Program & Events

* Draft Schedule as of May 1, 2008; subject to change

GUEST Speakers

We are happy to host and offer the following

GUEST SPEAKERS for the

ARRL PRESIDENT: Joel Harrison, W5ZN

Joel Harrison,W5ZN, is President of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL).  First licensed as WN5IGF in 1972, Harrison went on to get his General, Advanced and Amateur Extra tickets WB5IGF. Harrison started his volunteerism with the League in 1981 after becoming a Section Emergency Coordinator in Arkansas. He then became a Section Manager, Delta Division Director, Vice President, and First Vice President in 2000. Harrison currently sits on the League's Executive Committee. He previously served as chair of the Enforcement Task Force and of the Administration and Finance Committee.

His education includes Industrial Electronics at Arkansas State University, Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, and then studied Nuclear Science at the Electric Power Research Institute in California. Harrison is Director, NDE Engineering for Washington Group International, and lives in Judsonia, Arkansas, with his wife Kim, KB5YIQ, son Marc, WB5IGF, and daughter Melissa, KC5BYT.

ARRL NW Division Director

Jim Fenstermaker, K9JF

American Radio Relay League structure divides the United States into 15 ARRL Divisions. Every three years the ARRL full members in each of these Divisions elect a Director and a Vice Director to represent them on the League's Board of Directors. The Board determines thepolicies of the League, which are carried out by the Headquarters staff. A Director's function is principally policymaking at the highest level. Each division's Director and Vice Director represent their Division on ARRL policy matters.  Jim was appointed in 2005 and re-elected in 2007 as the NW Division Director.   Jim is an active DX contester and amateur radio enthusiast. 

Stewart Carter, Chief Director

US Military Affiliate Radio System

Stuart (“Stu”) S. Carter is a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel with 30 years’ uniformed service in communications and information technology. His duty assignments included Executive Leadership at the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) headquarters, Offutt AFB NE, and technological upgrade programs at Air Force installations in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Greece, Italy and Turkey.

He joined the US Army’s Network Enterprise Technology Command/9th Signal Command (Army) (NETCOM/9th SC(A) in July 2006 as a civilian operations executive.  He took on leadership of the Army Military Affiliate Radio System as  a concurrent assignment in December 2006 at a critical juncture.  Now Army MARS, with some 2,700 members, is gearing up for an expanded role in the nation’s homeland security posture.

The Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS) is a United States Department of Defense sponsored program consisting of Amateur Radio operators who provide military communications support in time of need.

Gordon West, WB6NOA

Gordon West Radio School

Known as ‘Mr. Ham Radio’, and considered one of the leading radio licensing teachers in the United States. Gordo is very active with emergency communications for RACES and American Red Cross in Southern California. Gordo is a wonderful speaker and his talk is sure to entertain. He has been a ham for more than 40 years and holds the top Extra Class license. He also holds the highest FCC commercial radiotelephone operator license, the First Class General Radiotelephone Certificate with Radar Endorsement.

Pete Trotter, KB8SMG

W5YI Group

Pete Trotter, KB9SMG, is the editor and publisher of the Gordon West, WB6NOA, amateur and commercial radio study manuals, audio courses, and hamstudy software.  He is Vice President of both Master Publishing and of The W5YI Group, the organization that distributes Gordo's book and audio courses.  A licensed ham radio operator, Pete has been working with Gordo on his books and related study materials for more than ten years.  Master Publishing is based in Niles, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.

 

Drew Glasbrenner, KO4MA

AMSAT, Vice President of Operations

A member of the Board of Directors, which governs the strategic components of AMSAT, Drew is responsible for managing the operations of the three spacecraft owned by AMSAT, AO-7, AO-16, and AO-51. He is a command station for AO-51, as well as heads up the Operations Committee that schedules the modes used on that satellite.

Andrew first obtained his amateur radio license in 1987 and has been active on satellite communications since 1993. In addition to satellites, he enjoys terrestrial VHF/UHF and the occasional HF DX pile-up having operated as VP2EAG, KG4MA, FS/KO4MA and OZ/KO4MA. He is a life member of AMSAT, and a long time member of the ARRL.

Clint Hurd, KK7UQ

Basic and Advanced Techniques in Digital Communication

Clint, KK7UQ, was first licensed in 1953 as WN7WJK. He advanced to General Class four months later as W7WJK.  During his professional career, Clint was involved in telemetry, computer design, and telecommunications.
He has been involved in all aspects of digital radio, publishing designs,manuals and articles about interfacing and operating techniques. He has done presentations on these subjects to ham clubs in WA, OR and at national events such as the DAYTON Hamvention.

He is the designer of the KK7UQ Model II interface kit, the IMD Meter and the USB based Navigator Interface. He will be doing two presentations, one on basic digital theory operations and a second presentation about advanced digital operating techniques.

Lyle Johnson, KK7P

Elecraft/AMSAT/HPSDR/TAPR

Lyle Johnson, KK7P, has been licensed since age 13. He is co-founder of Tucson Amateur Packet Radio (TAPR). He received the first ever Technical Excellence Award from the Dayton Hamvention in 1984 in recognition of his work in packet radio.

Starting with UoSAT-OSCAR 11 in 1983, Lyle has designed numerous flight computers and systems for nearly 20 AMSAT spacecraft, including the flight computer and command and telemetry modems in AO-51.

In 2003 he designed a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) module for the Elecraft K2 which directly led to his becoming a key member of the K3 development team at Elecraft.

Always passionate about giving back to the communities in which he participates, Lyle is currently donating engineering time to the High Performance Software Defined Radio (HPSDR) project as well as working with the Pacific Northwest QRP group.

Chuginadak Island DX-pedition IOTA NA-234

Islands of Four Mountains Group

KL7DX TEAM

Sergey Morozov, RA3NAN

Vasilenko Victor, RU4SU

Yuri Zaruba UA9OBA

The Russian Robinson Club is interested in radio communication from polar stations, islands and maritime mobile objects around the world.  The club was founded in 1993 and encourages operations by amateur radio operators operating on islands, drift-ice research, arctic and marine stations, and DX-peditions. This team will be coming directly off of their DX-pedition from the Cleveland Island Volcano.  They will provide debrief of their efforts, challenges and successful accomplishments from this Island on the Air DX-pedition scheduled to operate July 21st through July 27th, 2008. 

The radio club has popularized the Island on the Air (IOTA) program in the territories of Russia and other countries.  They provide publicity for amateur radio activity on islands in Russian seas and all over the world.

Through their DX-peditions to Russia-governed islands and the islands around the world, the have provided inspiration and promotion of amateur radio programs including the DXCC, IOTA and Russian Amateur Radio Operators.  Their team has prepared information and news about insular, arctic and maritime activities in radio amateur publications around the world.

For more information about the NA234 Cleveland Volcano DX-pedition running KL7DX, go to:  http://www.na-234.com/index.html

Jeff (Shorty) Stouffer, K6JSI

WIN System

K6JSI, Shorty, has been a licensed radio amateur for 55 years, and holds an Extra Class amateur radio license.  He was first licensed in 1953 as a Novice Class amateur (at age 12), as KN6JSI, and upgraded to General Class in the summer of 1954 (within the one year limitation), and got rid of the “N” in his Call Sign.

Shorty owns and operates the WIN System, the Western Intertie Network, a linked repeater system a series of linked, or Intertied, UHF (440 MHz, or 70 cm), currently with 63 linked repeaters in the System,covering 16 States and 4 Countries around the world, all linked together full-time.  The WIN System is an open repeater system, and also has several remote bases available for members.  The WIN System is also very involved with the IRLP (Internet RadioLinking Project) with over 2,100 Nodes worldwide, enabling the WIN System to talk with other amateurs on every continent in the world and WINSYSTEM Affiliates.

Scott Honaker, N7SS

D-STAR

Scott N7SS is a founding member of the Microhams (Microsoft Amateur Radio Club) and the current president.  He has been organizing the ham radio classes for the Microhams for several years.  Scott is also the Snohomish County (Washington) RACES radio officer and has a keen interest in digital communications.

Neil Heft, KC2KY

Ham Radio University

Neil received his first ham callsign (WN2UDP) when he was a 12 year old lad living in Stony Brook, NY. Neil spent many a lunch hour in the club shack working DX on 15 meter CW. By 1973, Neil was just about able to copy 13 words per minute and upgrade to Advanced, about a month after his Novice license expired.

Neil finished college receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering.  By then his Advanced call, WA2UDP, had been expired for a year and a half. When Neil renewed his license in 1981, he was issued his present call sign, KC2KY. In 1987 Neil upgraded to Extra Class.

Neil works as an Electrical Engineer on Long Island and is an active member of Radio Central Amateur Radio Club. Over the years, he has held various offices at RCARC including Recording Secretary, Vice President and club President in 1993 and 1994. Today Neil is President of Radio Central and is editor of Radio Central's club newsletter, Random Oscillations. He is also a contributor to Ham Radio University.

Steve Hatch, WA7DAD

Steve Hatch – WA7DAD, is the D-Star committee chair and board member of the Federal Way Amateur Radio Club. He led the club's implementation of the first D-Star connected gateway system in the Northwest United States. Steve is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and specializes in encryption and remote access for the Boeing Companies IT Security Group.

 

Chip Margelli, W7JA, HEIL Sound

Chip Margelli, K7JA, has been licensed since 1963, and an Extra Class licensee since 1968. Chip and his wife Janet, KL7MF live in Garden Grove, California. Chip is the Vice President for Amateur Sales and Marketing Manager at Heil Sound, Ltd., and is a Life Member of  ARRL, AMSAT, and Quarter Century Wireless Association.  In the Fall of 1991, Chip was a member of the Instructor/Operator team in the IARU Albania Project, led by Martti Laine, OH2BH, which brought about the rebirth ofAmateur Radio in Albania after many decades of radio silence. Chip is currently active on all Amateur bands from 1.8 through 1300 MHz, including HF DX and contesting, VHF weak-signal terrestrial and moonbounce work, and satellite operation. Articles by Chip have been published in QST, CQ, and CQ VHF magazines.

Wilse Morgan, WX7P

Wilse, WX7P, was first licensed in 1952 at the age of 20, sporting his Novice ticket call of WN6PVF. He entered the Navy and served during the Korean War. When discharged in September of 1954, he made use of the GI Bill and completed a five year course in math and electronics at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo receiving a BS degree 1959.

After two years of special training at the FAA academy in Oklahoma City in communications, air navigational aids, and radar, he transferred to the FAA office in Seattle where he found himself still doing field work and inspections of FAA facilities.

Once in Alaska, he worked for Federal Electric on the White Alice Communications System that linked the radar networks that watched Russia during the Cold War.

Best known for his work in Alaska as KL7CQ, with two 90 foot towers and two 60 foot towers with Telrex beams in the Rabbitt Creek region near Anchorage. He was quickly working the very first satellites as well as doing lots of DX contesting. As a member of the Anchorage Amateur Radio Club, he served in different positions for 18 years and also became the number 1 life member of the AARC.  KL7CQ left Alaska on October 4, 1989 but not before installing a large beam antenna with a hot air balloon and subsequently the same project with a helicopter. Both of these projects ended up being featured on the cover of CQ Magazine.

During his 20 year tenure in Alaska, he taught courses in ham radio at multiple universities graduating over 800 licensed hams. He was involved with the very first VEC exam in the nation and was the first VE and the only one ever certified by the local FCC office in Anchorage. All other VEs subsequently were certified by volunteer examiner boards. Roger Hansen KL7HFQ was the Chairman of the VEC committee. Roger, Wilse, and YL KL7KL, Margaret Ogren, administered the first exam ever given in the US on April 17, 1984.

More updates soon to come!