Category Archives: Club News

July 2022 General Club Meeting – Wayne Overbeck, N6NB

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Presentation by Wayne Overbeck, N6NB, the inventor of the world-famous ‘Quagi’ antenna and now the holder of the DX Microwave record of all time. Wayne is a sought-after speaker in the Amateur Radio community. Retired Professor of Communications, emeritus, from California State University in Fullerton with Ph.D and J.D. degrees, he has too many accomplishments to mention in a short introduction. The “Quagi” antenna, a combination of a quad and a yagi, was invented and developed in Wayne’s back yard in 1972 and is still a favorite of VHF / UHF Amateurs all over the world. In 1996, Wayne’s name appeared on the FCC’s OET-65 bulletin as one of the committee members who developed the U.S. radio frequency safety standards. He integrated and mass-produced a “tool-box transverter” system that covers the Amateur bands from 6 meters to 10 GHz. Wayne continues to inspire us in Amateur microwave and VHF/UHF as he leads Hams in local, interstate and international radio contest outings. An attorney and member of the California BAR since 1975, Dr. Overbeck brings broad knowledge and experience to the Amateur Radio Community. Post expires at 9:14am on Saturday July 16th, 2022 but will still be available in the archives.

Santa Barbara Wireless Foundation awards scholarship to Dos Pueblos H.S. graduate

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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.

General Club Meeting – June 17, 2022

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We’re going to try our first hybrid meeting this month. We will have an in-person meeting broadcast simultaneously on Zoom. For those not able to attend in person, you will be able to check-in on Zoom. Someone at the meeting will be there to help so they can pass on questions and comments from the Zoomers. This month we’re going to talk about Winlink email for RF and watch a video introduction. Winlink has come a long way in the last few years, and Santa Barbara is way behind other clubs and groups in the tri-county area. With California facing potential blackouts this summer as well as general disaster preparation knowledge, it is time for SBARC to look into this more seriously. I hope you will be able to attend in person, but if you can’t, check in on Zoom. In-person Meeting Goleta Union School District Board Room 401 North Fairview Avenue in Goleta Door open around 7:00pm Also on Zoom Topic: General Club Meeting – June 17, 2022 Time: Jun 17, 2022 07:30pm Pacific Time https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81757418390?pwd=NC9jSlg3RWRYdTQ0dGR6cnZ2dFNQdz09 Meeting ID: 817 5741 8390 Passcode: 394396 Post expires at 11:39pm on Wednesday August 17th, 2022 but will still be available in the archives.

General Club Meeting – May 20, 2022 IN-PERSON

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The big news is that we will be having an in-person meeting for the first time in well over 2 years. And, for our first meeting, we will be celebrating Old Timers Night. Old Timers Night is an annual event that occurs at our May SBARC Club Meeting. It is a special time where we can once more meet and greet our “most experienced” amateurs. These folks have paid their dues and are entitled to boast about all their experiences in the great hobby of Amateur Radio. Since it has been so long since we last had a “real” meeting, we’re not having a formal program this month. It will be more of an open house style so old friends can visit and catch up. Hopefully everyone will have a good time. We are not going to require masks or proof of vaccination. Please keep in mind that many of our members have health concerns and manage their risks very carefully. So please use your best judgement with regard to masking, distancing, personal contact and be considerate of others.   SBARC General Club Meeting Friday, May 20, 2022 at 7:30 PM Goleta Union School District Board Room 401 North Fairview Avenue in Goleta We hope to see you all at the meeting! Post expires at 1:13am on Saturday May 21st, 2022 but will still be available in the archives.

Whole House Surge Protection

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Most of us have expensive and sensitive electronic equipment such as radios, power supplies, amplifiers, antenna tuners, and various other pieces of amateur radio gear. Hopefully, most of us also use some sort of surge protection on any of these devices that are exposed to normal AC house power. Of course, most of us also have computers and we have long been aware that these need surge protection to protect precious data. Unfortunately, for a lot of us, this is about as far as our surge protection efforts go. Over the past couple of years, we have experienced numerous “planned service interruptions” by Southern California Edison. At last count, mine have totaled 12 since January 2020. Don’t even mention the number of unexpected outages! On more than one occasion voltage surges when power is restored on have damaged my electronics. I have a “smart home” with about 60 remote controlled switches and outlets that are especially vulnerable. Usually when I experience a problem after an outage, it involves reprogramming the switch or outlet. Unfortunately, sometimes the device gets fried and replacements are generally $50+. Just about everything has some sort of “computer” in it. Last year, after a planned power outage, the main computer board in my Sub Zero refrigerator got fried and a lot of our food spoiled. Luckily I was able to troubleshoot the problem and buy a replacement main board for around $200 and replace it myself. Had it been necessary to call in a Sub Zero trained technician, the cost would have been more than $1200! After this event, I bought a surge protector specifically designed for refrigerators. I started taking an inventory of everything in my house that used sensitive electronics and realized there were many more items potentially exposed to surge related failure. These include washers and dryers, water softeners, dishwashers, clocks, televisions, stereo components, furnaces, and the list goes on and on. Many of these devices are hard wired and it would be difficult to provide surge protection for each one. The obvious solution would be some sort of whole-house surge protection. After some research, I found that whole house surge protection would be much easier and far less expensive than I anticipated. What I decided to go with is a simple 2 pole circuit breaker installed in my main electrical panel. I have Eaton Panels and sub-panels, so I purchased the above… Continue reading →

General Club Meeting – March 18, 2022

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I was hoping to have an in-person meeting this month, but this meeting will be better over Zoom as I am going to need to demonstrate some things on the computer. This works much better over Zoom. We have changed our membership system and it is now incorporated within the website. Joining SBARC or renewing your membership will be much easier from now on. We’ve added lots of new things and I want to explain them in detail and answer any questions members may have. A lot of hours have gone into this and we went to make sure we’ve done it well so live member feedback will be very valuable. If we have time, I also want to talk a little about AllStar. We have several members who have retired and/or moved away and would still like to keep in touch and participate in nets. We disabled EchoLink quote awhile back because it caused problems but AllStar is still available and a much better option for keeping in touch remotely. Plus it opens a whole new world of operating. This is a “do not miss” meeting, so we hope we can get as many of you as possible. Here the details: Please note that we are including a passcode you you don’t need to wait to be admitted. Topic: General Club Meeting Time: Mar 18, 2022 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88498904173?pwd=V21vSTNUdDVEaFBzWWxCTlplSktCUT09 Meeting ID: 884 9890 4173 Passcode: 554367   Post expires at 1:00am on Saturday March 19th, 2022 but will still be available in the archives.

February General Club Meeting – 2/18/22

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We were treated to presentation by Ron Gibbons, PhD W6KKG on his “Life as a Nomadic Field Engineer”. Ron worked in Alaska on the White Alice Communications System in the 50’s and 60’s and in other locations around the world. He has many interesting stories about working in some of the most dangerous places in the world. We’re sure you will enjoy this presentation. Post expires at 11:22pm on Friday February 18th, 2022 but will still be available in the archives.