The Joy of Field Day

Jim Peterson, K6EI

This meeting is scheduled to convene in the Covington multipurpose room.
This meeting is also available on-line via Zoom.

Jim Peterson, K6EI, talks all about Field Day – set up, equipment, power, station coordination, operating, points and score strategies, and much more.

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The dinner has been canceled for this meeting due to illness. We plan to reschedule in a few months.

To be Announced

TBA, K6YA

This meeting is scheduled to convene in the Covington multipurpose room.
This meeting is also available on-line via Zoom.

This meeting is one week earlier than usual. It has been scheduled for the 3rd Friday instead of the usual 4th Friday of the month due to Field Day. Be sure to put the correct date on the calendar.

To be Announced.

To be Announced

TBA, K6YA

This meeting is scheduled to convene in the Covington multipurpose room.
This meeting is also available on-line via Zoom.

To be Announced.

To be Announced

TBA, K6YA

This meeting is scheduled to convene in the Covington multipurpose room.
This meeting is also available on-line via Zoom.

To be Announced.

FARS Annual Amateur Radio Home Brew Contest

K6YA

This meeting is scheduled to convene in the Covington multipurpose room.
This meeting is also available on-line via Zoom.

All presenters for this meeting must be in-person. No Zoom presentations accepted.

This meeting is about our members and guests. Our Annual Amateur Radio Homebrew Contest is a opportunity to show off a project that you have worked on in the past year. Each participant has a few minutes to show and explain his project to our audience. No Zoom presentations accepted. Presenters each have a chance to win one of our four prizes:

To be Announced

TBA, K6YA

This meeting is scheduled to convene in the Covington multipurpose room.
This meeting is also available on-line via Zoom.

To be Announced.

To be Announced

TBA, K6YA

This meeting is scheduled to convene in the Covington multipurpose room.
This meeting is also available on-line via Zoom.

This meeting is one week earlier than usual. It has been scheduled for the 3rd Friday instead of the usual 4th Friday of the month due to Thanksgiving. Be sure to put the correct date on the calendar.

To be Announced.

To be Announced

TBA, K6YA

This meeting is scheduled to convene in the Covington multipurpose room.
This meeting is also available on-line via Zoom.

This meeting is two weeks earlier than usual. It has been scheduled for the 2nd Friday instead of the usual 4th Friday of the month due to Christmas. Be sure to put the correct date on the calendar.

To be Announced.

The Best Shape for a Wire Antenna

Steve Stearns, K6OIK

This meeting convened in the Covington multipurpose room. This meeting was available on-line via Zoom.

Given at Pacificon 2024, this talk is an expanded version of Steve's talk at FARS in December 2021. A ham wants to make a wire antenna for 20-meter DX. It needs to have a lot of gain. More gain is better.

He is blessed with an infinite spool of antenna wire but cursed with rusty, old wire cutters. He can make but two cuts. He cuts off two pieces of wire to drive one against the other. How much gain can his antenna have?

In answering this simple question, Steve leads us beyond dipoles into a world of 2D paths in 3D space. You will throw away your wire cutters after Steve shows how Texas longhorns and cowboy hats can beat beams.

Steve's presentation is available on-line.

FARS Winter Banquet

The History of Wireless Power Transfer

Robert Moffatt, KG4UHM

This meeting convened as an in person only meeting (NO Zoom Access) at the Blue Pheasant in Cupertino. Reservations required.

Broadband (4 GHz) Precision Amplifiers

Ed Fong, WB6IQN

This meeting convened in the Covington library. This meeting was available on-line via Zoom.

We are all familiar with the NanoVNA and the Tiny SA. There are also numerous digital scopes now that are very affordable. An example is the DSO03D12 - a dual trace color portable oscilloscope with probes that easily measures in real time up to 150 MHz. This instrument also has built in DVM and signal generator – all for less than $150. These instruments would have cost in the thousands of dollars 10 years ago. Only the most serious hams own expensive HP or Tektronix equipment, so why are they now all so affordable?

The simple answer is an innovative operational amplifier (“op amp”) design. For the last 50 years, op amp design followed a tried-and-true formula that did not change. Dave Fullagar designed the uA 741 in 1968. It had unity gain bandwidth of 1.5 MHz. True, small incremental improvements happened over the years, such as current mode feedback. However, these were evolutionary, not revolutionary. Steady improvement in semiconductor processing gave incremental gains in frequency response (10apos;s of MHz at most).

However, in the early 2000's a new amplifier topology was invented that allowed controlled high precision feedback gains in the 4-6 GHz range. This configuration is only now finding its way into amplifier text books. Ed explains this new circuit configuration and how it works.

End-Fed Antenna Secrets and Much, Much More!

Bob Brehm, AK6R

This meeting convened in the Covington multipurpose room. This meeting was available on-line via Zoom.

Learn how to select, choose and setup an end-fed antenna system that works on multiple bands, is stealthy, and radiates well at low heights. Find out the secrets of antenna matching, reducing RFI, and minimizing noise present on many end-fed antennas.

Bob's presentation is available on-line. Scroll down or search for “Foothills ARS”.