SBARC Field Day Participation Details

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stnmapSBARC will participate in Field Day at the club station on Saturday June 27 from 11:00 to at least 18:00. We will NOT be setting up the Rover at the Calle Real Shopping Center.

The radios will be set up and ready to go and you do not need the proper license to operate because proper supervision will be provided. Field Day is an exciting event and there will be a lot of stations on the air.

Please call ahead by radio or phone at 687-6737 if you want to come in and operate. Instruction will be provided beginning at 09:00.

The Club Station is located at the Red Cross Headquarters, 2707 State Street (access from lower level in Alamar Avenue parking lot), Santa Barbara.

 

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And, in the spirit of Throwback Thursday, here is a picture from field day a little while back.

Believe it or not, this picture shows Dennis WB6OBB and Chuck N6CPM “working the world” with a tandem bicycle generator during Field Day at Goleta Beach.

Post expires at 4:00pm on Saturday June 27th, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.

Annual SBARC Bazaar July 18, 2015

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MeetingMapThe annual SBARC Bazaar will be held this year on Saturday July 18. Setup will begin at 06:00 to 07:30 with selling to begin at 08:00 and continue to 11:30. Equipment you donate will be sold to raise funds for the club. There will also be a consignment table where you can bring items you want to sell if you like and the club will accept a 10% “commission” from those sales.

The Bazaar will be held in the parking lot on the north side 401 North Fairview Avenue – across the street from the public library. This is where we hold the monthly general meetings, however it is not the same parking lot. Look for the activity on the north side of the building.

We will need help and people with pick-up trucks and/or hand trucks to move the equipment and set things up. Sales people are also needed. Please contact Darryl at 969-2326 to sign up to help.

Post expires at 1:24am on Sunday July 19th, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.

Field Day Invitation From Satellite Amateur Radio Club

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From W6AB, Satellite Amateur Radio Club – I’d like to extend an invitation to your club members and anyone who is still interested in operating during field day to visit the Vandenberg Satellite Amateur Radio Club House, W6AB. Myself and a few others will be participating in the event. Our main goal this year is to get on the air, test some antennas for JOTA and have fun.

Need additional information? please email: michael@lbee.com

Directions W6AB: http://www.satellitearc.com/directions.html

Thanks Michael!

Post expires at 4:20pm on Wednesday June 24th, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.

June 2015 General Club Meeting

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Levi Maaia, K6LCMIf you missed this months meeting, you missed a great presentation by Levi – K6LCM on his recent trip to Cuba. Levi had the rare opportunity to join a research delegation visiting the normally closed off island nation to meet the people, experience the culture and even get together with a local ham club in Havana. Listen to how Levi initially made contact with them and developed a relationship with this group of Cuban hams. It is very interesting to hear about the resourcefulness of the Cuban people and how they get by without access to equipment and parts to fix their radios, vehicles, and all the other things we take for granted.

The full meeting audio is available in the audio archives area.

Listen to Levi’s presentation portion of the meeting below.

 

Post expires at 8:23am on Saturday July 4th, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.

Technical Elmering and Mentoring Net – Thursday June 11, 2015

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The Technical Mentoring and Elmering for Thursday, June 11th had 9 check-ins plus net control Dave (K6HWN). Discussions included Hayden’s (KK6OYV) fractional wave antenna construction progress and he’s promised to take pictures of the different stages and share them on his website when it’s up and running. Jim (KK6SXB) added to the conversation stating that there are magnetic loop and Faraday loop antennas but the fractional wave antenna gets its name because of the helically wound copper strapping that surrounds it.

I (K6FLD) had a question about why there were different types of amplifiers to consider when choosing one for the different ham bands we might operate on. Shackmaster (K6HWN) explained that for VHF and above its handed a little differently as it’s not practical to tune for the different bands. The amplifiers are made specific to the VHF/UHF bands and there’s just not that much need tune because the bands are relatively close in frequency. For HF 160-10 meters maybe even 6 meters you will need to tune your amplifier as often as your antenna for the bands. Also of you’re operating SSB the amplifier needs to be a linear amp, not so if just FM. You can listen to the audio archive of the net here.

Tune in to the SBARC Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net next Thursday at 8:00 PM or 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 Technical Mentoring and Elmering net each week and join in with questions and /or answers to and contribute the knowledge of new and seasoned amateur radio operators alike.

Job Available at UCSB

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An interesting permanent part time (30 hours/week) job is available in the UCSB Physics Department. Lab Assistant position working under Bob – AC6PZ maintaining and setting up lab equipment including things like 3D printers.

Here is the link: https://jobs.ucsb.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1434637715449

Under Job/Apply click “View/Apply”

Post expires at 7:08am on Saturday September 19th, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.

Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net – 06/04/2015

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Note:  The timestamps listed below are best followed by downloading the Mp3 file here and listening with Windows Media Player or similar program.

The Technical Mentoring and Elmering net on Thursday, June 4th yielded 11 check-ins plus net control Dave (K6HWN).

00:08:40 – Gary (KK6KPJ) started the net off with a question about a simple to use 2 m radio without all the bells and whistles. He’s not interested in programming frequencies and memory channels. Several comments were made by Hayden (KK6OYV) and Shackmaster Dave (K6HWN) confirmed Hayden’s point of view that the older the radio the fewer advanced features it’ll have and he mentioned a couple of Yeasu that might work.

00:24:03 – Eric (KG6WXC) wondered how the club station could have so many different radios in use and not interfere with each other. Shackmaster explained that with the casual type of operating done at the station, a really good grounding system, and the antennas in different places that the radios pretty much stayed clear of one another.

00:27:40 – Shackmaster asked Glen (WZ) more about his setup and somehow connecting Lompoc hams to Santa Barbara hams and allowing them to listen in to our nets and communicate with us, etc. Glen has a 220 beam antenna and a new radio at 50 watts and he beams solidly into 224.08. Glen mentioned that he hadn’t had time to consult with some of the local hams there but would at the next club meeting coming up this Saturday so the discussion will continue down the road.

00:31:05 – Ken (KA6KEN) asked questions about using an amplifier in conjunction with a tuner and the procedures necessary to keep the antenna and amplifier tuned as he might transgress the different amateur bands. A lot of valuable information can be learned about this and related subjects including the different types of amplifiers by listening to the audio recording of the net here.

01:00:40 – Gary (KK6KPJ) asked about using an antenna tuner with 2 m radios, say if the antenna were up at 30 ft. or so. Shackmaster has never known or heard of a 2 m antenna tuner. The frequency difference from one end of the band to the other is quite small as compared to HF frequencies so there’s no need to re-tune as you spin the VFO around. You’d pretty much just set it up correctly on the bench, mount the antenna an d go.

As I mentioned before, you can listen to the entire audio archive or go to the approximate time stamp listed at the beginning of each subject. It’s most accurate if you download the .mp3 audio file and play it in Windows Media Player or similar program.

Tune in to the SBARC Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net next Thursday at 8:00 PM or 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 Technical Mentoring and Elmering net each week and join in with questions and /or answers to and contribute the knowledge of new and seasoned amateur radio operators alike.