Our July, 2024 meeting will take place live and in-person at Preston Ridge Community Center on Tuesday, July 16th, 2024. The facility's doors will open at 7:00PM. Our meeting will begin at 7:30PM and should conclude by 9:00PM.
The July meeting will be broadcast on Zoom using this invitation link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/8625
- Meeting ID: 862 5582 7457
- Passcode: 584698
- Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kdQc
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Meeting location is: Preston Ridge Community Center, 3655 Preston Ridge Road Suite 100, Alpharetta, GA 30005.
Directions to the Meeting Location
As you come into the parking lot, turn to the left and follow the signs to lead you around the edge of the lot to the far side. There’s plenty of parking and the Community Center is at the left end of the building. Go in the front.
Meetings are usually held on the third Tuesday of each month.
Click here to visit our Activities calendar for upcoming meeting dates.
Guests are always welcome. If you are interested in learning more about our club and our hobby, our meetings (and the preceeding dinner) provide great opportunities to chat with our members.
Program Suggestions?
Contact Club Activites Chairman Lee Johnson, N4WYE lehmanjohnson@gmail.com if you have suggestions for an interesting program or speaker.
Meetings
| 2024 | ||
| Month | Presenter | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| January | Daryl Young, K4RGK | Amateur Radio in Space |
| February | Steve Randall, KO4VW | This meeting will be a workshop meeting on Building Common Mode Chokes. For the choke build, we will try to build around 10 units. Three have already been spoken for. Get in touch with Steve at KO4HVW@gmail.com to reserve one. Cost per unit is being finalized but expected to be about $35. No Zoom broadcast will take place. |
| March | John Tramontanis N4TOL
Steve Randall KO4VW |
Georgia QSO Party
Logging Software basics: K3FJP, N1MM |
| April | Tom Crowley, KT4XN | Radio Astronomy |
| May | Mike Riley, KN4OAK | Field Day Plan Review |
| June | No Meeting- Field Day | Field Day replaces meeting |
| July | Lee Johnson, N4WYE | NanoVNA Workshop |
| August | ||
| September | ||
| October | ||
| November | HamJam | |
| December | Holiday Party | |
| 2023 | ||
| Month | Presenter | Topic |
| January | Leadership Team | The club meeting will be a workshop style meeting. It will not be broadcast on Zoom. Winding toroids will be the main topic, and we will be building EFHW transformers as an example. Those not interested in toroid winding or antenna transformers, can assemble parts kits for the CPO kits we sell on our website. |
| February | Erik Bagby, N4NXD, Radio Support Technician Senior, Fulton County Emergency Communications |
Fulton County’s 800MHz and MotoTRBO 450MHz trunked radio systems. |
| March | John Tramontanis, N4TOL | Georgia QSO Party Preparation |
| April | Wes Lamboley, W3WL Neil Foster, N4FN Nathan Wood, K4NHW |
Wes & Neil: DX 101 Nathan: DX'ing. Operating from the other side of the pileup. |
| May | John Tramontanis, N4TOL Steve Mays, KS4KJ Steve Randall, KO4VW Ted Macklin, K4MPM |
GQP Party Results & Awards Operating 2023 Field Day from the SSB Station 2023 Field Day Signups & Operating from the CW Station Operating 2023 Field Day from Home with Digital (WSJT-X) |
| June | The NFARL Field Day Team | Field Day |
| July | Neil Foster, N4FN | The Art of QSLing |
| August | Richard Dervan, N1RBD | Intro to SOTA & POTA - Activating and Chasing |
| September | Mini Hamfest. NFARL will have our second annual Mini Hamfest at our normal meeting location on September 19th. More details will be coming soon. Free tables are open only to NFARL Club members, but the event is open to all. If you are not a club member and wish to have a table to sell items then the price is joining NFARL for one year. This is of course for Ham Radio items. Last year was a huge success. | |
| October | Lee Johnson, N4WYE | Antenna Modeling Elections. Although the meeting will be broadcast on Zoom, you must be present at the meeting to make nominations and vote. |
| November | HamJam | |
| December | Holiday Party | |
| 2022 | ||
| Month | Presenter | Topic |
| January | Friends of Jim Stafford | Celebration of Life for Jim Stafford, W4QO |
| February | Warren Merkel, KD4Z | Warren will provide us with information on how he uses KiCad EDA, a software package for capturing circuit schematics and undertaking printed circuit board design. Click here to download a PDF file containing Warren's meeting presentation slides. |
| March | Ian Kahn, NV4C | Using N1MM Logger+ during a contest. Click here to download a PDF file containing Ian's presentation slides. |
| April | Warren Merkel, KD4Z | Node-RED. Click here to download a PDF file containing Warren's meeting presentation slides. |
| May | Ted Macklin, K4MPM | Ted, K4MPM will give us a short overview of FT8 and share some first hand knowledge on operating with it. Also, Mike, KN4OAK needs assistance with packing the NFARL CPO Kits. We've set a target of 50 CPO Kits packed for the evening. Five people can pack 20 kits in one hour, so help us out! |
| June | Steve Randall, KO4VW | The June meeting will be an ice cream social plus a preview of Field Day. The meeting will be broadcast on Zoom, but Zoom participants will have to bring their own ice cream! |
| July | Grant Register, KK4PCR | Grant is the North Fulton ARES Emergency Coordinator and will tell us about NFARES activities (such as the support provided for the recent Sandy Springs Lantern Parade) and how you can get involved in this valuable civic resource. |
| August | The meeting topic will be "Antenna Building" as described in Martha W4MSA's notes about the meeting. Click here to view a PDF file containing her notes. | |
| September | Mini HamFest. Click here to see more info about the event. | |
| October | The agenda will include election of 2023 club officers. The meeting will be broadcast via Zoom however you must be present at the meeting to make nominations and vote. | |
| November | Our November meeting was replaced by HamJam on November 12th. | |
| December | Our December meeting was our NFARL Holiday Dinner Party on Saturday, December 17th at 6 PM at Preston Ridge Community Center. | |
| 2021 | ||
| Month | Presenter | Topic |
| January via Zoom | Jim Kauffman, W4IU | Space Weather and Ionospheric Propagation |
| February via Zoom | Philip Miller Tate, M1GWZ | tinySA®, a "tiny" spectrum analyzer that may be of interest to ham operators. |
| March via Zoom | John Tramontanis, N4TOL Mike Roden, W5JR |
Georgia QSO Party |
| April via Zoom | Jack McElroy, KM4ZIA | Midnight Rider Balloon KM4ZIA-3 |
| May | Hal Kennedy, N4GG | His new book, "Ham Radio Tips & Tales" |
| June | Field Day Team | Field Day |
| July | Neil Foster, N4FN Mike Roden, W5JR |
Club Log CW and Computer Logging |
| August | Chuck Catledge, AE4CW | "100 Watts and a Wire” Contest and Wires That Go With It |
| September | Mike Roden, K5JR Mike Riley, KN4OAK Fred Ackley, W4FRA |
Repeaters The Contest |
| October |
Club Elections & Kit Development Workshop |
|
| November | No meeting due to HamJam | |
| December | NFARL Holiday Party on December 10th at 7 PM | |
| 2020 | ||
| Month | Presenter | Topic |
| January | Lee Johnson, N4WYE | NanoVNA Introduction. Click here to view the meeting video on NFARL's YouTube Channel. Click here to download a PDF file containing Lee's presentation slides. The PDF file is large - 12MB - but is a worthwhile companion to the video as Lee's links in the file are easier to read and are live. Photos from the meeting are available in our Photo Gallery. Click here to view them. |
| February | Tim Duffy, K3LR | Tower Safety. Tim has been a guest on Ham Nation many times and was elected to the CQ Contest Hall of Fame in 2006. |
| March via Zoom | Greg Abernathy, AI4UD | Grounding and Bonding |
| April via Zoom | Chuck Catledge, AE4CW Mike Roden, W5JR |
Managing Multi-Station Interference |
| Doug McAlexander, N4HNH | SOTA Activity | |
| May via Zoom | Bob Heil, K9EID | Importance of Speech Articulation |
| June via Zoom | Mike Riley, KN4OAK | Field Day. Click here to download Mike's PDF from the meeting containing copious FD materials. |
| July via Zoom | Dr. Gordon Gibby, KX4Z | Open Source Ventilator Project. Ham ingenuity, Arduino, and the development of the ventilator Dr. Gibby and others put together from commonly available parts. |
| August via Zoom | Marty Sullaway, NN1C | Marty discussed his experiences and rationale for supporting youth involvement in Amateur Radio. |
| September via Zoom | Grant Register, KK4PCR | Red Cross Nationwide Radio Drill |
| October via Zoom | Joe Eisenberg, K0NEB | Joe told us about kit building and its impact on youth development inside the ham realm. |
| November via Zoom | Bob Bruninga, WB4APR | Bob presented a program on Alternative Energy Choices. |
| December | NFARL Holiday Party | |
| 2019 | ||
| Month | Presenter | Topic |
| January | Jim Stafford, W4QO | CW and CWSIG |
| Bill Cobb, K4YJJ | NFARL Web Sites. Click here to download program slides. | |
| Mike Roden, W5JR | NFARL Repeaters | |
| February | Jordan Sherer, KN4CRD | JS8Call |
| March | Mike Roden, W5JR et al |
Georgia QSO Party |
| April | Jim Sorenson, KA4IIA | T-Hunting / Fox Hunting |
| May | Mike Greenway, K4PI | 6 Meter DX |
| June | GQP NFARL Awards, Field Day & IEEE Event | |
| July | David Cripe, NMØS | Reinartz and the Radio Boy - The Hidden History of the MacMillan Expedition |
| August | Audrey McElroy, KM4BUN Jack McElroy, KM4ZIA |
The Other End of the Pile-up: Our Story in Curacao |
| Dr. John Kludt, K4SQC | Some Thoughts on Amateur Satellites | |
| September | Neil Foster, N4FN | The Art of QSLing (or how I learned the hard way) |
| October | Eddie Thompson, AE4TQ | Homebrew Mini Satellite Antenna Controller For Under $150 |
| November | HamJam | |
| December | NFARL Holiday Party | |
| 2018 | ||
| Month | Presenter | Topic |
| January | Catherine Andrews AC4YL Lori Young K4UPI Melanie Glemser AG4YL |
Women (YLs) in Amateur Radio - Who We Are, What We Do, and Where We're Going |
| February | Mike Cohen AD4MC Grant Register KK4PCR |
North Fulton ARES |
| March | Chuck Catledge AE4CW Tim Lemmon WK4U Mike Roden W5JR |
The Georgia QSO Party - How to at Home and on the Road (rover) |
| April | John Kludt K4SQC Martha Muir W4MSA Jim Stafford W4QONathan Wood K4NHW |
ARISS Contact at Mill Springs Academy
13 Colonies Special Event |
| May | Scott Straw KB4KBS | Field Day by the Numbers |
| June | Hal Kennedy N4GG | Wire Antenna Basics |
| July | Wey Walker K8EAB | Boots on the Ground in Puerto Rico.
Wey shared his experience as part of the ARRL disaster relief team deployed to Puerto Rico following the recent hurricanes. |
| August | Bob Hensey K4VBM | Operating Digital Modes - Lessons Learned [Chasing Grid Squares and DX] |
| September | Charles Osborne K4CSO | Radio Astronomy for Amateur Radio |
| October | Bob Allphin K4UEE | Bouvet Island |
| November | HamJam | |
| December | NFARL Holiday Party | |
| 2017 | ||
| Month | Presenter | Topic |
| January | John Kludt K4SQC | dB, Coax Loss and EME |
| February | Scott Straw KB4KBS | JT65 on the HF Bands |
| March | Bill Morton W4ASE | How Can I Be In Two Places At Once - Changing the Laws of Physics |
| April | Chuck Catledge AE4CW
Tim Lemmon WK4U |
DXCC & WAS in 9 Days - and the Antennas that Made it Happen
Chuck & Tim's Adventure to PJ2T |
| May | Alan Adamson W7QO | Balloons Carrying Ham Radio - Around the World in 250 days |
| June | John Kludt K4SQC | Field Day |
| July | Jim Sorenson KA4IIA | Fox Hunting |
| August | Jeff Stuparits W4DD | A New Way to Find Power Line and Other RF Noise |
| September | Mike Cohen, AD4MC
Jim Stafford, W4QO |
Setting Up & Using the New & Improved FT8 Digital Mode
Antennas, Ideas & Tips |
| October | Mack McCormick, W4AX | Chasing DX and Contesting on Two Bands Simultaneously With A Single Transceiver |
| November | HamJam | |
| December | NFARL Holiday Party | |
| 2016 | ||
| Month | Presenter | Topic |
| January | Tim Romashko K4RA | Emergency Preparedness |
| February | Mike Cohen AD4MC | Solar Power Systems |
| March | Chuck Catledge AE4CW | Antennas: Hints and Kinks
Click here to download a PDF file containing Chuck's program slides. |
| April | Scott Straw KB4KBS Tim Lemmon WK4U |
DXpeditions |
| May | Tim Romashko K4RA | D-Star |
| June | John Kludt K4SQC | Field Day 2016 |
| July | ||
| August | Pavel Anni AC4PA Terry Joyner W4YBV Jim Paine N4SEC |
Pavel spoke on CW
Terry & Jim spoke on National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) |
| September | Neil Foster N4FN Bill Morton W4ASE |
HRD |
| October | Barry Kanne W4TGA | Stone Mountain Holiday Present |
| November | HamJam 2016 | |
| December | NFARL Holiday Party | |
| 2015 | ||
| Month | Presenter | Topic |
| January | Jim Stafford W4QO | CW |
| February | Jim Paine N4SEC, Terry Joyner W4YBV, Wes Lamboley W4WL |
IOTA expedition to Turkey Island, FL in November, 2014 |
| March | Rick Downs of Georgia Power | Electrical and Power Line Safety |
| April | Jeff, N1KDO Tim, WK4U |
Linux in the Shack |
| May | Gregg Marco W6IZT | K1N -- Navassa Island: How'd They Do That? |
| June | Everyone
John K4SQC |
Show Your Assets -- club show and tell session
Field Day Launch Pad |
| July | Bob Mantell, K4GA | Fun on Old TV Channel One. Bob's program was an overview of the Six meter band. Click here to download a PDF file containing his program slides. |
| August | Gary Pearcey, WB4RLW | Cox Broadcasting Television Station WSB-DT |
| September | John Davis, WB4QDX | D-Star and Fusion 101: An Overview and Introduction to Digital Modes on VHF/UHF |
| October | Aaron Melton, KK4LOV Warren Merkel KD4Z |
Unique Uses for Computers in Ham Radio
Click here to view a PDF file containing Aaron's slides. |
| November | HamJam 2015 | |
| December | NFARL Holiday Party | |
| 2014 | ||
| Month | Presenter | Topic |
| January | Wes Lamboley W3WL Jim Paine N4SEC Terry Joyner W4YBV |
Quarter Century Wireless Association Cruise |
| February | Clark Macauley W4UB | Life is Too Short for QRO |
| March | Gary Bush W6GB | Renovation of Old Equipment. Click here to download a PDF file containing Gary's presentation slides. |
| April | Steve Henke W9SH | Open Source Software for IP Communications |
| May | Wes Lamboley W3WL Jim Smith W4JDS Jim Stafford W4QO Chuck Catledge AE4CW |
Wire Antennas You Can Build. This will be a quadruple play presentation covering:
|
| June | John Kludt K4SQC | Field Day |
| July | Mike Roden W5JR | Fox Hunting. Click here to download a PDF file containing Mike's presentation slides. |
| August | Neil Foster N4FN | The Art of QSLing and LOTW |
| September | Bob Allphin K4UEE | The FT5ZM Amsterdam Island DXpedition |
| October | John Tramontanis N4TOL Chuck Catledge AE4CW Neil Foster N4FN |
Setting Up Your First HF Station |
| November | HamJam 2014 | |
| December | NFARL Holiday Party | |
| 2013 | ||
| Month | Presenter | Topic |
| January | Don Nesbitt N4HH | DXing |
| February | Joe Camilli N7QPP Mike Roden W5JR |
EchoLink for Beginners |
| March | Kevin King KC6OVD Kevin Swanson N8WHG John Burningham W2XAB |
Digital Mobile Radio |
| April | Christian Kuhtz AK4VV | Summits on the Air |
| May | Neil Foster N4FN Ian Kahn KM4IK |
Tour of Ham Radio Deluxe (HRD) version 6.0 |
| June | Double Play | Scott Straw, KB4KBS provided a final update on Field Day.
Mary Hobart, K1MMH, Chief Development Officer for the ARRL, will be our special guest. |
| July | Triple Play | Jim Stafford, W4QO: Purpose and use of some common test equipment
Chuck Catledge, AE4CW: The ins and outs of baluns and chokes, including construction Roger Shaddick, N7BU: Home weather stations |
| August | Lt. Gary Robinson Alpharetta Department of Public Safety |
Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) |
| September | John Kludt K4SQC | NFARL Satellite Adventure |
| October | Hal Kennedy N4GG | How to use your existing antennas on 160 meters |
| November | NFARL & SEDXC | HamJam, November 9th |
| December | NFARL | NFARL Holiday Party, December 14th |
| 2012 | ||
| Month | Presenter | Topic |
| January | Paul Manno KG4UVU | Paul gave an insider's look at the DXpedition to T32C. |
| February | Chuck AE4CW Bill N4NX |
The How's and Whys of QSLing Click here to view a video of the business segment of the February meeting; click here to see part 1 of a video of Chuck and Bill's presentations; click here for part 2. |
| March | Jim W4QO Scott KB4KBS Chuck AE4CW |
Jim W4QO introduced the club's 2012 approach to the GA QSO party, Scott KB4KBS shared his vision for 2012 Field Day, and Chuck AE4CW discussed ideas for turning both of these events into learning opportunities for our new and not-so-new hams.
Click here to view a video of the business segment of the March meeting; click |
| April | John Gorkos AB0OO | John AB0OO, APRS coordinator for North Georgia, shared with us the latest advances in the deployment of APRS systems.Click here to view a video of the business segment of the April meeting; click here to see a video of John's presentation. |
| May | John Kludt K4SQC | ARISS contact at Parkside Elementary |
| June | Scott KB4KBS | Field Day |
| July | Scott Dunbar N4SBD | Scott Dunbar N4SBD took us through the start-up and launch of a balloon into Near Space over North Georgia with APRS tracking through most of the flight and a successful recovery of the balloon.Click here to view a video of the business segment of the July meeting; click here to see a video of Scott's presentation. |
| August | Edward Doyle KJ4NRN | Youth DX Adventure |
| September | Ed Tanton N4XY | Grid Dip Meters |
| October | Kyle Albritton W4KDA | Digital Modes |
| November | HamJam | |
| December | Holiday Party | |
| 2011 | ||
| Month | Presenter | Topic |
| January | Neil Foster N4FN | The January program looked at the Ham Radio Deluxe suite of computer programs designed to automate many of your station activities. As a follow-up to his Q&A session on TechNet, Neil Foster N4FN walked us through some of the functions and features of HRD. |
| February | Ian Kahn, AK4IK Mack McCormick, W4AX Mike Roden, W5JR Fred Moore, N4CLA |
Ian Kahn AK4IK gave a presentation on his recent trip to the TenTec factory.
The "Sweat Mountain Boys" -- Mack, W4AX, Mike, W5JR and Fred, N4CLA -- gave an update on and visual tour of our repeater site. |
| March | Wes Lamboley, W3WL George Nicholson, N4GRN |
South Orkney Islands DXPedition Report, January - February 2011 |
| April | Mike Roden, W5JR | Transmitter Hunting Meeting Slides |
| May | Bob Ross, WA2EXZ Ron Howe, KB4RQM |
Radio Control Model Airplanes |
| June | Ian Kahn, AK4IK et al | Field Day |
| July | Ken Evans, W4DU | QRP Q & A |
| August | Rich Arland K7SZ | Ten Things New Hams Should Know |
| September | Wes W3WL John N4TOL John K7SYS |
HF Phone Operation Basics |
| October | Kay Craigie, N3KN Tom Rauch, W8JI Eric Swartz, WA6HHQ |
HamJam |
| November | Rick Maxwell, W8KHK | Early Days of Space Program, an Insiders View |
| December | Holiday Party | |
Updated 11/16/2023 by K4YJJ