Local hams monitoring firefighting operations and disseminating fire information over the air, online.

Looking northeast from the Santa Barbara Riviera toward the Westmont College area and the Thomas Fire smoke plume. (K6BPM photo)

SANTA BARBARA, CALIF. – Amateur radio operators at the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club (SBARC) have been on the air around the clock monitoring the progress of firefighting efforts during the Thomas Fire. The local radio enthusiasts monitor a number of over-the-air and online resources and disseminate information over the air including updates on aerial firefighting operations, weather conditions, evacuation orders and traffic and road conditions.

• Listen to the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club repeater streaming live online.
• Listen to the Thomas Fire Incident Command frequency streaming live online.

SBARC operates five primary emergency telecommunications sites including Santa Barbara City and Santa Barbara County facilities on various peaks throughout the area including Diablo Peak on Santa Cruz Island and from the American Red Cross building on State Street in Santa Barbara. Club members volunteer to build and maintain resources such as analog and digital radio repeaters, shortwave radio stations, microwave internet links and local area mesh network nodes, webcams, weather stations, and GPS asset tracking systems. These systems allow for live tracking of firefighting aircraft over the Thomas Fire online.

Access to many of the resources provided by SBARC including a live audio stream of the Club’s radio repeater is available to the general public at www.sbarc.org. Anyone interested in obtaining an amateur radio license may contact the club at that website or by calling 805-456-5689.

SBARC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit public benefit corporation organized to promote education for persons interested in radio telecommunications, to disseminate information about scientific discoveries and progress in the field, and to train communicators for public service and emergency communications. SBARC operates a wide-area network of analog and digital communications systems across Santa Barbara County and encourages and sponsors experiments in electronics while promoting the highest standards of practice and ethics in the conduct of communications.

Media Contact:
Levi C. Maaia, Director at Large
Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club
805-604-5384
k6lcm@sbarc.org

Dorothy K6DSO, SBARC’s outgoing secretary and Tom N6YX, SBARC chief financial officer, oversaw the election on November 17, 2017 under flashlights during an SCE planned power outage scheduled during our regular Friday-night meeting time.

Despite the scheduled power outage at our meeting place, we were able to successfully conduct the SBARC election for the 2018 Board of Directors under portable, generator-powered lights. All of the nominated candidates were approved by the voting membership.

Members shared their own projects and experiments during “Homebrew Night” at the November General Club Meeting.

2018 Executive Committee
President and Chief Executive Officer: Brian Milburn, K6BPM
Chief Financial Officer: Tom Saunders, N6YX
Secretary: Wayne Beckman, AF6GX

2018 Directors At Large
Director At Large: Ken Alker, KA6KEN
Director At Large: Theo Howe, KK6YYZ
Director At Large: Levi Maaia, K6LCM
Director At Large: Michael Taylor, K6RQV

Two referendum items were also on the ballot. Results for those ballot questions are as follows:

#1 Raise the annual dues from $24 per year to $35 per year: APPROVED.

#2 Amend bylaws to allow Board of Directors to set annual membership dues. NOT APPROVED.

The audio archive of this net can best be 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.

We had another good net tonight with 10 check-ins plus net control, Frank, K6FLD and some chat room visitors! Tonight’s subjects included:

• Flex Radio – Opinion, features and functionality.
• Why does our 145.18 repeater phonetically announce MACRO-Error 9?
• Looking for new radio and getting into digital communications, does anyone have any experience with the ICOM 718 vs Yaesu FT450D?
• What is a static talk group on DMR (Digital Mobile Radio)?
• Configure ZUMSpot for static talk groups so you can hear traffic without keying up every 10-15 minutes.

Tune in to the SBARC TM&E Net every Thursday at 8:00 PM local (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 net each week and join in with questions and /or answers to and contribute the knowledge of new and seasoned amateur radio operators alike.