Category Archives: Club News

Santa Ynez Peak linked to La Vigia (Mesa) repeater

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Thanks to the efforts of the Telecommunications Services Committee, we are testing a new link between the Santa Ynez Peak 2-meter club repeater (W6YJO) and the main 146.79 2-meter club repeater (K6TZ) at the La Vigia/Mesa site.  This link will allow participants in North County to join the many nets on the 146.79 repeater and more easily engage in QSOs with hams on the South Coast. Here are the details: 146.79- PL 131.8 in Downtown Santa Barbara is now linked to 145.18- PL 131.8 on Santa Ynez Peak.  Both are standard negative offsets (600 KHz).  Give both linked repeaters a try and see which one you can get into best! At this point, this link is a beta test.  We hope to have it up full time during the test but there are no guarantees. If you have questions or experience any problems, please contact us.

Lois Clark McCoy SK

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Lois Clark McCoy (1920 – 2016) Lois was born Lois Clark October 1, 1920. A graduate of Skidmore College with a Bachelors of Science in 1942. She married Dr. Herbert McCoy and had 7 children. An avid archer and outdoors-woman, she was active in the Sierra Club when she became interested in Search and Rescue. In 1968 she helped form the San Diego Mountain Rescue team, was an officer of SDMRT, and participated in many exercises and operations. Lois moved on to the national level and was executive secretary of the National Association for Search and Rescue. In 2002 the NASAR Service award was renamed the Lois Clark McCoy Service Award in recognition of her many years of service to Wild-land and Urban Search and Rescue. From 1982 through 1987 she served as South County Emergency Coordinator and Operations Officer for the County of Santa Barbara California. After leaving public service Lois became interested in Urban Search and Rescue and co-founded the National Institute for Urban Search and Rescue. She served as CEO & president of NIUSR until 2012 when she retired. She developed one more program, Walking Drum, which was a social media based Think Tank for Readiness, Response, and Recovery. She had a second retirement in 2014. Lois received recognition for her work and the work of her teams. This included the US Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service 2009. Lois Clark McCoy passed away September 19, 2016. She passed peacefully with her chin up and her boots on. Please join Lois’ family and friends in Santa Barbara California on Saturday October 1st (Lois’ Birthday) for a Wake at Harry’s Plaza Cafe (http://www.harryssb.com/ ) starting at 5PM. On Sunday October 2nd 11:30 am , there will be a “Celebration of Life” at the outdoor amphitheater at Godric Grove, in Elings Park, followed by a reception on the Grove Terrace. http://www.elingspark.org/ In lieu of flowers please send a donation to The American Red Cross Disaster Services or volunteer your time with a charity of your choice.

Rescuing “Equine Rescue”

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Submitted by Bill W1UUQ – Unbeknownst to me a neighbor had a son who worked at the Santa Barbara Humane Society (HS). In a chance meeting I asked many questions about animal and equine rescue during states of disasters or emergencies. With literally hundreds of animals to care for during an area evacuation I wondered how this group communicated with each other trying to save many horses and other personal pets. What I found was rather interesting. Also, if you are looking for vaccination at home for your pets, you can get them done from here! The Humane Society was using mobile and HT CB radio for baseline communications. CB units would be handed to volunteers with the expectation that they could get wide area communications. It did not quite work well this way. In a recent equine evacuation of 57 horses at the Circle-Bar-B ranch on Refugio Road pointed out the need for a mobile to base and mobile to mobile communications system that works in tight spaces and deep canyons. Local and State government has no means of equine or animal rescue therefore it relies upon local groups to handle the evacuation of animals. When a state of emergency exists the Humane Society will receive instructions for equine rescue from County Animal Control. The HS cannot technically operate on public-service channels but does have contact with County Animal Control by telephone and personal contact. From that point scores of resident volunteers take charge using horse trailers. Meanwhile the HS procedure is to set up a mobile command post at the Earl Warren Showgrounds to receive and house the animals if staging is required within the Santa Barbara to Goleta corridor. The command post also has an amateur radio transceiver but no procedures were ever established with how and when to use amateur radio operators. This would require the activation of many radio operators to man each position, many of whom do not have the required Disaster Service Worker identification. The HS personnel have a DSW ID card that allows a field directive by Animal Control to initiate animal rescue. However, a DSW-V volunteer card and swearing-in could be issued on the spot by a local official but all this takes up valuable time. After weighing many options I found it best to equip the HS with stand-alone VHF communications on a business-band repeater channel and not depend on amateurs… Continue reading →

General Club Meeting – September 16, 2016

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[Darryl – KF6DI]  Come meet Ryan McMahon who is the Disaster Program Manager of the American Red Cross serving the San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. Ryan is excited about having the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club use the excellent facilities of the Santa Barbara Chapter building of the American Red Cross. You are probably aware that SBARC recently had our annual Bazaar in the parking lot of the Red Cross. You do know that our Club station resides in their building. Of course you know that we have a number of antenna systems situated there. They permit us to park our Rover van in their parking lot. But, did you know that SBARC holds its monthly Board meetings in the Red Cross Board Room? All these things they do for us – at no charge! We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful relationship with the American Red Cross. Ryan has been with the Red Cross for just over 2 years now in his present position. He was active duty Air Force for 8 years before that. He was an Airborne Mission Systems Specialist and flew on the E-3 AWACS (the plane with the big RADAR on it). When he wasn’t flying, he was in the Readiness shop learning about emergency management and planning operational readiness exercises. You can tell where his heart is. Ryan has 2 kids, ages 8 and 5 and is interested in becoming an entrepreneur at some point in the future. Ryan is excited about talking to us about the Red Cross’s message of “Get a kit. Make a plan. Be Informed.” He will highlight some of the simple things that can be done in your home/workplace that will greatly increase your preparedness efforts for when things start hitting the fan! Also, at this SBARC meeting, you will hear from President Brian Milburn, K6BPM, about the continuing saga of our Digital Mesh Network and how you can get involved with it. By now you have probably heard that there is a whole lot of progress being made on the project and that more and more of us are finding it very exciting. Brian will also let us know more about how the Club Station is evolving – and it certainly is. Levi Maaia, K6LCM, would like to tell us about our Telecommunications group and what they are doing. Also, at this meeting, we will… Continue reading →

Club Meeting August 19, 2016

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Via Darryl, KF6DI – Our August 19, 2016 Club meeting we are in for a neat presentation from Benjamin ‘Ben’ Kuo, KK6FUT, from Newbury Park. Jim Fortney, K6IYK, our ARRL Santa Barbara Section Manager sent out a note announcing the recent appointment of Ben as Technical Specialist for the Santa Barbara Section and Ben will regale us with much of his collection of small electronic projects that he either designed or built or both. He is very enthusiastic about building things and wants to impart that excitement to our members and show them how they can also have as much fun with Amateur Radio as he has. At this meeting we will also raffle off 2 more of those neat handheld frequency counters and, hopefully, the neat shelf system that we didn’t sell quite enough tickets for last month. Bring your tickets from last month’s meeting. Please join Ben Kuo and us for dinner at Cody’s at 5:30 PM before the meeting. I am certain you will enjoy yourself! Post expires at 1:00am on Saturday August 20th, 2016 but will still be available in the archives.

3D Printed Powerpole Distribution Box

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In my never-ending effort to upgrade my home and portable stations, I directed some effort toward improving my power connections. After some research, I decided to use Anderson Powerpole connectors. These are the standard ARES power connector and they have been thoroughly tested and used by Amateur Radio operators around the world. After crimping and installing the connectors on all my radio power cables, I ran into an issue. How do I power more than one radio from a single power source? Looking around online, I found a couple of companies that sold Powerpole distribution panels, but most of them did not fit the bill. They were all too expensive or too large for my application. After looking around some more, I decided to explore some homemade options. I ran across this design, freely available on the popular 3D model sharing site, Thingiverse. I downloaded the files and had a friend print the box on his Makerbot Replicator 2 3D printer. The print turned out quite nicely, and all the components that I ordered from Mouser fit perfectly. Each side of the box snapped together cleanly and after a few weeks of everyday use at my home station, I can confidently say it works like a charm and will be a convenient piece of equipment for years to come! Total cost: $7.63 + S/H. The following is a time-lapse and build log of the distribution box for those of you that might want to build one of your own!   Time-lapse – In real time, the building portion of the project only took around 30 minutes. Click below to continue reading.