Category Archives: Club News

General Club Meeting – April 21, 2023

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Our speaker for our April meeting will be Gene Swiech WB9COY. Gene will tell us how a team of STEM Ham Radio mentors have taken NOAA Sondes and re-purposed them for Amateur Radio use, adding cameras for high altitude JPEG photos. He will walk us through the modifications performed on a Sonde, and how to build out an infrastructure to receive the streaming data that creates a JPEG photo. Gene does this  in conjunction with high school students who are performing the launches, building receiving ground stations and antennas. We will be having our meeting in the regular place – in person – and we’ll also Zoom the meeting for those than can’t make it in person. SBARC General Club Meeting Friday, April 21, 2023 at 7:30 PM Goleta Union School District Board Room 401 North Fairview Avenue in Goleta Doors Open at 7:00pm and the meeting will start at 7:30pm SBARC K6TZ is also inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting if you can’t make it in person. Topic: SBARC General Meeting – April 21, 2023 Time: “Doors” open at 7:00pm and meeting starts at 7:30pm Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87609763720?pwd=ZDFvM24wNHVpUWRXWWlyZXdSOWtCZz09 Passcode: 363709 Post expires at 11:42pm on Friday April 21st, 2023 but will still be available in the archives.

SBARC General Meeting – March 17, 2023

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We’re back! In person meetings are back to stay for awhile. Once again, we had a presenter lined up for this month but we had to reschedule until next month because of a conflict with other plans. But we’re on for April and I think you will enjoy the presentation. This month we’re going to talk about Artificial Intelligence, specifically ChatGPT. ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot that can communicate with users in natural language and provide information or assistance on a variety of topics. It is designed to simulate human conversation and provide helpful responses to users’ queries in real-time. The chatbot uses machine learning algorithms to understand user inputs and generate appropriate responses. It can be used for customer support, personal assistance, or general information seeking purposes. Like it or not, this IS the next big thing and it WILL affect you in all kinds of ways. We’ll have a presentation and some demonstrations that are sure to be interesting!   SBARC General Club Meeting Friday, March 17 at 7:30 PM Goleta Union School District Board Room 401 North Fairview Avenue in Goleta Doors Open at 7:00pm and the meeting will start at 7:30pm SBARC K6TZ is also inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting if you can’t make it in person. Topic: SBARC General Meeting – March 17, 2023 Time: “Doors” open at 7:00pm and meeting starts at 7:30pm Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82745882888?pwd=TGMzVzNrTmp6eiswcU9jK0I3OEI3dz09 Passcode: 514505 Post expires at 11:00pm on Friday March 17th, 2023 but will still be available in the archives.

SBARC General Meeting – February 17, 2023

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We had a presenter lined up for this month but we had to reschedule until next month because of a conflict with other plans. So, we needed to come up with something else this month. Last year I tried to do a presentation over zoom about using a software defined radio (SDR) to operate the popular digital mode FT8. Unfortunately it was a failure because I needed to run Windows on a Mac to run the SDR software. Running 2 operating systems, the SDR software and Zoom was too much for my laptop so I was unable to get things working. This year, things have changed. The software I use is now available in a native Mac version so I’m going to try again. Levi K6LCM helped me do a test last night and everything worked great. So we’re on! We are going to be using Zoom again this month but it looks like we may be able to return to the old location for future meetings. That’s good news. we have a few things we need to do, but hopefully we’ll be able to get back to regular in-person meetings next month. SBARC K6TZ is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: SBARC General Meeting – Feb 17, 2123 Time: “Doors” open at 7:00pm and meeting starts at 7:30pm Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84625496314?pwd=TFlndlR3UU5rNnBDdVA1V1h3cnkyZz09 Meeting ID: 846 2549 6314 Passcode: 172026 Post expires at 11:00pm on Friday February 17th, 2023 but will still be available in the archives.

Work at the Club Station

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On Monday, December 19, we did a little tower work. We removed some old antennas and did quite a bit of cable removal as well. Part of the work also involved installing a new microwave dish to provide a network link to La Cumbre Peak. As soon as the La Cumbre Peak dish is installed, we’ll have a full time link between the two locations. Our first installed device will be an ADS-B receiver that will add to our constellation of receivers and provide coverage of the back country below the coastal mountain range. This will help Santa Barbara Search and Rescue obtain real time aircraft location information that is currently unavailable when an aircraft drops below the mountain tops. Wayne – AF6GX (picture shown) did the tower climbing, Michael – K6RQV provided ground assistance, and Brian – K6BPM programmed and tested the microwave radios.

November 2022 Election Results

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The winners of the SBARC Annual Election that took place on November 18, 2022 will all assume one-year terms as members of the board of directors on January 1, 2023. Brian Milburn K6BPM President / CEO Larry Martinez WA6MVJ Secretary Tom Saunders N6YX Treasurer / CFO Levi Maaia K6LCM Director at Large Dave Schmidt AI6VX Director at Large Wayne Beckman AF6GX Director at Large Mike Wapner K6QD Director at Large Additionally, the bylaws changes were approved by the membership on November 18.

November 18, 2022 General Meeting – Election and Home-brew Night

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November meetings are always election night meetings, so members who did not vote online will be able to vote in person. Of course we’ll all be tallying up the votes and announcing the winners, so plan on being there, even if you already voted. November meetings have traditionally also been Home-brew Night!  We invite everyone to bring a something you have built, or a project in progress, to show, demonstrate, and tell your ham friends about. Home-brew is what being a ham is all about! Anyone can go buy a radio, antenna or other accessory, but to many hams, building their own gear is much more fun and rewarding. So bring something (or a lot of things) because we’re all interested in seeing what you’re up to!  We will also be hosting this meeting on Zoom, if you can’t attend in person, but please try to be there if you can to congratulate the new board members, whoever they are! SBARC General Club Meeting Friday, November 18 at 7:30 PM Goleta Union School District Board Room 401 North Fairview Avenue in Goleta Zoom Details Topic: SBARC November Club Meeting Time: Nov 18, 2022 07:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting Meeting ID: 857 2208 3912 Passcode: 997581 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85722083912?pwd=NFhIMXBvYnRZWEhoYmZld1RjaW5BQT09 We hope to see you all at the meeting! Post expires at 8:01pm on Friday November 18th, 2022 but will still be available in the archives.