Segments of the course entered Yosemite Park TCARES had the privilege of providing radio communications for the Route Marshalls during the 2019 Groveland Grind Adventure Ride for Mountain Bikers. Cyclists enjoyed a course of over 40 miles of terrain between 3400 and 5500 elevation. A team of 15 ham radio operators provided professional tracking and communications for the 60+ participants during a 7 hour period Saturday May 18th, 2019. TCARES deployed a temporary Cross Band repeater (see photos below) at a local peak with a 5800 elevation. http://grovelandtrailheads.org/groveland-grind-2019/ On May 18, 2019, The Groveland Trails Heads in partnership with the Stanislaus […]
K6NED
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We had a GREAT Workshop! On Saturday, April 27, TCARES members presented a workshop oriented toward new and potential Amateur Radio Operators (Hams) and to the general public who might not have a good understanding of what Ham Radio is all about. The workshop commenced at 0900 hours and ended about 1500 hours with topics including what to expect as you study for your FCC license exam, practice exams, demonstration stations, and mingling with current Hams of all stripes. For the first ever workshop of this type, we have a great turnout of eight folks interested in learning more. The excitement […]
TCARES & ARES I am pleased to announce that we will have a very special guest at the TCARES Membership Breakfast Meeting on May 11, 2019. Dan Sohn, Assistant Section Emergency Coordinator, (and perhaps others) representing the San Joaquin Section of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) (Tuolumne County is in this Section) will be here to talk about ARRL, ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Services) and the San Joaquin Section. There have been significant changes at ARRL / ARES in the last few months as it tries to recover and maintain relevancy today’s world of electronics in the public safety world. […]
There was recent documentary called “Mega quake 10.0.” With my apologies to the seismologists here is a little comparison to our more familiar dB scale measurements. In some respects we all live in Earthquake Country not just California. The program described the effects of an earthquake in various magnitudes. Some of the bigger quakes have occurred in the middle of the country such as the “New Madrid Quakes” around 1809 and 1810. They rang church bells in Boston! The presenter tried to explain the earthquake scale using stacked quarters. A magnitude one quake was 1 quarter and magnitude 2 quake was […]
I have only been a licensed ham operator since August 23, 2011, so most of the history of the hobby comes from what I hear from other hams who have been in the hobby longer than I have. But I have been in the emergency services as a fire fighter and medic for 38 years. I have observed the evolution of the emergency services in America generally and in California specifically over that time. My observations have lead me to think that perhaps The Future of Amateur Radio will be different from its past. Learning about the history of the ham […]
DOWNLOAD FLYER HERE Have you ever wondered what Ham Radio is all about? Come to this FREE Saturday workshop to learn about Ham Radio. See demonstrations and equipment, talk to local Hams, see what you will need to learn to get your own license, You can even talk to other Hams on our radios, take practice examinations using the FCC questions and take the FCC exam if you want. Self-paced study guides will be available for $23 if you want to learn more and study for the FCC test. Workshop Agenda: Why Ham radio? (when all else fails, radio works) Radio […]
Greetings TCARES Members and Friends! I am happy to announce that TCARES (Tuolumne County Amateur Radio & Electronics Society) has almost 100 dues paying members. The dues paid by members is the only source of reliable revenue received by the club. It helps to defray the costs of maintaining the five (5) mountain top repeaters in Tuolumne County. I want to thank all those who join the club and pay the annual dues of $30. Submit a New Application As you may recall, the club has historically distributed to its members a list of all the members, along with contact information […]
Is TCARES Teaching? The Tuolumne County Amateur Radio & Electronics Society (TCARES) is planning a class that will teach interested folks the basics of amateur radio necessary to pass the FCC required Technician Level Amateur Radio Examination. This class is in the planning stages, tentatively commencing in the spring of 2019. It will be about 10 weeks long with one class meeting each week, most likely on Saturdays. The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) training material will be used for the curriculum. Students will be asked to purchase their own License Manual for about $34 (or at a small discount through […]
By Jim, N6TP The recent interest in WLW (500 Kw in the 1930s) reminded me of the technology that went into producing a good quality high level plate modulated transmitted signal. You may remember prior to rule change of 30 years or so by the FCC that the maximum power limit (where licensed) was 1,000 watts input. This meant that if you were running high level plate modulation, you had to have 500 watts of RMS audio power for 100% modulation. You will recall that the secondary of the modulation transformer was in series of the B+ to the final tube(s). […]
Decibels: Pesky Little Critters In our telecommunication careers, we may have all used dBs in our work. Here is a little background and how we use them in amateur radio. Decibels are a form of mathematical shorthand using logarithms. Logarithms probably originated with the ancient Greeks. Logarithms have the property expressing large values or ratios in more easily understood human terms. Decibels originated when the engineering of analog telephone circuit became more complicated. The Bell System of fond memory in the 1920’s needed a way to design telephone circuits taking into account cable and component losses plus the gain of amplifiers. One […]
Sonora Radio Communications Class Beginners: Learn radio communications for all ages. Advanced: Study for the Technician and General license. Cost: FREE! (sign up below) When: JAN 5, 2019, 9 AM til Noon. Where: 14535 Peaceful Valley Road, Sonora CA (New address) How will you communicate with family during emergencies? Learn how to use all types of hand held mobile and base station radio equipment. Find out what frequencies you can use without a license and start communicating right away. This class offers guidance on starting a Neighborhood Watch program for your area. How will you communicate with family and loved ones during […]
By Jim, N6TP, n6tp@arrl.net We are familiar with the formula for a half-wave dipole. It appears in the antenna handbooks and in various test questions for amateur radio license exams. It goes like this. Divide the operating frequency in MHz into “468” and the answer comes out in feet. For example: 468 divided by 7.150 MHz equals 65.5 feet! If we do a little rounding, we will cut our half-wave dipole to 65 feet 4 inches. Let’s look a half-wave dipole. As the name implies it is a half-wave antenna resonant at its operating frequency. We choose to make it a half-wave dipole as […]
Objective: For Amateurs worldwide to exchange QSO information with as many stations as possible on the 10 meter band. Online Log Submission: Participants can now submit their Cabrillo-formatted contest logs via the web. A new online log submission web page can be used to upload your log as a file or by copy-and-pasting the log text into a text window. The log will then be checked for proper formatting and completeness before uploading to the log-checking database. You will then receive a confirmation number and a confirming email. If any errors or discrepancies are discovered, they will be clearly labeled so that […]
Pacificon, San Ramon, CA. * A full slate of outstanding Forum presentations about a wide range of amateur radio topics * A large Vendor Expo filled with exciting products and exhibits * An outdoor Swap Meet, QRP activities, Youth Activities * Electronics kit building and soldering instruction * A One Day License Prep Class to prepare you to pass the amateur radio Technician license examination and get your first amateur radio license * Two days of License Testing, A Special Events Station where you can operate and contact other hams worldwide, even if you don’t have a General or Extra Class license, A wonderful Banquet with […]
Don’t miss a thing… Subscribe now and make sure we have you on our email list. The email newsletter will alert you of the following type of events: Breakfast meetings, License Testing, Training events, Radio Classes, Annual events and parties, Regional and National Amateur Radio news, Club updates All are welcome to subscribe!
2019 Board Member Nominations TCARES BOARD of DIRECTORS: The Corporation has seven ( 7 ) Directors, consisting of : The four (4) executive Officers and three (3) Directors at large. Elected from the membership, these seven (7) board members will be known as the Board of Directors. ELECTION Process: 1. Nominations shall be collected during October. 2. Elections will be held in November. 3. Balloting will end on November 30. 4. Elected Board Members will be announced in December. To nominate a member to serve in a position, download and complete this form: TCARES Nomination sheet 2019 Who are the current […]
http://www.pacificon.org The Pacificon staff has negotiated a convention rate of $138 per night per room for a set number of rooms. That rate is good until September 19th, or until that block of rooms has sold out, whichever occurs first. Click Here to Make Your Hotel Reservations The Pacificon 2018 Team has been working very hard to bring you the very best Pacificon that we can. The location will once again be at the San Ramon Marriott located in San Ramon, California. MDARC has been working tirelessly to provide you with some of the finest forum speakers and demonstrations of amateur […]
Amateur radio is more than a hobby for Groveland resident Carl Croci. On top of spending many nights a week relaying messages with amateur radio operators in the area and across the globe, the 77-year-old also serves as the Tuolumne County coordinator for Amateur Radio Emergency Services. The service is capable of providing backup communication for the community during wildfires and other types of emergencies to alleviate the burden on phone lines and official emergency radio systems. Croci is also a longtime member of the Tuolumne County Amateur Radio Electronic Society, or TCARES. His call sign is NI6Z. “It’s a great […]
Upcoming Contact with ISS, Listen from Central California on 145.800 Hand held and mobile radios can receive, use largest antenna you have. Listen at 09:49 AM (9:49 AM pacific) CORRECTED TIME Mendez Fundamental Intermediate School, Santa Ana, CA, direct via AA6TB (Ricky Arnold KE5DAU) Thu 2018-09-06 16:49:52 UTC 81 deg An International Space Station school contact has been planned with participants at Mendez Fundamental Intermediate School, Santa Ana, CA on 06 Sept. The event is scheduled to begin at approximately 16:49 UTC. The duration of the contact is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds. The contact will be direct between NA1SS […]
On Sunday, August 5, 2018, TCARES was contacted by Red Cross officials from Sacramento and Sonora, requesting Amateur Radio support for the Sonora Red Cross Shelter for the purposes of providing back up communication services should commercial services become disabled. Members of the club quickly responded by setting up a UHF/VHF radio station with an external antenna for local voice communications and is preparing a WinLink station for national Red Cross communications, as a back up to commercial methods, should they fail. Channel 19 (Univision) happened to stop by and film the shelter prior to heading up the hill to the […]
The Incident Command System is Useful in Both Emergency and Routine Incidents Join Ham Operators in a day of basic / refresher training on the Incident Command System (ICS) on Saturday, August 25, 2018. A working knowledge of ICS and how it might impact amateur radio operators will be the subject of an all-day workshop at the Tuolumne County Library. This workshop will be presented by Craig Konklin, a retired Battalion Chief and Training Officer from CAL FIRE. There is NO CHARGE for this workshop; however, RSVP (to KJ6QVI@yahoo.com) / sign-up (during weekly TCARES Nets) will be appreciated, to ensure that […]
A Live Conversation from the ISS Thursday July 26: 1:20 PM. Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink from Sonora on any 2 Meter radio. Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS), a Space Station Explorers partner organization, will host a live radio contact with an astronaut on the ISS. Local students will ask the astronaut questions about living and working in space and the importance of advancing science on the orbital laboratory. https://www.issconference.org/stem-day/ http://www.ariss.org/upcoming-contacts.html Interested parties are invited to listen in on the 145.80 MHz downlink. ISS R&D Conference-San Francisco, CA, (CASIS#2), participating school: Quest […]
STEPS TO GET YOUR IS-100.C Certificate Get your Free student ID: https://cdp.dhs.gov/femasid Take the Free course: https://emilms.fema.gov/IS100c/curriculum/1.html Take the Free exam: Take Final Exam Online (Note, if you previously earned an old version, you may elect to scan this document and take the test when you are ready: DOWNLOAD COURSE MATERIAL) Course Date 6/25/2018 Course Overview ICS 100, Introduction to the Incident Command System, introduces the Incident Command System (ICS) and provides the foundation for higher level ICS training. This course describes the history, features and principles, and organizational structure of the Incident Command System. It also explains the relationship between ICS and the […]
