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!
In Memory of Norm Lucas, WB6RVR (2/27/1950 – 6-19-2017)
Our very dear member, Norm WB6RVR passed away suddenly 6-19-2017. Norm was a very big part of our club and the Ham Community. Norm helped all those who were in need of his assistance, regardless of how well he may have known a person. He was always there to offer a hand when it came to Antenna Setups, repairs, or even offering to help his clubs out financially with different tasks that they may have required.
Norm was also a great help to the Ham Community in that he was there fighting along with a small group of people for all of our rights as California Amateur Radio operators. Norm helped to write, and have a law corrected that placed serious restrictions on HAMs by our CA law makers. Norm was instrumental in correcting a law set forth in January of this year 2017 barring all use of hand held or Microphone operated communications radios while traveling in a vehicle. It was Norm and his group who worked so diligently to correct that law to once again exclude the use of Amateur Radio within that law. Although not completely re-written as he would have like to see it, Norm was there continuing his fight up until his passing. Norm will be greatly missed by this club, and many others.
Next Month’s In-Person Meeting
Our next SFM ARC in-person meeting will be held at its normal time and location July. 6th (followed by our Aug 3rd 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 July meeting, we will be recapping the ARRL’s annual Field Day event. We will also have a presentation on the use of a Hot Air rework station used to solder and remove SMD
devices on PCBs. 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.
FIELD DAY 2017 JUNE 24-25th
Please join the SFM ARC for it’s annual ARRL Field Day event 2017. Once again the club will be enjoying a fun get together of its members, our guests, and the general public. As one of only 2 truly “public” Field Day events stations in the Sacramento Valley, W6SFM can be found in the rear parking lot / field of the Carmichael Presbyterian Church. This location provide FREE and Easy public accessibility to the W6SFM Field Day stations.
The SFM ARC will once again set up a modest 2 station, all emergency powered 100 watt (or less) setup. Antennas will include our club member’s 3 element Tri-band Yagi beam, 40 meter phased Vertical arrays and our 80 meter Inverted Vee workhorse. Set up of our antenna systems will begin on Saturday Morning the day of Field Day 7:30 AM. Radio and battery equipment set up will also begin on the morning of Field Day around 9 AM. All those who are interested in helping the club with these setups are welcome to join us Saturday morning. Local Club member are asked to please come to the Saturday morning setup by 8AM.
Official Field Day activation will begin promptly at 11 AM Saturday morning and continue throughout the night until 11 AM Sunday morning. After which time the club requests that all local members once again return (if not still on location) to help pack up our station and equipment. There will be plenty of room for a tent and/or sleeping bag to be set up in the field so those interested in staying the entire night with us can get some needed rest.
If you would like to operate one of the 2 W6SFM on-air stations we ask that you please consider scheduling some time in during the midnight to 7 AM time slots. These are generally the areas of time when the club most needs operators scheduled to keep the rigs going all night. Generally the other times of day are covered by those interested in working the radios, or logging for the operator.
A small snack breakfast (coffee and doughnuts) will be served on Saturday morning around 10 AM. In the afternoon a small selection of Pizza will be made available. In the evening A club Pot-luck dinner is scheduled to be held around 5:30 PM Saturday. As always the club will provide Hot dogs and Hamburgers along with Chips, water (for the entire event) and Diet Soda. Members are asked to bring a ‘side dish’ with them for the Pot-Luck dinner. Members are also encouraged to bring snacks and other items to keep us going throughout the day and evening time. Sunday morning for those still with us, the club will provide a small breakfast plate.
The club requests that if you are going to visit us as an operator or a guest that you PLEASE contact us using the “contact us” link under “About W6SFM” above so we can gauge how many people to purchase food for. We hope to see ALL of our Local members, and maybe even a few surprise members from out of town. Club members, please wear your W6SFM T-shirts to this event.
A map and directions to our FD event can be found at the bottom of this page.
Solar Report by Tamitha Skov (A real report everyone can understand)
“SPECIAL FIELD DAY REPORT”