What’s happening at SBARC? Here you will find the latest club news, events, projects, net activities, and news from our special interest groups (SIGS).
Be sure to check in frequently so you don’t miss out on any of the interesting things going on with the club and its members!
We have moved content for the Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net here, and content for the Digital Modes Net here.
[Darryl – KF6DI] The November 18, 2016 SBARC Club meeting will be a Triple Header. First, this will be our Sixth Annual Home Brew night. Bring whatever you have that you had a hand in — designing, building, modifying, running — all will count. Put something in writing next to your entry to let us know about what you did. You can even demonstrate it.
Second, this will be our chance to vote for those whom we want to serve SBARC on our Board of Directors for the year 2017. A slate was proposed at our October Club meeting and can be found on here. Nominations will also be accepted from the floor from those in good standing for those in good standing, should they accept the nomination, in addition to those nominated last month. Be sure to bring along your SBARC membership card so we can quickly verify your eligibility to vote.
We have two guest speakers who will honor us and inspire us with a most interesting program about Novim, the group formed at the University of California campus in Santa Barbara to create a collaborative problem-solving approach to address widespread and complicated problems, modeled after approaches at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP).
Michael Ditmore, W7HUT, who is multi-term Past President of SBARC and is the Executive Director of Novim, began his business career with IBM as a systems engineer. After receiving an MBA from Stanford in 1970, he relocated to Germany as Director of European Operations for Canberra Industries. Following the sale of his division in 1972, he returned to California, joining a startup – ROLM Corporation, where he served as regional manager for marketing and sales. The company was sold to IBM in 1979. Michael subsequently founded and sold 2 high technology medical device companies.
In 1995 Michael co-founded and served as Chairman and CEO of the Systems and Software Consortium, a non-profit association of 150 companies whose first project was the creation of the Pacific Technology Center in Goleta, the largest high tech incubator in southern California at the time. Michael currently serves on the Director’s Council of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UCSB, and is a life member of both the USAF Academy Association of Graduates and the Stanford Alumni Association. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement of California; the Executive Board of Santa Barbara Partners in Education; and the Stanford Business School Alumni Association. He also served on advisory boards for the NASA Ames Incubator and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Jim Knight, WA6RNV, also a long-time member of SBARC, Novim’s Executive Vice President, was a co-founder in the start-up of Amber Engineering, Inc. in December of 1981. Over a period of twelve years the company grew to 200 people and was acquired by Raytheon Company in 1992. He retired as Senior Vice President in 1994. Jim and three other partners subsequently started Indigo Systems Corporation in March of 1996, which grew to 230 employees before being acquired by FLIR Systems in January 2004.
Jim served for 5 years as a member of the Board of Directors of the Santa Barbara Chamber of Commerce beginning in 1993 and later in a supporting role with the Government Relations Committee. Jim currently serves on the Director’s Council of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UCSB, and is co- chair of the Government Relation Committee for the Goleta Chamber of Commerce. He served on the Board of Directors of UCSB’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Engineering Management and currently serves on the steering committee for the South Coast Business and Technology Awards dinner sponsored by the Scholarship Foundation of Santa Barbara.
We meet 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. Guests are welcome!
Post expires at 9:00pm on Friday November 18th, 2016 but will still be available in the archives.
Bob – K6CTX, SBARC’s Rovermaster has assembled a list of local go-to frequencies to consider scanning, especially during special events, emergencies or disasters. This is intended to be a starting point for the most active local frequencies of interest and not necessarily a comprehensive list of all possible public safety channels.
Click here to view the SBARC Repeater-Scanner Frequencies Sheet in Google Sheets format. From there you may copy/paste or download the file for local manipulation.
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 event. Udon RTAFB was a joint operation of US military and the CIA supported Air America group. I never got to meet the King personally but was granted close access to get some rather interesting pictures. King Bhumibol was a most revered King and loved by the people while ruling a Constitutional Monarchy. Thailand emerged out of the Vietnam War unscathed thanks to the US presence under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and the handful of special ops teams at MAGTHAI. Today, after 40 years, the Thai military can hold its own along with a regional commitment by the US. However, periodically Thailand erupts into chaos be it the military or civilian leadership over control. King Bhumibol was always able to settle issues. It is now problematic if Thailand will remain stable as internal forces within the royal family and challenges by the political and military leadership will realign itself and shape the future.
Enclosed are just a few of the many pictures I took during visits by King Bhumibol of Thailand. Note how the people must be at a kneel and solemnly quiet. All this appears like a storybook setting of pomp or a movie production.
Sawadee
Bill Talanian, HS3WT
Click here king-bhumibol for photo album
King of Thailand Bhumibol Adulyadej, HS1A (SK)
Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), HS1A, died on October 13,
after a long period of declining health. Born in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, while his physician father was at Harvard University,
the king, whose name translated as “strength of the land,
incomparable power,” was 88.According to noted DXer Fred Laun, K3ZO/HS0ZAR, the king “was never
very active on the air, and, to my knowledge, the only QSOs he ever
made were from a handheld on 2 meter FM.” He said HS1A was often
“pictured using a handheld.” He also was pictured with a camera, as
photography was one of his passions, and he was a jazz enthusiast,
who played the saxophone.The Radio Amateur Society of Thailand (RAST), the country’s IARU
member society, said on its website that the king was “presented the
call sign HS1A by the Ministry of Communications at Chitrlada
Palace” in 1989 in a ceremony witnessed by RAST officers. He was the
ninth monarch of the Chakri Dynasty, having ascended to the throne
in June of 1946, and was the world’s longest-reigning monarch.
SBARC Mesh Network Map
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.
Looking northwest from Santa Ynez Peak.
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.
Submitted by Bill W1UUQ – Unbeknownst to me a neighbor had a son who worked at the Santa Barbara Humane Society (HS). In a chance meeting I asked many questions about animal and equine rescue during states of disasters or emergencies. With literally hundreds of animals to care for during an area evacuation I wondered how this group communicated with each other trying to save many horses and other personal pets. What I found was rather interesting. Also, if you are looking for vaccination at home for your pets, you can get them done from here!
Matt Lechliter, w6kgb, performing programming of the Humane Society radio system.
The Humane Society was using mobile and HT CB radio for baseline communications. CB units would be handed to volunteers with the expectation that they could get wide area communications. It did not quite work well this way. In a recent equine evacuation of 57 horses at the Circle-Bar-B ranch on Refugio Road pointed out the need for a mobile to base and mobile to mobile communications system that works in tight spaces and deep canyons. Local and State government has no means of equine or animal rescue therefore it relies upon local groups to handle the evacuation of animals. When a state of emergency exists the Humane Society will receive instructions for equine rescue from County Animal Control. The HS cannot technically operate on public-service channels but does have contact with County Animal Control by telephone and personal contact. From that point scores of resident volunteers take charge using horse trailers.
Meanwhile the HS procedure is to set up a mobile command post at the Earl Warren Showgrounds to receive and house the animals if staging is required within the Santa Barbara to Goleta corridor. The command post also has an amateur radio transceiver but no procedures were ever established with how and when to use amateur radio operators. This would require the activation of many radio operators to man each position, many of whom do not have the required Disaster Service Worker identification. The HS personnel have a DSW ID card that allows a field directive by Animal Control to initiate animal rescue. However, a DSW-V volunteer card and swearing-in could be issued on the spot by a local official but all this takes up valuable time.
After weighing many options I found it best to equip the HS with stand-alone VHF communications on a business-band repeater channel and not depend on amateurs or CB radio for baseline communications. The best solution was an existing licensed business-band channel operating from Santa Ynez Peak. This would allow wide area communications and the ability to “talk-around” on the repeater output when necessary. In addition, it does not require individual licensing of the operators or any particular training to make it happen. The plan started to come together when we acquired surplus narrow-band mobile transceivers and HT’s which brought the system cost down to near zero except for minor residuals and expendables. The HS mobile command post has now been equipped and work has started on equipping four additional mobile units. What started out as a conversation about animals ended up with a worthwhile project that helped the community deal with a radio communications problem during a local emergency.
Many thanks to the following who helped Git-Ur-Dun:
Tucker Eurman (Humane Society)
Tim Collins (Humane Society)
Ted Eurman (technical services)
Andy Seybold, w6ams
Matt Lechliter, w6kgb
Bill Theeringer, w8pey
David Ralston, ki6dpe
Jim Everson, w6jfe
Bob Muller, k6ctx
Post expires at 10:32am on Friday October 21st, 2016 but will still be available in the archives.
