Minutes of the
Mid-MO Amateur Radio Club, Inc.
Jefferson City, MO
Meeting of: January 11, 2001
Called to order by: president Kurt Bleich (KBØHNR)
In attendance: KBØHNR, WNØX, KCØACQ, W7SJ, KCØBXQ, NØIB, KCØCZI, KBØQHZ, KØDXR, NØZH, NMØX, WBØTPK, NØYSE, NSØB, KCØJAL, K9ZTV, NØMV, NØOFD, NØQOI, WDØHXX, KØUWM, WØJES, NØTKN, WØNVL, KØJJS, NØSS, KCØGEZ, KØEMT, W9NBO, Jim NØDB, Richard Glassner
Date/location of the next meeting: February 7, 2001. Central Church of Christ, corner of Washington and W. Ashley Streets. Enter from the alley on the east side of the church (midway up the alley).
Minutes: December 2000 reviewed, motion to accept by WBØTPK, and approved without corrections.
Bank balance a/o January 10, 2001 is $1, 816.02.
Old business:
2-meter net report:
There were 38 check-ins to the 2-meter net for the month of December, 2000.
Repeater report:
NØSS reported that the interference heard in the mornings and sometimes in the evenings is the electronic ‘D’ tone of a touch tone pad. Signal strengths vary from saturation to ‘not copyable’. Probably coming from a distant source. Batteries on the UPS are inoperable and have to be replaced at a good price. May look for some at Dayton.
Reminder: Club offers three free speed dials for each member.
Digipeater report:
NSØB will be turning over the monitoring and operation of the digipeater to a member of the technical committee (probably KBØHNR or WNØX).
APRS Report:
This will be a new item for the monthly minutes.
Emergency Coordinators report:
NØOFD reported no emergency situations for the month of December. There are two conferences scheduled in the near future—the Crisis Communications Conference will be held February 2, 3 and the Emergency Communications Conference is April 13-16. KCØCZI has spoken with Susan Green, the Cole County emergency coordinated and reports progress in determining what the club’s role can be in joint communications efforts.
Discussion of Red Cross involvement entailed. Commitments should be made in writing so they do not change as personnel enter or leave office. We should be aware of what our role in an emergency will be and what the county will need.
Radio Direction Finding Project Update:
NMØX found that the boards are old designs and that new chips are available at a lower cost. The project should be suitable for beginners and the mods are too complicated at this point. Eric contacted the author of the QST article for schematics. He has the boards, but they are more costly than we would like. About 12 members are interested in building kits once the details are worked out.
New business:
Mike Music (NØQBF) will be visiting the club’s next meeting and do presentation on the direction-finding equipment. He has designed some of the antenna switching systems.
NMØX also reported that we need more and new Volunteer Examiners and encouraged everyone with a General Class or higher license to apply to the web site for a packet--email vec@arrl.org
KBØHNR invited everyone to think about what they would like to have for educational/informational presentations for the meetings.
Some of the suggestions included encouraging younger and newer members to keep interested in CW.
Public relations presentation should be put together for members to present to various groups to explain what amateur radio is and does for the community.
Several members have video tapes on various topics that we could view, including a presentation on antennas by "the wireman" Press Jones.
A suggestion of revising the CW Net was put forwarded and several members voiced interest in participating. Discussion of which band and frequency to use seemed to focus on the benefits of using the 10M band.
There will be a weather spotter training session on March 1 at 7:00 pm at the Marine Corp League building in Apache Flats. Interested folks should pre-register by February 15 on the SkyWarn web page.
There was proposal made that the club purchase a good-quality 2 Meter vertical antenna for use at club-sponsored events. Cost estimates are in the $139.00 to $200.00 range. The proposal was tabled for further discussion.
A suggestion was made that the club set up some unique activities and have Special Event Stations. One such event was the Halloween Special Event from Frankenstein, MO. KØEMT suggested having a special event station operating from the capitol grounds on Earth Day (April 20, 2001). Several club members are working on the details of making this a reality.
2 Meter Net schedule:
January 17th KØEMT Bryan
January 24th NØOFD Ben
January 31st KBØHNR Kurt
February 7th KØEMT Bryan is substituting for Steve (KCØACQ)
VE exams –
There was exam given, and there was one up-grade administered.
Dues received at (or since) meeting:
NØZH, KBØQHZ, WØJES, NØQOI, KCØGEZ, KØUWM, WDØHXX, KØDXR
Respectfully submitted (02/04/2001): Steven C. Klenc, KCØACQ, Secretary-Treasurer
Visit the MMARC web page at: http://www.mmccs.com/mmarc
Electronic copies e-mailed to those who have expressed interest and for whom e-mail addresses are known. If you wish to receive the MMARC Meeting Minutes, please send a message to klenc@earthlink.net asking to be added to the mailing list.