Radio on the High Seas

Richard Dillman, W6AWO
Maritime Historical Radio Society

Richard speaks about the history of radio on the high seas with a slide show of photos and a stirring and melodramatic narration.

We had $1,200 in prizes for the banquet raffle. The major prizes include a Yaesu FT-857D HF/VHF/UHF (100W HF, DSP, and 60M band), and a Powerwerx KG-UV3D/UHF (Dual band HT 2M/70cm). Click banquet for all the details.

Bio:

First licensed in 1958 I'm now a proud founding member of the Maritime Radio Historical Society (MRHS). We're dedicated to the preservation of the skills, traditions and lore of maritime radio through the operation of coast station KSM, the first new commercial coast station in decades. Our objective to to acknowledge, honor and commemorate the men and women who made the profession of radiotelegrapher one of honor and skill both ashore and afloat.

See also: K6KPH, club station of the Maritime Radio Historical Society http://www.radiomarine.org

Balloons and the California Near Space Project

Ron Meadows, K6RPT and Don Ferguson, KD6IRE

Ron and Don are active members of the California Near Space Project http://www.californianearspaceproject.com/.

Ron and his son Lee have been outfitting balloons with high tech electronics since 2009. They have put GPS, APRS, cameras and crossband repeaters on balloons filled with hydrogen and helium.

In 2011 they set new records for both altitude and distance, beating US government agency records. The records were confirmed by the use of onboard GPS, and balloons were tracked by their APRS transmissions. They were featured in two stories on ARRL's web site at http://www.californianearspaceproject.com/arrl_cnsp-10.html and http://www.californianearspaceproject.com/arrl_cnsp-11.html.

The first record was in October 2011, when Ron's tenth balloon, CNSP-10, reached a record altitude of 136,545 feet. That's 26 miles up! Two months later, in December, their eleventh balloon, CNSP-11, cruised as high as 115,000 feet as it crossed the United States, then the Atlantic Ocean. It was tracked by a Nova Scotia coastal station to the limit of reception before it's signal was lost to the noise. Then the faint signal was picked up from the island of St. Miguel in the Azores. Stations around the world tuned to listen to the little balloon from Silicon Valley as it headed toward Europe. The balloon eventually landed in the Mediterranean Sea, a whopping distance of 6,236 miles!

Come and hear the exciting story of these amazing feats of Amateur Radio and ballooning.

Bio:

Ron Meadows is an active member of the California Near Space Project.

He is a business owner who owns and operates a professional pool and equipment maintenance company in San Jose.

---

Don Ferguson moved to California in 1976 and worked for IBM for 34 years. He became an Amateur Radio operator in 1992. His primary radio interests are in T-Hunting and Amateur Satellites. He is the President and CEO of Project OSCAR Inc. and is the team leader of "Tracking and Recovery" for the California Near Space Project.

Don and his wife Linda, KE6BEO, take part in monthly Bay Area T-Hunts. They have setup and hosted Elementary School contacts with the International Space Station astronauts. Don hosts the Echo/IRLP node for the W6RLW California state-wide repeater system on 1.2 GHz.

Rethinking Field Day Outside the Box

Jim Peterson, K6EI

Jim shares some ideas on how clubs can boost Field Day innovation, participation, and outreach—and have more fun in the process.

Bio:

Jim Peterson, K6EI, has been a licensed radio amateur for over 40 years and enjoys CW, contesting, and operating portable.

He considers Field Day the high point of the year. FARS members will remember Jim's popular talks at past FARS meetings on “Rethinking Field day Outside the Box” March 2012, "Operating QRP" June 2006, "Commercial Antenna Shoot Out" February 2004, and "Zen and the Art of Top Band Operating" April 2003.

Brewing Projects the Arduino Way

Umesh Ghodke, K6VUG, and Nimit Hongyim, K6XOX

Umesh and Nimit will focus on home brew projects using Arduino microcontrollers, a versatile system with many interesting applications. Their presentations will provide a deeper understanding of the Arduino microcontroller and how it can be used to make exciting and fun home-brew projects. Tonight's presentations are timely and will prepare you to understand projects featured at the 2012 Maker Faire coming up on May 19-20.

Umesh Ghodke, K6VUG, will show a light weight portable rotator for satellite antenna, consisting of two RC Servo Motors for accurate Azimuth and Elevation positioning of the antenna. An Arduino Pro Mini controls the servos in response to commands from a Satellite Tracking program. A live A/V recording of the this project can be seen at http://www.sbara.org/downloads/Antenna_Positioning_System_with_Arduino/AO27_live_tracking.wmv.

Nimit Hongyim, K6XOX, will show two projects that he built based on Arduino Bootloader: (1) A custom-made APRS Tiny Tracker from Opensource. Nimit will show the schematic and explain how it works; and (2) a Geiger Counter interfaced for APRS packet transmission. Nimit will talk about the kit and show the demo board. Nimit will also talk about using Proteus Software for schematic capture and board layout for PCB design. He will show how Proteus makes PCB design and fabrication simple.

Bio:

Umesh was first licensed in 1978 and worked his way through vacuum tube radios to the compact modern radios and from CW to SSTV. He finds digital modes adding an exciting new aspect to the hobby. As an Electrical Engineer as well as a hobbyist,

Umesh enjoys building different kinds of antennas, building radio to computer interfaces, trying out new modes and sharing these experiences with others. Helping others enjoy the hobby is what Umesh does the best that he can do, to the advantage of all who have learned from him. As a member of the Fremont ARES/CERT/RACES, Umesh likes constructing compact portable radio kits for emergency communications. For additional information about Umesh, K6VUG, see his QRZ web page at www.qrz.com/db/k6vug.

---

My first Call sign was ..HS1IFU.. License from Bangkok, Thailand.

More Info: http://facebook.com/k6xox

Currently resided back to THAILAND as HS1IFU

Operate HF in Thailand - 7.128 MHz

If you are planing to visit Thailand please give me a call +66 81 963 9422 (Thailand Cell) or Google Voice (408) 461-9422

I would be happy to help for reciprocal call sign.

Nimit came to the U.S. in the 2000's and was a member of FARS and on the FARS Board in 2008 and 2009. He returned to Thailand to work on his doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering. He still holds his Thai license (HS1IFU) and his US license (K6XOX).

73
Nimit

Stub Filter Design Beyond the Simple Trap

Steve Stearns, K6OIK

Just in time for Field Day, Steve, K6OIK shows how to design stub filters. Stub filters are easy to build from coax and T connectors and are a great DIY project for Field Day operations. The filters are also well suited for stripline and microstrip implementations at UHF and above. Steve shows a simple way to design filters graphically on a Smith chart that is intuitive and easy to explain without math, by extending graphical principles for match network design.

The resulting filters outperform the classic single stub trap. Steve will show a synthesis procedure for “3-frequency, 2-stub filters.” In this construction, two frequencies are designated as “pass” frequencies and one is designated as a “stop” frequency. The frequencies may be in any order, i.e. the stop frequency can be below, between, or above the pass frequencies. The construction is done graphically on the Smith chart - no math is required. Other combinations are also possible, e.g., two stop frequencies and one pass frequency.

Bio:

HF phone: Golden Bear Amateur Radio Net, 3,975 kHz LSB at 1900 Pacific time daily.

E-Mail: k6oik AT arrl.net

Articles: /docs/k6oik

Steve Stearns, K6OIK, started in ham radio while in high school at the height of the Heathkit era. He holds an FCC Amateur Extra and a commercial General Radio Operator license with Radar endorsement. He previously held Novice, Technician, and 1st Class Radiotelephone licenses.

He studied electrical engineering at California State University Fullerton, the University of Southern California, and Stanford, specializing in electromagnetic theory, communication, engineering and signal processing.

Steve worked at Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory in San Jose, California. He retired as a Northrop Grumman Technical Fellow.

Steve is serving as vice-president of the Foothills Amateur Radio Society, and served previously as assistant director of ARRL Pacific Division. He has over 100 professional publications and presentations and ten patents. Steve has received numerous awards for professional and community volunteer activities.

A Stub Filter for SSB and CW Operation on the Same Band

Steve Stearns, K6OIK

Continuing his exploration of stub filters for interference rejection, Steve considers a practical stub filter for separating CW and SSB operation on the same band. Such filters may be very helpful for multitransmitter operation when transmitters are crowded close together.

Bio:

HF phone: Golden Bear Amateur Radio Net, 3,975 kHz LSB at 1900 Pacific time daily.

E-Mail: k6oik AT arrl.net

Articles: /docs/k6oik

Steve Stearns, K6OIK, started in ham radio while in high school at the height of the Heathkit era. He holds an FCC Amateur Extra and a commercial General Radio Operator license with Radar endorsement. He previously held Novice, Technician, and 1st Class Radiotelephone licenses.

He studied electrical engineering at California State University Fullerton, the University of Southern California, and Stanford, specializing in electromagnetic theory, communication, engineering and signal processing.

Steve worked at Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory in San Jose, California. He retired as a Northrop Grumman Technical Fellow.

Steve is serving as vice-president of the Foothills Amateur Radio Society, and served previously as assistant director of ARRL Pacific Division. He has over 100 professional publications and presentations and ten patents. Steve has received numerous awards for professional and community volunteer activities.

Amateur Radio Satellite Beacons

Anthony Young

Anthony Young talks about his experience with satellite operations and the use of the Amateur Radio beacons on small triple cubesats. The satellites carried Amateur Radio beacons that transmitted telemetry signals on Amateur UHF frequencies. The telemetry signals reported satellite status, which enabled ground receivers to monitor satellite health. The missions provided the opportunity for the greater Amateur Radio community to assist in satellite reporting.

Hobbies

Steve Stearns, K6OIK

Steve talks about a new, advanced antenna modeling program, just released in June 2012, that is priced low enough for serious amateur antenna modelers. The price is $162 to $210 depending on where you buy it.

The program is like WIPL-D Lite but improved with a better computational architecture having fast in-core and out-of-core solvers and a professional user interface. The program is called HOBBIES, an acronym for “Higher Order Basis Based Integral Equation Solver.”

The program comes on a CD with the instruction manual published by Wiley, 2012, ISBN 1118140656. A link to the software is on FARS web site in the software section http://www.fars.k6ya.org/others#Software.

Bio:

HF phone: Golden Bear Amateur Radio Net, 3,975 kHz LSB at 1900 Pacific time daily.

E-Mail: k6oik AT arrl.net

Articles: /docs/k6oik

Steve Stearns, K6OIK, started in ham radio while in high school at the height of the Heathkit era. He holds an FCC Amateur Extra and a commercial General Radio Operator license with Radar endorsement. He previously held Novice, Technician, and 1st Class Radiotelephone licenses.

He studied electrical engineering at California State University Fullerton, the University of Southern California, and Stanford, specializing in electromagnetic theory, communication, engineering and signal processing.

Steve worked at Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory in San Jose, California. He retired as a Northrop Grumman Technical Fellow.

Steve is serving as vice-president of the Foothills Amateur Radio Society, and served previously as assistant director of ARRL Pacific Division. He has over 100 professional publications and presentations and ten patents. Steve has received numerous awards for professional and community volunteer activities.

FARS Annual Homebrew Contest

This is your time to shine. Bring your amateur radio project to this meeting to show and describe to our audience. Everyone has a few minutes to explain and describe her/his project. Then the audience votes on the best ones to award prizes. The following prizes are awarded:

$40	First Prize
$30	Second Prize
$20	Third Prize
$10	Fourth Prize

Equipment for the Shack & Extreme Receivers

Mikel Lechner, KN6QI & Steve Stearns, K6OIK

Mikel talks about some basic equipment for your radio station, how it works, and how to use it.

Steve talks about receivers that ace out the competition in particular characteristics. Find out which receivers push the envelope of receiver capabilities, but why this isn't always a good thing.

Bio:

HF phone: Golden Bear Amateur Radio Net, 3,975 kHz LSB at 1900 Pacific time daily.

E-Mail: k6oik AT arrl.net

Articles: /docs/k6oik

Steve Stearns, K6OIK, started in ham radio while in high school at the height of the Heathkit era. He holds an FCC Amateur Extra and a commercial General Radio Operator license with Radar endorsement. He previously held Novice, Technician, and 1st Class Radiotelephone licenses.

He studied electrical engineering at California State University Fullerton, the University of Southern California, and Stanford, specializing in electromagnetic theory, communication, engineering and signal processing.

Steve worked at Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory in San Jose, California. He retired as a Northrop Grumman Technical Fellow.

Steve is serving as vice-president of the Foothills Amateur Radio Society, and served previously as assistant director of ARRL Pacific Division. He has over 100 professional publications and presentations and ten patents. Steve has received numerous awards for professional and community volunteer activities.

---

Amateur radio interests include: operating PSK31, QRP CW on 40 meters, 2-meter / 440Mhz FM, packet, and packet satellites, and building homebrew equipment and kits.

Holiday Shopping Items Every Ham Needs

Staff of Sunnyvale HRO

The Sunnyvale HRO staff share with us some of the most popular products and deals for the holiday season.

Bio:

Howard became a silent key on December 7, 2015.

Digital Amateur Television (DATV): A Primer and Use Cases

Joel Wilhite, KD6W

What is digital television and what are the use cases for amateur radio? Joel Wilhite KD6W answers these questions and demonstrates transmission and reception of DATV. This presentation is an expanded version of Joel's popular presentation at ARRL Pacificon.

Bio:

Joel Wilhite, KD6W, works professionally in digital video industry. Joel is the Broadcast Solutions Manager at Harmonic Inc., a local company that makes equipment for digital video compression and transport.

Joel has presented papers at NAB and IEEE Broadcast Technology Society. Joel is also Technical Coordinator and a director of the Palo Alto Amateur Radio Association (PAARA).

Joel has been a force in getting Bay Area radio amateurs to migrate from ATV to DATV. One proud result for Bay Area hams is that Mt. Diablo (W6CX) is the first DATV station in the nation to run 3 channels (4-MHz QPSK) using an advanced state-of-the-art technique called Statistical Time-Division Multiplexing (Stat-Mux). Now that’s a mouthful!