Murray State University Amateur Radio Club

Minutes of the May 6, 2008 Meeting

The meeting was called to order by President, Randall Winchester at 1905 hours. In attendance were:

Self-introduction of members took place with the questions of the day being “Have you ever been to Hamvention?” “Are you going this year?” and “Why do (did) you go?”  

Minutes – Randall asked if there were any corrections to the April minutes. No corrections noted. Minutes approved as written.  

Treasurer’s Report – Bill Call reported a deposit of $205.00 (mostly from dues), expenses for the new tower section of $140.00 and $25.00 for the ARRL License Manual that was donated to the Library, leaving a balance of $1,089.83. We have 30 paid members.  

Systems Report – Bill Call reported that the new top section to the tower at the back of the I&T Building has been installed with assistance from Bob, K9OIM, Denis, WB8SKP & Debbie, W8IBT. The satellite array from that tower has been temporarily removed, awaiting the new rotator cable before being re-installed. We are still waiting for the tower mover to get back to work on the front tower. The APRS DigiPeater was damaged, apparently by lightening and failed on April 11^th. Bill replaced the PA transistor and got it working again that night. The repair charges will be about $25.00 which has not yet been paid. Other systems are working OK, the same as last month.  

VE Report – A VE session is planned for Monday afternoon May 12^th at 5:00 p.m. in the I&T Building, Room 237. This unusual time is to accommodate the license class of health care workers that Bill is teaching. Everyone is welcome, please advise Bill if you are planning to attend so preparations can be made. As of now K4ADW and KJ4W will be VE’s and we need at least a couple more.  

Bill is still looking for photos of your stations, the simpler the better. Also wanted are photos of antenna installations, particularly the simple 2m/70cm ones. These are to show to his to license class and to a future club meeting.  

Staff Advisor Report – John Hart reported that the back tower at the I&T Building was painted today. The rotator cable has been ordered according to the tower mover and  the tower mover will get to our front tower as soon as possible. He is having some trouble due to the fact that his climber left his employ to work elsewhere. The good news is the front tower should be ready by mid summer. A possible funding source for the KY Sat project has been found, John will know more by the July or August meeting. Equipment needed, will be a transceiver & pre-amps to be purchased through this possible funding source (a 1.2 gig module could possibly be purchased by the club as our contribution to the project).  

Net Report – Matt Freeman was not available due to finals and his report was incomplete and so will be given at next month’s meeting. 

QSL Manager’s Report – No report as Valerie Barrett was not in attendance.  

Old Business – No old business.  

.Ham Bits – Antenna Launcher MKII, a slingshot launcher for antenna installation was described.

The Antenna Launcher kit that was ordered by John Hart (he actually ordered 2, one was for Bert) arrived, it’s still in the box and the goal is to have it assembled before Field Day. The one ordered for Bert has been assembled and works beautifully. The instructions say to start at 40 lbs pressure (Bert says this will startle you when fired) and work up to the 90 lbs recommended pressure (according to Bert this is breathtaking).  

New Business – The Field Day committee is reported to be working hard. They are keeping secret the planned whereabouts for Field Day. Field Day is June 28 and it was announced that it will be lots of fun, entertaining and an interesting day. Has your interest been piqued yet?  

We are ordering Field Day T-Shirts from ARRL, they will run about $15.00 each (including shipping) and are black with “Ride the Waves”, pins and water bottles are also available. Please email Debbie with your order and be sure to include sizes for the T-shirts (unisex sizes S through 4XL), money will be collected upon delivery. Get your orders to Debbie (w8ibt@yahoo.com) by May 31^st.  

Programs – Matt Freeman and\or Randall Winchester are looking for ideas for programs. If you have an idea please email either of them with your idea.  

Whipple Walker announced that Bill Husfield presented a demonstration of PSK31 to the Marshall County Radio Club and it was well received.  

Ben Barth announced that the Glendale Church of Christ will be having a program on May 22^nd at 7:00 p.m. on weather forecasting. This will be presented by one of the Paducah weather station forecasters.  

Tonight’s program was not presented due to the computer in our meeting room not having sound. Therefore the program was adlib. Randall asked “what’s your favorite band?” and Denis asked you mean music? After much laughter and comments of “The Eagles” and other bands the question was dropped. Talk then turned to the Midnight Net. Discussion and reminiscing about old equipment, previous field days, the early days of the MSUARC and many other topics followed. At one point Randall asked “How many have been licensed 25 or more years,” then 30, then 35. Some people responded and the following are the results.  

Ben Barth, first licensed in 1954 (54 years), Denis Barton, 1973 (35 years), Debbie Barton, 1975 (33 years), Bob Aldrich & Randall Winchester, 1977 (31 years), John Hart, 1980 (28 years) and Whipple Walker, 1988 (20 years).  

There being no further business motion was made to adjourn by John Hart, seconded by Denis Barton. Randall Winchester adjourned the meeting at 2025 hours.  

Respectfully submitted,  

Debbie Barton, W8IBT, Secretary