CSUCI AMATEUR RADIO INTEREST GROUP State of the Club Message May 2023

This is a report on the state of the California State University Channel Islands Special Interest Group. This report is meant to share updates with the club membership as we end the academic year and to establish (for the purpose of receiving a ‘club station’ license) that the group has membership and a management structure.

At present, we have the following active members:

Our email distribution list includes eleven other students, staff, and faculty. If you would like to be considered to be an active member, please email Miller or Buhl.

Fall Meetings

In the fall, we will have interest group meetings at noon on Thursdays starting on August 24th. We will meet in a classroom on the third floor of Del Norte 3550, down the hall from the radio room.

Each meeting will be focused on a single topic of interest to people in the club, determined in advance. There may be guest speakers.

We haven’t decided how often we will meet, but it won’t be every week.

Radio Room Update

Our radio room in Del Norte Hall is taking shape with one dual-band+HF radio (Yaesu 991a) and three dual band radios (Yaesu FTM-300DR). We have one function dual band antenna in use with three more ready to be placed once unirail and masts have been installed. We are working with Facilities to find a way to mount an HF antenna, too. The two desktop computers in the room have RT-systems programming software for our radios, and ITS has installed some other open source software for amateur radio, too,.

In the next few days, Miller will put a clipboard in the Radio Room and ask those who use it to record when they arrive and make a short note of what they use the room for during that visit. As a reminder, all club members with an amateur radio license can be given access to the radio room and its radios.

Summer Activity

Over the summer, several people will be working to add functionality (e.g., antennas) to the radio room, and we’ll be making plans for an exciting and radio-active fall semester. If you’re in the area and want to do some radio stuff, let us know by emailing Miller or one of the others who have access to the radio room. (These are Miller, Buhl, Kuo, Isaacs, Jaeger, or Furmanski.)

Miller is going to be a ‘band captain’ with the CVARC club for the 40m band during the 2023 Field Day on June 23-24. If you’re interested in helping him out (which will basically amount to hanging around, grilling, telling stories, and relaxing), let him know.

Ideas for Fall

Here are some ideas we’ve been kicking around for fall.

  • Remember that weather baloon that the US military shot out of the sky? Let’s make and fly a couple of those
  • Playing with LORA for remote sensors and whatever.
  • Using amateur radio frequencies with drone-based research and applications.
  • Getting involved in the activities like ‘Parks on the Air’, and ‘Summits on the Air’.
  • Designing and implementing stations at the Channel Islands Boating Center and the Santa Rosa Island Research Station (SRIRS)
  • Going to SRIRS to do some public outreach (to island visitors) with radios
  • Learning to use software-based radios
  • Getting a trailer, branding it with CI colors and stuff, and doing radio demos on campus, at local high schools, at regional community colleges, and at regional fairs (e.g., Wings Over Camarillo, the Camarillo Christmas parade)
  • Connecting campus to the regional Amateur Radio Emergency Data Network (AREDN)
  • Establishing some radio-to-internet gateways for services like APRS, AIS, etc.
  • Building out a repeater site for campus on top of ‘Water Tower Hill’
  • Offering at least two licensing exams on campus for students and the broader public
  • Hosting some micro-field days on campus for local clubs to come and flex their radios
  • Setting up our group radios on a quad and doing some on-campus outreach and promotion for radios
  • Using radios as a vehicle to get involved in public service in the region
  • Helping students get on the air a lot and often

If any of these ideas interest you, let someone know. And if you have other ideas that can be added to this list, let someone know. We want club activities to reflect the interests of students.

Closing

That’s it for now. Stay in touch over the summer. Stay tuned to the radio email list for announcement of further club developments as they happen. – Miller, 18 May 2023.