SBARC-list May 2013

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11 participants
12 discussions

Next ARDF near Santa Barbara on June 8
by Marvin Johnston 29 May '13

29 May '13

Lake Los Carneros Park in Goleta, CA will be the site of southern California's next international-style on-foot foxhunt on Saturday, June 8, 2013. Besides some easy fox transmitters just to help you learn and test your equipment, there will be a compact international-rules course, set by Marvin Johnston KE6HTS. The site area is slightly less than 140 acres. It is relatively flat, making it a good site for foxtailers of all skill levels. If you need some one-on-one help to get started … [View More]at finding transmitters, just ask. Full-color orienteering maps will be available. There is no charge for participation. If you have receivers, scanners, directional antennas, attenuators, or other equipment suitable for on-foot RDF, be sure to bring it. Make sure all batteries are fresh. A limited amount of RDF gear will be available for loan. A ham radio license and knowledge of radio equipment are not required. For those who want to build RDF gear for use with their own two-meter hand-held radios or scanners, Marvin will have kits for measuring-tape yagis and active attenuators. Also available is an assembled and tested assembly that includes the power switch, BNC connector, housing and battery, ready to install as the tape measure beam is built. There will be tools and soldering stations for building. If you're not an electronic technician, don't worry because there will be experts to help you. We want you to succeed! Send e-mail to Marvin (marvin(a)west.net) to pre-register and get more information about equipment. The building session will only take place if there are sufficient advance registrations. If you already have equipment and just want to hunt transmitters, you don't need to pre-register. If it takes place, the building session will start at 9:30 AM. Please be prompt. Beginner transmitters will be on the air at that time. The main 5-fox hunt will start about 10:30 AM. Hunters may start the courses at any time until 1 PM. Courses close at 3 PM. Directions to Lake Los Carneros: From US 101 about 8 miles west of downtown Santa Barbara, take the Los Carneros Road exit, head north about 1/4 mile and turn right into the Stow House parking lot. A map to the site is at www.homingin.com. There should be plenty of free parking. Look for the orange-and-white orienteering flag. The building session and hunt start will probably be in the parking lot. If that is too crowded, we will move to a nearby picnic area. For your GPS navigation system: 300 North Los Carneros Road, Goleta, CA 34.44416N 119.85446W Ham radio talk-in will be on the WB6OBB repeater, 147.000(-) PL 131.8. 73, Joe Moell K0OV www.homingin.com [View Less]

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ARRL Southwestern Division Hamcon 2013 News
by Al Soenke 23 May '13

23 May '13

Look ahead to the SW Division Hamcon coming this September 6.pdf<https://docs.google.com/a/sbsdk12.org/file/d/0B8T8l2CdnxSMZDZCTjMyQU9jdnc/e…> 73, WA6VNN, Al at SBARC -- ------------------------------ CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This is a transmission from the Santa Barbara Unified School District and may contain privileged and confidential information. It, and any attachments, are intended only for the addressee(s) . If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified … [View More]

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Post Contact Report: Anacapa’s ISS QSO Is a Success!
by Levi C. Maaia 23 May '13

23 May '13

Here is a summary of our QSO with NA1SS yesterday. Thanks to Ken and Calli for their extraordinary work getting a perfect signal from an object 230 miles above the Earth moving at 17,500 MPH! Check out the links to the videos below. Local signal reports from Amateur stations or other information is appreciated. Please send them my way. -K6LCMAnacapa’s International Space Station Contact Is a Success [image: ariss-esai]<http://www.anacapaschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ariss-esai.… [View More]jpg> - *KEYT-TV news story <http://youtu.be/oRHi41M168o>* - *Raw video of the ISS contact <http://youtu.be/LxM61-b5hmE>* By Levi C. Maaia, K6LCM On May 22, 2013, Anacapa School students had a chance to speak with NASA Astronaut and former Navy SEAL Christopher J. Cassidy via a live Amateur Radio link to the International Space Station (ISS) (Astronaut Chris Cassidy’s NASA Bio <http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/cassidy-cj.html>). The 10-minute Q&A session went off without a hitch at the hilltop campus of QAD, Inc. Signal reports from local hams indicated reception of NA1SS was possible with a modest antenna on the downlink frequency of 145.800 MHz FM. Video of the event was streamed live online on the school’s Web site. The arrangement was made possible by Anacapa School’s participation in the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Teaching From Space program, a cooperative venture between NASA, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) and other international space agencies that coordinates scheduled radio contacts between astronauts aboard the ISS and schools. Support locally was provided by Amateur Radio operators Ken Owen, N6KTH and Calli Marquez, KD6OVS from the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club. [image: NASA Astronaut Chris Cassidy]<http://www.anacapaschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/58856main_ascan_cas…> As part of the preparations for this event, students in the Anacapa Near Space Exploration Club (ANSEC) passed the Federal Communication Commission’s Amateur Radio license exam. “It’s a lot of work. You need to know a lot about electronics and radio frequencies,” said ANSEC team member Sam Robertson, KK6EMJ. ” There are a lot of laws involved in it because when you’re on the radio you need to be responsible so you aren’t, say, talking over a (broadcast) radio station or TV station.” Each year, Anacapa students participate in the school’s Synthesis Unit, Anacapa’s premier tool for developing critical thinking skills. Each Unit provides students with unique opportunities to explore a specific topic in depth with expert speakers, field trips and hands-on experiences. This year, the Synthesis Unit topic is “Space: Where Are We Going?” As part of this Synthesis Unit, Anacapa hosted a three-day series of speakers in January who presented on a variety of space-related topics including Santa Barbara-area aerospace contractors, academic researchers and NASA Astronaut Rick Linnehan, who visited Anacapa from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston (Videos from Synthesis Unit “Space: Where Are We Going?”<http://tinyurl.com/ckmzn8o>). After the speaker series, Anacapa students then hopped a bus to visit the space launch complexes at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County. As a complement to this year’s Synthesis Unit, Anacapa teachers across varying content areas have incorporated lessons regarding space, astronomy, NASA, and the ISS into their subject curriculum. ARISS and Teaching From Space, a NASA education office, support participating schools in instilling interest in science, technology, engineering and math subjects and careers among students. The ARISS radio contact is one in a series of educational activities in the U.S. and abroad to improve teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Teaching From Space promotes a variety of learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of human spaceflight. [image: P1010406R]<http://www.anacapaschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/P1010406R.jpg> ANSEC Team members pose next to the satellite antenna array after the contact with Astronaut Chris Cassidy. [View Less]

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TEST MESSAGE
by Paul Cronshaw 23 May '13

23 May '13

Paul "The Beeman" Cronshaw President, Santa Barbara Beekeepers Association www.sbba.org For the Sake of the Bees!

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Listen and watch live: Anacapa connects to the International Space Station
by Levi C. Maaia 21 May '13

21 May '13

SBARC Members, Many of you have asked me about listening in on the International Space Station contact tomorrow between Astronaut Chris Cassidy and Anacapa School students taking place as part of the ARISS program. We will do our best to simulcast it on one of the K6TZ repeaters: 146.790 and/or 446.400 beginning at around 10:42 am. Please check both frequencies. You may also attempt to monitor the downlink directly on 145.800 MHz FM during the contact window from 10:42 am - 10:53 am. We … [View More]

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SB Library/SB Makerspace(/SBARC?) Reception and Forum Tonight at the SB qLibrary at 6:30pm - It's FREE for EVERYONE
by Rod Fritz 21 May '13

21 May '13

-------- Original Message -------- Subject: SB Library/SB Makerspace(/SBARC?) Reception and Forum Tonight at the Library at 6:30pm - It's FREE for EVERYONE From: Rod Fritz <rod(a)sbatv.org> To: SBARC Listserver <listserver(a)sbarc.org> CC: You should see what the Library and Makerspace are doing together! SBARC has an opportunity to ride along and introduce a lot of people to Amateur Radio in the process. There has never been a better time to get young people involved. Come and … [View More]

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Boston bombings raise questions
by William Talanian 21 May '13

21 May '13

Andrew Seybold, W6AMS, serves on the Board of SBARC. [image: Urgent Communications] ------------------------------ Boston bombings raise sharing questions for FirstNet By Andrew Seybold The bombings during the Boston Marathon were a terrible tragedy, and the news media got a lot of things wrong in the first few hours after the blasts. One report, later retracted by the *Boston Globe*, was that the federal government had ordered all commercial networks to be shut down. No one knew if the … [View More]bombs had been set off via cell phones, which is one of many ways they could have been detonated. The idea was that the networks were shut down was based on a fear that there could be more bombs, and the networks could be used to detonate them. The real story was that the networks were not ordered to shut down, but they were so overcrowded that many call requests could not be put through. So many people being denied access to the networks led to the assumption that they had been shut down. Even so, the fact that the networks were overloaded—as they are in times of major incidents—should be of concern to FirstNet<http://urgentcomm.com/organizations/ntia-firstnet?intlink=autlink>. Because FirstNet is exploring the possibility of sharing the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network (NPSBN) with commercial operators, which will in turn make use of excess capacity on the network, the following questions need to be considered in the final network design. These questions are applicable during commercial-network overload, as well as when—and if—commercial networks are ever ordered to shut down. 1) If the commercial networks were to be shut down or become overcrowded, and the network operators had a sharing agreement to use the FirstNet network, would all of the users on the commercial networks be shifted over to FirstNet, causing increased traffic and congestion on the NPSBN when it is needed most by the first responders? 2) If commercial users had access to FirstNet and the commercial networks were shut down, does this also mean that the NPSBN would have to shut down, because a commercial device on this network would also be capable of detonating a bomb by remote control? 3) What—if any—safeguards will be built into the sharing agreements between FirstNet and the commercial network operators, and how will the load between FirstNet first responders and commercial users be monitored and managed? Will it be possible to shut down access to the NPSBN for secondary users (commercial users) when the commercial networks are shut down or are overloaded? The FirstNet system design is based on public safety having pre-emptive access to the network. In theory, pre-emption would occur in two phases. The first would be to limit the bandwidth and capacity available to non-first-responder users during incidents. The second would be ‘ruthless pre-emption,’ in which a first responder who accesses the NPSBN would be granted that access instantly, even if it meant terminating a commercial (secondary) user’s connection. This sounds great in theory, but in today’s real world, any type of true pre-emption might not be possible. One of the committees I serve on is made up of some of the brightest LTE<http://urgentcomm.com/technology/long-term-evolution?intlink=autlink>engineers in the business. They have participated in the standards body work for LTE, designed LTE systems, worked with LTE systems, and have more knowledge and hands-on LTE experience than any other group I have worked with or talked with. When I raised the following issues, they dug into them, and their top-line answers are shown after the statements. *Assertion 1:If the signaling channel is overloaded, then a User (UE) with maximum priority and pre-emptive rights may not be able to access the network.* *Top-Line Answer:This is essentially a true statement, especially in a network that is shared with commercial users.* *Assertion 2:* *LTE provides a way around this problem (as stated in Assertion #1) that can be implemented to ensure full priority access when needed.* *Top-Line Answer: Mitigation tools exist in the 3GPP<http://urgentcomm.com/governance/standards/3gpp?intlink=autlink>standards, but due to a wide range of potential scenarios and causes, to characterize this as “solved” would be an oversimplification.* There is much more to the response from this group that I will publish soon in my *Public Safety Advocate* e-newsletter, but the reason for the response is based on the following overlying characteristics of LTE (or any cellular-like network): 1) In order to make a call (or get onto the network), the device must send a request for access to the network. The network then verifies that this unit is permitted access and attaches the device to the network. 2) The signaling channel input is located at each cell site, and it sends the request to the network. If the number of requests for service exceeds the capacity on the signaling channel, some of the requests will not be processed. If the request for service or pre-emptive service is not delivered to the cell site and transmitted to the network, the network has no way of knowing the request was even made. Further, if the requests overload a number of cell sites, they may not travel from the cell site to the network for processing. In other words, if the LTE signaling channel (RACH) is congested, the level of priority makes no difference. If the cell site does not receive the request for service, it cannot be processed. So in reality, there is no true pre-emption in LTE today. *Note: One of the arguments we used with Congress to have the D Block allocated to Public Safety was the fact that pre-emptive access on commercial networks was neither practical nor feasible to accomplish. The earthquake centered in Virginia and the following hurricane proved our point, because—while the commercial networks remained operational—there were many instances when access was totally blocked because the signaling channels were overloaded.* The bottom line is that implementing the public-safety LTE system will be a real challenge. I am sure the FirstNet is up to it, but the solution will need to be carefully focused on the needs of public safety during incidents when access to the NPSBN will be critical for the public-safety community. *Wireless communications consultant Andrew Seybold is a communications advisor to both the National Sheriffs Association, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.* ------------------------------ *Source URL:* http://urgentcomm.com/blog/boston-bombings-raise-sharing-questions-firstnet [View Less]

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Invitation: Come chat with the International Space Station on Ham Radio!
by Levi Maaia 15 May '13

15 May '13

Special thanks to Ken, N6KTH and Calli, KD6OVS for their technical guidance and efforts to make this Amateur Radio contact possible. I hope to see you there next Wednesday! -- Levi, K6LCM Join us for a chat with NASA Astronaut Chris Cassidy as he orbits the Earth aboard the International Space Station! View this email in your browser Join Anacapa School for a chat with NASA Astronaut Chris Cassidy as he orbits the Earth aboard the International Space Station! You are invited to attend a … [View More]

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Anacapa School Announces Date for Live Q&A with the International Space Station
by Levi C. Maaia 14 May '13

14 May '13

The 10-minute live forum will bounce between Anacapa students and Cassidy as the space station’s orbit passes over Southern California. View this email in your browser Anacapa School Announces Date for Live Q&A with the International Space Station Independent school to connect via Amateur Radio with NASA Astronaut Chris Cassidy in orbit NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn are shown during a spacewalk in 2009 on the International Space Station (ISS). The duo was called upon … [View More]again for a spacewalk last week to repair an ammonia leak on the ISS. (NASA photos) May 14, 2013 --- Santa Barbara, Calif. Students and faculty of Anacapa School are preparing for a rare event that will allow them to make contact with NASA Astronaut and former Navy SEAL Christopher J. Cassidy. Cassidy is a flight engineer on Expedition 35, the 35th and current long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and Cassidy’s second spaceflight. The event will take place on Wednesday, May 22, 2013, from the hilltop campus of QAD, Inc. in Santa Barbara. Students from the Anacapa Near Space Exploration Club (ANSEC) and members of the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club will set up the specialized Amateur Radio Earth station early that morning in preparation for the radio contact, which will take place around 10:30 a.m. PDT. The 10-minute live forum will bounce between Anacapa students and Cassidy as the space station’s orbit passes over Southern California. Members of the general public are welcome to attend this free event and are asked to RSVP by emailing space(a)anacapaschool.org or by calling 805-965-0228. The arrangement is made possible by Anacapa School’s participation in the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) Teaching From Space program, a cooperative venture between NASA, the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) and other international space agencies that coordinates scheduled radio contacts between astronauts aboard the ISS and schools. As part of their preparations, ANSEC members passed the Federal Communication Commission’s Amateur Radio license exam, which will allow them to use specially allocated radio frequencies during the exchange. Each year, Anacapa students participate in the school’s Synthesis Unit, Anacapa’s premier tool for developing critical thinking skills. Each Unit provides students with unique opportunities to explore a specific topic in depth with expert speakers, field trips and hands-on experiences. This year, the Synthesis Unit topic was “Space: Where Are We Going?” As part of this Synthesis Unit, Anacapa hosted a three-day series of speakers in January who presented on a variety of space-related topics including Santa Barbara-area aerospace contractors, academic researchers and NASA Astronaut Rick Linnehan, who visited Anacapa from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. After the speaker series, Anacapa students then hopped a bus to visit the space launch complexes at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County. “I am so grateful to NASA and our guests for providing us with these opportunities,” said Gordon Sichi, Anacapa’s founding headmaster. “We are privileged to have the support of so many busy organizations who have made time for Anacapa students to get these one-of-a-kind learning experiences.” As a complement to this year’s Synthesis Unit, Anacapa teachers across varying content areas have incorporated lessons regarding space, astronomy, NASA, and the ISS into their subject curriculum in preparation for a special guest presenter who will join in from 250 miles above Earth! “We have had a fascinating year learning about space with some really excellent expert guests,” said Levi C. Maaia, the faculty advisor to ANSEC. “This live contact with Astronaut Cassidy while he is actually in orbit aboard the space station is the perfect ending to a great academic unit.” ARISS and Teaching From Space, a NASA education office, support participating schools in instilling interest in science, technology, engineering and math subjects and careers among students. The ARISS radio contact is one in a series of educational activities in the U.S. and abroad to improve teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Teaching From Space promotes a variety of learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of human spaceflight. Astronaut Chris Cassidy’s NASA Bio: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/cassidy-cj.html Videos from the Anacapa School Synthesis Unit “Space: Where Are We Going?”: http://tinyurl.com/ckmzn8o Live video of the contact: http://www.anacapaschool.org/ansec Media Contact: Levi C. Maaia 805-604-5384 • levi(a)anacapaschool.org www.anacapaschool.org • facebook.com/anacapaschool Copyright © 2013 Anacapa School, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Anacapa School 814 Santa Barbara St Santa Barbara, CA 93101 [View Less]

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DRTE 100 and SB Trails Run for 2013
by Rick Whitaker 05 May '13

05 May '13

Please join us for the DRTE100 and the Santa Barbara Trails Run 2013 during the weekend of June 14th to June 16th The DRTE (Dirt Road & Trail Endurance) 100 and the SB Trails Run is what was known as the Blacksmith Endurance Run in 2011 and 2012. The course for both is a little different than previous years and more off road and back woods than previously. The DRTE 100 starts at 1800 on Friday night and runs until noon Sunday. Most runners are completed by Saturday night. There will be … [View More]

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SBARC-list May 2013