Welcome

arrlAn ARRL Affiliated Special Service Club

The Santa Fe Trail Amateur Radio Club is a general-purpose club with the goal of promoting and supporting the educational and operational aspects of ham radio through ham radio classes, on-the-air events, and hands-on activity. THE SATURDAY BREAKFAST MEETINGS ARE HELD  AT PERKINS IN GARDNER EACH SATURDAY. YOU ARE WELCOME TO JOIN US 6:30 AM TO ~8:30AMThe monthly business meeting is the 2nd Saturday of each month. This meeting is a hybrid meeting in which you can attend in person at Perkins in Gardner or you can attend via a Zoom connection. Additionally, the club holds a Tech Night presentation via Zoom the last Thursday evening of each month at 7:30 pm. Log in to the web site and select the "Links/Zoom Links" menu to find meeting links or contact a club officer.

 

Upcoming Events

18 Apr 2026;
09:00AM -
Tallgrass Prairie POTA
23 Apr 2026;
07:30PM - 08:30PM
Tech Night - TBD
25 Apr 2026;
08:00AM - 02:00PM
HAMBASH 2026 - Kansas City Regional Hambash
09 May 2026;
08:00AM -
SFTARC business meeting
09 May 2026;
08:00AM - 05:00PM
Ensorfest '26
15 May 2026;
09:00AM - 01:00PM
Hamvention 2026
15 May 2026;
09:00AM - 01:00PM
Hamvention 2026

HF Propagation

wb0cnk

     Our spring outdoor activities began with the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve POTA this last weekend. Nearly a dozen folks enjoyed caravaning and carpooling to the park near Strong City, KS, to set up temporary stations to operate several modes. Following quickly on May 9th is Ensorfest26. Celebrating this National Historic Site with house and barn tours, old and new cars, the arts, featuring quilts, as well as 3 music bands throughout the day. This is an event you can bring the entire family and neighbors to. I encourage you to sign up and enjoy present this historic site to the public that also features Amateur Radio history from spark-gap to modern times. SFTARC has a goal this year of 10 or more volunteers. An easy sign-up has been emailed and you can also also sign-up via a link, click here  ENSOR SIgnup. Also,in June and September, 3 or more members, we will conduct the regular tours of the Ensor Museum. Please contact Marty Peters to sign up.

     Many more upcoming club activities are listed here, click Activities  to see the list.

     Spring brought violent storms this year, and we thank our club members who were deployed with Johnson County ECS for tornado watches. I encourage you to join them and be active in other public service groups such as ARES, SATERN, and other public service groups.

     Part of our club charter is to promote radio knowledge, fraternalism, and individual operating efficiency. This will all occur at the ARRL Field Day on June 27th and 28th. Enjoy the club camaraderie during the hands-on setup and learning this weekend offers. You can sign up by opening the club website calendar listing or here by clicking Field Day .

Trail Bytes

Tech Night - 3D Printing
08 Mar 2026

This is a presentation of 3D printing and the technologies involved in the process. It was presented by Howard Cripe - N0AZ for the February 26th Tech Night of the Santa Fe...

Chasing Radiosondes or Radios from Heaven!
30 Jan 2026

The SFTARC Tech Night for January 2026 was a presentation by Mike Laney (KEØGHU) on Chasing Radiosondes. Mike provided details about the devices used, web sites used...

Spark-Con 2025
18 Oct 2025

Tom, WA2IVD, presented a video on his Ham Radio A2Z channel of selected events at the Spark-Con 2025 ARRL Midwest Convention on October 11, 2025 in Sedalia ,...

Tech Night (Sep 2025) - Kit Building
26 Sep 2025

Joe Eisenberg, KØNEB, presented on Kit Building Techniques for Success.  He currently writes the "Kits and Kit-Building" articles for The Spectrum Monitor and...

Tech Night - AREDN Mesh Networks
13 Sep 2025

The August 2025 SFTARC Tech Night was a presentation by Greg Wolfe (KIØKK) on AREDN Networks, a comparison with Meshtastic and information about the KC area Mesh...

CW Keyer a Hit at Huntsville
03 Sep 2025

Marshal Ensor's CW keyer was a hit at the Huntsville Hamfest. Amateur Logic TV and several others interviewed Tom WA2IVD, Howard NØAZ and Jeff KSØJD about the Ensor Park...

Geochron Clock/Map
30 May 2025

The May 2025 Tech Night was a Zoom presentation by Geochron Company President Patrick Bolan KJ7ZSU. The topic was a brief history of Geochron’s mechanical clock -used by...

Tech Night - Radio Astronomy
07 Apr 2025

Mike Stewart, NØTU, was the presenter for the March 2025 Tech Night. The topic was Radio Astronomy, it's history and the science. The overlap between amateur radio and radio...