Meeting Minutes, May 5, 2009
The meeting was called to order at 19:05 by President, Randall Winchester.
In attendance:
| Debbie Barton, W8IBT | Denis Barton, WB8 |
| Bob Aldrich, WD8OWA | Candy Aldrich, XYL of WD8OWA |
| Powell Henderson, KI4SII | Randall Winchester, WD4HVA |
| Chuck Williams, KJ4HBK | John Hart, KO4ZE |
| George Knecht, KI4RZY | Bill Call, KJ4W |
| Dale Barrett, WB7D | Valerie Barrett, KG4OCJ |
| Robin Jones, KF4GCD | Bonnie Allen, Guest |
| Derek Hammer, Guest | Andrew Chiles, Guest |
| Forrest Carver, Guest | Tim Edmonson, KA4WWS |
| John Piper, Guest |
The thought of the day was “Describe the first time you ever saw anyone operating an amateur radio transceiver.”
Minutes – Bill Call motioned to accept the minutes as written, Tim Edmonson seconded. Motion passed.
Treasurer’s Report – Bill Call reported no deposits were recorded, expenditures of $24.00 for MSU PO Box rental for a new balance of $1,226.77.
VE Report – No exam sessions this past month, but an exam session is being held after tonight’s meeting. Anyone interested in upgrading just contact Bill Call.
Systems Report – Bill Call reported that he hasn’t worked on any of the systems in the past month, but that the new antenna on the 94 machine isn’t performing any better than the old one. The next option would be to install new coax, but it could just be all the noise on the Fine Arts Building.
Staff Advisor Report – John Hart reported that work is continuing on the satellite station. The satellite array will be mounted on a 12’ mast on top of this (ITT) building.
Net Report – Matt Freeman emailed his net report to Debbie Barton and she read the report of 4 sessions, 0 traffic, 45 stations, 99 minutes, and 74.25 operator hours.
QSL Managers Report – Valerie Barrett reported there were no new cards.
Old Business – Field Day is June 27-28 and Randall appointed Chuck Williams and John Hart as the Field Day Committee. The location is in the works but has not been finalized yet.
Upcoming Hamfests –
May 9 – Little Dayton (GeorgeFest), Draffenville, KY
May 15-17 – Dayton Hamvention, Dayton, OH
Ham Bits – “Who else is out there?” Calloway County Frequency List was passed out listing most of the frequencies used in various Calloway County entities.
New Business – Bill Call reported that Emergency Management is interested in a couple of hams to assist with emergency communications. Research is being done on whether or not classes will be required as part of the training. They were very impressed with the amateur radio operators during the ice storm.
Powell Henderson – Inquired as to whether the club would be interested in participating in the Kentucky QSO Party. He will check on what would be required and will follow-up with information in another month or so to see if anyone is interested.
George Knecht – Asked about linking area repeaters together for improved coverage. Randall asked if George would research what would be required and what other clubs would be interested and get back to the club in a couple of months with the results.
Program – John Hart presented a program on APRS or Automatic Position Reporting System by Sound Card Packet. This is a very low cost way to get involved in APRS. He showed how to use any downloaded or screen print map to drag and drop into the program and how to set it up with longitude and latitude for accurate positioning. The APRS transceiver frequency is 144.39 Mhz. APRS is very handy when weather spotting or for the bicycle race that the club helped with this spring. John also provided the following links:
http://www.sv2agw.com/downloads/default.htm
http://www.apritch.myby.co.uk/uiv32.htm
We had one new application for membership from Donald Garner of Cadiz. Chuck Williams made a motion to accept, George Knecht seconded and motion carried with everyone in favor.
Tim Edmonson volunteered to help Matt Freeman with the Monday night net. Matt just needs to let him know when he would be needed as net control.
Bill Call will be ordering ARRL Field Day T-Shirts for anyone in the club who is interested in getting one. The shirts will be about $16.00 each and will be personalized with your call and/or name. If you want to order a T-shirt please contact Bill by May 20th so that they can be ordered in plenty of time to be personalized before Field Day.
Good luck to the four aspiring hams on their exams this evening.
Debbie Barton made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Tim Edmonson. All were in favor. Meeting adjourned at 20:30.
Respectfully submitted,
Debbie Barton, W8IBT
Secretary