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 […]
Training
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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 […]
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 […]
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 […]