The Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club is active in emergency communications (EmComm) on many fronts.
ARES provides a variety of skills and resources for radio communications. Their primary mission is to provide a resource of trained operators for reliable primary or secondary communications links for governmental agencies and non-profit organizations. For more information on ARES, what they do, and how to join, please visit the ARES page.
ARES – Amateur Radio Emergency Service
The SBARC membership also has a separate group of experienced and dedicated amateur radio operators throughout the county that are equipped with both the equipment and skills to perform a wide range of services in an emergency. This group is focused helping friends, neighbors, the community, and other amateur radio operators. We have a wide range of capabilities including exchange of digital data as well as normal voice radio modes allowing for worldwide communications.
SBARC also has a neighborhood emergency radio project. This involves equipping interested members of homeowners associations or neighborhood groups with small walkie-talkie type 2-way radios capable of wide area operation. This radio system relies on a repeater located high above the City of Santa Barbara that is owned and operated by SBARC and provided solely for the benefit of the community. Individual radios are inexpensive (as low as $50) and allow full 2-way communications in an emergency. Experienced amateur radio operators will be there to help get messages through and provide the latest neighborhood specific information. If your neighborhood group is interested in finding out more about this project, please contact us here.
We now have a special list server “discussion group” set up for club members and non-members alike, who are interested in emergency communications. To join the list simply send a blank email to JoinEmCommList@sbarc.org. Further instructions will be sent to you.
Preparedness Resources
Fire Incident Resources
- Fire maps: S.B. County OEM evacuations (GIS) | L.A. Times California wildfire maps
- ADS-B (fed by K6TZ): firefighting & rescue aircraft tracking
- Live audio streaming: K6TZ repeaters | S.B. County streaming scanners
- Frequencies: S.B. scanner frequencies
- Local Webcams and Weather Data: Live images from around S.B. County
- Government Agency Incident Sites: S.B. County | NWCG | CalFire | CalTrans Traffic QuickMap
- Environmental monitoring: UCSD WIFIRE map | MODIS fire detection in Google Earth | S.B. air quality | S.B. rainfall
Weather & Storm Resources
- Windy.com (iOS, Android apps) rain, wind and forecast models
- MyRadar iOS and Android app for realtime radar (aviators’ choice!)
- National Weather Service Los Angeles Office
- Scientific Forecast Discussion
- S.B County realtime rainfall and waterway data
- Webcams and weather from around the area
