Who We Are?
Roy Thaller, VA7RTL
And Others
Our Mission
To get people on the air and have fun too. There are so many things to do with amateur / ham radio. You can do something new everyday of the year
Join myself and other fellow ham radio folks to meet, greet, eat, experiment and learn. We have something for everyone. However, if you don’t see it, we will make it happen with your help.
Extraordinary Experiences
Ham radio is the only hobby where you set at home ragchewing or programming/coding a computer or climb a mountain and earn some points by making contacts.
Everything and anything is possible with ham radio!
Our Core Values
These are some of our principles and core values.
- Keep learning and exploring new things
- Have fun doing!
- Respect each others opinions and values
History // Acknowledgements // rules
History
A little bit about myself Roy VA7RTL and how “TechTopicsThursday” was started. Soon after taking the Basic Course from the Richmond Amateur Radio Club (RARC) I was given the opportunity to teach the Basic and Advanced Courses for the RARC. It became clear that, although students passed the exam, they did not know what radio to buy or how to get on the air. To fill the gap I said I can put on some technical discussions for those interested. This developed into regular weekly discussion sessions viavZoom, called “TechTopics”. Later because this discussion forums were held on a Thursday. it became know as “TechTopicsThursday”
Zoom was chosen as the method of communication because new people to the hobby may not yet have a radio they can use.
This is just a discussion forum related to technical topics about amateur / ham radio. We may talk about emergency communications, however this group of people does not directly take part in community service or emergency communication events. Some members may also be member of other radio clubs and organizations that provide this service. This group is only discussion.
Participants decided that it would be nice to meet in person once in a while and the “Sunday Brunch” event was formed. They also decided that they are more “On the Air” time to try out different locations, radios, power levels and antennas. “Simplex Sunday” was born.
I am the host of these weekly sessions where we discuss recent news about ham radio and anything of interest to participants. Sometimes I put together a series of talks about a particular topic such as RF Safety, Antennas and now the Electronics Course.
Sometime people are not able to attend every session and they miss for example a module of the Electronics Course. People wanted these sessions recorded and the “website” was created to allow people access to these. People also wanted access to the “links’ of various topics or new products discussed. All of this and more information is available on the website now.
On the first Zoom session the group was able to fix someones radio that was not working.
I am a member of Richmond Amateur Radio Club (RARC), VECTOR (Vancouver Emergency Communications) and Long Island CW Club (LICW).
Acknowledgements
As host of this discussion forum “TechTopicsThursday” I would like to acknowledge the following:
Richmond Amateur Radio Club (RARC) for providing access to the Zoom account and use of VE7GOG space and antenna for “Simplex Sunday”. (PS The radio is mine)
Kelly, VA7KDO for hosting the website.
Rules
There are only 2 rules:
1 Respect each other
2 Learn, Share and Have Fun with Ham Radio
Anyone is welcome to join this discussion form. You don’t need to be a member of any club, have a callsign, nor know anything about amateur radio! There are no dues or membership requirements for this discussion forum.
However, you are encouraged to explore your area and see what amateur radio clubs are in the area and join the one that interests you.
Planning on taking the exam, studying for the exam or just want to see what other people are doing THIS IS THE GROUP FOR YOU