Stockton-Delta Amateur Radio Club

The next Club Meeting is Thursday March 9th...

MARCH MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
THURSDAY, MARCH 9TH 7:00 PM
STOCKTON SAILING CLUB
4980 BUCKLEY COVE
STOCKTON, CA  

 

QST QST QST… The March meeting of the Stockton-Delta Amateur Radio Club will

be held at the Stockton Sailing Club Auditorium, 4980 Buckley Cove Rd in Stockton. The Sailing Club is located at the west end of March Lane, west of Interstate

5 on the left-hand side of the road just before you enter Buckley Cove Park.

 

All members are strongly encouraged to attend. This is our last meeting before STEAMFest at Lincoln High School on Saturday, March 25th.  It's important that we are ready to present Amateur Radio to these kids.  


STEAMFest is all about Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. Our club has been a presenter since the first one in 2018. We are planning 4 or 5 exhibits - Hi Altitude Balloons, Amateur Television, WinLink Messages, Morse Code and HF/VHF Operating. 


See more about STEAMFest here and in the club newsletter. 

 

The meeting training program will be on POTAs or Parks On The Air and how you can get involved in this HF fun! This is being presented by Jim K7LTZ who is coming to the meeting while traveling and activating POTAs


So… grab your spouse, significant other or just that friend tand we'll see you at the meeting! 


ALSO AVAILABLE ON ZOOM IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND IN PERSON


Zoom Meeting Information:

Topic: W6SF MONTHLY CLUB MEETING ON ZOOM

Time: March 9th, 2023 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)


Join Zoom Meeting

 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8715741939?pwd=alRiTFhydFNtMlBQZXAwOUd2YTN1UT09

 

Meeting ID: 871 574 1939

Passcode: 147165

One tap mobile

+16699009128,,8715741939#,,,,*147165# US

W6SF CLUB BREAKFAST 
THURSDAY MORNINGS 9:00 AM
THE OMLETTE HOUSE 
CHEROKEE AND 99 ON THE WEST SIDE
OF THE FREEWAY 

Club members and friends of Amateur Radio are welcome to gather at 9:00 AM on Thursdays for Hamz n Eggs Breakfast... This week is at The Omlette House, 3455 N Cherokee Lane in Stockton.   

We enjoy a high level discussions of ham radio communications, rules, regulations, contesting, SOTAs, ARES gear and whatever else 'ya got. 

DX, county and state , SOTA, and POTA  hunters!  This is a reminder that you are expected to attend Thursday's breakfast or face demerits on your FCC issued license. 

Schmoozing starts about 9am so bring your latest stories, gadgets and lies to entertain everyone

I hope to see you there!   de N6LHL

FEBRUARY 

MEETING REPORT

FEBRURY 9th 2023

The February Meeting of the Stockton-Delta Amateur Radio Club was held on February 9th at the Stockton Sailing Club Auditorium.  

President Mark W6SXA called the meeting to order at 7:06 and several members attended on Zoom.


Mark W6SXA started the meeting with introductions and welcomed several new members and members we hadn't seen in a few months. Thirty (30) members attended in person and four (4) on Zoom.,  


Charlie WB6NVB gave the treasurers report. 


Joyce K6QBQ, Joni KN6WVX and Mark W6SXA gave a report on the current plans for Pedaling Paths Bike Ride on the 25th.  Several operators are needed and volunteers to man rest stops for the riders in addition to radio operators at a couple of points along the route. If you're interested, you can sign up here on the events signup page.  We decided to add a post and an operator to the Hwy 26 at Warren Rd area between the two Hwy26 crossover points. John NZ6Q discussed APRS requirements for SAG wagons and it was asked if SAG Wagons would have tool kits or supplies. We went through the event pretty much from start to finish, identifying areas where we still need coverage or confirmation of a logistics item. 


OTHER NEW VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES


John NZ6Q made a call for volunteers for the LDS Church Preparedness Faire on Saturday March 4th at the LDS Church, 800 W Brookside Rd in Stockton.  The plan is to support the event starting with CommOps for a fun run 3K at 8AM and then have a presentation in the building similar to what we do for the sailing club's Runabouts on the River or a very small version of STEAMFest. From our booth we could get sign ups for the March 13th HamCram at St Joseph's Hospital or the April 15th HamCram in Lodi. 


John NZ6Q then brought up STEAMFest, Saturday March 25th at Lincoln High School in Stockton. I've put out a call to MDARC in hopes of getting their Amateur TV Truck here.  In addition to that, we want to showcase the Hi-Altitude Balloon work by Dave WB6TOU and others, WinLink and EmComm, Morse Code, and HF/VHF operating. We will also have a drawing for SDR radios, books and more to give-away. 


John NZ6Q also gave a short presentation on being a part of a tactical net with hints and practice for those planning on being a part of Pedaling Paths. 


Toward the end of the meeting, Joni KN6WVX put out a call for members to share the Pedaling Paths Information on Social Media to boost ridership. 


The meeting adjourned at 8:34PM.  There were 30 in attendance in person and 4 attended online. Coffee and Snacks were provided by Annie N6ACL. 



WORLD of STEAM EXPO
SATURDAY, MARCH 25TH 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM

LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL
6844 ALEXANDRIA PL, STOCKTON


This year’s Expo will take place on the campus of Lincoln High School on March 25, 2023 from 10:00 am-2:00 pm. Our students are collaborating with their school district, which has 12 schools under the Lincoln Unified School District umbrella with over 9100 students.

 

The Stockton-Delta Amateur Radio Club has been invited back to this event every year. Kids still think radio is cool so let's get ready to wow some into getting their Amateur Radio License. 


We will be in the gym again this year with access to the back parking lot to facilitate setting up antennas and for access from the MDARC TV Truck. We are looking to demonstrate APRS with Dave WB6TOU's Hi Altitude Balloon launch, Morse Code with Bob K6DGQ, SDRs with Mark W6SXA, WinLink, HF and VHF Operating with Bob N6TCE, John NZ6Q, Annie N6ACL, Joyce K6QBQ. And let's not forget our youth ambassadors Colin K6CMM and Shane K5SML. 


This event will focus on all things Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math related to bring awareness to students, schools, parents and the 40,000+ citizens that live within the school district  boundaries.


All donations will help sponsor the event, pay for utility usage, marketing and promotional activities, such as t-shirts, prizes and giveaways. Donations will also help fund concierge services for exhibitors and volunteers, including food and beverages, lanyards and name tags.

 

Donors' names will be proudly displayed on our programs which will be distributed to each participant who attends the event and will be printed on our banners as well. These banners will be prominently displayed at the entrance of our event. 


If you would like to donate, you can contact World of Steam through their Facebook page. 

 

BRONZE LEVEL:        $100 and up

SILVER LEVEL:           $250 and up

GOLD LEVEL:              $500 and up

PLATINUM LEVEL:      $1000 and up 

 

Set aside SATURDAY MARCH 25th from 8AM (for set-up) to 2PM all day, 1 hour, 2 hours or more and let's give the kids and parents something to talk about and motivate them to get on board with ham radio! 


Check the Event Signup page for a registration form.  Come out and help us make this a success!

VOLUNTEERS ON THE AIR
A YEAR-LONG AMATEUR RADIO EVENT

JAN 1 – DEC 31, 2023

 

2023 will be celebrated by ARRL as “The Year of the Volunteer.” More information will be available throughout the year as the details are confirmed. However, the first adventure has been announced as a project called “Volunteers On The Air (VOTA).” Here we get ‘points’ for each contact made with another ARRL volunteer. So, if two ARRL members contact each other, they will each receive a point for that QSO. No special codes, sequence numbers, or section information needs to be passed. Make contact with a fellow ARRL member, and you each receive a point. Each of you must upload the contact to the Logbook of The World (LoTW), and your points are calculated when the QSO is matched. This could be an FT8 contact, a CW contact, a simplex 2M FM contact, an RTTY contact, or an SSB rag-chew.

To add more interest to the year-long operating event and help demonstrate the ARRL volunteers’ value, each level of volunteer activity has been assigned a point level, shown in the table at http://vota.arrl.org For example, if you make a contact with John NZ6Q, the San Joaquin Valley Section Manager, you’ll get 175 points for that one contact. So, I’ll need to up my HF game to handle all the pile-ups coming my way in 2023. Maybe I need that 160M inverted L and another HF rig ! I’m hoping you will be able to get some certificates, or wallpaper, for your efforts.

More details on this are at http://vota.arrl.org and in the January 2023 issue of QST. So, get your gear running, make sure your LoTW connection is working, and see you on the air!!!

VOTA Program Rules

I’m sure these rules may be extended or revised, so please check http://vota.arrl.org for updates.

  • This starts January 1, 2023, at 0000Z.
  • This ends December 31, 2023, at 2359Z.
  • You must be an ARRL member. You can join or renew at https://arrl.org/join/
  • All QSOs must be uploaded to the ARRL QSO matching system, Logbook of The World (LoTW).
  • No repeater contacts are allowed.
  • Contacts can be made on any band (except 12 M, 17 M, and 30 M).
  • Contacts can be made on any legal mode of operation.
  • You receive ‘points’ based on the volunteer level of the ARRL member you contact. Points range from 1 point for an ARRL member to 300 points for Rick Roderick K5UR.
  • The point levels are listed at http://vota.arrl.org (Your favorite Section Managers are worth 175 points.)
  • Each QSO will get only one point value. For example, someone who is a member, a life member, and an Assistant Section Manager will be worth the value of the highest role, 35 points for the ASM role.

 

Logbook of The World (LoTW)

All the reporting for this VOTA effort will be handled automatically by the ARRL Logbook of The World (LoTD) QSO matching system. If you already log your QSOs from your favorite logging software and it uploads them to LoTW, you will automatically be enrolled in the project. Your QSOs will be verified normally, and the callsigns of the people you work will be searched to find the appropriate points (table shown at http://vota.arrl.org ) that you receive for each QSO.

 

But, if you aren’t set up to use LoTW, now is the time to set it up. The LoTW quick-start page is a great place to start, and the “What is LoTW Document” explains the whole process. You must authenticate yourself with the system by receiving a postcard mailed to your FCC-registered address. You’ll run a program called TSQL that is used by your logging program, N3FJPN1MMDX Lab Suite, or something else to authenticate and upload to LoTW. You can start the setup process now, and you’ll be ready in a few days. Hold your logs until you get LoTW set up, and you can upload them when you get it all sorted.

 

If you need help setting up your LoTW account, watch some YouTube videos, contact your Elmer, or local club. If that fails, email me at nz6q@arrl.org, and I’ll find someone to help you.

 

W1AW Remote Operations

As a part of the Year of the Volunteer celebration, the mystical callsign W1AW will be traveling to the corners of ARRL-land. ARRL members in each state/territory will be asked to operate their stations for two different weeks using the callsign W1AW/x where x is one of the local regions: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, KL, KH0, KH2, KH6, KH7, KH8, KP2, KP3, or KP4. For example, California’s first week starts Feb 15 2023, at 0000z and will run through January 31, 2023, at 2359z, using the callsign W1AW/6. Each state will coordinate the time/band/mode slots throughout the week and hams will be able to operate their

Each state W1AW coordinator will make a schedule to optimize the on-air time for those interested in running the callsign. Contact John NZ6Q if you would like to be W1AW/6 between February 15th and the 21st nz6q@arrl.net

This is a great opportunity to get on the air and have some fun, maybe earn a W1AW Worked-All-States Certificate, talk to the President of the ARRL (I did during the Centennial QSO Party in 2014), meet a bunch of new people and learn more about the hobby while you’re doing it.

CLICK ON THE SJREADY PICTURE TO GET THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION FROM THE SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY OFFICE OF EMERGENCY SERVICES
HAMCRAM / VE SESSION in MARCH
MONDAY MARCH 13TH 
DOORS OPEN 7:45 AM 

ST JOSEPH'S HOSPITAL CLASSROOM 
1800 N CALIFORNIA ST
STOCKTON 95204

Here's your chance to get your license and join the fun of ham radio! Did you know that during the recent storms and flooding around San Joaquin County, ham radio operators we still able to communicate, able to access their own email, data and internet sites.  Ham radio operators are part of the teams that help the community through a natural disaster - The next HamCram study and test session will be held at St Joseph's Hospital, 1800 N California St, Stockton, CA 95204

 

If you are interested in doing a HamCram Study Session, OR you are testing for an upgrade, or you or a family member wants to get your license, please pre-register at www.w6sf.org/hamcram.html

 

HamCram study session starts at 8:00 AM and the doors will open at 7:45.

 

The Test Only sessions will start at 3:00 PM

 

Sign up for the next HamCram clicking the link here.

  HAM UNIVERSITY - "HAM-U SESSION 2"
NEW HAM - EXPERIENCED HAM 
TRAINING CLASS


WE ARE LOOKING TO BRING BACK HAM-U IN APRIL 2023


This is a FREE program that every ham – from beginner to Extra Class can benefit.  

The term "Elmer" means someone who provides personal guidance and assistance to would-be hams. The term first appeared in QST in a March 1971 "How's DX" column by Rod Newkirk, W9BRD (now also VA3ZBB). Newkirk called them "the unsung fathers of Amateur Radio."

Stockton-Delta Amateur Radio Club, the Manteca Amateur Radio Club and the Lodi Amateur Radio Club have come together to help teach new hams how to get started and offer this "personal guidance". 

These sessions are an opportunity for the new ham to learn and discover some of the many opportunities there are in Amateur Radio to "find your world" and give any ham just the chance to ask questions and get on the air. 

The session 2 class is structured with more content and more hands-on presentations.  There will be six 50-minute "classroom" sessions in the morning running in 2 tracks; lunch for an hour with "mini presentations", then two 50-minute break-out sessions in the afternoon. Classroom sessions include: Setting up and operating an HF station, How to Learn CW - Morse Code, digital modes - FT8, DMR, Packet and WinLink; your Radio Club Membership, Programming and using your programmable radios, Anderson Power poles, building simple antennas, Radiosport (contesting & chasing DX), Satellite operations - and opportunities to ask questions of experienced ham operators in an open forum.    

SIGN UP FOR ELMERING SESSIONS HERE


 


THANKS DAVE NAVONE FOR THE LINK TO THIS COOL VIDEO ALL ABOUT HAM RADIO AND THE TV SHOW "LAST MAN STANDING"
W6SF
2019 FIELD DAY VIDEO
CHECK IT OUT!
THANK YOU DENNIS AD6DM

Ham Test Online
CHECK OUT THE CLUB HISTORY PAGE

CHECK OUT OUR OWN BOB KM6ONS AND KYLE K6KDD ON GOOD DAY SACRAMENTO

AUGUST 28, 2018

Click to Replace
QSO TODAY
CLUB REPEATERS

Located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains at 2500 feet, the club repeaters cover the Southern Sacramento and Northern San Joaquin Valleys. The call-sign is W6SF and can be heard on 147.165 MHz and on 442.250 MHz with a PL of 107.2 Hz. Club simplex frequency is 147.51 MHz.



SDARC also has a UHF repeater, operating independently, on 444.575+ PL 107.2.  This is a local low level Stockton repeater with the call W6SF.  As the project progresses, three receiver/voters will be installed via T1 phone lines and the addition of IRLP linking to other repeaters.  
CLUB REPEATERS

Located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains at 2500 feet, the club repeaters cover the Southern Sacramento and Northern San Joaquin Valleys. The call-sign is W6SF and can be heard on 147.165 MHz and on 442.250 MHz with a PL of 107.2 Hz. Club simplex frequency is 147.51 MHz.



SDARC also has a UHF repeater, operating independently, on 444.575+ PL 107.2.  This is a local low level Stockton repeater with the call W6SF.  As the project progresses, three receiver/voters will be installed via T1 phone lines and the addition of IRLP linking to other repeaters. 
CLUB REPEATERS

Located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains at 2500 feet, the club repeaters cover the Southern Sacramento and Northern San Joaquin Valleys. The call-sign is W6SF and can be heard on 147.165 MHz and on 442.250 MHz with a PL of 107.2 Hz. Club simplex frequency is 147.51 MHz.



SDARC also has a UHF repeater, operating independently, on 444.575+ PL 107.2.  This is a local low level Stockton repeater with the call W6SF.  As the project progresses, three receiver/voters will be installed via T1 phone lines and the addition of IRLP linking to other repeaters.  
CLUB REPEATERS

Located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains at 2500 feet, the club repeaters cover the Southern Sacramento and Northern San Joaquin Valleys. The call-sign is W6SF and can be heard on 147.165 MHz and on 442.250 MHz with a PL of 107.2 Hz. Club simplex frequency is 147.51 MHz.

  



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