Fullerton Radio Club held our second 2 meter 3/25 at 7:30 pm.

K6QEH Repeater Fullerton

146.970- MHz PL 136.5 Hz

Casual roundtable format.

Join us next week and we’ll do it again.

In light of the recent recommendations regarding social distancing, the March 18 program at the Chapman Activity Center has been cancelled. But social distancing does not mean we can’t socialize.

Instead of meeting at the Chapman Activity Center, let’s meet on the air instead.

Date and time: Wednesday, March 18. Time: 7 pm. (Regular club meeting time).

Repeater: K6QEH (Raytheon, Fullerton)
Frequency: 146.970- MHz PL: 136.5 Hz

Bob Houghton, AD6QF will serve as net control. We will follow a roundtable format.

Tentative discussion topics are how club members are dealing with the social distancing changes, finding out what bands and modes people have access to, and considering the best way(s) for us to continue to socialize as a club in light of the current conditions.

All hams are welcome.

Dave Gorin KB6BXD will talk to us about OCHEART (Orange County Hospital Emergency Amateur Radio Team). OCHEART is the newly-formed ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) group that will be supporting hospitals in Orange County. More details coming…

Carl Gardenias WU6D, our ARRL Orange Section Manager will be our January speaker. Carl’s presentation will be on the subject of building club membership.

• Carl has been in Amateur Radio since 1969, but at age 10 started with crystal radios and shortwave listening
• Carl is our ARRL Orange Section Manager since 2003
• Special appointment by the Ad Hoc Planning Committee of the ARRL in 2002
• Base MARS Director during service to his country, Air Force
• Amateur Radio Instructor, VE both ARRL & W5YI
• Past Scout Master, Arrowhead Council Scoutmaster training coordinator, & Indian guides/princesses YMCA nation chief
• Chair of the International DX Convention 10 years.
• Past president and current director of the So. Calif. DX Club
• Carl lives in Perris with his wife Cathy K6VC where they share a hamshack and a variety of antennas that they have built and tested with friends. Their latest project has been a 160m two vertically phased antennas.

Come join us at our annual Fullerton Radio Club Holiday Dinner.

Festivities start at 6 p.m. at the Black Bear Diner.

Tom Gaccione (not pictured) will be our speaker this month. He will be talking about the recently installed Wildfire alerting system, how it works, and how we will use it to guide fire response and simulate/ plan for future firefighting. He’ll then diverge slightly and talk about wildlife in the Big Bear area and, as it’s all tied together, an update on some renewable energy systems. Update 1/14/20: Since Tom’s presentation, Jackie and Shadow got hitched and Jackie has laid two eggs. Tom claims they will hatch Valentine’s Day. He must be a hopeless romantic.

The program for the regular meeting this month will be a DVD titled, Big. Fast. Deadly. Titan II.

This documentary describes the Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile and its underground launch complex. There is a tour of one complex in Arizona now a museum and a focus on the electronic controls and communications capability therein. One interesting aspect described is a completely underground antenna system. Above ground security and intruder detection and how these systems reacted to desert wildlife are described. This Titan II museum is active today and available for visitors to tour.

This month, Walter Clark will talk about his website that illustrates the 28 miles of trails in Fullerton. There’s history involved as well as descriptions that should inspire you to walk these trails. If you now walk the trails, you have probably gotten in the habit of always walking the same trails. This website and the short examples in the slide show, will inspire you to try out some of the other trails that Fullerton offers. That’s the generic part. Since this talk is targeted for hams, it will be customized for FRC by showing photographs of antennas that occupy the high places in Fullerton and other things of interest to the engineering type.

Field Day 2019 is over. Join us this month for a discussion about our recent Field Day activity at Hillcrest Park. Let’s talk about what we did right and what we might want to change for next year. If you participated in Field Day, come share your perspective. If you missed the event come and find out how you can contribute next year.

Joe Moell K0OV is back again this month, with the second half of his field day extravaganza:

This month’s program is “So You Think You Know Field Day!” by Joe Moell K0OV. It’s your chance to brush up on the FD rules and hear about our plans to have the best Field Day ever at the Izaac Walton Cabin at Hillcrest Park. After attending this meeting, you will be ready to sit down at a FD station and operate or log like a pro. If there’s time, you might see some bloopers from FRC Field Days of the past.

Joe Moell K0OV has participated in ARRL Field Day almost every year since he was a Novice in 1958.  Follow Joe and his friends in this multi-media presentation as they operate from an airport, an AM radio station, a WPA camp, hospitals, and a dam site.  See and hear it at the next Fullerton Radio Club meeting on Wednesday, May 15, 2019 and then make your plans to participate in the club’s Field Day operation in June.

Between Amateur Radio Direction Finding (ARDF), QRP CW, 40 meter SSB, food, and good company, this year’s Antennas in the Park was a lot of fun. We had over 40 people attend, including some folks we had not met before (but hope to see again). Here are a few pictures.

Every spring, hams in north Orange County organize an outdoor day where they operate radios, find hidden transmitters and eat lots of good food.  The annual “Antennas In The Park” (AITP) event is organized by the Fullerton Radio Club.  This year, AITP will take place at Hillcrest Park in Fullerton on Saturday, May 4.

The AITP foxhunt is in celebration of the twenty-first annual CQ Worldwide Foxhunting Weekend.  All ages are welcome, so bring the family.  AITP transmitter hunts are simple and informal.  They are suitable for beginners, but more advanced hunters can treat them as a “sprint.”  There will be no charge for participation in the hunts, which will begin around 10:30 AM and continue until 2 PM.  Be sure to bring your two-meter handi-talkie and know how to program it to any frequency in the two-meter band.

If you don’t have the antenna/attenuator system for on-foot foxhunting on two meters with your ham radio handi-talkie or scanner, a limited amount of equipment will be available for loan.  Better yet, you can easily make your own during this session.  Beginning at 10 AM, Marvin Johnston KE6HTS will conduct a clinic for building his kits for measuring-tape yagis and for 90 dB offset-type attenuators.  An assembled/tested attenuator in a special housing that goes inside the boom of the yagi is also available.  If you want one or more kits, please register in advance by sending e-mail to marvin@west.net, so he will have the kits reserved in your name waiting for you.

It takes about an hour to put the antenna and attenuator kits together with tools and soldering irons that will be provided.  If you’re not an electronic technician, don’t worry because there will be plenty of experts to help you.  Then with your HT and the kitbuilt equipment, you will be all set to hunt.

In addition to the two-meter band, international ARDF championships also include an 80-meter band event.  At least one optional 80m transmitter will be on the air for you to try.

Besides the transmitter hunts, Fullerton Radio Club members are expected to have at least one HF station on the air and to fly some radio-controlled aircraft.  There will be a barbecue at lunchtime with burgers, hot dogs and soft drinks.  A $5 donation per person is requested if you want to take part in the barbecue.  The traditional Worldwide Foxhunting Weekend cake will be served to participants in the transmitter hunts.  A few canopies and tables will be set up, but for eating and sitting around, please bring your own lawn chair.

Hillcrest Park in Fullerton is bounded on the west by Harbor Boulevard, on the north by Brea Boulevard, on the east by Lemon Street and on the south by Valley View Drive.  From the 91 Freeway, take the Harbor Boulevard exit and go north about 1.8 miles to Valley View Drive.

We will gather at the Izaak Walton Cabin in the southwest area of the park.  You can park in the lot north of Valley View, midway between Harbor and Lemon.  Look for the orange and white orienteering flag at the entrance to the parking lot.  Walk north through the playground into the lower picnic area and then west up the hill to the cabin.  You can also drive the one way road through the park and park in the lot north or the cabin or along the road northeast of the cabin.  Talk-in is on K6QEH/R, 146.97(-) PL 136.5.

73,
Joe Moell K0OV – ARRL ARDF Coordinator – http://homingin.com/index.html