We participated in Winter Field Day which is held annually during the third weekend in January. The goals of Winter Field Day include practicing our emergency communication skills in difficult outdoor conditions and making as many contacts as possible. Although we have no snow to contend with, our fingers did get cold. Collectively we contacted 140 stations using phone, PSK31 and JS8Call. Over a dozen States were recorded and several Canadian Provinces as well.

Meetings are held at the South Tower every Monday night at 6:30 PM. Our club conducts a weekly radio network at 7:00 PM every Monday on the W6LHR Repeater at 147.030 MHz, 167.9 PL. If you are looking for a way to engage in the community and have an interest in amateur radio, please check out the LHARG. We can help with programming handheld radios. For more LHARG information visit our Website, the URL is: lharg.us or email dlehrer72@gmail.com

Doug, N0PGQ gave an informative demo on FT8 hunting tips and propagation maps. Various website addresses were shared by Doug to enable us a better sense of active FT8 international stations. We participated in the ARRL Sweepstakes SSB contest amassing 55 QSO’s, including 25 States for 3,850 points. Although the exchange was very complicated, we gained more confidence in communicating vital information which can help in emergency situations. Our Hams & Coffee/Holiday get together was fun as we adapted to the Café being closed. Mark, KM6HDI and John NQ6Q made a coffee run and really made our Morning. Conversations were wide ranging and time flew by. Dan, KN6DRN traveled to NY and braved the cold to activate a State Park for POTA credit, a first out of State activation for him.

Meetings are held at the South Tower every Monday night at 6:30 PM. Our club conducts a weekly radio network at 7:00 PM every Monday on the W6LHR Repeater at 147.030 MHz, 167.9 PL. If you are looking for a way to engage in the community and have an interest in amateur radio, please check out the LHARG. We can help with programming handheld radios. For more LHARG information visit our Website, the URL is: lharg.us or email dlehrer72@gmail.com

The Ham bands were packed with operators for the CQ World Wide DX Contest back in October. We had dozens of QSO’s (contacts) with 9 countries, 12 zones and accumulated 1,071 points. Our farthest country was Morocco, 5,979 miles away! Sal, WC6SAL, shared some of his secrets to success on FT8. By varying odd versus even frequencies one could improve chances of successful contacts. Dan, KN6DRN demonstrated how to convert log entries into Cabrillo format for contests. LHARG crewed a table at November’s New Resident Orientation. Hams & Coffee was festive and fun. We look forward to a Happy New Year.

Meetings are held at the South Tower every Monday night at 6:30 PM. Our club conducts a weekly radio network at 7:00 PM every Monday on the W6LHR Repeater at 147.030 MHz, 167.9 PL. If you are looking for a way to engage in the community and have an interest in amateur radio, please check out the LHARG. We can help with programming handheld radios. For more LHARG information visit our Website, the URL is: lharg.us or email dlehrer72@gmail.com

Several members helped out and others attended the annual Hamfest sponsored by the Western Placer Amateur Radio Group. Our group participated in a New Resident Orientation event at the OC. We had a wonderful chat with a fellow Ham who just moved here and we hope to see him at our meetings. The California QSO Party enabled us to make many contacts across the Country and Canada. Stations from out of State all call into California to try and make contact. Over 15 States, two Canadian Provinces were heard. We are looking forward to a Hams & Coffee gathering in December, details to follow.

Meetings are held at the South Tower every Monday night at 6:30 PM. Our club conducts a weekly radio network at 7:00 PM every Monday on the W6LHR Repeater at 147.030 MHz, 167.9 PL. If you are looking for a way to engage in the community and have an interest in amateur radio, please check out the LHARG. We can help with programming handheld radios. For more LHARG information visit our Website, the URL is: lharg.us or email dlehrer72@gmail.com

We gathered together at KS Café for our “Hams & Coffee” chat. We had a great turnout featuring varied conversations and a brief demo from Sal, WC6SAL. Thank you Mark, KM6HDI for the sweet treats .Our Monday meetings are well attended and surprise demos make for an informative and fun environment. Dan, KN6DRN showed a YouTube video on antenna and propagation topics. We all learned new concepts. Sal, WC6SAL gave a more detailed FT8 demonstration revealing some tips and tricks to increase the possibility of making international contacts. He alerted us to the latest version of WSJT-X software program available for downloading.

Meetings are held at the South Tower every Monday night at 6:30 PM. Our club conducts a weekly radio network at 7:00 PM every Monday on the W6LHR Repeater at 147.030 MHz, 167.9 PL. If you are looking for a way to engage in the community and have an interest in amateur radio, please check out the LHARG. We can help with programming handheld radios. For more LHARG information visit our Website, the URL is: lharg.us or email dlehrer72@gmail.com

Several members drove to Roseville to view the world’s largest steam engine known as “Big Boy.” Big Boy weighs 1.5 million pounds and 24 wheels! John, NQ6Q brought his VHF/UHF portable antenna which impressed all with its small size yet great performance. Dan, KN6DRN shared propagation information. Research shows that the “summer doldrums” degrade HF signals as the ionosphere is heated and expands, making it less reflective. In addition, during the summer the ionosphere is less dense as it expands. This reduced density also weakens its ability to reflect radio waves. However, of late, the SFI index has been very high. This measures the amount of charged particles in the ionosphere. More charged particles creates an environment of farther radio wave coverage and QSO’s reaching greater distances.

Meetings are held at the South Tower every Monday night at 6:30 PM. Our club conducts a weekly radio network at 7:00 PM every Monday on the W6LHR Repeater at 147.030 MHz, 167.9 PL. If you are looking for a way to engage in the community and have an interest in amateur radio, please check out the LHARG. We can help with programming handheld radios. For more LHARG information visit our Website, the URL is: lharg.us or email dlehrer72@gmail.com

We welcomed new members Julian, KO6EPL and Stu, WA6BTK. Julian has an extensive electronics background built over many years in the Service. Stu returned to Sun City after a 15 year hiatus. He was one of the original founders of the Club and also brings deep knowledge to our group.

Field Day, 2024 was amazing with the Club making 525 contacts. Five of us bore the heat for two days while four members worked from home. Forty-seven States (including Alaska and Hawaii) and six Canadian Provinces were contacted. Sal, WC6SAL reached a station in Paris, France! We greeted many visitors and shared our knowledge of ham radio and emergency communications capabilities. A radio was set up allowing visitors to get on the air. Anita Lehrer was one visitor who successfully contacted a station in Campbell, CA 149 miles away.

Meetings are held at the South Tower every Monday night at 6:30 PM. Our club conducts a weekly radio network at 7:00 PM every Monday on the W6LHR Repeater at 147.030 MHz, 167.9 PL. If you are looking for a way to engage in the community and have an interest in amateur radio, please check out the LHARG. We can help with programming handheld radios. For more LHARG information visit our Website, the URL is: lharg.us or email dlehrer72@gmail.com

On or around 5-12-24, ARRL was the victim of a network attack by a malicious international cyber group. We discussed the impact this had on us, particularly the inability to use LoTW for logging QSO’s. ARRL has stated that the data was not lost but it will take time to bring all systems up. In the meantime, our members will use a variety of other logging programs such as QRZ and Club Log. Of course there is always good old pen and paper.

We held our annual Field Day event in June. The results of this event will be discussed in a future article.

Meetings are held at the South Tower every Monday night at 6:30 PM. Our club conducts a weekly radio network at 7:00 PM every Monday on the W6LHR Repeater at 147.030 MHz, 167.9 PL. If you are looking for a way to engage in the community and have an interest in amateur radio, please check out the LHARG. We can help with programming handheld radios. For more LHARG information visit our Website, the URL is: lharg.us or email dlehrer72@gmail.com

Art, KI6GYY shared his LHARG PowerPoint presentation that we use for public events. The slides are rich in information and color and present our Group and Ham Radio in a most informative and exciting manner. We had a Pre-Field Day meeting at the Playground area and discussed station set ups, antennas and other logistics. We hosted a table at the May New Resident Orientation Event at the OC and were pleased to chat about our Group to our new neighbors. Spirits are high as we look forward to June 22 and 23. Please join us at the Sports Pavilion and surrounding area for Field Day, 2024.

Meetings are held at the South Tower every Monday night at 6:30 PM. Our club conducts a weekly radio network at 7:00 PM every Monday on the W6LHR Repeater at 147.030 MHz, 167.9 PL. If you are looking for a way to engage in the community and have an interest in amateur radio, please check out the LHARG. We can help with programming handheld radios. For more LHARG information visit our Website, the URL is: lharg.us or email dlehrer72@gmail.com

We were given an informative demo by John, NQ6Q on the Winlink system. The system allows licensed Ham operators to send emails and texts without Internet connection. This is important in emergency situations when normal email and texting services are down. Winlink can be used nearly everywhere on the planet, by connecting an HF Single Side Band transceiver system to a computer, modern interface, and appropriate software.

The group participated in the Solar Eclipse QSO Party. Contacts made within the 10 hour time period of the Eclipse in any mode and logged were sent to a central data base where the propagation, signal strength, distances and other variables will be analyzed to understand the effects of the Eclipse on radio waves.

Meetings are held at the South Tower every Monday night at 6:30 PM. Our club conducts a weekly radio network at 7:00 PM every Monday on the W6LHR Repeater at 147.030 MHz, 167.9 PL. If you are looking for a way to engage in the community and have an interest in amateur radio, please check out the LHARG. We can help with programming handheld radios. For more LHARG information visit our Website, the URL is: lharg.us or email dlehrer72@gmail.com