Category Archives: Club News

July 3: ARISS radio contact with an astronaut aboard ISS

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Join us on July 3 for a live contact with Astronaut Nick Hague, KG5TMV aboard the International Space Station Live Streams (try both): SB City TV Live Stream | SB Library Facebook Live When: Wednesday, July 3rd. Doors open at 10:00 AM 10-minute contact will begin promptly at 10:54 AM Where: Santa Barbara Public Library Faulkner Gallery 40 E Anapamu St, Santa Barbara Children and families will be given priority access to the event, and attendees are encouraged to arrive early. Capacity for the Faulkner Gallery is 175 people, but overflow viewing and listening will be available.  NASA Astronaut Nick Hague will answer questions from 12 local children as they make a live 2-meter amateur radio contact from the Santa Barbara Public Library to ask him about life on the space station, careers in STEM, experiments in space, and more. Children and families will have the opportunity to explore space through virtual reality, create rocket ships, and more before and after the contact. This experience is made possible by Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) in cooperation with NASA. The contact will be coordinated by SBPL youth services staff, Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club volunteers, and ARISS mentors. All ages have enjoyed space-themed programs and events at the Library over the last few months, including learning about astronomy, an introduction to amateur radio, hands on engineering and technology projects, and more. Related programming will continue through the month of July. A full calendar, including two additional amateur radio-related events, is available at SBPLibrary.org/summer. Levi C. Maaia, K6LCM Amateur Radio on the International Space Station ARISS-US Education Committee About ARISS Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture of international amateur radio societies and the space agencies that support the International Space Station (ISS).  In the United States, sponsors are the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the ISS National Lab and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The primary goal of ARISS is to promote exploration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics by organizing scheduled contacts via amateur radio between crew members aboard the ISS and students in classrooms or public forms. Before and during these radio contacts, students, educators, parents, and communities learn about space, space technologies, and amateur radio. For more information, see www.ariss.org. Post expires at 3:00pm on Wednesday July 3rd, 2019 but will still be available in the archives.

Amateur Radio in Space: Special Summer Events in Santa Barbara

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Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club members are preparing for a rare event this July that will allow local youngsters to make a live amateur radio contact with a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS)! The 10-minute live forum will bounce between a radio station at the Santa Barbara Public Library and the ham radio aboard the ISS (NA1SS) as the space station’s orbit passes over Southern California. The event is expected to take place sometime between July 1-3. Details will be forthcoming. SBARC is supporting the Santa Barbara Public Library’s participation in the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) program as part of the library’s comprehensive STEAM programming for upper elementary and junior high students. The ARISS event ties into the Summer Reading Program theme: Choose Adventure in Outer Space. The Santa Barbara Public Library endeavors to provide equal opportunities to all community members to learn about science, space travel, and careers in many fields that utilize these technologies, particularly in light of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing this summer. As part of the space-themed program, SBARC will host three special events at the main branch library: What is Amateur Radio? – A Community Conversation Monday, June 10, 2019 – 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM @ Santa Barbara Public Library A talk with members of the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club about modern amateur radio, common misconceptions, digital projects and how to get involved. Everyone is welcome, especially new hams and those who are not yet licensed! Free and open to all ages. What is Amateur Radio? – Open House Monday, July 8, 2019 – 6:30 PM – 7:45 PM @ Santa Barbara Public Library An open house showcasing software defined radio technologies, amateur radio in orbit and other exciting digital equipment and projects. Come join us for hands-on learning and live demonstrations. Free and open to all ages. Amateur Radio Technician Class License “Cram ‘n’ Exam” Saturday, July 20, 2019 – 10:30 AM – 3:30 PM @ Santa Barbara Public Library Join us to prepare for the amateur radio Technician Class license exam and then stick around after lunch for a specially scheduled test session. Cram is free and open to all ages. There is a $15 fee (check or cash) to sit for the exam. IMPORTANT: The “Cram ‘n’ Exam” session is not intended to replace advance preparation for the Technician Class amateur radio license… Continue reading →

Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net – 5/16/2019

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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 interesting net tonight with 5 check-ins, plus net control Chuck, K5CAW. Tonight’s topics included: 3D printing – adding support (shoring up) for overhanging elements of a print project. Tune in to the SBARC TM&E Net every Thursday at 8:00 PM local (2000 Hrs) and see what interesting questions might 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 and contribute the knowledge of new and seasoned amateur radio operators alike.

Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net – 3/14/2019

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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 interesting net tonight with 6 check-ins, and net control Frank, K6FLD. Tonight’s topics included: Discussion about the Catalina repeater and local propagation as of late. Maritime mobile operations. Repurposing ham radios into scanners. 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 and contribute the knowledge of new and seasoned amateur radio operators alike.

General Club Meeting – March 15, 2019

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The March 15 meeting will feature a presentation by Steve Noll, WA6EJO, on antennas and propagation. This will be a live demonstration exploring radiation patterns and polarization of a variety of antennas from ground planes to loop Yagis to helices, plus actual demonstrations of a variety of propagation phenomena including ducting, refraction, diffraction, knife edging, Fresnel zone, velocity of propagation, and more. If you would like to know more about the black magic of radio waves and how to use them, you don’t want to miss Steve’s presentation. He is an expert in the field. Steve Noll, WA6EJO, has been active in Ham Radio for the past 40 years. He pioneered 2-way Amateur Radio Laser communications in the late 1970s and operated an experimental 23 centimeter repeater and an X-Band beacon in Ventura for many years. Steve chaired several of the West Coast VHF/UHF Conferences in the 1990s where he also built and ran the antenna gain and pattern plotting range. He is a member of the Amateur Television Network and is a founding member of the MAKE Ventura makerspace. Steve retired from Advanced Photonix after 22 years as their Senior Test Engineer. SBARC General Club Meeting Friday, March 15, 2018 at 7:30 PM Goleta Union School District Board Room 401 North Fairview Avenue in Goleta We hope to see you all at the meeting! Post expires at 11:53pm on Friday March 15th, 2019 but will still be available in the archives.

Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net – 2/28/2019

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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 interesting net tonight with 12 check-ins, and net control Ken, KA6KEN. Tonight’s topics included: One antenna is causing RF interference in the shack, any suggestions? Working digital modes JT8, JT65 and JS8Call and seeing contacts in the waterfall and hearing the signals from the radios audio but no decodes. Same configuration, same computer, downloaded newest versions of WSJTX, JTAlertX, JS8Call and still no decodes. What gives? Local repeater and Echolink discussion. 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 and contribute the knowledge of new and seasoned amateur radio operators alike.

Yaesu System Fusion-DMR (YSF2DMR) Cross-Mode Repeater

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Over the past two years, there has been an explosion of interest in DMR amateur radio. Many SBARC members have been bitten by the DMR bug and they are chatting around the world on global Brandmeister talkgroups using hotspots and repeaters. While much of the attraction of DMR is the ability to work DX on a handheld transceiver, many local operators hang out on the local SBARC Brandmeister DMR Talkgroup (TG 31073).  In fact, every Tuesday night, the Digital Communications and Technology Net moves from 2m FM to TG 31073 at 21:00 Pacific Time. If you aren’t on the air with DMR yet, not to worry.  You may be able to chat on TG 31073 with a radio you already own! K6TZ operates a multimode digital repeater at La Vigia on the Mesa in Santa Barbara. We have recently reconfigured this repeater to bridge traffic from Yaesu System Fusion radios to TG 31073 using a new protocol called YSF2DMR. If you have a newer Yaesu radio, you may be digital-ready right now. Many new Yaesu amateur radio models available support System Fusion and are capable of connecting to the K6TZ digital repeater in order to bridge from System Fusion to DMR and TG 31073. Joining the local digital chatter on TG 31073 via System Fusion on the Santa Barbara South Coast is fairly straightforward. Just follow these steps: Obtain a DMR ID. If you have not already, click here to register your callsign with the DMR network and receive a unique DMR ID number. Your DMR ID is paired to your callsign on the DMR system and used to identify your transmissions. It takes a day or so to get a new DMR ID assigned and you only need to register once. Once you receive the confirmation email, keep it. You won’t need the number now using System Fusion but if you get bitten by the DMR bug in the future and want to explore further you will use this same DMR ID to configure a DMR radio. Set your amateur radio callsign in your System Fusion radio. Each radio model handles this differently. You must enter into your Yause radio the exact same callsign you registered to your DMR ID. The SBARC repeater will only bridge properly identified transmissions from System Fusion to DMR. So be sure you have input your callsign correctly and that you have received confirmation of… Continue reading →