Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Schedule for calling the Emporia Amateur Radio 2-meter Net








25-May-17 AD0TV William Wolcott
01-Jun-17 KE0LKR Rusty Lidzy
08-Jun-17 AD0SF David Claridge
15-Jun-17 KS1ERS Dean Binns

22-Jun-17 KE0LKR Rusty Lidzy
29-Jun-17 KS1ERS Dean Binns
06-Jul-17 AD0SF David Claridge
13-Jul-17 KE0LKR Rusty Lidzy

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

January 2017 Meeting

January 21, 2017 EARS Meeting Minutes

CALL TO ORDER: Tim, K0EMP, called the meeting to order at 9:03 am. We had 21 members present, no visitors.

MEETING MINUTES: David Claridge, AD0SF, gave a summary of the November 19, 2016 meeting minutes. Larry, N0YNN moved to approve the minutes as presented, William, AD0TV, seconded, passed unanimously.

TREASURER’S REPORT: David, AD0SF, presented the Treasurer’s report.  William, AD0TV, moved to approve, Larry, N0YNN, seconded, report approved unanimously.

COMPONENT CORNER: Jim, WX0U, provided a short recap on a previous presentation on voltage dividers, OHMs Law, and using transistors as switches.  He then discussed use of transistors as audio amplifiers (Class A) and how overdriving them leads to signal distortion or clipping. This lead to a brief discussion on how this messes up a signal, such as causing intermod issues and mic gain issues.

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND REPORTS:
Tim, K0EMP, presented a short summary of the Dec 31, 2016 Executive Meeting. David, AD0SF, took an action to make sure our EARS Annual Report is sent to ARRL and a copy sent to George Phoenix, KD0RII. (From the Dec 31, 2016 Exec Meeting Minutes, noted K0EMP sent the annual report to Lonnie, W0NXS, on Jan 1 and Lonnie sent it to ARRL on Jan 3. Also noted Lonnie updated our EARS membership information on our ARRL club page on Jan 3.).
ACTION: Send copy of Annual Report to George, KD0RII.

Builder Corner presentation:
1.      George, KD0RII, presented two items. One was a very fashionable leather bag he was using as a small go bag complete with two HTs and associated equipment.  The other item was a small Chinese coupler unit he purchased off EBAY for $16. It has two leads with 2 pin connectors (Baofeng style) used to connect two HTs together to make a repeater.  He also had an audio connector cable several feet long to connect to one of the leads then to one of the HTs, to get more antenna separation between the HTs.

The Thursday Night Net signup sheet was passed around.
DATE
CALL SIGN
NAME
26-Jan-17
ADØTV
William Wolcott
02-Feb-17
KCØUVH
Linda Wolcott
09-Feb-17
KS1ERS
Dean Binns
16-Feb-17


23-Feb-17
ADØTV
William Wolcott
02-Mar-17
KCØUVH
Linda Wolcott
09-Mar-17
KS1ERS
Dean Binns
16-Mar-17
ADØSF
David Claridge
23-Mar-17
ADØTV
William Wolcott
30-Mar-17
KS1ERS
Dean Binns
06-Apr-17
KEØLKR
Rusty Lidzy
13-Apr-17


Tim, K0EMP, announced the tentative dates selected for the 2017 VE Testing sessions, Feb 18 at 1300, May 6th at 0900, Sept 12 at 1900 and Dec 1 at 1900.  Larry, N0YNN, suggested we try and put on a Ham Cram for the Extra Class this year.  Tim explained that such an effort would be very lengthy and difficult to put on due to the size of the question pool and difficulty of the material and that we have not had much interest in doing this in the past. GEORGE, KD0RII, also mentioned the Extra class that the Topeka club puts on in January.

CONTINUING DISCUSSION AND ACTIVITY ITEMS:

Trailer Committee Update:  Tim, K0EMP, announced the trailer build is on hold due to weather. It is time to renew the trailer tags and we are waiting on insurance information from our insurer.

AUXComm Training:  Tim,K0EMP, asked William, AD0TV, to provide comments on the class, he gave a nice summary of what we did, the class prerequisites and the forms we used, and we had a brief discussion of how Lonnie, W0NXS, had incorporated some of the training and forms into the Race for the Chase event.  Larry, N0YNN, mentioned it would be a good idea for us to put on an emergency drill to get interested club members up to speed on what to do and how. Tim agreed that was a good idea and that he would talk with Mike, KC0NFG, about it as that needs to be coordinated through ARES.

Immediate Past President: Tim,K0EMP, announced this position was approved and that Dwight, KD0OIX, is our current Immediate Past President.

Repeater Committee Update:  Tim, K0EMP, announced there was no update to report at this time. David, AD0SF, added that we were still wanting another member or two to join the committee.  During the meeting, Jim, WX0U, made contact with Brian, KC0BS, and asked for his input on a new controller for the 985 repeater. Brian said the SCOM 7330 controller for about $495 is the best one in his opinion, and is the one being used in several KLINK repeaters now.  Brian also agreed to assist in installation if we got one.  Decision tabled at this time so we can turn the information over to the committee for discussion and evaluation.  It was noted that the discussed price is well below our budget allotment of $750 for a new controller.

Social Media Committee Update:  Dean, KS1ERS, committee chairman, stated that the committee had a short meeting before the eyeball meeting, and that our Facebook page is going well.  Dean and David, AD0SF, are both keeping an eye on member requests and posts to limit new member additions to only those in EARS or that are licensed or pursuing a license, and to delete any questionable posts.  George, KD0RII, continues doing a great job keeping up the EARS webpage.




ADDITIONAL DISCUSSIONS/NEW BUSINESS.

Dwight, KD0OIX, passed around the QSL cards we received for KOV. He also showed a QSL card he created for our club to use for field day contacts, stated that he has loaded all our QSL contacts on LOTW (Logbook Of The World), and that he has reserved KOV for 2017 for us.

Nomination of Club Officers:
President, Tim East, K0EMP, and Dean Binns, KS1ERS
Vice President, David Claridge, AD0SF
Secretary/Treasurer, Dwight Moore, KD0OIX, and Dean Binns, KS1ERS

Gravel Ride for Maisie’s Pride:  David, AD0SF, gave a short summary of what the ride is, where and when, and the Manhattan Jeep Club requesting our help with communication (they use CBs which have poor performance in the hills).  David and Tim, K0EMP, are interested in helping. David will contact David Dinsmore of the jeep club to get more details following their next meeting and will present that at our next meeting to see if we have enough interest to support the event.

2017 Ears Club Potential Events/Activities:  Tim, K0EMP, presented the list of events/activities generated from the executive committee meeting making particular note of VE test dates and main events such as DK200, Lunar Kanza, et.

2 Meter SSB Net:  David, AD0SF, presented a new net Sean Lynch, KD0WUF, is proposing, it will be a 2 meter SSB net, probably on 144.255 and probably on Saturdays at 1900. He is interested in also a second day during the week and is asking for interest and suggestions.  William, AD0TV, Linda, KC0UVH, Tim, K0EMP, George, KD0RII and David, AD0SF, were interested in participating. Short discussion on antenna orientation needs for this and need to have a radio with 2M SSB capability.

Sale Items from Larry, N0YNN:  Larry announced he is now engaged and needing to raise some cash. He has tower sections, a quad band base antenna, a Pyramid PX-39XL power supply and miscellaneous non-radio items for sale.

PRESENTATION: Tim, K0EMP, showed a YouTube video on a Knight Ocean Hopper transceiver, a WWII British spy radio (Paraset). He then presented the QRP kit radio he built, the Bayou Jumper Transceiver by the Four State QRP Group and based on that original Paraset design, and including the actual completed radio, instructions, schematics, and audio clips of him tuning in several stations on it. Total cost of the completed kit was around $100 and puts out 7 watts.
 

The meeting was adjourned at 10:58.