Hi everybody,
 
This Saturday I visited the SBARC Club Station and our Shackmaster, Dave, K6HWN,  had his recently presented plaque on display for all to see. It is indeed a very handsome piece. Upon close look you could see that the etching/engraving was done from the rear side of it and is dimensionally cut into the material. The reason I mention this is because of an idea I had when looking closely at it. The idea was to shine my flashlight up through the base of it and hope that the engraved message would light up, which indeed it did! The folks present could see all the writing light up. Since Saturday, I had another thought. That was to build a wooden base to hold the plaque and permanently embed some white LEDs in that wooden base so that when powered up they would cast a lovely white light up inside the plaque and display the message. The wooden base would ensure that the position of the plaque was proper and would not slide out of optimum position and would keep those LEDs in their proper place as well.
 
Are you ready for the fun part? Is there anyone there who loves working with wood and would like to make the base for the Shackmaster's plaque? A bit of elementary wiring would be necessary. I can supply the LEDs, the wall wart, the AC cord, the switch, etc. The nice piece of wood and some skill would be necessary. Please get in touch with me if you would like to help with this little project for our Shackmaster, Dave, K6HWN.
 
73, Darryl Widman, KF6DI
kf6di@sbarc.org
805-969-2326
 
 

Members and BoD Recognize “Shackmaster”

  By Levi K6LCM | April 25, 2015 - 7:00 pm | Club News, Featured

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The award presented to K6HWN on April 25 recognizes him as “The Voice of K6TZ.”

At 10:00 AM on Saturday, April 25 2015, a group of SBARC members, including the club president and BoD members, gathered at the American Red Cross building at State and Alamar in Santa Barbara to present an official citation in recognition of the tremendous efforts put forth by Dave – K6HWN in his role as the official “Shackmaster” at the K6TZ Club Station and the coordinator of many of the SBARC on-air nets.

First licensed years ago, Dave returned to the hobby in the mid-2000s when he began operating on 2-meters from his boat in Santa Barbara Harbor.  He quickly made friends on the K6TZ repeater and found a second home on the air with Santa Barbara-area hams.  Shortly thereafter, Dave committed to opening access to the nearly forgotten SBARC Club Station in the Red Cross basement by creating open station hours where he could host members and guests and train them on the operation of the station’s many HF, VHF and UHF radios.  It is through this mentoring that many new hams have gotten on the air for the first time.  Quite a few seasoned hams have returned to the hobby and the club also as a result of the Shackmaster’s efforts to provide a nexus for activity around the K6TZ repeaters and Club Station.

Over the years, Dave has also taken on the duties of recruiting net control operators for many of the club-sponsored nets and hosts the “Technical Mentoring and Elmering Net” himself on Thursday evenings. Even casual listeners to the K6TZ 146.79 repeater will certainly recognize Dave's voice from “K6HWN Announcements” his trademark periodic bulletin, which he reads throughout the day on the repeater and collects for posting on the club Web site and at k6hwn.org.

The plaque, presented by SBARC board member Brian – K6BPM reads:

With sincere appreciation to Dave – K6HWN “SHACKMASTER” for your years of dedication, mentorship, friendliness and being “The Voice of K6TZ” Presented in 2015 by the Board of Directors and the members of the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club.

“Its really hard to believe this,” said Dave upon receiving the award. “Many individuals have expressed (their appreciation) to me but never as a group; this is a ‘wow!'”

An audio recording of the presentation can be heard online at this link:

http://www.sbarc.org/2015/04/25/members-and-bod-recognize-shackmaster/