SFM ARC On-Air Net Meetings
Please join us for our club’s 8:00 PM Tuesday Night on-air Net Meetings held at 3.545 MHz
Or you can listen and watch the CW to text translation HERE using our Live Feed!
W6SFM CW Beginners Class The W6SFM is once again starting up our twice annual CW Beginners Class! The dates have been set for September 13th through November 15th, Each Wednesday evening from 7-9 pm in Carmichael, CA.
The CW Beginners class is comprised of 10, once per week, 2 hour classes. Students will be taught the art of CW sending and copy. Most students who do the ‘homework’ between classes generally complete our course at a 10 WPM Sending / Receiving speed. Although very rare, we have seen some students who have completed with an 18 WPM copy speed. Every past student that has taken the class and completed the course has left with a complete knowledge of Morse Code and the Pro-signs we use on-air. The goal of this class is to have people on-air by week 6 or 7.
Students do NOT need to be licensed HAM radio operators to enroll in our class. Nor do they have to have any equipment at home. Everything that our students need will be provided for them to practice their course at home and in class.
On most days before our class begins the Church where the class is located provides a low cost meal, including salad, a main course and a desert along with coffee and cold water. Students are welcome to join in with the dinner should they choose to arrive around 5:30 PM.
For more information on the class, and to sign up for it, please use the “Contact Us” link at the top of this webpage. Classes fill VERY fast and are spaces are reserved on a first come first serve basis. So, don’t hesitate to get yourself enrolled if you want to join us. We currently have less than 10 spots left!
Urgent Request for ALL licensed and non licensed visiting this site Many of you have seen that the Amateur Radio Parity Act has been introduced in the U.S. Senate as S.1534, and has been referred to committee for review. This is wonderful news following the unanimous passage of H.R.555 in the House of Representatives this past January. Vice Director Jim Tiemstra, K6JAT recently returned from the July ARRL board meeting at headquarters in Connecticut. There he learned that an estimated 90% of all new housing in the U.S. contains covenants, with the majority of those having boilerplate antenna restrictions. This means that as housing expands, Amateur Radio will face increasing restrictions. It is important to realize that H.R.555/S.1534 is a bill resulting from negotiations between ARRL and the Community Associations Institute (CAI), both of whom have approved the wording of the bill. Some have questioned whether this bill goes far enough to favor Amateur Radio. It does! At this time, deed-restricted neighborhoods have the authority to absolutely deny outside antenna installations, with no recourse. This bill will guarantee the right of an amateur radio operator to have an effective outdoor antenna. It is time for ALL of us to come together, and get this important bill passed! We are now the closest we have ever been to obtaining antenna relief in deed-restricted neighborhoods. If passed and enacted, the Amateur Radio Parity Act will be the most important piece of Amateur Radio legislation since the FCCs 1985 PRB-1 regulation. That’s over 30 years, or an entire generation, of no added antenna relief. To make S.1534 pass, however, we need your help again. Below is a hyperlink to an app called RALLY CONGRESS. By clicking on the link (or copying and pasting in your browser) and completing some contact information, within two minutes you will generate a letter that will let both of your respective U.S. senators know that you want them to vote for this bill. Time is critical as we expect the bill to be heard before committee soon, and if passed in committee, it could go to the floor of the senate for a vote within a matter of weeks. Please take a moment NOW to click on the hyperlink and share with your senators your support for S.1534, the Amateur Radio Parity Act. Thank you. https://arrl.rallycongress.net/ctas/urge-us-senate-to-support-amateur-radio-parity-act I just completed and sent my letter inside of 60 seconds. Please take a minute and do so also! 73, Michael, N6MQL President W6SFM
Next Month’s In-Person Meeting Our next SFM ARC in-person meeting will be held at its normal time and location Sep. 7th (followed by our Oct 5th meeting). The SFM ARC in-person meeting will be held in the Howard Crowley room upstairs at the Carmichael Presbyterian Church.
Directions, including a Google Map are available at the bottom of this page.
At our September meeting, we will be discussing ARRL news and events. We will also have a presentation on the use and understanding of the Solar Indices report. As always, we will have our Tech (show and tell) portion. Members and visitors are asked to share their Ham Radio related items they find of interest. Attend our In-Person meetings with items that you’ve purchased or were given to you that you would like to share with others in the group. Visitors are always welcome to join us at our meetings.
Solar Report by Tamitha Skov (A real report everyone can understand)