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.

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

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.