February 2022 In-Person & Virtual Monthly Meeting: Maximize Your Signal Reception

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For the February 2022 WCARES meeting, Tim, AD4CJ presents Maximize Your Signal Reception

Learn how to adjust your HF radio to maximize your signal reception. Tim delivers a presentation based on a PowerPoint stack that he put together back in 2016. It was good advice then and it’s good advice now!

00:53 Mechanics of Fine-tuning your radio
02:03 How to Fine-Tune Your Radio
03:14 How to Zero-Beat CW Signals
05:41 How to Accurately Tune a SSB Signal
09:50 Automatic gain control & RF gain
28:35 The use of preamps
29:23 Attenuators
36:45 Noise Reducer Circuits
39:16 Noise Blanker Circuits

January 2022 Virtual Monthly Meeting: Solar Power for HAMs and Understanding NVIS

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Solar Power for Hams presented by Tim, AD4CJ

Understanding NVIS from Paul Denisowski, KO4LZ of Rohde & Schwarz

September 2021 Monthly Meeting at the EOC: What is Emergency Management?

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During the September 18th WCARES monthly meeting, Todd Horton (Director of the Williamson County EMA) gave a fantastic presentation.

His PowerPoint title slide asked, “What is Emergency Management?”

Todd provided a thorough answer and went well beyond this to include the structure of the Williamson County EMA, their vision, their capabilities, facilities, and much more.

August 2021 Monthly Meeting at the EOC: Mobile HF Contesting

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The August 2021 WCARES Monthly Meeting was in-person at the EOC.

Mobile HF Contesting: Jim Hall (AD4EB) shows how much planning, preparation, and dedication is required to participate at a world-class level of performance.

July 2021 – Monthly Meeting at the EOC: RF Safety

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Tim Kreth, AD4CJ presented an ARRL video on RF Exposure and how to do the calculations and previewed a new ARRL calculation web page that should make the process easier.

Here are some related links:
ARRL Now Provides Free RF Exposure Calculator
RF Exposure Rules – ARRL video
ARRL RF Exposure information and resources page

June 2021 Monthly Meeting at the EOC: Field Day Plan and Shack Tour #12 – WCARES EOC

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The June 2021 WCARES Monthly Meeting was in-person at the EOC.

Cliff Batson (N4CCB) gave a presentation on the final plan for the WCARES Field Day 2021 event:

and Jack Cox (KA4OTB) gave a tour of the Auxiliary Communications room inside the Williamson County Public Safety Center:

May 2021 Virtual Monthly Meeting: Field Day, WSPR antenna experiments, Shack Tour!

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Field Day initial discussion
With six weeks until Field Day 2021, it’s too soon to have a comprehensive presentation… but it’s not too early to begin making Field Day plans. This video gives viewers an overview of Field Day and presents a list of things to consider when planning their Field Day event. A more thorough presentation will be made during the June 2021 WCARES monthly meeting.

WSPR Experiment
In this video, Rob, KN4RHI experiments with WSPR (Weak Signal Propagation Reporter) with his HCLW-20* antenna.

*Highly Compromised Long Wire antenna is Rob’s tongue-in-cheek designation of this makeshift antenna located only 10′ off the ground.

Virtual Shack Tour
Paul, KM4PT takes us on a virtual tour of his ham shack and also shares his love of portable ops.

 

April 2021 Virtual Monthly Meeting: Puerto Rico deployment for Hurricane Maria, Identifying Severe Weather Features, Shack Tour!

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Presentations & Shack Tour!
ARES & Public Service: Father Raphael Ortiz (W4RAO), Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator for Eastern Tennessee, talked about the ARES response to the Puerto Rico deployment for Hurricane Maria in 2017.

Tech Topic: Krissy Hurley (Warning Coordination Meteorologist, NWS) gave  a presentation on Identifying Severe Weather Features.

Virtual Shack Tour: Dave Matthews (KI4PSR)

March 2021 Virtual Monthly Meeting: Grounding/Bonding, ARES Public Service, Shack Tour!

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Presentations & Shack Tour!

N0AX – Grounding and Bonding

Ward Silver (N0AX)

(Note that this is a link to his presentation on another channel… not the WCARES Media YouTube channel)

ARES and Public Service: Boston Marathon

Jeff Schwartz (KC1DWP)

Virtual Ham Shack Tour

Tim Kreth (AD4CJ)

(Updated) Feb. 2021 Virtual Monthly Meeting: Powerpoles, DMR and Shack Tour!

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This month RJ, KC4LRR has a presentation on Anderson Powerpoles, Andrew, AK4FA gives a Technical Presentation on DMR and Scott, KD4VVC takes us on a tour of his radio shack including a look at the tower, antenna switching, lightning protection and grounding!

Update: PDFs of RJ KC4LRR’s Powerpoles and Andrew, AK4FA’s DMR presentations have been added under:

Library & Special Interests --> Presentations

Videos

Anderson Powerpoles: RJ (KC4LRR)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbhEZSsD568

Digital Mobile Radio (DMR): Andrew Gossett (AK4FA)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zgms8Ko-pg

Virtual Shack Tour: Scott Gray (KD4VVC)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-dRSMHgxvQ