Slate of Candidates for 2023

This year I appointed 3 members to serve on the nominating committee. The 3 members were Dave – AI6VX, Doc – W6EW, and Tom – N6YX. They completed their mission and presented a slate of nominees at the last board meeting. I want to thank Dave, Doc and Tom for volunteering for this important function. The slate of nominees for 2023 are as follows: Brian Milburn K6BPM President / CEO Larry Martinez WA6MVJ Secretary Tom Saunders N6YX Treasurer / CFO Levi Maaia K6LCM Director at Large Dave Schmidt AI6VX Director at Large Wayne Beckman AF6GX Director at Large Mike Wapner K6QD Director at Large Matt Lechliter W6XC Director at Large We will officially be opening additional nominations for all positions at the October 21 2022 meeting. Any member in good standing can nominate another member in good standing for any elected position above. A member in good standing is any member who is paid up on their dues. Additionally, a nominee must be a member in good standing for the period of 28 days prior to the election. This year, that day is October 21, 2022. This year we will be allowing on-line voting, mail in voting, and in-person voting. As such, there are various cutoff dates we need to set so that we can do all our work behind the scenes. Here is the schedule: October 21 – Open nominations from the floor at meeting. November 6 – Nominations from the floor close at midnight. November 10 – Mail-in and online voting begins at midnight. November 16 – Mail-in and Online ballots close at midnight. November 18 – Election night – In-person voting, tallying, etc. There is also a bylaws change proposal on the ballot this year. The bylaw changes mostly involve the way we now handle the membership system, and the way we pay bills and expenses. Normal procedures such as auto-pay, credit card and debit card purchases, were never addressed in the current Bylaws, however it is the way we pay most bills and expenses. The proposed changes merely bring the Bylaws up-to-date with the times. You can view the proposed changes here: https://sbarc.org/Downloads/BylawEdits_10-2022.pdf Brian – K6BPM President, Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club Post expires at 7:51pm on Sunday November 20th, 2022 but will still be available in the archives.

Official 2024 Election Information

Information for our November 2024 election are now available. From the election page, you can read about the bylaws changed and view the draft Bylaws document with the proposed changes and final wording. You may also download a mail in ballot and get the link for online voting beginning on November 8 2024 12:00 am. Click Here to Visit the Official SBARC Election Page Thank you for participating! Post expires at 1:00am on Friday November 15th, 2024 but will still be available in the archives.

General Club Meeting – October 18th 2024

We’ll have a lot to talk about this meeting! First, we have news about the status of the Vic Trace / TCF site you will want to hear. As most of us know, we have been under a deadline of October 31 to remove our equipment and relocate the building. We’ve been busy and we’ll bring you all up-to-date. Every November SBARC holds its annual elections. The election will be held at the November Club Meeting. One of my jobs as president is to appoint a nominating committee to provide candidates for the club officers and directors at large. This year Dorothy K6DSO and Larry (WA6MVJ) comprised the nominating committee and we’ll present the slate of candidates at this meeting. This year we’ll also be proposing some organizational changes that will require a vote by the membership. We’ll be discussing these thoroughly, explaining everything and answering any questions. Some of the changes are ones we have worked on for several years. Bill W1UUQ will also provide us some background that will help to define the issues we hope to address and how SBARC can position itself to reestablish our community relevance moving forward. Additional election information and schedule will go live on the website immediately after this months meeting. As we have done for the past few years, you will be able to vote in person, by mail, or using online voting. You will definitely want to attend this meeting or listen in on ZOOM. SBARC General Club Meeting Friday, October 18, 2024 at 7:30 PM (Doors open at 7pm) Goleta Union School District Board Room 401 North Fairview Avenue in Goleta Doors open at 7pm, meeting starts at 7:30pm Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87896497627?pwd=noXxHmQeFAWaaVIclEw31nRYweaEDF.1 Post expires at 11:59pm on Friday October 18th, 2024 but will still be available in the archives.

Santa Ynez Peak Repeater Antenna

The antenna for the K6TZ Santa Ynez Peak repeater on 145.18 was replaced today. As a result, its coverage is now vastly improved! If you haven’t yet, please take a moment to test your signal into this repeater and the new 446.400 repeater on La Cumbre Peak West. Both are standard negative offset, same PL 131.8. Together, these two repeaters have increased our systemwide coverage tremendously.

2024 Annual Picnic

We had a great turnout for the annual SBARC picnic this year. Dave AI6VX handled the cooking again this year and many others brought food to share. No one went away hungry. Of course Darryl held a transmitter hunt as is his custom. Many people helped to put this together. Dorothy K6DSO picked up the burgers, hotdogs, and all the fixings. Mike K6QD brought the new popup tents (they we didn’t use). Larry, WA6MVJ brought water and ice. Big thanks to everyone who helped out and helped clean up afterwards.   Post expires at 7:02pm on Thursday October 10th, 2024 but will still be available in the archives.

Repeater Updates: 446.400 Moved to La Cumbre Peak West

It was a foggy, cool day at La Cumbre Peak when SBARC members Levi, K6LCM; Wayne, AF6GX; and Michael, K6RQV, headed up to the site to install the club’s new BridgeCom FM repeater on 446.400 MHz. Despite the low visibility and brisk weather, the team successfully completed the installation, bringing a significant upgrade to the repeater system. The new repeater offers excellent coverage and is now linked to the club’s wider system, ensuring even greater range for members and improving communications across the region. This installation is part of SBARC’s ongoing efforts to enhance the reliability and reach of its network for amateur radio operators in Santa Barbara and beyond. Stay tuned for more updates and make sure to give the new repeater a try on 446.400- PL 131.8.

Club Meeting – September 20, 2014

We’re going to break with the format of the past few meetings and show a video provided by Darryl KF6DI. The FT5ZM Amsterdam Island 2014 International DXpedition. It became known as the DXpedition of the year 2013-2014. Where is Amsterdam Island? Little Amsterdam, also known as Amsterdam Island and New Amsterdam, is an island of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands in the southern Indian Ocean. We’ll still be bringing everyone up to date with our repeater relocation efforts, and with any luck, the new 440 repeater will be in operation at its new location by meeting time. If you don’t have 446.40 in your radios, you will want t add it. You can also bring your HT to the meeting and I’ll program it for you if there’s time. If you have a programming cable, be sure to bring that along. We hope to see you this Friday! SBARC General Club Meeting Friday, September 20, 2024 at 7:30 PM (Doors open at 7pm) Goleta Union School District Board Room 401 North Fairview Avenue in Goleta Doors open at 7pm, meeting starts at 7:30pm Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82648150046?pwd=Xgys9KTbsEVTEtjaWmiLcLLwipkD7V.1 Topic: General Club Meeting – September 20, 2024 Time: September 20, 2024 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Post expires at 1:00am on Saturday September 21st, 2024 but will still be available in the archives.

Packet Capabilities at LCPW

We have moved the club VHF packet node from the Mesa to La Cumbre Peak West. At nearly 4,000′ above sea level, this station has a Winlink gateway that can gate mail between RF and the internet (Starlink-capable and 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: LCPW (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. 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