Hey SFARC Members and Friends,
If you’re an “old-timer” of SFARC, make sure to read to the bottom, there’s something special for you.
FALL POTLUCK IN THE PARK — THIS SATURDAY (10/10/2026) @ 4PM
Auburn Recreation Park, 123 Recreation Dr, Auburn, CA 95603
Calling all hams, ham spouses, ham kids, ham grandkids, or hams that act like kids, The Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club invites you to our annual Fall Potluck in the Park. Check out what others are bringing and let us know what dish or tasty treat you plan to bring -> https://www.w6ek.org/activities/potluckinthepark
CLUB MEETING REMINDER — THIS FRIDAY (10/09/2026) @ 7:30 PM
Scott KM6RFB will share his personal journey along the path to becoming an AUX-C — a certified Auxiliary Communicator. For those of us in amateur radio, we know how powerful our hobby can be, but this certification takes that passion and transforms it into a vital, formal asset for emergency management. This training is the on-ramp for Amateur Radio Emergency Communicators to become recognized by Public Safety agencies by having achieved this level of credentialing. This is done through classroom training and PTB Position Task Books and peer review.
CLUB HISTORY — BRICK BY BRICK — HELP US FILL IN THE GAPS
If you’ve been with SFARC for any number of years, your expertise is requested. As part of a project to retain the deep history of SFARC, I’ve been training an AI model to data mine everything known about SFARC. Those who have been with the club for some time will appreciate what we’ve come up with. After gigs of data and hours of analysis, I’d like to invite YOU to take a look @ https://www.w6ek.org/aboutsfarc/history
This history of SFARC was assembled by searching, cross-referencing and data mining essentially every surviving record of the club including its own paperwork, the federal and ARRL record, the amateur press, and the public databases; then reconciling them against each other. Where sources disagreed, the disagreement has been reported rather than smoothed over. Where nothing could be found, that has been said plainly. The method was itself an experiment. Club webmaster Smitty, WB1G, fed the club’s entire documentary record through an AI model and taught it, batch by batch, how to read this club. Its people, its call signs, its recurring columns, the shorthand its secretaries used, so that it could work through thirty-four years of newsletters, the minute archives, the file library, the bylaws, the forms and the flyers, and fifteen thousand messages of the club’s own mailing list, and surface connections no one person could hold in their head at once.
None of which happens in a vacuum. A history like this is only possible because people did the unglamorous work first, for years, with no guarantee anyone would ever read it: secretaries who wrote the minutes, editors who got a newsletter out every month, and members who kept the paper instead of throwing it away.
Two people deserve particular thanks. Gary Cunningham, KQ6RT, served this club as its historian for more than a decade, and month after month transcribed the original minute books into the newsletter — 1958, the 1960s, the revival years, 1983. Nearly everything this page can say about the club’s first twenty-five years exists because he sat down and typed it out. And Greg Dolkas, KO6TH, whose work digitizing a great deal of the club’s old documentation is the reason those records could be searched at all rather than sitting in a box. The club owes them both more than a footnote.
73,
The Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club (W6EK)
(530) 492-0920
Website: www.w6ek.org
Group.io: groupsio.w6ek.org
Social: facebook.w6ek.org | twitter.w6ek.org | linkedIn.w6ek.org | instagram.w6ek.org | youtube.w6ek.org
What a great night for a cold pint and some good conversation on tap. The get together is simple — cold pint, maybe a taco or two (or three) and some good conversation. This time we’re at:
KNEE DEEP BREWING COMPANY
KNEE DEEP BREWING COMPANY
The ARRL Year of the Club Website Contest winners have been announced. With over 80 entries from ARRL-affiliated amateur radio clubs all over the country, W6EK.org has been recognized by the ARRL as one of the best club websites in the nation!