Antenna Considerations

Speaker: Bill Shanney – W6QR

Abstract:
Antennas are the most important part of an amateur radio station. In this presentation Bill will show how he has optimized his antennas for his operating interests and discuss how antenna needs can change during the solar cycle depending on your goals. A basic understanding of propagation data can help decision making. A close look at location details can help in antenna choice and placement. Antennas are a compromise, understanding the limitations helps set reasonable goals and avoid frustration.

About our speaker:
Bill was first licensed in 1961 while a freshman in high school in NJ. His novice call was WV2RDG. He upgraded to General after about 6 months and became WA2RDG. He loved CW operating and was active in the local RACES group. Ham radio kindled his interest in becoming an electronics engineer.

Bill graduated from NJ Institute of Technology with a BSEE and worked for 45 years in RF and microwave design, the last 35 of which was for satellites. He was inactive for a time while he was building his career and raising family, but in 1988 he started having free time and got on the air again. He quickly upgraded to Advanced (KJ6GR) and Extra and began DXing and rag chewing.

Bill lives near Los Angeles in Torrance, CA on a small city lot with some antenna restrictions. He strived to have HF capability on all bands, 160 through 10 meters. His antenna farm consists of dipoles hung from a 45’ mast and is a well known landmark among local hams.

Bill enjoys antenna design and helping new hams get their stations going. He retired in 2007 and gets on 40 meter CW most mornings. He enjoys taking new antenna designs out to local parks for testing. He also enjoys 6 meter sporadic E operating and casual DXing.

Bill is a member of the ARRL, FISTS, QCWA, QRPARCI, G-QRP and the W6TRW Radio Club. He has published articles about CCD antennas and elevated verticals in the ARRL Antenna Compendium and Communications Quarterly. When he was editor of the TRW Club newsletter he published a series of articles to help new hams get started. He gives two to three talks a year to ham clubs on various HF related topics, mostly antennas.

Note: The meeting location is 309 Alplaus Ave, Alplaus, NY, and the building is at the corner of Alplaus Avenue and Bruce Drive. Please park in the paved lot adjacent to this building. Do not park in the restricted area in front of the building that houses the fire trucks. We will meet in the Multipurpose Room (entrance is on the North side of this building).

International Amateur Radio Union (IARU): What it is. What it does. Why it’s important.

Speaker: Dave Sumner, K1ZZ

Abstract:
Dave will explain how the IARU, as the global federation of national amateur radio organizations, promotes and defends our access to the radio spectrum against ever-increasing commercial pressures.

About our speaker:
Dave Sumner was first licensed in 1962 as KN1ZND, becoming K1ZND the following year and K1ZZ in 1976.

After serving in several capacities as an ARRL volunteer and temporary staff member, he joined the full-time ARRL staff in 1972 and was elected General Manager by the Board of Directors in 1982 at the age of 32. He retired as Chief Executive Officer in 2016. Dave traveled to more than 60 countries on behalf of ARRL and as Secretary of the International Amateur Radio Union, and has represented the IARU at many conferences and meetings of the International Telecommunication Union. Currently he serves as Assistant Secretary of the IARU and as a Director on the Yasme Foundation Board.

He holds degrees in Political Science from Michigan State University and Master of Business Administration from the University of Connecticut. Active on most amateur bands from 1.8 MHz to 24 GHz with an emphasis on CW DX contests, Dave and his wife Linda, KA1ZD, share a well-equipped station in rural Connecticut and divide their time between there and Washington, DC.

Note: The meeting location is 309 Alplaus Ave, Alplaus, NY, and the building is at the corner of Alplaus Avenue and Bruce Drive. Please park in the paved lot adjacent to this building. Do not park in the restricted area in front of the building that houses the fire trucks. We will meet in the Multipurpose Room (entrance is on the North side of this building).

Field Day 2025 and Annual Business Meeting

Speaker: Tim Long W2UI and James MacMurray N2UZQ

Meeting Agenda:

• Election of officers and board of directors for 2025-2026
• Presentation of Henry Primm Broughton award
• Discussion of plans for the June 27 – 29 Field Day event

Officers and Board of Directors nominations for 2025-2026:

President John Clement Sr., NM2R
Vice-President Jim Silva, WA2JMS
Secretary Jim Stewart, K2PK
Treasurer Tim Long, W2UI
Board Member Dean Poeth, K8TM
Board Member Bob Saltzman, WB2ARK
Board Member Mark Anderson, WB2SMK
Board Member Manny Shulman, NF2Q

Please plan to attend this meeting.

About our speakers:

Tim Long got his start in amateur radio in 1961 when he passed his Novice exam given by his scout-master WA2FFJ and received call WN2KHQ. That call sign became WB2KHQ, then WA4DXR, then WB2SPN, and now W2UI. Tim is a VE and has served SARA in various positions including many years as Secretary, two stints as Vice President, two tours as President, and countless years as Treasurer (dues cheerfully accepted). Tim holds BSEE and MSCS degrees and is now retired after a career with Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp. in West Milton. Besides ham radio antenna work and Field Day, Tim enjoys golf.

James MacMurray was licensed in 1993 and received his Extra while going to college for Data Communications. He is a VE, a past president of SARA, current treasurer for SMARA, Assistant Emergency Coordinator for Schenectady County ARES, and Assistant Section Manager for Eastern NY. He has served as a Director for SARA for six years and served SMARA as a past President, Vice President, and Treasurer. Currently James is a full time Employee Retirement Examiner 3 for the State of New York Office of the State Comptroller. James has interests in VHF/UHF weak signal, HF phone, and HF Digital contesting.

Note: The meeting location is 309 Alplaus Ave, Alplaus, NY, and the building is at the corner of Alplaus Avenue and Bruce Drive. Please park in the paved lot adjacent to this building. Do not park in the restricted area in front of the building that houses the fire trucks. We will meet in the Multipurpose Room (entrance is on the North side of this building).

Amateur radio’s critical role in supporting the Boston Marathon

Speaker: Matt Lacy, NQ2U – Middleburgh, NY

Abstract:
Matt will discuss his participation in the Boston Marathon and the role amateur radio plays in the safety and security of the race. He has been volunteering for the Marathon for the past three years and has been stationed on-course to provide one of the mile-by-mile links to the course-wide Net Control Operations Center (NCOC). Recently, he was invited back to NCOC to assist the strike team once the event was complete.

Nearly 300 amateur radio operators perform functions at the start and finish lines, as well as on the course at each hydration station and medical tent and the sweep/sag buses that shuttle runners dropping out of the race back to Boston to be reunited with families. Depending on the day and weather conditions, both hypothermia and hyperthermia can be serious cases in runners if left unchecked for too long. Urgent EMS requests are normally handled through the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) public safety channels, but as capacity allows, amateur radio can take some of the burden, especially when more direct routes are busy.

The framework provided by the amateur radio network proved invaluable during the aftermath of the attack on the 2013 Boston Marathon, where emergency communications was able to be routed in areas in blackout from traditional radio, phone, or internet service. To prevent potential remote detonation of additional devices, the entire communications infrastructure was disabled in the city of Boston, with hams providing primary communications through off-site repeaters not directly in the “danger zone.” The work of radio operators along the length of the course saved many lives that day.

About our speaker:
Matt was originally introduced into the hobby as a Scout on a camping trip to the US Merchant Marine Academy. The demonstration of radio captivated a number of scouts, if for nothing more than the shade provided by their canopy on a hot summer day. At the time, there was still a requirement to pass a CW test, and his teenage brain had all it could do to remember his regular schooling, let alone learn another language. So into the back of his mind it went, and he went along his way.

Matt later worked for the Scouts in offices in Haverhill MA and Albany, Utica, and Syracuse NY and in each office interfaced in some way with ham radio. The constant reminders of ham radio prompted him to get his license in November of 2019. One of the first things that he did was to reach out to the people who he knew from that Scout Camp display to let them know he was licensed. He then reached out to his friends from Massachusetts who kept urging him to volunteer for the Marathon. His only regret is not having done it sooner.

He now has an extra class license, and is heavily involved with his own county club (the Schoharie County Amateur Radio Association) as its treasurer, in emergency communications as an Assistant Emergency Coordinator, an Official Emergency Station, and the Deputy RACES Radio Officer for Schoharie County. He also serves as the Affiliated Club Coordinator for the Northern New York Section of the ARRL.

Matt’s current job is as a Program Coordinator for the Northeastern Regional Information Center Financial Services team of the Capital Region BOCES, supporting technical needs of school district business offices throughout New York State. He currently lives in Middleburgh, but with his job and other hobbies (not to mention amateur radio) he travels all over the northeast.

Note: The meeting location is 309 Alplaus Ave, Alplaus, NY, and the building is at the corner of Alplaus Avenue and Bruce Drive. Please park in the paved lot adjacent to this building. Do not park in the restricted area in front of the building that houses the fire trucks. We will meet in the Multipurpose Room (entrance is on the North side of this building).

Voice of America – the Voice of Freedom

Speaker: Bob Hobday, N2EVG

Abstract:
Bob’s talk will cover the history of Voice of America and how the AWA (Antique Wireless Association) Communication Technologies Museum in Bloomfield, NY received the Delano, California VOA Station control room and one of the 250,000 watt transmitters, which are on display in the museum.

About our speaker:
Bob Hobday is President and Chairman of the Board of the Antique Wireless Association in Bloomfield, New York. Bob has been a member of AWA since 1984, initially serving as a Museum Historian and a volunteer on the Museum Staff. In 2009, Bob was elected to the AWA Board of Trustees and Deputy Director. In August 2018, he was elected as AWA Director, and in 2021 AWA President and Chairman of the Board. Bob is a member of the Radio Club of America, ARRL, and is a life member and past President of Rochester Amateur Radio Association. His amateur radio call is N2EVG.

Bob is a Fellow in the Antique Wireless Association and a recipient of their Director’s Award in 2011 and 2014 and Museum Award in 2014. He was elected a Fellow in the Radio Club of America in 2017, and was a recipient of their Jack Poppele Award in 2017 and Ralph Batcher Award in 2021. In 1965 Bob graduated from Union College with a BA in Industrial Administration. He joined Rochester Gas and Electric where he advanced to Manager – Pricing and subsequently Marketing Manager. In 1997, he was one of two team leaders that created Energetix, a subsidiary of RG&E/Energy East, where he was Managing Director – Strategic Issues. He retired from RG&E in 2007.

Bob married Bonnie, his high school sweetheart, and they have been married for 61 years. Bonnie and Bob have two married daughters and four grandchildren. Besides committing many hours to AWA, Bob’s other hobbies include amateur radio, playing in three bands, furniture making, activities at church (including being a Deacon for over 20 years), and working on their horse farm.

Note: The meeting location is 309 Alplaus Ave, Alplaus, NY, and the building is at the corner of Alplaus Avenue and Bruce Drive. Please park in the paved lot adjacent to this building. Do not park in the restricted area in front of the building that houses the fire trucks. We will meet in the Multipurpose Room (entrance is on the North side of this building).

GVanuatu DXpedition Report

Speaker: William B. “Savo” Savacool

Abstract:
Traveling for QSOs requires careful planning and consideration of logistical factors, communication regulations, and local customs to ensure a successful experience. This presentation will include understanding the area’s geography, navigating permission requirements, and being aware of potential challenges.

About our speaker:
Savo, who lives in Scotia, has a 20 year background in IT help desk support. After a 13-year sabbatical from amateur radio, he returned in 2019 and achieved amateur extra class in 2022. He has 28 total POTA activations and 2 all-time new ones. He is a technical consultant for the Broughton field day and secretary of Schenectady Museum Amateur Radio Association.

Note: The meeting location is 309 Alplaus Ave, Alplaus, NY, and the building is at the corner of Alplaus Avenue and Bruce Drive. Please park in the paved lot adjacent to this building. Do not park in the restricted area in front of the building that houses the fire trucks. We will meet in the Multipurpose Room (entrance is on the North side of this building).

Gray Line DXing

Speaker: Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA

Abstract:
Carl will discuss gray line propagation and the theory behind it, examples of
gray line propagation, the origin of gray line DXing, and an analysis of theory versus observations.

About our speaker:
Carl Luetzelschwab, K9LA, began short wave listening in the late 1950s. He received his Novice license (WN9AVT) in October 1961, and selected K9LA in 1977. Carl is an electrical engineering graduate of Purdue University and was an RF design engineer for Motorola and Magnavox/Raytheon until his retirement in 2013. Carl enjoys propagation research, DXing (he’s at the Top of the Honor Roll), contesting (he was Editor of the ARRL’s “National Contest Journal {NCJ}” from 2002-2007), playing with antennas and restoring/using vintage equipment.

Carl has updated the propagation chapters of the “ARRL Handbook” and “ARRL Antenna Book” for at least 10 years. These two chapters were recently integrated and made into the book “Here to There: Radio Wave Propagation” by the ARRL in 2023 (with contributions by W2NAF, W3LPL, K8GU and DF2DR). In 2010, he updated the propagation chapter of “ON4UN’s Low-Band DXing (Fifth Edition)” book. In 2021, Carl updated CQ’s “The New Shortwave Propagation Handbook “(1995 version) to “The CQ Shortwave Propagation Handbook – 4th Edition” (2021).

Over the years Carl has written a propagation column for “Worldradio,” “NCJ (National
Contest Journal)”, “Worldradio On-Line,” and “CQ Plus.” He still writes a quarterly propagation column for the UKSMG (United Kingdom Six Meter Group) newsletter “Six News.” From January 1997 thru September 2021, he wrote a monthly column about solar and propagation issues for his website at https://k9la.us/. And he’s contributed individual articles to “CQ Magazine,” the ARRL publications “QST,” “NCJ,” “QEX,” and “On-the-Air” and many other publications.

Carl and his wife Vicky AE9YL enjoy traveling, which has included DXpeditions to Syria (YK9A in February 2001), to Market Reef (OJ0/AE9YL and OJ0/K9LA in July 2002) and numerous trips to ZF (Vicky is ZF2YL and Carl is ZF2LA). Carl was the Vice Director of the ARRL Central Division from 2017 thru 2020. He then moved into the Director position, and served from 2021 thru 2024.

Note: The meeting location is 309 Alplaus Ave, Alplaus, NY, and the building is at the corner of Alplaus Avenue and Bruce Drive. Please park in the paved lot adjacent to this building. Do not park in the restricted area in front of the building that houses the fire trucks. We will meet in the Multipurpose Room (entrance is on the North side of this building).

Antenna Building

Speaker: Tim Duffy, K3LR

Abstract:
Tim will discuss the basics of antenna building.

About our speaker:
Tim has been an active amateur radio operator for over 50 years. He has hosted 132 different operators from around the world as part of the K3LR Multi-Multi DX radio sport contest efforts since 1992. He was the ARRL Atlantic Division Technical Achievement award winner in 1998.

Tim has been the moderator of the Hamvention Antenna forum for 34 years. K3LR serves as chairman of Contest University (13 years), the Dayton Contest Dinner (27 years), chairman of the Top Band Dinner – as well as coordinator of the Contest Super Suite (34 years) in Dayton during the yearly Hamvention.

He is founder and moderator of the popular RFI Reflector (RFI@contesting.com) since 1999. Tim serves on the board of directors of the World Wide Radio Operators Foundation (WWROF) as Chairman and is President Emeritus of the Radio Club of America (RCA). Tim is President of the Mercer County Amateur Radio Club (W3LIF). Tim was elected to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame in 2006. He was honored with the prestigious Barry Goldwater Amateur Radio service award by the RCA in 2010. K3LR was honored as Hamvention Amateur of the Year in 2015 by the Dayton Amateur Radio Association.

Tim is the Chief Executive Officer at DX Engineering. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University.

Note: The meeting location is 309 Alplaus Ave, Alplaus, NY, and the building is at the corner of Alplaus Avenue and Bruce Drive. Please park in the paved lot adjacent to this building. Do not park in the restricted area in front of the building that houses the fire trucks. We will meet in the Multipurpose Room (entrance is on the North side of this building).

Holiday Dinner

Happy Holidays from SARA

Typical Parks on the Air Activations…as if those exist

Speaker: Mark Anderson, WB2SMK

Abstract:
Hams often ask questions about the best rig, the best antenna, the best operating methods, the best way to log, etc. For those interested in joining Parks on the Air, the question becomes, “What is a Typical POTA Set up?”. We’ll explore this and some of the many possibilities during the presentation. As time permits, there may be some “bonus” material at the end!

About our speaker:
Mark Anderson developed an interest in electricity in grade school, experimenting with the Three B’s-batteries, bulbs, and buzzers! As this interest developed, Mark eventually built a classic “All American 5” tube radio, a combination AM/Shortwave unit, when he was in 6th grade. He was hooked. After enjoying short wave listening and AM band DXing, Mark’s father did some digging and discovered that Lafayette Radio and Electronics in Syosset, Long Island, would be holding Novice classes at their store. While driving to and from the sessions, Mark and his dad would listen to Jean Shepherd, aka W2ORS, on WOR. Mark was awarded WN2BIJ at the ripe old age of 13 in 1970. Once his Novice ran out after 2 years, Mark became a general, many years later upgrading to advanced and ultimately to extra, holding the WB2SMK call throughout. Mark was a member and officer of W4NC in Winston Salem, NC during the 4 years he lived there. After moving back to NY in 1985, he became a member of SARA where he has also held officer positions. Mark is a member of the Straight Key Century Club (#14139S). Mark has been an active member of Parks on the Air since 2018. Mark primarily works CW and having obtained his first bug within the last several years has become a convert, even using one while operating POTA.

Mark received his Bachelor’s degree and his Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He began his career at Rensselaer as a Project Engineer for the Center for Manufacturing Productivity and Technology Transfer. He then moved to Westinghouse Power Generation and General Electric for multiple business groups. He has held various positions in several electrical and computer related fields including manufacturing, robotics, vision systems, instrumentation, software development, factory automation, HMI, engineering, numerical control/CNC, machine tools/machining, and business process analysis.

Mark is currently a Senior Project Engineer for the Design Lab at Rensselaer and the Course Coordinator for the Introduction to Engineering Design (IED) class. For the Design Lab, he has supervised over 200 project teams working with several hundred seniors for various sponsoring companies and individuals.

Note: The meeting location is 309 Alplaus Ave, Alplaus, NY, and the building is at the corner of Alplaus Avenue and Bruce Drive. Please park in the paved lot adjacent to this building. Do not park in the restricted area in front of the building that houses the fire trucks. We will meet in the Multipurpose Room (entrance is on the North side of this building).