Minutes of Meeting – March 01, 2011

The meeting was called to order by the President, Mike, KC9AOM, at 1904.

Everyone present reported getting the Newsletter, and upon motion of W9EEL and KC9BKZ it was moved and seconded that the Minutes of the January meeting be approved as printed in the Newsletter. All were in favor.

There were no Silent Keys or illness among the membership to report.

Treasurer Tim, KB9VE, reported that the initial Treasury was $1,840.00 with disbursements of $204.16 for the April to December Telephone bill and receipts of $480 in dues for a new total of $2,115.84. A motion to accept the report was made by KV9W and seconded by KB9SCC. All were in favor.

.82 Repeater Report – Tom, KA9SYP, reported no issues as far as he knows. It was reported that during a storm earlier in the year the power in downtown Anderson was lost, but the repeater stayed up, so apparently the building generator is working OK. The two EMA commercial repeaters at the site stayed up too.

.09 Repeater Report – Tim, KB9VE, reported it is working fine. Also the IRLP node works fine.

UHF Repeater – Steve, WA9CWE, says it continues to work OK.

Web Site – Paul, KC9BKZ, is still looking for info to put on the site. The calendar has been updated and he’s archived a lot of material. Should you not find something that has been there in the past Paul can recover it for you. Paul also reported that he had a need to talk to a person at the ARRL and that fellow looked at the web site and noted that it was “very informative”.

Weather Station – Tim, KB9VE, reported that the integrated sensor suite portion of the unit is “failing”. As soon as he can he’s going to swap it out with the spare unit we haven’t installed yet. He’ll send the defective unit back to be rebuilt. Dick, K9FOI, authorized Tim to buy a new one to replace the bad one and bill EMA. We are also continuing to look for a spot to install the second weather station.

EMA Report – Dick, K9FOI, announced that Severe Weather Week is March 13 to 19. During this week the StormNet Training for Madison County is on March 15, and the State Tornado Drill is morning and evening of March 16. The County Commissioners have passed the Proclamation for the week, but Dick hasn’t gotten a copy of it yet. The County E911 Board has been established and he is a member. They are looking at going from 4 to 1 PSAP’s. The various towns are in favor of this consolidation. There will be a lot of information on various topics at the next RACES meeting.

Warning Division/Weather Report – Tom, W9EEL, reported that in mid-February the weather pattern changed. We are now in a “zonal pattern” which is usually mild, but doesn’t hold up long. We had a severe storm and tornado on Monday morning, early AM, as a result of an unusual weather setup that was not anticipated. Tom showed a time line of the events that happened in our county. There were no watches or warnings when the tornado occurred and no radar indication. Tom explained the weather conditions that caused the situation. Tom, KA9SYP, showed many pictures of the house and the barn that was destroyed and we discussed the causes.

New Member Application – The Secretary presented the application of Dale Kubichek, N6JSX. Dale works at Remy and wants to support the Club and the repeater. Upon a motion of WA9CWE and second by KB9SCC, all members present were in favor of accepting Dale into the Club. He will be notified by the Secretary and welcomed.

Old Business – None.

New Business – Paul, KC9BKZ, reported on the VE Team and VE Testing that has been provided here in Madison County for many years. He thinks that about 90 sessions have occurred. The current liaison decided he wasn’t going to continue the testing so Paul, working with most of the current VE’s established another Team with our Club as the sponsoring organization. The testing sessions will continue on the third Wednesday of each month in the same location as in the past. The ARRL is the VEC and they handle the paperwork. Paul reported that they have averaged 60 to 75 new licenses and upgrades a year. This is great and necessary to keep the hobby going. If anyone is interested in becoming a VE contact Paul. Steve, WA9CWE, reported that he felt that we need to have a Club Liability insurance policy to protect us and our Club as we support this activity. He submitted an application thru the ARRL sponsored program to “Marsh USA Consumer” insurance company. The quote back was $320 per 12 month period based upon our regular Club meetings and the VE testing sessions. Paul said that the fee charged to the people being tested cannot be used for this expense as it is considered a regular club expense. Upon motion of KB9VE and second of KB9DXO that the Club “buy the insurance on a year-by-year” basis initially for 1 year. All present were in favor. The Treasurer will write a check and the Secretary will submit the application right away.

Show-and-Tell – There were no items or discussions.

Alan, KC9JWO, told us that a local private school has a staff that is interested in EMA and volunteerism. The Principal and Board members are supportive of establishing in the curriculum activities involving EMA, Amateur Radio, the Incident Command System, Search & Rescue, etc. Alan has exposed them to the ARRL Teacher support activities. He says there is a lot of enthusiasm and surplus equipment should be available. He’s not in a position to discuss it further yet. The membership is happy to hear about this and will support the school in any way possible such as presentations or other training.

The Door Prize ($20 gas card) was won by Tom, KA9SYP.

Upon a motion by KC9JWO and KC9AOM the meeting was closed at 2030.

There were 18 members present.

Respectfully submitted,
Steve Riley, WA9CWE
Secretary, ARC