Minutes of Meeting – May 04, 2011

Minutes of Meeting – May 4, 2011 The meeting was called to order by the President, Mike, KC9AOM, at 1902. Introductions were requested since we had a couple of new faces in the room. We welcomed new member Kuby, N6JSX, and visitor Tim, KC9GBL.

Upon motion by WA9STB and W9EEL the minutes of the March meeting were approved as printed in the Newsletter. All were in favor.

There were no Silent Keys or illnesses reported with the exception of Phil, WB9URL, having a knee replaced.

Our Treasurer, Tim, KB9VE, was not present, but he sent the report and it was offered by the Secretary: The initial checking balance was $2,115.84. Disbursements of $320.00 for Club Insurance, $136.10 for January-June Telephone bill, $10.00 for IRCC dues, $8.00 for IRCC dues for a total of $474.10. Income is $160.00 in dues. The new checking balance is now $1,801.74 . A motion to accept the report was made by KC9JWO and W9EEL. All were in favor.

.82 Repeater Report – Nothing to report. Tom, KA9SYP, noticed that on one Sunday evening the signals were noisy, but he attributed it to band conditions. There has not been a service call by the Technical Committee this year to the repeater site.

.09 Repeater Report – Nothing to report. It was noted that the IRLP activity might be down a bit. Gene, KB9WI, asked about it since the stations in FL that he used to use when he’s down there are no longer available.

UHF Repeater – Nothing to report.

Web Site – It’s Ok and up-to-date. We are still looking for member station pictures so please submit your station if you have not already.

N6JSX noted that he’s out of range of the repeater with his handheld and would have liked to be able to listen to the repeater activities on the internet. Have we considered streaming the audio or providing an EchoLink? We haven’t, but need a computer-savy member to take that on as a project.

Weather Station – Tom reported that the rain gage failed again and KB9VE went out and cleaned it out. He still needs to fix some of the other features.

Weather Update – Tom, W9EEL, noted that 4/4/74 was the date of the worst tornado outbreak in the Midwest. Tornados went north and south of us and hit Kennard along with many parts of Indiana. Last week’s outbreak of tornados in the South broke that record and resulted in more tornados and deaths. We need to be vigilant for the next month or so. Traditionally, April has the most tornados and May had the strongest F4 and F5 tornados. May is expected to be cool and wet. June will be cool.

New Member Applications – WA9CWE presented the application of Jeffrey Dyer, K9DYR. Upon motion of WA9CWE and W9EEL his membership was approved by all present. Jeff is welcomed to the Club and the Secretary will provide the membership card.

Later in the meeting the membership application of Tim Young, KC9GBL, was presented to the membership. Tim was present at the meeting. Upon motion of WA9CWE and second by WA9STB all present voted in favor of Tim’s application. Tim was welcomed to the Club.

Upcoming Activities – President Mike announced the following activities:
May 14           White River Run Communications Exercise
May 18           VE Testing
May 20-22      Dayton Hamvention
June 7           Communications Division Meeting
June 25& 26  Field Day (Madison Co. Club will participate)
July 5            Repeater Club Meeting
July 9            Indy Hamfest

Dick, WA9STB, announced that the Indiana QSO party is May 8. The MCARC will be participating from the Club Room. Anyone who makes contact from home can submit their log and get the points added to the Club total.

The Insurance policy for the Club has been received and is in force.

The Secretary reported that membership cards have been sent out to those who have not been coming to the meetings.

The Technical Session was provided by Brian, KC9NCR. Brian has a new dual band handheld by Wouxun (China). It’s a model KG-UV3D and comes with antenna, battery and desk charger. It sells for about $120. Brian demonstrated the programming software and the program to “open up” the program for Part 90 approved use (commercial). He’s pleased with it so far. Several members are planning to buy one soon. He also demonstrated an LP100A digital Vector Wattmeter. This is a low band thru 6 meter wattmeter and has many features. It sells for about $450. Brian showed a video of his use of it. Brian also has an InSpeed mobile mount anemometer that was mentioned in the Newsletter. He passed it around also. Several members are interested in it and hope to get one at Dayton. We discussed how it worked.

N6JSX mentioned that if you use Weather Underground and do not like the new format you can get the “classic” version by going to a different address. The new version is at http://www.wunderground.com . The Classic version is at http://classic.wunderground.com .

Tom, KA9SYP, presented pictures and a discussion of last weeks’ deployment of the District 6 All Hazards Incident Management Team to southern Indiana to assist with the flooding. He had many pictures of the operations and personnel. Our President, Mike, also participated in this deployment.

The meeting was closed at 2043. There were 14 present.

Respectfully submitted,
Steve Riley, WA9CWE
Secretary, ARC