Murray State University Amateur Radio Club

Minutes of the June 3, 2008 Meeting

The meeting was called to order by President, Randall Winchester at 1900 hours. In attendance were:

Self-introduction of members took place with the questions of the day being “Are you going to participate in Field Day this year?”  

Minutes – Randall asked if there were any corrections to the May minutes. No corrections noted. George Knecht moved for adoption, multiple seconds, minutes approved as written.  

Treasurer’s Report – Bill Call reported deposits of $184.00 (exam fees and dues)  & $15.00 (dues), expenses of $294.45 for paint and hardware for the tower and two new Ringo Ranger II antennas and $77.00 to W5YI-VEC for exam fees.  This leaves a balance of $ 917.38 with one remaining antenna to pay for.  

VE Report – was accidentally omitted at the meeting but Bill emailed it to me this evening so I am including it in the minutes. May 12^th we had a VE session for health care workers who have been taking a class from Bill Call, of the 11 who showed up to take the test 9 passed the Technician element and have been licensed. Four of these are in Calloway County and are in Randall’s handout of the Murray Area Amateur Radio Operators, their callsigns are KJ4EB_.  

Systems Report – Bill Call reported that the Hamlin repeater is not quite as strong as before one of the storms this past month. He will be checking it out for lightening damage at a later date. The tower is now up at the front of the IT Building and the antennas have been installed, including the new Ringo Ranger and the 6 meter antenna has been moved to the back tower.  

Staff Advisor Report – John Hart reported good progress, it looks like we will be getting the equipment as reported in last month’s minutes. 

Net Report – Matt Freeman was not available and so will be giving the May & June reports at next month’s meeting. 

QSL Manager’s Report – Nothing to report  

Old Business (Non-Field Day) – No old business  

Ham Bits – Amateur Radio Operators in Kentucky. http://www.kyham.net/downloads/library/kyrepeat.pdf Randall handed out a map printout of Kentucky Repeaters downloaded from the above site and also a directory of Murray Area Amateur Radio Operators.  

New Business (Non-Field Day) – No new business.  

Field Day – Debbie reported on the number of T-shirts requested and is giving the order to Bill Call for placement at the end of this meeting. Everyone was asked to let her know this evening before leaving if they wanted to have any T-shirts added to the order.  

John Hart reported for the Field Day Committee. He gave a presentation on the rules and how the class of operation is determined. The recommendations for a club station will be 2A with a “GOTO” station for education and extra points. This station would be separate and would be considered a Free station under the Field Day rules (consider a VHF set-up for this), operate under 150 watts, keep stations relatively simple, operate Saturday only and have a cookout.  

The location is a secret and it was suggested that it be announced on Saturday morning or have a Fox Hunt to find the Field Day location. It was decided that the Fox Hunt idea was interesting and could be a lot of fun, but to put a time limit on it of 10:00 to 10:30 Saturday morning. If no-one has found the site by then it will be announced on the repeater, or when the first person finds the site that person will make an announcement on the repeater stating where the location is.  

The idea this year to have fun and fellowship and learn a little something also. As regards to points, it’s nice to have a high score but let’s not obsess about it. We will have a short presentation or two as an Educational demonstration to learn and also achieve some bonus points. The tentative schedule for Field Day is as follows:  

            Saturday, June28th

            9:00                            Meet at the Club station to load up equipment.

            9:30                            Fox Hunt or announce site

            10:00-10:30               Start to set-up stations, demos, information table and raise antennas

1:00                            Begin operating

5:30                            Cook-out/picnic

7:30-8:30                   Take down stations/antennas and return equipment to the club station

It was suggested that although VHF has poor operating conditions at this time a 6 meter station should be set-up (possibly as a GOTO station), this would be a great educational tool for non-hams and new hams and would be a good station to learn the fundamentals of contesting and amateur radio. A dipole would be great for 6 meters or the Ringo push-up antenna.  

Antennas suggested for Field Day operations were a Carolina Windham or a Doublet. Keep it simple and it was stated that some would like to see the new antenna launcher used.  

Debbie volunteered to chair the food committee and asked Candy and Valerie to help her out. At this time the club is planning on purchasing hamburger, hot dogs, buns, paper plates, silverware and napkins for the Field Day cookout.  

Programs – Bill Call showed a presentation of various club members “ham shacks” and antenna set-ups. This was very interesting and gave everyone a feel for all the different ways to be able to set up their equipment. Some ideas were unconventional and inventive. Bill also provided three door prizes from the Dayton Hamvention, the winners were: Denis Barton, WB8SKP (Yaesu hat), John Dillon, K4JFD (Yaesu hat) and Mark Garland, K4SDI (Icom Band Plan).  

There being no further business meeting adjourned at 2045 hours.  

Respectfully submitted,  

Debbie Barton, W8IBT, Secretary