Minutes of Meeting – March 03, 2009

The meeting was called to order at 1908 by the President Mike, KC9AOM. Mike asked for any additions or corrections to the Minutes of the last meeting as posted in the Newsletter. Upon motion of K9TZJ and second of W9EEL the Minutes were approved as printed.

It was reported that Lois McClintick, WA9ZIC, is now a Silent Key.

Treasurer Tim, KB9VE, reported the following: Initial checking balance is $2,436.58. Disbursements of $83.40 for the Web Page, $8 to the Indiana Repeater Council for dues, $10 to the Indiana Radio Club Council for dues, and $8.40 for stamps for the Secretary for a total of $109.80. Income is $240 in dues for a new balance of $2,566.78 . Upon motion of KE9XF and second of WB9URL the Treasurer’s Report was accepted.

.82 Repeater Report: Tom, W9EEL, reported that the sensitivity had been reported as low, so Lectro Communications went up on Friday and checked it out. The building had changed hands, so it took a while to find the correct person to let him in. The RF package checked out OK but he found some loose connectors that may have been contributing to the problem. This service call seems to have taken care of the problem. Phil, WB9URL, reported that his handheld now gets in like it did before.

Steve, WA9CWE, reported that the project to get a Club License with Vanity Call W9OBH had been completed and the FCC database indicated the license was issued on Monday. The mailbox hasn’t received the actual license yet. Phil has the changes to the controller ready to upload as soon as the license arrives.

Phil also noted that the software in the controller hasn’t been updated. Tom reported that the Technical Committee discussed the issue and decided that there was no reason to upgrade.

.09 Repeater Report: Tim, KB9VE, reported that it was still working fine.

UHF Repeater Report: Steve reported it is working fine.

Web Site: Paul, KC9BKZ, announced he has updated a few things and archived some of the old stuff. The Members List is current as of today. He still needs items to place on the site.

IRLP: Tim says it’s working fine. Phil, WB9URL, reported that while he was down in Puerto Rico he used IRLP to talk back up here to Guido every morning. It worked great.

Weather Station: Working fairly well according to Tim.

Emergency Management: The MCU has been moved to a new storage bay on 53rd. Street. It’s working out great with more space than we had at the fire station. The computer equipment for the EOC Team has been updated. PHI training is available on Saturday, April 11, at 10AM at the Chesterfield Fire station. Everyone who wants to learn how to land and load the helicopter is welcome to attend. The ECC is being repainted. Also the computer support has been upgraded, and we need to upgrade the telephones next.

Weather Update: Tom expects a warmup to occur by the end of the week.

Other: Phil, WB9URL, asked if anyone knows how to find when a person was first licensed. The FCC Database doesn’t provide that other than for new licenses. It was suggested he go back to his first log book as we all kept logs of all operations back then (except maybe two meter type operation). No one was aware of any good way to find out this information.

New Member Applications: After the January meeting Jason Filburn, KC9IYI, submitted an application and was granted temporary membership and added to the roster until his application could be voted upon by the membership. WA9CWE moved that Jason be admitted to the Club as a full member. All were in favor and Jason was welcomed to the Club.

Other: Upcoming Hamfests: March 7-Dugger; March 14-Terre Haute; March 28-Columbus

The Annual Stormnet Training is next Tuesday, March 10 at the Library. This is our 38th year and everyone is encouraged to attend.

Old Business: None

New Business: None

Technical Session: Steve, WA9CWE, made a presentation on the commercial frequency “Narrowbanding” required for all local police/fire/etc. services. He’s going to present this to the “Fire Chiefs Meeting” so he had the information available. This information will be posted on the Club web site. He explained why most of our amateur receivers and older scanners will not tune the new allocations on VHF and UHF. Following that Mike, KC9AOM, showed the Uniden BCD996D and the Grecom PSR600 scanners. These are the latest ones out and are capable of copying the currently used formats and all of the new channels. They are about $500 each. He discussed the pros and cons of each that he’s discovered to this point. They are computer programmable and Mike recommends that as the only way to fully set it up.

Phil, WB9URL, has just received a new Kenwood TMV-71A dualbander. He discussed it briefly having had it only a day or so. The cost is about $400.

Door Prize: The Door Prize was won by Jason, KC9IYI.

The meeting was closed at 2010. There were 21 signed in on the attendance sheet.

Respectfully Submitted,
Steve Riley, WA9CWE Secretary, ARC

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Added notes:

On March 4 the certificate signed by the Officers, Trustees and Technical Committee expressing appreciation and announcing that the Club had received the W9OBH call sign was presented to Darrell Stephens to take to Phyllis. He expressed appreciation on behalf of the family.

On March 5 the official license was received at our PO box. It has been signed by the Trustee, Tom Ecker, KA9SYP. Phil, WB9URL, will update the controller soon to the new call.