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A Maker’s Antenna – CARA Learning Conference

maker's antenna

This weekend, I will be presenting “A Maker’s Antenna” at the CARA 2017 Learning Conference. Join us if you live in the Calgary area. 

Every spring, the Calgary Amateur Radio Association holds a popular annual event. It’s a combination Flea Market and Learning Conference, typically held at the Eastside City Church at the eastern end of Memorial Drive. The Flea Market runs from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Local hams recycle lots of used parts and equipment over 25 tables. The event wraps up with several prize draws. These include a raffle for a Yaesu FT-891 HF transceiver, as well as a Yaesu FTM-100DR 2m/70cm digital/analog mobile transceiver provided by Radioworld Central.

My presentation is at 11:00 a.m. “A Maker’s Antenna” features the story of how I built my magnetic loop antenna using a 3D printer and a homebrew CNC machine. For those of you not in or near Calgary, you can see a video of a similar presentation here.

Maker’s Antenna – CARA Learning Conference Program

This year’s conference features three major presentations.

At 8:00 a.m. Ian Drummond VE6IXD talks about his experiences with SOTA. Summits On The Air is a worldwide activity for hams who like to climb mountains and do portable operations. Over the past 15 years, hams have done battery-powered portable operations from over 100,000 summits. There are over 100 local SOTA associations. Ian will provide a description of the resources available to participate around Calgary.

Then, at 9:00 a.m. Jerry Spring VE6TL provides an Introduction to Microcontrollers in Ham Radio. Jerry is an avid “maker” and has lots of experience with applications in our hobby. He is a member of the CARA executive and does great presentations.

Finally, my presentation at 11:00 a.m. uses a homebrew magnetic loop antenna as a project which combines many aspects of “making”, including milling your own high-voltage capacitor and wireless remote control for antenna tuning.

It promises to be a fun day. Hope to see you there! More information is available on the Calgary Amateur Radio Association web site.

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