Hi,
Thank you to all that came and participated at our breakfast this morning. We had about 22 at our peak, I think, this morning. It was really great to see everyone and catch up with folks.?
Topics of discussion included recent events, club officers, the Ed Fong presentation at the recent Ham Fun Night, welcoming some new members to the group, and what areas of interest there may be to the group for future presentations, guest speakers, or other activities.
We talked about the NanoVNA H4 Vector Network Analyzer (Antenna Analyzer) that Ed Fong spoke about at his presentation. They are available at for $60 which is significantly cheaper than some of the other sites. Several of us have already purchased them and they are very cool addition to any ham's toolkit. Ed did a really cool job of explaining why his J-Pole design was a better option than things like a Slim-Jim and even a Copper Cactus antenna. There was discussion regarding a group buy ($5 off?) but that has not been followed up on yet.
We also briefly reviewed GP-5/SSB world radio receiver from . It is a compact, pocket size, quality AM/FM/SW receiver that can also receive in the ham radio bands, and supports USB/LSB modes for listening. Another cool addition to your kit. Can run on 5V USB.?
Action Items:
- Sam - Will put together a survey to the group to find out areas of interest for future activities, presentations, or learning/teaching opportunities.
- Ray - Will take the previous roster and compare against the current groups.io site and re-invite those that did not respond from the first invite to see if we can capture more of the original roster.
- Tim, Mike - For the October Breakfast, will conduct?and/or arrange for a guest speaker for a presentation on Fox/Hound activities, equipment needed, techniques, and how to conduct a Fox and Hound radio event.
- Tim already owns a 2M "Fox"
- Homemade antennas vs commercial vs no special antenna
- Areas of operation
- Safety
- Prizes? Sherry's idea was there would be an "entry fee" of a large candy bar to go into the pot. Winner takes all. (sound like fun)
- George suggested a Garlic Festival Special Event Station for HF (Love this idea!)
- Heatherly offered to help design a QSL card to go with the event.
- Was also a suggestion around holding a local HF net. Conditions have not been ideal for this as SBCARA has tried this a few times and success has been limited. Will try again on 80M.
- Next weekend is the California QSO party?
- Who is participating?
- Maybe we can do Discord to meet as we are operating from our homes?
- Ray - Revisit the South County truncated frequency list that was worked on with Woody, finish prepping for distribution, create a proper communication regarding the update and distribute to the web sites, and to this group.?
See you all next month!
Ray
N6DZK
Ray Dzek