Saturday, May 21, 2016

May 2016 Meeting

Emporia Amateur Radio Society
Science Hall 156, ESU
21 May 2016
Meeting Minutes:

1.     Call to Order - Tim, KØEMP, called the meeting to order at 9:01 am. Introductions were made and we had 17 members present and 1 visitor.
       
2.     Meeting Minutes - The 16 April meeting minutes had been emailed to the members prior to the meeting. Linda, KCØUVH, made a motion to approve the minutes as written, Greg, KAØFZR, seconded, passed unanimously.
                                                                                                                                         
3.     Treasurer’s Report – Lonnie, WØNXS, presented the Treasurer’s report. Dwight, KDØOIX, motioned to approve, David, ADØSF, seconded, report was approved unanimously.

4.      Component Corner – Postponed until next meeting as Jim, WXØU, was not able to attend the meeting.

5.      Announcements and Reports
·         Lyon County Emergency Management Coordinator – Jarrod Fell was introduced and gave a brief run-down of the upcoming community events that they will be assisting with such as the DK200 and the Symphony of the Flint Hills. 
o   A question was raised by Tim, KØEMP, regarding having a Lyon County RACES officer. Jarrod Fell will work with Tim, KØEMP, directly (or Dean, KDØAZZ, if Tim is unavailable) to look into the potential for a RACES officers and he will contact the Lyon County Communications Center in the process.
o   FEMA 300 and FEMA 400 courses will be offered locally in June and July – additional information is available online at KSTrain (www.ks.train.org) including course prerequisites.
§  June 28–29 FEMA 300 - Intermediate Incident Command System (ICS) Course
§  July 28-29 FEMA 400 - Advanced Incident Command System (ICS) Course for Command and General Staff, Complex Incidents, and MACS
o   Linda, KCØUVH, asked if Lyon County had a CERT program similar to one that she had experience with in the Kansas City area.  Jarrod responded that Lyon County has most of the same functions falling under COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster).
·         Executive Committee Meeting – Tim, KØEMP, presented a summary the May Executive Meetings held 20 May 2016.
o   Equipment for Sale - Tim stated that all of the donated equipment had been sold with the exception of the manuals, some of which might be valuable and asked if anyone would be willing to assist in selling them online such as through E-Bay.  Erika, KEØGXW, offered to help with selling them as she already has an online store and some of the more “vintage” ones may bring higher selling prices through an alternate avenue than E-Bay.  Tim will coordinate with Erika on getting the manuals to her.  Connie, KØUER, offer to supply additional manuals that he has that could also be sold.
o   ESU Radio Room – Tim described to the members the work that has been accomplished in the ESU Radio Room (a.k.a. the “coop”).  The donated dual band mobile and antenna have been installed along with its corresponding power supply.  The Yaesu Fusion repeater is now on the air at 145.310 PL 103.5 and is currently set for 25W.  The “bottles” for the repeater have been replaced with ones with a finer tune on them and the club purchased Diamond X50NA antenna was recently installed by Jim, WXØU with assistance from Tim, KØEMP.
§  It was also noted that the 146.985 and 443.000 repeaters will be linked during the DK200 so any local non-DK traffic should utilize the 145.310 repeater.
·         Extra Class Training Session – Discussion was had regarding the request for an extra class training session and currently Corey, KEØITF, and Colton, KEØGXX, expressed that they might be interested.  Tim, KØEMP, asked that a survey be sent to the membership by Lonnie, WØNXS, to determine additional interest by those not in attendance.
·         QRZ Page Update – Updating of the club’s KBØSSR page on QRZ was discussed and Dwight, KDØOIX, agreed to update it.

·         Builder’s Corner
o   Dwight, KDØOIX, showed a presentation on the 10M Yagi that he built from aluminum tubing he bought from DX Engineering and a homebrew tuning hairpin that he made, all for just under $200.  Although designed for 10M, he built it such that the retracted tubing could be extended so that it could be tuned for 12M as well.
o   Colton, KEØGXX, brought an inoperable 10A Radio Shack power supply that he was loaned to see if anyone would be willing to fix it for his use at home.  Wayne, KAØZVZ, said that he would take it and see if Jack could fix it for Colton.
·         Calling the Thursday Night Net – Sign-up sheet was passed with the results as follows:

DATE
CALL SIGN
NAME
26-May-16
KDØAZZ
Dean Binns
02-Jun-16
KDØAZZ
Dean Binns
09-Jun-16
KEØGXX
Colton Wellnitz
16-Jun-16
ADØTV
William Wolcott

23-Jun-16
KCØUVH
Linda Wolcott
30-Jun-16
WØNXS
Lonnie Worthington
07-Jul-16
ADØSF
David Claridge
14-Jul-16



·         Next VE Exam Session – Saturday June 18th at 12:30 PM
6.      Continuing discussion and activity items
·         Club Call Sign Change Update – Lonnie, WØNXS, reported that Mike, KCØNFG, and he contacted the FCC and established an online passcode for use in updating the club’s call sign.  They then submitted the required online information to request WØEMP as the club’s new call and as of 20 May, it request had completed the “Red Light Review” and the application was showing as “Pending”, therefore the new call sign should be processed in the next week or so.
·         Trailer Committee Update – Tim, KØEMP, updated the group on the progress of the trailer build that was accomplished by Jim, WXØU, Tim, KØEMP, and Lonnie, WØNXS, on 15 May.  Currently the operating station tables and rack have been installed as well as the flooring although it still needs to be trimmed to its final width.  The horizontal conduit runs have been installed and the DC outlet power wiring and coax has been routed.  Lonnie, WØNXS, is working on the final design of the mounting panels to hold the AC/DC power center, the coax patch panel and lighting switch panels.  Anyone wishing to assist with the next trailer work day was asked to contact Lonnie, WØNXS.  It was also noted during the discussion that American Electric has donated almost $400 in electrical components to assist in the process.
·         DK 200 Planning & Discussion – Tim, KØEMP, provided the group with a preliminary overview of the checkpoints and areas where radio operators will needed to assist with the DK.  It was noted that Brian Short has agreed to unlink the 147.045 (Matfield Green) repeater for use as a backup during the DK event, however the primary communications will occur on the 146.985 and 443.000 repeaters which will be linked for the event as Jim, WXØU, has worked out the linking between them.  Tim also solicited volunteers to assist with the event and the following individuals indicated interest in assisting: 


Net Control:
KØEMP, Tim
KCØNFG, Mike
Operators:
ADØSF, David
ADØTV, William
KCØUVH, Linda
KDØAZZ, Dean
KDØOIX, Dwight
KDØRII, George
KEØITF (possibly – will let Tim know)
ADØSG (Friday afternoon setup and possibly some Saturday PM)
NØYNN, Larry (from a previous request for volunteers during April meeting)
KDØWUF, Sean (via proxy – possibly available after 4:30 PM on Saturday)  
Rovers:
WØNXS, Lonnie
WXØU, Jim
o   Additional operators will be needed during the event so anyone interested in assisting please contact Tim, KØEMP.

·               Field Day Update – Dwight, KDØOIX, presented an overview of the 2016 Day Field event to be held 25 – 26 June at the north end of the ESU practice fields. 
o   A big thank you goes out to Bud and Belinda who are sponsoring a Porta-Potty for use during field day which will be located at the north end of the parking area. 
o   Set up is scheduled to begin at 0900 on 25 June (Saturday) and we will be on the air until 1300 on 26 June (Sunday) after which time tear down commences. 
o   If there is enough interest there will be Fox Hunt (part of the educational portion of Field Day) beginning at 1900 on Saturday evening.  Please let Dwight, KDØOIX, know if you are interested (if you haven’t already done so). 
o   The previous e-mailed sign-up sheets were passed around so that Dwight can make a determination as to the operating and setup / tear down schedule as well as equipment that people are planning to bring.  If you were not at the eyeball meeting please contact Dwight with the times that you will be available as well as any equipment you can make available for use.
o   Discuss was had to determine if there is interest in doing a “potluck / group meal” during the field day event.  Dwight asked for a volunteer to organize a group meal if there is interest and Linda, KCØUVH, indicated that she might be willing to do it.
o   Dean, KDØAZZ, volunteered to contact Chuck Samples at KVOE regarding on-air “advertising” for the event to get the word out to the public.
·         E.A.R.S. Shirt – Dean, KDØAZZ, showed the custom shirt that he had made for use during events such as the DK200 (see images on the following page).  The shirt displays the EARS logo inset inside and outline of the State of Kansas with Emporia, KS below it on the left chest.  On the right chest is Dean’s call sign, KDØAZZ, with his first and last name spelled out below.  On the back is a larger version of the Kansas outline with EARS logo inset.  Dean asked that anyone interested in a T-shirt please contact him and he will work with Uncommon Threads (the company that made the shirt) in order to obtain pricing.  Dean indicated later that he will make an announcement during the Thursday night net regarding the shirts.

7. Presentation – No presentation during the May event in order to focus more time on the upcoming DK200 and Field Day events.

8. Adjournment – The meeting adjourned at 11:20 AM followed by a short tour by KØEMP for those that were interested in seeing some of the changes made to the ESU radio room and the equipment installed.



KDØAZZ – E.A.R.S. Shirt – Front


KDØAZZ – E.A.R.S. Shirt – Back