Welcome to the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club

The winners of the SBARC Annual Election that took place on November 18, 2022 will all assume one-year terms as members of the board of directors on January 1, 2023.

Additionally, the bylaws changes were approved by the membership on November 18.

photo by Joe Partlow – W6JWP

The SBARC open house last Sunday on October 30 held at the Chrisman Channel Islands Center (CCIC) was a howling success!

Thank you all for coming and participating in the tour of the facility, the raffle, and eating the pizza.

The CCIC is the location of our new K6TZ Club Station (K6TZ @ CCIC). We were invited to develop a radio station there in Carpinteria over a year ago by Marla Daily, president of the Santa Cruz Island Foundation and we received a $35,500 grant from Amateur Radio Digital Communications (ARDC) to fund the station With the radios on the air and major construction complete, we are ready to activate the station!

On December 10 & 11, the CCIC will be open for a major fundraising event for the Santa Cruz Island Foundation. Marla has requested that SBARC members be on hand to demonstrate the radio station that is equipped with 2-meter and HF radios and monitors showing the Santa Barbara Channel marine and air traffic.

So, I’m recruiting members for our new K6TZ @ CCIC Committee to operate the station. Instruction and training will be provided by appointment. This is a great opportunity for everyone, including Montecito, Ventura and Carpinteria operators to use the state-of-the-art radio equipment and to put this station to good use.

Please contact me, Dorothy Oksner, K6DSO, at oksner66@gmail.com with your suggestions and willingness to help in any  way that you can, especially for the December 10 & December 11 event.

Dorothy Oksner, K6DSO
K6TZ @ CCIC Committee Chair

Post expires at 8:32am on Sunday December 11th, 2022 but will still be available in the archives.

Wayne, AF6GX servicing the air band equipment.

For several decades SBARC has sponsored monitoring of the emergency beacon channel on 121.5. This was originally prompted and set up with L-Tronics receivers at several locations. Today we have a blend of L-Tronics and FAA 121.5 GRR receivers. The L-Tronics receivers shall in time be replaced by GRR receivers. Presently we have two GRR receivers in service, one at UCSB, and one at Santa Ynez Peak. A third unit shall be installed at the La Vigia TCF facility followed by a fourth unit at either La Cumbre or Diablo. This program is being privately funded by Bill, W1UUQ for as a public service benefit for public safety.

If you are interested in more details, please contact us.

SBARC is looking for a licensed club member to assume Rover duties. If you want to understand emergency communications from the ground up, this is a great way to do it. You get experience interconnecting radios and computers, assembling antennas on site and performing background administrative functions to support the above listed tasks.

The Rover is always kept ready to roll in support of public service functions, events, and ad-hoc adventures.  The Rover is fully equipped with a generator, solar, back-up batteries, and has HF, VHF and UHF capabilities. It even has an emergency repeater that can be deployed within a few minutes.  Various antenna options and computers are also available.

Responsibilities include: Regular vehicular maintenance, occasional car wash, testing radios and antennas, maintaining readiness.

If you are interested, please contact us on-line.

Brian Milburn, Santa Barbara Wireless Foundation president (left) and Levi Maaia, chair of the scholarship committee (right), presented Jack Peterson (center) with a scholarship award on behalf of the Santa Barbara Wireless Foundation at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse on Wednesday.

June 30, 2020 – SANTA BARBARA, Calif.

The Santa Barbara Wireless Foundation and the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club awarded a scholarship to a recent graduate of Dos Pueblos high school.

Jack Peterson earned a 4.0 GPA at Dos Pueblos High School and plans on attending the aerospace program at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the fall. He is a certified Mission Radio Operator for the Civil Air Patrol, a member of the Cyber Patriot youth security program and a participant in the EAA Young Eagles program.

Brain Milburn, the president of the Santa Barbara Wireless Foundation and Levi Maaia, a board member at the organization and the chair of the scholarship committee presented the scholar with a certificate and a financial award to mitigate his college expenses in the fall.

“Our goal is to encourage more graduates to seek careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” said Milburn. “Jack has been well prepared for college by the STEM programs at Dos Pueblos.”

Peterson is the first recipient of this scholarship which will be awarded annually in June. Applicants must be high school seniors who plan to study Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics in higher education. Applicants should have an excellent academic record. While not requirements, preference is given to applicants who are graduating from a high school in Santa Barbara County and who hold an active FCC amateur radio license. Donations to the scholarship fund and applications for members of the class of 2023 may be submitted at scholarships.sbwireless.org.

The Santa Barbara Wireless Foundation together with the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club form a nonprofit, public benefit organization that develops and supports wireless telecommunications technologies in support of public safety, emergency communications, community service and scientific research in the Santa Barbara region. More information can be found at www.sbarc.org and www.sbwireless.org.