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

Several Santa Fe Trail Amateur Radio Club members, family and friends traveled to Xenia Ohio on May 15 for the Dayton Hamfest and ARRL National Convention.

The 225 High Strret GangThe 225 High Strret Gang

 

Joe Krout KR0UT 
 James Anderson  AC0OW
 Greg Wolfe  KI0KK
 Del Sawyer  K0DDS
 George McCarville  WB0CNK
 Jim Andera  K0NK
 Kelly Stanfield  W0YQG
 Jim(Hoop) Hooper K9QJS
Dick (Hooper) Hooper KN4UHA

 

The 10 hour drive was long but uneventful, filled with plenty of conversation on 40M SSB and 2M FM. We arrived late just before the local Subway closed, thankfully they let us in. We all found a bed in the Air B&B house Joe rented for the group, nice job Joe.

225 High Street225 High Street

  

On Thursday the group split between the QRP Forum, Contest University and the Air Force Museum, a good day for all. 

A Thunderstorm early Friday started our day off. The rain stopped before we headed for the Green County Fair grounds where the hamfest was held. After a short rain shower, as we stood in line for about 30 minutes to enter the event, we finally got in around 8 AM. The event planners did a nice job on the parking as they provided golf carts to transport attendees to the gate from their parking location. 

The Opening Day Line

The next two days were filled with forums, flea market, and vendor booths. After an early forum it was off to the Flex Radio booth to order a new Flex 6400. Elecraft announced a new K4 Rig. Yaesu came out with a new FT3 handheld to name just a few. The flea market was filled with rigs, parts and all the things we just had to have HA, HA. I met my "Call Sign cousin" KI4KK from North Carolina in the flea market. 

K0NK - Flea Market GoodiesThe MidwayThe Midway

 

We all had a great time and were ready to leave by Sunday morning. 

Geroge, WB0CNK, posted additional pictures at the following link:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JAHpEmxMQjjWPKxJ6  

 

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...