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.

Field Day Site Selection and Planning Update

The Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club has secured a site for the 2024 ARRL Field Day.  After considering a long list of sites and speaking with administrators of five of them, we obtained permission to operate from Girsch Park and Ellwood School, both of which are in Goleta. We selected Ellwood School for our Field Day site given that the Goleta Valley School District granted permission to operate over night, and the space available to us there is larger and quieter than at Girsch Park. Recognizing that Ellwood School is not as visible to the public as Girsch Park, and that our survey revealed a desire to make Field Day accessible to the public, we are working on a communication plan to raise awareness of our event.  Importantly, the planning team felt that conducting the 2024 Field Day in a quieter location will give us experience that we can apply to future field day events while allowing time to evaluate and negotiate with other, more public sites. We are now working hard on operations planning.  We will be in touch soon with those of you that expressed interest in getting involved.  And, we will communicate what to expect if you intend to operate your own station or a club station, or to attend socially. If you would like to help with or have questions about field day feel free to get in touch with either Warren Myers (KN6ZZI) or Mike Wapner (K6QD). Post expires at 7:35pm on Wednesday May 1st, 2024 but will still be available in the archives.

SBARC General Club Meeting – Mar 15, 2024

We didn’t get time last month to talk about home weather stations, so we’ll doing that this month. Several club members have them, and more and more are installing them. Come learn how they work and how they can make rainy days (and the Cuckoo Net) more fun! We’ll also be bringing you up-to-date on the TCF move and what progress we’re making. We may also have an update on field Day preparations. SBARC General Club Meeting Friday, March 15, 2024 at 7:30 PM (Doors open at 7pm) Goleta Union School District Board Room 401 North Fairview Avenue in Goleta Zoom Details: Topic: SBARC General Club Meeting Time: Mar 15, 2024 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86138488060?pwd=RTR2R2JPbVRDdmRJRUx3K2MwbnpQZz09 Meeting ID: 861 3848 8060 Passcode: 032984 Post expires at 1:30am on Saturday March 16th, 2024 but will still be available in the archives.

SBARC General Club Meeting – Feb 16, 2024

Our February meeting notice is a little late, but not to worry! There is a lot going on, but the meeting will be held as scheduled. At this months meeting we’ll be bringing everyone up-to-date on the La Vigia/Vic Trace saga and what we’re doing to make sure we stay up on the air – somewhere. We’ve been working on finding alternate sites for our repeater assets as well as the various other services we maintain. We’re also going to be talking about home weather stations. Several club members have them, and more and more are installing them. Come learn how they work and how they can make rainy days (and the Cuckoo Net) more fun! We’re also going to be talking about little about this years Field Day and getting started with planning.   SBARC General Club Meeting Friday, February 16, 2024 at 7:30 PM (Doors open at 7pm) Goleta Union School District Board Room 401 North Fairview Avenue in Goleta Zoom Details: Topic: SBARC General Club Meeting – February 16, 2024 Time: Feb 16, 2024 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89034781686?pwd=UDVPeE5kSmwzdWdhWnRrY0JFWFd5QT09 Meeting ID: 890 3478 1686 Passcode: 409030

Amateur Videos on Amateur Radio: YouTube

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

November 17, 2023 General Meeting – Election and Home-brew Night

November meetings are always election night meetings, so members who did not vote online will be able to vote in person. Of course we’ll all be tallying up the votes and announcing the winners, so plan on being there, even if you already voted. November meetings have traditionally also been Home-brew Night!  We invite everyone to bring a something you have built, or a project in progress, to show, demonstrate, and tell your ham friends about. Home-brew is what being a ham is all about! Anyone can go buy a radio, antenna or other accessory, but to many hams, building their own gear is much more fun and rewarding. So bring something (or a lot of things) because we’re all interested in seeing what you’re up to!  We will also be hosting this meeting on Zoom, if you can’t attend in person, but please try to be there if you can to congratulate the new board members, whoever they are! SBARC General Club Meeting Friday, November 17 at 7:30 PM Goleta Union School District Board Room 401 North Fairview Avenue in Goleta Zoom Details Topic: SBARC November Club Meeting Time: Nov 17, 2023 07:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86560422518?pwd=VzNua1F5WUxwcVhUTWUwRFM1SGlDQT09 Meeting ID: 865 6042 2518 Passcode: 241358 We hope to see you all at the meeting! Post expires at 8:01pm on Saturday November 18th, 2023 but will still be available in the archives.

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

General Club Meeting – September 15, 2023

This month we are going to have a presentation from Gene Swiech WB9COY on Antennas Gene is going to talk about antenna types, baluns, matching networks, polarization and more. This is something we all need a refresher on, and will be very informative for our newer members! SBARC General Club Meeting Friday, September 15, 2023 at 7:30 PM (Doors open at 7pm) Goleta Union School District Board Room 401 North Fairview Avenue in Goleta Zoom Details: Topic: SBARC General Club Meeting – September 15, 2023 Time: Sep 15, 2023 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81888870959?pwd=QlNVWVU2d2RHRWlOU1Z4cHUra3MyQT09 Meeting ID: 818 8887 0959 Passcode: 442446 Post expires at 1:06am on Saturday September 16th, 2023 but will still be available in the archives.