Category Archives: Club News

Submitted by Bill – W1UUQ – Seldom in ones lifetime do we get very close to royalty. Outside of a small group of like professionals I try to avoid any political event or pomp with any head of state. That is until I served in the upper NE corner of Thailand on the Laotian border in the mid 1960’s. On a few occasions the King of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej, made visits to NE Thailand for official ceremonies. As part of the Military Advisory Group (MAGTHAI) I would have access to official Thai events and invited to attend as a foreigner (falang) with the military. The King was granted HS1A in 1989 but as far back as the mid 1960’s we knew the HS1A call sign was always reserved for the King. During the mid-sixties ham radio was out of bounds within the local population except for a small number government officials and ex-pats, mostly Americans. As Fred Laun, K3ZO, points out in the ARRL release the King would get on 2 meters only. I operated as HS3WT (my initials) along with a handful that kept ham radio going even though it was not recognized by the ARRL. The war in SE Asia was in full swing as the US built up the Thai regional forces supporting US Forces in Vietnam and the so called secret-war in Laos. Radio was always viewed with great suspicion by local officials regardless of affiliation so it was best to have close contact with local military officials. But as Americans if you had an official US military or government connection it made the process much easier. There was no reciprocity with the US during this period. The King and I were both about the same age and both of us were born in Massachusetts. If I ever had the opportunity to speak with the King there was plenty to talk about. Usually I would team up with Don Riebhoff, K7ZZ/HS3DR, (now deceased). Typically a local ceremony in this region was void of any press or foreigners although a US Embassy official would be represented. These events were strictly for the Thai people and it was best to simply remain unseen in the background and stay quiet. The King in military uniform and his wife Queen Sirikit would usually arrive in his Avro twin at the UdonThani Royal Thai Air Base then helicopter to the local… Continue reading →

Thanks to some very hard work by Eric KG6WXC, and with some help from Levi K6LCM, we now have a live, near real-time map online that displays the status of our mesh network. Each mesh node has settings where the node owner can enter their station coordinates, and many users have done this. Eric devised a way to poll the network and read the coordinates and other details about each node and display them on a map. Then he went further, and calculated the link quality between nodes and displays that as a color coded line on the map. This is a great addition to our network toolbox and a fun thing to check out. We can see how the network is performing at in a visual, easy to understand format. Check it out here! Post expires at 8:19am on Wednesday November 30th, 2016 but will still be available in the archives.

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 (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.

[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 →