At the March meeting John KX4O provided us with his presentation on “Myths and facts of the J-Pole antenna and it variants”. John modeled a typical 1/4 wave length ground plane as a reference and then provided several comparisons of various J-pole configurations. He used a combination of NEC and FDTD antenna modeling software …
At our January meeting we recognized FARA’s 2012 board members to include Andy K1RA (president), Tom KG3V (vice president), Greg KI4ZKJ (treasurer) and Harv K2PI (secretary). The activities manager position is currently vacant and we are looking for volunteers. Also at the January meeting Harv K2PI presented information regarding Long Delayed Echoes or LDE’s …
This October Harv K2PI presented a pictorial of his DX travels from over 27 yrs. He discussed the challenges of operating from both common and rare DX locations. Harv covered some excellent information including his 7 steps for success when considering operating from abroad. To download and review Harv’s PPT presentation (4MB) click here.
John, kx4o, presented measurements made on several examples of ‘UHF’ (PL-259 and SO-239) connectors alongside SMA, N, BNC and TNC connectors. The above charts show the UHF connectors in Red, the other connectors in Cyan and a reference baseline in Black. A particular focus is the idea mismatch loss results from the connector’s deviation from …
At this months meeting Andy K1RA presented information on microcontrollers. The presentation covered these tiny computer devices and compared them to microprocessors, noted where they are used, popular models, vendors and kits and associated programming from both the hardware and software perspectives. Finally Tom KG3V, Eric W4EON and Andy K1RA each presented and demonstrated …
Andy K1RA presented information about QRP Fox Hunt events. The presentation covered QRP (low power) operations and radio equipment, QRP centric radio organizations, the QRP Fox Hunt sponsors and their event, including dates, times, rules and procedures. As a bonus a short video and audio clip was played to demonstrate the actual event. Likewise …
Andy K1RA and Mark KD6AKC presented information and a live demonstration of APRS, the Automated Packet Reporting System, which was created by Bob Bruninga WB4APR. The information covered APRS’s purpose and scope within amateur radio, pitfalls and misconceptions of the technology and the required hardware and software needed to participate within the network. Mark brought …
