During our most recent meeting, a question arose:  where can I buy the resistors and capacitors that I need for what I am building?  Well, with no local electronics stores anymore, that’s a challenge.  Here are a number of options you might consider:

Online/telephone/mail order:

• Digikey  Huge selection, reliable, long business history.
• Radio Shack  They seem to still be doing business online and, some HobbyTown stores (like the one in Waco) sell a limited selection of Radio Shack merchandise.
• Mouser Electronics  Huge selection, reliable, long business history.
• Altex Computers and Electronics  Mainly cabling and IT products, some audio, some electronics.  They have a store in Austin.
• Electronic Goldmine  Interesting items, surplus, odds and ends.
• MPJA Marlin P. Jones.  Lots of inexpensive items including microncontrollers, power supplies, components and kits.
• Parts Express  Lots of audio components, tools, speakers, vacuum tubes, etc.
• Newwark/Element 14  Huge selection, long business history.
• Antique Electronic Supply Lots of tube electronics parts, musical instrument tools, speakers, etc.
• Sparkfun  Large selection of microcontroller/microprocessor project parts.
• Adafruit  Large selection of microcontroller/microprocessor/electronic project parts.
• Seeed Studio  Large selection of microcontroller/microprocessor project parts.

Brick and mortar stores:

• Electronic Parts Outlet
• Hobby Town
• Altex
• Fry’s
• Micro Center

Note the following, for your DMR codeplugs and hotspots:

N1WP repeater talk groups

A new DMR network is available and growing.  This is in addition to DMARC and BrandMeister.  The TGIF Network.  See more here:  http://tgif.network/talkgroups.php

W5BCS will be having a breakfast social gathering at the Bryan IHOP on Saturday November 10th. Show-up time is 7:30am-8:00am. All is invited to come. So stop on by and say hi and socialize while dining on some pancakes and such. See calendar to right and click on the Nov 10 for map location.

We had a great turnout for our meeting on Saturday.  It was another opportunity to consult on technical problems, talk about your hobby and take a look at some show-and-tell items that folks brought in.  After our business meeting, Kerry Miller, AD5ABC, provided our presentation.  Kerry has quite a bit of experience with software defined radios and uses them regularly both at home, and in the field.  Kerry gave us an introduction and a helpful demonstration.  Our Volunteer Examiners were on-site and prepared to administer tests.  None were given but, we are grateful for the great work our VEs do.

The club will be having its Fall time Radio In The Park event Oct the 13th (Sat). Start time is at approx 10:00am and event runs until approx 2pm or when everyone is ready to pack it in. Bring your portable radio gear & antennas and come out and operate and have some fun doing so. Power (120v ac) will be made available. Bring your own food & drink if desired. You may wish to bring a chair. Everyone is are invited to come out, members, non members, guests, families and those just curious about amateur radio and want to learn more or see communications in action and/or portable radio setups.

We tend to setup on the south east end of park closest to East 29th but table availability may vary.

See map in event calendar section on right side of webpage for location of park.

If weather is not favorable for this outdoor event then the next Sat the 20st after the club meeting is the make up day.

Let us know if you can make one or both of these upcoming events by answering a few questions here:

Build a dual-band portable antenna:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8Z3ZL7Y

Texas QSO Party:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/855V9KC

Don’t be left out!

Congratulations to three newly-minted hams who passed their tests last Saturday.  A big thank you to the VE team for providing this important and convenient service to the local amateur radio community.

Bryan Texas Utilities Electrical Distribution engineers joined us during our usual meeting time to educate us about radio interference from electrical sources.  BTU has clear responsibilities to comply with FCC guidelines and those were explained along with the ways that BTU uses licensed radio services.  If you suspect you are having problems with RFI from electrical service, create a log of your observations, noting the times the interference occurs, the weather, and the frequencies.  It would also be helpful to have some recording of what you are hearing.  Call your local electric service provider to report your observations and be patient as these interference problems can be challenging to locate.

Following BTU’s presentation, we had our usual business meeting including updates from our officers.  At the close of our business meeting there was a brief board meeting to review and adopt guidelines for club construction projects.

If you couldn’t make it by, we missed you!  Our next meeting is Saturday, 15 September.  After our meeting on that day, we’ll learn about software defined radios from Kerry Miller, WD5ABC.  We’d love to see you there!

W5BCS will be having a breakfast social gathering at the Bryan IHOP on Saturday August 11 at 8am. All is invited to come. So stop on by and say hi and socialize while dining on some pancakes and such. See calendar to right and click on the Aug 11 for map location.

Good attendance at our July meeting.  We were back in the USDA meeting and had good discussions of club business, lots of fun conversation, and a great presentation from Matthew Barry about the basis of digital signal processing.  We  missed you if you couldn’t make it but, we’ll look forward to seeing you in August!