[W6YRA] Joining the club

Thu Jul 2 14:12:35 PDT 2020

Vandalized would be a better description - I'm sure all the parts were
there somewhere.  They got miffed because I'd put boot-level passwords
on the machine to protect the work we had done trying to get the *ing
firewire drivers to work.  Every time we fired up the machine, we'd be
greeted with some obnoxious wallpaper and a bunch of new crud they'd
downloaded from the net.  All the radio-related bookmarks would be
deleted and replaced by links to the streaming services they used for
the parties they were holding up there.  The lack of supervision and
accountability and lack of support from Ryan or anyone else over there
that could have done something made it untenable for us.

I feel your frustration.  I put a lot of work in getting HF back up and
running, all the digital stuff going, all the new VHF/UHF stuff and
working with the folks who wanted to donate more gear to make us a
presence on bands that could benefit from our being there in modes where
the students could learn about and contribute to the next generation of
digital, narrow-band protocols.  I wouldn't have stepped away from the
shack if dealing with the issues brought on by the squatters hadn't
turned into a full-time job in its own right and the stress of dealing
with the squatters hadn't started to become an issue.   I am still
trustee for W6YRA and, in that capacity, I suppose, still 'shack boss'.
 I would drive in this evening and stay till we were back on the air if
the situation were resolved.

I did actually contemplate contacting UCPD, but best case, paper would
be taken and nothing would happen, worse-case, a bunch of immature
19-year-olds wanna-be-entrepreneurs would get in more trouble than they
could handle and it wasn't going to solve anything.

On 2020-07-02 13:04, Jim Montague wrote:
> If this group destroyed the Bruin amateur radio club property then you
> must go to UCPD and file a report ASAP. The radio equipment (flex 3000)
> and the computer were purchased new from donated funds as was a new
> vertical antenna. The total cost of these items was somewhere around
> $3,000. This room actually belongs to facilities Management because it
> is an electrical room as you can see from the switch gear in there. If
> they have blocked any of this area, call the fire marshal and advised
> them that this group has created a serious fire hazard and code
> violation. There comes a time when being nice no longer works and you
> must go the legal route. I spent long hard hours getting this room back
> up to being a fully functional Radio Room and to watch it all go down
> the tube does not make me very happy at all. If you need to find the
> building managers name and phone number contact facilities management
> which is just behind the UC Police Department. Or just look up their
> number in the directory and you can call them directly and ask them for
> the building managers name and phone number.
> Jim
> 
> Get Outlook for Android <https://aka.ms/ghei36>
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Brent Corbin <corbin at physics.ucla.edu>
> *Sent:* Thursday, July 2, 2020, 12:48 PM
> *To:* Jim Montague; w6yra at lists.igpp.ucla.edu; Wong, Harold
> *Subject:* Re: [W6YRA] Joining the club
> 
> Hi Jim -
> 
> I was trying to keep Ryan's name out of it, but - yeah - he's the one
> who let Bruin Space borrow and eventually take over the space.  I tried
> to rein-in the situation a couple of years ago (including changing the
> door-code and requiring that BSpace only use the shack under
> supervision), they went behind our back and we received an email from
> Engineering placing the shack under supervision of their advisor.  Rules
> were put in place, but - with the exception of removing the couch - they
> were all ignored.  I asked Ryan to intervene and nothing happened.  Gear
> was tampered with, crap was piled up on our operating positions. The
> last straws for me were when they disassembled the computer we had
> rebuilt to run the flex SDR and scattered the pieces all over the shack
> and disabled the internet connection to the echolink controller on the
> repeater.
> 
> I'm in Physics, and the email I received in 2018 made it clear
> engineering saw this as THEIR space.  (They passed a rule the next year
> stating that advisors for engineering clubs need to be in the
> engineering department, so they probably think YRA is an engineering
> club. hi)
> 
> Anyway - what are the chances the building manager would be supportive,
> and how likely would engineering be to accede?  This really needs to be
> taken care of once and for all.   (Though, possibly, after the virus
> blows through and we're allowed back on campus 8*) ).  This was once,
> and could be, again, one hell of a resource for faculty, staff and
> students...
> 
> Thanks for checking in, good to hear from you again Jim, it's been a
> long time.  Stay well and 73...     //Brent wy6s
> 
> 
> 
> On 2020-07-02 11:47, Jim Montague wrote:
>> My name is Jim Montague and I am a past president of the UCLA amateur
>> radio club. I retired last year but I have not been the president of the
>> club for some time. Ryan Caron took over as president. The last I knew
>> he was still working in the geology building where he has an office. As
>> for the engineering department giving our room away, they don't have the
>> authority to do so. The room is maintained by the boelter hall building
>> manager. This is an equipment room  and not a classroom. We have had
>> this room since the late 1940s or early 1950s. It is my understanding
>> that Ryan allowed a satellite group to share the room with us. When I
>> was up there over a year-and-a-half ago I found they had pretty much
>> taken over the whole room and I advised them that they need to condense
>> their area down. I would suggest somebody get in contact with the
>> Bolterhall building manager and let him know that this group has
>> completely taken over the room and that you want the room back. Best of
>> luck to all of you. 73, Jim NI6J
>> 
>> Get Outlook for Android <https://aka.ms/ghei36>
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *From:* w6yra-bounces at lists.igpp.ucla.edu
>> <w6yra-bounces at lists.igpp.ucla.edu> on behalf of Wong, Harold
>> <HAWong at mednet.ucla.edu>
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 1, 2020 11:35:39 PM
>> *To:* Brent Corbin <corbin at physics.ucla.edu>; w6yra at lists.igpp.ucla.edu
>> <w6yra at lists.igpp.ucla.edu>
>> *Subject:* Re: [W6YRA] Joining the club
>>  
>> Hi Xiaofeng,
>> 
>> This is Harold KM6IVE. Welcome aboard. I hope to get my general sometime
>> this year. I currently work at the hospital but unfortunately, I'm
>> working from home and rarely on W6YRA given how inactive the repeater
>> is. I can get back on for a QSO next week.
>> 
>> Harold
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *From:* w6yra-bounces at lists.igpp.ucla.edu
>> <w6yra-bounces at lists.igpp.ucla.edu> on behalf of Brent Corbin
>> <corbin at physics.ucla.edu>
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 1, 2020 10:30 PM
>> *To:* w6yra at lists.igpp.ucla.edu <w6yra at lists.igpp.ucla.edu>
>> *Subject:* Re: [W6YRA] Joining the club
>>  
>> Hi Xiaofeng, and congratulations on getting your license!
>> 
>> We do have a club, but it's not active at present - short version, the
>> engineering department gave our shack space away to another group and we
>> have not been able to get back in and use the gear we have.  This was
>> supposed to be addressed and fixed a couple of years ago by the
>> gentleman who created the problem in the first place, but he went AWOL
>> and left the club in limbo.  It's been frustrating, to say the least.
>> We've got a full HF station, and at one point I had some of my personal
>> gear up there for 220 MHz, 927 MHz and 440/DMR...  We had some folks
>> lined-up to donate a couple repeaters (927 and 440/DMR) and we lost all
>> that because this individual didn't get their * together... oh well.
>> 
>> We do have an analog repeater - it transmits on 448.54 MHz and listens
>> on 443.54 MHz with a PL of 88.5.  At one time we had remote access to
>> the repeater via echolink, but that's been down since the other group
>> pulled the internet access.  I can monitor the repeater from a remote
>> receiver in my office, but - unfortunately - I live too far away to be
>> able to use it from home (where I'm likely to be until we're all back on
>> campus).  When we return to campus, I will be monitoring the repeater
>> whenever I'm in my office and will probably bring gear in for other
>> bands and other modes (though I'm essentially in a ground-floor Faraday
>> cage 8*) ).
>> 
>> So what department are you in?  What are your radio interests?  I have
>> done a lot of digital communications - Olivia, Thor, FeldHell, PSK and
>> the various JT modes - though I've been back to doing mostly CW on HF
>> the last year or so.  On VHF and UHF, I'm mostly on 927 and 440 MHz,
>> where I do a little DMR and a lot of P25.  I've also dabbled with
>> satellites, weak-signal modes, and other esoterica...
>> 
>> 73 and welcome!    //Brent  wy6s
>> 
>> 
>> On 2020-07-01 12:22, XIAOFENG GAO wrote:
>>> Hi there, 
>>> 
>>> I'm a graduate student at UCLA. Just got my general license and found
>>> your website. I'm wondering whether the club is still active and
>>> accepting new members.
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> Xiaofeng Gao (KN6JQA)
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> W6YRA mailing list
>>> W6YRA at lists.igpp.ucla.edu
>>> http://lists.igpp.ucla.edu/mailman/listinfo/w6yra
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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