Welcome

arrlAn ARRL Affiliated Special Service Club

The Santa Fe Trail Amateur Radio Club is a general-purpose club with the goal of promoting and supporting the educational and operational aspects of ham radio through ham radio classes, on-the-air events, and hands-on activity. THE SATURDAY BREAKFAST MEETINGS ARE HELD  AT PERKINS IN GARDNER EACH SATURDAY. YOU ARE WELCOME TO JOIN US 6:30 AM TO ~8:30AMThe monthly business meeting is the 2nd Saturday of each month. This meeting is a hybrid meeting in which you can attend in person at Perkins in Gardner or you can attend via a Zoom connection. Additionally, the club holds a Tech Night presentation via Zoom the last Thursday evening of each month at 7:30 pm. Log in to the web site and select the "Links/Zoom Links" menu to find meeting links or contact a club officer.

HF Propagation

Upcoming Events

25 Apr 2024;
07:30PM - 08:30PM
Tech Night - NØAZ
27 Apr 2024;
09:00AM - 03:00PM
Tallgrass Prairie Natl Preserve
04 May 2024;
08:00AM - 12:00PM
Hannibal/Quincy Hamfest
11 May 2024;
08:00AM -
SFTARC business meeting
11 May 2024;
01:00PM - 07:00PM
Ensorfest 24
30 May 2024;
07:30PM - 08:30PM
Tech Night
01 Jun 2024;
08:00AM - 01:00PM
Springfield Hamfest

Kay Eyman (WA0WOF) did a Tech Night presentation about her trip to Bhutan for the A52YL DXexpedition. Her trip was from April 29 through May 5, 2018. Kay met up with three other amateurs and her friends Kyoko "Mio" Miyoshi, JR3MVF, Junichi Tojo, JH3AEF, and Jusei Kitai, JA3IVU, on their 7th trip to the Kingdom of Bhutan. They operated from Dochula Eco Retreat, which is described on the Internet as the most scenic spot in Bhutan. A picture of the hotel is below.

Mio and Kay were issued A52YL as a club or group license, and the two OMs used their calls, A52AEF and A52IVU, respectively. In addition, Mio and Kay were issued individual licenses. Mio's is A52YLM and Kay's is A52YLE.


They had three radios and operated at an altitude of around 10,000'. The operating site and antennas are shown below. A hexbeam and dipoles were the antennas used and they were limited to 100 watts of RF power. A number of KC locals were able to work them even given the modest station. So great operators can do amazing things even with limited equipment.

It was an enjoyable evening hearing about this nation that most of us would have trouble finding on the map but seems to be a neat place.

Thanks to Kay.

Trail Bytes

HamClock as an Operating Aid
17 Mar 2024

HamClock is a Linux based application that provides more than a clock for you Ham station. HamClock also provides several operating aids that can be selected by the...

BuddiPole POWERmini
23 Jan 2024

KM4ACK reviews a charge controller for portable operation. This controller provides metering and on configuration settings. A good choice if you are operating on battery...

Ham Radio on the Today Show
06 Jan 2024

On January 5th, 2024, NBC's Today Show featured a segment showcasing an ISS contact from Harborcreek High School in Harborcreek, PA.  Journalist Harry Smith and a...

What Not to Buy
22 Dec 2023

KM4ACK reviews the five purchases he regrets. Jason provides some excellent comments on several products common in the Ham market place today. The YouTube comments also...

NVMe SSDs on the Raspberry Pi 5
17 Nov 2023

An SSD for the Raspberry Pi 5, YouTube by: Jeff Geerling.... Click "Watch on YouTube" to see notes  

Bad Fuses
09 Jul 2023

YouTube Video by Tom, WA2IVD Tom tests the characteristics of blade fuses used by many hams. The surprising results for cheap no-name fuses vs. brand name devices is some...

Basics of Ferrite Beads
04 Jul 2023

YouTube Video by W2AEW A good tutorial on the use of Ferrite beads for filtering and RFI suppression. Also search YouTube for additional tutorials by W2AEW.  

Radio Memory Programing Using RT Systems External Data
26 Jun 2023

RT Systems software provides an easy way to program memories for a mobile or HT. You must purchase the RT Systems software for your specific radio and have the required data...