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K7UAZ: The Amateur Radio Club at the University of Arizona
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Written by Elliott
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Friday, 05 February 2010 11:22 |
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Greetings!
A lot has happened since our last meeting, so this is an overall update on more than just the previous meeting.
1) Thanks to your input and the encouragement of Tom (W7DF, ARRL Section Manager), our club is now officially re-affiliated with the ARRL. Now that we are affiliated, if anyone wishes to re-new or get new ARRL membership, the club can keep a portion of the fees. I will have renewal forms at the next meeting and filed in the desk at the ham shack.
2) Since we're ARRL now, not only can you sit back and enjoy reading QST in the shack, but we are also eligible for educational materials. Tom has already ordered us a copy of the latest ARRL License Manual! Big thanks Tom!
3) Speaking of licenses, we all need to welcome Damen (Undergrad Mechanical Engineering at U of A) into the hobby. Damen has been attending meetings for about 6 months now, and he has successfully PASSED (Aced, actually) the Technician test as of last night. Let's keep the momentum rolling and consider working on a class to elmer more new hams into the hobby! Oh, and he's going to need some rigs soon, so keep your eyes peeled for good deals for him.
4) On the contest end of things, K7UAZ placed Third in the State for multi-op, and Second in State for aggregated club score in the Arizona QSO Party last year. Thanks to the hard work of all who have been maintaining the station and those who worked the bands that day! http://www.azqsoparty.org/ And don't forget, Field Day is just around the corner, so let's plan something big!
5) The club has also made progress in securing a room for our upcoming presentations. The room is in the same building as the ham shack (Old Engineering), and contains a computer projector. Hopefully I'll have news about upcoming guest speakers soon.
6) Lastly, we have sent several requests for equipment to some companies as part of our ongoing station upgrade, and are waiting for a reply. Jeff (K2VNT) has also made progress contacting Polyphase, so when we're ready to get the satellite station on the air, we should have that radio fully protected.
That's all for now, keep reading the website for updates. Note that we now have a calendar section where I will try and post events.
--Elliott, KC8AOT, Club President |
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Last Updated on Friday, 05 February 2010 11:50 |
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Meeting Notes, 1/21/10: New Meeting Date, 1st Tues and 3rd Weds. |
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Written by Elliott
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Thursday, 21 January 2010 00:57 |
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UPDATE: New meeting scheduling. Meetings will now be held on the first Tuesday, and third Wednesday of the month. This decision was made to try and accomodate as many members' schedules as possible. Accordingly, the next meeting will take place Febuary 2, 2010, at the usual location.
Besides changing the meeting days, plans have been made for some very exciting guest lectures. Once the schedule is worked out, it will be posted.
Speaking of exciting lectures, the meeting on the 21st featured a guest lecture from Pink, K7ILA, about the National Traffic System (NTS), and how this and SATERN (Salvation Army Team Emergency Radio Network) are helping out with the Hatai traffic. Attendies were also treated to an exciting lecture from our ARRL Section Manager, Tom (K7DF). Tom shared with us the latest in the fight against anti-antenna HOAs, HF interference complaints (and enforcement), as well as general ham fest talk.
We also welcomed several new members, and officially recognized several new memberships that were recorded at the Christmas party.
Plans are still underway to obtain the final pieces to our multi-band multi-antenna remote-op HF station, stay tuned!
de KC8AOT, president. |
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Last Updated on Friday, 22 January 2010 14:33 |
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Meeting Notes, Nov 4, 2009 |
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Written by Elliott
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Thursday, 05 November 2009 12:14 |
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Thanks to all who came to hear Art Blank's presentation, and a big thanks to Art. For clubs considering having Art speak, you are in for a great presentation. Art's presentation covered many aspects of amateur radio, including antennas, propagation, and operating techniques.
Next meeting, Wednesday, Nov 18 (regular location, 6pm), is Shack Night. We will also discuss the status of our remote HF project, the satellite station, and I will propose an "Elmer Library" of recent ham radio education books.
Hope to see you all there!
--Elliott, KC8AOT |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 05 November 2009 13:04 |
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Written by Elliott
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Friday, 04 December 2009 11:52 |
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At the last formal meeting, the members voted to fund (pending approval from our faculty sponsor) the following additions to the ham radio station:
- COM-port rotor control for the primary HF yaggies
- EightPak remote antenna switch with remote control boxes and computer interface
- USB COM-port adaptor
- RF static-buildup supressors for the Yaesu FT-736R VHF/UHF radio
- Study guide books (and possibly software): two technician study books, one general, and one extra.
A cap was also set on the maximum allowed spending for these items, as club funds are extremely low at this time.
The acquisition of these items will help the club accomplish several of its goals, including:
- Elmering new folks into the hobby, and helping existing hams upgrade their licenses
- Bringing the remote HF station online with antenna control
- Utilizing our VHF/UHF satellite station
- Operating on two HF bands at the same time (via the EightPak two-output eight-input switch).
The club also voted to allow the sale of several unused radios and parts, including the Kenwood TS-820S, TS-700S, and the club's collection of vacuum tubes. The radios are to be sold at normal "market price," with preference to club members and local community hams. These radios could be a nice addition to your ham shack, so contact us if you are interested!
A full list of items for sale will be coming once all the equipment has been checked out and evaluated.
Lastly, it was announced that repairs to the N-connector on the Henry 3K amplifier have been completed by Skip (VE6WHM) and Steve (KD7SPY), and the built-in meter switch has also been connected properly (one wire was not soldered correctly). During the repair a second poor solder joint on the TR relay was noticed and this was also corrected. The amplifier is now fully functioning, and awaits your next QSO.
Our next meeting will be the annual Christmas Party, to be held at the Home Town Buffet, 6pm on the 16th of December. All hams and their families are welcome and will enjoy a 20% discount rate. Kids eat for $2. Please RSVP to
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, so that he can get an accurate head count for our reservation. Bruce's email address is
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Last Updated on Friday, 04 December 2009 11:57 |
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Guest Speaker: Art Blank, WA7NB, Midway Island DXpedition Team |
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Written by Elliott
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Tuesday, 27 October 2009 12:43 |
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UPDATE: The next meeting (November 4th) will be held in the Steward Observatory, room 305N, to accomidate Art's AV presentation needs. And as always, we will be monitoring the club repeater on our HTs.
Folks, we are all in for a real treat. Next meeting (Wednesday,
November 4th), we have a guest speaker, Art Blank, WA7NB, who was
part of the on-island crew of the recent K4M Midway Island
DXpedition. Art will be sharing his experiences operating from the
island.
For those unfamiliar with the DXpedition, please see their website:
http://www.midway2009.com/index.html
Art currently holds a 10 band DXCC, a 5 band WAZ, and he has been a
part of several other interesting DXpeditions. He also works for the
FAA as the manager of Tucson Radar Approach Control. So bring your
questions!
Hope to see you there! The meeting starts at 6pm, and Art's
presentation will begin at 6:30.
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Last Updated on Friday, 13 November 2009 16:07 |
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