Category Archives: Field Day

Local radio operators to participate in national Field Day exercises at Chase Palm Park on June 22-23 June 18, 2024 – SANTA BARBARA, Calif. Despite the ubiquity of Internet-enabled cell phones, email, and text messaging, every year, whole regions find themselves in the dark, or worse. Wildfires, earthquakes, mudslides, storms, ice, and other disasters often leave people without the means to communicate. In these cases, the one consistent communications service that has never failed has been amateur (ham) radio. On the weekend of June 22-23, the public will have a chance to meet and talk with Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club (SBARC) operators and see for themselves what the amateur radio service is about, as radio operators across the nation will be holding public demonstrations of emergency communications abilities as part of the nationwide 2024 Amateur Radio Field Day. Every June, more than 40,000 amateur radio operators throughout North America set up temporary transmitting stations in public places to demonstrate amateur radio’s science, skill, and service to our communities and our nation. Field Day combines public service, emergency preparedness, community outreach, and technical skills all in a single event. Field Day has been an annual event since 1933, and remains the most popular event in amateur radio. Using only emergency power supplies, radio operators in all 50 states and Canada will construct emergency stations in parks, shopping malls, schools, and backyards. Their slogan, “when all else fails, amateur radio works,” is more than just words to the operators as they prove they can send analog and digital communications without the use of phone systems, the internet, or other infrastructure that can be compromised in a crisis. SBARC, established in 1920, has a long history of promoting education and emergency preparedness through amateur radio. SBARC is a non-profit, public benefit corporation organized to promote education for persons interested in telecommunications, to disseminate information about scientific discoveries and progress in the field, and to train communicators for public service and emergency communications. SBARC also encourages and sponsors experiments in electronics and promotes the highest standards of practice and ethics in the conduct of communications. This year, the SBARC Field Day site will feature several stations set up for worldwide, direct radio communication as well as our local radio repeater system. The public is welcome to observe and learn at the information table available on site. Members of the public interested in learning… Continue reading →

With just over a month until the Field Day, excitement is growing. Not only does SBARC have an excellent site at Chase Palm Field, but the solar cycle is surely approaching its peak! And, over twenty five people have expressed interest in attending Field Day in some capacity. It is sure to be a fun event! Since the last Field Day update, several individuals have graciously volunteered to prepare food and beverages for the event. JoAnne – KA6RPN, has kindly agreed to prepare a special treat for Sunday breakfast, Steve – AK6CE, has volunteered to grill burgers & hotdogs for a club picnic on Sunday and Les – W6CGE will arrange a variety of non-alcoholic beverages. Donations for food & beverage will be gratefully accepted at the time of the event. To aid in final preparations, we need your input once again. Please complete the survey via the link below indicating your participation preferences. This will enable us to purchase the right amount of food & beverages, and also to be prepared from a radio operations perspective. We realize that plans change, and so your response here will not preclude you from adjusting your plans to suit your needs as Field Day draws near. Survey Link:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VV3CC8S If you haven’t subscribed to the special SBARC Field Day mailing list, simply send a blank email to fieldday24+subscribe@sbarc.org  No subject or message is necessary, and you can unsubscribe any time you want. 73s from the SBARC Field Day Team Post expires at 2:27pm on Friday May 31st, 2024 but will still be available in the archives.

The SBARC Field Day team has secured permission from City of Santa Barbara Parks & Recreation to hold our Field Day activities at Chase Palm Field in Santa Barbara. This site offers many advantages over others considered including overnight use, favorable radio operation conditions, accessibility to all of our members, and visibility to the general public. Please take a moment to read the following, brief  summary of our plans for the SBARC Field Day event:   Field Day Plan We are now organizing teams to support Operations, Food & Entertainment and Administration & Safety aspects of Field Day. We will be in touch with those of you that expressed willingness to help via the Field Day survey. In the mean time, f you have questions or suggestions about Field Day 2024 feel free to send an email to the team at fieldday@sbarc.org 73s from the 2024 SBARC Field Day team!

The Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club has secured a site for the 2024 ARRL Field Day.  After considering a long list of sites and speaking with administrators of five of them, we obtained permission to operate from Girsch Park and Ellwood School, both of which are in Goleta. We selected Ellwood School for our Field Day site given that the Goleta Valley School District granted permission to operate over night, and the space available to us there is larger and quieter than at Girsch Park. Recognizing that Ellwood School is not as visible to the public as Girsch Park, and that our survey revealed a desire to make Field Day accessible to the public, we are working on a communication plan to raise awareness of our event.  Importantly, the planning team felt that conducting the 2024 Field Day in a quieter location will give us experience that we can apply to future field day events while allowing time to evaluate and negotiate with other, more public sites. We are now working hard on operations planning.  We will be in touch soon with those of you that expressed interest in getting involved.  And, we will communicate what to expect if you intend to operate your own station or a club station, or to attend socially. If you would like to help with or have questions about field day feel free to get in touch with either Warren Myers (KN6ZZI) or Mike Wapner (K6QD). Post expires at 7:35pm on Wednesday May 1st, 2024 but will still be available in the archives.