
Upcoming Events
(Note: Zoom codes may be found in HamClubOnline)
SAT 11/25 @ 0800 – Bay Area NVIS Net on 3.890 MHz
SUN 11/26 @ 1800 – American Red Cross – Disaster Services Technology (ARC/DST) Net & Disaster Communicator’s Forum (DCF)
THU 11/30 @ 1900 – San Juan Cyn Net – SBTAC2 146.565 MHz
THU 11/30 @ 1930 – SBCARA Net – N6SBC Repeaters
THU 12/07 @ 1950 – SBCARA HF Net – 3.878 MHz / 7.270 MHz?
FRI 12/08 @ 1800 – Holiday Party – Pizza Factory – San Juan Bautista
THU 12/14 @ 1930 – SBCARA Net – N6SBC Repeaters, IRLP 9257, Echolink 336037?
TUE 1/02 @ 1900 – Business Meeting @ DOC & Zoom – Agenda ; Last Mtg Pending Minutes
SAT 01/00 @ 0800 – Ham Study & Exam Session – (pending)
THU 01/18 @ 1900 – Ham Fun
SAT 01/27 – SUN 01/28, 2024 – Winter Field Day
THU-SUN 04/17-20/2024 – Sea Otter Classic
SAT 06/22-23/2024 @ 0900 – Field Day
TUE 08/06/2024 @ 1700 – National Night Out – Downtown Hollister
2024 – San Benito County Fair
10/05-06/2024 – ARRL ARES Simulated Emergency Test – Form for Participation
10/05-06/2024 – California QSO Party – Form for Participation
THU 10/17 @ 1017 – ShakeOut Drill
Business Meeting
- TBA – Agenda ; Last Mtg Pending Minutes
Forum
- TBA
Past SBCARA Forum Meeting Archive
SBCARA Monthly Calendar
Photos from Sea Otter Classic 2022 on the SBCARA Otter Page
Hernandez Valley Repeater in Service!

Giving Tuesday
Giving Tuesday is November 28th. We appreciate your support.
SBCARA is a 501(c)(3) organization and all donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. We will provide a tax receipt for all dues and donations. To make a donation, you can go to our website at SBCARA.org or http://paypal.me/sbcara

Note: to pay by credit card, a PayPal account is not necessary to contribute on the PayPal site) Note the article on the main page for more details.
If you prefer to pay by physical check, send the check made out to SBCARA to
SBCARA c/o San Benito County ACS/RACES, 3226 Southside Rd, Hollister, CA 95023
San Benito Volunteer Examiners

For amateur radio license testing (including fully remote testing), study or cram e-mail [email protected]. More information may be found on our Volunteer Examiner Group (VEG) page.
More Test Sessions – TBA
Holiday Party
You are invited to SBCARAās holiday party!
Please join us at San Juan Bautistaās Pizza Factory
Friday, Dec. 8th, 6:30 pm
for pizza, conversation, ham help and door prizes !!
Please email RSVP (with dietary requests) to Sara [email protected]


Year End Newsletter
Ham Help
Looking for Help as a New or Returning Ham Radio Operator? Send an email to [email protected] and someone will contact you to see how we can help!
To join SBCARA, please go to HamClubOnline.com enter your callsign to create an account and search for “N6SBC” to find SBCARA. From there you can sign up for a new membership or renew your membership.
2023 Voting Membership Dues
$20 First family member
$10 for Each additional family members.
All dues are voluntary and are not required for any function other than to vote or to hold office.
SBCARA Communications – Read this to find out how this group communicates. (Connections)

Join/Donate to SBCARA – Click Here for More Info

Note: to pay by credit card, a PayPal account is not necessary to contribute on the PayPal site) Note the article on the main page for more details.
If you prefer to pay by physical check, send the check made out to SBCARA to
SBCARA c/o San Benito County ACS/RACES, 3226 Southside Rd, Hollister, CA 95023
Thank you to our corporate supporters including:
![]() | ![]() | ![]() Sea Otter Classic Foundation |
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SBCARA Badges

Order your SBCARA Badge for your next ham radio event here.
ShakeOut – October 19th 10:19am


The N6SBC Repeater Network will be live for this exercise. San Benito County rural schools will be participating.
Neighbors
After the Net – San Benito So. – So. Santa Clara Co.
Comstock Repeater Group (off-line)
Fremont Peak Repeater Association (FPRA)
Garlic Valley Amateur Radio Association (GVARC)
Morgan Hill Amateur Radio Society (MHARS)
Monterey County Amateur Emergency Communications (off-line)
Santa Cruz County Emergency Communications
Silicon Valley Emergency Communication System (SVECS)
ARRL Sixth District QSL Bureau
Nets
San Benito County Nets
Every Thu @ 1930 – Weekly SBCARA Net
Thu 10/27 & 11/10 @ 1930 – SBCARA Net on IRLP/Echolink (Pending)
Thu 11/3 @ 2000 -Monthly SBCARA HF Net
Other Nearby Nets
- Every Sun 1800 – Red Cross DST Net followed by DCF Net
- Every Mon 2000 – Fremont Peak Repeater Assoc. Net (See https://www.fremontpeakrepeater.org/)
- Every Tue 1930 – GVARC Net – Garlic Valley Amateur Radio Club (See https://gvarc.com)
- Every Tue 2000 – LPRA (Loma Prieta) Net
- Every Wed 1930 – Monterey ARES Net (mc-ares.org)
Winlink or Packet Nets
- Santa Clara Co. SVECS Net – Tue before 2000 (Starts previous Wed at 00:00:01)
- California Coastal Winlink Net – 3rd Mon (Starts the Mon before)
- NorCal Winlink Net – Thu at 2359hrs (Starts the Sun before) http://ncpa.n0ary.org/
Resources
Ham Fun Night
Usually the 3rd Thursdays of the month @ 1900 hrs.
About Thursday’s October 18th Program:
I am Karin Thompson, KD4DXX. I have been a licensed ham since 1990. I have worked in the ham radio industry since then and seen LOTS of changes in communications and technology. There has been a lot to learn over the years but so very much has remained the same. On most days you won’t hear me on the air but will find me investigating settings and options of various radios to solve a reported problem of unusual behavior or to think of unusual ways to get more functionality with fewer button presses. I so enjoy helping others get on the air and get the most use from the features of their radios.
As for a synopsis of the presentation, I plan to talk about
- History of RT Systems and the fact that amateur radio programming was invented by the man who still is a part of this organization, Rod Thompson, KU4HP. He has worked with these radios since 1995 when Yaesu first announced that they had radios that cloned. He wondered if he could get it to talk to a computer and once he did… it’s all history from there.
- How a programmer is developed. We own all these radios we program and work with the information available from the radio itself to develop a programmer to address the specifics of that radio. We have been at this for a long time and know a lot about how to get the information we need from a radio… or most of them.
- The programmers – their likes and differences and what a programmer really means relative to the radio. This is the radio out of its “black box” in all its glory.
- How you can discover how many memory channels a radio has
- If a radio can do different tones for transmission and receive
- If a radio has memory banks and how they work (i.e., can a channel be in more than one bank?)
- What settings are available for a radio and why they are handled separately from what’s in the memory channel programming
- What kinds of memories the radio has (Memories, VFO, Limit memories, Marine channels, etc)
- That each radio is unique and that a programmer must address that uniqueness or nothing works.
- I will do live demonstrations of the programmers showing
- Copy and paste between programs – even those from different manufacturers
- External data file creation
- Move up and move down capabilities
- Column editing
- I will encourage those who may not be familiar with our programs to investigate all the tabs at the bottom and menu options at the top. The programs do not run off on you. You are always in control.
- I will talk about our cables and use of them compared to others.
This is an event organized by Jack Kirk (W6KRK) involving multiple groups. Contact Jack Kirk to be added to the email list for this event.
Contacts
ARRL Links
Earthquake Links
- Recent Earthquakes near San Benito County
- Recent California Earthquakes
- Register for Earthquake Notification
Quake Report
Modified Mercalli Scale
The Modified Mercalli, or Mike-Mike scale is used to standardize and make more efficient the reporting of earthquake damage. Instead of reporting damage by using general descriptions like “major” or a”minor” or “heavy”, a Mike-Mike value is reported. This value is quick and simple to communicate over the air and equates to a standard level of damage as defined in the scale below.
MM8 | Severe | Damage slight in specially designed structures; considerable damage in ordinary substantial buildings with partial collapse. Damage great |
MM7 | Very strong | Damage negligible in buildings of good design & construction; slight to moderate in well-built ordinary structures; considerable damage |
MM6 | Strong | Felt by all, many frightened. Some heavy furniture moved; a few instances of fallen plaster. Damage slight. |
MM5 | Moderate | Felt by nearly everyone; many awakened. Some dishes, windows broken. Unstable objects overturned. Pendulum clocks may stop. |
MM4 | Light | Felt indoors by many, outdoors by few during the day. Dishes, windows, doors disturbed; walls make cracking sound. Sensation like heavy truck striking building. Standing cars rocked noticeably. |
MM3 | Weak | Felt quite noticeably by persons indoors, especially on upper floors of buildings. Vibrations similar to the passing of a truck. |
MM2 | Weak | Felt only by few at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings. |
MM1 | Not felt | Not felt except by very few under especially favorable conditions. |
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