QUA CVARC. President s Message. Contents. Holiday Party There s still time to join in! Michelle for reservations!

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1 December 2015 QUA CVARC A Newsletter for the Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club SUBJECT Contents PAGE President s Message Tim Wheeler-K6POI The Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club is not alone among Not-For- Profit organizations with the problem of selecting effective leadership. President s Message 1 2 Holiday Party 1 Results of General Election, New BOD 2 Hugh Bosma Legacy Award Winner 3 Members Have Done 4 Members Are Doing 4 Members Are Planning (Calendar) 4 General Class License Training 5 Other Announcements 5 For Sale / Wanted 6 N6ZE Sweepstakes Results 6 9 General CVARC Information 10 QUA CVARC Newsletter Editor Norm Campbell-AB6ET radioab6et@verizon.net Members don t volunteer very readily for the positions of directors or committee chairs. What s even less motivating, perhaps, is that we are forbidden by the same law that licenses us from having any and all pecuniary interest in what we do! The good news is that social researchers of satisfaction and motivation in the workplace have found that it is not the promise of monetary reward that drives us but, instead, it s a set of very personal ambitions and values that fuels us much more forcefully. They are summarized into three categories The opportunity for achievement, To have a positive effect on one s environment, And to improve conditions for the world around us. Anyone who has experienced selfless volunteerism will tell you that Giving and Receiving are directly proportional an increase of one creates an increase for the other. Therefore, I applaud wholeheartedly those who do step up to serve any post for the CVARC. Continued on Page 2 Holiday Party There s still time to join in! Michelle for reservations! Mark-KK6IKX and Michelle-KK6RBW (kk6rbw@arrl.net) Don't miss out on our 2015 Holiday Party this Thursday, December 10th, 2015 at the Best Western Posada Royale Hotel & Suites in Simi Valley near Tierra Rejada Rd. and Madera Rd.! The event begins at 5:30 p.m. The cost is $18 per person and includes a salad of spring mix with cranberries and candied pecans, rolls, two carving stations (whole roasted turkey with gravy and cranberry sauce, and a beef station with au jus and horseradish sauce), three side dishes, and chef s choice dessert. We will be happy to take your reservations now, you make payment at the next CVARC meeting. Michelle today and join your fellow CVARC hams and family members for an evening of good cheer and camaraderie. QUA CVARC 1

2 President s Message, continued from Page 1 The Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club has just elected a very smart group of officers poised to keep the CVARC operating in good mental and fiscal health. They have responded to their inner voices that move them to achieve a positive effect on the CVARC and the world around us. Please treat them to your support and cooperation. Be thankful for them! Love them! Buy them a beer! OK, that last one was over the top, but you get the idea Appreciation is welcomed, and, SPOILER ALERT, it can be contagious. Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to serve CVARC as its President! It was a challenge that s caused growth for me, certainly, and the club, hopefully. Two vital instruments for CVARC s growth are a new Newsletter and a new Website to keep us current, to encourage new members, and to nurture established ones. Thanks, Cheers and Be Well, Tim K6POI Breaking News! CVARC Elects Board Members for 2016 Thank you to the outgoing board members, welcome to the new board. President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Publisher Education Coordinator Operations Coordinator Public Relations Coordinator Technical Coordinator Social Coordinator Members-At-Large Appointed: Web Masters Andy Ludlum-KI6NON Tim Wheeler-K6POI Eric Peterson-WB6PYK Christian Ylagan-K6CAY Norm Campbell-AB6ET (Open) Ben Herrera-W6JWZ Joe Sprissler-KJ6LXK Avi Carmi-K6AVI (Open) Charley Pember-KG6CLT Mark Horner-KK6IKX (One M-A-L open) Ben Herrera-W6JWZ Stu Sheldon-AG6AG QUA CVARC 2

3 First Annual Hugh Bosma Legacy Award Winner Announced The winner of the first annual Hugh Bosma Legacy Award has been announced. In keeping with the spirit and memory of Hugh Bosma (SK), Adrian Jarrett-K6KY was nominated by the board of directors and voted as the first to win the new award. The award is given in recognition of the special contributions a club member has made to amateur radio and CVARC through a commitment to teaching, mentoring and community service. Those of you who know Adrian can agree that he meets and exceeds the intent of the award. Those of you yet to meet Adrian will find that he is friendly, approachable and knowledgeable in many areas of ham radio and electronics. Do yourself a favor and put Adrian high on your Elmer list. Adrian s name has been engraved in the first position on the Hugh Bosma Legacy Award plaque which will be on display at club meetings. Congratulations Adrian! CVARC President Tim Wheeler-K6POI presents Adrian Jarrett-K6KY with the first Hugh Bosma Legacy Award >Are your radios charged? >Do you have the fittings needed to connect to various sources of power? >Do you have the adaptors needed to switch between different types of antenna connectors? QUA CVARC 3

4 Members Have Done The club meeting of November 19, 2015 was preceded by dinner with the guest speaker at the First Street Café in Simi attended by more than a dozen members. Later at the meeting, the Hugh Bosma Legacy Award winner was announced. Then the election of the new club officers took place. See the notices of both these activities in this newsletter. The evening was topped off by Eric Christensen-K6EJC from HRO who brought and showed us every kind of radio and gadget that any ham would love to have regardless of needing it or not. Members Are Doing Sunday nights, Newbie Net, 7 p.m., Bozo repeater (-127.3), all are welcome especially newer hams. Want to be net control? The procedure will be provided. Contact Todd-KD6RCM, kd6rcm@arrl.net. Tuesday nights, ARES/RACES net, 7 p.m., Bozo repeater. Wednesday nights, HF Roundtable, 7 p.m., ±, USB, all are welcome. Third Thursday, regular club meeting. (Not in December) Members Are Planning (Calendar) Dec 5 Skywarn Event NOAA Oxnard, Mark-KM6B, km6b@arrl.net Dec 10 CVARC Holiday Party See notice from Mark-KK6IKX and Michelle-KK6RBW. Dec 12 Camarillo Christmas Parade Stewart- KG6BOV@arrl.net Dec ARRL 10 Meter Contest Dec 13 Radio License VE Testing E. Co. Sheriff s Station, 8:30 a.m., Jeff, AA6JR@sbcglobal.net Dec 13 Santa to the Sea 1/2 Marathon Stewart- KG6BOV@arrl.net Dec 17 No regular club meeting No club meeting or board meeting due to Holiday Party Dec 20 Rookie Roundup-CW Jan 16, 2016 General Class Training starts See announcement. Zak-N6PK, n6pk@arrl.net Jan 21, 2016 CVARC Club Meeting East County Sheriff s Station, 7:30 p.m. Jan 23, 2016 Winter Mini Field Day? Discuss with Ben-W6JWZ, see announcement. Jan 30, 2016 Rabbit Run Details when available Feb 14, 2016 Radio License VE Testing E. Co. Sheriff s Station, 8:30 a.m., Jeff, AA6JR@sbcglobal.net Go to calendar tab for additional info on event links, contact person, location and times. The website home page indicates events occurring within the next week. Have a Story? Do you have a story, anecdote, project results, or other amateur radio related narrative to share with your fellow club members? Send it to me and I ll publish it. Concerned about composing, editing or proof reading? I ll help you with it. -Ed. QUA CVARC 4

5 COMING SOON...To a Website Near You Ben-W6JWZ and Stu-AG6AG are excited about the rollout of the new club website at CVARC.ORG which will be live and direct at the end of the month ready for the New Year. The beta test site is already in place as they test and tweak it to a new look with updated and timely information as well as things we need to know about the club and activities. Ben-W6JWZ will be the guest speaker at the January 21st meeting and will discuss the new website and other social media services where members can stay current with each other and the club. License Class Announced ZaK-N6PK and Tim-K6POI have announced that the next radio licensing class will start in January for five Saturdays which will focus on the General Class test. (January 16, 23, 30, February 6, 13) Classes will be at the Community Room of the East County Sheriff s Station beginning January 16, 2016, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Training ends the weekend of the VE testing session at the same location February 14. Follow up with ZaK-N6PK, n6pk@arrl.net for more information. TRW Swap Meet to Stay! As noted on the TRW radio club site and confirmed by the swap meet director, the TRW Swap Meet will continue to operate and remain at it's present location for the "foreseeable future." The monthly Mecca for hams is staying at its well known site in Redondo Beach on Aviation Blvd. near Rosecrans Ave. The threats of moving or closing have been held off and it s business as usual on the last Saturday of the month. Never been or haven t been there in a while? Organize a ham field trip and go. You never know what you will find. It s probably somewhere in the FCC rules and regulations that you have to go at least once a year or more often. Always the last Saturday of the month, rain or shine, 7 a.m to 11:30 a.m. Possible Winter Mini Field Day We need to get out and test our radios, power supplies, and hasty antennas under field conditions. When the rest of the country is under three feet of snow, we are under sunny skies and have no excuse not to be out of the house. The new Operations Coordinator, Ben-W6JWZ, is talking about organizing a mini field day in late January, maybe Saturday January 23. See him and discuss your ideas about this event. Have a Name Tag? Do you have a CVARC name tag? Wear it. Need a name tag? See the treasurer, Christian-K6CAY. There is usually a pile of them to be picked up at one of the back tables during a club meeting. Wearing your name tag and call sign at a meeting makes it a lot easier to strike up a conversation and have an eyeball QSO with someone you met on the radio but may not know otherwise. Wearing your name tag and call sign at a club event identifies you as a club member, a licensed ham, and an ambassador of good will for the club. Some clubs charge a friendly fine to members who do not wear their name tags at a meeting and the fine is then turned into one of the raffle prizes. Don t give the name tag police any ideas, we already have enough regulations, wear your name tag. QUA CVARC 5

6 Wanted Navy type flameproof hand key. Norm-AB6ET, N6ZE s Ramblings On ARRL SSB November 2015 Sweepstakes, Antennas, & Propagation For Newbies & Oldies Too! My excuses for a minimal effort and score in the ARRL s November 2015 SSB Sweepstakes were due to travel, family commitments, and onset of a cold. However, my 3.5 hour effort on Sunday afternoon of the contest period yielded some data which could be of use to local CVARCers. I use only a single standard multi-mode 100 watt HF transceiver. My HF antennae are quite minimal as compared to many other hams with access to good antenna farms & acreage! For the 40 meter band, I use a half wave NVIS dipole, lying on the ridge line of my one story ranch house, about 17 feet above ground level; it happens to be fed with elderly RG-58 coax. For the 20, 15, and 10 meter bands, my skyhook is an old Cushcraft R-5 vertical: it does NOT need radials for proper operation. Although conditions were not particularly good, I made 92 contacts without too much effort. 10 meters was virtually useless because the MUF barely made it up to 15 meters. When doing HF contesting from home, I normally try to use the highest frequency bands possible and avoid calling CQ. Hints: I tune up the band on 20, 15, & 10 meters and call stations that I figure that I can work without too much difficulty. If the band has lots of activity, joining a pileup of callers trying to work a domestic station is not usually productive because of the time involved. However working Yukon or Labrador Sections can be worth the effort. Tuning in USB signals from the low end of the band to the upper end of the band works well. Conversely, 40 LSB meter signals are easiest to tune by tuning from the top of the band downward. At 1 PM PST, no contesters were heard on 40 meters, although some nets were in progress. 10 meters was almost devoid of signals, but I heard lots of activity on both 15 meters & 20 meters. I made my first 40 meter contact with KV6O in CO at about 2 PM PST. About 2:45 PM, I worked a couple of AZ stations on 40 meters, but the majority of my QSOs were still on 15 meters & 20 meters. By 3 PM PST, I did not make any more QSOs on 15 meters, but 20 meters & 40 meters provided a bunch of QSOs & new Sections until I stopped operating at 5 PM PST. Note that local sunset occurred at 4:45 PM PST. Boldface log entries indicate QSOes that were accomplished after sunset for one or both stations. Conclusions: Small stations can participate in HF contests with decent success! By briefly studying propagation paths by examining location/frequency/time paths which are available in many i-phone apps, it is possible to learn which paths, to which places, are open at any time during a contest. By being familiar with characteristics of HF propagation, you will be ready to make long distance QSOs if/when the big one occurs. N6ZE s ARRL SSB Nov Sweepstakes Log follows: QUA CVARC 6

7 Band Date Time (UTC) Serial sent Call Serial Precedence Check Section 10 11/ KT4Q 893 B 90 NFL 10 11/ NF4A 157 U 62 NFL 15 11/ N8OO 1593 U 73 LA 15 11/ NR5M 1723 B 66 STX 15 11/ NC1I 1559 B 73 WMA 15 11/ N5RZ 506 B 69 WTX 15 11/ W0NO 1508 M 99 KS 15 11/ N0FCD 759 M 83 IL 15 11/ AF1T 1095 B 64 NH 15 11/ K5KG 153 B 57 WCF 20 11/ N1LN 1090 U 64 NC 20 11/ K1RX 661 B 63 NH 20 11/ N0XR 1327 U 87 IA 20 11/ K1OU 965 B 76 OH 15 11/ K1KNQ 650 A 59 NFL 15 11/ KC0W 1814 U 90 ND 15 11/ WE9V 730 U 87 WI 15 11/ K3WW 994 U 59 EPA 15 11/ K0MD 80 A 77 MN 15 11/ K2UF 554 B 55 ENY 15 11/ K5NZ 33 B 69 STX 15 11/ K5LLA 1060 U 58 STX 20 11/ K5TA 1442 B 66 NM 20 11/ K5TR 1436 B 65 STX 20 11/ K0TT 1206 B 67 MN 20 11/ K0EU 1723 U 70 CO 20 11/ NA1DX 1097 U 96 MDC 20 11/ K0OO 681 B 65 MDC 20 11/ N5ZC 1550 U 79 WTX 20 11/ K1KI 549 B 64 CT 20 11/ U1WB 348 B 89 MDC 20 11/ K1RZ 302 B 60 MDC 20 11/ VE3RX 270 A 71 ONN 20 11/ NU9L 1269 M 06 IL 40 11/ KV6O 226 U 03 CO 15 11/ K0VXU 837 B 59 KS 15 11/ K0GND 1176 M 56 NE QUA CVARC 7

8 Band Date Time (UTC) Serial sent Call Serial Precedence Check Section 15 11/ K0OU 1025 U 58 MO 15 11/22` VE6SV 1733 U 78 AB 15 11/ AD5XD 1165 B 94 NTX 20 11/ AA5B 1553 B 68 NM 20 11/ W7WA 1830 B 70 WWA 20 11/ K4TNX 275 M 97 TN 40 11/ KK7AC 664 A 92 AZ 40 11/ WA7NB 1086 B 74 AZ 15 11/ N0MA 1364 M 95 IA 15 11/ KH6LC 1343 A 66 PAC 15 11/ NT5V 801 U 69 NTX 15 11/ AE5GT 356 A 78 STX 20 11/ N7NKD 760 A 82 WY 20 11/ K4BAI 1009 B 54 GA 40 11/ KO6NO 149 A 95 EB 40 11/ N6MU 82 A 56 ORG 40 11/ K9CT 1227 U 67 IL 40 11/ K3MM 884 U 73 MDC 40 11/ W1PR 460 A 55 SB 40 11/ N7XCZ 333 B 92 NV 40 11/ NN5V 1273 M 09 NM 40 11/ N6JW 587 B 69 ORG 40 11/ W6PZ 1343 M 56 SF 40 11/ K6TD 903 M 70 SCV 40 11/ W6YI 2148 M 56 SDG 40 11/ K9WZB 1149 A 60 AZ 40 11/ KU2M 1531 B 66 NNJ 40 11/ WN6K 696 A 75 SDG 40 11/ W8TK 1201 M 59 AZ 40 11/ NC6B 333 U 02 SB 40 11/ WQ6X 223 U 69 EB 40 11/ N6JS 1056 B 77 EB 40 11/ W6AWW 323 U 88 LAX QUA CVARC 8

9 Band Date Time (UTC) Serial sent Call Serial Precedence Check Section 40 11/ W6AFA 875 B 75 LAX 20 11/ VA7RR 1333 A 73 BC 20 11/ K7CF 1147 B 60 ID 20 11/ KS7T 862 B 56 MT 20 11/ N6KL 83 A 71 CO 20 11/ K0HC 1221 S 97 KS 20 11/ K7RI 1333 M 62 WWA 20 11/ AL9A 416 U 78 AK 20 11/ K0DEQ 1253 B 55 MO 20 11/ K9BGL 1163 B 55 IL 20 11/ K2PO 1382 A 71 OR 20 11/ K7VAP 266 B 13 WWA 40 11/ K6TU 1246 U 73 SCV 40 11/ K5AM 225 B 48 NM 40 11/ K6LA 1456 B 65 LAX 40 11/ W6NL 1832 B 76 SCV 40 11/ WZ8P 1214 M 62 OH 40 11/ W4NF 186 U 75 VA 40 11/ WB4FDT 1033 U 67 MDC 40 11/ N4ZZ 1589 B 57 TN 40 11/ K6OK 383 U 09 SV 40 11/ N6NZ 1047 U 72 SJV 40 11/ N0XR 1488 U 87 IA 44 SECTIONS WORKED 10M: 2 QSO 15M: 25 QSO 20M: 32 QSO 40M: 34 QSO QSOS: 93 (WITH 1 DUPE) OPERATING TIME: ~3 1/ HOURS SCORE: 8096 Bt73 Pete Heins, N6ZE QUA CVARC 9

10 General information about the Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club, CVARC CVARC is a Special Service Club (SSC) The Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club is an ARRL affiliated Special Service Club. To be recognized by the ARRL as a Special Service Club, the club must regularly show that it is actively involved in certain areas, including: New Ham Development and Training, Public Relations, Emergency Communications, Technical Advancement, and Operating Activities. Meetings and Location Meetings are held on the third Thursday of every month, except December. The meeting location is the Community Room at the East County Sheriff Station, 2101 E. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks. Meetings start at 7:30 p.m. with a premeeting social and technical assistance session beforehand or as announced. Meetings are open to the public, and members are encouraged to bring friends. Visitors are always welcome at our monthly meetings, and we do not pressure newcomers to join. If, however, you would like to support the club and its activities by becoming a member then we will be pleased to have you join. CVARC Membership Rates The simplest way to join (or to renew) is to give a check bearing your name and address to the Treasurer in person or by mail. Make the check payable to CVARC and please put your call sign and address on the memo line. Current annual rates are: Regular Membership $25. Family Membership $30. Special discounts are available for new members (licensed in the last 12 months) $10. Full-time Students $10. Regular members renewing for multiple years $20/year. Family members renewing for multiple years $25/year. An application to join is found on the club website. Name, call sign, or address changes may be ed to the Treasurer. QUA CVARC QUA CVARC is the club newsletter published monthly, not later than the Monday preceding the CVARC club meeting, by the Conejo Valley Amateur Radio Club, AA6CV, PO Box 2093, Thousand Oaks, CA Opinions expressed in articles in this newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the club, its board, or its members. Tax Deductible Donations to CVARC CVARC is an IRS-certified 501(c)3 charitable organization and donations are deductible pursuant to IRS rules. If you have working radio equipment or ancillary equipment that you can and wish to donate to the club, please contact one of the board members and we will be happy to talk to you about the process to help fund and grow CVARC. We cannot accept certain donations, and have to place some restrictions on them such as, no hazardous materials, nothing we could not sell, etc. If you are interested in donating, contact any board member at a meeting or via . Many companies will either grant or match employee s gifts to non-profit organizations like CVARC. Please determine if your company is among these and contact a board member for more details. For the current list of CVARC officers together with their contact information, please visit the club s web-site at You may view past newsletters on the website. QUA CVARC 10