General Meeting Topics:

2011

Feb.:  Ham radio applications available for Apple Computers.

Jan:   Discussion  and talk on Solar Panels

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2008

Month	Presenter	Topic
February	Jeremy Haley, WG9T	“RF IMPEDANCE AND THE SMITH CHART” Resistance & Reactance (capacitance/inductance) >>> Impedance /Reflection coefficient and SWR Relation between impedance and reflection coefficient / Impedance mapped onto a polar graph Constant resistance circles, constant reactance arcs (circles) / SWR circles, rotation along a 50-ohm transmission line Open-source, cross-platform RF/Microwave software for learning/experimenting: QUCS http://qucs.sourceforge.net Example impedance calculations at either end of the feedline / Impedances of an approximate 40 m dipole at 20 m and 17 m Simple matching circuit calculation for the non-resonant 40 m dipole that could allow 17 m operation.
January	Paul Berge, K0DJV	Amateur Radio at Microwave Frequencies: Hands-on equipment and concepts demonstration of getting on the air at UHF and above. “You will be surpised at how little it takes to get into microwaves. You can build a rig for less than $200.” Example components: discarded satellite TV dish / mixer (~$50) / stable frequency source module (~$50?) power supply for freq. source module (requires -20V @ 1.5 amp) / Your existing VHF/UHF SSB transceiver for use as an IF section, or even a 10m rig could be used. Concepts discussed and demonstrated: rectangular waveguides vs. coaxial cables or twin-lead t-lines polarization near-field and far-field regions in the vicinity of an antenna or aperture power units Watts, milliwatts, dBm, dB, orders of magnitude, signal levels standing waves reflective materials, lossy dielectric materials cut-off freq. in waveguides microwaves behaving like light rays parabolic dish antennas with very high gain and small beam-width interesting propagation effects/unexpected communication paths

 

2007:

Date	Presenter	Topic
October	Rob KA8JBY	Space Weather and its affect on radio propagation. Rob is a Senior Master Sergeant in the United Sates Air Force assigned to Space Weather at NOAA. Rob recently relocated to Colorado from Dayton, Ohio (yes, he knows all about Hamvention). Removed broken Link Aug 2020 Jerry N0OUW Robert Steenburgh (KA8JBY) did the October presentation at the club. He wanted to share this solar hurricane with us.
September	Ray N1IUU	ELECTION OF OFFICERS   Audio Engineering. Ray’s company maintains the sound equipment for the US House & Senate chambers in Washington D.C. Did you ever wonder how echoes are handled in stadiums? Come find out. http://www.soundfirst.com/
August	Wayne – N0LEA	Digital modes and radio control with Ham Radio Deluxe (software) Wayne Smith – N0LEA will present. More info about the software at: http://hrd.ham-radio.ch/
July	Dave – AC7CS	Alternative power, including solar cells. Dave has a cottage 15 miles from the nearest power. Learn how Dave provides all his energy needs from solar cells & batteries, a small generator and propane. These topics apply to Shack-in-a-Box phase IV.
July	Dan KE7TU	Surprise presentation on the Hoover Dam. – ; (Broken Link Removed 3/9/20 N0OUW) Dan was in town visiting his brother Jim (N0IRK) and agreed to show us where he works.
July	Rich KB0ULB	Rich brought show & tell – a base station using an HT. Often times a new ham only has an HT as their first radio
June	Jeremy WG9T	Field Day preparation: How to use the club’s new IC7000. Download the manual. Rmoved Broken Link  Aug 2020 Jerry N0OUW
May	Jamie Riggs Paul K0DJV	Deep Space Exploration Society (DSES)
April	Chris KC0VER	Very Large Array – Radio Telescopes in New Mexico
March	Ray W9LQM	Messenger to planet Mercury mission
February	Leonard KC0WOX	Fiber Optics
January	Ed KI0RU	Amateur Rockets and Radio watch this presentation. Thanks Dan (W3ETA) for converting this presentation to a web format.

2006:

Date	Presenter	Topic
December	Ray W9LQM	Christmas Party Pirates in the Caribbean – BVI sailing
November	Leonard KC0WOX	Field trip to 911 call center
October	Ray W9LQM	Deep Space Network
September		Elections
August	Larry W0QE	Fox Hunting
July	Gordon W0RUN	P1 Expedition to Antarctic
June	Bob WA2EKU	Logging Software (Field Day)
May	Chris KC0VER	Circuit Simulation
April	Vince KC0SZM	Software Defined Radio
March
February	Danny K9DS	WiFi
January	John KF0RQ	Ham Radio in Cambodia

2005:

Date	Presenter	Topic
December	Bob WA2EKU	Christmas Party Tiger Cruise – US Navy
November	Larry W0QE	County Hunting
October	Sebastian NS0W Chris K8CRM	900MHZ operation, radio modifications

This is where we will publish information about the 2012 version of our annual LARCfest

What I like most about the Longmont Amateur Radio Club

 

Saturday, June 11, 2011 at Longmont Colorado 

At 1:00 P. M. the doors to the Clover building at the Boulder County Fairgrounds opened to that afternoon’s edition of Solder Sniffers. We were ready to build some G5RV antennas. (For those of you not familiar with that intrepid group, a short explanation follows.) Solder Sniffers started in 1998 when several of the Longmont Amateur Radio Club’s concerned members sought a way to get folks building their own equipment again. That stalwart group included Bob WA2EKU, Earle NØISB, Gary KBØNNB, Rich KBØULB, and Pat WØIPL among others. After all, anybody can pick up a phone made in China from WalMart and call aunt Gerty in Philadelphia, but hams have the opportunity to use their own equipment, designed and constructed by them, to reach out to the world. Many don’t, but we can. We called it Solder Sniffers because the rosin core in electronic solder has a unique, and in a way, very pleasant aroma when heated, and we were heatin’ it!

Back in the day, our first project was a code practice oscillator with some really nifty features designed by Gary. We put them together in one afternoon mostly to see how well everyone could solder. Of course they all worked. After that we tackled a 40 meter QRP CW transceiver kit. Bob and Earle ran thru it a week or so ahead of everybody and discovered all the difficult and incorrect stuff, and figured out fixes. By the time we came together to build that section, it was good. Rich, found a great deal on some used soldering stations, so we all had decent equipment. Suffice it to say that after about six sessions we had assembled 25 working 40 meter transceivers, in large part because everybody helped everybody else.

And that’s exactly what happened all over again this time. Chip ABØXH ordered the window line and found some SO239s. Jake KI6FCW made some supports for the center of the dipole and the coax to window line junction. Will NØAWZ latched onto some PVC conduit for insulators and brought a bunch of needed tools. The design evolved as we worked on it, and it became apparent that we needed more of the parts Jake had made, and that a few modifications might make it all work better. Shawn KD0NFZ and his son Liam KDØNIZ headed for their machine shop and brought us back some freshly minted additional and upgraded models (as well as a couple of great ideas for even more improvements!) Meanwhile Jerry NØOUW, Doug KEØSI, Duane WDØEEM, Started to measure wire and window line. As assembly started, it was determined that we needed some different rivets and more SO239s; so Paul ACØQE headed back to his house to search his junk box for what we needed. Alas it was not helpful, so Paul just went shopping and got what we needed!

His XYL Nancy ACØDC was left to help build the antenna destined for the club’s use this field day along with newly minted General operator Bill KG6CNL. As we used up the 450 ohm window line that had been donated by Sebastian NSØW, we started to use the 300 ohm window line only to discover that the dimensions did not work well with the rivets Jim NØXDA had procured. So it was time for more modifications. A conference of those present provided solutions, and after about three and a half hours we had completed three sturdy G5RV antennas and had three or four more well on their way to completion.

All went well because we did it like we did it the first time. Everybody stepped up to help each other and we had a really good time. Next time you hear that we’re havin’ a Solder Sniffers session, come on by and check it out it might just make your day!

Jim

 

Here is a .pdf file of the latest LARC Newsletter