Murray State University Amateur Radio Club

Meeting Minutes, July 6, 2010

The meeting was called to order at 19:15 by Vice President Chuck Williams. 

In attendance:

The question of the day was: “What is your most embarrassing Field Day Moment?"

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 $1765.41.  The only expense was $158.79 to Bad Bob’s Barbeque for meat for the Field Day meal.

Systems Report – Bill Call reported that all repeater systems were working about as normal.  The 146.940 repeater was down overnight the 19^th-20^th due to a power glitch, but resetting it was all that was needed.

Staff Advisor Report – John cleaned out the shack (Radio Lab) of much of the older gear and junk.  He will be using that Lab this summer and fall for student work in conjunction with the Skynet and KySpace projects.  He hopes to be getting newer computers for the Lab, and to get the operating positions set back up properly.  The test bench is set up very nicely now.  Note: the Club had authorized sale of much of the older gear several years ago, and no one has gotten around to doing this.  Bill has taken the club-owned gear to his house and will be trying to sell it.

VE Report – No VE sessions this past month.  As of July 1^st a new study book will be needed for the Tech license.  Some questions on other exams have been dropped as being no longer valid, due to various small rule changes.  Bill has discarded all the old exams and printed new versions.  Anyone interested in an exam, please let him know.

QSL Managers Report – No cards to report.

Net Report – Tim Edmonson reported for Matt that there were 4 sessions, no traffic, 55 stations, 111 minutes, 101.75 operator hours.

Ham Bits – Was a handout of valid Q signs, but not all Q signs are valid for Amateur Radio use.

Old Business – No old business to report.

New Business – Tim mentioned starting a swap meet in Murray .  Several years ago we actually conducted a hamfest, with good success the first year, but the second year we had no major vendors and that really hurt.  After the 2 yrs we about broke even in costs. The Marshall County “Junkfest” (also known as the “Georgefest”) is one that several of our members attend; that kind of event is easier to put on and less risky in terms of cost.

There was talk of having a Fox Hunt possibly in late September.

George, KC4KAN has a Yaesu satellite antenna system for sale.  It includes rotators and everything is supposed to work.  He is asking $400.

Field Day Report - Results have not yet been tabulated as of meeting time.  Chuck did get us several bonus points, such as an article in the newspaper and having an elected government official present.  He also guesstimates that we had approximately 1100-2000 total points.  Chuck wants to send a picture of Sheriff Bill Marcum being at Field Day to ARRL.  They may post it in the magazine.  Many members thanked Chuck and thought he did a good job organizing and trying to meet everyone's needs.  He is a people person.

It was mentioned that next Field Day we need to plan months ahead, use the right antennae for the right mode, possibly set up the night before to make sure everything is working properly, we need to set up a schedule for radio operations so that all hours are covered equally.

It was brought up that not everyone who wanted to operate the radios were able to.  For that reason it was suggested that we have some sort of tag that states "I want to operate" or "I am waiting to operate" that people can be wearing so operators know.

Please send Chuck your photos from Field Day to cwilliams@wk.net.

Chuck thanked everyone who gave their time to set up, operate, or take down Field Day.

Tim Edmonson motioned to adjourn the meeting.  Meeting adjourned at about 20:35.

Respectfully submitted,

Nichole Barton, KJ4TKH

Acting Secretary