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,

SFARC Members and Friends,

A quiet week for the most part with a few standouts so we’ll keep this weeks message lean and mean.

FIELD DAY FOOTNOTES   
We have a debrief scheduled for Tuesday, July 21st @ 6PM in the club zoom room.
Whether you can attend or not, we would love your Field Day Feedback — it takes a minute — https://www.w6ek.org/fieldday/survey

CAMPOUT COUNTDOWN
We’re down to 66 days until the infamous SFARC Fall Campout. Do you have your campsite? Have you RSVP’ed yet? Final deadline to RSVP is September 10th, 2026.
We’ve got a fun survey going too for the two movie nights. If you plan to attend, jump in and share your vote for movie night — https://www.w6ek.org/activities/campout/survey

LATER THIS MONTH — CLUB BREAKFAST
A reminder that the club breakfast scheduled for 7/25 will be at Wings at the Auburn Airport, NOT Mel’s in Auburn.

HAM RADIO AND THE CALIFORNIA STATE FAIR
Get ready – the ARRL is bringing Amateur Radio to the California State Fair this year, and we need YOU to help make it a success! For two weeks, from July 17 to August 2, 2026, The ARRL Sacramento Valley Section will have a booth and Special Event Station (K6C) at the California State Fair in Sacramento where we’ll introduce thousands of fair-goers to the world of amateur radio. This is one of the best opportunities all year to show the public what our hobby is all about from emergency communications to making contacts around the globe, and from technical experimentation to just plain having fun.

For more information, go to arrlsacvalley.org, or to sign up and help staff the booth and special event station, go to LINK

Contact Jay Ballinger (N6SAC) @ 916-622-2746 for more details.

Hey Members and Friends,

CLUB MEETING, THIS FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2026 @ 7:30 PM
Placer County Health and Human Services Conference Center
11434 B Ave, Auburn, CA 9560
OR online at www.w6ek.org

NEW FOR THE SUMMER OF 2026, HAMS AND HOPS
Dust off your favorite QSL stories and join your fellow operators for an evening of cold brews and good company at:

MOONRAKER BREWING COMPANY
12970 EARHART AVE #100 IN AUBURN
JULY 29TH FROM 6–8 PM

Members and Friends,

As we exhale from FIeld Day, Mark (W2MWK) and I wanted to take a minute in this week’s update to send out a big thank you to all the participants and volunteers at Field Day 2026. We’re still compiling our numbers but early results look encouraging. At 10 AM on Sunday, Dennis showed us a quick snapshot and we had accumulated over 1660 contacts!!! While we don’t know the GOTA numbers yet, the station was very active and looking at the faces of the younger operators as they made contacts gives me hope for our hobby’s future.

This event does not come together in a vacuum. This year’s dedicated volunteers had the antennas and stations setup in record time. And the tear-down was a record-breaker event to see. We cannot give enough praise to those volunteers that showed up Friday morning at 8 AM and those that stayed after the 11 AM to finish up on Sunday.

We’ve got a ton of photos on the website already but would love your snaps from the weekend. Click the link below and upload them before you forget.
And of course, one lucky club member has a chance at a $100 HRO gift card at the end of year Christmas Party for BEST PHOTO OF 2026!!!

SFARC Members and Friends,

** Note, this is the last breakfast of the summer at Mel’s Diner. Starting July 25th, we’ll be taking breakfast to our summer time location at Wings at the Auburn Airport (https://www.w6ek.org/activities/clubbreakfast)

REPEATER UPDATE (THIS WEEKEND)
Priority usage of the W6EK 2-meter repeater will be provided to the Western States Endurance Run from 4AM on Saturday, June 27 through 12 noon on Sunday, June 28. During this time, AllStarLink (ASL) and Echolink will be in monitor mode and the W6EK 2-meter repeater will only transmit local RF traffic. Remember that the club also has the 220 and 440 repeaters. There will be no Coffee Break Net on either Saturday, June 27 or Sunday, June 28.

FIELD DAY UPDATE
All are welcome to swing by at any time. For those new to the club, Field Day is a revolving door. We’ll have plenty of snacks, water, etc…

Hey Members and Friends,

LAST FIELD DAY PLANNING MEETING – THIS THURSDAY, JUNE 18th @ 6PM ON ZOOM
If you have a part in the success of Field Day, we need you to attend.

• Station Owners
  
• Food Planners
• Team Leads

This is the last push.

HAMCLUBONLINE (HCOL) NEW MEMBER VOTE
An apology for the mishap with the first ballot that went out this weekend from HCOL for the new member vote.
You should have received a new ballot this morning (June 15th).

SATURDAY, JUNE 27TH CLUB BREAKFAST AND FOX HUNT

• There will still be a club breakfast at Mel’s regardless of Field Day.
• There will NOT be a Fox Hunt.

Field Day planning continues as we get ready for one of the biggest SFARC events of the year.

NEXT PLANNING MEETING, TONIGHT (06/04/2026 @ 6P) ON ZOOM
We’re finishing up some general planning and details and would LOVE your feedback. All our welcome to attend @ https://www.w6ek.org/activities/meetings/jointhemeeting

RSVP TODAY
As we start to buy supplies and food for the event, it’s increasingly important that we know if YOU plan to attend. If you’re attending and you haven’t already, please RSVP today @ https://bit.ly/4eo7Xvf