Category Archives: Club News

June 2015 General Club Meeting

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If you missed this months meeting, you missed a great presentation by Levi – K6LCM on his recent trip to Cuba. Levi had the rare opportunity to join a research delegation visiting the normally closed off island nation to meet the people, experience the culture and even get together with a local ham club in Havana. Listen to how Levi initially made contact with them and developed a relationship with this group of Cuban hams. It is very interesting to hear about the resourcefulness of the Cuban people and how they get by without access to equipment and parts to fix their radios, vehicles, and all the other things we take for granted. The full meeting audio is available in the audio archives area. Listen to Levi’s presentation portion of the meeting below.   Post expires at 8:23am on Saturday July 4th, 2015 but will still be available in the archives.

Amateur Radio Newsline Co-Founder, Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, SK

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ARRL 6/12/2014 – A well-known voice in the Amateur Radio news media has gone silent. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF, of Santa Clarita, California, died June 11 following a period of ill health. He was 73. Pasternak was co-founder (with Jim Hendershot, WA6VQP) ofAmateur Radio Newsline™ (formerly The Westlink Report) ham radio news webcast and a frequent presence at Amateur Radio conventions. Pasternak served as Newsline’s managing editor and occasional newscaster for the program. Read More…

General Club Meeting – Friday, June 19, 2015

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SBARC member and local Santa Barbara ham Levi, K6LCM recently had the opportunity to travel to Cuba legally under the U.S.’s new relaxed travel policies. While he was there he visited a Cuban Amateur Radio station and met with local radioaficionados in Havana! Levi will share photos and video from his visit which includes a never-before-seen peek at some of the ingenious homebrewing and repairs that have kept Cubans stations on the bands – including operating many digital modes – despite so many challenges to maintaining radio equipment. Join us for Levi’s presentation at the June SBARC Club meeting. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to get an inside look at life in this mysterious and forbidden island and learn what being a ham in Cuba is really like! Also on the agenda for the evening will be a brief discussion about this year’s ARRL-sponsored Field Day, which starts on Friday, June 26, for the setup and goes on the air for 24 hours straight beginning at 11:00 AM Saturday, June 27. Tom, N6YX, is da man in charge. He invites you all to come out to the Camino Real Shopping Center at Storke Rd. and Hollister Ave., just across from the movie theater, and see what you can do to help us to get on the air and make those contacts and to show the public what Amateur Radio is all about. What an opportunity that will be! There is some talk about a BBQ afterwards. Come find out. We meet Friday, June 19, 2015 at the Goleta Union School District, 401 No. Fairview Ave. across the street from the Goleta Library. The doors should open around 7:00 PM so come early and shake some hands, especially those of Levi.

Newsline Off The Air For Now

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Our normal broadcast of Amateur Radio Newsline on Wednesdays at 7pm will be off the air for the time being. Bill Pasternak, WA6ITF has had some serious health issues in recent months and Newsline has continued with the help of temporary volunteers. New volunteers are needed to continue operation and they are actively being solicited. So until some new people can be brought on board to help keep things running again, weekly production of Newsline will cease. We wish the best for Bill and hope for a speedy recovery.

New Emergency Communications List Server Discussion Group

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We now have a special list server “discussion group” set up for members (and non-members) interested in emergency communications. The purpose for this is to discuss how SBARC can operate as a club, and how the average amateur radio operator in general can help in the event of an emergency. This is not affiliated with ARES or any other group, nor does it interfere with their mission. As a club, and as licensed amateur radio operators, one of our civic responsibilities is to be prepared to help our community in any way we can. We hope you will join and contribute to the discussion! To join the list simply send a blank email to JoinEmCommList@sbarc.org. Further instructions will be sent to you.

Members and BoD Recognize “Shackmaster”

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At 10:00 AM on Saturday, April 25 2015, a group of SBARC members, including the club president and BoD members, gathered at the American Red Cross building at State and Alamar in Santa Barbara to present an official citation in recognition of the tremendous efforts put forth by Dave – K6HWN in his role as the official “Shackmaster” at the K6TZ Club Station and the coordinator of many of the SBARC on-air nets. First licensed years ago, Dave returned to the hobby in the mid-2000s when he began operating on 2-meters from his boat in Santa Barbara Harbor.  He quickly made friends on the K6TZ repeater and found a second home on the air with Santa Barbara-area hams.  Shortly thereafter, Dave committed to opening access to the nearly forgotten SBARC Club Station in the Red Cross basement by creating open station hours where he could host members and guests and train them on the operation of the station’s many HF, VHF and UHF radios.  It is through this mentoring that many new hams have gotten on the air for the first time. Quite a few seasoned hams have returned to the hobby and the club also as a result of the Shackmaster’s efforts to provide a nexus for activity around the K6TZ repeaters and Club Station. Over the years, Dave has also taken on the duties of recruiting net control operators for many of the club-sponsored nets and hosts the “Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net” himself on Thursday evenings.  Even casual listeners to the K6TZ 146.79 repeater will certainly recognize Dave’s voice from “K6HWN Announcements” his trademark periodic bulletin, which he reads throughout the day on the repeater and collects for posting on this Web site and at k6hwn.org. On violation of a registered trademark you can sue a person for infringement. Trademark lawyers serving in Chicago can help you out legally. The plaque, presented by SBARC board member Brian – K6BPM reads: With sincere appreciation to Dave – K6HWN “SHACKMASTER” for your years of dedication, mentorship, friendliness and being “The Voice of K6TZ” Presented in 2015 by the Board of Directors and the members of the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club. “Its really hard to believe this,” said Dave upon receiving the award. “Many individuals have expressed (their appreciation) to me but never as a group; this is a ‘wow!’” An audio recording of the presentation can be heard here:  

Bill Talanian’s Presentation at the February 2015 General Meeting

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If you missed the February 2015 General Meeting, you really missed out on a good presentation. Bill Talanian W1UUQ gave us a great presentation on the various repeaters we use in the Santa Barbara area. Most of us probably have no idea how sophisticated how Club communications backbones are, but in an hourlong presentation that went by way too fast, Bill gave us plenty of detail illustrated with pictures about the unbelievably sophisticated infrastructure we all take for granted when we press the transmit button on our radios. Starting with  the main repeater site on the Mesa, Bill took us on a guided tour through it’s humble beginnings with a couple of leaky shacks and equipment covered with blue tarps, to the sophisticated communications center it is today. His tour continued give us a behind the scenes look at La Cumbre Peak,  Santa Ynez Peak, Broadcast Peak, UCSB, and Santa Cruz Island. Most of us think our repeaters are only for 2m, 220 and 440 voice communications. Not so fast. Bill showed us many of the other things he and a handful of volunteers maintain on a constant basis. These include weather stations, APRS digipeaters, AIS reporting for maritime purposes, aviation, and many other things. One of the more interesting aspects of the presentation was how Bill and others have bartered and wheeled-and-dealed over the years to get the club access to literally hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of top quality equipment, towers, and whatever else it has required to make us a first class club. He is a master at horse trading and scavenging and fruits of his many years of work are largely unknown. If you missed this meeting, you missed one of the best presentations we have had. The amazing number of resources available to the club made possible through Bills hard work truly deserve our appreciation. You can listen to audio recording of the the meeting below. The presentation is 1 hour 37 minutes and you will need to stay on this page to ensure you do not interrupt playback.