Tag Archives: shack

July 27, 2017 AEA Amateur Radio Club Meeting

AEA Amateur Radio Club meeting was held at 11:30 am on 7/27/17.  

Ten people were in attendance, two of whom joined at this meeting:

  • Teresa Moore AG6OD
  • Don Hall KK6DCX
  • Kirk Crawford KK6KC
  • Tom Essenpreis KB9ENS
  • Ryan Noguchi AI6DO
  • Victor Lin KK6RZO
  • Bob Lanahan KK6WYW
  • NEW MEMBER Susan McCormack K6SUZ
  • NEW MEMBER Wayne Wheeler  W6AHH
  • Joe Barger N6KK


 The meeting started with a report on this year’s Field Day and a discussion of what we should remember for next year.  Then we discussed the budget, including plans for upgrading the A2 shack HF radio and antenna.  Finally, HamCon is coming to Torrance this fall, September 15-17.  Besides interesting talks, there will be an opportunity for an added cost to tour the radio room on the battleship Iowa.  More information on all of these topics is available in the powerpoint presentation, which can be found on the club web site.

The meeting ended with a raffle.  All members including the new members received a free raffle ticket.  Victor won a Pixie transceiver, Don got the heat shrink tubing, Kirk got a helping hands tool, and Susan got the tape measure.

Wayne volunteered to do a presentation on his project to rebuild a 1928 HF radio.  He is on the calendar for the October meeting.

Teresa Moore

July 2017 Meeting Slides

January 2017 Meeting Minutes

Audio of the meeting:

Audio Player
    Members in attendance:

  • Kirk KK6KC
  • Teresa AG6OD
  • Bob KK6WYW


14 members have paid dues for 2017

Holiday reports:

Kirk talked about using APRS during his recent RV trip.  His system involved a little Bluetooth APRS tracker device, a radio, and an old phone running APRSdroid.

Tom did a SOTA hike and got at least 4 contacts.

Bob studied for his General license and takes the exam on Saturday.  He may do a SOTA hike after the exam.

New Business:

Bob needs a computer for the A2 shack.  Kirk will look into getting a redeployed system from the Aerospace loan pool.

Some of the radios in the A2 shack have issues.  One doesn’t tune and another doesn’t receive well but seems to transmit OK using a 10 m horizontal dipole on the penthouse roof.  We may want to put an inverted V dipole on the penthouse.

Antenna survey for the A2 shack will take place Thursday Feb 2 at 1 pm for antenna planning.

    Upcoming Events:

  • 1/28-29 Winter Field Day
  • 1/28  Montana QSO party
  • 1/28 TRW swap meet
  • 2/4 Palm Springs Hamfest
  • 2/4 Vermont QSO party
  • 2/17-18 Yuma Hamfest
  • 6/24-25 Field Day (Kirk will be out of town)

Raffle:
1st prize to Bob who picked the 40 m transceiver kit
2nd prize to Kirk who picked the heat shrink tubing set
3rd prize to Teresa  who got the diagonal cutters

September Club Meeting

Radio club meeting 9-29-16

Members present:  Ryan, Teresa, Tom, Kirk, Ching

A6 shack:  The D8 shack will eventually go away if Aerospace gets rid of D8, the A2 shack is in need of some work, the A3 shack is owned by Security, and the D1 shack is VHF/UHF only and is on a private lab bench.  A new shack in A6 could provide additional capability as well as a roof-mounted antenna that could be used by the trailer (in the event that the building is still standing but not accessible to personnel.)  So far, all of the proposed rooms (the electrical room and the stairwell) have been rejected by management.  The new proposals include the old networking room and a Tuff Shed on the roof.  Electrical rooms in general may be problematic, which may spell trouble for the D8 and A2 shacks.

For A3, we need a replacement HF antenna as the old one is missing.  The two proposed choices are the Cushcraft R9 or the GAP Eagle DX.  Contact Kirk with your preference.

AEA Octoberfest:  Wed Oct 19 from 11-1.  We’ll have a table, 2 chairs, a canopy, and electricity.  Bob and Tom will be there and others are welcome to join them.  They will have the Buddipole, radio, and computer hooked up and will do a JT65 demo.

CERT Event:  Oct 26 9-11 am.  The whole company will do an evacuation, then hams will report to the trailer.  There will be two remote sites.  If possible, 2 hams will be assigned per site, one will be at the trailer (running off generator power), and one will be a runner.  We’ll use one frequency for the hams to communicate with the trailer and one for the trailer to communicate with the RV.

Kirk’s satellite contact:  Arrow antenna.  50-50 Saudisat 1-C.  Heavens above app.

San Diego Hamfest was Saturday, Ham Con is coming to Torrance next year.

Christmas party:  Don will coordinate again.

Raffle:  Tom won first prize and chose the headlamp; Kirk won second and chose the screw driver set, and Teresa won third and got the tape measure.

 

A3 Antenna Report

On Tuesday August 30, 11:30 AM, Kirk Crawford (KK6KC), Thomas Essenpreis (KB9ENS), and Bob Lanahan (KK6YWY) investigated the antenna situation for the A3 Shack.  We disconnected All the antenna cables in the room and then Bob and I (KK6KC) went to the roof while Tom stayed in the shack to test.  We found that the HF Antenna is broken.  It had been obviously cut off.  This most likely happened when the roof was recoated.  The other antennas all seem to be present.  They are all monoband-verticals. See the picture below for a diagram:

A3 Roof Antennas
A3 Roof Antennas

We used a shorted SO239 connector to figure out which antenna is which and analyzed the antennas that we could.

The Antenna Cables that go to the shack are:

  1.  #38 70cm (440MHz)
  2. ATV
  3. #45 23cm (1.2 GHz)
  4. #43 2m (144 MHz) SWR=1.25 @ 144 MHz
  5. #39 1.25m (220 MHz) SWR  = 1.04 @ 219 MHz
  6. #41 HF (Antenna is broken)
  7. 23cm (1.2 GHz)
  8. #42 2m (144 MHz) SWR = 1.04 @ 145 Mhz

We connected antenna 8 to the 2m radio used for the morning nets, and the other 2m to the packet setup.

Conclusions:

We need a new HF antenna on A3 to replace the missing one. I recommend a multi-band vertical type due to the limited space on the penthouse.   Your recommendations are welcome.

The club should also invest in a multi frequency antenna tester that can cover all the antennas we have. The AA-1400 Antenna Analyzer by RigExpert was recommended by Tom. It is capable of measuring from .1-1400 MHz and costs about $1079 (on Amazon).

73,

Kirk Crawford

EDIT:

Some Pictures of the HF Antenna Mounting point:

HF Mount Viewed from below
HF Mount Viewed from below

HF Antenna Mount
HF Antenna Mount

 

April 2016 Meeting Minutes

Audio of the Meeting:

Audio Player

Slides of the meeting

AEA Amateur Radio Club meeting 4/28/16

Members in attendance:

  • KK6KC Kirk Crawford
  • AG6OD Teresa Moore
  • KJ6QBI Ching Kong
  • KK6WYW Bob Lanahan
  • KK6PSA Phil Martzen


Repeater Status: WB6VMV repeater is fixed, just needs to be connected to the controller, which will happen 4/29/16. We will keep the net on W6HA for Monday and then switch back to WB6VMV on Tuesday May 3.

Field Day: the El Segundo gate is now closed on weekends, so VC1 is not an available location for Field Day. We can use VC2 and/or the parking structure. In the parking structure, we can use pipe clamps or big nylon straps to attach antennas to the wall. At VC2, the trailer would be parked to the north of the building. If only a few people plan to come to Field Day, we will not set up at two locations. The final location(s) will be determined at the next meeting.

Everyone that is bringing personal gear to Field Day should get it ready. Be sure to bring a self-contained system (except for power, which we will provide from the generator.)

Teresa will run the Kenwood HF rig and Kirk will be in charge of the KX3. We may want to set up a 40-m beam.

On May 11 at 11:30 we will meet at the trailer to do an inventory of the five rigs that will be used on Field Day. Then we will make a list of things to purchase before Field Day.

A2 shack: Bob Lanahan was designated at the new custodian for this shack and tasked with inventorying what is there and determining if we need to purchase anything.

Budget: We have $8K in the bank.

Ideas for spending money included:

  • Create an A6 shack
  • Upgrade D8 shack
  • Waterfall display dongles (3) with upconverter
  • Heil headphone sets (5)
  • New microphone for Kenwood
  • Portable tower w/ 20 meter beam so we can hit COS/Chantilly after a big earthquake

 

January 2016 Meeting Minutes

1-28-16

AEA Amateur Radio Club Meeting

In attendance:  KK6DCX Don Hall, KK6WYW Bob Lanahan, AG6OD Teresa Moore

The daily net has been going well.

Teresa gave a report on the repeater status.  Mike Worshum is working the issue.  Dave Ping repaired the repeater but they still need to purchase a new backup battery which will require a vote from the city council.  In the meantime, we are welcome to use the Hughes repeater.

There was a CERT exercise scheduled for February, Don Hall will check with Jason Bayonne as to the status on that.

It would be good to have a computer for the A3 shack so that the net email can be sent directly from there.  Don will check into that.

No one knew the status of the monthly net with the Colorado and Chantilly offices.

We need to start thinking about Field Day, and schedule some lunchtime practices where we set up antennas and try to make contact.

February 2015 HAM Club Meeting

Audio Player

(Audio of the meeting)

The meeting began at 11:30 AM on February 26, 2015 in D8 1006A.  Five members were in attendance:

  • Teresa Moore (AG6OD)
  • Victor Lin (KK6RZO)
  • Don Hall (KK6DCX)
  • Kirk Crawford (KG6MTE)
  • Ryan Noguchi (AI6DO)


The radio equipment that was purchased for the D1 shack has arrived and has been installed.  The Radio has been tested and can reach the El Segundo Repeater.  The simplex portion of the system will be tested after this meeting.  Teresa will try out here new roll as the NCO tomorrow.  If club members would like to try out the radio setup, contact Teresa Moore for access. 

We discussed possible meeting topics for future meetings.  I will research a tree mounted dipole system I plan to use for  my home, and will present that at some point.

Teresa’s husband knows about digital modes may come in and present.

We also agree we should check  out the field day equipment we have to make sure we know how to set it up and use it before field day comes along. Hopefully we can do this in either March or April.

I also took an action item to contact Jason to inquire about the  HF Radio Status for the trailer.

Teresa will study the cross-band repeater mode of her new radio, and we plan to try it out in order to test it’s use for a possible future CERT exercise.

We gave recommendations to Victor Lin on possible VHF radios to buy as his first radio. The conclusion was to try the inexpensive Baofeng radio available on Amazon for ~$30.

The meeting was adjourned at about 12:20 and we went up to the D8 Shack for a little tour.

 

January 2015 Meeting Notes

Aerospace Ham Radio Club

Meeting Notes – January 29, 2015

 

Present at meeting:

Name Call Sign
Donald Hall KK6DCX
Joe Barger N6KK
Teresa Moore AG60D
Phil Martzen KK6PSA
Joseph Pham AB6TK
Victor Lin (studying for license)


 

Discussions:

  • Victor talked with Joe about membership, dues, etc.
  • Portable Ham antennas
  • Need for morning NCO (control operator)
    • Group discussed need for NCO
    • Discussed possibility of having next meeting in D8, to make attendance by employees working in D8 more convenient, hopefully to identify future NCO
    • Teresa mentioned she could do morning NCO, but lacks a ham shack at her location (D1)
      • Group discussed feasibility of purchasing needed equipment to set up in D1
        • Joe stated he thought we could easily afford equipment to set up in D1 for morning net operations
        • Teresa will check on opportunities for installing an antenna at D1
      • Phil mentioned he needs to acquire a handheld
        • Group discussed some inexpensive handhelds that are available