Hi folks:

Here is a little update on the Montecito remote base. Our site (but NOT our equipment) was destroyed by the Tea Fire, but we still hope to have the equipment up and running on Montain Drive soon. Also, we are working on some technical details. See below for details, and visit our web site for the complete story:

http://www.n6kth.com/montecito

You can also find photos of the fire damage on the web site here:

http://www.n6kth.com/montecito/photos.htm

Be sure to SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM for the latest pictures.

Currently, the remote is functioning on a repeater test pair (448.880 MHz minus offset) with a pl of 88.5 Hertz. For now, the remote is located in downtown Santa Barbara and is in the testing phase.

Sadly, the property where we plan to locate the remote base was completely destroyed in the Tea Fire of 11/13/08. Our friend Duke McPherson lost just about everything.

Fortunately for us, we did not complete the preparation of the equipment, so it was not located at the site during the fire! Unfortunately, the enclosure was burned to the ground, and our hardline cable was destroyed. The antenna was toppled, but apparently not damaged.

We hope to approach Duke in the near future about continuing to locate the system on his property.

Calli continues to make needed improvements to the system. He has designed an automatic temperature control system and has programmed the remote for easy access to local repeaters. We also regularly use the remote to monitor the SSB net on Wednesday evenings at 8:30 PM.

Ken, N6KTH