All posts by Sameer Bibikar
Fall 2021 Technician License Class
The Technician license class this semester has been going very well so far. We have gone through the material for Chapters 2, 3, and most of chapter 4 corresponding to the ARRL Technician license manual. If you are interested in joining us, the rest of the classes will be in the IDEA lab in TIW (EER 1.632). Big thanks to Roger of Texas Inventionworks for making this possible!
DATE | TIME | LOCATION | PLANNED TOPICS |
---|---|---|---|
Thursday, October 14 | 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm | EER 1.632 | Antennas and radio operation |
Monday, October 18 | 5:15 pm – 7:00 pm | EER 1.632 | Radio operation (part 2) |
Monday, October 25 | 5:15 pm – 7:00 pm | EER 1.632 | Communicating on the air |
Monday, November 1 | 5:15 pm – 7:00 pm | EER 1.632 | FCC regulations and safety |
In each class, we go through the material and answer and discuss FCC exam questions.
If you would like to have a copy of the notes we have gone through so far, please email me. My email is posted here.
At the end of the class, I recommend taking a few practice tests at HamStudy and making sure you are consistently scoring more than 90%. Then you can sign up for an online Tech class exam with GLAARG or take another exam of your choice. Note that GLAARG is strict about what stuff you can have around you, like multiple monitors, so make sure you prepare your workspace following their guidelines before going to the exam.
More resources
Here are some resources I have shared via email, but might be useful.
- Regarding propagation, there’s all sorts of “space weather” and “solar weather” data and predictions which are useful to predict the success of various modes of propagation. One website providing this data is the NOAA.
- Earlier, I mentioned the “ham bands have boundaries” – these boundaries are documented informally in this chart. It’s useful to have a copy near you when on the air. We have two nice laminated ones at N5XU. We will talk about this in more detail in the regulatory part of the class.
- W2AEW’s video on reflections on transmission lines.
- Mr Carlson’s Lab’s video on reflections on transmission lines.
- APRS spots at aprs.fi
- WSPR spots at WSPRnet
Fall 2021 Meeting Schedule
Here is the UTARC/N5XU general meeting schedule for the Fall 2021 semester. As usual, these meetings are open to all UT affiliated (students, faculty, staff, etc.). Each meeting starts with a discussion on ham radio topics and then we move up to the N5XU radio shack to make some contacts or otherwise have fun with the radios. The official meeting time is from 6pm to 7pm, but some of us stay longer in the shack at times.
Please note that our meetings are currently scheduled to be in person in the fall, biweekly on Thursdays at 6pm, in ETC 2.132 unless otherwise indicated. The university has announced that classes will still be in person, but if that changes or we are required to move club activities online, we may have to change this schedule. Be sure to stay tuned via our mailing lists.
Date | Time | Location |
---|---|---|
Thursday, September 9 | 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm | ETC 2.132 |
Thursday, September 23 | 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm | ETC 2.132 |
Thursday, October 7 | 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm | ETC 2.132 |
Thursday, October 21 | 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm | ETC 2.132 |
Thursday, November 4 | 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm | ETC 2.132 |
Thursday, November 18 | 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm | ETC 2.132 |
Thursday, December 2 | 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm | ETC 2.132 |
We continue to also have our weekly net every Wednesday at 8 PM central time on the KA5D system, 441.325 MHz (PL 97.4). For more information and other connection options (including EchoLink), please visit the nets page.
Field Day 2021 Results
Field Day 2021 at Mt. Bonnell was a blast! We had 6 people join us, and made 8 contacts on 20 meters before we had to clean up and leave. Two people made their first PSK31 contacts. The setup was as follows:
- Yaesu FT-450D, up to 50 W out
- OCF dipole around 6 feet up on the summit of Mt. Bonnell (Covert Park, EM10ch)
- Solar and battery power
- PSK31 via fldigi on a laptop
We also set up a second station with an end-fed wire and the club’s FT-847, but did not end up using that one. It was also a whole lot of fun to meet club members in person after more than a year of online meetings!
A quick (unofficial) tabulation of points follows.
We’d also like to thank Stefano N5STT for letting us use his transceiver, tuner, and antenna, and Glen WB4KTF for the complete solar system, and many other hams around Austin for their valuable advice.
Field Day 2021 and Summer Chats
DATE | TIME |
---|---|
Tuesday, June 15 | 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm |
Tuesday, July 13 | 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm |
Tuesday, August 10 | 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm |