The simplex net for July has been canceled. Erick KN6NRQ has been our faithful net control operator for years. Unfortunately he is no longer able to continue as our usual net control operator.
The Simplex Net has been a fun and popular monthly event. It has been a valuable tool to test and improve our radio skills and performance on the air. We are looking for other members willing to help keep this net going. Contact KN6HHW Michael@harwick.us if you are interested.
We plan to restart the net in August with one or more volunteers. We may be moving the time and/or date of the net.
GOTAhams is delighted to be sponsoring Frank Westphal’s team of ARRL-VEC examiners operating monthly in-person testing. Tests will be held on the LAST Saturday of each month (EXCEPT DECEMBER) at 1PM in the Pilots Lounge of the Brackett Field airport in La Verne (map below). Walk-ins are allowed, but you are strongly encouraged to contact Frank at 909-257-7205 in advance. Please leave a message with your contact information and indicate which license level(s) you are pursuing. Please bring $15.00 for the A.R.R.L. VEC 2022 exam fee. ($5 if under 18). Payment must be cash or check – no credit cards or electronic payment methods. Also, please review the ‘preparation’ link below to ensure that you have completed the other required preparations for a successful test. You MUST bring an FCC FRN number to the test event – contact us if you need help with creating this on the FCC website. Successful candidates will be contacted by the FCC for payment of any additional fees due before issuance of the license. There is no test at the end of December due to the holiday season. GOTAhams is grateful to Frank and his team for their commitment to continue this long-standing volunteer effort, having conducted hundreds of prior exam sessions.
Contact: Mr. Frank C. Westphal at 909-257-7205 or K6FW@ARRL.NET Time: Last Saturday Every Month, 1PM Preparation: Please review this page: http://www.arrl.org/what-to-bring-to-an-exam-session Exam Fee (collected at test): $15.00 ($5.00 if under 18). Information on FCC License Fees (NOT collected at test): https://www.arrl.org/fcc-application-fee Map and Directions: The pilot’s lounge is located in the terminal building also housing Norms Hanger Coffee Shop. Enter the front entrance and turn to the left just after the gift shop. The meeting room where the exams are held are one door down on the left.
Introducing a NEW MONTHLY NET: Marconi Net A cooperation between GOTAhams and the Isle of Wight Radio Society, UK We will celebrate the fellowship between UK and US hams with the MARCONI NET that will join the WG6OTA repeater in Southern California with the GB3IW repeater on the Isle of Wight. Guglielmo Marconi experienced some of his early radio successes from the Isle of Wight including the first recorded contact with a ship at sea. Later, of course, he was successful in connecting the U.K. and U.S. by radio.
The MARCONI NET will link the WG6OTA repeater on Sunset Ridge north of Claremont, California with the GB3IW repeater near Cowes on the Isle of Wight. The net start time is specified in UTC time to avoid any confusion as U.S. Daylight Savings Time and British Summer Time change on different weekends. The net starts at 19:00 UTC (which is 12 noon in California during the summer). No special radio programming is required, just access the WG6OTA repeater as usual and it will be linked to GB3IW. We do ask that participants pay special attention to avoiding time outs. Keep transmissions to less than 2 minutes and allow time for a FULL carrier drop (by the repeater) between transmissions. The KS7MC repeater (Spirit Mountain Amateur Radio Club) in Fort Mohave Arizona may also be linked during these nets. These are open repeaters, and we welcome guests. As usual, we encourage all participants to completely ignore (do not acknowledge in any way) any intentional interference during this or any other net.
For information about the clubs, please check out their respective web sites at: https://gotahams.com https://iowrs.org
For information about the net, contact: Bill Appleton, KF4MCG at kf4mcg@hotmail.com See the maps below for information on the locations of WG6OTA and GB3IW.
