For 50 years, the Santa Barbara Amateur Radio Club had its headquarters on top of the Vic Trace Reservoir. In May, the club was asked to move out and off the city land due to an upcoming project to replace the reservoir.
“Fortunately, we have been able to move some of our systems out of that site on the mesa up to La Cumbre Peak, and that’s proven to be a very useful site. It has incredible coverage of the area here,” said Levi Maaia, K6LCM Director.
Maaia, the club’s director, says radio operators and the data collected by the club provide real-time ship and aircraft tracking and play a crucial role for emergency responders during disasters. Now that the club has moved out, they continue to operate at several locations, but the vacant headquarters building needs a new home.
“Ideally, it would be a home that would allow us to continue to use it as a communication site. But if we can’t find one, then we’d like it to go to a nonprofit organization in the area that could make use of it,” Maaia said.