Past Meeting Notes:

October 2008 Meeting

The first meeting of the school year was held on Tuesday evening, October 14. Dues are due! Dues are free for Stanford students and $95 suggested ($50 required) for others, with a $10 discount if a domestic-partnership joins together. You can bring cash or check payments to our club meetings or mail a check made out to Stanford Amateur Radio Club, PO BOX 19212, Stanford, CA 94309. We'd like to encourage more hams to check into our Monday evening nets at 7:30PM on the N6BDE repeater, 440.200 MHz (+5 MHz offset, 123.0 Hz tone). Please conserve water in the shack.

May 2008 Meeting

George Badger W6TC presented a program on how to radiate a big signal from a small lot, featuring the W6TC DX Loop described on page 37 of the February 2008 issue of QST. He described the evolution of the W6TC DX Loop, his early work with quad loops, elevated and ground-level radial systems, and antenna feed options, and answered questions from the members about design options for low-band antennae.

April 2008 Meeting

Jim Moss (N9JIM) and Pat Barthelow (AA6EG) presented a program on the former AT&T 97' dish satellite earth station in Jamesburg (near Carmel). This facility played an historic role as part of the Intelsat network in the Apollo space program, the China Summit, and other big events of the time. The property was sold a few years ago to a private owner who has allowed amateur radio operators to restore the dish and use it for moonbounce contacts while development of the 160 acre site is in progress. Their excellent presentation described their adventure, with photos, videos, and audio recordings, and they talked about ideas for possible future use of the dish in space programs like the Lunar X Prize competition. More information about the project is available at http://www.jamesburgdish.org/.

March 2008 Meeting

Ken Dueker, KB6BPM, emergency coordinator for the Stanford University Amateur Radio Emergency Service (SUARES), gave a presentation on the history and importance of emergency communications in the amateur radio service, and SUARES and its coordination with served agencies and other entities. Slides from Ken's Presentation are available here (.pdf format, approx. 370 kb). More information about SUARES is available at http://www-suares.stanford.edu.

January 2008 Meeting

Prof. Robert Twiggs, Director of the Space Systems Development Laboratory (SSDL) and a consulting Professor in Stanford's Aeronautics and Astronautics Department, talked about his science outreach to several schools and groups. He showed pictures and videos of some of his recent activities including rocket firings in Nevada and Southern California. He also explained how he raises youth interest in electronics from simple schematics to more involved programming of micro-controllers. Other topics in his presentation included the use of automatic position reporting (APRS) to track a high-altitude balloon launch and the testing of rocket-deployed rovers equipped with guidance systems used to return to the rovers to the launch location. More information on the SSDL is available at http://ssdl.stanford.edu. More information on SLAM is available at http://www.stanford.edu/~kldavis/SLAM. More information about Stanford on the Moon is available at http://www.spaceagepub.com/SOM/index.htm.

May 2007 Meeting

Geoff Bower and Dev Rajnarayan presented an overview of the High Altitude Glider Project, a multi-disciplinary endeavor of the Aircraft Aerodynamics and Design Group, the Space Systems Development Laboratory, the NASA AMES Astrobiology group, and the Rocket Mavericks. In addition to explaining the purpose, goals, and challenges of this project, they also described participation opportunities for students with amateur radio experience or interests in long range communications systems or PCB design. An overview of the High Altitude Glider Project is available here.

January 2007 Meeting

Rick Santina W6IFA and Rakesh Bharania KI6GIJ, with the support of additional colleagues from Cisco Systems, explained and demonstrated the Cisco IP Interoperability and Collaboration Solution (IPICS) product for the Public Safety and Enterprise Safety and Security markets. IPICS is an IP-based system that interconnects voice radio systems in the Amateur Radio and Land Mobile Radio services to a wide range of wireless, wireline, and IP voice devices (e.g., Sprint/Nextel iDEN handsets, Cisco IP Telephones, POTS telephones, FRS radios, and PC Clients) to facilitate communications among disparate communications networks, especially during times of emergency. More information about Cisco IPICS can be found at http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps6718/prod_brochure0900aecd80352c7e.html.

December 2006 Meeting

Ken Dueker, KB6BPM, emergency coordinator for the Stanford University Amateur Radio Emergency Service (SUARES), gave a presentation on SUARES and its coordination with served agencies and other entities. Ken arranged for Cindy Stewart of the Santa Clara County Office of Emergency Services to attend and to issue Disaster Service Worker emergency responder identification cards. More information about SUARES is available at http://www-suares.stanford.edu.

November 2006 Meeting

Prof. Robert Twiggs, the Director of the Space Systems Development Laboratory (SSDL) and a consulting Professor in Stanford's Aeronautics and Astronautics Department, along with grad students Forrest Hetherington and Josh Alwood, presented a program on SSDL's future project, the Stanford Lunar Analysis Mission, the preliminary design of which would deploy an array of six CubeSats around the moon creating a hierarchical communication network. They also discussed the Stanford on the Moon alumni organization to which the SLAM has made a proposal and encouraged member participation in their activities. Slides from their presentation are available here. More information on the SSDL is available at http://ssdl.stanford.edu. More information on SLAM is available at http://www.stanford.edu/~kldavis/SLAM. More information about Stanford on the Moon is available at http://www.spaceagepub.com/SOM/index.htm.

October 2006 Meeting

Prof. David Leeson, W6NL, club faculty advisor and trustee of W6YX, opened the new academic year welcoming returning and prospective members at the club's meeting on October 10, 2006 and presented an introduction to ham radio. The members elected new officers: Dan Clark, KC8LZI, President; Anosh Raj, Vice President; and James Mao, Treasurer. Ken Dueker, KB6BPM, described some of the emergency communications activities undertaken at Stanford and W6YX. John Fore, W6LD, described the station's facilities and technical plans with particular attention to the west tower mast replacement project. Planning began for an Open House at Site 530.

May 2006 Meeting

Larry Alder, Municipal WiFi Product Manager of Google Inc., and Cyrus Behroozi, Chief Scientist of Tropos Networks discussed Public WiFi networks. Adler spoke about Google's public WiFi network projects with particular attention to its efforts in Mountain View. He explained how the company's interest in public WiFi aligns with its mission to organize and provide universal accessibility to the world’s information. Larry also explained how Google’s main purpose of rolling out the free public network was to understand the demands and usage of a public system with future developments in other cities, such as San Francisco, in mind. After Adler then gave a brief introduction of the network architecture, Behroozi led a more in-depth discussion about Tropos' mesh approach to WiFi cells with wireless backhaul, and fielded questions from the audience.

April 2006 Meeting

Professor Thomas H. Lee of the Stanford Microwave Integrated Circuits Laboratory spoke on the early history of radio with particular attention to its relationship to the development of the Silicon Valley. His talk, entitled "From Arc Valley to Silicon Valley" was based in part on the chapter in his text "The Design of CMOS Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuits" entitled "A Nonlinear History of Radio." Prof. Lee provided an overview of the contributions to radio technology by Maxwell, Hertz, Marconi, Mitchell, deForest, Fessenden, Herrold, Litton, Terman, Alexanderson, Poulsen, Elwell, Pridham, Jensen, Farnsworth, Heintz, Kaufman, Eitel, McCullough, Shockley, Kilby, Noyce, and Hoerni. He concluded that (1) venture capital funding of high tech startups is as old as high tech itself; (2) spinoffs, booms, and busts have been characteristics of the electronics age from its very beginning; and (3) the California Gold Rush provided much of the basis of the entrepreneurial spirit and venture capital funding from which the Arc Valley and the Silicon Valley evolved. More information about Prof. Lee is available at http://smirc.stanford.edu/tom.html.

March 2006 Meeting

Bob Warmke W6CYX and Don Ferguson KD6IRE presented a program on the Club's 1.2 GHz repeater, its connection to the regional network of 1.2 GHz repeaters, the advantages and disadvantages of 1.2 GHz repeater systems, and its Internet connection via Echolink and the Internet Relay Linking Project (IRLP) for world wide communications. There were successful demonstrations of access to the repeater system using Echolink from a laptop computer with a WiFi Internet connection and an international QSO facilitated by IRLP. Click here to download Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) slides from the presentation (~2 MB). More information about Echolink is available at http://www.echolink.org.

February 2006 Meeting

Ken Dueker, KB6BPM, emergency coordinator for the Stanford University Amateur Radio Emergency Service (SUARES), presented a multi-media program on "Amateur Radio and Stanford Emergency Communications." He described the history and future of amateur radio's role in emergency preparedness at Stanford, the pioneering role of amateur radio locally and globally, the opportunities for amateur radio operators to make a meaningful contribution to the safety and security of their communities, and information for prospective emergency communicators to learn more about these opportunities. Click here to download Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) slides from Ken Dueker's presentation (~500 KB) More information about SUARES is available at http://www-suares.stanford.edu.

January 2006 Meeting

The first meeting of the new year featured a presentation by Alan Larson, WA6AZP, about VHF contesting and the ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes contest. Alan described our VHF facilities and plans for participating in the contest. Alan also gave an introduction about VHF/UHF contesting, including the frequencies and modes typically used in such events, a description of his experiences in past contests, and a contrast of these practices to those employed in HF contesting. Newly licensed members were encouraged to participate in the contest held over the weekend of January 21-22, 2006 at Site 530.

December 2005 Meeting

Faculty advisor Dave Leeson, W6NL, presented a program on the key success factors in developing a world-class high frequency multi-operator contest station. His discussion emphasized the importance of propagation analysis, site selection, equipment considerations, and teamwork. Most of his talk addressed the creation of the HC8 station on Mt. San Joaquin on San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos. The property was purchased in 1998 and the station won two contests that same year. It now holds thirty-six world first place contest titles. In the recent CQ Worldwide DX Contest (CW), eight operators participated using the HC8N call sign and completed 15,266 contacts to finish first in the world with more than 41 million points, scoring approximately twenty-five percent higher than than the second-place entrant in the multi-transmitter multi-operator category. More information about the HC8 contest station is available at its web site, http://www.hc8n.info/.

November 2005 Meeting

Don Ferguson, KD6IRE, President of Project OSCAR (Orbital Satellites Carrying Amateur Radio) and one of the leading experts on satellite radio, and Prof. Stephen Petersen, AC6P, who teaches computer and electrical engineering at UC Santa Cruz and who is the author of a leading edge satellite communications controller software package which integrates computer, antennae, and rig control presented a well-received multi-media program on "Understanding Doppler Frequency Compensation for Amateur Analog Satellites". They provided a history of amateur satellite activities, an introduction to current analog amateur satellites, and an analysis of software based solutions for making the doppler frequency compensation adjustments required for communicating via them. Click here to download Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) slides from Don Ferguson's presentation (~1.5 M) and click here to download Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) slides from Steve Petersen's presentation (~100 K).

October 2005 Meeting

Prof. David Leeson, W6NL, club faculty advisor and trustee of W6YX, opened the new academic year welcoming returning and prospective members at the club's meeting on October 11, 2005. The members elected new officers: Gabriel Zeltzer, President; Jaime Wu, Vice President; and Chris McNett, Secretary/Treasurer. Mike Heidemann, N7MH, presented a history of the club. John Fore, W6LD, described the station's facilities and technical plans. Mark Aaker, K6UFO, and Dean Wood, N6DE, spoke on the contesting program at W6YX. Gary Lauterbach, AD6FP, and Lars Karlsson, AA6IW, outlined the VHF/UHF activities at W6YX, including moonbounce and equipment design and construction projects. Matt Ettus, N2MJI, explained his current projects involving digital transmission and software defined radio. Lea Roberts, WA6ITV, described some of the emergency communications activities undertaken at Stanford and W6YX.

August 2005 Meeting

Don Ferguson, KD6IRE, President of Project OSCAR (Orbital Satellites Carrying Amateur Radio) and one of the leading experts on satellite radio, met with the club at its August 9, 2005 meeting. During his visit, he made contacts via three satellites and offered recommendations on various future improvements which could be made in connection with completion of the Tay Howard ("VHF/UHF/Microwave") Room. Don also arranged for the club to receive the AC6P satellite communications controller software from Stephen Petersen which integrates computer, antennae, and rig control (including automated doppler correction).

May 2005 Meeting

Wayne Burdick (N6KR) and Eric Swartz (WA6HHQ) gave a lively presentation at our May 10, 2005 program. They founded Elecraft in 1998 after years of working together on various amateur radio projects. They described their experiences in QRP and Field Day operations and the design philosophy which sets Elecraft apart from others. A wealth of Elecraft's unique, high-performance transceiver and accessory kits were demonstrated, including an unscheduled 1.5 watt CW DX QSO by Wayne with YL2IX (Latvia) using the recently developed KX1 ultra-light, multi-band transceiver connected to a random wire antenna tossed into a tree from the window of the meeting room. They also demonstrated a new product to be announced and introduced later this year which attracted a great deal of interest among the QRO crowd. Download Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) slides from their presentation (~3.8 M)

April 2005 Meeting:

Frank Bauregger W6QI held forth on the topic of VHF/UHF/Microwave activity. He explained the characteristics of the bands available for amateur use, propagation modes and transmission records, operating activities, equipment options, 802.11b experimentation, and resources for those interested in 50 MHz and above. He recounted the surprisingly dramatic saga of breaking the world record with Gary AD6FP for 47 GHz communications in 2004, including the successful eleventh hour on-site re-engineering of his equipment during freakish weather conditions on a granite mountain peak. Frank graduated from Stanford with a Ph.D. in EE in 2003. For his research in the Stanford GPS Lab, he invented a unique anti-jam GPS antenna for airborne use. Since then, he has been working as an RF engineer at Novariant Corporation. Download Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) slides from his presentation (~1.5 M)

March 2005 Meeting Program

Dean Straw, N6BV, of the American Radio Relay League spoke at the March 8, 2005 meeting on the topic of high frequency system design, sharing his knowledge of ionospheric propagation, antennas, and local effects such as ground terrain. Slides from his presentation in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format are available for download here (approximately 1 M).

February 2005 Meeting Program

At the February meeting, Prof. Robert Twiggs, the Director of the Space Systems Development Laboratory (SSDL) and a consulting Professor in Stanford s Aeronautics and Astronautics Department, reviewed the graduate student satellite programs done at Stanford, the present programs and possible future missions based on the 1kg CubeSat program established by him and Prof. Jordi Puig-Suari at Cal Poly-SLO. Present space system activities include programs with NASA Ames, Tethers Unlimited, Inc of Lynnwood, WA, and the University of Chicago through the National Science Foundation. These programs include CubeSats to be launched in 2005 and an Antarctic Program to put PolarBots on icebergs in late 2005.Stanford University Engineering graduate students have built and launched three satellites since 2000.

November 2004 Meeting Program

At our November meeting, Matt Ettus N2MJI of Ettus Research gave a talk on GNU Radio. GNU Radio is an open source software radio framework which allows for experimentation, rapid prototyping, and even deployment of complex Software Radio systems on generic microprocessors. By performing most or all processing in software, Software Radio allows for extremely versatile radio systems and makes multi-standard systems possible.

October 2004 Meeting Program

At our first meeting for the 2004-2005 school year on October 12, 2004, Gary Lauterbach AD6FP gave a talk on recent 47 GHz Earth-Moon-Earth (moonbounce) communications experiments. Gary and Frank Bauregger W6QI have also recently set the world distance record for 47 GHZ terrestrial microwave communications.

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