Longmont Amateur Radio Club-LARC

Serving the Longmont Colorado Community!

“The mission of the Longmont Amateur Radio Club is to promote, support, and lead amateur radio activities in a manner that honors and exemplifies the radio amateur’s code, builds camaraderie within our membership, and serves our community’s needs.”

Club Events

Another LARC Fox Hunt

Fox Hunt May 27, 2023 – Save the Date

The next Fox Hunt will be Saturday, May 27th at 9AM until 12PM. – Meet at Golden Ponds Parking Lot
The Fox will be located somewhere in Golden Ponds Park at and will be transmitting on 146.565 MHz!

2651 3rd Avenue
Longmont, CO 80503

Team up with a friend(s). Get your equipment ready and come out for a couple hours of friendly competition as to who is the first to find the hidden 2 meter transmitter. 

Those of you who participated in the recent “Tape Measure Yagi” building event have the primary antenna needed to participate. 

I participated in the hunt on March 26 It was the 1st I have been in in a long time. I learned a lot. With tongue in cheek, I am reminded on 2 old sayings. The old cowboy saying “don’t bring a knife to a gun fight” and the Boy Scout slogan “Be Prepared”. 

There are 2 stages to a Fox Hunt. 1) Go in the right direction when you are miles away” and 2) lower the signal strength when you get close.

Your 3 (or 4 or 5…) element portable Yagi will get you going in the right direction- sort-of. The front to side ratio on a yagi is high, but the front to back ratio is not a lot. So, you may end up going 180 degrees in the wrong direction. If you want, work with a team in a 2nd car, starting at the opposite end of the area and triangulate.

When you get close, the signal becomes so strong that your s-meter is pegged no matter how you point your yagi. One of the good features of FM is that the audio doesn’t change much with signal strength. For Fox Hunts, that good feature is a bad feature. 

So, when you get close, you want to make the signal weaker so that your yagi is more likely to point you in the right direction. An attenuator (like https://www.qrpkits.com/attenuator.html ) will help you go the last mile or so

When you get within 100 yards of the fox, your Yagi will be of little use. And, even your stock “rubber ducky” will receive too much signal. You will want to switch to a tiny stub antenna – an inch or 2 of wire. 

For those who really want to win, for the long distance step try https://www.iz3mez.it/wp-content/library/appunti/Double-Ducky%20Direction%20Finder.pdf . For the final 100 yards, try http://www.utaharc.org/rptr/wdr_fsm1.html 

See you at the hunt! More specific info to come soon!

For more information on the hunt contact Ed (WA7EM) at ejmohrman@yahoo.com

Join Us Tonight (Tuesday) for our Hamlet Net!

Our Hamlet Net is an educational net that’s geared for newbies to the hobby, and everyone else too! You are invited to join us on our repeaters at 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm every Tuesday evening to check in, listen to an educational presentation, give your comments and/or opinions, and ask any questions you may have. We hope to hear you on the air!

For our repeater information, go to https://w0eno.org/tuesday-hamlet-net/.

Foxhunt – This Saturday, Mar 26th

Did you participate in the recent LARC Yagi antenna building activity? If so, here’s your chance to try out that new antenna (and if not, you can still join on in the fun, even if you only have an HT and rubber duck antenna)!

Sebastian Wessels, NS0W, a former vice-president of LARC, is running a fox hunt this Saturday, March 26th. Here is his announcement of the event:

I decided to run a Fox Hunt this weekend as there seems to be renewed interest in the club. I did a test deployment today and I could copy the Fox with my mobile setup south of 17th, between Airport on the west and Lashley on the east. I did not check the south boundary but I am sure you should be able to hear it all the way to Pike.

I am planning to do this on Saturday, March 26 from 2PM sharp, till 4pm. The frequency is 147.495. It is an FM signal with beeps every second or so for 30 secs and then my call, NS0W in CW, and then it turns off for 30 sec and repeats the cycle.

The fox is an ammo can that will be at ground level. I will attach some kind of password to the top. It will be in an publicly accessible area, but will obviously be hidden behind a bush or something similar. This should be an easy hunt, but be ready for your receiver to be swamped when you get close. You will need some kind of attenuation.

Please record the time, location and “Password” and send it to radio@swessels.org. I will ask Chuck to share the results.

If you are new to fox hunting / radio direction finding, here are some resources you can check out:

http://www.homingin.com/equipment.html

http://www.arrl.org/direction-finding

Sebastian mentions attenuation. This is one of the few times in amateur radio where we actually want to decrease the power of the signal reaching our radio. If you have an HT with a rubber duck (i.e. non-directional) antenna, you can use the “body fade” technique, or when you get really close to the fox, you can disconnect your antenna altogether (just be careful not to transmit without the antenna!)

2022 LARCFest

Thank you all who volunteered and participated in the 2022 LARCFest. Without this could not of happened!

Chuck Poch – K0ITP

LARC Board President

LARC Yagi Build

Chuck put on a great practical class on assembling a cheap Yagi-Uda antenna. Here’s a video I made of the day’s events!

73,

Raman, KV0N

LARC February Fox Hunt

My XYL and I took a few radios and searched for the fox using attenuation techniques including cross-polarization and 3rd harmonics. It was a bluebird Colorado day and the hunt made for a fun outdoor walk.

Here’s the video:

Raman, KV0N

NCARC Hamfest

I attended the Hamfest that was put on my Northern Colorado Amateur Radio Club. It was great seeing so many local hams in attendance as well as sitting in on some great classes.

Here’s a short YouTube video of the day.

Join Us for our Tuesday Night Hamlet Net!

Our Hamlet Net is an educational net that’s geared for newbies to the hobby, and everyone else too!

You are invited to join us on our repeaters at 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm every Tuesday evening to check in, listen to an educational presentation, give your comments and/or opinions, and ask questions. We hope to hear you on the air!

PVET VE Exam Session this Sunday, 1/16/22

LARC is sponsoring a FREE VE Exam Session this coming Sunday, January 16th, at 9:00 am, at the Professional Building at 350 Terry Street, Longmont, 80501.

You may bring a laptop or tablet to take your test on. Paper exams are available as well if desired.

To register for this exam session, go to hamstudy.org/sessions/w0pct. If this session fills up, another will be added.

Masks are required in this building.