President’s Message – June 2024
Field Day 2024 is here! What seemed so far off in the distance is now a mere 2 weeks away. Our June club meeting will be 100% focused on final Field Day planning. To help with the planning, and to get the latest information, please try to attend this meeting in-person or over Zoom.
Our HF nets are taking off! The last few 40M nets have been amazing. Strong signals locally and up and down California. We even have a non-club member check in regularly from the South Western tip of Utah. We had 16 check-ins at one of our recent 40M nets, 13 of which were from outside of our area! If you haven’t been working the HF bands, give it a try! And don’t be afraid of calling out CQ. I’ve noticed there seems to be a lot of friendly folks that tune up and down a given band looking for someone to talk to.
All of you know about using repeaters to communicate with to each other, but how many of you use simplex? At my house in East end Ventura, I’m surprised how far I can talk over 2M simplex with folks. I have no problem communicating with folks in Camarillo, Oxnard, and most parts of Ventura without going through a repeater. Would I be able to do the same with a handheld? No, the distances would be much shorter, but over open ground, or with a mobile installation or base installation with rooftop antenna, the distance you could cover might surprise you.
Because of the success I’ve had running 2M simplex, I’m thinking of starting a regular simplex net for our club. Interested? Please let me know either in-person at the next club meeting, or by sending me an email to president@vcarc.club. Meanwhile, give 2M simplex a try with your fellow ham friends and maybe you too will be surprised how well it works in our town.
Dave AI6VX – President
