Nominations for November Election

UPDATED The nominating committee has announced the slate of nominations for the Board of Directors for 2016. The election will take place at the November General Meeting on November 20th. Other nominations will be accepted up to the actual vote.

The nominations are as follows:

President and CEO -­‐ Brian Milburn K6BPM (Current board member)
Chief Financial Officer (CFO) -­‐ Tom Saunders N6YX (Incumbent)
Secretary -­‐ Dorothy Oksner K6DSO (Incumbent)
Director at Large -­‐ Theo Howe KK6YYZ (Incumbent)
Director at Large -­‐ Levi Maaia K6LCM
Director at Large -­‐ Frank Dambach K6FLD
* Director at Large -­‐ Jay Hennigan WB6RDV (Current President)

* This seat is uncontested and provided for in Bylaws Article 4, Section 3 for past president.

Voting by proxy is allowed. Please download the proxy ballot form below. More instructions are included in the document.

http://www.sbarc.org/documents/SBARCProxyBallot.pdf

If you direct the Club Secretary to cast your vote on your behalf, you can deliver it in two ways:

1. You may return a properly completed ballot by mail to the following address. Please make sure you allow plenty of time as we cannot guarantee how quickly it will be delivered by the USPS.

Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club
Post Office Box 3907
Santa Barbara, CA 93130-3907

2. You can also send a scanned copy of your completed ballot to k6dso@sbarc.org.  Emailed proxy votes must be received no later than 3:00pm on election day, November 20th, 2015.

Nominating Committee Members: Levi Maaia -­‐ K6LCM, Theo Howe -­‐ KK6YYZ, Brian Milburn -­‐ K6BPM

Post expires at 2:32pm on Saturday November 21st, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.

Sideband Nets Breakfast Coming up Next Month

The bi-annual sideband net is coming up on December 5th. No RSVP necessary. Please bring junque to give out as door prizes. One lucky person will receive a free breakfast – and everyone is asked to contribute a dollar to cover the tab.

More details are in the club calendar:

http://www.sbarc.org/event/ssb-nets-breakfast/?instance_id=92236

Post expires at 11:37am on Saturday December 5th, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.

New SDR HF Radio at Club Station

JT65 Signal Reports

JT65 Signal Reports

The club station now has a brand new computer and a FlexRadio Flex 3000 SDR (software defined radio) up and running and on the air. Unlike traditional radios, the Flex has no knobs or buttons. It is completely software driven and has all the features (and then some) of the high end radios from the major manufacturers. The Flex is hooked up to a computer running Windows and uses sophisticated, but easy to use software to control everything.

In addition to regular SSB/FM/AM operation, we also have seamless digital operation for whatever modes we want to operate. Our first test used JT65 on 15m and we quickly logged QSO’s from the Czech Republic, Belgium, France, England and Germany. The screenshot on the right from PSKReporter.info shows signal reports from stations that heard K6TZ from all over the USA, Europe, South America, and even South Africa. Great DX is easily accomplished from our “noisy” club station.

If you have never operated an SDR radio, you are in for a great experience. The display shows a wide area of whatever band you are working using a panadapter and waterfall so you can see all activity at once. This graphical representation of the band lets you find and tune activity quickly and easily. This new radio is available for members to use during regular club hours, Tuesdays 7:30 pm to 10:00 pm and Saturdays 9:00 am to noon. Come on down and check it out! If you are interested in reading the user manual and learning how this exceptional radio works, it is available for download here.

Post expires at 3:40pm on Tuesday December 1st, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.

Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net – October 29, 2015

The audio archive can best followed by downloading the .mp3 file for the appropriate date here and listening with the media player of your choice. You can move the progress slider forward or backward to the subject of interest to you.

Tonight’s Technical Mentoring and Elmering (TM&E) net yielded 13 check-ins plus net control (Shackmaster Dave, K6HWN) and 9 chat room visitors. Topics discussed included:

  • A follow-up on steerable antenna arrays.
  • Direction finding using a 4 antenna (vertical) array.
  • The proper procedure to re-purpose a repeater and user conduct to be expected when an emergency arises.
  •  Proper preparation and contents of a good functional go bag and good practices to follow before actually leaving your domicile and becoming part of the problem.
  • Affects of toroids on baluns especially related to heat.

Tune in to the SBARC TM&E Net next Thursday at 8:00 PM (2000 Hrs) and see what interesting questions will arise or ask some of your own! All club members and visitors are encouraged to check in to the TM&E net each week and join in with questions and /or answers to and contribute the knowledge of new and seasoned amateur radio operators alike.