[NLRS] Aurora'25 Conference Information & Request

[Jon Platt]

Hello NLRS land
Our Aurora'25 conference will be held on Saturday, June 7, 2025  9:00 am - 5:00 pm at the West Medicine Lake Community Club, 1705 Forestview Lane North, Plymouth, MN.  Registration for our annual event should be open on or around May 1 so watch for that announcement later.
The morning hours will feature an antenna range for testing out your homebrew or commercial 2m and up antennas.  There will also be the usual car-trunk to car-trunk swap event and lots of socializing.  Maybe some parking lot demos too.  Bruce and Janice have once again volunteer to support our Jet pizza lunch break.  Good news is that pizza prices appear to be the same as last year.  Securing your pizza lunch will be a part of the pending registration process, so again watch for that in May.  After lunch we will have our technical program presentations along with our yearly NLRS business meeting.  Its not an election year so the business meeting is expect to be short, but your presence and support is needed.
Regarding the afternoon technical program we like to see a variety to "shorter" topics that represent and span our wide ranging clubs interest.  At this time we have room for at least two to four more presentations/topics in our schedule.   This is where my request to you as club members comes in.  What would you like to learn more about, or, what do you have to share with the rest of us?   Aurora presentations are pretty casual and you don't need to have a PowerPoint presentation as stand up & talking presentations are just fine too.   Are you planning on presenting at Central States in July?  If so, Aurora is a perfect place for you to hone it.   
Here are some VHF+ topics that may spur some interest.  Are these subjects that you would like to learn more about, or maybe you would be willing to share your knowledge with us about?   
   - Satellites.   Its been a number of years since anyone has presented on this topic and a lot has changed, especially available rigs & equipment.  How about a presentation on how to set up and operate your first satellite station?    Morning demo in the parking lot?
   - Test bench equipment.    
   
   - The (newer) TinySA spectrum analyzer is a powerful low cost bench tool.   A presentation on what it is, why I want one, and how to use it.   
   - There are many antenna analyzers.  I have a Mini1300 that has multiple features above and beyond SWR sweeps like being a signal generator and time-domain reflectometer.  A presentation on how to use these.
   
   - Advances in WSJT-X.    OK, analog only guys relax for a minute.  The newest release of WSJT features some new capabilities including support for QSY messages in support of VHF contests.   A presentation on what these new features are and most importantly, how to use them.
   - Optical.  Last presentation was in 2019.   Updates and continued learning since then.
   - 122 GHz.  Over the last few years some have been playing with repurposed car radar systems.  Where are we at, what have we learned, whats next to try.
   - Rigs for microwave IF systems.  What is the path these days for getting on the uW bands where you need a lower band IF rig.
   - New rig product reviews.   IC 705 (as an IF rig?), IC 905, or ?   Tell us what you have learned.
   - EME.   Topic rich subject from how to get on to putting a 10GHz EME system together.  Portable dishes, how to get power, what bands to start on?
   - The 6m chase for Fred Fish 
   - My next grid DX perdition
This list is not exhaustive.  There are 100's or more VHF+ related topics that I have not listed or even thought of.  So again, this is where you, the club member comes in.  What would you like to hear about and/or what would you like to present on.  This is your conference and its a golden opportunity to learn and share.  Short presentations and stand-up & talking only no PowerPoint presentations are fine.  
Please drop me a note direct (w0zq at aol.com) if you would like to present and/or if you have a topic you would like to learn more about and we can see if we can find someone to present on it.
73, JonW0ZQ







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