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

We welcomed new resident and member Phil, N6MWC. Phil comes to us from Fremont and looks forward to reacquainting himself with amateur radio after a long hiatus. After a detailed RTTY demo we felt prepared for the NA QSO Party RTTY contest. RTTY also known as radio teletype typewriter was very popular in the 60-70’s and a main method of networked typed remote communications of that day. It uses a 5 bit frequency-shifted “Baudot” scheme of “1” and “0”. With shifting, capable of 2×32 combinations of letters, numbers and carriage control characters.  Over 80 contacts were made, many on the East coast. Our Hams & Coffee get together was fun and we were treated to delicious pastries by Mark, KM6HDI.

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 Group has been very busy. Dan, KN6DRN and Art, KI6GYY hosted a table at a recent New Resident Orientation and chatted with two former Hams. They were excited to hear about our club. The airwaves were alive for the North America QSO Party. We made over 60 contacts including 26 States, Puerto Rico and Canada. The annual Winter Field Day challenges Ham operators’ emergency preparedness capabilities in various conditions and pushes us to new levels. It is held over two days and operators are encouraged to work outdoors although indoor set ups are allowed. The Group amassed over 130 contacts and tested battery operated power sources as well as portable antennas.

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