Auxiliary Classes

Registration is Required.
There is a $5.00 fee per student to attend each class session.


Each presentation begins at 7:00pm and ends at 9:00 pm.


Each presentation is simultaneously presented Virtually via ZOOM.

The ZOOM connection codes will be provided to each registered ZOOM student.


Click the Class title to register.


Tuesday, June 11, 2024
Ground Is A Myth
by Kristen McIntyre, K6WX


Ground is something you stand on, but in an electrical sense, the meaning is much less clear. When it comes to Hams and ground, things get really confused. We drive rods into the earth, but why? Let's take a look at whether any of this makes sense, and what theory tells us about "ground", and if it exists in any sensible way at all. We’ll talk about DC grounds, RF grounds, and even about gravity.


Kristen McIntyre, K6WX, has been interested in radio since she was about 5 years old.  She started in Amateur Radio in 1979 getting her ticket while at MIT.  Kristen has worked in many diverse areas from analog circuit design to image processing to starting and running an ISP. She is currently working at Apple in Core Networking, and spent many years at Sun Microsystems Laboratories where she was researching robustness and emergent properties of large distributed computer systems.  She is a long time denizen of Silicon Valley and has worked at or consulted for many of the usual suspects.  Kristen is an active ham and loves to chase DX on HF with her Elecraft K2 which she built while visiting her mother in Florida.  She is ARRL First Vice President, former Pacific Division Director, past president of the Palo Alto Amateur Radio Assoc., past Q&A columnist for Nuts and Volts magazine, and is active in many local clubs.  Kristen was recently inducted into the CQ Amateur Radio Hall of Fame.  She is also an Instrument Rated Private Pilot.


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Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Specific Aux Topic TBD
by TBD

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Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Specific Aux Topic TBD
by TBD

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Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Why Does Ham Radio Work "When all else fails"?
by Kristen McIntyre, K6WX, ARRL Pacific Division Director

This talk will explore the notion that it is the lack of central organization which makes our radio service well suited to perform in circumstances where order has been replaced by chaos that is common to Emergency Communication

A recording of this presentation is available at this link: Why Does Ham Radio Work "When all else fails"? situations.

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Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Phones, Fires, and Failures
by Alan Thompson, W6WN

This is a presentation about the colossal emergency communications failures during the Camp Fire  [this wild fire began on November 8, 2018 in Butte County, CA.] that ripped apart a community and cost people's lives. A clip from documentary A High and Awful Price was played during Alan's presentation.

A recording of this presentation is available at this link: Phones, Fires, and Failures.
Alan's slide deck: Phones, Fires, and Failures.

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Tuesday, September 19, 2023
EMCOMM:  Preparation and Training (An Overview)
by Bill Shaffer N6SGT

Bill was originally licensed as KE6DRG in 1991 and upgraded to general in 2014.  After retirement he obtained the vanity call of N6SGT.   He is currently studying for The Amateur Extra test.

Bill retired in 2013 following over 35 years as a paramedic and then police officer.  He also volunteered for a short time as a firefighter for the San Mateo County Fire Department/CDF.

He has been involved in training as a paramedic field preceptor, guest lecturer, police field training officer, and sergeant in charge of the field training officer program.  He wrote a manual for police officer report writing and taught that section in the new officer orientation program.

After retiring, while in the Sacramento area, he became involved in the ARES program and developed a training program for the radio operators of that group.  He then became the Emergency Coordinator for the Sacramento County ARES group until he returned to the Bay Area.

Currently, Bill is a volunteer for the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District as a Communications Reserve and with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office Communications Team which is a part of the Office of Emergency Services.  He also regularly helps with public service events for MDARC and LARK.


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If you have questions not answered on this page,

send an email to: HamRadioClass@mdarc.org