Minutes of Meeting – January 06, 2009

The meeting was called to order at 1900 by the President, Doug, KB9DXO. Doug asked that everyone introduce themselves. After that it was announced that dues are being received by the Secretary and that everyone should sign the attendance sheet.

A motion was made by KE9XF and seconded by KC9AOM that the Minutes of the last meeting be accepted as printed in the Newsletter. Upon voice vote all were in favor.

Treasurer Tim, KB9VE, reported as follows: The checking balance from the second meeting back (he didn’t attend the last one) was $2,351.61. Disbursements of two $25 memorials for member loved ones, $7.14 for the yearly Corporate filing, $61.79 for batteries for the weather Station UPS and $136.10 for the July to December telephone bill totaled $255.03. Income was $360 in dues for a new treasury of $2,436.58 . There was no discussion and upon motion to accept the report as presented by N9HJJ and second by KE9XF the voice vote showed all in favor.

Old Business: Steve, WA9CWE, reported that the appropriation that was approved by the membership for the second weather station hasn’t been spent yet. The proposed site didn’t work out. Also Tim, KB9VE, reported that there is now a device available from Davis that doesn’t require a computer server to connect the weather station to the internet. When we do find a site for the second station we’ll buy that device.

Election of Officers for 2009: President Doug, KB9DXO, listed the current officers on the board and opened the floor for nominations. After the usual discussion, Dave, KE9XF, nominated the current slate of Officers with the switching of KB9DXO and KC9AOM between President and Vice-President. The nominations were closed after no other nominations. Upon voice vote by the eligible members this slate of officers were elected for 2009:
President                       Mike Dewey, KC9AOM
Vice-President               Doug Townsend, KB9DXO
Secretary                       Steve Riley, WA9CWE
Treasurer                       Tim Galbraith, KB9VE
Trustees                         Tom Ecker, KA9SYP and Tim Galbraith, KB9VE
Technical Committee    Tom Harbron, W9EEL
                                        Phil Miller, WB9URL
                                        Guido Politano, WB9ZJR

Doug thanked the membership for the continued support of the officer group and for the support of he as President for so many years. Then Mike, KC9AOM, came forward to take over the meeting using the agenda that Doug had prepared.

.82 Repeater Report: Tom, KA9SYP, reported that it had been doing fine. Steve mentioned that the band conditions had been improved over the weekend and a station from IL had been holding it up with a very noisy signal. No issue to the membership.

UHF Repeater Report: Steve, WA9CWE, indicated that it was still working fine. Activity hasn’t been high.

.09 Repeater Report: Tim, KB9VE, indicated that it had been operating flawlessly. There is a lot of IRLP activity and also several nets. There was the usual New Years Day celebration, and some weekly nets. Coverage continues to be very good for the antenna height. He did have to replace the batteries in the UPS recently.

Weather Station Report: It hasn’t been working well. The anemometer has been hanging up and he’s not sure if it is the sender or the wireless transmitter. He’s going to replace the transmitter when the weather improves a bit.

Web Site Report: Paul, KC9BKZ, reported that it is working well. The latest Newsletter and Meeting Minutes are on the site. He has cleaned up the “latest news” section and archived the old stuff. He needs items from any member to put on the page. Also the 2009 calendar is a bit bare and he needs input. Any interesting articles are appreciated.

EMA Activity Report: Steve, WA9CWE, reported that the year-end Summary for 2008 wasn’t complete yet, but it should be about average in man-hours contributed. The report will be available next month at the Communications Division meeting. Tom, W9EEL, reported that the 2009 STORMNET Training session will be on Tuesday, March 10, at 6:30PM at Anderson Public Library. Dave Tucek from the NWS will again provide the primary training and he’ll have an entire 90 minutes this year since we’ll be starting earlier. Terry, KB9SNG, said that he had also attended the Marion County Training last year and there were fewer people in attendance than we have even though the population is much greater there. Tom, KA9SYP, reported on the MCU and the added monitors, etc. He hopes that some money will be available for a Phase 3 project involving video and audio recording of activity inside the MCU. The roof leak had been worked on by KA9SYP, W9TCR and KC9AOM, and they believe it’s fixed. There is a new GPS mounted in the drivers area. Steve reported that our Director (Dick, K9FOI) says that our County budget was slightly increased for 2009, a good sign. He also reported on a plan to move the storage area for the MCU since Pendleton FD needs the bay for a new ambulance unit.

Tom, W9EEL, reported on the weather situation thru the night and showed us the radar loop.

In a discussion about the Weather Station, Tim, KB9VE, said that the heater is not hooked up on the rain gage because the power cube was hit by lightning. Larry, N9HJJ, offered a replacement that Tim is going to use.

New Member Applications: None. Steve, WA9CWE, moved that we award to Lois McClintick, WA9ZIC, an Honorary Life Membership since she has moved to an assisted living facility. Lois has been a faithful member since 1974. This is becoming a tradition for our Club. All members were in favor, so she’ll be shown as a member each year. Lois has a very interesting story about how she got into the hobby and Dick, WA9STB, suggested that she be brought to the next meeting if possible to relate her story. Everyone was interested.

Steve asked if anyone knew of anyone interested in a General Theory Class. He had been contacted by one person interested, and Dick, WA9STB, said that the MCARC would hold a class if he could find enough persons interested. Otherwise they can assign a mentor. Tim, KB9VE, mentioned that there had been an inquiry on the web site.

Steve mentioned the situation with the proposed Hazardous Waste Disposal facility on the south side of Anderson and that all of the members should become aware of the real situation and get active in opposing it. Go to www.hseindiana.com

A State RACES Drill is Saturday, January 17, at 9AM. There will be a net on .82 that everyone should check into, and then the results will be forwarded by low band (MCARC members) and VHF.

160 Meters is active at night and has a number of nets and Newslines, etc. Anyone with a receiver is encouraged to listen.

Dave Bendt, KB9NTG, was in a picture in the paper on Sunday helping with a food kitchen in Alexandria.

MCARC Report: Dick, WA9STB, mentioned that the MCARC had received a letter of appreciation from the Boy Scouts for the participation of the Club in the Scout Jamboree at New Castle.

A review of Hamfests to be held locally this year was held.

New Business: None

Old Business: None

Dave, KE9XF, asked if anyone had any experience or recommendations for radios like the ICOM Digital equipment? It was suggested that he get on the 444.125 repeater in Indianapolis where a lot of guys who use the digital mode hang out. It also had digital capability as does the 147.390 repeater. They are sponsored by ICE.

Doug, N9DR, announced that the Sun City ARC was holding a Special Event Station on Saturday, January 17 and he invited everyone to listen for it.

Larry, N9HJJ, reminded everyone that he’s holding a 10 meter net on Thursday at 6:00 PM on 28.550.

Brian, KC9NCR, asked if anyone knew anything about the IN/MI/IL Advanced Spotter Training being held by the NWS. Tom, W9EEL and Mike, KC9AOM went last year when it was in Indy.

Technical Session: Doug Rose, N9DR, who used to live here but has moved to ElPaso, Texas, is back visiting, and he had a number of pictures of his trips to the various repeaters on mountains in his area. There were three different repeaters that he described including one that took 4 hours each way by car to access. His pictures were very interesting, not only the repeater sites themselves, but the highways/county roads/dirt roads/trails it took to get to them.

Door Prize Drawing: The Door prize was won by Dave, KE9XF.

The meeting was adjourned at 2041. There were 19 present.

Respectfully Submitted,

Steve Riley, WA9CWE,
Secretary, ARC