W6ZE - Orange County Amateur Radio Club

01/01/2025

12/24/2024

From 1998 to 2008, the Amateur Radio Service was privileged to have a positive relationship with FCC in the form of attorney Riley Hollingsworth, K4ZDH, who administered enforcement of our service during that time frame.

After retirement in 2008, Riley became active in the ARRL Atlantic Division, as Vice-Director for a time, but then an opportunity arose he could not refuse: in 2019 he took on administration of the new FCC/ARRL Volunteer Monitoring Program. The program is up and running with over 160 Volunteer Monitors averaging several thousand hours a month listening to our bands to help keep our bands healthy and preserve Amateur Radio’s great reputation.

Join us Friday, January 17 of the new year, when Riley joins us live on Zoom from Gettysburg, PA, for more details on the Volunteer Monitoring Program.

Remember, too, the W6ZE Club now offers license exam testing sessions 📚 (new licensees and upgrades) at 5:30PM before our regularly scheduled meeting at 7PM. Requests for a seat should be sent to Ken Simpson, [email protected], or by calling 714-651-6535. The cost is $15.
That’s 5:30 pm for testing in Room 213 and a 7 pm meeting at 600 Parkcenter Dr, Room 208, Santa Ana at the American Red Cross.

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season and a healthy, happy new year of fun on the ham bands!

Janet Margelli, KL7MF
Outgoing Vice-President W6ZE

11/11/2024

Remember this from May 13, 2005? K7JA and K6CTW on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Morse Code vs Text Messaging. CW saves the day, and our guest speaker for our November 15 meeting is the fellow who saved a bunch of money on his car insurance, Ken Miller, K6CTW. Come join us for an entertaining evening of “The Evolution of Morse Code”.

Ken was originally licensed in 1967 as WN2BKC, and is now an A1 Operator, active in the Transcontinental Corps liaising messages through the NTS, certified at 35 wpm American Morse, 40 wpm Continental Code, and author of numerous articles over the years in Electric Radio and CQ magazines.

Ken received his Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Virginia Military Institute and is a former US Marine Corps officer. As a civilian, he has held Principal Engineering and Management roles with experience in military, commercial wireless, cellular as well as terrestrial communications systems, with specialty areas of systems assurance, cyber security, and embedded systems.

Besides showing the Tonight Show clip, the program includes a "show and tell" with some of the telegraph items (Sounder, Phillips Code and relay), then International Morse and how it became the standard. Then some high speed equipment and also foreign Morse codes (Russian and Japanese). Ken’s current interests include CW education and rag chewing in French, learning Russian and Russian Morse, and continuing to chase DXCC with his Drake 2-B/2-BQ and DX-60.

Don’t forget, our November meeting is also election night, so step up and be counted! The club could use new thoughts and ideas, and current board members stand by to help new officers in any way possIble.

Remember, too, the club now offers license exam testing sessions 📚 (new licensees and upgrades) at 5:30PM before our regularly scheduled meeting at 7PM. Requests for a seat should be sent to Ken Simpson, [email protected], or by calling 714-651-6535. The cost is $15.

So many reasons to join us at 5:30 pm for testing and at 7 pm for our monthly meeting at 600 Parkcenter Dr, Room 208, Santa Ana at the American Red Cross. We hope to see you there!

73 de Janet Margelli, KL7MF
Vice-President OCARC

Manipulateur morse contre smartphone .... et le vainqueur est ? .....

11/11/2024

Exciting times for the next generation of Ham Radio Operators!!!

The Pacific Islands DXpedition Group has partnered with Youth on the Air to support a DXpedition to Rotuma (3D2Y) November 15 through December 4. Three of the six DXpeditioners heading that way are under the age of 25. The partnership’s goal is to “Enable DXpeditioning for the Next Generation of Amateur Radio Operators,” mentoring young operators, building skills and lasting friendships.

Accompanying these operators will be two W6IZT’s NexGenRIBs, which will be operated remotely by a team of young amateur radio operators, coordinated and scheduled by another young operator, W0AEE. How exciting is this new face of DXpeditioning!

We were very fortunate to have Lukas, LY7J, stop by en route to Rotuma via Fiji, and join some of the locals for lunch. Attendees included N6AX, N1BKB, KM6EMP, N6GP, N6HC, KF6I, W6IRD, K6IRD, W6KK, W6KOS, KL7MF, W6MG, N6MXU, W0PE, AA6PW, N6QQ, W6SQC, KC6TOD, and K6VNI.

Please give a listen to 6 through 160 while this young group is on the air!

09/10/2024

Join us Friday, September 20th at 7PM

Maritime Comms and Amateur Radio Emergency Communications

One of many advantages of living in Orange County is the nearby ocean and its beaches. Fun on the water means boating and,, over long distances, means serious ocean craft and a means of communication back to the mainland.

Our Guest Speaker September 20th, is the US Coast Guard Auxiliary Manager of the USCG PACAREA Contingency Communications Net, Bill Scholz, W1HIJ. His presentation will mesh how amateur radio emergency comms and marine comms come together.

Originally licensed in 1954 as WN1HIJ, Bill took a gap of some years in the 1970s while life got in the way, then came back as a serious CW op in contesting in the late 1990s. Part of the KP2AA Contest Club, Bill was an integral part of Field Day ops in the early 2000s in Puerto Rico, St. Croix, and Cuba, and has been an operator in the W6ZE CW efforts in more recent years as well. Many of you will also recognize him as a face behind the counter at HRO one or two days a week.

Currently his primary activity on the air is for the US Coast Guard Auxiliary as the manager of the “West Coast Region HF Net”, a voice and digital messaging net that covers the area from the Rocky Mountains west to the western Pacific (Guam, American Samoa, and Hawaii).

Meet Bill and see how marine and amateur communications work together in times of need.

Remember, too, we now offer license exam testing for new and upgrades before the meeting at 5:30PM. For reservations please contact Ken Simpson, W6KOS, at [email protected] or call 714-651-6535. We meet at the American Red Cross, 600 Parkcenter Dr, Room 208, Santa Ana. Hope to see you there!

08/06/2024

The W6ZE Club now offers license exam testing sessions 📚 (new licensees and upgrades) at 5:30PM before our regularly scheduled meeting at 7PM. Requests for a seat should be sent to Ken Simpson, [email protected], or by calling 714-651-6535. The cost is $15.

Join us the third Friday of every month but December (and watch for exceptions) at 5:30 pm for testing and a 7 pm meeting at 600 Parkcenter Dr, Room 208, Santa Ana at the American Red Cross.

07/19/2024

Join us Friday, July 19th, 7PM, 600 Parkcenter Dr, Room 208, Santa Ana and be prepared to learn everything you ever wanted to know about DC powering your ham radio!

W6ZE is getting a double dose of good stuff at the July 19 meeting! We will be welcoming two guest speakers with analogous subject matters, and we will definitely come away with more knowledge about batteries, solar power, cabling, and DC power solutions than you can imagine.

From Bioenno Power comes Kevin Zanjani, KI6DHQ, National Sales Mgr. The company offers lithium iron phosphate batteries for ham radio applications and also solar panels and accessory products for running equipment. In this exciting presentation, he will be providing an overview of the technology and answering some frequently asked questions. Kevin began his career in Detroit working on RFID applications in the automotive industry and later came to Southern California where he worked on software in Santa Barbara. He then joined Bioenno Power in 2010. Kevin holds Bachelor and Master's degrees in electrical and computer engineering, from the Univ. of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and U.C. Irvine and also an MBA from the Univ. of Southern California.

From 12-Volt Power comes Kevin Karamanos, WD6DIH. An Advanced Class Amateur radio licensed for over 40 years, Kevin was Director of Sales at Yaesu USA for 12 years. The last 20 years he has worked in the Emergency & Specialty Vehicle Electronics field, specializing in DC Power and Communications. Recently Kevin started a company called "12 Volt Power" which supplies a complete line of DC power products to most amateur radio dealers and vehicle upfitters in the U.S. Featured products include: Radio DC power cables, power supplies, Anderson Powerpole connectors and assemblies, portable power meters and more! Many compatible products to be found between Bioenno and 12-Volt Power, so bring your questions to the meeting!

06/25/2024

A couple photos of our operators from Summer Field Day 2024.

06/23/2024

06/23/2024

Good morning! A few photos of our setup before the end of the 2024 ARRL Summer Field Day.

06/23/2024

About halfway through ARRL Summer Field Day 2024! Hope to hear you on the air tonight! 🌖📻📡

06/22/2024

A lot of great teamwork setting up for Field Day. Dino Darling KX6D set up his amazing tower trailer. Come see our Field Day at SpringView Middle School in Huntington Beach. 16662 Trudy Ln, Huntington Beach, CA 92647
Even without a license, we can get you on the air, to make contacts across the USA and Canada

06/15/2024

Tonight’s June 2024 OCARC meeting was awesome! Starting with some of our members upgrading their license with our newly offered Amateur Radio Exams prior to our meetings. We had some big winners for our raffle which included Tim Millard N6TMT who won the big prize of a 60 Watt Bioenno Solar Panel System with a 15Ah battery and charge controller.

A great presentation on Field Day provided by Sean KX9X!

See you all at Field Day! 📻☀️

06/06/2024

Join us Friday, June 14 at 7pm at the American Red Cross, 600 Parkcenter Dr, Room 208, Santa Ana and let’s get ready to kick you-know-what on Field Day! Don’t forget we will be starting our first license testing session at the June meeting as well, starting at 5:30pm, for new licensees and upgrades, too. This meeting will also include our quarterly opportunity drawing, so be prepared.

Get ready for a good Field Day pep talk at our meeting Friday, June 14 (remember, this is a week earlier than usual so as to not interfere with the Friday of Field Day). Our recorded presentation will be by Mr Sean Kutzko, KX9X.

Sean Kutzko, KX9X, is the former ARRL Contest Branch Manager and Media & Public Relations Manager and has been licensed since 1982. He is the creator and co-administrator of 2016’s ARRL National Parks on the Air event. Having attained DXCC Honor Roll and several Top Ten finishes in HF contests over the years, Sean now spends his ham radio time mostly on the VHF/UHF bands , pursuing weak-signal contacts on 50, 144, and 432 MHz as well as the amateur radio satellites. Sean also enjoys portable operating for Parks on the Air and AM broadcast band DX-ing. He is also the drummer in the Spurious Emissions Band, which plays at the Dayton Hamvention on an occasional basis. Out of the ham radio spotlight, Sean plays drums and percussion in a few rock and jazz groups, makes great homemade Neapolitan pizza, and watches tons of baseball. He lives in Champaign, Illinois with his partner Nancy, N9NCY and their incredibly relaxed cat, Cosmo Copperbutt.

05/02/2024

Please join us Friday, May 17 at 7 PM at the American Red Cross, 600 Parkcenter Dr., Room 208, Santa Ana to see the impact of the sun and the ionosphere on our hobby.

“A Visit to the Sun and the Ionosphere” ☀️⛅️

Our May Zoom presentation by Ron Wilcox, KF7ZN, is a basic introduction to the sun and its effect, and how the ionosphere works. We hear a lot of terms used in our hobby, such as sunspots, CME, K index, solar flux, F layer, etc., but what do they mean, and how can we understand them. What have been the effects of CME’s that have struck the earth? These concepts are presented in an interesting format with the goal of helping us better understand their role. We will also touch on the recent eclipses and their effect. This is a non-technical aid in understanding more advanced presentations With Cycle 25 upon us, this will help in understanding its effects.



Licensed in 1984 thanks to Don KA7T, with a layoff from the hobby in the middle, Ron Wilcox KF7ZN had a career with Mountain Bell and is currently an RN nurse case manager with Intermountain Health/Select Health in Utah. He is a member and officer of organizations such as the Utah DX Association, Mobile Amateur Radio Awards Club, and HamSCI, among others. In trying to build and help the hobby Ron is active as a VE, serving on convention committees and ARES Assistant Emergency Coordinator. He is a member of the ARRL and HamSCI speaker’s bureau, with frequent presentations at clubs and conventions. He has written articles for CQ, Spectrum Monitor and NCJ. You can check out his page on QRZ.com for more information.