FARS Meeting Programs - 2009
FARS meetings take place on the 4th Friday of each month,
except for no meeting in January (Winter Banquet), and meetings
on a different Friday in June (Field Day), November (Thanksgiving),
and December (Christmas). See the
calendar for specific
dates.
Meeting Schedule
7:00PM - General socializing.
7:30PM - Introductions, Show and Tell.
7:45PM - The evening's program.
8:45PM - Club business.
After the program, and club business, we hold a prize raffle
and the "Wish You Were Here" drawing for all the cash in the jar!
Visitors are welcome to attend our regular meetings.
(directions)
FARS meetings are held at
Covington School,
205 Covington Road, Los Altos, CA.
Friday July 24, 2009
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The K6BEN ATV Repeater System
Michael Wright, K6MFW
Other:
Refreshments
Raffle prizes
Questions for
Dr Know-it-All
We will be raffling off prizes at this meeting:
- 2009 ARRL Repeater Directory
![[ARRL Repeater Directory]](images/prizes/arrl_repeater_directory_2009.jpg)
2009 ARRL Repeater Directory
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Previous Programs
Friday January 23, 2009
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FARS 2009 Winter Banquet
"What Will the Real ET Be Like?"
Seth Shostak
Dr. Shostak updates us on the Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
Seth Shostak has a B.A. in physics from Princeton and a Ph.D.
in astronomy from Caltech.
He did research in radio astronomy at several observatories
before joining SETI.
He has published numerous articles in professional journals
as well as a number of popular magazines.
He is the host of the SETI Institute's weekly radio program on science.
He is also responsible for many outreach activities for the SETI Institute.
[Unlike our other meetings,
attendance at this meeting is by reservation only.
Check out the banquet page
for reservation information.]
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Friday February 27, 2009
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Echo of the Future - Early Radio in the Valley Before Silicon
Ben Koning
Ben Koning talks about the making of his documentary
"Echo of the Future: A Tale of Sunnyvale."
He will show excerpts from the film, and demonstrate
a working 3-tube regenerative 1920 Echophone V3 receiver.
(The mother of all boatanchors!)
While interviewing long-time Sunnyvale resident Ann Zarko,
he met the late Jack Rowe (a Radio Amateur) who had documented
"The Radio Shop," one of Sunnyvale's first businesses
and quite possibly the first and biggest consumer technology factory
in the Valley at that time.
It didn't last long, however.
The film weaves this surprising little story together
within the larger context of the often-ignored history of Sunnyvale,
providing a glimpse of the Valley's future to come.
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Friday March 27, 2009
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Wilderness Emergency Communications
Steve Stearns, K6OIK
When Radio Amateurs think about "emergency" communications,
they often think about big emergencies, mass disasters,
and networks of volunteer communicators.
However, emergencies come in all sizes.
In this talk, Steve considers personal emergencies.
Consider an injured hiker in a wilderness location
who needs to be rescued.
Among the various methods for getting the word out
so help will come in, what are the advantages
and disadvangtages of each method?
What electronic tools work?
How do cell and satellite phones compare to different
kinds of two-way radios or rescue beacons?
Steve will describe both traditional and modern methods
just in time for your Spring and Summer adventure activities.
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Friday April 24, 2009
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Keyboarding on HF
Mikel Lechner, KN6QI
Digital modes are great for sending messages and data,
and are the preferred mode for emergency disaster
communications when Radio Amateurs work in concert with
Public Safety or Homeland Security.
In his last installment, Mikel, KN6QI, explained
the different digital modes.
This time he will show us the "how to" of setting up
a digital station - everything from equipment to cables and
connectors - plus the latest software for sending
and receiving.
This presentation will appeal to emergency communicators
and the experimenters alike.
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Friday May 22, 2009
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From Antenna Model to Match Network
Steve Stearns, K6OIK
Steve, K6OIK, will show the steps in antenna system design.
He will start by running an antenna model in one of several programs.
He will show how much variation to expect among different programs.
EZNEC is subject to the limitations of its NEC2 engine.
Steve will show a comparison to other programs for
computational electromagnetics.
Then he will show the steps in exporting the data to a file and
modifying it to a standard format used by circuit modeling programs.
Finally he will show the steps in designing a simple impedance
matching network for the antenna.
The circuit program will calculate all losses.
The result will be a full characterization of a transmission
system from transmitter to antenna and into space.
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Friday June 19, 2009
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Repeater Controller: Adventures in Thailand
Nimit, K6XOX
Nimit recently installed a repeater controller in Thailand
for his ham friends there. He talks a bit about
what was involved in that process.
Also, Mikel, KN6QI
talks about the GenLog logging software we
are using for Field Day. He describes how to set up the software
and how to use it.
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Past Programs 2008
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