Just a reminder that me and a bunch of other VCARC folks are going to meet
up on 10M Wednesday evenings at 19:00 PST on 28.400 USB.
If you're available, join us!
Dave
AI6VX
Going to try a 10M get together tomorrow (Sunday) at 15:00 PST.
28.400 USB (so techs can join if they want). If that freq is being used,
go 10Khz lower until you find us. We can coordinate on 145.160 if you
can't find where we are.
No set topic or duration. Please come with a topic if you'd like!
Dave
AI6VX
Winter Field Day 2023 is this weekend! Details here:
https://winterfieldday.com/
and the rules
https://winterfieldday.com/rules.php
Highlights from the website above: Please don't take below as the ONLY
rules - please go and read them yourself.
Dave AI6VX
Eligibility: All licensed amateur radio operators are encouraged to
participate. Radio operators in the United States and Canada will use the
designated location identifiers set up by the ARRL and RAC field
organizations. Operators in Mexico will use MX as their location
identifier, and all other operators outside of North America will use DX as
the location identifier. All participants are encouraged to submit a log of
stations worked.
Objective: To set up an amateur radio field station and successfully make
multiple contacts. Successful participants are those who can set up their
equipment and correctly log the designated exchange during the operational
period explained below.
Operational Period: Winter Field Day is always held the last full weekend
in January. For 2023, it will be held on January 28th and 29th. The 24-hour
operational period starts at 1900 UTC on Saturday, the 28th and ends at
18:59 UTC on Sunday, the 29th. Stations may begin setting up no earlier
than 19:00 UTC on Friday before. However cumulative set-up time shall not
exceed 12 hours.
Bands: All Amateur bands except 12, 17, 30, and 60 meters. To qualify as a
band worked, at least 1 valid, two-way QSO must have taken place on the
said band during the contest.
Modes: CW, Phone (includes SSB, AM, FM, DMR, C4FM, etc. If the end result
is voice, it's Phone), and Digital (includes PSK, RTTY, Olivia, Packet,
SSTV, ATV, JS8Call and other soundcard modes. If the end result is text or
a picture, it's digital).
QSO Points: Phone contacts count as one point each, and all CW & Digital
modes count as 2 points each. Busted exchanges will be penalized by one
additional point for each missed exchange or call sign. Duplicate contacts
(same call, band, and mode) will not be counted nor penalized.
The SBARC Hub voice link to the 146.655 repeater on Santa Cruz Island has been restored thanks to the efforts of the Telecommunications Services Committee.
In order to conserve battery life at this remote, solar-powered site, the 223.920 repeater is on the air but is not linked to the SBARC Hub.
LCM
Levi C. Maaia, K6LCM
Director at Large | K6TZ Trustee
Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club
Santa Barbara Wireless Foundation
a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit corporation
www.levimaaia.com | www.k6lcm.com
+1.805.604.5384
I was playing with 10M just now and there's a contest going on. Exchange
is call sign, name and state.
Lots of mid US - East coast stations.
Dave
AI6VX
Though you might be interested in this new kind of ham contest for HT
owners.
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Geoffrey Mark <km6tvj(a)geoffmark.com>
Date: Tue, Jan 17, 2023 at 10:55 AM
Subject: A new kind of ham contest - I need volunteers
To: <brian(a)k6bpm.com>, <k6lcm(a)maaia.com>
Hello,
My name is Geoffrey Mark - call sign KM6TVJ. I am writing to you
because I am looking for ham radio operators within grid square DM04 to
help me develop a new kind of contest. One designed for all hams, but
especially brand new hams using low cost HT's.
I designed this contest to show that hams working together could send a
message across America, using only 5w HT's and no repeaters or
internet. The idea is that each one would hear a verbal message and
send it on with as much accuracy as possible. So - using good mic
techniques, holding their HT vertical - the basics. All those basics
will count in this contest! I call it "HT's Across America."
Here's a link to more information about me and the contest.
https://www.qsl.net/km6tvj/
I would like to ask you to tell your membership about this experimental
contest. The more hams involved, the more likely it is to work. Also -
I am still developing the rules and parameters for this contest, so the
more input I receive, the better.
Feel free to forward this email, with my email address and link to that
web page, to any ham that might be interested.
Thank you and 73,
Geoffrey
KM6TVJ
Terrestrial network connectivity has been restored to the Talanian
Communications Facility on the Santa Barbara Mesa. As a result, AllStarLink
nodes 43763 and 43764 are once again accepting incoming connections.
I will remove the temporary conference on my personal node 42437. If you
are using your own node, please reconnect to 43763 for SBARC Hub traffic.
LCM
*Levi C. Maaia, K6LCM*
*Director at Large | K6TZ Trustee*
*Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club* <https://www.sbarc.org/>
*Santa Barbara Wireless Foundation* <https://sbwireless.org/>
a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit corporation
www.levimaaia.com | www.k6lcm.com
+1.805.604.5384
Terrestrial network connectivity has been restored to the Talanian Communications Facility. As a result, AllStarLink nodes 43763 and 43764 are once again accepting incoming connections.
I will remove the temporary conference on my personal node 42437. If you are using your own node, please reconnect to 43763 for SBARC Hub traffic.
LCM
Levi C. Maaia, K6LCM
Director at Large | K6TZ Trustee
Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club
Santa Barbara Wireless Foundation
a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit corporation
www.levimaaia.com | www.k6lcm.com
+1.805.604.5384
I saw this article in the ARRL Newsletter and what it speaks about
resonated with me immediately. I still remember the first SBARC event,
field day, I ever attended, and it was a "lonesome" event.
As a former officer of SBARC, one thing I always tried to do at SBARC
meetings/events was to keep my eye open for people who looked like they
were being ignored, and 1) introduce myself, and 2) try to put them in
touch with others who had similar interests. And then say Hi to them
when I saw them again.
I might add SBARC grew when I first joined to over 500 members mostly
thanks to others doing the same thing I did. The other really important
thing SBARC did was have events... field day, Bazaar, Hamfest to name a
couple, that provided members (and others) a chance to get involved with
SBARC activities.
Another major factor in growing SBARC was to actively involve many
others in SBARC activities. The most recent similar activity I'm
thinking about was Levi (and others) and his work involved with our new
Carpinteria Ham station. Another person almost all of us know is Bill
Talanian, W1UUQ, and his consistent work (mostly behind the scenes) with
building a first class repeater system.
For me, Darryl Widman, KF6DI, was a major factor in SBARC growing as did
back then. He was ALWAYS asking members to get involved. His push to
grow SBARC resulted in a membership of over 500 people (including one
dog that rumor has it.)
These are just a couple of my thoughts on building an organization to be
more than just a club name.
Marvin, KE6HTS
Two Simple Tricks to Expand Club Membership
As an ARRL official, I talk with hundreds of hams each year, many of
whom are newly licensed or returning to the airwaves after a long
absence. I ask them if they belong to a local club. To my surprise, many
reply no, and cite two reasons why they don't join. First, no one
responds to a call from them on the club's repeater, and secondly, they
feel awkward at club meetings because few members wear badges to
identify themselves. Both situations can easily be remedied.
Make it a club policy for members to monitor the club's designated
repeater for at least 1 hour ahead of meeting times, not only for
regularly scheduled meetings, but also for any informal events, such as
breakfasts, lunches, or dinners. Answer unfamiliar calls, and invite the
caller to your event, confirming the location. This is not only
appreciated by new hams, but also operators returning to our hobby after
many years. Remember that VHF/UHF FM equipment sold 30 years ago is
still fully functional, so lots of returning hams still expect repeaters
to be the primary conduit to communicate with members before meetings.
Many hams have gotten out of the habit of wearing a badge. While most
members may know one another by sight, a visitor does not. Wearing a
badge at a gathering helps associate a name and call sign with a face,
and makes the visitor feel at ease. An easy way to make sure everyone is
identified is to have blank adhesive name badges from an office supply
store and a marker by the entrance to the meeting room. Another
suggestion is to have your club work out a bulk order arrangement with
an amateur radio badge maker. The club could even offer to pay a
percentage of the price per badge to encourage members to buy one.
Monitoring the club's official repeater and wearing a badge are two
simple ways to make nonmembers feel welcome and part of your club, with
the hope they will join.
-- ARRL Roanoke Division Vice Director Bill Morine, N2COP
Brian, Wayne, Bill and I spent the day at the Talanian Communications Facility on the Mesa today making forward progress on recovery of the network there. We managed to run new cabling to install the Santa Ynez Peak link dish in a more permanent location. Additionally, Brian made some progress with network configurations to allow more services to make use of the temporary Starlink internet connection.
Long story short: Allstar has partially recovered but because of the way Starlink works (i.e. it does not assign public IP addresses to its users) we aren’t able to accept incoming node connections via Allstar.
Users wishing to access the SBARC Hub may continue to connect to my node 42437 which is linked in VoIP conference with the SBARC Hub and the 146.79 and 145.18 repeaters. The 446.400 dedicated Allstar repeater at the site is also linked as part of this temporary solution.
Assuming that parts arrive on time later this week, we expect to have internet access via microwave restored to the site soon.
LCM
Levi C. Maaia, K6LCM
Director at Large | K6TZ Trustee
Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club
Santa Barbara Wireless Foundation
a 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit corporation
www.levimaaia.com | www.k6lcm.com
+1.805.604.5384
