Our January SOARA meeting will be Monday the 26th at 7pm.
It will be preceded by testing at 6pm at the Norman P Murray center on Veterans Way in Mission Viejo.
Our guest speaker will be Arnie Shatz N6HC with a travelogue of his 2014 Amsterdam Island expedition (FT5ZM). Here is a bio of Arnie:
I was first licensed as KN3ANU at the age of 13 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and quickly upgraded toa General Class ticket. I received an Official Relay Station (ORS) appointment from the ARRL and enjoyed handling CW traffic and participating in CD contests. Amateur radio was put on hold while I attended Temple University and earned a B.S. in Biology and a M.D. degree. Post medical school training followed at the University of California, San Francisco and service in the United States Public Health Service (Department of the Navy- Lieutenant Commander), Indian Health Service on the Navajo and Hopi reservations.
I moved to Southern California in 1976 and started a solo private urology practice. In 1977 I upgraded to Extra Class as N6HC. I retired from full time urology practice in 2001 and continue to work as a part-time locum tenens physician and volunteer at the Orange Free clinic. I am a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a long time member of the California and Orange County Medical Associations, a diplomate of the American Board of Urology and a member of the American Urological Association, Western Section of the AUA and the California Urological Association. I was a member of the clinical faculty of Loma Linda University School of Medicine.
I have been an ARRL member for more than 50 years and I am a member of the league’s Legacy Circle and Maxim Society. I serve as a Volunteer Examiner and a field QSL card checker for both ARRL and CQ awards. I am a member of the Southern California DX club (Vice-President-2009), Northern California DX Foundation, Southern California Contest Club and Orange County Amateur Radio Club. I am also a member of the Chiltern DX Association (UK) and the Medical Amateur Radio Council, Ltd. (MARCO). I was elected to membership in the A-1 operators club and I have earned many operating awards including WAS (6 bands, SSB, CW, RTTY), DXCC Honor Roll, DXCC (8 bands, SSB, CW, RTTY), WAZ (CW & SSB), WAC, WPX (SSB & CW), and VUCC. I am an active contester and have earned numerous awards for participation in both domestic and DX competitions. I have operated from many places around the continental United States as well as Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico, Samoa and Prince Edward Island. I was named the DXer of the Year (2012) by the Southern California DX Club.
I have been a team member of nine major DXpeditions: K7C-Kure atoll (2005), 3B7C- St. Brandon Island (2007), TX5C- Clipperton Island (2008), K4M-Midway Island (2009), T31A- Kanton atoll, Central Kiribati (2011), T32C- Christmas Island, Eastern Kiribati (2011), NH8S-Swains Island (2012), T33A-Banaba (2013) and FT5ZM-Amsterdam Island (2014).