, and time will tell if we achieved our goal of a 13A record. In any case, here are the highlights:

80m SSB / CW / Digi: 120 / 174 / 13 QSOs
40m SSB / CW / Dig: 173 / 444 / 83
20m SSB / CW / Dig: 119 / 420 / 90
15m SSB / CW / Dig: 70 / 126 / 2
10m SSB / CW / Dig: 2 / 0 / 0
VHF SSB+FM / CW / Digi: 134 / 4 / 0

…for a total QSO count of 1971 (after several dups were removed). I then tallied up 1 pt  per SSB/FM contact and 2 pts/QSO for CW and Digi to get a base QSO score of 16,650 (which includes the GOTA QSOs). Adding in 2600 bonus points (emergency power, public location, satellite, etc) got us up to our 19,250 grand total score. I will crunch up some charts showing QSO rates and qtys by hour, but this is what they will all add up to.

I must thank each and every one of you for the dedication and effort you each put forth through this event. It never ceases to amaze me how much A Game each of you brings. Tower trailers, networks, radios, tents, antennas galore, intense operating skills, and all the glue in between. Quite a lot happens to make this one day event successful. Little things like falling masts, dead batteries, and no sleep just don’t slow any of you down.

Thank you,
B-

Major kudos for Field Day

Major kudos to Bobby Barnett and Bill Fehring for organizing and running WVARA’s Field Day event on Mora Hill this weekend.   You guys did a really great job!

Likewise, many thanks to Kevin Smith for running/coaching the great GOTA station, and to Svend Jensen for getting all the big towers / antennas successfully installed.   And a special thanks to Greg DesBrisay for stepping into my shoes to test/deploy/maintain the three stations in CW station.

Y’all done did good! Jim Peterson

 

Ham Radio Outlet Grand Re-Opening Event – Oakland

It is with great pleasure and excitement we announce the official Grand Re-Opening final date for our newly upgraded Oakland Store at 2210 Livingston St. in Oakland, California.

On June 17, 2017 we will have a representative from Yaesu on hand. We will also have ABR Industries, Alinco, Bioenno Power, Comet-NCG and Uniden on hand.

We will have hourly prize drawings and refreshments on hand for each of the dates above.

Come join us at our newly renovated store and meet our some of our manufacturer’s representatives, check out our massive in-stock inventory and have a chance at an hourly prize and or a grand prize toward the end of the day. Entry is FREE!

If you happen to stop by around lunch time, lunch will be on us as we will have sandwiches and water on hand from Subway.

This is going to be a special event and we are proud to bring it to the Bay Area. Don’t miss out stop by and see what we have done to HRO – Oakland.

January 2017 VHF Contest Results

From the July 2017 QST – -Your West Valley ARA Participants:

# Call Score QSOs Mult Class Section Grids Club Ops
1 N9DK/R 2,552 83 22 RL SCV 4 West Valley ARA N9DK KA4VBF
2 W6ESL/R 1,088 48 17 RL SCV 2 West Valley ARA
3 W6IA 264 21 8 FM SCV 1 West Valley ARA
4 AE6JV/R 65 9 5 RL SCV 2 West Valley ARA
Totals 3,969 161 52

Note that N9DK/R was first in the Pacific Division for Limited Rover,
and That N9DK/R and W6ESL/R were numbers 2 and 3 in the West Coast Region for Limited Rover

Tom W6ESL

Field Day June 24-25 2017

Field Day is ham radio’s open house.

Every June, more than 40,000 hams throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate ham radio’s science, skill and service to our communities and our nation. It combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. Field Day has been an annual event since 1933, and remains the most popular event in ham radio.