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Information about the SCMA

What is the SCMA?

Who We Are:

    The Southern California Monitoring Associations has its roots going back to the days of the Radio Communications Monitoring Association (RCMA). We were the West Los Angeles Chapter and were formed in 1988 by Rick Di Fiore, WA6KFI and Hugh Stegman, NV6H.  We started with just the two of us and then started to grow as the months went by.  The West L.A. Chapter of RCMA had more members showing up at our meetings then the regular RCMA meeting, which was held in Anaheim at the old Mercury Savings and Loans building.  Maybe it was because their where more of us in this geographical area or because this was a dinner / club meeting, with guest speakers we were getting popular!  In late 1996 the RCMA ran into some bad luck thanks to a couple of well known book stores that did not want to pay their bills for the clubs magazine.  So because of this RCMA could not pay their bills and the club came to an end in August of 1996, after 23 years of great support to all scanner enthusiast.
    At our August meeting of RCMA West Los Angels Chapter meeting we where advised by Hugh, NV6H that the chapter could no longer use the name Radio Communications Monitoring Association anymore because Bob Grove of Monitoring Times magazine had bought the rights to use it from Carl Ruth and the board of directors of RCMA.  So that night at the restaurant Rick, WA6KFI said that maybe we should vote on a new name to call our group of hardcore scanner enthusiast.  It was easy to see that what ever we do that this club could not be one that would cover all the United States like RCMA did.  With that a simple change was made.  We would drop the word “radio” and replace it with “Southern” and the word “communications” to “California”, now the RCMA West L.A. Chapter would be known as the Southern California Monitoring Association (SCMA).  So in September of 1996 SCMA held its first meeting and had 30 members to get the ball rolling again.
    A new ball game!  SCMA had a lot of work ahead of us and it would take sometime to organize.  We needed someone to run the club, we also needed a newsletter to keep members informed between meetings and to arrange tours for the membership, and last but not least an ID number system to keep track of members.  It was decided that Rick Di Fiore, WA6KFI and Hugh Stegman, NV6H would be the two guys to continue running our group as SCMA.  Over the years SCMA has been at the front of leading scanner clubs, we have a great web site that is maintained by David, N6HGJ a bi-monthly newsletter, and from time to time guest speakers and tours for our membership.  SCMA is well known by many Fire and Law Enforcement agencies in Southern California, and even some of our members are with local Police and Fire Departments.  We have even had some noteworthy members in our group like: Bob Tur, reporter / pilot for KCBS / KFI and L.A.P.D.  Commander Keith D. Bushey, Bob Petite, reporter / pilot for KNBC-TV, Brian Humphrey P.S.I. / L.A.F.D. and lets not forget Gene Hughes of “Police Call” just to name a few.  SCMA is also known for our great tours we have, here are just a few places our members have gone to: LAX Control Tower, Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles City Fire Department Communications Centers – (both old & new), KFWB–AM Radio Station, LAPD Air Support (ASTRO Division), South Bay Regional Communications Authority, KCOP-TV 13 News Center, or how about L.A. County Fire Communications Center – (old & new), Beverly Hills Police Department, Culver City Police Department and Verdugo Fire Communications Center.
    At SCMA we try to do our best after all we have no paid staff people, we are all volunteers and volunteers are hard to get!  Rick, WA6KFI and David, N6HGJ do most of the work.  Sometimes when new members join up we slip-up on paper work, because most of us work for a living and don’t have as much time as we would like to spend on the club, but we our getting better as time goes on.  It seems that as the years go by the Southern California Monitoring Association grows and gets better and we have a great group of people (members) who all get along and understand what is going on.  All of us at SCMA hope that if you’re a scanner enthusiast, that you will take the time to discover how much better your hobby can be by joining our club and getting more out of your monitoring time. If you would like to join SCMA our yearly dues is only $20.00 or $30 a year if we have to print and mail a newsletter to you (newsletters are sent via the email) if you have no computer!

 

The Goals of the SCMA
  1. To share information with and help others in the Scanner and Shortwave Radio community.
  2. To encourage the organizing and conduct monthly meeting were all are welcome.
  3. To encourage and facilities contact between our fellow club members.
  4. To publish a bi–monthly club newsletter devoted to Scanning and Shortwave radio monitoring hobby.
  5. To have Tours of major communications center or related services to our hobby for our members.
  6. To try to be knowledgeable about two–way radios systems and communications receivers.
    1. Commercial Radio Systems
    2. Amateur Radio Systems
    3. Shortwave Radio Broadcasters
    4. Local Radio and Television Broadcasters
  7. To offer suggestions and recommendation to the manufactures of two–way radios, receivers and accessories to the hobby.

SCMA Meetings

The Southern California Monitoring Association holds it's monthly meeting on the second Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at The Grinder Restaurant in Westchester near LAX. The address is 8521 Sepulveda Blvd., corner of Manchester Blvd., there is plenty of parking and the food is very good and the prices are great!  The general meeting starts at 8:00 p.m., and the meeting is usually over by 9:15 p.m., sometimes there is an after the meeting, meeting in the parking lot!

SCMA members and nonmembers alike are invited to attend. Meetings include a free exchange of information, handouts and updates of local frequencies, programs or guest speakers.

Weekly Radio Net. . .

The Southern California Monitoring Association uses the Baldwin Hills Amateur Radio Club weekly net on Tuesday nights at 7:30 p.m., 146.925- PL-114.8, 224.680- PL-114.8 – If there is any SCMA club news to be reported it will be here. 

SCMA Activities

In addition to meetings, the SCMA publishes a newsletter, The Monitoring Post, for its members with articles and information related to radio monitoring and scanning in Southern California. The latest frequencies, news, rumors, and happenings are published in the newsletter.

SCMA uses its contacts to set up and conduct member-only tours of sites of interest to radio monitors. Past tours have visited the new LAPD Police Dispatch Center, the LACoFD Dispatch center, an FAA Air Traffic Control Center, the U. S. Coast Guard Air Rescue Squadron, and several broadcast radio and television stations. Tours are conducted by people who work at the facility who usually give us the real inside story.

And, as you can see, the SCMA maintains an active home page on the World Wide Web.

 

SCMA Membership

Dues of $20 ($30 to receive the newsletter my mail) per year is required for membership in the SCMA. To join, fill out the online SCMA Membership Application and send your dues to:

Southern California Monitoring Association

3758 Barry Ave.

Los Angeles, CA 90066

Make checks or money orders payable to "R. DiFiore" and allow at least 2 weeks for a reply.