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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.

Upcoming Events

27 Feb 2025;
07:30PM - 08:30PM
Tech Night
08 Mar 2025;
08:00AM -
SFTARC business meeting
22 Mar 2025;
08:00AM - 01:00PM
Ozark Amateur Radio Society HamFest
27 Mar 2025;
07:30PM - 08:30PM
Tech Night

HF Propagation

Ensor MuseumEnsor Park and Museum

Tucked away on a picturesque eight-acre site at 18995 W. 183rd Street, what may well be Olathe's best-kept secret, Ensor Park and Museum, reopened to the public this month.

Under normal circumstances the facility owned and operated by the City of Olathe would have reopened for tours in early May, but because of some physical deterioration issues and concerns about COVID-19 protocols and safety, the city decided several weeks earlier that the facility would remain closed.

Then in mid-July our club learned that the city had finished an assessment of conditions at Ensor Park and Museum and had given the go-ahead for tours to resume in September.

Amateur radio operators who belong to Santa Fe Trail Amateur Radio Club will be leading the guided tours weekends in September. Weekends in October, that duty will be handled by members of the Johnson County Radio Amateurs Club.

Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, Ensor Park and Museum honors the rich legacy of the Ensor family, parents Jacob and Ida and children Marshall and Loretta.

“The City of Olathe, the Santa Fe Trail Amateur Radio Club, the Johnson County Radio Amateurs Club, and the Marshall Ensor Memorial Organization Amateur Radio Club are all very happy that the Ensor Park and Museum will be open for the fall tour season of 2021," Marty Peters, the secretary-treasurer of our club, told me recently. "The farmhouse, the outbuildings, and the many furnishings and artifacts give a picture of the lives of a Midwestern farm family in the first half of the 20th century. While in some sense an ordinary farm family, this family was extraordinary in that two of the members, Marshall and Loretta, became ham radio operators in the very earliest days of ham radio.”

Marty, who was in Marshall Ensor's Electronics Club at Olathe High School (now Olathe North High School) in the mid-1960s, went on to mention the transmitters Marshall built, the radio room just off the kitchen where Marshall and Loretta operated, and the 80’ towers that held the antenna that connected the two of them to other ham radio operators around the world, all of which can be viewed by visitors to Ensor Park and Museum.

Admission to Ensor Park and Museum is free, but donations are gladly accepted.
The hours of operation are Saturdays and Sundays 1 to 5 p.m.

For more information about the facility, go to:
www.ensorparkandmuseum.org

Trail Bytes

Radio Pouch for HT
14 Dec 2024

Here is a pouch for an HT that you can attach to your belt or back pack.  It is reasonably priced as well and is available on...

Tech Night - Cybersecurity Safety
01 Nov 2024

The featured presenter for the October 2024 Tech Night was Tom Brittain - KFØNPE. Tom's presentation was on Information Security. October is Cyber Security Month. The...

Tech Night (Sept 2024) - Propagation Changes
27 Sep 2024

     Larry Hall - KD0RIU gave a presentation about: Propagation Changes for the Ham Bands During the 24-hour Sun Cycle. The propagation presentation uses...

Half Wave Antennas
06 Sep 2024

( YouTube Video) Larry Hall KDØRIU discussed the theory and use of Half Wave Dipoles at the SFTARC August 2024 Tech Night.

10 Best Portable HF Antennas
05 Sep 2024

Walt, K4OGO, does a nice job of comparing ten different HF antennas he has used in portable setups.  It is certainly worth the 16 minutes it takes to view it.  The...

GMKtec Mini PC N97 Review
14 Aug 2024

I purchased one of the new GTKtec Mini PCs about two weeks ago to replace the laptop I have been using in my ham shack. I was impressed by its capabilities and small...

Yaesu APRS MSG Goups
30 Jul 2024

YouTube by - KM4ACK... This video provides instructions on how to setup and use APRS Group messaging on Yaesu FT5, FTM500 and FTM400 radios. My FT2D has the function menu....

Santa Fe Trail ARC Field Day - 2024
13 Jul 2024

Tom, WA2IVD published on his YouTube channel, Ham Radio A2Z, video clips of the Santa Fe Trail ARC (SFTARC) Field Day event. Also included are clips about the new crank up...