Month: August 2025

I would like to announce that our Guest Speaker for the September 3, 2025, club meeting will be Ward Silver, N0AX, who will give a talk on End Fed Half Wave antennas and other relevant antenna topics. Ward has written several antenna books for the ARRL, so this presentation should provide valuable insight into antenna building and construction. You won’t want to miss this presentation!

Below is Ward’s impressive biography.

I was first licensed at age 16 in 1972 as WNØGQP, primarily Elmered by WBØDYV, now KJ7PC, then upgraded to Extra and NØAX in 1975. Ham radio led directly to electrical engineering studies at Univ of MO – Rolla (now the MO Univ of Science and Technology, radio club WØEEE) and a BSEE degree in 1978. I spent the next 20-something years in field and product development engineering.

In 1983 I moved to the Seattle area (specifically, Vashon Island NA-065/WA-060S) and after my twin boys grew up to allow some personal time again, started putting up antennas and getting on the air more regularly in the late 1980s. About that time, I discovered the Western Washington DX Club (wwdxc.org) and found a community of like-minded operators with a pretty good sense of humor about ham radio. You have to have a good sense of humor if you’re going to be active on HF from the Pacific Northwest! In 2010, I returned to the St Louis area and now live in St Charles’ “Midtown” neighborhood a few blocks from the Missouri River. I’ve established a competitive station in the Steelville, MO area that combines access to floatable rivers and a good radio QTH. Look up WØECC for the Elayer Contest Club’s latest exploits.

During the 1990s I became more active in contesting and DXing, eventually appearing in the DXCC Honor Roll, lots of contest Top Ten boxes, and on a few Record lists. I was fortunate to be among the founders of the World Radiosport Team Championships, first held in Seattle in 1990, and served on the Sanctioning Committee until 2019. In 2004, I joined the YASME Foundation (yasme.org) as a Board Member, becoming the organization’s President in April of 2013, and enjoy extending a helping hand to amateur radio around the world that way, too.

Competitive operating really gets my ham radio juices flowing, whether individually or in teams, operating from stations such as K3LR, HC8N, K9CT, VE7SV, N7WA, N7BV, KØKL and others. I finally got to go on a Real DX-pedition in 2005 as part of the K7C team’s adventure to Kure Atoll and managed not to wreck the boat, even though I was permitted to pilot it more than my experience at sea warranted.

In 2000, I began writing and teaching in earnest, realizing an achievement I never thought possible in my younger days, becoming the Lead Editor for the legendary ARRL Handbook and the ARRL Antenna Book. I’m also the author and editor of the three ARRL License Study Guides so I get in a lot of “Elmering” (mentoring) along the way. I’ve also written Ham Radio for Dummies (as of 2021 in its fourth edition), Two-Way Radios and Scanners for Dummies (2006), and Circuitbuilding for Dummies (2008). I’ve written a lot for QST magazine, including 15 years of the Hands-On Radio column now available as compilations of the columns in book form. (arrl.org/hands-on-radio). My well-received ARRL book Grounding & Bonding for the Radio Amateur was released in 2018 with a second edition in 2021. I edited the ARRL Contest Update biweekly newsletter (arrl.org/contest-update-issues) for 13 years and the ARRL Contest Corral for 20 years.

I was honored to receive the Bill Orr Technical Writing Award (2003 and again in 2016) from the ARRL and have been awarded some QST cover plaques. This would amaze my high-school English teachers! While my list of publications continues, the best reward, is hearing from readers that have found my writing helpful in understanding some aspect of electronics or radio.

After the meeting, the recording and any shared content made available to BARS will be added to this post. The meeting will be in-person, at the Chelmsford Bible Church, 128 Gorham St, Chelmsford, MA, and online via Zoom.

As always, the link to join the Zoom meeting will be posted to the BARS email list and should not be shared outside our Club. Are you on the email list? If not, subscribing is as easy! See the BARS Email List for all the details.

Watching our Zoom meetings requires only a web browser and headphones or speakers. You do not need a microphone or webcam unless you want to speak or be seen. Please go to https://zoom.us/test to test your setup anytime before the meeting. If you have problems, feel free to ask questions on the BARS email list for assistance.

We look forward to “seeing” many of you there on Wednesday at 1900 local time.

K1IG on the PART of Westford mailing list posts:

The August PART meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, beginning at 7:30 PM at the Cameron Senior Center, 20 Pleasant Street, Westford, MA, and via Webex video conference.

 

The topic for the August meeting is “Other Radio Services.” We’ll try to clear the air on the alphabet soup of FCC-designated services such as CB, MURS, FRS, GMRS, and even some others. We’ll also discuss how these services may (or may not) affect ham radio.

 

We should have time at the end of the presentation for a swap meet. If you’ve got any old gear that you think other members can use, bring it to the meeting. If you’re bringing high-value items, it would be helpful to send an email to the club with a description and price range.

Installing a mobile radio in your vehicle can be a challenging but rewarding project. Using examples from his own installations, Zachary Sherman, KC1NXK, will demonstrate techniques for cleanly installing mobile radios and other electronic accessories in vehicles. After the meeting, in-person attendees are encouraged to take a hands-on look at Zachary’s radio installation.

Bio: Long before he heard of amateur radio, Zachary enjoyed playing with FRS walkie-talkies with friends. Sent home from Olin College due to Covid, he became a Technician licensee in September 2020. Zachary soon became a co-leader of the Olin Collegiate Amateur Radio Club, helping students earn their radio licenses then volunteer for public service events. Zachary graduated in 2023 as a mechanical engineer and now works at IVIVA Medical, helping to design a bioartificial kidney. Zachary enjoys community events at NEST, making contacts via the ISS repeater, studying for his General license test, and of course working on his mobile radio installation. He is currently president of STARS.

Please note: Zachary will be presenting in person at NEST, but you can also choose to participate over Zoom, as always.