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 & ZoomAgenda ; 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

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

With a PayPal Account Visit our account at PayPal by going to http://paypal.me/sbcara or click on this QR Code if you have PayPal as an application on your smart phone
QR Code
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 SBCARA’s holiday party!
Please join us at San Juan Bautista’s 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

Our year-end newsletter is out! Read about our upcoming Holiday Party, county-wide repeater system, amateur digital radio, GMRS, and our Great ShakeOut drill.


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)


Holiday Party 2022

Join/Donate to SBCARA – Click Here for More Info

With a PayPal Account Visit our account at PayPal by going to http://paypal.me/sbcara or click on this QR Code if you have PayPal as an application on your smart phone
QR Code
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:

San Benito County Community FoundationMonterey Peninsula Foundation
Sea Otter
Classic Foundation
Realty WorldIBM
AT&TCommunity West Mortgage 



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)

Monterey County ARES

Santa Cruz County Emergency Communications

Silicon Valley Emergency Communication System (SVECS)

Santa Clara County ARES/RACES

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)
  • 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.  

Ham Fun Archive

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

Pacific Division

Santa Clara Valley Section



Earthquake Links


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.

Full Modified Mercalli Scale

MM8SevereDamage slight in specially designed structures; considerable damage in ordinary substantial buildings with partial collapse. Damage great
MM7Very strongDamage negligible in buildings of good design & construction; slight to moderate in well-built ordinary structures; considerable damage
MM6StrongFelt by all, many frightened. Some heavy furniture moved; a few instances of fallen plaster. Damage slight.
MM5ModerateFelt by nearly everyone; many awakened. Some dishes, windows broken. Unstable objects overturned. Pendulum clocks may stop.
MM4LightFelt 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.
MM3WeakFelt quite noticeably by persons indoors, especially on upper floors of buildings. Vibrations similar to the passing of a truck.
MM2WeakFelt only by few at rest, especially on upper floors of buildings.
MM1Not feltNot felt except by very few under especially favorable conditions.
An example of a proper response is: “(your-call-sign), Mike-Mike-4, Tres Pinos”