Minutes of the 
Mid-MO Amateur Radio Club, Inc.
Jefferson City, MO

Meeting of:  January 8, 2008

Called to order by: President Mike Miller (WAØZOG)
In attendance: KDØFAS, W4RK, K9ZTV, KC7ARR, KMØS, KDØY, WAØTIC, NØZH, NØQOI, Linda Stump, KAØI, NØTKN, WBØPZR, NØKSF, NØSS, KCØLZG, WAØZOG, NØVAU, KIØY, KCØZLB, KDØBPP, WBØAQV, WBØKXP, KBØQHZ, KCØPET, KAØZIY, KDØAJF

Previous Meeting Minutes (presented & approved as corrected):

Bank balance:  $ 7, 066.40

Old business

2-meter net report: 		
					Dec 17	NØVAU	10
					Dec 24 	NØVAU	14
					Dec 31	W4RK		16
					Jan 7		KBØQHZ	13

2-meter net controllers:    
					Jan 14	KCØLZG	
					Jan 21 	NØZH		
					Jan 28	NØVAU	
					Feb 4		KBØQHZ	
					Feb 11	KAØI		
		
2-meter Repeater report:  No Report

Digipeater report:  KCØCZI went to the site and pulled the transmitter.  It was found to be dead.  It was taken to NØSS for diagnosis.  Opening the unit revealed major damage to a surface-mount device.  Consequently there is no 2M packet transmitter for the digipeater.  The TNC is presumed to still be good but will not know for sure until the digipeater is put back on the air.  If anyone has a 2M-monoband radio capable of 25-50 watts output that they would consider donating, the digipeater could most likely be repaired and back on the air.
 
MEPN:  Waiting for Channel 2 to shut down analog signal in February, which will help with interference problems.

Emergency Coordinator's report:  KBØQHZ sent out a “State of the Union” email from the MO section to ARES members concerning plans for the next 3 years.  A lot of training is being done in the KC area but it is still not clear if that training will spread to STL and JC.  Level 1 training for this area is being investigated.  

ARES positions are almost filled and a final list will be emailed to ARES members and also provided at the next meeting.

A meeting at St. Mary’s Hospital is planned for January 9th to discuss our participation in any responses with the hospital.  Also to be discussed is a maintenance plan for the handheld radios, batteries, and mobile rigs in addition to a general checkout of the main system on a regular basis.  Once this is completed, a similar agenda will be scheduled for Capital Region Hospital.  

CW Class:  Advanced and beginning CW classes continue to meet every Saturday morning at Mel’s Country Café.  The advanced class is doing a lot of exercises from the last year and students are copying in the range of 20-30wpm.  The beginning class now knows the alphabet with numbers and punctuation being introduced recently.  

DHSS Class:  Technician classes will start January 14th from 6pm to 9pm and continue for about 6 weeks.  Club volunteers would be appreciated for assisting with questions from students, not necessarily to teach the material due to the abbreviated course schedule.

APRS trackers:  WNØX has the parts to upgrade the club tracker and is proceeding.  

Storm Spotting Class:  Cole County class is scheduled for January 20th in the JCPD Training Room.  Osage County will have a class in Linn March 5th.  It would be good to have our members attend one of these courses each year to keep refreshed.

VE session:  A special VE session to be offered Dec 21st 2PM at the Community of Christ Church.

New business

General Class: KMØS would like to request the club to sponsor or otherwise support a class to help folks interested in upgrading.  A proposed timeframe for this class would be late March or early April.  Interest in the class was well received and more discussion will follow.

Skywarn Net:  KMØS reminded everyone about this net, which meets every Tuesday night at 8pm on the Skywarn repeater (146.865 (-), PL Tone 127.3).  More activity would be appreciated both by check-in stations and net control stations.  A roster will be put together for running the net.  

KBØQHZ noted that the National Weather Service in St. Louis last year did not hear a lot of activity on the 440 MHz link when calling for observations from this area.  When bad weather is near, it would be a good idea to monitor the Show-Me Intertie (443.175 (+), PL Tone 77).  

Suggestions for Upcoming Year:  WAØZOG called for ideas for programs to be put on during the year.  Program topics, presenters, club activities, etc. were all welcomed.  Some of the suggestions included:

	Tutorial on RTTY operation

	Presentation on APRS

	Tutorial on Traffic Handling

	Presentation on Contesting

	Presentation on Making PC Boards

	Presentation on HF Antenna Fundamentals

	Presentation on RFI location and remedies

Mayor’s Run for Reading:  Event will be held on Saturday, April 18th from 8am to 10am.  Volunteers are requested for providing communications support for the event.  

Raffle:  WBØAQV raffled off several door prizes to those present.  

SKN Presentation:  W4RK presented a slide show of Straight Key Night, which was hosted at his home with several members and spouses participating.  Color commentary was presented by K9ZTV.





















Respectfully submitted: Mark Eberle (KIØY), Secretary-Treasurer.

Visit the MMARC web page at: http://www.mmccs.com/mmarc