March 18th – Join us for the first FRC net in a long time!

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.

February 19th Meeting Program

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…

January 15 Meeting Program

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.

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  • 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.

 

 

November 20 Meeting

Jackie staring at the cameraTom 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. Shadow and Jackie 2020 just after eggs laid 1Update 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.

October 16 Meeting Program

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.

September 18th Meeting Program

The program for the regular meeting this month will be a DVD titled, “The Spies Who Lost the Battle of Britain: The Story of British Radar and How the Germans Nearly Discovered It.”
Despite the somewhat confusing title, this DVD is mostly about the Chain Home radar system Britain used to find invading German bomber aircraft at the start of WWII and thereby direct their fighter aircraft.
The Chain Home radar system used low-frequency pulsed broadcast transmitters and huge antennas in many locations. There was a vast infrastructure of (entirely manual, before any computers) plotting boards and command personnel to make the Chain Home system work–and it did work. This was before the development of microwave radar and the klystron microwave tube.
The Chain Home radar system used transmitters pulsed at 25 Hz, half the British electrical mains power system. The Germans flew missions to try to understand the purpose of the large tower antenna arrays but were thwarted by the pulse frequency, which they interpreted as noise from the mains power lines and thus failed to understand the Chain Home system, which German bombers could easily have demolished. Instead, the Germans decided to not waste resources on the big tower antennas and, many believe, effectively lost the Battle of Britain.

August 21 Meeting – Trails of Fullerton (antennas too!)

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.

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July 17th Meeting – Field Day Review

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.

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June Meeting Speaker – Joe Moell K0OV

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.

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May Meeting Speaker – Joe Moell K0OV

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.

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2019 Antennas in the Park

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.

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