UMARC Club Meetings
Club Meetings generally occur on the 3rd Thursday during the academic school year at 6:30pm. Dates may change due to conflicts with Holidays, school calendar, exams or semester breaks.
The meetings begin with a brief welcoming message followed by 15 minutes of club business and then a informal 25-minute presentation by a guest speaker. Meetings, in-person or via ZOOM, are open to all individuals regardless of your association with the university. The meetings conclude with the tour and use of the W8UM radios.
Meetings dates, times, presentation topic and ZOOM link are provided in the meeting announcement sent (e-mail) in the days prior to the date. To receive these presentation / meeting notices, please contact W8UM.info@umich.edu
If you have an interesting topic you’d like to share, contact the current club president to schedule your presentation.
Email: w8um.info@umich.edu
Past Presentations
2022 – 2023 Academic Year
ICOM Corp. Japan – Developer of radio products
Kristen McIntyre (K9WX) – Pacific Division director for ARRL and Senior Software Engineer
Bob Heil – Founder of Heil Sound
2021 – 2022 Academic Year
John Ackermann – Past Pres. of W8UM and Tucson Amateur Packet Radio (TAPR)
Jeff Kopmanis – University Lowbrow Astronomers
Dr. Tony England (W0ORE) – Astronaut, NASA Mission Specialist, Dean of UM-Dearborn
Bob Bruninga (WB4APR) – Developer of APRS and Senior Research Engineer at USNA
2020 – 2021 Academic Year
Prof. Aaron Ridley – CLASP
Kirk Lawrence – Satellite Antenna history and operation
Joseph Burkhead (KE8MKR) – Amateur Radio Direction Finding
2018 – 2019 Academic Year
March 21, 2019 – “Simplified Approach to Understanding Thermionic Vacuum Tube Operation in Theory & Practice” – Ul Balis N4IYL
February 21, 2019 – “Grounding & Bonding” – Tim Duffy K3LR, DX Engineering via Skype
January 17, 2019 – “FT-8: The Digital Explosion in Ham Radio” (with live remote demo) – Don Winsor AC8TO
November 15, 2018 – “Making Waves: How Michigan Scientists and Engineers used RF, VHF, UHF and Related Technology to Change the World” – Fred Becchetti W8ZLK, Professor of Physics (Emeritus)
October 18, 2018 – “Emergency Communications” – Ben Pinette KC8NIY, Emergency Planning Coordinator, Washtenaw County EOC
September 20, 2018 – “Pencil Inductors” – Kit Ng N9KIT
2017 – 2018 Academic Year
March 15, 2018 – “Hallicrafters SX 28-A Project” (Repaired!) – Ul Balis N4IYL, Ovide Pomerleau K8EV, Steve Sostrom, KB5AW
February 15, 2018 – “Counterfeit Collins: My Bogus, One-Piece-at-a-Time 75A-4″ – Joel Thurtell K8PSV
January 18, 2018 – “Zenith’s One-of-A-Kind 100-R: Trophy Collectible or Revolutionary Ham Receiver?” – Joel Thurtell K8PSV
November 16, 2017 – “The Magic of Radio” Fred Becchetti W8ZLK
October 19, 2017 – “Quad Antenna Parasitic Arrays in the VHF & UHF Bands: Everything you need to know” – Ul Balis N4IYL
September 21, 2017 – “Official Observer Advisory, MI Section News, Hurricane Communications” – Larry Camp WB8R ARRL MI Section Manager
2016 – 2017 Academic Year
March 16, 2017 – “Defining Software Defined Radio” – Kit Ng N9KIT
February 16, 2017 – “Highly Efficient Coupling Factor Independent Resonant Based wireless Power Transmission System” – Amir Mortazawi AC8YB
January 19, 2017 – “American Cancer Society; Pan Ohio Hope Ride (Bike Mobile Amateur Radio)” – Jeff Gazdacko KE8BLW
November 17, 2016 – Amateur Radio Weather Station – Don Winsor, AC8TO – EECS Department
October 20, 2016 – “How to do Easy Moon bounce; A beginners View” – Roger Shultz, NJ2R
September 15, 2016 – none
2015- 2016 Academic Year
April 21, 2016 – none
March 24, 2016 – Intro to Linux – Justin Paupore AC8PK
February 25, 2016 – Radio waves to gravity waves” – Fred Becchetti W8ZLK, Department of Physics
January 21, 2016 – “Who Invented the Wireless Telegraphy? Marconi or Tesla” – Fred Becchetti W8ZLK, Department of Physics
Before 2015
Note: meeting records before 2015 were not well kept. Information missing for some months.
2014- 2015 Academic Year
January 23, 2014 – “The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Collins Radio” – Fred Becchetti W8ZLK, Department of Physics
November 20, 2014 – Video Presentation “Everything you always wanted to know about antennas but were afraid to ask” – Frank Rutter K3AW
2013- 2014 Academic Year
No Info
2012- 2013 Academic Year
January 24, 2013 – “Antenna Presentation” – Presenter Unknown
December 13, 2012 – “Presentation on the new TS-590” – Bill (William Becher) AA8RW
November 8, 2012 – “Presentation on Filters” – Bruce KT8TD
2011- 2012 Academic Year
January 20, 2012 – “History of Telegraphy” Jerry Begel W9NPI
November 17, 2011 – “One Way to Ensure Ham PC boards Meet Specifications” – William Becher AA8RW
2010- 2011 Academic Year
November 11, 2010 – “Amateur Radio Woven Through My Career as a Geophysicist” – Tony England (W0ORE)
October 14, 2010 – “Presentation on Amateur Satellite Communications” – John Palmisano KB8OIS
September 30, 2010 – “Ham Radio is interesting, Helpful, Useful, Educational & Fun” – Bill, AA8RW
2009- 2010 Academic Year
March 12, 2010 – None
February 11, 2010 – “VHF/UHF Bands: H-T’s, Repeaters & QSO’s” – Unknown Presenter
January 12, 2010 – “Transmission Line” – Amir Mortazawi
December 3, 2009 – “Talk on Digital Communications (Analog, Digital, modulations, …, etc)” – Unknown presenter
Novmeber 9, 2009 – An overview of how radios work, an analysis of building blocks and SWR (not official title) – Bill AA8RW
October 8, 2009 – None
2008- 2009 Academic Year
No Info
2007- 2008 Academic Year
No Info
2006- 2007 Academic Year
May 7, 2007 – None
April 2, 2007 – “Negative Refractive Index Metamaterials” – Prof. Anthony Grbic
March 12, 2007 – No Title – Tom Holmes N8ZM Agilent Technologies
February 12, 2007 – No Title – Amir Mortazawi EECS Department
January 15, 2007 – “DX in Paradise” – Dennis Ward KT8X
December 4, 2006 – None – Work Meeting
November 6, 2006 – None – Antenna Work Meeting
October 2, 2016 – “An Introduction to Antenna Design and Modeling” – Chris Galbraith KA8WFC
Meetings held July 10, 2006; August 7, 2006 – None
2005- 2006 Academic Year
June 5, 2006 – No Titles, Microwave guys from Grass Lake, Tom from Agilent
April 3, 2006 – “An Introduction to Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Spotlight Radar” – Jack Walker AB8RK
March 13, 2006 – “Antennas: A little threory & some facts” – Bill Becher AA8RW
February 6, 2006 – “High Voltage and Amplifiers” – Dennis Ward KT8X
January 9, 2006 – None
November – None – Discussed SB220 Rebuild and Suit Sat, Elections
October 3, 2005 – None, Just member updates this meeting.
September 6, 2005 – “New W8UM shack tour!” (Not quite a presentation, but still counts)
2004- 2005 Academic Year
May 2, 2005 – “ARRL Field Day” – Tom Prosser KT8K and Dan Romanchik KB6NU
April 4, 2005 – “Exotic and exciting DXpeditions” – Dennis KT8X
March 7, 2005 – None
February 7, 2005 – None
January 10, 2005 – None – Lots of club news.
December 1, 2004 – None – Stuff done with club constitution and satellite project
November 3, 2004 – Meeting occurred in a house. “Tech Day” talk.
1985 – 1986 Academic Year
April 10, 1986 – Met in room 101 and 102 of Michigan Union. Officer Elections.
February 14, 1986 – Met in 4021 Michigan Union – General Business.
1983 – 1984 Academic Year
September 23, 1983 – Met in Michigan Union Wecker Room. General business.
January 15, 1986 – Met in rooms 101 and 102 of Michigan Union
1985 – 1986 Academic Year
April 10, 1986 – Met in room 101 and 102 of Michigan Union. Officer Elections.
1983 – 1984 Academic Year
Newsletters
September 15, 1983 – Field Day News – SB220 Broken
1982 – 1983 Academic Year
November 18, 1982 – “A program on OSCAR (Orbital Satellite Caryring Amateur Radio)” – Larry K8MU and Dana K8YUM (KENWOOD TR-9000 purchased in summer)
END OF MEETING RECORDS
This page was compiled by N9KIT – first draft Dec, 2017.