Category Archives: Club News

Field Day Report From Ken KA6KEN

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Dear SBARC Members, I would like to thank all those who attended Field Day this year.  The turn-out was fantastic. Elings Park was a bit cold and we never did see the sun, but perhaps that was better than hot and dusty (isn’t it amazing how it went from cold and overcast two weeks ago to 107 degrees last week)? We had two stations running (plus the Get-on-the-Air, or GOTA, station).  We used our K6TZ call for the primary two stations and K6SBZ for the GOTA station.  Our class was “2A” and our section was “SB”. We assembled and installed the massive Force-12 antenna on a rotator atop the 50′ pneumatic mast on the Rover along with an 80-meter dipole, we set up the two-element StepIR on a push-up mast (that was a feat) along with a 40/80 meter dipole, and we erected three fiberglass masts with guy ropes to support a G5RV multi-band center-fed di-pole antenna as an inverted-V at about 30′ at its center-point. Our total score was 2,236, comprised of 553 QSO’s (multiplied by 2 since we used less than 150watts for all QSOs) plus 1,130 bonus points.  For more details (like bonus points break-down), click here and download the file called “ARRL Field Day Entry Form as submitted.pdf” (note you must add the Total Bonus Points to the Claimed Score for the final score).  If you want to find out more about comparative scores check out the ARRL web site for last year’s scores; this year’s scores will not be published until November.  Also, check out the ARRL Contest Soapbox by clicking on and selecting “2018 ARRL Field Day” in the Event drop-down for pictures and comments people have posted regarding Field Day – they are still streaming in. The band conditions were not as bad as predicted.  We actually had some pretty solid runs.  In fact, the team of Dennis WB6OBB and Jim N6SXB managed a rate of 128 QSOs per hour, at their peak!  While Dennis is a seasoned contestor, this was Jim’s first; Jim was logging for Dennis.  Congrats to the dynamic duo!  Now if we could only sustain that rate, we would have scored 12,288 points in 24 hours across the two stations (including our 2x multiplier for running on emergency power).  We all have something to work toward next year! We made 273 QSOs on 20 meters, 214 on 40 meters, and… Continue reading →

Silent Key – Bud Allain AC6WR

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Our friend and fellow ham Bud Allain AC6WR passed away on Friday, June 22 2018. Any visitor to the club station on Saturdays knew Bud. He was our “Assistant Shackmaster” for a few years and would drive all the way down from Buellton just to open the shack at 9am and close at 12pm. He would make the coffee, clean the room and take out the trash thanklessly every week. If you had a problem with a radio, Bud would take it home and fix it. He never complained, never late, and rarely missed a Saturday. He was a great guy, and we’ll miss him. Bud’s obituary, written by his daughter Kathy, Bud Allain passed away unexpectedly surrounded by family, Friday, June 22, 2018. He was born July 10, 1930, in Marshfield, Wisconsin. Bud was preceded in death by his wife Gini Allain. He is survived by his daughters Kathy Allain, Sandra (Cheryl Chyla) Allain and his son Buddy (Kelley) Allain; four grandchildren, Zackary, Travis, Megan (Nick Davy), Austin, and four great grandchildren, Brayden, Lyla, Grayson and Emersyn; his sister Delores Knight of Stillwater, OK, and brother James (Kay) Allain of Clinton, IA. In 1972 Bud and family moved from Wisconsin to Goleta as part of a job transfer with Delco Electronics, his employer until he retired as an engineer in 1993. For the next 10 years, he volunteered for Habitat for Humanity working tirelessly on several projects in the Santa Barbara community. In 2003, Bud and Gini moved to Buellton where his passion for ham radios rekindled. He was an active member in the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club and would drive to SB each Saturday to participate in meetings, assist with club business and just hang out with club members. Word also spread in the valley that there was an expert tube radio repairman who could fix any radio, no matter the condition or age! You were a rare soul and you will be missed, dad. A funeral mass will be held Friday, July 6, 10:00am, at Old Mission Santa Ines in Solvang. A committal service will follow at Calvary Cemetery in Santa Barbara. From Darryl KF6DI On March 16, 1998, this tall, quiet, kindly fellow named ‘Bud’ Allain came to the third session of the Technician classes I was teaching at the Goleta Valley Community Hospital and asked if he could join the class. Of course I threw him… Continue reading →

General Club Meeting – Friday June 15th 2018

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Join us for an interesting presentation from Michael – K6RQV titles “The NAS in a nutshell”.  A quick en-route/terminal system overview of the National Aerospace System from a technician’s perspective. Michael works for the FAA as a systems technician in the Santa Barbara area, and we’ll learn about all the work that goes on behind the scenes to keep our air travel safe and reliable.     SBARC General Club Meeting Friday, June 15th, 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 10:35pm on Friday June 15th, 2018 but will still be available in the archives.

Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net – 5/17/2018

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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 informative net tonight with 10 check-ins plus net control, Chuck – K5CAW and some chat room visitors! Tonight’s subjects included: What does the little orange button at the top of the AnyTone AT-D868UV do? (Hint, it’s user programmable within the code plug, mine toggles transmit power levels). AnyTone DMR radio – Getting off promiscuous mode and knowing which talk group was being received. How do you know if a piece of coax is good or not? What are the 4 power level settings in the AnyTone DMR radio? 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.

General Club Meeting – May 18th, 2018

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Our general club meeting this month will feature a presentation from Gene Nelson Ph.D KE5HXX on converting gas generators to propane. Many of us have generators that don’t get a lot of use but want them to be ready to go when the need arrises. We have all found that storing gas is a pain, you need to add stabilizer and remember to replace gasoline every year or two. Generators also don’t like sitting around with gasoline in them for a long time and we often find that we can’t get them started when we need them. Well, Gene has a solution and will tell us about it step by step. He will also give us an outdoor demonstration. This month’s meeting is also Old-Timers night. Come pay your respects to our old-timers and bring your old radios to show off. We’ll introduce our old-timers at the beginning of the meeting, then we’ll give everyone plenty of time after the presentation to check out members gear from yesteryear. SBARC General Club Meeting Friday, May 18th, 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 8:02pm on Friday May 18th, 2018 but will still be available in the archives.

Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net – 5/03/18

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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 informative net tonight with 12 check-ins plus net control, Brian – K6BPM and some chat room visitors! Tonight’s subjects included: Guidance on receiving a new AnyTone DMR radio and getting it set up. When you build an antenna, how can you test it and know you built it properly? (Amount of gain, etc.) Chuck, K5CAW’s new ZUMspot display. What do you do if you’re ever involved in answering a distress call on ham radio. 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.

Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net – 4/26/2018

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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 informative net tonight with 14 check-ins plus net control, Frank – K6FLD and some chat room visitors! Tonight’s subjects included: Will an unpowered or possibly unconnected antenna have an adverse affect on other antennas in use in its proximity? When testing an antenna with an analyzer before hanging it, is height above ground important? Recommendations for a good, reasonably priced antenna analyzer. DMR band plan and changing to our new recommended frequency. Difference between static and dynamic talk groups on DMR. 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.