Hernandez Valley Repeater in Service!
We finished the first phase of our Hernandez Valley repeater project. The repeater is now in service and serves the extreme southeastern part of San Benito County. Specifically, this repeater covers the Bitterwater, Clear Creek and Hernandez Valley region of our county.
At the present time, it is only a “stand alone” repeater and it is not linked to our interconnected repeater network. The next phase of the project is to link this repeater to our other three repeaters so will we have seamless communication throughout the county.
The frequency is 146.985 MHz (-) with a PL of 118.8. Because of the area that it serves, you can not reach this repeater in Hollister but as you travel south on Highway 25 it will come in just north of Bitterwater Valley.
Thanks goes out to the many hams who worked on this project including Billy W6WKB, Robert K9OHV, Brent KG6KPD, Jim KI6KD, Joe KK6ZWM, Tim W6TST, and Heatherly N6HKT. And a special thanks to Clark KK6UGA who coordinated much of the work including the roof and solar aspects of the project.
We will still be working to finish this project up, so if you would like to be notified of future workdays, let Ron (KD6ZXG) know.
Ron Ross (KD6ZXG)
Upcoming Events
WED 05/12 1900 – Remote Amateur License Testing
THU 05/13 1900 – San Juan Canyon Amateur Radio Net (SBTAC2)
THU 05/13 1930 – San Benito County Amateur Radio Net (IRLP/Echolink)
FRI 05/14 1900 – Ham 101: Introduction to Emergency Communications
SAT 05/15 – American Red Cross / ARES Winlink Drill
SUN 05/16 1800 – American Red Cross DST Net; Disaster Communicators Forum Net
WED 05/19 1900 – Remote Amateur License Testing
THU 05/20 1900 – Ham Fun Night (see Jack Kirk for details)
THU 05/20 1930 – San Benito County Amateur Radio Net
SUN 05/23 1400 – Ham 101: Introduction to Emergency Communications
SUN 05/23 1800 – American Red Cross DST Net; Disaster Communicators Forum Net
TUE 06/01 1900 – Monthly Business Meeting (on Zoom)
THU 6/03 2000 – San Benito County HF Net
SAT-SUN 06/26-27 – ARRL Field Day
THU-SUN 10/7-10 – Sea Otter Classic
Ham Help
Looking for Help as a New or Returning Ham Radio Operator?
Send an email to hamhelp@sbcara.org and someone will contact you to see how we can help!
For amateur radio license testing (including fully remote testing), study or cram e-mail testing@sbcara.org.
Ham 101: Introduction to Emergency (and non-Emergency) Communications Fri 5/14 & Sun 5/23
Join/Subscribe 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
Add our major events to your iPhone/iPad or Google Calendar (Similar steps can be used for other platforms)
Monthly Business Meeting Tuesday 6/1
Congrats to those who passed their Exam!
Click here to see those successes
Upcoming Test Sessions
Status = Quad County means sessions open to those in San Benito, Monterey Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties only. Email testing@sbcara.org for a link to register. The session will open up to the general public if there are seats available about 5 days before the session.
| Date – Time |
|---|
| Wed 5/12 – 1900 / 7pm |
| Wed 5/19 – 1900 / 7pm |
See: https://hamstudy.org/sessions/N6HKT for our upcoming exams or https://hamstudy.org/sessions/ for a listing of exams including those by other groups.
Nets
San Benito County Nets
Every Thu @ 1930 – Weekly SBCARA Net
Thu 2/11 & 2/25 @ 1930 – SBCARA Net on IRLP/Echolink
Thu 2/4 @ 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
- Every Tue 1930 – GVARC Net
- Every Tue 2000 – LPRA (Loma Prieta) Net
- Every Wed 1930 – Monterey ARES Net
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/
Contacts
ARRL Links
Neighbors
After the Net – San Benito So. – So. Santa Clara Co.
Fremont Peak Repeater Association (FPRA)
Garlic Valley Amateur Radio Association (GVARC)
Morgan Hill Amateur Radio Society (MHARS)
SBCARA Trailer Fundraiser
The San Benito County Amateur Radio Association needs your help! We want to purchase an enclosed cargo trailer so we can convert it to a mobile radio center. Our plan is to use this trailer at field activities such as planned events or emergencies where we will be providing radio communications….
SBCARA Shirts & Hats
SBCARA logo front and back.
$15 SBCARA logo cap
$25 high quality performance material T-shirt, 3 color
Membership discount – Pay your 2021 club dues $20 and receive a $2 discount on a cap, $2 discount on a shirt
… or get all 3: membership, cap & T-shirt for $50 ($6 discount)
Ham Fun Night
Usually the 3rd Thursdays of the month @ 1900 hrs.
5/20 – 1900 Winlink & Applications – Timothy Takeuchi, W6TST
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.
How to request a Vanity License
How to Renew or Modify your License
Amazon Smile – Benefit to SBCARA
Amazon has a process where a small percentage of Amazon orders can go to benefit our group
There are two methods to do this..
- Go to Amazon Smile for the San Benito County Amateur Radio Association
- Go to http://smile.amazon.com for more information and sign in with your Amazon account information. Once you’re signed in it will give you an option to select your charity. Enter in the search field “San Benito Radio” and “San Benito County Amateur Radio Association” should appear.
After this point, eligible purchases in Amazon Smile will contribute 0.5% toward our group.
Thank you for your support!
