Minutes of Meeting – March 02, 2010

The meeting was called to order by the President, Mike, KC9AOM, at 1905. The attendance was down due to an Operations Division activity this evening.

A motion was made by K9TZJ and WA9STB to approve the Minutes of the January, 2010 meeting as published in the Newsletter. All present were in favor.

The Treasurer’s report by Tim, KB9VE was: Checking balance initially $2,674.36; Disbursements of $83.40 for web page hosting and October to March telephone bill of $136.10 for total disbursements of $219.50. Income in the form of dues was $200.00. Therefore, the final treasury was $2,654.86. Tim also noted that the dues check for the IRCC for last year was never cashed so he’s not going to pay dues this year until they cash our check. Upon motion by W9EEL and N9HJJ all were in favor of accepting the report.

.82 Repeater Report – Steve, WA9CWE, reported that the new antenna and feedline are paid for and are at Lectro awaiting installation. We’ve been waiting on the weather to improve. The Club will pay for the installation costs.

.09 Repeater Report – Tim, KB9VE, reported that it was functioning well. There are several IRLP nets held thru the week during the day and also in the evening. Everyone seems to enjoy listening to them.

UHF Repeater Report – Steve, WA9CWE, reports that the RF package still needs to be moved.

Web Site – Paul, KC9BKZ, reports that the current membership list is now posted. There is quite a lot of activity looking at our site. He still is looking for more articles to post. We would like to have more “shack” pictures to post and would like to start a gallery of “mobile antenna mounting methods” to provide ideas on how to mount an antenna.

We discussed Thru-the-glass mobile antennas. Larry, N9HJJ, has had very good luck with them. Steve, WA9CWE, was not pleased with the results. Tim, KB9VE, pointed out that the higher the frequency the better they tended to work.

Weather Station – Tim, KB9VE, reported that it has been working well, but he’s noticed on a few occasions that the anemometer has reported 0 speed when it should have shown some wind. It then started working again. Tim has not been able to determine why it quit. We got a call from County Dispatch wondering why it was reading zero at one point….There was no wind!

EMA Report – EMA is assisting with the 2A basketball Sectional this week at Alexandria. Tom, KA9SYP will be teaching ICS-300 and ICS-400 classes this spring. Everyone is encouraged to participate. IS-100, 200, 700 and 800 are pre-requisites. We will be reviewing the Stormnet observation points. Stormnet training is upcoming on the 16th.

Dick, WA9STB, asked if anyone knows where the MCARC generator/trailer went. It was taken out of the pole barn and stored behind the building. It turned up missing. It may have been sold in the County auction. The club still has an antenna trailer that works well and is available for Field Day. Has everything needed including beam and rotor.

We reviewed upcoming events:
March 16 – Stormnet Training in Pendleton
March 17 – State Severe Weather Test & nets
May 15 – White River Run
May 14-16 – Dayton Hamvention
June 26-27 – Field Day
July 10 – Indy Hamfest
July 14 – County LEPC Hazmat exercise
November 7 – Run-The-Mounds Communications Exercise

Steve mentioned that Opal Merritt, wife of Don, WB9YNN, and Mother of Cal, AB9D, passed away recently.

A motion was made by Steve, WA9CWE and seconded by Dick, WA9STB, that Bob Shelton, K9IND, be made a Lifetime member of the Club. All present were enthusiasticly in favor of this action. Bob will no longer be required to submit dues.

Technical Session – WA9CWE, reviewed and showed the test equipment that the Club has available for loan to the members. Items include:
Bird Wattmeter & slugs
Deviation Meter
Frequency Counter
VTVM
Radio Direction Finder
He also announced that Doug, KB9DXO, had donated a Bird Model 4391 analyzer that includes the ability to measure PEP.

The meeting was closed at 2001. There were 11 members present.

Respectfully Submitted,
Steve Riley, WA9CWE
Secretary, ARC