February Virtual Membership Meeting

Our February 9 presentation will be “12 grams Around the World: Picoballoons and Radiosondes”.  Bryan Klofas will discuss launching high-altitude picoballoons from Berkeley with the goal of floating around the world, and tracking radiosondes launched from Oakland Airport.

Bryan KF6ZEO got his Technician license back in high school, and was a WVARA member until he went off to college. He studied Electrical Engineering at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo, and was the president of the Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club. He now works on satellite ground stations. 

January Virtual Membership Meeting

The next monthly WVARA meeting will be at 7pm on Wednesday, January 12, via Zoom.  Zoom instructions have been sent via WVARA reflector and can likewise be obtained by contacting K6EI — his email is available via QRZ.
Hope to see you there!
Jim, K6EI
WVARA Vice President

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Tim Duffy, K3LR

Our January 12 presentation will be everything you might want to know about grounding and bonding — critical knowledge for reducing RFI in your shack.  Tim will show us examples of what not to do, examples of proper installations, and the how they are put together.
Tim Duffy, K3LR, has been an active amateur radio operator for 48 years – starting as WN3SZX in 1972.  He has hosted 145 different operators from around the world as part of the K3LR Multi operator radio sport contest efforts since 1992. Tim has built a 13 tower station with 11 operating positions. He was the ARRL Atlantic Division Technical Achievement award winner in 1998. 

WVARA Holiday Party

When:  11am – 1pm, Saturday, December 18

Where:  Sunnyvale’s Baylands Park, near Pickleweed Place

(Sunnyvale doesn’t take reservations during the winter, and so all picnic areas are on a first-come-first-served basis.  We plan to be at a picnic site near Pickleweed.)

There won’t be an evening WVARA meeting in December.  Instead, we are having a Holiday BBQ.  Our location includes multiple tables, grill, and an AC outlet.  We’ll have hot charcoal and condiments — please bring your own meat to grill.

And of course, the WVARA tradition of a Holiday Raffle is good to go.   Santa Claus (better known as club treasurer Russ WD9DD) is making arrangements for some great door prizes at the BBQ.  So be there or be square! 

BTW, let me know if you are interested in volunteering to set up a VHF station for event coordination through the WVARA repeater 

– Jim, K6EI

WVARA’s Winter Field Day Team: 2019

If you’ve enjoyed Field Day with WVARA, then you should definitely join WVARA’s Winter Field Day team! WVARA’s next meeting will be on Nov 10 and will include a presentation on Winter Field Day by Steve Sergeant, KC6ZKT. Steve will present our plans for WVARA’s Winter Field Day participation on January 29-30. Winter Field Day is an emergency communications exercise focused on providing communications services in some of our area’s most challenging conditions. Our WVARA team will be operating from a 2,840’ hilltop in Henry W. Coe State Park east of Morgan Hill, where we had a great time and scored some impressive points in 2019! You can learn more about WFD at [ https://www.winterfieldday.com/ ].

Steve Sergeant is a third-generation ham. Originally licensed Novice class in 1972, his licensed expired and later in 1991 he was granted KC6ZKT as a Technician, and has since upgraded to Extra. Steve has a long career in audio engineering for professional and later consumer audio system integration. He currently works at Dolby Laboratories as an Applications Engineer. Steve is on the boards of the WVARA and the Nature Sounds Society. He is also a volunteer backpacking instructor for the Sierra Club, and a Uniformed Volunteer for California State Parks.This WVARA meeting will be at 7pm on Wednesday, Nov 10, via Zoom. Zoom instructions have been sent via WVARA reflector and can likewise be obtained by contacting K6EI — his email is available via QRZ.

November 10th Virtual Meeting & Elections

Dear WVARA Members:
   This is a reminder that the club will be holding its annual elections at the next virtual meeting on November 10, 2021, at 7pm.   Please refer to the October edition of the “Heterodyne” for information on the open positions and candidates.
   

At the present time we have one candidate for each open office so, unless there are any objections raised during the meeting, the plan is to simply take a voice vote of members in attendance at the meeting to either accept or reject the entire slate of proposed officers and directors.  In the past, when the club was able to meet in person for elections, there was always a provision for “write-in” candidates so, if you wish to run for an office or write-in a candidate for a particular office, please contact election committee chair KK6VF at <<kk6vf@earthlink.net>> before November 10th. 
   

If you wish to participate in the election of club officers and directors please join the meeting on November 10th.  Zoom meeting details will be sent out shortly. 
  73, Mark W6IA  WVARA Secretary

Outdoor Swap Meet, October 3rd

Greetings, All,

By popular demand, the Santa Cruz County Amateur Radio Club will host one more outdoor SWAP MEET.  Mark your calendars for: Sunday, October 31 8am-1pm.

Parking lot next to the Club Repeater Station in Upper DeLaveaga Park, near Shakespeare Santa Cruz.

• Fox Hunt at 10am
• Complimentary Continental Breakfast and BBQ lunch, donations accepted to benefit CZU Fire Radio Operators

Free Admission Vendor space is free but bring your own table or tarp to display your goods, and shade canopy if desired. Open to all.
Rain cancels the event.
Questions?Call Becky (831) 685-2915 and leave a message.

73, Becky KI6TKB

October Membership Meeting

This month’s WVARA meeting will be at 7pm on Wednesday, October 13, via Zoom.

Our Oct 13 presentation will be Summits On The Air with Rex Vokey, KE6MT.  Rex is will cover the basics of SOTA as well as some tips and tricks for those operating either at home or in the field.  He’ll also give a short report on his recent first-activation of a backcountry summit called Parker Peak.

Rex is the California (W6) Association Manager for Summits on the Air and has been a ham since 2015.  He gets out to do summits big and small whenever he can, operating both QRP and portable QRO (100 watts) from mountaintops.

September Membership Meeting

This month’s WVARA meeting will be at 7pm on Wednesday, Sept 8, via Zoom.

Our speaker will be Dean Wood, N6DE, who will update us on the latest changes to the California QSO Party. This very fun event occurs the first weekend in October. Dean will likewise cover the various ways that WVARA members can have fun participating in this great contest. 

When not contesting, Dean works as a hardware design engineer for networking companies in Silicon Valley. Dean’s involvement with WVARA spans two decades, with responsibilities including past WVARA President, Vice President, Secretary, Board Member, Field Day Coordinator, Flea Market helper, meeting presenter, and other things I’ve forgotten.
-Jim, K6EI

BBQ This Saturday, August 21

When: 11am – 1pm, Saturday, Aug 21

Where: Sunnyvale’s Baylands Park, Pickleweed Place #1(When you get to Baylands Park, turn right after going through the main gate.)

There is an entry fee per car at Baylands Park, so you may prefer to carpool. We’ll have hot charcoal and condiments, please bring your own meat to grill and maybe something to share.

And regarding COVID/Delta — even though we’ll be outdoors, some of our members may be immunocompromised so please bring a mask and practice social distancing as appropriate.

– Jim, K6EI

W6PIY