Murray State University Amateur Radio Club

Meeting Minutes, April 7, 2009

The meeting was called to order at 19:05 by Treasurer, Bill Call.

In attendance:

The question of the day was “Can you give your phone number using the resistor color code?”  Very few attendees could answer in the requested manner, but Bob K9OIM had the best answer “I’m color blind.”

Minutes – Chuck Williams motioned to accept the minutes as written, John Hart seconded. Motion passed.

Treasurer’s Report – Bill Call reported a previous balance $1,090.00, deposits of $160.00, and no expenditures for a new balance of $1,250.00.

VE Report – No exam sessions this past month, if anyone is interested in upgrading just contact Bill Call.

Systems Report – 94 Repeater – Bill Call reported that he and Allen worked on the main antenna changing it out for a Ringo Ranger II. The new antenna sits about five feet higher on the mast although it’s about the same height overall as the previous due to this one being a little shorter. Coverage appears to be a little better on the transmit but about the same for the receive. This could be a noise problem with the location on Fine Arts. The coax has been in use for quite a long time and we could consider installing new coax. The standing wave ratio is wonderful at one to one. The spare (back-up) antenna needs a little work. Plastic bushing is wearing and causing wobble.

APRS Digipeater - Antenna was repaired while up there to work on the 94 antenna. It is not as sensitive as the temporary site at Kirksey and is probably also due to the noise on Fine Arts.

Hamlin – Still has a terribly crippled antenna, due to the ice storm, but is on a 180’ tower. Bill will work on when he has the time as it will be a big job. The sheriff’s department is currently using our back-up antenna.

LBL APRS Digipeater – Has been installed. Bill crystalled a spare radio the club had and installed it at the site. The TNC was not suitable for use on APRS but thru John Hart a TNC (MFJ1270C) was obtained. Brian Walker programmed the chip for us.

Staff Advisor Report – John Hart reported that we received a letter of thanks for our help with the Murray State Cycling Team Road Race. They were very impressed with our APRS capabilities and are looking forward to working with our organization next year.

John also brought in his newest toy for the club, an LVB Tracker. This is the standard that AMSAT suggests using to control the satellite antenna rotators thru a computer.

The College of Science and Engineering Technology is always looking for new ways to promote their fields to the local schools. John submitted the following budget requests for project funding:

1)      The antenna system to be used for KySpace was damaged in the ice/wind storms and needed to be changed in any event. This project repairs the damage and upgrades the antenna system to make it more useful for the balloon flights discussed with the committee. With these changes, the same system that is used for the satellite projects will also be useful for a wide variety of balloon projects. $2,500.00

2)      Funding the construction and flight of two balloons. One flight would be primarily focused on the needs for the K-12 classes and the other would be primarily focused on the needs of our TSM wireless basics course and possibly the needs of appropriate physics courses. The goal of this project would be to develop a core set of technology for balloon payloads and use those to support specific flight goals for the target groups. $1,800.00

Both of these budget requests were approved. Club participation will be needed in conjunction with schools to get this going.

Net Report – Matt Freeman reported 5 sessions, 0 traffic, 52 stations, 101 minutes, and 87-1/2 operator hours.

QSL Managers Report – Valerie Barrett reported there were no new cards. She did send out a couple of cards and also envelopes to QSL Bureau.

Old Business – None.

Upcoming Hamfests –

            April 18 – Memphis Area, Bartlett, TN

            May 2 – Clarksville Tailgate Party, Clarksville, TN

            May 9 – Little Dayton (GeorgeFest), Draffenville, KY

            May 15-17 – Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH

Ham Bits – Monitoring APRS. Randall had a presentation of graphs of activity on APRS in our area from March 29^th thru April 6^th. For those nine days there were between 3700 and 5400 transmissions by 92 to 154 stations. There was one station (not local) that transmitted about every minute and a half. Do not beacon (transmit) every minute especially from a fixed station and use smart beaconing otherwise you become a band hog! Nationwide recommendations are for fixed APRS use Wide 1-1 or mobile use either Wide 1-1, Wide 2-1 or Wide 1-1, Wide 2-2.

New Business – Election of officers.

1)      President – Bob Atkinson nominated Randall Winchester for President, Chuck Williams seconded. George Knecht motioned to close nominations and Powell Henderson seconded. All were in favor of Randall Winchester remaining as President. Congratulations Randall.

2)      Vice President – John Hart nominated Chuck Williams for Vice President, Debbie Barton seconded. Powell Henderson motioned to close nominations and Denis Barton seconded. All were in favor of Chuck Williams for Vice President. Congratulations Chuck.

3)      Secretary – Debbie Barton asked Valerie Barrett if she would consider taking the position of Secretary but Valerie politely declined. Chuck Williams nominated Debbie Barton, someone seconded (I missed who), George Knecht motioned to close nominations and Dale Barrett seconded. All were in favor of Debbie Barton remaining as Secretary. Congratulations Debbie.

4)      Treasurer – John Hart moved that Bill Call be elected by acclimation. All were in favor of Bill Call remaining Treasurer. Congratulations Bill.

Other new business:

Field Day is June 27^th. Ideas were tossed around as to where to hold Field Day. Some suggestions were Roy Stewart Stadium, Club station, the Park where we were last year and possibly the club station in conjunction with MSU Public Safety.

John Hart will check on the stadium and possibly the Presidents Box for actual operations.

Do we want to operate as a contest or Emergency Preparedness? What time frame do we want to plan on operating (short hours like last year or the full 24 hours)?

Program – John Hart didn’t realize he was supposed to have the program tonight so he and Bill Call improvised about UI-View. UI-View does not include maps, but you can use almost any mapping program with it. Roger Barker, G4IDE SK, the author of UI-View requested that upon his death (4-1/2 years ago) that the source codes be destroyed as no one wanted to take over the responsibility for UI-View. For most programs this would have been a death knell, but because of the way it was built new applications can be written to it and therefore, UI-View is still alive and well. The software is free because just before Roger passed away, the registration fees for UI-View and WinPack were waived, but it is asked that you make a donation to your local or national cancer agency.

An application written by a ham in Greece works as a software TNC. John will present a program next month on UI-View and associated materials.

Meeting adjourned at 20:15 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Debbie Barton, W8IBT

Secretary