California Radio Club Faces Homelessness

A California ham radio club that has provided disaster communications and other community services from its building on city property now faces an emergency of its own: The Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club has until the end of July to find a new home for its members and all its radio equipment. Since 1975, the club has been permitted to use the site owned by the city of Santa Barbara, where it built an earthquake-resistant, climate-controlled modular structure. Now the city needs the land back to accommodate a construction project that will replace an aging reservoir near that property with two reservoirs that are 5-million gallons each. For the project to go forward, the ham club and a number of other users of the land will need to vacate the premises.

“...the club now faces an uncertain future due to the new municipal developments and lack of a permanent home for its facilities.”

— Levi Maaia, K6LCM

The club has been unable to find a replacement site that would accommodate the club's communications requirements to fulfill public safety communications needs.

He said that, so far, no alternate site has been identified and the club remains without a solution. The club has appealed to the local community for help.

Chris Whitmarsh, G0FDZ receives RSGB Lifetime Achievement Award

Congratulations to Chris Whitmarsh, G0FDZ who has been presented with an RSGB Lifetime Achievement Award by RSGB President John McCullagh, GI4BWM and RSGB Board Chair Stewart Bryant, G3YSX.

Chris is the only amateur in the UK to have had a two-way QSO on every single amateur band for which we are licensed.

Chris has been Vice President of Cray Valley Radio Society for over 20 years, and members of the club turned out in force to see the presentation and celebrate his achievement.

Cray Valley Radio Society - https://www.jaftech.co.uk/cvrs/

New SOTA Group is Growing for West Malaysian Hams

Barely a month old, the West Malaysia SOTA Association is growing its membership and encouraging hams to join if they are interested in chasing or activating mountain summits as a portable operation. The association's manager, Piju, 9M2PJU, provides hams in Malaysia with an introduction to the history and importance of the worldwide award scheme, which began in 2002 in the UK. It now covers more than 150,000 summits around the globe. Piju is the Malaysian coordinator for communication with other SOTA organizations and his role is to ensure Malaysian SOTA ops follow all relevant regulations and standards. Piju said that the West Malaysia region has 373 summits.

He is encouraging interested hams in Malaysia to register and create a free account on the SOTA websites which provide lists of valid summits, their locations, elevation, and point values. The West Malaysia SOTA Association launched on the 1st of January and does not include the two Malaysian states that belong to the East Malaysia SOTA Association.

Bonuses will be given to hams who activate during the monsoon season or during other harsh-weather conditions.