Tech Night Class.

Future Tech Nights

NanoVNA Hands on Lab –  February 26th at 7:00 PM

Hands on Lab utilizing personal NanoVNA for Antenna testing and improvements.  Please bring your NanoVNA along. If you do not have a NanoVNA it will still be worth attending. Mike Suhar, W8RKO will be the lead for the event. We will need a few additional volunteers to assist members. I believe I have at least one person in addition to Mike.

EFHW (End-Fed Half-Wave) Multi Band Antennae Build – Sunday March 9th at 1:30 PM

Geoff Kline, KI5VNB will lead the build. The cost for the antenna build is $15 to cover the cost of the component and wire. Expectation is that every will go home with a fully operational antenna. Please bring along a solder gun if you have one. Attendees will work in groups to facilitate mentoring similar what we did in the last kit build session. Please let me know if you plan to attend so we can reserve a kit.

Future 2025 Tech Night (day)

  • March Tech Night
    • Radio Orienteering (Fox and Hound) Builds – March Tech Night (Note for Bob F. Need to work Bob & Steve) to coordinate)
  • April Tech Night
    • Kit Build – Stu Holzer K8ST is the lead
    • More information to follow so you can reserve a kit

TBD

  • May? Radio Orienteering (Fox and Hound) Testing and Practice session outdoors (TBD)
  • Prototype using a microprocessor.
  • 3D Printing Design for HAMS – Hands On if possible

Need to find a new name for tech Night since we are doing some of the LABS on Sunday

I hope to keep us planned for at least 2 meetings ahead, so people have enough time to purchase components if needed.

Current Presentation Backlog and growing. It would great if you can present or assist others.

  • “Duplexers and Tuning” – Tim
    • Why duplexers are needed for repeaters, and actual tuning demonstration. Around 60 minutes.
  • “APRS-GPS” – Tim
    • A 101 type presentation on the basics of APRS and sending your GPS coordinates over ham radio.  40 minutes.
  • “Wide-Narrow Band” – Tim
    • Takes the confusion out of the use of “Narrow” and ‘Wide” in this 21st century.  Short, 10 minutes; most of the time this is included with one of the other presentations.
  • “Usage of microcontrollers in Ham projects” Part 1 – Bob
    • Demonstration of Arduino IDE, MicroPython and Microcontroller simulation software. Discussion of practical application of the technology for Ham Radio.
  • Setting up and using a Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 either as a ham shack digital mode computer or for FT-8 on POTA. – Ray
  • KiwiSDR presentation: The presentation will be mostly on the worldwide network the receivers are connected to.  How you can use the network of receivers for ham radio and other interests. Mike Suhar  W8RKO
  • Solar / Battery Powered micro radio builds
  • Raspberry PI for POTA (Technight and POTA related)

All members regardless of knowledge or experience are always welcome and encouraged to attend. 

Bob 

AC8ZU

DC Circuit and Micro Transceiver Interest Group

BARC will be hosting a DC Circuit and Micro Transceiver Interest Goup on Wednesday, November 8, 2023, at 6:30 pm at the clubhouse. Dave Kender, KD8WSW, will be the instructor. More information will be emailed to members soon.

For more information, read the class description here.

BARC Build-A-Repeater (BAR) Project

The BARC BAR repeater is now on the air at 442.675+ (118.8 Hz CTCSS).

The BARC Build-A-Repeater or BAR project (where club members will build an amateur radio repeater and then place it on the air) will start in September.  These are in-depth classes covering all aspects of the process of assembling a repeater, requirements by the FCC and OARC for proper operation, and site/antenna specifics.  At the end of the project, attendees should feel confident to try this on their own.

Classes will be held at the clubhouse, twice per month; the 2nd and 4th Monday of each month starting @ 7pm and lasting around 1.5 hours.  Email reminders will be sent out in advance.

Each class will consist of a short PowerPoint presentation covering a specific section of the project, followed by a hands-on session where members can participate in the actual construction.

The first class is scheduled on Monday, September 11, at 7pm at the clubhouse.

Past Presentations

Antenna Matching Networks
Hotspots 101 and the MMDVM HAT
YSF2DMR Through A Hotspot
SharkRF OS3 Hotspot
Introduction to Arduino
Introduction to DMR
Introduction to JS8Call
The Nano VNA