Category Archives: Club News

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.

Club Meeting April 20: Test Bench in a Backpack

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Wayne Beckman AF6GX will be the speaker this month, presenting a “Test Bench in a Backpack” program. He will give us a talk and demonstration of very portable and powerful test equipment that is much smaller and less expensive than earlier instruments because these new devices rely on being connected to a computer to utilize the processing and display capability of the computer. When used with a laptop computer this also makes the instruments battery powered very portable. Wayne works along with Bill, W1UUQ keeping our infrastructure maintained and frequently works in remote places where it is difficult if not impossible to run back to the shop for a tool or piece of equipment. See how he makes the best use of sometimes limited space and weight so that they can get the job done. SBARC General Club Meeting Friday, April 20th, 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 1:00am on Saturday April 21st, 2018 but will still be available in the archives.