Wednesday, April 23th, at 6:15PM – 146.580MHz

The Monthly Simplex net is hosted by Thomas, WB6HYH,. As usual we will be on 146.580MHz starting at 6:15pm. A great way to explore the reach of your 2 meter equipment without benefit of repeater, both receiving and transmitting. Bring a pad of paper and record signal reports for all you hear. Tom will collect and collate these.  Use this scale for your reports:

1=Nothing at all heard, not even noise or hiss suggesting a specific signal is present.

2=It was apparent that a signal was present but communication is impossible even with reasonable re-tries.

3=Communication possible with noise and possibly some re-tries to cover drop outs.

4=Good communication though with some noise or other artifacts, but generally solid copy.

5=Solid copy, little or no noise, full or nearly full quieting.

Be patient during silences as there will probably be participants you cannot hear and net control is likely communicating with those stations during silences.

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 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.

Brackett field la Verne Click for directions