Clubs

Bruce Anderson, W1LUS, writes on the Billerica ARS mailing list:

The BARS regular Saturday morning breakfast was canceled due to the virus. We are now trying a Saturday morning Zoom gathering. You are invited to this Saturday’s Zoom gathering. Join anytime between 8 AM and 9:30 AM. Leave whenever you want. There is no preplanned discussion topic. Feel free to bring up any Amateur radio subject that you would like to talk about.

BARS Saturday Morning Gathering
Time: Jun 27, 2020 08:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting […] [Contact Bruce Anderson, W1LUS at w1lus -at- hotmail -dot- com for conference details]

The next meeting of the Zola amateur radio group will be held on Saturday, June 20, 2020 beginning at 11AM EDT. The meeting will be held entirely on a Zoom tele-conference. There will be no in-person component. Please see the call in/sign in information below my signature. This month’s agenda:

11 AM – Come to order and introductions

11:05 AM – Announcements and questions

11:15 AM –

Ms. Donna Suskawicz is a founding member of the Zola Amateur Radio Group. Without her vision, dedication, and generosity there would not be such an organization. She will give us a presentation about the history and mission of our organization. Donna is a real inspiration for us, and we look forward to a very informative presentation.

12 Noon –

Mr. Rob Santello is an inventor and engineer. He designs and produces a product known as a Ham Pod. The Ham Pod device communicates through serial protocols to a variety of amateur radio rigs, rotor controllers, and meters. It features an interactive keypad and voice output. Rob will tell us about the history of his invention and the myriad of uses it has.

12:45 PM – New business and topics for the good of our community.

1:30 PM – Adjourn

Sincerely,

Frank Ventura, N1FMV

frank@littlebreezes.com

[Ed: Contact N1FMV for Zoom conference meeting details]

Joe Chapman, NV1W, writes in The SPARC, June 2020:

The June General Meeting [of the Boston Amateur Radio Club] will be held at the usual date and time, Thursday, June 18, at 7:30 p.m., but on the Zoom teleconferencing platform instead of in person in Brookline Village. Zoom clients are available for many platforms at https://zoom.us. We are grateful to Phil Temples, K9HI, for assisting with setting things up.

June is the Elections meeting, and if you are interested in running for a club office, please contact either Vice President Mark Duff, KB1EKN, or myself. Nominations will of course be open until the election itself, so contacting either one of us is optional.

We will also be discussing individual plans for Field Day.

Here is the drill: I will send out a link for the meeting to the SPARC email distribution list on the afternoon of the 18th . It should have everything you need to join the meeting. Talk-around will be on the 145.230 Boston repeater, and I will be listening in case anyone runs into any issues.

Andy Wallace, KA1GTT, writes on the Billerica Amateur Radio Society website:

I’m very happy to announce that our next virtual speaker will again be David Kruh, WB2HTO, with his talk entitled Stories from the Shop – this time, Part 2, the sequel! David enjoys repairing antique radios – ones using vacuum tubes – and has learned a lot about how they function and also about why they were designed and produced the way they were. I have enjoyed David’s blog posts immensely and he does a great job connecting the dots between the cutting-edge electrical engineering work of today and the heritage that came before.

Working on antique radios takes a special kind of detective skill. Often the circuits are simple. Five-tube radios were common. But in producing consumer electronics, manufacturers had to cut costs which can leave today’s hobbyist scratching his or her head as to why performance or safety could be at risk. Dave has a great slide deck prepared with illustrations of what he has encountered and will explain the logic behind the original design and the way to get these antique sets playing safely again. Remember, there is real radio theory inside a broadcast-band radio. He will field questions after each section of his presentation as well.

This should be a fascinating talk! He was only able to get through two subjects last speaking engagement, so this time he will finish up with “Philco and the State of the Art” and “A Bad Reputation – the Story of the 6X5 Rectifier”.

The NCRA will hold its June meeting on Wednesday, June 10, at 8 PM via Zoom.  We will have a presentation on the new Field Day rules by Bruce, K1BG, the ARRL EMA Assistant Section Manager, followed by an opportunity for everyone to discuss what they have been doing since the last Zoom meeting on May 13.  Jim, WJ1R, will be the Zoom meeting host, and club secretary, Dave, K1HRV, will be sending out the meeting link and password.

Last month’s meeting was well-attended, and it was quite special because of the participation of many of our distant members who cannot attend a local meeting.  Hope everyone will have a chance to participate!  See you then!  –NCRA website