This Saturday 6 Feb 2021 I will be helping out friends in California host the Annual Bay-net.org BayCon 2021 online Amateur Radio Conference (As you do these days!)

This event will be streamed on YouTube on the Bay-Net Events channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfAM3ZqzDZxL2Ez5R2oD-Qw

Please be sure to
Click here to register for the event!

AGENDA AND SPEAKERS
8:30 YouTube stream and Zoom call goes live - virtual doors open
9:00 Welcome and BayNet Update - George KJ6VU

Welcome to BayCon 2021. In this session we will talk about the day's activities and give an intro and update on the BayNet club and radio network.
George is a founder and director of BayNet. An avid repeater builder, homebrewer and field operator, George is also the co-host of the Ham Radio Workbench Podcast.

9:30 Second-Life LiFePO4 E-Bike Battery Pack Rebuild! - Marcel Stieber AI6MS

Used battery packs are typically disposed of or recycled, but they are far from unusable. Second-life applications are a sustainable way to extend the usable service life of batteries in lower-performance applications. In this presentation, we'll be converting a used lithium iron phosphate (LFP or LiFePO4) e-bike battery into a 12V amateur radio friendly battery pack ready for your shack backup system, field day, or next SOTA outing!
Marcel was licensed in 2008 while an Electrical Engineering student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He is heavily involved with the Cal Poly Amateur Radio Club (W6BHZ) and Cupertino ARES as an advisor and technical consultant. Marcel loves to volunteer as a tower climber and RF consultant for local repeater and ARES groups. In his day job, Marcel helps design battery systems for consumer electronics devices and has been building his own battery packs for several years. More info and previous talks can be found at https://www.qrz.com/db/ai6ms

10:15 Ham Radio Test Equipment - Some Choices - Doug Millar K6JEY

In this presentation, Doug takes us through some of the choices for modern hams in modern test equipment from lesser-known gear to operating details for some of the better known. It is all with an eye toward the best cost-benefit and usability.
Doug wrote the 26th chapter of the ARRL handbook on Test Equipment and Procedures (1995-2014) has worked in metrology for many years and keeps a home lab for measuring frequency, resistance, and RF power. Doug is also active in microwave and EME communications.

11:00 Introduction to VNAs and the NanoVNA - Alan Wolke W2AEW

This presentation will give an introduction to what a VNA is, the fundamentals of VNA operation and terminology, and what it is typically used for. This is followed by details of the NanoVNA specifically - a bit about the design, calibration, operation and typical use cases. Finally, the limitations of the NanoVNA compared to "professional" VNAs is presented.
Alan Wolke W2AEW was originally licensed about 40 years ago. He is an electrical engineer, and for the last 14 years has been an RF Field Applications Engineer for Tektronix. He's a lifetime member of the ARRL and serves as the Technical Coordinator for the Northern NJ Section of the Hudson Division. In addition to enjoying SSB and CW ragchews on the air, Alan also takes pleasure in producing videos for his popular YouTube channel - which has over 140,000 subscribers.

11:45 Intro to Station Automation - Mike Walker WA3MW & George KJ6VU

In this session Mike and George will talk about ideas for station automation and remote operation. Mike will give us an introduction to remotely operating a Flex Radio and George will describe a hardware build project to enable remote control of the station beyond the radio itself. This session is a natural transition to the next talk about using Node-Red for station automation.

12:30 Break

12:45 Using Node-Red for Station Automation - Mike Walker VA3MW

In this talk Mike will provide an overview of the popular Node Red "low code" programming language used for industrial automation. Mike will cover an introduction to Node Red and how he is using it to monitor and control his remote ham station including his Flex 6000 series HF radio.
Michael has been a ham since it was the cool thing to do in high school back in 1975. He enjoys the technology that goes with it and looks forward to trying new things even if it lets the magic smoke out from time to time. He has worked for FlexRadio for over 3 and 1/2 years first starting with the inside sales team and now customer marketing and education.

1:30 Working Amateur Radio Satellites - John Sisler KJ6ZL

A brief history of Amateur satellites, some of the rules associated with their operation, what you can do with the amazing software programs available today, and what to expect when you get on the air. We'll also discuss what it takes to make yourself a sat station.
John is a mechanical engineer with more background with electromagnetics then he cares to admit. He has been the main Satellite Station operator for field day events, and has worked to improve the station year after year.

2:15 Preserving a Piece of History: Voice of America Delano Relay DL-8 - Dennis Kidder W6DQ

In 2007, the Voice of America ceased operations at the Delano Relay site in Central California. The site is destined to be bulldozed along with several relics of Collins Radio Company's Broadcast Communications Division. The Collins Collectors Association, with assistance from the Antique Wireless Association, hatched a plan to retrieve one of the Collins 821A-1 250 KW Shortwave Transmitters from the site and place it on display for all to see. This presentation gives some history of VoA and the Delano site and follows the disassembly and relocation of Delano Relay DL-8.

Dennis is a retired Aerospace Engineer, having spent nearly 45 years in System Engineering. His career spanned many fields - from building and operating large scale sound systems, computer systems used to publish newspapers and control communications satellites, 4 years as the Chief Telecom Engineer during the construction of the New Hong Kong International Airport, and finally, air defense radar systems and networked radio communications systems used by the military. First licensed as WN6NIA then WA6NIA over 50 years ago, Dennis was granted the callsign of one of his High School Elmers, Chek Titcomb (SK), W6DQ. Amateur Radio has been a nearly life-long passion.

3:00 Building and Testing an HF Slot Antenna - Mark Smith KR6ZY

In this presentation, Mark describes the construction and testing of an HF slot antenna designed by John, W6NBC. The construction project includes designing 3D printed parts, the remote control phasing switching system, incorporation of a commercial antenna tuner and analysis of performance with a NanoVNA.

3:45 HF On A Budget - Rex Vokey KE6MT

Whether you're new or old to ham radio, Rex is going to go over how you can communicate on the shortwave part of our spectrum with inexpensive kits, modern morse code learning opportunities, and some of your time.
Rex is an all around tech geek who loves to build and experiment and is the manager for the California (W6) Summits on the Air association. https://www.ke6mt.us

4:30 Wrap up, final drawing, and silent auction winners!

All the presentation content from BayCon is available on the Resources tab

All presentation audio is recorded and is being made available through the
Ham Radio Workbench Podcast

DRAWING AND SILENT AUCTION

There are two great ways to support BayNet. We will be running a drawing throughout the day for over 40 prizes and holding a silent auction at the same time! Everyone who signs up to attend BayCon 2021 will receive a chance to win a prize in the drawing. If you purchase additional drawing tickets, you will have more chances to win. $1 gets you an additional drawing ticket, $20 gets you an additional 25 drawing tickets and $100 gets you 150 drawing tickets. You can continue to buy drawing tickets at any time up to and through the day of the event.
Please note that drawing tickets are not tax deductible. If you would prefer to convert your ticket purchase to a donation and take a Federal tax deduction, let us know. You do not need to be present to win.

Click here for the Opportunity Drawing Prize List!

In addition to the drawing, anyone can bid on the items in the silent auction catalog. To review the catalog and place a bid, go to the main event page here to see the list of items and click the link to place your bids. We will determine the highest bidder at the end of the day and announce the winners.

Click here for the Silent Auction Catalog and Bidding Form!

Thank you to all the people and companies that donated prizes to the drawing and auction. Sponsors include Digilent, Elecraft, Flex Radio, PackTenna and members of BayNet. 100% of all drawing sales and proceeds from the silent auction will go to pay for the operating expenses of the BayNet repeater system including repeater site rental fees and insurance.