We will still have all the outdoor activities, comms vehicles and trailers, swap meet, etc. Plus loads of food.
We've talked about this for several years, but it's finally all coming together. It's been nearly 4 decades since the last ham radio convention in this part of the world.
Diggin' it!
I know it's still a year out, but to the event organizers, that's when all the work happens. Our last meeting at CSUCI, we checked out several other potential locations for the 2027 Not So Micro Expo, and some are very exciting. Looks like we'll have a huge indoor exhibit area, another hall for the big speakers and the Saturday night banquet, several theater-style classrooms for speakers and a couple of tech-focused rooms for build projects.1/2
Because, Mastodon does not allow pictures and videos in one post, here is the satellite 🛰️ antenna 📡 we were building.
Come take the exam to get your amateur/ham radio license!
The W8LT VE team's next exam session will be on Saturday, November 21st, 2026 at 12:00 PM in the Ohio Union at The Ohio State University (1739 N High St, Columbus, OH 43210).
https://w8ltve.team/exams/2026-11-21-exam
#HamRadio #AmateurRadio #hamr #radio #FCC #Ohio #OhioState #Columbus #ColumbusOhio #OhioRadio #electronics #DIY #ColumbusOH #OSU #OhioStateBuckeyes #OhioStateUniversity
Just kind of thinking that we're at the point with technology where a conversation with another ham over HF is probably heard by less people than a conversation with your spouse in your living room in front of your Samsung TV.
Heard among the radio amateurs: "WHY IS IT EVERY TIME THE WIND BLOWS NOW, WE HAVE TO GO BACK TO THE 1800's?!?" #PSPS #wildfires #CAwx
eBay Restricts Listings of Radio Equipment, but Exempts Ham-Band-Only Gear
Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50122034
#HackerNews #eBay #hamradio #restrictions #radioequipment #technews #hamradio
#BrysonFire from encinalcamera1 cam. On the downwind side of Conejo Valley fortunately, but there is still plenty between this and the sea. A lot of helos working it already.
Actually, I'll list the entire county here. These are agreed frequencies for ARES/ACS, but everyone should know them.
Area 1, Simi Valley 145.510
Area 2, Conejo Valley 146.445
Area 3, Camarillo/Somis 146.550
Area 4 Oxnard/Navy Bases 146.595
Area 5 Ojai/33 Corridor 145.555
Area 6 Ventura 147.510
Area 7 Santa Paula/Fillmore/Piru 145.540
Area 8 Moorpark/Santa Rosa Valley 146.535
General County use 145.615
National Calling FX 146.520
No PL tones. Simplex only.
For any hams following me in Ventura County, remember that there are simplex frequencies meant to be used as backups to the area repeaters. Repeaters can always fail.
Ventura Countywide- 145.615
Conejo Valley- 146.445
National Calling Frequency- 146.520
For other parts of the County, PM me.
Make sure you have these programmed in your radios.
Good alertca cam view of the #NormaFire in the San Fernando Valley.
https://cameras.alertcalifornia.org/?pos=34.3840_-118.4315_11&id=Axis-Loop2
#CornellFire
getting spam from expeditiontravellers@baraag.net. Trying to report, but that server isn't responding...it probably belongs to the spammer. They're tagging massive numbers of individuals with each post. I blocked to domain at least. Keep an eye open.
My home solar to grid connection always leaves me in the dark for about 300 miliseconds when the utility goes out. So even with a wall of batteries I have to keep a UPS on things I don't want to be shocked, like my computer.
Unfortunately, the battery in the UPS never gets cycled, so they die super fast. This one's dead. Dang.
Our county emergency website (notoriously behind reality during emergencies) seems to no longer show power outages. Entire layer removed.
So it's civil war, of a kind.
Got an inreach alert that a friend was activating a summit; I was amazed that he'd be foolish enough to do that in the current conditions.
Then I looked at the summit designation...oh, he's in New Mexico. Never mind.
See you on the other side, folks, if I disappear it's because SoCal Edison has decided to cut off power AND connectivity loss. I'm currently on warning between 10/15/2026 and 9pm PT and 10/16/2026 9pm PT. But some areas here are possibly shut off at 6am. (I'll have power here locally of course -- backups and solar and all that -- but connectivity will be TBD -- not sure how good Frontier's backup is for long term.. I should set up a Winlink->Fediverse posting bot 🤪 ) We'll also be watching someone else's house, have to plug their fridge/freezer in every so often if power goes out... (need to look up the recommended rotation cycle on that again, speaking of which).
You know, it's funny. 20 years ago I started photographing abandoned buildings, as I believed they were a warning sign that America was sliding off the face of a cliff. Years later, that's pretty obvious to just about everyone that we're in freefall. Not really sure what the point of a warning is any more but I still have photos so what the hell, why not post them.