Hey SFARC Members and Friends,

I promise, not another word about the campout OTHER THAN if you’re planning to attend, make sure to check out the campout “resource center” for all the ins and outs. 🙂

So what’s next?

SFARC FALL PICNIC POTLUCK IN THE PARK / OCTOBER 10TH @ 4PM
The Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club invites you to our annual Fall Potluck in the Park, where the only thing better than a clear signal is good food and even better company. Bring a dish to share, pull up a chair, and swap your best stories from the airwaves. Let us know you’re coming and CLICK HERE to tell us what dish you’re bringing!! 73 and good eats await.

BREAKFAST AND FOX HUNT / SEPTEMBER 27TH AT 730 AM / WINGS @ THE AUBURN AIRPORT
This will be the last club breakfast at Wings this season with the October breakfast to be announced. More information coming about the September Fox Hunt too so keep your eyes pealed to these weekly updates.

HAMS AND HOPS IS BACK FOR SEPTEMBER / SEPTEMBER 30TH @ 6PM / KNEE DEEP BREWING COMPANY, 13395 NEW AIRPORT RD H, AUBURN
Have a frothy pint with your radio buddies later this month at:

KNEE DEEP BREWING COMPANY
13395 NEW AIRPORT ROAD,
SUITE H IN AUBURN (NEXT TO WINGS)
SEPTEMBER 30TH FROM 6–8 PM

Banzito’s Tacos will have their food truck onsite for the perfect pairing!!! Whether you’re a seasoned Elmer or a fresh Technician still grinning over your first contact, this is your chance to rag chew in person, no antenna required! Great beer, great people, and zero band conditions to worry about. Come for the hops, stay for the hams—we’ll be listening for your call! 73 and see you there!

73,

Hello SFARC Members and Friends,

We hope you all had a great extended weekend. We’ve got a couple updates for the week.

CAMPOUT LAST CALL — ARE YOU COMING?
The RSVP deadline for the Fall Campout is this Thursday. September 10th. If you can’t remember if you RSVP’d, check here: https://www.w6ek.org/activities/campout/campers. If you’re planning to join us, even if just for a day trip, please let us know. And for those attending, please DON’T FORGET to tell us what you’re bringing for the snack table and Saturday night potluck.

RSVP Link: https://www.w6ek.org/activities/campout/rsvp
Snack Table Sign Ups: https://www.w6ek.org/activities/campout/snacktable
Potluck Sign Ups: https://www.w6ek.org/activities/campout/saturdaypotluck

NEXT CLUB MEETING, THIS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11th @ 7:30PM
In Person: Placer County HHS, Conference Center (Cordova Room 500), 11434 B Ave, Auburn, CA 95603
Online: https://www.w6ek.org/activities/meetings/jointhemeeting

Meeting Presentation:
Winlink E-Mail over MERCURY – Welcome to Free/Open OFDM Modes!

Coming up at the September meeting, Craig KM6LYW will be joining us to talk about Mercury, a new way to do high-speed digital communication via radio.

The guys at Rhizomatica just made a better VARA than VARA. Unlike VARA, it’s free, open-source, runs on Linux and Raspberry Pi. While not directly compatible with the proprietary VARA audio encoding, it does use the same API so existing VARA-HF clients (Pat, Winlink Express) can immediately leverage this exiting new HF radio transport!

Both VARA and MERCURY leverage “Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing” which is the foundation for modern/commercial RF transports, including WIFI. That’s how we get our speed and reliability. MERCURY includes “gear shifting” dynamically adapting to conditions and fading SNR.

Craig will discuss some of the interesting aspects of this new mode and hopefully send an email via Nevada using an experimental MERCURY Winlink email station (KO0OOO).

20TH ANNUAL WPARC LINCOLN HAMFEST, THIS SATURDAY @ 0700 / 65 McBean Park Dr, Lincoln, CA 95648
Flyer Link: https://www.w6ek.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/sfarc_fallcampout_fullcolor_promo_03-1024×692.png

A quiet week ahead overall with a few call-outs.

SPECIAL MEETING: SFARC BUDGET REVIEW SESSION / TOMORROW, SEPTEMBER 2ND, 6PM – 8PM
If you’d like to provide feedback about the SFARC 2027 operational budget, please join us on Zoom.

WEBSITE CHANGES
We’ve launched a few noteworthy changes:

• RESOURCES -> ARTICLES: Sometimes articles presented in the Newsletter get lost. we’ve decided to include these articles on the website.
• ABOUT US -> REPEATERS: Moved and overhauled the repeater information section.
• ALL SITE: Tiles have been fully implemented including increased font sizes for easier reading.
• RESOURCES -> FRIENDS OF SFARC: Links to some of our neighboring clubs and friends.
• RESOURCES -> LINKS: Common direct links to different sections of the website.

REMINDER: CAMPOUT UPDATE — WE’RE DOWN TO THE FINAL DAYS
With the Bug and Hawk fires contained, the campout is no longer being threatened.You have 9 days left before we close down RSVPs. If you plan on going or you’ve already booked a site, make sure to tell us so you can get fed. 🙂 Head over to campout.w6ek.org now. 🙂

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

We’ve got a few reminders this week and a notification about an upcoming special session.

BREAKFAST AND FOX HUNT: This Weekend (08/29/2026)
Breakfast is at Wings again this month. Bret (KB6LUV) will be leading our monthly Fox Hunt. The pre-meeting for the Fox Hunt will be in the Wings parking lot starting at 9:00 AM. In conversations with Bret, this promises to be an interesting and challenging Fox Hunt set up so don’t miss it!

REMINDER: Campout Update
While the Bug and Hawk fire in Northern Nevada continue to be of concern, the campout is not in jeopardy at this time and is proceeding as normal. There is still a few weeks left before we lockdown RSVP’s so it’s not too late to join us. Check out campout.w6ek.org for more information.

REMINDER: 5th Wednesday Fun Is Back / SEPTEMBER 30TH FROM 6–8 PM!
Dust off your favorite QSL stories and join your fellow radio buddies for an evening of cold brews and good company at:
KNEE DEEP BREWING COMPANY
13395 NEW AIRPORT ROAD,
SUITE H IN AUBURN (NEXT TO WINGS)
Banzito’s Tacos will have their food truck onsite for the perfect pairing!!!

SPECIAL MEETING: SFARC Budget Review Session / September 2nd, 6PM – 8PM
If you’d like to provide feedback about the SFARC 2027 operational budget, please join us on Zoom.

We start of this week’s update with a special announcement from the ARRL.

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!

The judges evaluated entries for layout, content, and accessibility, and are pleased to congratulate the following winners.

First Place: Cumberland Valley Amateur Radio Club (W3ACH), Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
https://www.w3ach.com/
Webmaster: Caleb C. Jacobs, KC3VPB, Webmaster

Second Place: Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club (W6EK), Auburn, California
https://www.w6ek.org/
Webmaster: Mike “Smitty” Smith, WB1G, Webmaster

Third Place: Ventura County Amateur Radio Club (K6MEP), Ventura, California
https://k6mep.org/
Webmaster: David Schmidt, AI6VX, Webmaster

Contest winners will be recognized at the 2026 ARRL National Convention in Huntsville, Alabama on August 22 and 23. Winners will also be announced in QST.

A FEW QUICK REMINDERS
SFARC Board Meeting | This Thursday @ 6PM on Zoom
SFARC Club Meeting | This Friday @ 7:30PM in-person or on Zoom

We have a quiet week ahead with one call out.

As you have no doubt heard, the Fall campout is a little over a month away and there’s still plenty of time to secure your campsite and join us. I could bore you with the same message over and over but instead, read all about it @ https://www.w6ek.org/activities/campout … We also launched some new merch/swag for this year’s campout. Check it out @ https://www.w6ek.org/merch_campout

The final RSVP deadline is September 10th.

A quick update for the week.

PACIFIC CREST TRAIL MEETUP AT DONNER SUMMIT UPDATE
Many photos have been uploaded from the informal meetup we had with Jeff (KW6U) along the PCT. If you took photos, we want them so don’t forget to upload.
LINK: https://www.w6ek.org/media/photos?sfarc_album=359

REPEATER USAGE THIS COMING WEEKEND
The Tevis Cup will be provided priority usage of the W6EK 2-meter repeater on Saturday afternoon, August 1st from 1 pm until Sunday morning at 6 am. During this time, the 2 meter repeater will only be accessible via local RF. AllStar and Echolink connections will be in monitor mode. If you need to use the repeater, listen for traffic, make contact and immediately move to the 220 or 440 repeaters.

DO YOU ENJOY THESE WEEKLY UPDATES?
SOUND OFF HERE -> https://www.w6ek.org/aboutsfarc/survey

73,