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!
Friday April 27th is Morse Code Day!
For more information click HERE
BOGUS STORY CONTEST! The W6SFM Annual Bogus Story contest took place this month! Find out what you missed out on with our fun and exciting contest. Each Year in honor of April Fools day the W6SFM presents its annual Bogus Story Contest. This contest is geared around finding the most entertaining “bogus story” written and voted on by our club members.
We now have a winner, Chris AI6U with his story “dB Spray”. To read more about our amazing trophy and to read one or all of the past Bogus Stories please click HERE or go to the “Club Activities” tab at the top of this page and click on the Bougus Story Contest link. Maybe you’ll win next years contest!
TARC Spring auction April 28th
The Turlock VFW Lodge 1405 East Linwood, Turlock will be conducting one humongous Estate Sale with lots of Military Collectibles… So far a second consigned lot with some very nice clean equipment including a beautiful 3KW Hf amp is listed… This is a new venue and we are looking forward to seeing you and our members there
For more information on the event and a list of the available equipment please vist the W6BXN Website here: www.w6bxn.org/auction . Thank you from your Auctioneer K6IXA
Next Month’s In-Person Meeting
Our next SFM ARC in-person meeting will be held at its normal time and location May. 3rd (followed by our Jun 7th 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 webpage.
At our May meeting, we will be discussing ARRL news and events. We will also have a presentation on the benefits and technology of the New Zoom series of RigExpert Antenna Analyzers. 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)
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