Ventura County Board of Supervisors Declares June “Amateur Radio Month” on June 18, 2024

ARRL Field Day 2024 logo

Waiting for the Amateur Radio Proclamation to be Announced by Supervisor Kelly Long District 3 Chair of the Board of Supervisors Jeff Reinhardt AA6JR Public information Coordinator ARRL – Santa Barbara Section listens as Rob Hanson W6RH Ventura County ACS Radio Officer and Ventura County ARES District Emergency Coordinator speaks to the Board of Supervisors about the Auxiliary Communications Service and Amateur Radio Emergency Service community service. Andy Ludlum K6AGL Assistant Section Manager ARRL – Santa Barbara Section presents details of amateur radio volunteers and projects in the Ventura County community. Jeff Reinhardt AA6JR Public information Coordinator ARRL – Santa Barbara Section presented a slide show about amateur radio and its contributions to the nation as well as our local communities. This slide depicts three club’s Field Day locations and Jeff invited all attendees to come out and see for themselves how emergency communications can be established under field conditions.

AN ENGINEER LOOKS AT SCIENCE by Reese West KQ6TT

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY A lot of the life of an engineer is solving problems which are inadequately stated, with inadequate data, time, and money.  This note is one engineer’s look at what scientists have been doing with their time and effort.  If you read it, you will find: 1. A method for electromagnet waves to propagate in our world. The mathematics for this is known but not the physical model. 2. The two slit wave experiment does not show a particle model through a single slit, and has major problems to show how photons split into two photons and recombine 3. The Big Bang and the Doppler Effect of moving signal sources. 4. There was no reason to assume that gravity was an attractive force and not a pushing force or something similar. 5. Energy propagation of matter can be made into a continuum of solid, liquid, gas, wave.  Each… Continue reading

Earth’s upper atmosphere could hold a missing piece of the universe, new study hints

by Paul Sutter https://www.yahoo.com/news/earths-upper-atmosphere-could-hold-150000722.html Earth may be swimming through an ocean of dark matter — and waves in that invisible ocean lapping against our planet’s upper atmosphere may generate detectable radio waves that allow us to finally find this elusive component of the universe, according to new theoretical research. A wealth of astrophysical and cosmological evidence points to the existence of dark matter, from the inexplicable rotation curves of certain galaxies to the growth of the largest structures in the universe. Attempts to explain this wide variety of observations with alternative formulations of gravity have failed, so the vast majority of astronomers think dark matter is some unknown form of matter that only rarely interacts with light or with normal matter. But that is a very broad idea that encompasses a lot of possibilities. Dark matter may be made of massive particles, but searches for those kinds of particles have largely turned up empty. So… Continue reading

We may have just witnessed some of the strongest auroras in 500 years

By Sharmila Kuthunur  published May 20, 2024 “We’ll be studying this event for years.” Evan Boyce captured this stunning aurora above the coast of Northern Ireland. (Image credit: Evan Boyce) This month’s ramped-up auroras may have been even more remarkable than we thought. The auroral displays that wowed observers around the world two weekends ago, including folks as far south as Florida in the U.S. and Ladakh in northern India, may have been among the strongest such light shows since record-keeping began. “With reports of auroras visible to as low as 26 degrees magnetic latitude, this recent storm may compete with some of the lowest-latitude aurora sightings on record over the past five centuries, though scientists are still assessing this ranking,” NASA officials said in a statement. “It’s a little hard to gauge storms over time because our technology is always changing,” Delores Knipp, a research professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who focuses on space weather,… Continue reading

Club Project Build May 18, 2024

Club Project Basics demonstration

After the ham exam, held at the Grace Lutheran Church, Dave Schmidt AI6VX and Mark Thompson AE6GD put on a club project build-basics demonstration. John Gartman W6JPG, Chris Dimond KJ6QOP. Burt Auerbach KA6BJA, Larry Gray K6LWG, Ben Holmes, K6QV, Duane Smeckert KO6ACQ and Robert Shank KM6RSS watched Dave demonstrate the correct way to create wire connectors with Anderson Power Poles and saw Mark show the many ways to remove components from a circuit board. Dave also went through the steps of preparing an RG8X-B coaxial for a crimped PL-259 connector. Dave shows how to add an Anderson Power Pole while Ben, Chris, and Mark watch. Mark used several soldering techniques including a solder-sucker, solder remover using braided wire, temperature-controlled soldering iron and a hot air gun. No fingers were burned although some rosin smoke enhanced everyone’s enjoyment of the demonstration. Dave used three cable insulation cutters to obtain the best… Continue reading

Ham Exam held on May 18th

Ham Exam

Our club hosted its second ham exam this year (the first was held on March 9th at the Dudley House); this was the first time we held it at the Grace Lutheran Church 6190 Telephone Rd, Ventura CA 93003. The Church has a lot of parking and meeting room space, great seating and Dave brought the donuts! Six people attended; two received their technician license and two received their amateur extra license. Dave AI6VX (upper left), Larry K6LWG (walking at center), John W6JPG (far right), and Robert KM6RSS (taking the photo), administered the test as Volunteer Examiners with the ARRL as the VEC. Our next exam is scheduled for July 13 (8:30 AM) at the Grace Lutheran Church. All applicants must pre-register for an exam by sending an email to licensing@vcarc.club with your information. We will reply within a day to confirm your spot, and include information on what you will need to… Continue reading