Murray State University Amateur Radio Club

Meeting Minutes, April 6, 2010

The meeting was called to order at 19:00 by President Randall Winchester.  

In attendance:

The question of the day was: “Have you ever lost a wrench in a tree?”

Minutes – Bill Call motioned to accept the minutes as emailed, Chuck Williams seconded. Motion passed.

Treasurer’s Report – Bill Call reported a current balance of $1115.20, we had a couple of test sessions and the deposit hasn’t been made yet.

Systems Report – Bill Call reported 94 ok on calm days, wind causes noise.

Staff Advisor Report – Bill Call reported for John Hart, there is a scheduled balloon launch, Friday, April 9^th at 1:00 pm from the West Farm location. This will be a weather balloon with APRS and will be K4MSU-9.The Kentucky Satellite project is progressing.

VE Report – We had two test sessions. One the week of March 11^th and one on March 18^th, there were a total of 15 examinees and 13 passed their exams. We have another test session after this evenings meeting for 7 examinees. Congratulations to the successful examinees and good luck to those testing this evening.

QSL Managers Report – No cards to report.

Net Report –Matt Freeman gave the March Net Report of 4 sessions, 0 traffic, 55 stations, 98 minutes, and 89.8 operator hours. The report for one week was missing.

Ham Bits – Randall Winchester gave a demonstration of P25 digital mode on 446 simplex. Denis Barton, Dale Barrett and Mark Garland assisted. The demonstration showed that if you are listening to an analog receiver all you hear is digital noise. The P25 digital mode is susceptible to multi path problems which means the signal is prone to drop outs (the signal doesn’t degrade it just ceases).

Old Business – Reminder that tonight is election of officers.

New Business – Election of Officers.

President:  Bill Call nominated Randall Winchester, Tim Edmonson seconded. Valerie Barrett nominated Denis Barton, Dale Barrett seconded, Denis declined the nomination.

Whipple Walker called for nominations to cease, Dale Barrett seconded. All in favor. Randall Winchester elected President by acclamation.

Vice President: Debbie Barton nominated Chuck Williams , Tim Edmonson seconded. George Knecht called for nominations to cease, Dale Barrett seconded. All in favor. Chuck Williams elected Vice President by acclamation.

Secretary: Debbie Barton nominated Pat Stevens-Metcalf, Pat declined the nomination. Rich Beam nominated Debbie Barton, Tim Edmonson seconded. Nominations ceased. Debbie Barton elected Secretary by acclamation.

Treasurer: Tim Edmonson nominated Bill Call, Bob Aldrich seconded. Someone called for nominations to cease and was seconded. All in favor.  Bill Call elected Treasurer by acclamation.

Congratulation to our newly re-elected officers.

New member applications:

Charlton Young, KJ4SYV has applied for an associate membership with the club. Charlton is one of our new technician class licensees. Bill Call motioned to accept his application and Tim Edmonson seconded the motion. Motion passed with all in favor.

Nichole Barton, KJ4TKH has applied for an associate membership with the club. Nichole is one of our new technician class licensees and is the daughter of Debbie & Denis Barton. Chuck Williams motioned to accept her application and Bill Call seconded. Motion passed with all in favor.

Tracy Scott Durbin, KJ4TKK has applied for an associate membership with the club. Tracy is one of our new technician class licensees. Bill Call motioned to accept her application and Tim Edmonson seconded. Motion passed with all in favor.

Field Day: Field Day is a 24 hour demonstration of emergency operations on June 26-27, 2010. We have a few operators willing to work the midnight shift so we are planning on operating for the full 24 hours.

Chuck Williams was asked to chair the Field Day Committee and will be in charge of coordinating equipment and also finding a site to conduct our activities. Tim Edmonson suggested a Tennis Ball Launcher competition and the idea was enthusiastically approved, Chuck will also be in charge of setting up this competition.

Debbie Barton volunteered to head up the food committee and Valerie Barrett, Charlton Young, Nichole Barton & Candy Aldrich volunteered to assist.

Bill Call will place a T-Shirt order again this year and Valerie Barrett has offered to personalize them. Cost will probably be about the same as last year, approximately $15.00. Bill has asked Debbie Barton to collect the orders, so please email Debbie at w8ibt.debbie@gmail.com with your T-Shirt order, be sure to include your size and also if the personalization is something other than your name and call. Orders must be received by May 26^th.

Program – Bill Call presented a program on making easy to build antennas that you can easily find the supplies you need in Murray. These were simple 2 meter antennas made from wire and/or pvc pipe. Attached to these minutes is the handout with the directions.

Randall adjourned the meeting at 20:35 for the VE session which is to immediately follow.

Respectfully submitted,

Debbie Barton, W8IBT

Secretary

Addendum: The VE session was successful. We had one upgrade and six new technician class licensees as follows.

Ramona Hamilton KJ4TKM of Cadiz, who passed her Tech with us on March 18, upgraded to General.

Stephanie Austin, KJ4TYD, Cadiz;
David Butler, KC9RZU, Fairview Heights IL (MSU student);
Samuel Gray, KJ4TYE, Murray;
Kimberlyn "Skyler" Julian, KJ4TYF, Henderson (MSU student);
Sarah Kennedy, KJ4TYG, Lexington (MSU student);
Chris O'Dea, KC9RZV, Mt. Vernon IL (MSU student).