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.

HF Propagation

Upcoming Events

27 Apr 2024;
09:00AM - 03:00PM
Tallgrass Prairie Natl Preserve
04 May 2024;
08:00AM - 12:00PM
Hannibal/Quincy Hamfest
11 May 2024;
08:00AM -
SFTARC business meeting
11 May 2024;
01:00PM - 07:00PM
Ensorfest 24
30 May 2024;
07:30PM - 08:30PM
Tech Night
01 Jun 2024;
08:00AM - 01:00PM
Springfield Hamfest

Lee WardLee Ward Tunes the New Transceiver in the Radio Room

     Several members of the club assembled at Ensor Park and Museum the morning of July 29 to meet Lee Ward of Peculiar, Mo., KØLW, as he arrived with a new Icom 7300 that has been donated for use at the historic eight-acre site owned and operated by the City of Olathe. Ward, who subsequently tuned the transceiver in the Radio Room, told Jeff Darby, KSØJD, club president, Marty Peters, KEØPEZ, secretary-treasurer, Joe Krout, KRØUT, president of The Olathe Ensor Foundation, Howard Cripe, NØAZ, vice president, and Peg Nichols, KDØVQO, that the transceiver was purchased from the company at a nice discount and that "an angel donor" had picked up the tab.

     Rick Parent of Overland Park, WØZAP, also was on hand for the presentation and official "unveiling" of the Icom 7300.

     From the perspective of the club, Ward's timing was excellent, as Ensorest 23 was just two weeks away at that point. Plans for this special event celebrating 100 years of amateur radio on the Ensor Farm call for hams to operate the station in the Radio Room for several hours using Marshall Ensor's signature call sign of W9BSP.  

       

Trail Bytes

HamClock as an Operating Aid
17 Mar 2024

HamClock is a Linux based application that provides more than a clock for you Ham station. HamClock also provides several operating aids that can be selected by the...

BuddiPole POWERmini
23 Jan 2024

KM4ACK reviews a charge controller for portable operation. This controller provides metering and on configuration settings. A good choice if you are operating on battery...

Ham Radio on the Today Show
06 Jan 2024

On January 5th, 2024, NBC's Today Show featured a segment showcasing an ISS contact from Harborcreek High School in Harborcreek, PA.  Journalist Harry Smith and a...

What Not to Buy
22 Dec 2023

KM4ACK reviews the five purchases he regrets. Jason provides some excellent comments on several products common in the Ham market place today. The YouTube comments also...

NVMe SSDs on the Raspberry Pi 5
17 Nov 2023

An SSD for the Raspberry Pi 5, YouTube by: Jeff Geerling.... Click "Watch on YouTube" to see notes  

Bad Fuses
09 Jul 2023

YouTube Video by Tom, WA2IVD Tom tests the characteristics of blade fuses used by many hams. The surprising results for cheap no-name fuses vs. brand name devices is some...

Basics of Ferrite Beads
04 Jul 2023

YouTube Video by W2AEW A good tutorial on the use of Ferrite beads for filtering and RFI suppression. Also search YouTube for additional tutorials by W2AEW.  

Radio Memory Programing Using RT Systems External Data
26 Jun 2023

RT Systems software provides an easy way to program memories for a mobile or HT. You must purchase the RT Systems software for your specific radio and have the required data...