Jim DeLoach, WU0I, is a Silicon Valley location technology and wireless systems engineer specialized in data analytics, field testing, tools development, and product definition.

For fun, Jim loves to build high-performance temporary contest antennas and stations, but prefers to get out of the way and let the real operators take over as soon as the station is up and running.

Jim is a frequent QST author, and winner of the Bill Orr Award for technical writing. His articles on balloon-lifted antennas appeared in QST, July 2007 and January 2009.

HF phone: Golden Bear Amateur Radio Net, 3,975 kHz LSB at 1900 Pacific time daily.

E-Mail: k6oik AT arrl.net

Articles: /docs/k6oik

Steve Stearns, K6OIK, started in ham radio while in high school at the height of the Heathkit era. He holds an FCC Amateur Extra and a commercial General Radio Operator license with Radar endorsement. He previously held Novice, Technician, and 1st Class Radiotelephone licenses.

He studied electrical engineering at California State University Fullerton, the University of Southern California, and Stanford, specializing in electromagnetic theory, communication, engineering and signal processing.

Steve worked at Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory in San Jose, California. He retired as a Northrop Grumman Technical Fellow.

Steve is serving as vice-president of the Foothills Amateur Radio Society, and served previously as assistant director of ARRL Pacific Division. He has over 100 professional publications and presentations and ten patents. Steve has received numerous awards for professional and community volunteer activities.

Original call: VE3DVN - 1954 through about 1961. Came to U.C. Berkeley, CA Sept 1961 to study advanced mathematics. Graduated with a Ph.D. in 1966 and accepted a research position at Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park CA

Was relicensed in 1964 as VE3FZK on a return visit to Canada and operated under U.S. reciprocal annual permits until about 1977 when the FCC terminated that requirement. He was active on HF and ATV in the 60's and 70's. Now only on 2M, 220, 440 in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Became a U.S. citizen in 1999 and FCC rules required obtaining a U.S. call sign.

Current main amateur radio interests: VHF/UHF mobile rag chews, ARES, T-hunts (http://www.thunt.org), SSTV and other ham radio related software.

As a result of many years of RDF activities assisting local OO's, accepted an invitation to join the Amateur Auxiliary to the FCC and then became the Official Observer Coordinator for the ARRL Santa Clara Valley Section of the Pacific Division. In 2019 the OO program was replaced by a new Volunteer Monitor MOU with the FCC -- did not join it. Now retired and engaged in a major project spear-heading implementation of an integrated monitoring network of participating amateur stations spread around the Greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Member PAARA, SCARES, ARRL.

Other:

Refreshments
Raffle prizes
Questions for Dr Know-it-All

We will be raffling off prizes at this meeting:

1. Choice of one of:
   • * Tiny Spectrum Analyzer Frequency 100KHz-350MHz, resolution 2.5KHz-640KHz. Bandpass filters for 2.6KHz-640KHz. Built in calibrated Signal generator from 100KHz-960MHz. Complete with cables, telescopic antenna, and LiOn battery
   • * ATYME 32 inch HDTV, connections: HDMI, USB, and A/V, resolution 1366x768, power 42W (5W standby)
   • * Simpson 260 Multimeter Lab standard w/ Agilent probe set
   • * Radioddity GD-73A HT world’s smallest full featured DMR/analog UHF transceiver. Palm size 2600mAH battery, charging cable, belt clip, earpiece - 2 watts output – 1024 memories 1 watt audio output - comes complete programmed to Bay Area code plug (Ed Fong’s version)
   • Nano Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) 2-port network analyzer with SMA connectors, broad frequency coverage 50 kHz to 900 MHz, measures S11, S22, S21 and S12, includes calibration kit (SMA open, short and 50-ohm). Use it to measure filters, tune duplexers, match antennas, and more
   • * CountyComm GP-5 SSB General Receiver LW/AM/FM/HF (2.5-30MHz), Full SDR w/ SiLabs 4743 chip, and nice stereo FM receiver
2. BaoFeng UV-5R x3 Tri Band VHF/UHF HT, 136-174MHz VHF, 220-240MHz VHF, 420-520MHz, 1/4W TX
3. * COB lantern (Chip On Board) twice as bright as conventional LED lights

Carl Luetzelschwab K9LA is a long-time Amateur Radio operator, DXer, electrical engineer, writer, and HamSCI member. He curates a tremendous amount of propagation and radio science information at his website, https://k9la.us.

He was first licensed as a Novice in October 1961 with the call WN9AVT. He is a frequent writer and contributor to Amateur Radio magazines on the topic of radio propagation and contesting. His interest in propagation dates to his college days at Purdue University (BSEE 1969, MSEE 1972).

Carl had a 41-year career as an RF design engineer with Motorola and later with Raytheon (formerly Magnavox), where he designed solid-state RF power amplifiers. He retired in October 2013 to pursue Amateur Radio full time.

He has been on DXpeditions (YK9A, OJ0, and many trips to ZF as ZF2LA and ZF2YL) with his wife Vicky, AE9YL. He is on the Top of the Honor Roll (worked all current DXCC entities). He has 160-Meter DXCC and needs four zones on 80-Meters for 5BWAZ.

Other:

Refreshments
Raffle prizes
Questions for Dr Know-it-All

We will be raffling off prizes at this meeting:

1. Choice of one of:
   • * Radioddity GD-73A HT world’s smallest full featured DMR/analog UHF transceiver. Palm size 2600mAH battery, charging cable, belt clip, earpiece - 2 watts output – 1024 memories 1 watt audio output - comes complete programmed to Bay Area code plug (Ed Fong’s version)
   • * Nano Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) 2-port network analyzer with SMA connectors, broad frequency coverage 50 kHz to 900 MHz, measures S11, S22, S21 and S12, includes calibration kit (SMA open, short and 50-ohm). Use it to measure filters, tune duplexers, match antennas, and more
2. * BaoFeng UV-5R x3 Tri Band VHF/UHF HT, 136-174MHz VHF, 220-240MHz VHF, 420-520MHz, 1/4W TX
3. * Radioddity Triband Antenna - Mobile magmount antenna – 2m, 1.25m, and 70cm. Complete with adapters for mini UHF and PL259
4. * Plantronics Bluetooth Headphones - Professional water proof
5. * $25 - Professional DVM with case and probes
6. * Nye Viking HF low pass filter - donated by Ben Develot - HF low pass filter

Hiroki Kato, AH6CY, was born in Hiroshima, and was first licensed as JA4AAO when he was in high school.

After college, he came to the US to pursue graduate studies. Dr. Kato taught political science and linguistics at several universities, including the University of Hawaii, Harvard, and Northwestern.

He got his current call sign when he lived in Honolulu.

He later worked for early Silicon Valley startups, retiring in 2000.

He enjoys QRP portable and QRO remote operations, having been on the air from many states and countries.

When at home in California, he collects and restores boat anchor radios, focusing on World War II-era radios.

Hiroki is a member of the ARRL. Hiroki previously spoke to FARS on British Spy Radios of WWII in October 2019 (QST, April 2016), and his coffee can antenna (QST, August 2021) won 2nd place in FARS 2019 Home Brew Contest.

Other:

Refreshments
Raffle prizes
Questions for Dr Know-it-All

We will be raffling off prizes at this meeting:

1. Choice of one of:
   • NEW Nano Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) 2-port network analyzer with SMA connectors, broad frequency coverage 50 kHz to 3.0 GHz, measures S11, S22, S21 and S12, includes calibration kit. Updated version. Best color display
   • * Tiny Spectrum Analyzer Frequency 100KHz-350MHz, resolution 2.5KHz-640KHz. Bandpass filters for 2.6KHz-640KHz. Built in calibrated Signal generator from 100KHz-960MHz. Complete with cables, telescopic antenna, and LiOn battery
2. BaoFeng UV-5R Dual Band VHF/UHF HT
3. * LiOn 5AH USB Power Bank charges via USB and solar, built-in LED Flashlight, with USB charging cable and separate compass
4. * Pryme RD-98 Portable Dual Band Antenna with adapters for BNC, SMA male and SMA female
5. * Workman KS-1 BNC Mag Mount Mobile Radio Antenna
6. * Fiberglass Portable Mast by SPIRIT of AIR

Bob Heil became a silent key on February 28, 2024.

Bob Heil’s sound career began early. By age 15, he was performing concerts as the house player on the Wurlitzer theater organ at the Fox Theater in St. Louis.

He was also involved in ham radio and began tinkering with electronics and electronic design. In the early 1960s Bob opened “Ye Olde Music Shoppe” in Marissa, Illinois. The music store built a reputation among the professional bands who were touring because it carried stock of guitars and amplifiers that was unmatched at the time.

In 1966, Bob founded Heil Sound with the goal to provide pro touring gear and systems. Heil Sound also provided system design and equipment for the emerging music festival scene. National accounts grew, and tours with Humble Pie, The Who, Grateful Dead, the James Gang and many others followed. Heil Sound had multiple sound crews on the road simultaneously.

Bob developed pro sound innovations including the famed Talk Box for Joe Walsh and Peter Frampton, the quadrophonic mixer for the Who, and modular mixing consoles.

In the early 1980s, the focus shifted to the amateur radio market. In the late 1990s, at the suggestion of Joe Walsh, a fellow ham radio enthusiast and friend, Bob set out to design a vocal microphone for live sound use. Heil Sound reentered the pro sound market and pro microphone manufacturing industry with the PR 20 microphone, and quickly earned a reputation for mic innovation. Heil mics featured large-diaphragm dynamic components that offered a high degree of sonic clarity and rear rejection. Subsequent microphone models, including the popular PR 40 and PR 30 followed. The PR 35 vocal mic was introduced and found favor with artists such as Stevie Wonder, Beck, Alice in Chains, Charlie Daniels, Joan Baez and others.

In 2007 Heil Sound was honored with a permanent exhibit at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Heil mics are now mainstays in satellite radio broadcast stations, recording studios, and podcast and streaming rigs. In 2018, Heil Sound celebrated 50 years in business, or as they put it, “50 Years of Maximum Rock and Roll.”

Other:

Refreshments
Raffle prizes
Questions for Dr Know-it-All

We will be raffling off prizes at this meeting:

1. Choice of one of:
   • Wouxun KG-UVD1P 2m/70cm Dual Band HT 4W/5W, 1.7AH LiOn battery, w/ 2 chargers
   • * NEW Nano Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) 2-port network analyzer with SMA connectors, broad frequency coverage 50 kHz to 3.0 GHz, measures S11, S22, S21 and S12, includes calibration kit. Updated version. Best color display
2. * BaoFeng UV-5R Dual Band VHF/UHF HT
3. * LiOn 5AH USB Power Bank charges via USB and solar, built-in LED Flashlight, with USB charging cable and separate compass
4. * MFJ-1724b 2M/440 Duo-Band mobile antenna w/ magnetic mount
5. * Radioddity SW2 Emergency radio, 4 power sources: hand crank, solar, USB charging and batteries. Features: LED flashlight, LED flood light, AM/FM/ weather radio, USB power

Marcel Stieber, AI6MS, was licensed on Cinco de Mayo in 2008 and upgraded to Extra in the summer of 2010. He is an ARRL Life Member and a volunteer examiner who has helped license over 673 hams since 2009. Marcel enjoys operating portable stations, APRS, ARDF, and unusual mobile operating (jetski or bicycle)!

He was appointed to the ARRL Committee on Youth by ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, in 2013. He served as the trustee and technical lead for the Cupertino ARES UHF repeater, W6TDM, which was rebuilt from W6KWF in 2014. He is the Technical Deployment Manager for the Cupertino ARES ARKnet Project which is building up a high-speed wireless intranet for the emergency responders in Cupertino.

He operated portable as 9G5MS in Ghana, West Africa, during January-May 2013, where he worked with Medicine on the Move at Kpong Airfield and brought amateur radio to the classroom for the students at AvTech Academy in Kpong, Ghana. Marcel operated during the ARRL School Club Roundup as the first school to participate from Africa.

When he’s not busy volunteering, Marcel works at Amazon Lab126 in Sunnyvale, CA. He remains active with his alma mater Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He serves on Cal Poly’s Electrical Engineering Industry Advisory Board, was president and is an Industrial Advisor to the Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club (www.W6BHZ.org).

Marcel is active in community events, including providing communications for bike rides and triathlons, help at local repeater work days, assist several testing sessions each year, and a tower hand and RF technical advisor for event management companies and local repeater groups.

Other:

Refreshments
Raffle prizes
Questions for Dr Know-it-All

We will be raffling off prizes at this meeting:

1. Choice of one of:
   • Astron AS-20 Linear Power Supply 20 Amps. Linear means no switching noise. Perfect for HF stations.
   • * Nano VNA V2 Vector Network Analyzer Frequency range 50 kHz to 3GHz, measures 2-port S parameters S11, S12, S21, and S22, includes calibration cables and calibration kit. Useful to measure and tune antennas, filters, duplexers, and more.
   • Bioenno Solar Regulator 12V 20A - up to 70 volts input – 12V up to 20A output - designed to charge Bioenno LiFePO4 batteries
2. * MFJ 116 Station Clock 12/24 hour format, station ID reminder
3. * BaoFeng UV-5R Dual Band VHF/UHF HT
4. * LiOn 5AH USB Power Bank charges via USB and solar, built-in LED Flashlight, with USB charging cable and separate compass
5. * HG600B HT Antenna 2m / 70cm HT antenna w/ adapters for BNC, SMA and SMA female

HF phone: Golden Bear Amateur Radio Net, 3,975 kHz LSB at 1900 Pacific time daily.

E-Mail: k6oik AT arrl.net

Articles: /docs/k6oik

Steve Stearns, K6OIK, started in ham radio while in high school at the height of the Heathkit era. He holds an FCC Amateur Extra and a commercial General Radio Operator license with Radar endorsement. He previously held Novice, Technician, and 1st Class Radiotelephone licenses.

He studied electrical engineering at California State University Fullerton, the University of Southern California, and Stanford, specializing in electromagnetic theory, communication, engineering and signal processing.

Steve worked at Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Electromagnetic Systems Laboratory in San Jose, California. He retired as a Northrop Grumman Technical Fellow.

Steve is serving as vice-president of the Foothills Amateur Radio Society, and served previously as assistant director of ARRL Pacific Division. He has over 100 professional publications and presentations and ten patents. Steve has received numerous awards for professional and community volunteer activities.

Other:

Refreshments
Raffle prizes
Questions for Dr Know-it-All

We will be raffling off prizes at this meeting:

1. Choice of one of:
   • * Tiny Spectrum Analyzer Frequency 100KHz-350MHz, resolution 2.5KHz-640KHz. Bandpass filters for 2.6KHz-640KHz. Built in calibrated Signal generator from 100KHz-960MHz. Complete with cables, telescopic antenna, and LiOn battery
   • * Astron AS-20 Linear Power Supply 20 Amps. Linear means no switching noise. Perfect for HF stations.
   • * Bioenno Solar Regulator 12V 20A - up to 70 volts input – 12V up to 20A output - designed to charge Bioenno LiFePO4 batteries
2. * S-Pixie 40M 180mW CW Tranceiver completed built and tested. Includes headphone, power connector for both 12v and 9v battery
3. * BaoFeng UV-5R Dual Band VHF/UHF HT
4. * Radioddity SW2 Emergency radio, 4 power sources: hand crank, solar, USB charging and batteries. Features: LED flashlight, LED flood light, AM/FM/ weather radio, USB power
5. * Cushcraft A449-11S 70cm Yagi 11-element log periodic - 10dB gain

After graduating from U.C. Berkeley with a degree in Electrical Engineering, Jeff has worked continually in Silicon Valley as an engineer for various companies.

He has broad experience in both analog and digital circuit design and associated EMI compliance.

Now retired, Jeff still spends time working on various electronics projects, but for fun, rather than profit.

Other:

Refreshments
Raffle prizes
Questions for Dr Know-it-All

We will be raffling off prizes at this meeting:

1. Choice of one of:
   • * uSDX+ QRP HF Transceiver Covers 160-6 meters – SSB, CW, digital QRP transceiver. 5 watts CW – 10 watt SSB. Built in CW decoder, full DSP noise reduction. Complete with 3000 MaH LiOn battery, AC adapter/charger, Speaker/microphone
   • Professional Motorola GP68 – UHF 430-470 MHz transceiver complete with charger, antenna, new battery, manual - 16 Channel UHF – preprogrammed to local UHF HAM repeaters, Mil Spec 810 – has hardware modifications for direct keypad frequency entry
   • Radioddity QB25 Mobile Tx/Rx: 136-174, 210-230, and 350-520 MHz (includes non-amateur frequencies), 0.25 uV Rx sensitivity, 10/25 watts out, CTSS and DCS coding, 200 memories, good looking color display, direct entry via microphone key pad, programming software and cable; Radio comes pre-programmed for many Bay Area amateur repeaters courtesy of Ed Fong WB6IQN; If you have been looking to get on 220 MHz, this radio is for you
2. * BaoFeng UV-5R x3 Tri Band VHF/UHF HT, 136-174MHz VHF, 220-240MHz VHF, 420-520MHz, 1/4W TX
3. * Nite Ize Lantern 300 Lumens w/ 2600mAH LiOn battery USB port for charging your cells phones and USB devices
4. * Retekess portable radio Covers AM/FM/SW. Built in MP3 player/recorder. Great for emergencies, WWV monitoring. Built in LiOn battery
5. * Non-stick Silicone Rescue tape fuses to itself with no glue

Chris Tate, N6WM, is an active and winning contester, “contestpeditioneer,” DXer, and DXpeditioneer. He currently handles the information technology at the N6RO contest superstation in Oakley, CA, and is founder and principle operator of the K6LRG hilltop contest station in Livermore CA.

You may have worked him during the VP6D Dxpedition, or at ZF1A in an RTTY contest, or as KH6/N6WM.

He has authored articles in QST magazine, including post-contest write-ups for the ARRL DX SSB contest and the CQWW RTTY contest. Chris serves on the contest management team. Chris served terms as President, Vice President, and Contest Chairman of the Northern California Contest Club. He is currently on the club’s Board of Directors. In his spare time he is an active member of Flex Radio Systems’ “Alpha team,” which works to improve Flex Radio’s Smart SDR software suite.

Gary Johnson, NA6O, has had his ham license since he was 13, starting off in Illinois. Now retired from an electrical engineering career at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, he enjoys several hobbies including woodworking, metalworking, electronics, and of course ham radio.

On the radio side, he does DX’ing and likes to operate in contests, particularly CW. He likes to do station design, engineering, and construction. FARS members may recall Gary spoke to FARS three years ago on “Finding and Killing Radio Interference.” /docs/#na6o-rfi Those slides are archived on FARS web site. Gary’s website is https://na6o.com.

Other:

Refreshments
Raffle prizes
Questions for Dr Know-it-All

We will be raffling off prizes at this meeting:

1. Choice of one of:
   • * uSDX+ QRP HF Transceiver Covers 160-6 meters – SSB, CW, digital QRP transceiver. 5 watts CW – 10 watt SSB. Built in CW decoder, full DSP noise reduction. Complete with 3000 MaH LiOn battery, AC adapter/charger, Speaker/microphone
   • Radioddity QB25 Mobile Tx/Rx: 136-174, 210-230, and 350-520 MHz (includes non-amateur frequencies), 0.25 uV Rx sensitivity, 10/25 watts out, CTSS and DCS coding, 200 memories, good looking color display, direct entry via microphone key pad, programming software and cable; Radio comes pre-programmed for many Bay Area amateur repeaters courtesy of Ed Fong WB6IQN; If you have been looking to get on 220 MHz, this radio is for you
2. * BaoFeng UV-5R x3 Tri Band VHF/UHF HT, 136-174MHz VHF, 220-240MHz VHF, 420-520MHz, 1/4W TX
3. * IWISS Power Pole Crimping Tool Includes bag of Power Pole connectors
4. * Alien Tape As seen on TV! 10-ft roll, in sealable, reusable storage bag. Two-sided tape, advanced nano-grip technology sticks to any surface without adhesives, releases cleanly leaving no sticky residue, just remove and rinse and reuse, holds 18 lbs, works on glass, tile, stone, brick, wood and other non-painted surfaces. Great for preventing furniture and rugs from sliding, holding phones and radios while driving, or decorating for the holidays. Better than refrigerator magnets and clips for attaching notes to refrigerator doors – “Post-It-Note” convenience for photos.
5. * SigmaTek 12V 7.5AH SLA Battery Sealed Lead Acid battery