www-w6yx.stanford.eduStanford Amateur Radio Club - W6YX

News Licensing Info Projects Facilities Old Website Contact Us Search Calendar Join our mailing list! Instagram Youtube Welcome to Stanford Amateur Radio Club, W6YX Details Published: 30 January 2018 Info for new members ! Our club station (site 530) is in the Stanford Foothills, accessible by the dish trail. Click the image above to view a map. Welcome to the Stanford Amateur Radio Club, W6YX! Info for new members ! Weekly workshops with Pete: Saturdays at 1pm in Packard 302 (check the Slack channel for more details) Next Monthly Meeting: Time: Topic: Meeting link: To navigate this site, please click on thelinks to your right. Radio Contacts from W6YX Hiking Trip Details Published: 05 May 2024 W6YX Hiking Trip to Black Mountain April 28th, 2024 We had a great time on our hiking trip to the summit of Black Mountain on Sunday, April 28th, 2024. We brought a QDX radio , an End-Fed three-band antenna built by KO6ECC, and a laptop computer running WSJT-X and GridTracker . The portable End-Fed antenna was supported on one end by a rope tossed over a tree branch. The other end was connected to the QDX radio resting on the ground. The 10m band was working well that day. We called CQ on 10m FT8 using KO6ECC’s and KI6Q’s call signs. PSKreporter showed our signals were received as far away as Australia. The maps below show all the stations that reported hearing us. Several stations replied to our CQ, and we also tried replying to CQ’s from other stations. We were able to make contacts with the six stations listed below. Call Location Sent Rcvd Station Mode Band Time KF9UG EN71 8 -6 KO6ECC/P FT8 10m Sun 28 Apr 2024 19:45:15 UTC K4NAL EM60 6 -21 KO6ECC/P FT8 10m Sun 28 Apr 2024 20:05:45 UTC KB4WT EM95 -6 -12 KO6ECC/P FT8 10m Sun 28 Apr 2024 20:12:00 UTC K0ZS EM48 8 9 KO6ECC/P FT8 10m Sun 28 Apr 2024 20:27:45 UTC CO2LKY EL83 8 -8 KO6ECC/P FT8 10m Sun 28 Apr 2024 20:38:15 UTC KJ5EJV EM00 -3 -20 KI6Q/P FT8 10m Sun 28 Apr 2024 20:43:00 UTC KF9UG EN71 8 -8 KI6Q/P FT8 10m Sun 28 Apr 2024 20:51:30 UTC KF9UG EN71 15 -9 KG4UHM/P FT8 10m Sun 28 Apr 2024 21:05:15 UTC The map below shows the locations of our six contacts, highlighted in yellow. Our location was grid square CM87, highlighted in orange. Below is a screenshot from the laptop showing our contact with CO2LKY in Cuba. The program on the right is WSJT-X . The yellow highlited lines are the signals that we transmitted. The red highlighted lines are the replies to us from other stations. Overall it was a fun day and great opportunity to learn about HF propagation, test our radio skills, and experiment with homemade radios and antennas. Learn about EFHW Antennas Details Published: 02 April 2024 Build Your Own Portable Antenna for the QDX Radio Where: Lab64, Room 134, Packard Building When: Saturdays, 1pm-3pm during Maker Jam starting April 13th, 2024 Join the Stanford Amateur Radio Club for a weekly activity starting April 13th, 2024, from 1pm-3pm during Maker Jam in Lab64, Packard Building, Room 134 . Learn about End-Fed Half-Wave (EFHW) antennas and learn how to simulate and build a portable EFHW antenna for your QDX radio kit . Make your QDX radio into a fully portable Ham Radio station that you can take with you anywhere. I’ve used my portable EFHW antenna to make contacts several thousand miles away with my QDX radio while on hiking trips (see pictures below). If you’ve already built a QDX kit, this antenna makes a great addition. If you haven’t built a QDX kit, you are still welcome to join us and learn more about antennas. The activity will last three Saturdays in April, and may continue into May if people need more time to finish building their antennas. I hope to see you all there! If you are interested in participating, please e-mail me at: Build Your Own Radio Details Published: 07 December 2022 Join us for weekly kit-building workshops, Saturdays, 1pm, starting January 14th Save money by joining the bulk-order for kits (will place order in mid-December) E-mail me if you want to join the bulk order: QDX parts, case, and pdf manual Completed QDX circuit board Completed QDX kit in aluminum case Quick summary: We’ll hold weekly workshops (Saturdays, 1pm) to build radio kits, starting January 14th Beginners are welcome. We’ll have experienced mentors to guide you. Each kit costs $69 for the board+parts, and $20 for the case. We’ll place a bulk order for the kits in mid-December. We get a 10% discount if we order 10 or more. E-mail me (preferably by Dec. 11th) if you are interested in joining the bulk order. You’ll keep your kit at the end of the workshop. The Stanford Amateur Radio Club will be holding a weekly kit-building workshop starting in the Winter Quarter in January. We’ll be working together to build our own personal QDX radio kits from QRP Labs . The QDX is a small radio, the size of a deck of cards, which can be used to communicate over thousands of miles by bouncing radio signals off of the ionosphere. The screenshot below shows all the stations that heard me transmitting using a battery-powered QDX kit and a loop antenna in my living room in Palo Alto. Stations that heard me are the ones with time-stamps. My station was heard as far as Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the Azores Islands. The QDX requires a computer (or any computing device, like a Raspberry Pi) to encode and decode the digital signals sent over the air. There are many free Amateur Radio software options that are popular. The screenshot below shows an example of the JS8Call software . This software offers functionality similar to e-mail and text messaging, but it runs entirely over the air, with no need for cell or ISP infrastructure. The screenshot below shows a chat between myself (KG4UHM) in California and another station (KL7DT) located in Alaska. To use the QDX radio on your own, you’ll need an Amateur Radio license. For those who are not yet licensed, we’ll help you study and pass your license test. We’ll be holding weekly 1-hour license classes starting in January. I’ll be placing the bulk order for kits in mid-December. If you are interested in joining the bulk order, let me know. (If possible, please contact me by December 11th, so that I can have an accurate count.) E-mail me at: Page 1 of 6 1 2 3 4 5...