Minutes of Meeting – May 01, 2012

The meeting was called to order by the President, Mike, KC9AOM, at 1903. Everyone was reminded to sign the attendance sheet. Everyone reported that they had received the Newsletter and Minutes of the previous meeting. The Secretary reported that it had been pointed out that the first line of the Minutes from the March meeting had an incorrect time and it has been corrected in the record. Upon motion of KA9AYP and second of KB9SCC the minutes were approved as printed and corrected. All were in favor.

There were no reported illnesses or silent keys.

Treasurer Tim, KB9VE, reported that the initial checking balance was $1,183.19. Disbursements of $9.00 for stamps and an income of $60.00 for dues and $500.88 from the County for reimbursement of purchase of the weather station resulted in a new balance of $1,735.07 . Upon motion of WA9STB and second by N9ZAF the report was accepted by vote of the membership.

.82 Repeater Report – Tom, KA9SYP, had nothing to report. All is working well.

.09 Repeater Report – Tim, KB9VE, reported that he hasn’t had to do anything to the repeater since the UPS was replaced.

UHF Repeater – Steve, WA9CWE, reports that all is working well.

Web Site – Paul, KC9BKZ, was not present, but there is nothing to report from anyone.

Weather Station – Tim, KB9VE, reported that there have been no failures and everything is working OK.

EMA Report – Tom, KA9SYP, reported that they had returned from the exercise at Muskatatuk. Several members present were down there for the three day event. More information upcoming at the next Communications Division meeting. Mike, KC9AOM, reported that with our equipment we were able to patch the National Guard channel into the network and they were impressed.

We took the MCU to the Boy Scout Camporee last Saturday. Dale, KV9W, set up a 40 meter station and made a number of contacts. Some of the boys got to talk by amateur radio to hams who were also scouts. Tim, W9TCR, demonstrated PSK-31. We showed over 150 scouts thru the MCU and promo’ed our group and Amateur Radio. Brian, WE9G, was watching radar and provided the warning needed for the storm that came thru the area and resulted in the boys taking shelter.

Weather Information – Tom, W9EEL, has been watching approaching severe weather and there is a report of a tornado on the ground at Crawfordsville. He showed us the Hook Echo and the couplet from the radar. It’s reported to be 35K ft. high and has 1 ¼ inch hail. It’s possible that Madison County may be affected by this tornado. The longer range weather prediction is that the weather pattern changed abruptly the first of April. The NWS is predicting that it will be back to a more normal pattern for the next several months and above average thru late July and the winter.

Membership Applications – None received.

Correspondence – None

Upcoming Events – Dayton Hamvention May 18 to 20. The White River Run is on May 12. We still need communicators for it. The Indiana QSO Party is this Saturday, 12 Noon until Midnight.

Old Business – None

New Business – Tim, KB9VE, discussed future possible issues with support of the software that runs our weather station and provides the program from the weather station to our server and out to the users. A backup would be to purchase a “dongle” from Davis and attach it to the weather station console in the ECC. It would then output data to the Davis web site independent of our current method. We’d still have the web site as it exists now, but would also have a backup thru Davis. The cost is $207. Upon motion of WA9CWE, and second by WB9ZJR, the membership voted to approve the purchase of this unit.

Show-And-Tell – Cautt, N9ZAF, showed a low band thru 440 MHz. mobile antenna that is automatically adjusted/tuned by a Yaesu mobile radio. Tim, KB9VE, reported that Monte, K9DZD, had one and it worked well.

Door Prize – Tom, W9EEL, won the door prize drawing.

The meeting was closed at 1935 upon motion of WA9STB and KV9W so that everyone could participate in the probable upcoming StormNet. W9EEL manned the Warning location in the ECC and WA9CWE ran the net from the RACES station in the ECC.

There were 15 members present at this meeting.

Respectfully submitted,
Steve Riley, WA9CWE
Secretary, Anderson Repeater Club, Inc.