Category Archives: Club News

May 20, 2016 General Club Meeting

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Our guest speaker for the night was Dick Norton, N6AA, Director of the Southwestern Division of the American Radio Relay League. It is always a pleasure to hear Dick speak. He began with some ARRL news and updates, then treated us to a talk and slideshow about a DX Expedition he participated in on Ascension Island! It was quite interesting and Dick’s mix of information and humor is always fun. It was also Old Timer’s night, and the winner of the earliest licensed ham was Joe – K6DXW. He has been licensed for over 50 years! Also on display was cherished pieces of vintage radio equipment and old photos from our members collections. If you missed the meeting, you missed the opportunity to see some really interesting gear. We have come a long way! The audio for the meeting is in two parts. Head over to the Audio Archives and enjoy Dick’s presentation..   Post expires at 7:46am on Wednesday June 22nd, 2016 but will still be available in the archives.

Technical Elmering and Mentoring Net –

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The audio archive can best 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 a good turn out tonight with 7 check-ins plus net control, Garrett (AG6RQ) and some chat room visitors! Tonight’s subjects included: Will a wire antenna build up a static charge in the wind? Eric’s (KG6WXC) Mesh Network connection progress. Plotting your location with Google Earth and then magnetic headings to Mesh network targets. Using Virtual Network interfaces to connect to Mesh network and regular internet simultaneously. Joining the SBARC mesh networking e-mail list server. Antenna COAX outdoor sealant suggestions (silicone self sealing tape). Tune in to the SBARC TM&E Net next Thursday at 8:00 PM (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 TM&E net each week and join in with questions and /or answers to and contribute the knowledge of new and seasoned amateur radio operators alike.

Packet Radio Upgrades

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We’ve recently upgraded our packet radio capabilities here in Santa Barbara. Very popular back in the 80’s, packet lost much of it’s appeal with the advent of the Internet and email. However, for those of us interested in digital modes, packet radio is making a comeback. Unlike out normal HF oriented digital modes, packet lets us communicate with email like messages between users locally, and users of other packet systems around Southern California and beyond. The K6TZ-3 packet station on La Cumbre Peak offers a PBBS (SBPBBS) system for messages and a Digipeater (SBDIGI) for relaying packet messages to other systems. It runs on a Kantronics KPC3 TNC and broadcasts on 145.050 at 25w. It has incredible reach easily reaching other packet stations down the coast of California. Recent modifications were to add KA-Node capability. This allows us to connect to out KN-Node (SBNODE) and connect to other KA-Nodes. You can connect from node to node to “chain” a connection from here to almost anywhere within a reasonable distance. Similarly, others can reach us from remote locations the same way. I also installed two of my own packet stations here locally. They are mostly for fun and have nowhere near the coverage the La Cumbre Peak station has. However, they allow me to have my own mailbox system and people can leave me a message on my own systems. Packet radio is far from dead. In a SHTF emergency, packet capabilities will allow 100% accurate text based messages to be sent quickly and easily. In my opinion, this is an extremely valuable skill to have and even if its popularity is not what it once was, it enhances our capabilities as individual amateurs as well as a club. It isn’t as complicated as it may seem, and is actually fun and challenging. We discuss and operate packet on the Tuesday night SBARC Digital Modes Net, so if you have an interest, be sure to check in. – Brian K6BPM

Repeater Updates From Our Trustee

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Effective April 15, the former GE Mstr II repeater and its associated ACC RC-850 on 146.790 at the La Vigia site has been decommissioned. In its place is a GE MSTR III which will act as a surrogate system without any bells and whistles. It has the required time out timer and a CW ID. All synthesized voice announcements, autopatch and macro functions are disabled for the time being. The remote 2-meter receiver at UCSB and voter will be temporarily offline. As explained by Matt Lechliter, W6KGB, at last months club meeting, the Mstr II will be converted to a uMstr with the addition of a new RLC Club Controller. Essentially the former repeater retains the same electronic design configuration. However, all the mixed cabling used for multiple variants will be discarded which will make the system easier to maintain by improving the common interconnections. A single RLC controller is now capable of handling six serial interfaced independent systems, multiple macros, and planned system interfaces tailored to the needs of emergency services and daily users. Commonality of a single controller will have the capability to interface the six-meter repeater, 440 IRLP repeater, the UCSB remote link and voter, ELT receiver, NWS warning system, etc. Command integration of the 146.79 (at La Vigia) and 145.18 (at Santa Ynez Peak) repeaters will be possible via ethernet controls over the club’s microwave data system. Most importantly the controller will be ethernet capable which will ease the load on control operators through remote computer-enabled configuration. We shall try to maintain the basic configuration of the previous club and ARES net functions as best possible. But no two systems have the same design features and capabilities so we must adjust and learn. As we move forward the first task is to upgrade the MSTR II to a uMstr. This should take about 2 months. Meanwhile the task of interfacing the six-meter and 440 system will be on-going. In time you shall see a much more capable system. A last word about the RC-850. The controller was way ahead of its time in the 70’s. It has served the club extremely well by performing a myriad of timed macro’s, voice synthesizer, paging variants, auto-patch capabilities, plus many control bells and whistles as a single system controller. The limitation of the 850 was interfacing of remotes or additional functions plus finding personnel who wanted to spend their… Continue reading →

General Club Meeting Coming Up on April 15, 2016

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(Darryl – KF6DI) In 1957 the world was in its 12th year of a Cold War with the Soviet Union. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union stunned the world with its surprise launch of Sputnik-1, a two foot diameter 180 pound man-made satellite orbiting the earth every 92 minutes. This Soviet achievement caused the United States and Canada to build a massive military defense system which would give warning of an attack by “orbiting bombs.” ICBMs had not been invented yet. That system, the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System, will be described in detail by a person who worked on the BMEWS project for 400 days in Northern Greenland. Skip Aubry was first licensed as KN2LXC in 1955. In 1964, while serving in the United States Air Force, he was a certified Electronics Counter-measures instructor for *SAC EB-47 bomber flight crews. * Strategic Air Command In 1968 he joined RCA Service Company as a Tech Rep and was assigned to support the RCA BMEWS presence in Northern Greenland. As an RCA Tech Rep he was initially a BMEWS radar System Engineer and later a BMEWS Computer operator. While in Greenland he was licensed by the Danish Government and was active on the ham bands for more than a year as OX5AC. Come find out more about this fascinating fellow at our April SBARC Club meeting and about what it was like to think that during the next few seconds our lives and those of our neighbors could be turned upside down. We hold our Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club meetings at the Goleta Union School District, 401 N. Fairview Ave. in Goleta, right across the street from the Goleta Library. Doors open at 7:00 PM and the meeting starts at 7:30 PM. Post expires at 1:00am on Saturday April 16th, 2016 but will still be available in the archives.

General Club Meeting – March 18, 2016

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We had a packed meeting this month in more ways than one! It was very well attended with a 59% increase in members in attendance compared with our recent averages. On top of that we had three presenters too! It started off with Jon Kent of the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Aero Squadron. Jon explained what the Aero Squadron does and related some great stories. Jon has been a volunteer for decades and has flown many missions in support of local law enforcement, county government, and emergency services. He is truly a dedicated to public service, and is an inspiration to all of us. Gear, gear and more gear! The tables were packed with radio equipment that immediately drew interest from our members. Bill Talanian W1UUQ showed off some of his one-of-a-kind creations that help him support a wide variety of services including air observer support, repeater maintenance, and emergency services support. Also displayed on the main table was a repeater, controller, amplifiers and other gear slated soon for SBARC service. Out third speaker, Matt Lechliter, W6KGB, explained what it all was. Matt treated us to an extremely informative hour explaining how he hand builds our repeater systems for us. Although we seldom hear him on the air, he is nevertheless hard at work repairing our existing equipment and building new things for our future. Matt typically takes Motorola and GE commercial repeaters had hand fabricates new parts and electronics to turn them into top quality amateur radio repeater systems. Calling his creations “home-brew” does not do them justice. They are every bit as professionally constructed – if not more so – that the finest factory made ones. SBARC is extremely lucky to have people like Bill and Matt on our team. There is nothing “amateur” in what they do. Post expires at 1:50am on Wednesday April 20th, 2016 but will still be available in the archives.

March 18, 2016 General Meeting Program

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Come to our March 18 Club meeting and hear about the forward upgrade plans for the hilltop repeater sites for the Mesa site and about our 220 MHz Repeater Site at Santa Ynez Peak. Matt Lechliter, W6KGB, will brief everyone about these upgrade plans. These upgrades are now underway and should be available for the users by mid-year. How many of you have had the pleasure of meeting Jon Kent of the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Aero Squadron? Jon holds the rank of Captain in that fine organization. Want to know why the Sheriff would want to get into a smaller aircraft and fly it over residential areas? Why would he fly it over forested areas?  Maybe Jon can fill us in. At our meeting, Jon will be ably assisted by our own Bill Talanian, W1UUQ. If you have no plans for dinner before the meeting, you might like to join Matt, Jon, Bill and us at Cody’s in the Turnpike Shopping Center at 5:30 PM. We hold our Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club meetings at the Goleta Union School District, 401 N. Fairview Ave. in Goleta, right across the street from the Goleta Library. Doors open at 7:00 PM and the meeting starts at 7:30 PM. Feel free to bring a guest! Join or renew your membership in SBARC while you’re there. Submitted by Darryl, KF6DI Post expires at 11:40pm on Friday March 18th, 2016 but will still be available in the archives.