Mar. 15: John Portune, W6NBC – Designing 2-Meter Yagi Antennas

John Portune, W6NBC, will join us via Zoom for our monthly meeting on Friday, March 15, to discuss the design principles involved in Yagi antennas for the 2-meter band.

John Portune
John Portune, W6NBC

John, who spoke to us in 2023 and 2022, is a native of Los Angeles who now lives in Santa Maria, CA. He got his ham license in 1965, and is active on all bands from 160 meters to 2.4 GHz. He manages a remote HF/VHF base station on Vandenberg Air Force Base.

His ham activities have led him to contribute some three dozen articles to QST Magazne. His other interests include digital photography, cribbage, pipe organs and steam railroading.

John got his degree in physics at Oregon State University, then embarked on a successful career on the technical side of broadcast television, assisted by his earning a commercial radio license. He worked for KNBC Channel 4 in Los Angeles, and then with Ampex Corp. and Sony Corp. in Northern California, retiring in 2002.

To view John’s previous talks to us, see the W6SD YouTube videos page.

See our Zoom links page to participate in this online meeting March 15 at 7:30 p.m.


Robert Heil, K9EID, is SK

Bob Heil, SK
Bob Heil K9EID

Bob Heil, K9EID, the founder of Heil Sound who presented to W6SD several times, has passed away. His company, Heil Sound, said “Bob fought a valiant, year-long battle with cancer, and passed peacefully surrounded by his family.”

Bob’s lifelong interest in music, ham radio, and audio engineering led to his invention of a number of advances in microphones, headphones, and a wide range of other studio and ham radio equipment. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in recognition for his work, and is recognized in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum.

Born in 1940, he became a proficient theater organ musician at a young age and by 15 was the house player for the Wurlitzer theater organ at the Fox Theater in St. Louis. He credits tuning the thousands of pipes in the instrument with teaching him to listen to discrete tones, a skill that contributed to much of his career in sound.

He got his ham radio ticket in his teens, and began designing and building homemade transmitters, amplifiers, and antenna systems.

A legend in amateur radio, Bob understood early in his career as a microphone designer that voice articulation is key to ham radio, for emergency use as well as for the hobbyist. His ham radio products are a result of that level of concern for the voice.

A YouTube video of his 2021 talk to W6SD can be viewed online.


W6SD – The San Fernando Valley Amateur Radio Club
ARRL Affiliated Club #1684

Founded in 1946, The San Fernando Valley Amateur Radio Club, Inc. (SFVARC) is open to anyone interested in Amateur Radio as a hobby. The Club is affiliated with the American Radio Relay League and the Los Angeles Council of Amateur Radio Clubs, Inc.

San Fernando Valley Amateur Radio Club
P.O. Box 5472
West Hills, CA 91308
info@w6sd.com

Interested in joining W6SD? Whether you are brand new to the hobby of ham radio or are an Extra Class expert, you are welcome here. Click here for information.