Join GOTAhams for our monthly “Radio in the Park”

Its nearing our 2022 ARRL Field Day, GOTAhams Radio In the Park is time to practice at Cedar Creek Park: 6709 Cedar Creek Road in Eastvale Saturday May 21st 10am to 3pm. please be aware that we meet on the northwest corner of the park on everglades street.

let’s figure out some antenna setup, try to map out our field Day site, practice with our antenna building/tuning skills and “Get On The Air” to see who we can talk to and what distance we can transmit/communicate.

Please remember to bring something to drink, a chair, shade if you’ve got it, sunscreen and a great attitude along with any questions that might help you in the hobby.

Looking to broaden your Amateur Radio skills? On foot T-hunting!

Hillcrest Park Transmitter Hunting
Saturday, May 14, 2022 10:30 AM

This event is always fun, very inviting folks, more than simply T-hunting going on, there are members of the Fullerton ARC with field stations operating multiple bands and modes many different types of T-hunting antennas and lots of friendly smiling faces the parking lot is near the southwest corner of the park (Hillcrest park) then climb the stairs to the historical building near the hilltop.

Elmering in the Park at Larkin Park Claremont

Our second “Elmering in the Park” event scheduled for May 7 2022 at Larkin Park Claremont.

This Month Dave K6EV will be guiding our members through the process of  building power supply cables for your modern SDR type transceivers  with a four pole Molex style connector (used on IC7300, FT991A etc.) on one end and a Anderson Power pole style connector on the other. Attendees will be introduced to the crimping tools, their Use, best practice soldering techniques and completing the assemblies with heat shrink tubing.

Many of you are familiar with these methods and others will be introduced possibly for the first time.  As always we’ll be socializing, snacking and having a great time, we are looking forward to seeing lots of smiling faces and discussing Amateur Radio!

WG6OTA REPEATER IS ON THE AIR AND READY FOR USE!

Dear GOTAhams Members and Friends,
Some exciting news today – The WG6OTA repeater is on the air at 449.160 MHz with a standard -5 MHz offset and a PL tone of 77.0 Hz (plus 77.0 Hz rebroadcast for those using tone squelch). .  These are the same parameters that you may have recently had in your radio for the AE6TV repeater.  And that’s not surprising as Hans had agreed to sell the repeater in-situ to a group of local hams.  There was a repair needed and current supply chain delays really stretched out the time to get the parts needed, but all is well that ends well and WG6OTA is ON THE AIR!   Now we need to hear YOU on the air with the Get On The Air Hams Amateur Radio Club.
Our nightly net has very graciously been hosted for the past couple of months by Burton Brink, N6USO on his 2 meter repeater.   EFFECTIVE SUNDAY, MAY 1ST, OUR NIGHTLY 8PM NETS WILL RETURN TO 70CM ON THE NEWLY RENAMED WG6OTA REPEATER.
For those of you who already had a memory channel programmed for AE6TV, that programming will work fine. Someday when you have the time you can relabel the memory as WG6OTA, but that is only for your own convenience and does not affect the operation of either your radio or the repeater.
If you are a new member of the club who did not previously have that repeater in your radio, feel free to reach out to fellow club members for assistance in programming your radio ahead of Sunday night.
The new repeater has immediate effects on net operation, aside from the frequency change.

  1. effective immediately, we are returning to a full seven day per week schedule at 8PM (excluding only the 2nd Tuesday of each month when we hold our general club membership meeting).
  2. Our IRLP connectivity is restored so that members can join the net from remote locations provided that they have suitable equipment and skills to implement IRLP connectivity.  We had our Club IT Director, Tim, N6DLC back with the GOTAhams from Arizona already today!
  3. MORE GOOD THINGS WILL COME.  Watch the club website GOTAHAMS.com

I’m sure we’d all like to thank Ken, KC6WOK for his extraordinary efforts and contributions in pulling this together.  Also, to Hans, AE6TV, who generously allowed us to use the repeater for over a year and who continues to support us during this transition.  He was with Ken and myself on this trip up the mountain.  And we look forward to the active support of Tim, N6DLC as we further develop the capabilities of this repeater.  Please note that the repeater is NOT the property of the GOTAhams club but is obviously intended to closely support the club’s positive missions and it is an open repeater.


The repeater remains in it’s original site, providing VERY wide coverage from Sunset Ridge just north of Claremont.   It is also the same site as the N6USO repeater we have been using recently.   
And, one more time, our great thanks to Burton Brink N6USO for keeping us ON THE AIR during the recent repeater outage and transition.
SEE YOU ON THE AIR!  Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions.

NOTE: we are experiencing some “Growing Pains” concerning audio levels needing readjustment after a controller replacement. this will require a hilltop “Site Visit” with some very sophisticated equipment to adjust the levels. During our overmodulating issues please be aware that most low powered handheld devices sound good but folks with more powerful base and mobile devices will be better served by turning your power down, adjusting your microphone gain below your normal settings and speaking with the microphone to the side and further away from your mouth than typical. Please do not be afraid to ask for a “signal report” and if you have the time to do it during the day prior to the net would help streamline our nightly net. Remember this IS an OPEN repeater, general conversation during the day is promoted so please “Get On The Air” have fun, adjust your settings, enjoy a conversation with other Hams! We will notify folks through club emails and this website when our repeater audio settings have been fully adjusted.

Get On The Air using Simplex! 7:00PM Wednesday March 23rd

GOTAhams wil Host a Monthly Simplex net at 7:00 pm on the fourth Wednesday of each month, employing frequency 146.580. Following the Simplex net, We will Host our regular nightly net on 449.160 – 77.0, Many of the participants are located in the Pomona/San Gabriel and Chino Valleys, Try it from wherever YOU are and lets see what we can do without the help of a hilltop repeater, Hope to see (hear) Ya there

Don’t miss our Field Day planning meeting Thursday March 24th

with ARRL Field Day 2022 approaching quickly, GOTAhams is meeting virtually bi-weekly planning for this annual event. If you would like to be involved or just want to see what we are focusing on this year join us on our regular GOTAhams nightly Zoom “Lounge” at 7:00PM.

If you dont have a link to our nightly zoom lounge, send a request to kd6caf@gmail.com