Watts Up This Week

Watts Up This Week

Loaded email this week… In case you missed it, some substantial upgrades have been done to the W6EK 2M repeater system. If you haven’t talked on the repeater since the weekend, you should first and foremost hear it better. It is back at full power after a long hiatus on the top antenna. We also launched voting receivers overlooking the valley HIGH above Auburn, another in Rocklin (with good ears), and a third at the Georgetown airport. ONE NOTE!!! The W6EK TX is not transmitting a CTCSS at this time, it is carrier squelch only at this time.
BREAKFAST AND FOX HUNT, THIS SATURDAY A reminder that this weekend (this Saturday) is the club breakfast at Mel’s Diner in Auburn. The fun starts at 7:30 but make sure to come early or you’ll be stuck at the kids table.
Following breakfast is Fox Hunt. The Fox Tenders for this month will be John KO6COW and his son. Thank you to both. The Fox Hunt pre-meeting will be in the parking lot of Mel’s, 9:00 AM, immediately following the monthly cub breakfast. The Fox Hunt itself will start at around 9:45 AM and end at 11:45 AM. The Fox Hunt call-in frequency will be 146.550 MHz The Hunt will be south of Mel’s and north of Indian Hill Road. The Fox transmitter will be 146.535 MHz running at 20 mW. Come one, come all. Bring the family.
HOT RF NIGHTS UPDATE New Served Agencies and Clubs Added * Placer County ARES * Community Emergency Radio Association (CERA) * El Dorado Amateur Radio Club * North Hills Amateur Radio Club * Glenn County Amateur Radio Society and GC ARES * Yuba-Sutter Amateur Radio Club and Sutter County ARES * Oroville Amateur Radio Society (tentative) * Rocklin Fire * Rocklin Police This year we’re at William Jessup University in Rocklin. We REALLY hope all club members and friends will come out.
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73, The Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club (W6EK) (530) 492-0920
Website: www.w6ek.org www.w6ek.org Group.io: groupsio.w6ek.org
Social: facebook.w6ek.org facebook.w6ek.org twitter.w6ek.org twitter.w6ek.org linkedIn.w6ek.org linkedIn.w6ek.org instagram.w6ek.org instagram.w6ek.org youtube.w6ek.org youtube.w6ek.org
ARES

Placer County ARES (Page)

WE NOW HAVE A NEW WEBSITE

CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE PLACER COUNTY ARES WEBSITE

The Placer County Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) consists of licensed amateurs who have voluntarily registered their qualifications and equipment for communications duty in the public service when disaster strikes.

The Placer County ARES net is on the 3rd Sunday of the month, starting at 1930 (7:30 PM) PT on the W6EK 2M Repeater.

Everyone is invited to check-in. You do not need to be an SFARC member to participate.

Watts Up This Week

Hot RF Nights Update

For those in attendance last night, thank you for the overwhelming support of Hot RF Nights.
For those not in attendance of last nights meeting, me and Greydon presented a shortfall in our budget to fund Hot RF Nights this year. By quorum, the general membership voted to approve $500 towards the event out of the general fund. We still have a $450 deficit, however, we believe we can make that up in float and drawing ticket sales.
Many expressed an interest in donating to the Hot RF Nights fund. If you are one of those people, I’ve included a link below. Once you click that link, scroll done and look for the donate link.
www.w6ek.org/activities/hotrfnights
We have also attached last nights presentation for context.
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73, Smitty (WB1G) and Greydon (KC6SLE) | Hot RF Night Chairs The Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club (W6EK) (530) 492-0920
Website: www.w6ek.org www.w6ek.org Group.io: groupsio.w6ek.org
Social: facebook.w6ek.org facebook.w6ek.org twitter.w6ek.org twitter.w6ek.org linkedIn.w6ek.org linkedIn.w6ek.org instagram.w6ek.org instagram.w6ek.org youtube.w6ek.org youtube.w6ek.org

pdf icon hotrfnights_04122025_presentation.pdf
Expired

DigiPi Zoom Session with Craig KM6LYW

On the fifth Wednesday night in April (4/30/2025 @ 7:30 PM), Craig (KM6LYW) will give the club an update on the DigiPi, an operating system for the Raspberry Pi that makes amateur radio digital modes easily accessible through a web browser. Rather than carry a separate computer to operate modes such as FT8, RTTY, APRS, and WinLink, DigiPi allows you to do all that and more through your phone.

Craig will give a brief introduction to the platform and demonstrate the many useful features it provides to your digital ham radio operations. He will also go into further details like what it takes to build your own device and how it can be interfaced to various models of amateur transceiver equipment.

Looking Forward

Looking Forward April 2025

Welcome to April! What’s coming up next is no joke, because Hot RF Nights, our annual ham radio themed car show, will take place in May! That’s right, on May 17 amateur radio operators and emergency communications personnel from all over the area will spend an afternoon checking out each others’ setups, exchanging ideas, learning a thing or two, all while enjoying great food and social time. Whether it’s you car, truck, van, or RV, bring it by so we can all admire your work and get inspired to take radio out into the field. No mobile install? No problem, because go kits big or small have stories to tell! Whatever it is you’ve got, come show it off and be a part of the action. Need something to get you in gear? SFARC will be there to strut our newest rigs, just in time for Field Day in June!

Closer than all that is the club VE session on the 7th, a club meeting on the 11th, and our monthly breakfast and radio direction finding exercise on the 26th. We’re not quite through with events after that, because this month we’ve got a special special session on the evening of the 30th with Craig (KM6LYW), developer of the DigiPi, a complete ham radio digital interface built around the Raspberry Pi. Operate APRS, WinLink, FT8, RTTY, and a whole lot more with one ultraportable device that integrates neatly into your existing station. This is one event you won’t want to miss, and even if you’re a seasoned DigiPi user there’s always an opportunity to learn about how others are using theirs and show all the cool things you’ve done with yours!

Hope to see you around, whether it’s in person on online!

Jim Zheng (W6JCZ)
SFARC Vice President

Watts Up This Week

Back By Popular Demand

Hey SFARC Members and Friends,
When we redesigned the website a few years ago, the original website masthead was retired. I’ve thought about different ways to reflect our community and have come up with a new masthead design that rotates between over 20 different views from within Placer County. I know we have many photo enthusiasts in the club so if you have a scenic picture from within the county, I’d love to use it in the new masthead.
What is a masthead?
Any and all feedback is appreciated.
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73, Smitty (WB1G) The Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club (W6EK) (530) 492-0920
Website: www.w6ek.org www.w6ek.org Group.io: groupsio.w6ek.org
Social: facebook.w6ek.org facebook.w6ek.org twitter.w6ek.org twitter.w6ek.org linkedIn.w6ek.org linkedIn.w6ek.org instagram.w6ek.org instagram.w6ek.org youtube.w6ek.org youtube.w6ek.org

Watts Up This Week

Watts Up This Week, EXTRA Helping

FOX HUNT UPDATE
I was notified after I sent this week’s email, this weekends Fox Hunt is cancelled.  Please check the website for more details on the April Fox Hunt.


73, 
The Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club (W6EK)
(530) 492-0920

Website: www.w6ek.org
Groups.io: groupsio.w6ek.org

Social:
facebook.w6ek.or
twitter.w6ek.org
linkedIn.w6ek.org
instagram.w6ek.org
youtube.w6ek.org

On Mar 24, 2025, at 12:09 PM, SFARC Club Communication <qst@w6ek.org&gt; wrote:

WHAT A HAMFEST!!!
This was the biggest and best yet for SFARC. A big thanks to the over 50 volunteers at Hamfest last Saturday and Aaron (K6ABJ) for his amazing leadership. We sold over 2,000 tickets for the drawing and sold out every seller spot we had.
Don’t forget to upload your photos @ https://www.w6ek.org/media/upload 
 
 
WARM UP THE NIGHTS WITH SOME HOT RF!
HOT RF NIGHTS PLANNING MEETING, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26TH @ 6PM ON ZOOM
On May 17th, we’re bringing back the newly improved Hot RF Nights! Our first planning meeting is THIS Wednesday in the club Zoom room at 6PM.
hotrfnights_savethedate_2025.png
 
FOX HUNT, THIS WEEKEND!
Our next Fox Hunt will be Saturday 29.  We are still looking for a Fox Tender for this weekend so go to www.w6ek.org/activities/foxhunt and send us a message.

 _ ___ _ ___ _ ___

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

Watts Up This Week

Watts Up This Week

WHAT A HAMFEST!!! This was the biggest and best yet for SFARC. A big thanks to the over 50 volunteers at Hamfest last Saturday and Aaron (K6ABJ) for his amazing leadership. We sold over 2,000 tickets for the drawing and sold out every seller spot we had. Don’t forget to upload your photos @ www.w6ek.org/media/upload
WARM UP THE NIGHTS WITH SOME HOT RF! HOT RF NIGHTS PLANNING MEETING, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26TH @ 6PM ON ZOOM On May 17th, we’re bringing back the newly improved Hot RF Nights! Our first planning meeting is THIS Wednesday in the club Zoom room at 6PM.
FOX HUNT, THIS WEEKEND! Our next Fox Hunt will be Saturday 29. We are still looking for a Fox Tender for this weekend so go to www.w6ek.org/activities/foxhunt and send us a message. _ ___ _ ___ _ ___
73, The Sierra Foothills Amateur Radio Club (W6EK) (530) 492-0920
Website: www.w6ek.org www.w6ek.org Group.io: groupsio.w6ek.org
Social: facebook.w6ek.org facebook.w6ek.org twitter.w6ek.org twitter.w6ek.org linkedIn.w6ek.org linkedIn.w6ek.org instagram.w6ek.org instagram.w6ek.org youtube.w6ek.org youtube.w6ek.org

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