Come to the March General Meeting March 20, 2015

By | |
Leave a comment

It is almost that time of the month for the monthly Club Meeting. This month our presenter will be Brian – K6BPM. You may have heard Brian doing the Weather portion of the Reg Dawe Memorial Cuckoo net on Wednesdays and Fridays, or as net control of the ATV Digital Modes Net on Tuesday evenings. He is also one of our board members this year.

Brian will be speaking on using Software Defined Radios (SDRs) and digital modes. He will be demonstrating these live, on-the-air, so all of us can see how these thing work and why operating digital modes is becoming so popular.

So be sure to attend. You will be guaranteed to walk away with a better understanding of how easy digital modes are to use. We will be meeting at the normal place, Goleta Union Schools Admin. Board Room – 401 North Fairview Avenue – across the street from the public library. The meeting starts at 7:30 but come early and socialize!

Post expires at 1:00am on Saturday March 21st, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.

Team Leaders Needed for Field Day and Hamfest

By | |
Leave a comment

Do you have organizational skills or want to participate and help get everything in place for a major Club event? The board of directors is looking for team leaders for the various aspects of organizing two major upcoming events, Field Day (June 26-28) and Hamfest (Aug 9). This year Hamfest and the Bazaar will be combined into one event. At this time we are planning on having this combined event at the Elks lodge. We are still finalizing plans for Field Day, but are planning on having something fun and exciting.

Team leaders will have responsibility for helping to plan and execute various aspects of these once-a-year events. You will be helping to coordinate volunteers, logistics (the mighty McLeod Brock is there to save for the day!!), You can also look at this site to know more , event day activities, and working with the Board of Directors in making sure these events are well run and fun for everyone. This is a good opportunity to get to know other club members better, learn more about how the club operates, and practice your leadership skills. If you can volunteer, please go to the “Contact Us” form here on the website, complete it and let us know. We’ll get back to you right away. You can also contact us directly by email by sending an email to info@sbarc.org. We’ll make sure your email gets to the right person.

Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net – March 5, 2015

By | |
Leave a comment

Last Thursday’s Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net included discussions about Levi’s (K6LCM) quest to research his grandfather’s ham call, K1ELJ. He contacted AARL and they indicated that they could help but he hadn’t heard from them as of Thursdays mentoring net. Levi asked all who were listening if they had any databases, knowledge or other resources that could help him with his search. Harry (K6PDQ) said he has a QRZ CD ROM from 1995 but Levi didn’t think his grandfather renewed his license after the 1960’s. Lee (W6QYS) mentioned that he has 1960 and 1967 AARL call books and Justin (K6LPZ) said he has many old books and would take a look for K1ELJ. Brian (K6BPM) brought up www.hamcall.net which Levi thought he may have tried. A couple folks found the call and K1ELJ but is was assigned to someone other than Levi’s grandfather so he’s going to do further research make sure he’s looking for the correct call. Good luck Levi!

Then the focus was on Ken’s (K6KEN) question as to why Dave (K6HWN) was operating as W6HUT. Dave filled him in on the fact that Reg Dawe (W6HUT) was a friend and mentor to Dave and many local hams back in the day and now the call is registered to the Reg Dawe Amateur Radio Association. The call is used during the Reg Dawe Memorial Cuckoo Net every weekday morning at 0800 and during the Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net every Thursday evening at 1800, as a gesture to remember Reg’s good naturedness and  mentoring to so many hams that he came in contact with.

Ken also inquired as to the use of Reset, Break, and “Mine” that he’s become accustomed to hearing during our nets. Dave explained “Break” is a standard ham term meaning the breaker needs to relate priority traffic of different degrees including life threatening emergencies. “Reset” is used when a comment is lengthy so that the repeater isn’t timed out and listeners know there is still more content to follow. The K6TZ repeater will time out if a carrier signal is not dropped within 3 minutes so that if a radio is being keyed accidentally or a malfunctioning radio is transmitting out of control the repeater isn’t locked out to all other traffic. The term “mine” was derived by Dave (K6HWN) after he begins a transmission and it’s become quite useful in our nets. The way he uses it is when he begins a transmission he’ll start talking and say “mine” and let the carrier drop for a few seconds to make sure he’s not doubling with anyone else and that air is indeed his. If no one else is hear he’ll continue his with his traffic. It’s very useful and helps to avoid traffic “jams” if you will.

Finally Garrett (AG6RQ) asked for advice about working DX and breaking into a pileup and / or managing a pile up. For breaking into a pileup Eric (K6HMD) recommended being patient and polite, possibly transmitting slightly off frequency and the use of “spotters”. Dave (K6HWN) recommended either starting your transmission early so yours is heard before others, or waiting until the last call is sent and then transmitting in hopes the DX station will hear your call after all the confusion. Tune in next week when we’ll talk about the other side and managing pileups!

Tune in to the SBARC Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net this Thursday March 12th 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.

Listen to the Barbara Ireland Event this Saturday

By | |
Leave a comment

Listen to K6TZ this coming Saturday and follow the Barbara Ireland Walk for Cancer event from 08:00 to 12:00. We will need volunteers for upcoming events and this will give you a good idea how these fun events are organized and how SBARC supports them

Post expires at 1:00am on Sunday March 15th, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.

Digital Voice Modes Explained

By | |
Leave a comment

Below is a link to a YouTube video from Ham Radio Now dated March 3, 2015. This video features an interview with the inventor of FreeDV, a digital voice mode we often discuss and operate on the ATV Digital Modes Net.  The video runs about 70 minutes, but if you are at all interested in digital voice, it is extremely interesting. They discuss the current “state of the art”, new hardware products, and research into new VHF/UHF modes. The last 20 minutes or so are particularly interesting as they discuss a new implementation of TDMA in ham radio VHF/UHF communications that has the potential for completely redefining how repeaters work.