Murray State University Amateur Radio Club

Meeting Minutes, March 3, 2009  

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

In attendance:

The question of the day was “What frequencies do you have programmed into your 2 meter radio?”  Most people only had a few local repeaters programmed and a couple people had too many to name.

Minutes – Bill Call motioned to accept the minutes as written, Denis Barton seconded. Motion passed.

Treasurer’s Report – Bill Call reported a previous balance $1,040.00, a deposit of $50.00, and no expenditures for a new balance of $1,090.00.

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

Systems Report – Bill Call stated we had some damage from the ice storm as reported last month. The 2,4 machine capabilities are down due to the damage the antenna suffered in the ice storm. There is a fair amount noise on the 9,4 repeater, not sure if it’s from antenna deterioration or clutter from everything on the Fine Arts Building. Digipeater on Fine Arts is not working very well. UHF repeater and Echolink are working fine. Voter on Farmington not working as well as it should. In summary several systems are not performing as well as they should.

Staff Advisor Report – John Hart has inherited the grant project with Kentucky Satellite Corporation. This means 1) he has money to build a ground station for KY Sat and 2) he has a proposal for money to launch near space (100,000 feet) balloons equipped with various weather and radio equipment. More information will be forthcoming in the future. The satellite antenna has been up for 17 years with no problem and now that we have the means to build a ground station and launch balloons the ice storm/wind storm has damaged the mast and will need to be fixed. The ground station will work for both satellite and balloons.  

Net Report – Matt Freeman reported 4 sessions, 0 traffic, 41 stations, 100 minutes, and 68.3 operator hours.

QSL Managers Report – Valerie Barrett reported there was nothing new.  

Old Business – Randall Winchester stated the Litz decoder has been on hold since the ice storm.  

Bill Call asked, Certification/On-line courses for Emergency Management, where do we stand? Has anyone started any of the courses? Several people replied that they have started the courses and a few plan on starting them soon.  

Upcoming Hamfests –

            March 7, Sullivan, Indiana

            March 7, Mammoth Cave

            March 14, Wabash Valley

            March 21, Reelfoot, Union City, Tennessee

and others too numerous to mention.  

Ham Bits – WKMS-FM News – The Front Page. Hams on Ice. Was presented and represented our involvement in the ice storm emergency communications. It was a very well done interview of local hams helping out during the storm and was very good publicity for our club and the amateur radio community in general.  

George Knecht mentioned Mark Garland’s email to Kentucky Ham which was also good PR for amateur radio operators.  

Trustee Report – Bill Call reported that as Trustee, he had taken some actions during the past month to reduce interference on the repeaters caused by some non-members and that he had informed John Hart, as University Advisor, and Randall, as President, of his actions.  

New Business – Matt Freeman presented a short program on the National Weather Service’s new severe weather requirements for issuing a Severe Weather Warning for hail. The new standard is requires hail be 1” before a weather warning will be issued. Weather spotters still need to report all hail to the NWS although they will not issue a warning for hail under 1” in diameter.  

Next month is election of officers, so be sure to attend.  

Program – Post Event – Analysis and Discussion of the MSU Cycle Club sponsored 2009 Spring Race held in Kirksey.  

The race was a 16 mile loop from the corner of 299 & 464, west on 464 then north on 1863, then east on 402, then south on 299. Races were anywhere from 1 lap to 4 laps and there were 240 cyclist competing. Randall provided an APRS overview of the race, Bill spoke about the APRS hardware and software needed to provide communications for this race. John Hart and James Combs provided a race review, with Randall, John and James ending with a summary and conclusion of APRS communications for race coverage. Matt suggested that members providing communications should have some type of magnet for the side of their vehicle stating something to the effect of “MSU ARC Event Vehicle” so that people realize we are associated with the ongoing event and who we are. It is also a good idea when providing communication for a race that we have our flashers (hazard lights) on to let people know we are going slowly and they need to proceed with caution.

For now the temporary digipeater will be left at the Kirksey Fire Hall for testing to see what kind of coverage is available.  

Denis Barton suggested using the existing packet radio digi as an APRS digi station. Whipple Walker made a motion to purchase the crystals to upgrade the packet radio in the LBL to the APRS frequency. This will fill in the coverage to the east. John Hart seconded and motion passed.  

Meeting adjourned at 20:45 pm.  

Respectfully submitted,

Debbie Barton, W8IBT

Secretary