[Darryl – KF6DI] Come meet Ryan McMahon who is the Disaster Program Manager of the American Red Cross serving the San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. Ryan is excited about having the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club use the excellent facilities of the Santa Barbara Chapter building of the American Red Cross.
![Ryan McMahon[2]](https://i1.wp.com/www.sbarc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Ryan-McMahon2.jpg?ssl=1)
You are probably aware that SBARC recently had our annual Bazaar in the parking lot of the Red Cross. You do know that our Club station resides in their building. Of course you know that we have a number of antenna systems situated there. They permit us to park our Rover van in their parking lot. But, did you know that SBARC holds its monthly Board meetings in the Red Cross Board Room? All these things they do for us – at no charge! We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful relationship with the American Red Cross.
Ryan has been with the Red Cross for just over 2 years now in his present position. He was active duty Air Force for 8 years before that. He was an Airborne Mission Systems Specialist and flew on the E-3 AWACS (the plane with the big RADAR on it). When he wasn’t flying, he was in the Readiness shop learning about emergency management and planning operational readiness exercises. You can tell where his heart is. Ryan has 2 kids, ages 8 and 5 and is interested in becoming an entrepreneur at some point in the future.
Ryan is excited about talking to us about the Red Cross’s message of “Get a kit. Make a plan. Be Informed.” He will highlight some of the simple things that can be done in your home/workplace that will greatly increase your preparedness efforts for when things start hitting the fan!
Also, at this SBARC meeting, you will hear from President Brian Milburn, K6BPM, about the continuing saga of our Digital Mesh Network and how you can get involved with it. By now you have probably heard that there is a whole lot of progress being made on the project and that more and more of us are finding it very exciting. Brian will also let us know more about how the Club Station is evolving – and it certainly is. Levi Maaia, K6LCM, would like to tell us about our Telecommunications group and what they are doing. Also, at this meeting, we will raffle off a couple of those much-wanted pocket-sized frequency counters as well as that nifty shelf system to put in that place you call ‘home’ for an instant radio operating position. Last month we didn’t meet at our regular meeting place so we couldn’t raffle off our neat prizes, so let’s do it at this meeting. Bring money!
Post expires at 11:00pm on Friday September 16th, 2016 but will still be available in the archives.
