North Hills Radio Club community outreach event at the Sacramento HRO.

  The 2026 return of the North Hills Radio Club (NHRC) “What is Amateur Radio?” community outreach event occurred this past Saturday May 2nd at the Ham Radio Outlet parking lot in Sacramento, California. The last NHRC “What is Amateur Radio?” (WIAR) outreach event was held in September 2019. The 2012 WIAR event was documented and recorded by YouTuber Randy Hall (K7AGE) and is available for viewing via this link: What Is Amateur Radio?

   This community outreach event was established in the early 2000’s. The concept for the event is to exhibit to the public and to new or prospective ham radio operators the many exciting modes, means, and methods used in Amateur Radio operations today. It is an opportunity to show off our equipment, technology, antennas, etc., and to demonstrate the varied applications of Amateur Radio, with the goal of drawing interest to our hobby. 

   Suggestions to bring the event back to life were initiated by one of our past NHRC club presidents, Kim Scheidel (KE6RKX). Paul Young (KA6PDY, another past NHRC club officer) suggested the use of the Ham Radio Outlet parking lot on a Saturday. Bill Diamond (K6KRQ and current NHRC club vice-president) volunteered to lead the organizing committee for the planning and execution of the event. 

   Step one was to seek the approvals for use of the parking lot at the Ham Radio Outlet Sacramento store location. The NHRC proposal to Ham Radio Outlet was met with enthusiasm and the location was secured.  

   Our next call was for volunteers. Kim (KE6RKX) immediately agreed to exhibit his various  mobile VHF/UHF radios including his new ICOM 9700. Kim invited his friend Ralph (W6RWL), who drove over to our event from Reno, NV. Maynard (W6PAP) was asked to once again exhibit his array of vintage radio equipment running AM and CW operations. Paul (KA6PDY) agreed to return with his Skywarn Weather Spotter exhibit and VHF/UHF portable equipment. 

   New volunteer exhibitors included: Jimmy (N6FMD), Craig (K6JGV), and Walter (K6HTD), who all demonstrated various radio portable go-box configurations and antennas used for POTA (Parks on the Air) activations; Charlie (K6CVD) demonstrated his mobile PACKET radio set-up; Joel (AI6DG, another past NHRC club president) set-up his portable HF station operating FT8; father and son team John (KO6COW) and Jayden (W6EFM) exhibited their SOTA (Summits on the Air) portable QRP (low power) equipment. 

   The NHRC table included Allen’s (K6AGW) portable FM satellite communication setup using an HT and an Arrow dual band Yagi antenna, plus a “bicycle portable” HF setup, comprised of  a Xiegu G90 and a Wolf River Coils vertical antenna. 

   Also exhibiting at the event were the Sweep Riders of the Sierra (SOS), an all-volunteer equestrian riding group established to provide on-trail radio communications for endurance events on the Western States Trail and other Northern California locations. Thanks to Nigel Goddard (KK6HPH) for coming out to discuss the activities of this unique equestrian organization of radio operators. Unfortunately the horses and riders themselves, who are outstanding in their fields, could not make the event, but Nigel demonstrated the radio gear used by the riders.

   Dr. Carol Milazzo (KP4MD), an avid electronics hobbyist, kit builder, CW operations aficionado, and also the ARRL Pacific Division Vice Director, was present to answer any questions about the ARRL. Carol set-up an information table with flyers and information on our hobby, and was available to address any questions about the hobby or the ARRL. Also in attendance was Jay Ballinger (N6SAC), ARRL Pacific Division Section Manager and Sacramento Valley ARES Director.  NHRC thanks you both so much for coming out and participating in our outreach event and to all the ARRL and ARES officers and volunteers in the ham radio community.  

   The day of the event was a nice Spring day with highs in the mid-70s. The event was very well attended. Several NHRC senior club members came out to support the event, including: Les (W6TEE, an NHRC life member), Kayla (KA6YLA, a past NHRC club president), Michael (KN6BXX, NHRC Net Manager), Mike (N1YCN, NHRC Board of Directors). Another big thank you to all of the club members and visitors that came out and supported the event, they are too numerous to mention here. We are particularly grateful to Ham Radio Outlet for allowing us the use of the parking lot and the assistance provided by the staff.. We hope you benefited from the additional foot traffic into the store.

   The most important attendees were the visitors, and in particular the new or recently licensed  Hams. These new and prospective Hams are the intended target audience for an event of this type. Some of the new hams in attendance included Steve Weinreich (KG6PIC), Ed O’Neill (KO6NIR), and Andrea Nowak (KO6NMP). Several new operators received a curated walk-through of all the exhibits and demonstrations by our designated Elmer, Anders Rehnvall (NR6H, and NHRC Repeater Technician and Board of Directors). 

   We still need to complete our after-event critique and evaluation, and I have no doubt that this event will be on next year’s calendar. We believe it offers substantial benefits for all involved. It was fun, informative and beneficial to the hobby and North Hills Radio Club, and it was our pleasure and privilege to present it to the community. 

Allen Mason
K6AGW
President
North Hills Radio Club