131 results for author: Scott Toth


January GARA Meeting: New Trailer, and WFD Prep

This month, we will hear from David McLin AC4A in preparation of Winter Field Day. David has with the help of several others worked hard to have a good plan in place for this year’s event, and we surely hope to have a great participation rate. We encourage everyone to come out, even if just for a few minutes to see the setup and maybe make a few calls on the air. We are also looking at options on how we can potentially stream part of Winter Field Day as well. Not only that, but our brand new trailer will be at the meeting on Monday and at WFD too! Come check it out and help us decide how best to outfit and configure it. Event Calendar ...

October GARA Meeting: Building a Hotspot

With the proliferation of cheaper digital handheld radios, it has become much more affordable for hams to connect through the internet to others around the world. However, the repeaters that used to be required to do this haven't gotten cheaper. With the advent of "digital hotspots," amateurs are now able to talk with other hams worldwide without needing to rely on a repeater at all. In this month's GARA presentation by Scott Toth, ND4L, you'll learn what to buy and how to build an inexpensive hotspot that will put all of your digital radios to use even when you're not near a repeater. Download Presentation

September GARA Meeting: Solar Generators

Quite a few of us have had the pleasure of building a battery at the workshops the past couple of years at Field Day, but now Carl Fenske has a new solar power generator project he has been working on and is ready to share with us how to build it. He is planning on having items with him to show as well, so this may be a meeting you want to venture out and attend live!See you there, and 73,Steve Brannan, K4STBVice President Download the Presentation Here

August GARA Meeting: Amateur Satellites

Now, this months presentation is going to be out of this world… no, seriously! Have you ever been curious about satellite radio communication? What does that even mean? Matt Trull, KX4GG, will be sharing information on satellite radio communication, which is sure to be a very interesting topic. See you all on Monday! Steve BrannanK4STB Calendar Entry Google Meet Link

July GARA Meeting: Fox Hunting!

The GARA Fox season is officially opening from August through October. Stay tuned for more details, but we will be doing rings a little differently this year. We will have multiple opportunities to hunt the fox, and we will be keeping score throughout the season. There will be prizes as well. I will give a presentation and share more details at the club meeting this month, and we will post rules and details on the GARA website. It’s time to get your gear ready… See you all at the club meeting!Steve Brannan K4STB Calendar Entry (Meeting Info) Google Meet

April GARA Meeting: Parks on the Air

What is better than spending some good time in the ham shack spinning the dial and sending out waves? Maybe sitting at a beautiful state or national park spinning the dial and sending out waves! For anyone that doesn’t know, this is called Parks On The Air, or POTA. This month we will be talking about POTA, including some history, practical application, personal experiences, website etc. POTA is a growing area of interest, see what it is all about. Calendar Entry (Meeting Info) Google Meet

March GARA Meeting: Wire Antennas

In March, we will be hearing from Keith, KA4JAH, as he shares a presentation on wire antennas. This will be a fascinating topic, so please join in, either live or on Zoom. Thank you Keith for your willingness to share with us. 73, Steve Brannan - K4STB Google Meet

HF Operating Event

Open to all hams! GARA will be hosting an HF operating event from 8:30am until 4:30pm on Saturday, March 19 at the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park in Greensboro.  This event will be somewhat informal in that you're encouraged to bring your own portable HF gear to setup and work alongside everyone else!  We will be located near the General Greene monument off of Old Battleground Avenue near the front of the park (Tour Stop #8 near the parking lot).      Since this will be set in a park, we will all operate "POTA-style" with portable radios, antennas and power, but we will all use a common callsign.  If you already activate ...

February GARA Meeting: All About CW

First of all, I'd like to give a big shout out to David McLin for his work on Winter Field Day preparations and sharing the information with us last month. I believe this was a big reason why we had such a great success this year with Winter Field Day, and I for one am already looking forward to future events coming up this year. This month I will be presenting on CW from the perspective of a newer ham, but also from the perspective of why CW is still relevant and how and why we should all be striving to learn it and utilize it's potential. I will be discussing the Who, What, When, Why, Where and How of CW, and also sharing some tips and tricks ...

October GARA Meeting: Our Repeaters!

Ham radio repeaters are pretty simple systems, but if you don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes, they can be a little bit of a mystery.  This month we’ll be taking a look at GARA’s repeaters and explaining all of the different parts, their architecture and connections, and showing how it all works together to allow hams all over the Triad to communicate.  We will also show you the things that have been done recently to improve our repeater setups and give a brief overview of how digital modes work on our UHF machine.  We hope to see you there!