Welcome to the web site of the Escondido Amateur Radio Society.
The Escondido Amateur Radio Society (EARS) is an IRS 501(c)(3) charitable, non-profit organization of educational benefit to amateur radio operators, and others interested in amateur radio within Escondido and surrounding areas.
Membership is affordable, come join the fun!
Please feel free to browse this website for information on EARS activities past & present, and other general information on amateur radio.
You are also welcome to join the discussion groups on Facebook, Yahoo! and Google - links are provided at the bottom of this page.
See below for meeting and membership details, or click on the following quick links...
If you are interested in becoming an Amateur Radio Operator, or wish to find out more about what you have to do, click the following link for more details.
For anyone wishing to take their amateur radio test, or upgrade their current licence - There is a Volunteer Exam session in Escondido on the last Saturday of each month. Click the following link for more details.
EARS events throughout the year can be found in the following calendar:
Next Meeting: Arduino micro controller boards - Mark McComb, W6MCO.
Our March 13th meeting will feature Mark McComb, W6MCO talking about Arduino micro controller boards.
Arduino is an easy way for experimenters and students to use and learn about micro controllers:
- It is open source and very inexpensive.
- Many add-on modules are available for Arduino to make interfacing with the outside world easy (current measuring, USB, GPS modules etc.)
- Arduino takes out a lot of the hassle of using micro controllers in projects.
See the Wikipedia article for more details:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino
How cheap?
Under $50 for a starter kit:
http://www.hacktronics.com/Arduino/Arduino-Starter-Kit/flypage.tpl.html
Opportunity Drawing:
The last drawing took place at the club meeting in February 2014 - and was another success! Tickets sold better than hotcakes and we held the drawing after the presentation.
Although the kit from Italy didn't arrive in time, we had a BaoFeng UV5RA complete with the charging station, battery, antenna, wrist strap, earpiece/microphone and instruction book.
We also added in a full size microphone/speaker unit, as well as the programming cable and CD.
Don, KK6IGC was the lucky winner - One very happy member!
The next opportunity drawing prizes are not determined as yet, but we hope one of them will be kit from Italy.
Keep tuned in, and as soon as we know - we will announce the prizes!
The rules for the drawing:
- Tickets will be available at EARS regular meetings, and at other EARS events such as Field Day and the EARS picnic etc.
- Only current EARS members are eligible to purchase tickets - but please feel free to join!
- Once the cost of the prize has been reached (+20%), the drawing will
take place.
Note: The owner of the drawn ticket does not have to be present to win. - The cost of the tickets are $1.00 each, 6 for $5.00, or 15 for $10.00.
Each ticket consists of two parts: One part to be retained by the purchaser, and the other to be returned to the drawing organizer.
The ticket purchaser must ensure that their name or call sign is CLEARLY marked on EACH of the ticket halves returned to the drawing organizer.
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact the drawing organizer.
Membership details:
Membership runs from January 1st to December 31st. The fees are shown below.
Regular membership:
- Annual - $15.00
- Lifetime - $150.00
Family membership:
- Family annual - $4.00 for each additional family member.
- Family Lifetime - $38.00 for each additional family member.
You can join (or renew) online using Paypal or a credit card by clicking on the Join button in the Membership section on the left.
Alternatively, you can download the PDF membership form by clicking on the image of the brochure above.
It can also be found in the latest issue of 'ALL EARS', the EARS newsletter - available to download in the General section on the left.
Mail your completed application form along with your check to:
EARS,
PO Box 3243,
Escondido,
CA 92033
EARS Documentation:
If you would like more info on membership of EARS, or on Ham Radio in general - send us an email at: membership@earsclub.org
Repeater and EARS Net information:
EARS operates 3 voice radio repeaters in the Escondido area as well as a Voice-over-IP Echo Link node 2846:
- 146.88 MHz, minus offset, PL 107.2 (also connected to the Echo Link node).
- 224.14 MHz (AE6GM repeater), minus offset, PL 156.7
- 449.24 MHz, minus offset, PL 127.3
The repeaters are open to all licensed Amateurs for general use, and on Sunday evenings there is the EARS net at 8:00 p.m. local time on the 146.88 MHz repeater... Come along and say "Hello!"
Procedures for the use of the EARS repeater & Echolink can be found here.
A new EARS EchoLink User Manual will soon be available for download from the club website, so watch this space. In the mean time, please feel free to e-mail any questions to: echolink@earsclub.org.
EARS monthly meetings:
EARS monthly meetings are held on the 2nd Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at the Salvation Army building in Escondido.
Their address is as follows:
The Escondido Salvation Army,
1301 Las Villas Way,
Escondido.
Talk-in is on 146.880 MHz, minus offset, PL 107.2.
The meetings are usually technical, educational or informative in nature. For a list of the proposed meeting dates and topics for this year, click on the following link:
Specific details of the next meeting can be found nearer the top of this web page.
Note: There are no meetings in August or December because of the EARS summer picnic and Christmas party.
The Escondido Amateur Radio Society is also involved with the
Salvation Army Canned Food Drive.
When you attend the meetings, please try to bring some canned goods and place them in the receptacle located by the sign-in sheet next to the entrance to the chapel.
This really helps in feeding the many folks the Salvation Army has to support throughout the year, and this is one small way of giving back to them for all their support they give us.
Last Thoughts:
The Escondido Amateur Radio Society is affiliated to the Amateur Radio Relay League (ARRL).
Many EARS members are also members of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) and other agencies such as RACES & ARES.
They regularly participate in drills, and are active in assisting with communications during times of disaster, such as Hurricane Katrina, and the wild-fires that we have in California.
So, if you're interested in knowing what's been happening in EARS in the past... please feel
free to look at any of the 'ALL EARS' news letters - available to download in the General section.
Also, if you have any comments, or submissions to ALL EARS, please mail them to: allears@earsclub.org
EARS also has a page on Facebook, as well as messaging & discussion groups on both Yahoo! & Google.
Click on the links below to join:
