Hunkered down? Got a buncha extra time? Good time to cram for a HAM exam, eh?
The FCC has approved virtual/online exams for all license classes. Here is a list and some highlights we'd like to promote.
"The Commission provides flexibility to volunteer examiners and coordinators who wish to develop remote testing methods or to increase remote testing programs already in place," the FCC said in an April 30 news release.
http://www.arrl.org/arrlletter?issue=2020-05-07#toc01

Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, please verify with your VE team that the exam session is being held.
ARRL Exam Location Search http://www.arrl.org/find-an-amateur-radio-license-exam-session

(Please contact HWA as the California reopening of group activities and services is changing often)
Hamilton Wireless Association (HWA) also offers a one-day license preparation class on the same day as the examination, which will be held Saturday, August 8th at Novato Community Hospital.  Due to the pandemic, the license preparation session will be held out side in the parking lot just to the left of the main Hospital campus. The main Hospital is located at 180 Rowland Way, Novato CA 94945.  The study session begins at 9:00am.  At the Saturday License Class, you will be given a booklet with questions and correct answers which we ask you to read in your car up to the time of the test.  Experience indicates virtually everyone who reads the materials passes the test.  The exam to qualify for your license is scheduled for 1:00pm.  Request a reservation by email to info [at] k6bw.org. The examination fee is $15

As the shelter in place and social distancing measures continue we have decided to cancel our club's outdoor Field Day event on June 27th. We will instead focus on supporting our members and friends in operating remotely from home.

Instead we are sponsoring a region wide effort to contact each other over 2 meter simplex. More Information can be found here field_day_2020_on_2m_fm.pdf  Questions? Reach out to Robert at ad6i@kint.org

It is the time of the year where we ask for your support in renewing your membership with the club. Throughout the year the club is funding a number of important initiatives including the upkeep of our repeater systems and events such as our Field Day. Your membership participation and optional donation is keeping the club operational.

Member benefits: 

• SFRC Newsletter
• 1 Free attempt (per year) to license upgrade [club pays $15 fee]
• Eligible to borrow equipment from the SFRC library [you have to be a member for at least 3 months]
• Discounts for classes, club merchandise and workshops
• Priority access to classes and workshops
• Priority access to volunteer positions during events such as the SF Marathon
• Free ham radio equipment advertising at the SFRC website
• Eligible to vote in our club elections
• Eligible to hold office as one of the club VPs or Directors or President
• Access to the club’s radio room during SFRC events
• Priority reservation for our annual Holiday Party

  Don't think about it, renew your membership and donate today! 

As the shelter in place and social distancing measures continue as well as due to our inability to access our usual venue, the VA Hospital, we have decided to postpone our VE license exam originally scheduled for June 14th. 

If you are still looking to take the exam before our next scheduled session in September, please consider taking your test online. For available sessions check out this link: https://hamstudy.org/sessions

Although we deeply regret this we feel that it is our duty to keep our examiners and candidates healthy. Should you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact our exam coordinator, Nick NF1P. ​

On June 1st we completed our Welfare Check NET initiative. We wanted to thank you all for participating and being part of such a unique caring community. Here are some truly impressive statistics:

We run 32 NET sessions over 10.5 weeks. We had 129 unique callsign check-ins, averaging about 53 check-ins per NET day. 

We managed to stay safe and healthy during this time! Thank you all for participating, we definitely have something amazing going on here.

With the Welfare NET sessions completed, we have re-started our classic Monday night NET on 145.150MHz DCS 664 at 8pm PST. The NET we have been running for, as I have been told, more than 40 years continuously! Callsigns on the Welfare NET roll who regularly checked in are now combined with the existing Monday NET roll call list. ​

If you haven't been receiving our club emails, fill the form below and we will add you into our list. 

If you have previously subscribed but not receiving emails from us check your "filter folders" like Promotions, Spam etc in case your email provider has filtered us out of your inbox. 

Today we are pleased to announce that the San Francisco Radio Club will be opening Slack to our members and friends. We have been using Slack for over 3 years to run our board meetings and we feel that the time is now to use this tool to enable better collaboration between us and our club friends. So JOIN our Slack channel today!!! ​

On March 17th, the Health Officer of the City and County of San Francisco and 6 other counties (Santa Clara, San Mateo, Marin, Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Cruz) issued a Shelter in Place Order, directing residents to stay at home except for essential services and business, to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The San Francisco Radio Club was one of the first in the country to initiate a Welfare Check NET to engage our local community to check on each other. The response was unbelievable! To date we have had more than 110 unique hams checked in!
​Since we are planning to continue running the Welfare NET until May 31st, I wanted to remind everyone the dates and times: Monday's 8pm, Wednesday's 8pm and Saturday's 8:30am on our VHF, W6PW repeater (145.150MHz DCS 664). You are invited to check in on all NETs regularly. Please click below or visit www.sfarc.org to enter your information and register to be on the check-in roll. If you are on the roll and we don't hear you during each NET we will SMS you or call you and check on you. ​