I hope everyone’s summer is going well so far! N5XU club activities continue through the summer.
1. Summer chats. In addition to the weekly net, the club will have monthly Zoom meetings in the summer so all club members can keep in touch and plan activities. In particular, field day is coming up, so we can talk about that next week! These meetings will be on the following dates:
| DATE | TIME |
|---|---|
| Tuesday, June 15 | 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm |
| Tuesday, July 13 | 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm |
| Tuesday, August 10 | 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm |
Feel free to drop in and chat with us! We will provide a Zoom meeting link in our mailing list close to the time of each meeting. Be sure to join the mailing list if you would like to join us for these meetings.
2. Field day. A long standing tradition in ham radio is Field Day, in which stations endeavor to make contacts in more “ad-hoc” environments in the field – for example, on battery or solar power. This year, Field Day is on the weekend of June 26. Tentatively, we are planning to set up a battery-powered station on Mt. Bonnell. Depending on how many people plan to join us, we may set up multiple transceivers. We will discuss more plans at the weekly nets and the Zoom chat next Tuesday.
If you would like to join us for field day, please send us an email or a message in Slack, so we can get an approximate head count for the event.
We will also follow university recommendations regarding COVID-19 precautionary measures, because this is an in-person event.
3. Weekly net. We had a great turnout for the first edition of the UTARC net last week. Thanks to everyone involved! The net takes place Wednesdays 8pm on the 441.325 repeater (PL 97.4) and linked systems. All licensed radio amateurs are welcome to join!
Hello! Do you offer test opportunities to receive ham technician licenses?
Hi Morgan,
UTARC does not administer ham radio license exams, but there are still opportunities to get your license around Austin and online. Around the Austin area, there typically are exam sessions held by the Austin Amateur Radio Club and the W5YI VEC, but these have been temporarily suspended due to the pandemic and have not yet restarted as far as I know. If you are willing to drive some distance from Austin, but wish to take an exam in person, I hear there are exams held in-person at Rockdale. For online exams, there are GLAARG VEC (free for students, veterans, etc.), Anchorage VEC, and likely more, exams held via the Internet.
Good luck with licensing and hope to see you on the air.
Sameer