RWK General meetings occur on the second Monday each month at the St. Barnabas Presbyterian Church in Richardson (and simulcast on Zoom for those unable to attend in person). The meeting officially starts at 7:00pm but we have a social hour and mentoring round table ready to go by 6:00pm. Info for upcoming meetings as well as recordings of past meetings are available below.
- General Meeting – September 2023 – EME Adventures on the Microwave Bands
Our September RWK Meeting should be an interesting one. We have Al Ward W5LUA from the North Texas Microwave Society (NTMS) presenting on EME Adventures on the Microwave Bands. For you new hams, EME stands for “Earth Moon Earth”. Yes, that means communicating using the Moon as a big reflector! In the old days, you would need a huge yard and massive antennas and power amplifiers to have an EME QSO. Now you can do it with modest sized antennas that can fit in a neighborhood backyard (and of course a bit of skill!). Al will show us how to get hooked on this rare mode!
Click the image to view the meeting recording Additional Resources:
Presentation Slides from Al Ward W5LUA (pdf)
- General Meeting – August 2023 – HF Noise Mitigation
Our guest speaker for the August meeting will be Mike Ritz W7VO. His talk this month will be HF Noise Mitigation. An educational seminar to help both new and experienced amateurs who are on HF and finding themselves plagued with noise. We’ll learn what “noise” is, about the various sources of noise, and how to mitigate those noises using a variety of techniques. This will be followed with a live “noise tracking” demonstration using a low cost AM receiver, and also a low cost SDR and loop antenna.
[recording]
- General Meeting – July 2023 – A Highly Effective UHF Base Antenna
Our guest speaker for the July meeting will be Ed Fong (WB6IQN). His talk this month will be the DBJ-UHF 5dB gain base antenna (US patent – 2,124,424). This antenna was featured in CQ Magazine in Summer of 2012. The DBJ-GMRS is a highly effective 5dB base antenna at only 37 inches tall and no radials. There have been over 8,000 sold since its introduction ten years ago. It requires no radials and is a DC shorted design so no lightning arrestor is needed.
Click on the image to view the recording Ed’s CQ Magazine article: https://files.k5rwk.net/s/cDDjfRJMgZLqJL3
Ed is also the inventor of the DBJ-1 and DBJ-2 antennas that were featured in the February 2003 and March 2007 QST. His most recent antenna was the TBJ-1 – a triband base antenna that was published in March 2017 QST (US patent 9,608,336). Ed will give a history on how these antennas were developed and the theory on how and why they work so well. There is no “black magic” to antennas. He will explain in a non-mathematical manner to convince you for overall performance and simplicity his approach is one of the most practical. - General Meeting – June 2023 – Contesting Move to the Next Level
Our program this month is Radio Contesting: Move to the Next Level by Gary Sutcliffe W9XT. Gary is an avid contester and writes a column for the ARRL National Contest Journal (NCJ). If you’ve participated in a minor way but were intimidated, frustrated, or wanted to know how to get better as well as make it more enjoyable, Gary has some tips. And even if you have no desire to become an avid contester, his suggestions can help in lots of facets of ham radio.
Click on the image above to view the recording Visit Gary’s website (w9xt.com) for tips on antennas and other contesting techniques. If you are an ARRL member, you can read all his past work in the National Contest Journal (NCJ) archives online.
- General Meeting – May 2023 – Antenna Analyzers
Our program this month is Antenna Analyzers – What’s Really Going On by RWK Member Kevin Grantham N5KRG. Smart Hams use antenna analyzers every day to save work while building and tuning antennas – but few know what’s going on inside the analyzer box? Kevin will attempt to get us “in the know” on these useful devices. We will also have a sampling of various antenna analyzers to look at before the meeting – If you have a favorite analyzer, bring it and show it off.
Click the image to play the recording - General Meeting – April 2023 – Making Ferrite Toroid Baluns for Dummies
Our program this month is Making Ferrite Toroid Baluns for Dummies by John Portune W6NBC. Few hams know how to select a toroid and know how many turns on it to make a 1:1, 4:1 or 9:1 balun. The radio books are only confusing. John will present the 3 simple steps using very little math and a free on-line calculator. There is no mystery here.
Click the image to view the meeting recording. If you would like to view the slides from John’s presentation (pdf), they are here: https://files.k5rwk.net/s/sNDYzYGrRgweyip
Here are some of the tools (links) that John refers to in his presentation:
Amidon Ferrite Toroids Calculator: https://coil32.net/online-calculators/amidon-ferrite-torroid-calculator.html
Ugly Balun Calculator: https://www.translatorscafe.com/unit-converter/en-US/calculator/coil-inductance/
Identifying Unknown Toroids: https://archive.org/details/Name_That_Core
Source for ferrites: https://www.fair-rite.com/product-category/inductive-components/toroids/
Handy Weatherproof Project Boxes: https://www.amazon.com/Zulkit-Dustproof-Waterproof-Electrical-Electronic/dp/B08MYW6WLL/
Our Meeting Location
St. Barnabas Church
1220 West Belt Line Road
Richardson TX 75080
Meeting is in the church’s assembly room (Providence Hall). Park in the rear parking lot and enter from the rear.
Click this LINK for the map.
Beau’s Korner Mentoring
Before the meetings (usually starting shortly after 6:00), we have informal sessions where you can pose questions to seasoned operators or “Elmers” who have plenty of experience and expertise in amateur radio equipment and on-the-air operations. Feel free to come by early and ask questions, or be an Elmer for somebody else.
Upcoming Events
- CQ WW DX Contest – RTTY on September 22, 2023 7:00 pm
- Weekend Foxhunt on September 23, 2023 9:00 am
- RWK POTA Event on September 23, 2023 10:00 am
- RWK Hungry Hams Lunch on September 27, 2023 12:00 pm
- Ham License Testing – Remote on September 28, 2023 6:00 pm
Past Meetings
- General Meeting – September 2023 – EME Adventures on the Microwave Bands
- General Meeting – August 2023 – HF Noise Mitigation
- General Meeting – July 2023 – A Highly Effective UHF Base Antenna
- General Meeting – June 2023 – Contesting Move to the Next Level
- General Meeting – May 2023 – Antenna Analyzers
- General Meeting – April 2023 – Making Ferrite Toroid Baluns for Dummies
- General Meeting – March 2023 – Choosing the Right Field Antenna
- General Meeting – February 2023 – Bob Heil K9EID
- RWK President’s Dinner 2023
- General Meeting – December 2022 – Holiday Hospitality and RWK Systems 101
- General Meeting – November 2022 – Annual Show & Tell Night
- General Meeting – October 2022 – Getting Started with Contesting
- General Meeting – September 2022 – DMR and Fusion and HotSpots, Oh My!
- General Meeting – August 2022 – Solar Cycle 25 Update and Propagation
- General Meeting – July 2022 – The Magic of Six Meters
- General Meeting – June 2022 – Shack Fire & Rebirth: Building the Ideal Modern Shack
- General Meeting – May 2022 – SDR applications: Ways to use the RF “Swiss Army Knife”
- General Meeting – April 2022 – Slot Antennas for Ham Radio
- General Meeting – March 2022 – Linux for the Ham Radio Operator
- General Meeting – February 2022 – How to Learn and Have Fun with Morse Code
- General Meeting – January 2022 – A DIY Battery for Ham Radio
- General Meeting – December 2021 – Parks on the Air
- General Meeting – November 2021 – Annual Show & Tell Night
- General Meeting – October 2021 – Introduction to NanoVNAs
- General Meeting – September 2021 – Tri-Band VHF/UHF Antenna Design
- General Meeting – August 2021 – Remote Ham Radio
- General Meeting – July 2021 – City of Richardson Network “Not your Daddy’s Network”
- General Meeting – June 2021 – High Altitude Ballooning with Amateur Radio
- General Meeting – May 2021 – HF Power Losses
- General Meeting – April 2021 – RWK Foxhunt Basics