The Richardson Wireless Klub > General Meetings

General Meetings

The General meetings occur on the second Monday each month at the St. Barnabas Presbyterian Church in Richardson. The meeting officially starts at 7:00pm but there is a mentoring round table ready to go by 6:00pm.

  • General Meeting – September 2021 – Tri-Band VHF/UHF Antenna Design

    General Meeting – September 2021 – Tri-Band VHF/UHF Antenna Design

    Our guest speaker will be Dr. Ed Fong (WB6IQN).  As many of you will remember from his presentation from Feb 2020, he is the inventor of the DBJ-1 and DBJ-2 antenna that were featured in the February 2003 and March 2007 QST.  The DBJ-1 is a highly effective dual band VHF/UHF base station antenna and the DBJ-2 is the portable roll-up version.   The DBJ-2 won the QST Plaque of the Month Award. Both of these antennas are featured in the ARRL VHF antenna Handbook and also in the ARRL Antenna Classic Handbook.  There are over 35,000 of these antennas in use today and many of the RWK already have a DBJ-1 or DBJ-2 antenna.  His most recent antenna is the TBJ-1 – a triband base antenna that was published in March 2017 QST. This antenna covers 2M/220 MHz/70cm in one 6ft ¾ inch PVC pipe and requires no radials.  

    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. 

    Click the image to watch the recording

    View the September Meeting Recording here.

    Related Video:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_IBni6vvMc

  • General Meeting – August 2021 – Remote Ham Radio

    General Meeting – August 2021 – Remote Ham Radio

    This month’s program is from our own David Nathanson K5CU.  Ever wondered how to rag chew or work DX without a home station?  Well David will share how he’s managed to do both.  While living in a rental property in a restricted community, David has no trouble working DX or checking into HF nets using various remote ham radio services.  He will tell (and hopefully show) you how it’s done using just your computer.

    Click the image to watch the recording

    View the August Meeting Recording here. Note: we realize that the audio on the recording is not ideal – we are working on it and hope to have it much improved by the next meeting.

  • General Meeting – July 2021 – City of Richardson Network “Not your Daddy’s Network”

    General Meeting – July 2021 – City of Richardson Network “Not your Daddy’s Network”

    This month’s program is from our own Kevin Sims KD5YVL.  Kevin is in charge of Special Projects for the City of Richardson IT Dept. and is responsible for the City’s radio systems and their digital network.  Kevin always has a funny story or two about the fun parts of his job and you will learn how the City has one of the best networks of a city of its size.

  • General Meeting – June 2021 – High Altitude Ballooning with Amateur Radio

    General Meeting – June 2021 – High Altitude Ballooning with Amateur Radio

    This month’s program is from our own Doug Kilgore KD5OUG.  Doug will provide a pictorial look at past high altitude balloon flights over North Texas containing Amateur radio…and maybe a challenge for the future. We will also have an update on Field Day and other current RWK activities.

    Meeting video coming soon – delayed due to technical difficulties.

  • General Meeting – May 2021 – HF Power Losses

    General Meeting – May 2021 – HF Power Losses

    Join us for the May 10th general meeting of the Richardson Wireless Klub. Don’t miss your opportunity to join this virtual RWK meeting from the comfort of your living room, office or ham shack.

    This month’s presentation will be delivered by Jim Eatman, KG5WAW. Jim has delivered several great talks at recent meetings – most recently a great presentation on HF dipoles (June 2019). This month he will be discussing power losses in HF radio links. This presentation is meant for hams of all skill levels, and will delve into sources of power loss (coax, tuners, baluns, antennas, etc.), along with some steps you can take to help reduce them.

    As with recent meetings, we are meeting via Zoom and registration is required (name, email, callsign).  Please use this registration link: https://bit.ly/33eX0Xr

    We look forward to having you there!  And since RWK monthly general meetings are open to all, please feel free to invite anyone you think might be interested.

    Beau’s Korner Mentoring/Roundtable – 6pm
     
    Please join us for the (dare I say popular?) Beau’s Korner Mentoring/Roundtable session at 6pm before the meeting.  We’ve been averaging 20 or so on video (and a few more that are just audio only).  It’s the closest thing to an informal gathering before the meeting at the church that we have, so join us on video (most laptops and phones have a built-in webcam) if you dare or just watch us have fun before the meeting.  Bring your questions and show pics of your shack and/or antennas.

    Beau’s Korner Link: 

    https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89618532653?pwd=RzRPZDdlWW1NTzNxanlOUFZCZksrZz09
     

  • General Meeting – April 2021 – RWK Foxhunt Basics

    General Meeting – April 2021 – RWK Foxhunt Basics

    This month our main presentation is all about foxhunts.  The RWK has now been doing weekly (with a few exceptions) foxhunts for almost two years, and it’s time for a refresher course.  Andrew KE5GDB is going to explain how to hunt, the tools that you need, and techniques that you can use to find the fox.  We’ll show you the two resident RWK foxes, how they work, and things to listen for. If you haven’t yet hunted our foxes and didn’t know where to start, you should hopefully be prepared and all you will need is some practice to become an expert.  It’s great weather for a hunt so lets get lots of new calls in the log!

    Click the image to view the recording of the April 2021 Meeting

    View the recording of the April 2021 General Meeting

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

Past Meetings

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