Saturday, March 19, 2016

March 2016 Meeting

Emporia Amateur Radio Society
Science Hall 156, ESU
19 March 2016

Meeting Minutes:

1.     Call to Order - President, Tim East (KØEMP), called the meeting to order at 9:02 AM in SH156 with 13 members (one new member, Jim, KD9ADN) and 1 guest present.
       
        Prior to proceeding through the agenda items Tim East (KØEMP) gave a short presentation on repeater use and courtesy.

2.     Meeting Minutes - The minutes from the 20 February 2016 meeting had been emailed to the membership previously and were briefly discussed then approved with no changes requested.

3.     Treasurer’s Report – David Claridge (ADØSF) presented the Treasurer’s report:

        Tim briefly discussed some equipment the club has for sale, George Phoenix, KD0RII, requested Tim send him the info so he could put it on the EARS webpage.

4.      Component Corner – Jim Belford, WX0U, gave a presentation on transistors, how they function and how they are used, using a voltage divider example and Ohm’s Law.

5.      Announcements and Reports
·         Executive Committee Meeting – David Claridge, AD0SF, gave a brief synopsis of the Feb 26 Executive Committee Meeting. Primary topics presented were the club goal of being self-funded through membership dues and donations, update on trailer construction status and insurance needs, club license renewal and address update and interest in changing the club call sign, and need to update/use of repeaters (Fusion repeaters). Dean Binns, KD0AZZ, also mentioned that he had to withdraw from the trailer committee due to his Aunt that passed away and him having to handle the arrangements.

·         Builder’s Corner –
o   George Phoenix (KDØRII) presented a Palomar Engineers VLF converter he purchased that operates from 10-500 kHz and 3.5-4.0 MHz. Also discussed two new bands being opened, 2200 MHz and 630 MHz, and the slinky antenna he built and presented at an earlier meeting.

o   Jim, WX0U, also passed around a new Chinese duel band mobile radio he bought off Amazon.com to try out that he thought might be good for events like the DK200. It is a Leixen VV-898, very small, 5/10 watt, cost about $80.  He also passed around a 3D printed drone he put together.

·         Calling the Thursday Night Net – Sign-up sheet was passed with the results as follows:

DATE
CALL SIGN
NAME
24-Mar-16
KDØOIX
Dwight Moore
31-Mar-16
KCØUVH
Linda Schock
07-Apr-16
KDØMQF
Robert Neer
14-Apr-16
ADØSF
David Claridge

DATE
CALL SIGN
NAME
21-Apr-16
KDØAZZ
Dean Binns
28-Apr-16
KDØAZZ
Dean Binns


·         Next Exam – UPDATE:  VE Session has been scheduled for Saturday, April 16th – Time TBD


6.      Continuing discussion and activity items
·               Trailer Committee Update – Work is continuing with furniture installation and procurement of electrical components. Results of insurance research by David, AD0SF, with State Farm was presented and discussed.  State Farm can provide a Comprehensive/Collision policy for $76.00 annually with a $500.00 deductible or $96.00 with a $250.00 deductible.  After a discussion of what is and is not covered by the policy, Mike Pate, KC0NFG, moved that we go ahead with the $96.00 policy and Sean Claridge, AD0SG, seconded. Before a vote was taken George Phoenix, KD0RII, requested and moved that the motion be modified to specify that the insurance premium be taken from the trailer fund. Dwight Moore, KD0OIX, seconded.  After further discussion, the vote on the original motion was 10 for and 3 against and on the motion amendment it was 7 for and 5 against. Amended motion passed.

·               KØV Report – From last meeting, Dwight Moore (KDØOIX) reported that the Veteran’s Day Special Event call sign (KØV) has been reserved again for Nov 5th – 11th. There was no update, no new information.

·               DK 200 Update – Time East (KØEMP) reported that this years’ DK course has been approved and that the JEEP Club now has 9 Ham Operators.  Per discussions with the DK promoters this year the event will be a directed net with the JEEP operators and EARS operators working together.  Tim will be Net Control and we will have three fixed checkpoint stations plus net control in addition to the mobile JEEP units.  Covering net control and three checkpoints and to allow shifts to cover the long event will require from 10 to 16 operators, ideally.  We will try to get Jim Cummins from the DK committee to come to our May meeting to give a presentation on the DK.



·                
·               Field Day Update – Dwight Moore (KDØOIX) discussed having the event in the same location as last year (ESU practice fields) and being able to have the trailer on the side of the field unless it rains.  Discussion was held on past difficulty with operating as a 3A station and whether we should operate as 2A this time.  Also discussed limited value of having a VHF station and having a GOTA station.  Consensus was we should go with 2A and not have a GOTA station, and if someone wanted to set up a VHF station they could.  A vote/decision on the declaration of a 2A vs 3A station and the use of the GOTA station was not taken/made so should be done at the next meeting.  Dwight mentioned the safety officer position (David Claridge, AD0SF volunteered) and an idea to use pvc pipes at the ends of the dipole antennas to get the ends higher off the ground. That would improve antenna performance and help keep people from accidentally contacting the antennas during operation. Dwight also suggested we set up an operator schedule to help coordinate operating times and operators. Also discussed setting up the popups a little differently to have a socializing area away from the operating stations and maybe even having a station set up in the trailer.

·               Additional Discussions
o   Discussion was held regarding the EARS club license (KBØSSR). The renewal application was submitted for KBØSSR. Discussed applying for a vanity call to get a shorter call and maybe trying to get Don’s call (AA0DF). It was brought up that Don had a grandson who is currently in the military but was very close to Don and may want to have Don’s call.  Other calls were checked on, K0EKS and K0LYO are currently available.  The topic was again tabled for future discussion with the executive committee to provide further research into the potential options and steps needed.

o   EARS Club membership statistics were presented by Tim

Total Paid Membership:
26

ARRL Members:
20
ARRL Percentage:
76.92%

RACES Members:
3
RACES Percentage:
11.54%

ARES Members:
9
ARES Percentage:
34.62%

ARRL Reg. Instructors:
5
Instructors Percentage:
19.23%

ARRL Volunteer Examiners:
9
V.E. Percentage:
34.62%


o    
o   Wayne Lemmons, KA0ZVZ, brought up that we have license books at the Emporia Library that need to be replaced with current ones.  Wayne moved that we provide new books to the library, Mike Pate seconded. Motion passed with 1 nay and 11 ayes.

7. Presentation – David Claridge, AD0SF, presented three YouTube videos. One was entitled Amateur Radio Today narrated by Walter Cronkite, then one on a home built spark gap transmitter and finally a re-creation of the SOS signal sent by the radio operator on the Titanic using a spark gap transmitter.


8. Adjournment – The meeting adjourned at 11:13 AM.