Friday, April 26, 2019

Friday Morning Breakfast At Fred's

The following was provided by Don Jeerings.

The Fred's Friday morning breakfast club is intended to be a complementary (not a replacement) for the club the club’s Tuesday breakfast at the BrunchBox. It features, quieter environment, better food selection, more comfortable seating, and better atmosphere. Their blue plate special consists of all you can stack on your plate, plus coffee for $6.71, but you have to be there before 8:30 AM.
At Fred's we are able to meet and discuss (among us) the real subjects of Ham Radio. There is a meeting room available if we have enough attending.

Don Jeerings KI4EFL 

Kn4Lew  Dan, KN4SAU John, KI4CRI Charlie, Bob Shanchez, Call not renewed, Dian Dian Shanchez,  XYL wife of Bob, AG4E  Robert, K4ZVU, KI4EFl  Don, N7CUC SAM.

Friday, April 5, 2019

LARC General Meeting April 1, 2019

Congratulations Michelle KN4FRA!


Michelle passed her General with flying colors, and now has that Extra License in her sights.

You ain't never gona believe this!

Would you believe alternating sheets of an old QST magazines with aluminum foil, and then saturating the combination with fresh coffee generates enough power to run a QRP radio in an emergency? On any other day, other than than April 1st, you might want to take this seriously. Below, Andrew and Mike are supposedly demonstrating this. All in good fun, and a continuation of LARC tradition on every April Fools Day.




DMR - what is it and how is it different?

Our speaker this evening was Mike Lunsford, KB4FHP. Mike presented the case for DMR, yet another flavor of digital radio. LARC members are familiar with Fusion, Yaesu's proprietary digital mode. Then there is D-Star from icom, also proprietary. DMR on the other hand is an open and published digital standard. This means that those with the knowledge and inclination can lift the hood so to speak and experiment. New flavors of communication often result. This is what ham radio is all about.  In the very near future the LARC repeater will have the capability to do AllStar and EchoLink. Two more modes of communication. EchoLink is proprietary, while AllStar, like DMR, is open source.

It is fair to ask why so many different ways do the same thing? The same question can be asked about programming languages. Why so many? The answer is that some are better suited for some jobs than others. They are tools. The same is true of radio communications in general, and digital modes in particular. Mike made his point during the meeting by passing out multi-colored lollipops. While each had a unique flavor, grape, orange, lime, and cherry, they were all the same in the sense that each had a tootsie roll center.They were all different, but when you get down to it,  very much alike at their core.

Click here to get a copy of Mike's presentation.


Show and Tell this evening was about foxhunting

If you are new to ham radio you may wonder what fox hunting is all about. In ham speak the fox is a small radio transmitter that is hidden somewhere near by. Using all their radio direction finding skills, the hunters try to discover the location of the hidden transmitter, or fox. This is not as easy as it sounds, especially when you get close to the transmitter. The key to successful foxhunting is the antenna.

Two of the many kinds of antennas used for foxhunting were shown.


Instructions for building a tape measure yagi can be found on the web. Here is a site that does a pretty good job explaining how to build one, but keep in mind there are others as well.
Click here for instructions

A second antenna demonstrated was a bit more challenging to build than the first. Its strength lies in its ability to work close in. It is useful in those last few feet to the fox. The commercial version is know as the Handi-Finder , more information can be found at Click here for more informaion




If you are interested in foxhunting and want to try your hand with your own super special antenna creation, let me know. I will be happy to bring the fox to the next picnic so you can test your foxhunting skills. If nothing else, you will work up a good appetite running around the park.

As in most cases, Google is your friend when it comes to research. Google foxhunting amateur radio to get started. Good hunting!

We had a remarkable turnout this evening. 

We had a remarkable turnout this evening. By our Top Sargent's at arm's count, well over seventy. 


Attendance April 1, 2019

CALL FIRST LAST ARRL ARES SKYWARN
AA4HT Robert Van Winkle YES NO
AB4KA James Russ YES NO
AB4XK Chet Carruth YES NO
AG4E Robert Young NO NO
K0ZD John Stanford YES NO
K1DU Frederick Delaney YES NO
K1OPQ David Perrin YES NO
K2OU Gary Perkins NO NO
K4EMT Sarah Clark NO NO
K4JZ William Aten LIFE YES POL-933
K4QW Christopher LeBlanc YES NO
KB4FHP Joseph Lunsford NO NO
KF4Q William Busbin YES YES
KG4YNI Ernie Haynes YES NO POL-296A
KI4CDY Patrick O'Neil YES YES POL-219A
KI4WRX David Zdanowicz YES YES POL-415A
KI4ZMV William Johnson YES NO POL-840
KJ4DSQ Roger Land YES YES POL-208A
KJ4UW George Mann YES NO POL-410
KJ4WFS Tom Evans YES YES
KK4BMI David LaFave LIFE YES
KK4ITX John Leahy YES NO PAS-607
KK4OGM Ronald Herring NO NO
KK4TSG Ronald Herring NO NO
KK4YXR Franklin Fitzgerald YES YES POL-801
KM4DMD John Laurent YES NO POL-845
KM4STS Liam Holzer NO NO
KM4STT Aimee Holzer NO NO
KM4STU Leon Holzer NO NO
KN4BOE Thomas Conner YES NO
KN4OTO Charlotte Shaver NO NO
KN4OTS Harley Leavitt NO NO
KN4PIH Richard Lennon NO NO
KN4PVO Jesus Perez YES NO
KN4SAU John Beatty NO NO
KQ4KX Richard Sharp LIFE NO POL-127A
KT2T Michael Oliver LIFE YES POL-322A
N1GPD Susan Perrin YES NO
N4ESS Richard Kennedy LIFE NO PAS-570
N4FRK Victor Saxe NO NO
N4HCZ Robert Griggs NO NO
N4PEG Margaret Kennedy YES NO HIL-1000
N6MRS Michael Shreve YES NO
N7CUC Samuel Shaver NO NO
NJ4Y Matthew Stevens YES YES POL-680A
W4EMT Eric Clark NO NO
W4XDS James Stewart YES YES
WB6ZEQ Herman Smith NO NO
WX4AMS Andrew Stevens YES YES POL-838
WX4NEX Norman Xanders NO YES POL-567
KN4FRA Michelle Pugh NO NO

Guests and Relatives





CALL FIRST LAST


KO8HIH? Jim ?


K3JAZ Larry Turner


KC4SQW Susan Bowers


KI4CRI Charley Gribble


KM4NXI Lee Fields


KN4KIB Joseph Hansel


KN4LEH Danny Dickey


N4FBZ Robert Bowers


W1DMG Dave Grant


W4VCO Julian Homan



Min Hee



Joan Haynes



Terry Perkins



George Jr




Robert Sanchez



Larry Collins



Jim Finnegar



Sylvia Finnegar



Glenn Smith


Monday, April 1, 2019

Picnic March 30, 2019

Make mine well done please!



Another LARC picnic is a warm memory. We couldn't ask for better weather, company, or food. 

Two new antenna configurations were showcased this time around.  One was a rather unique version of an inverted V. The other was a vertical utilizing two above the ground radials. 

The unusual method of  fixing the ends of  this version of an inverted V below works great on both land and sea. Attaching the ends while on a small boat can be problematic. The PVC pipe at the base solves this problem. The combination of wire and pipe gives the impression of a bow and arrow pointed to the ground. The result is a very cleaver solution to a problem. 



Radials are usually laid on the ground, but not always.  There are advantages to using elevated radials as in the setup below. As with any antenna system, the key word is trade off. Theoretically, four elevated radials can be as good as forty on the ground, but the devil is in the details, and this is true only under ideal conditions. There is much written comparing on and above ground radials. For the curious, I suggest you Google comparison of on the ground, and above the ground radial configurations.




Click here for more images from the picnic.