Welcome to the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club

aspenWelcome, and thanks for visiting our website. The Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club (SBARC) was established in 1920 and has operated continuously ever since. If you are a licensed amateur radio operator and not yet a member, we hope you will consider joining our club. If you are not yet licensed but have an interest in amateur radio, contact us and we’ll help you get started! Better yet come meet our friendly members at one of our monthly club meetings or at the Red Cross Club Station on Saturday mornings.

Photo caption: Repeaters are the backbone of our local communication systems. SBARC operates numerous repeaters that are open and free to use, including one on Diablo Peak on Santa Cruz Island, which our team accesses with the help of Aspen Helicopters.

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Member Weather Stations

No current announcements

The Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public benefit corporation. Our public service efforts and emergency communications infrastructure are supported by donations from our members and the community. Your tax deductible contributions help ensure our continued success

SBARC Designated Emergency Frequencies

  • SBARC Main Repeater Output 146.79 / Input 146.19 PL 131.8
  • In the event the repeater is not working, use 146.79 SIMPLEX
  • Also monitor 146.52 SIMPLEX

We also maintain a list of local frequencies used by first responders and emergency services. These are useful for programming consumer grade scanners. Please click here.

 



Field Day Preparations

The Field Day Planning team offers the following update for your awareness and consideration.  The update includes two parts, results and planning actions taken based on your input.

First, thank you to those that completed our recent survey.   The input from 29 people that responded is much appreciated.  Having evaluated the feedback, here are a few insights that are forming our planning process:

1) Eight individuals stated they plan to activate their own station, eight stated that they would like to operate a club station, and another seven said they will attend socially.

2) With regard to Field Day site, nine people said that an accessible location is first priority, seven said that visibility to the public is first priority and five said that operating considerations were first priority.

3) As for duration of participation, 18 respondents said that they will participate for a few and, or daylight hours.  Four said that they would participate in the evening and seven.  And four people said that they will participate the entire Field Day (location permitting).

4) Nearly all said that they would like to help with field day, either in set-up/break-down, supervising the GOTA station, arranging food or with administrative tasks.

5) As for operating mode, those planning to work a station said that they would prefer to operate: SSB (12), FM (9), Digital (6) and CW (3).

6) Respondents were fairly evenly distributed with regard to their Band preference (80 – 10M & VHF/UHF).

Now that we have received your input, we are working on securing permission for a Field Day site.  Based on your input, we prepared a list of sites and have evaluated them according to criteria identified through the survey.  We are actively engaging site owners/administrators and will report back as soon as we have more information to share.

We are also preparing an operating plan that will guide gathering of equipment & supplies, as well as organization of the Field Day itself.  We will communicate this plan when it is more fully developed.  We will then also solicit volunteers for specific tasks.

Finally, we will be preparing a communications plan, both for our membership, and the public – many of you indicated we should utilize this opportunity to promote our hobby and club to our community.

Thanks again for your input and strong interest in this event.  Should you have questions or further input, please feel free to contact Warren Myers KM6ZZI or Mike Wapner K6QD.

73s

The SBARC Field Day Planning Team

Post expires at 12:05pm on Friday April 12th, 2024 but will still be available in the archives.

Amateur Videos on Amateur Radio: YouTube

Amateur videos on amateur radio are becoming the go-to sources for current news. (Image created by DALL-E AI engine in ChatGPT 4)

In recent years, there has been a notable shift in the landscape of amateur radio journalism. Traditional print magazines and journals, once the cornerstone of the ham radio community, are increasingly becoming a rarity. This decline is part of a broader trend seen across many fields, where digital media is supplanting print media.

As a result, much of the latest news, technological updates, and exciting new projects in the amateur radio world are moving to more contemporary platforms like YouTube. This shift has given rise to a number of popular YouTube channels that have become the new go-to sources for amateur radio enthusiasts. These channels offer a diverse range of content, from in-depth tutorials and product reviews to real-world applications and community interactions.

Here is a list of some prominent YouTube channels that are leading this digital transformation in amateur radio journalism.

If you have others you like, please leave them in the comments!

  1. Ham Radio Crash Course: Basics to advanced ham radio topics, tutorials, reviews, and discussions.
  2. Ham Radio 2.0: Product reviews, interviews, event coverage.
  3. KB9VBR Antennas: Antenna performance improvement, DIY projects, tips.
  4. K8MRD Radio Stuff: Educational content, real-life ham radio experiences.
  5. HamRadioConcepts: Equipment reviews, tutorials, experiments.
  6. Temporarily Offline: Mix of educational content and personal experiences.
  7. K0PIR: Software, hardware, digital modes in ham radio.
  8. Ham Radio DX: Reviews, tutorials, interviews, propagation and DXing.
  9. Dave Casler KE0OG: Educational content on amateur radio topics.
  10. KM4ACK: Ham radio technology, DIY builds, software solutions and RaspberryPi projects.

New Packet Capabilities at TCF

We have just installed a new VHF packet node at the Talanian Communications Facility on the Mesa. The new station has a Winlink gateway that can gate mail between RF and the internet (perfect for emergencies), as well as a few other features, including a local keyboard chat room!

Check it out if you have a TNC or sound card modem for VHF packet on 145.050.

The main node is K6TZ-2 but the following aliases will connect you directly to the various services: MESA (main node), TZPBBS, TZCHAT, TZRMS (Winlink)

Note that BPQ is a little different than Kantronics. Commands like MHEARD and CONNECT (to hop) require a port number (in this case the port number to use is 2). More details in the welcome message.

Thanks to Doc, W6EW for donating the Kenwood TM-D700 to the club and to Bill, W1UUQ for leaping into action when I said I needed help tracing out the coax at his namesake TCF.

This is the first of a couple major planned packet upgrades. We expect to install an updated digipeater at the La Cumbre West Site in the coming weeks which will expand the reach of this node.

If you are interested in learning more about VHF packet radio and other digital modes, join us on Tuesday nights for the Digital Communications & Technology Net and consider joining our group mailing list.

-Levi, K6LCM
K6TZ Trustee