Twenty Hams and family members enjoyed a BBQ at the Kirk's home on July 31st.

The menu included tri-tip -- expertly prepared by Mark (W1CON) -- beans, garlic bread, salads and desserts.

Thanks to Mark and Bryan (N6LY) bringing some HF equipment, we were able to make contact with operators in Alaska, northern Idaho and Louisiana.

John William Daudet, Jr. - July 13, 1934 - July 13, 2010

Obituary

John William Daudet Jr. (Bill) died on July 13, 2010, after a brief illness. He was 76.

The San Benito County ARES team worked three days (nearly 200 person hours) to support communications for the First Hollister Airshow on Memorial Day weekend 2010. Thanks also to Cal Fire for the use of COM 46 as our net control station and access to Cal Fire and with COM 46 as well as Cal Fire volunteers (VIP: Volunteers In Prevention) access to emergency communications.

We now have two identities on Facebook. We still have our group page, but also now have what is known as a "company" page which people can sign up to "like". These type of pages used to be known as "fan" pages which would allow people to become a fan. The "group" feature is likely to be dropped in the future, but for now we'll continue to use it more for internal use within our organization for scheduling meetings and the like. While the new company page will be used more for our public image.

The new page is http://www.facebook.com/sbcares.

On Saturday April 3rd, the Bay Area Educational Amateur Radio Society (BAERS) conducted study sessions and exams and two in our group went from Technician to General Class...

• KJ6AMY - Cathy Kirk
• KJ6AMZ - Jack Kirk

Also, one went from General to Amateur Extra Class...

• N6HKT - Heatherly Takeuchi

Brad Klemek (KJ6ATF) conducted a "ham cram" class at the Hollister Red Cross center on April 7th & 9th followed by an exam in Sunnyvale on Saturday April 10th. Three out of four passed! Congrats to Brad on a successful educational event.

• KJ6GXK - Catherine Farnham - American Red Cross - Hollister
• KJ6GXL - Robert Farnham - American Red Cross - Hollister
• KJ6GXM - Rick Havens - American Red Cross - Monterey Bay Area Chapter Co-Emergency Services Chair

In our efforts to become a more officially recognized ARES group, we're collecting filled out and signed official ARRL ARES forms. If you haven't filled one out (we've been distributing these during the 2010 meetings) could you please print out a form and bring it to our next meeting or mail it to me at:

Tim Takeuchi
1760F Airline Hwy, Suite 135
Hollister, CA 95023

The form is a PSD98: ARES Registration Form.

Thanks & 73,
Tim Takeuchi

On Thursday, March 25, ARRL President Kay Craigie, N3KN, signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the American Red Cross (ARC) at ARC National Headquarters in Washington, DC. The MoU, which replaces an earlier Statement of Understanding that expired in 2007, provides a "broad framework for cooperation" between the ARRL and the ARC "in preparing for and responding to disaster relief situations at all levels in rendering assistance and service to victims of disaster, as well as other services for which cooperation may be mutually beneficial."

We now have a presence on Facebook listed under "San Benito Amateur Radio Emergency Services (SBCARES)".