November 7, 2006



The meeting was called to order at 1905 by the Secretary, WA9CWE. The Minutes from the last meeting were approved as printed in the Newsletter by motion of W9EEL and KB9WI. All present were in favor. There was no Treasurer’s Report as Tim was not present.

A motion was made by KE9XF and seconded by KB9SCC, that the Treasurer be authorized to spend whatever money was necessary to get the Weather Station to install in Elwood, and to be reimbursed by the County. All were in favor. We will buy it then submit a claim to EMA to be repaid.

.82 Repeater Report – Nothing to report. It has been working fine.

.09 Repeater Report – The UPS failed a couple of weeks ago while Matt and Tim were both out of the area. It was down a few days including Sunday and no ARRL report was played. Tim has it repaired and on the air. The Weather station is OK, but the computer has a problem that he’s addressing with Matt.

UHF Repeater – No issues. Steve and Dave use it about every morning.

Weather – Tom, W9EEL, reported that an ElNino has started, and the expectation is that a milder and dryer winter will result. Expect that from mid-December thru March.

EMA Report – WA9CWE reported that the Grant for the Regional Communications Unit has not been submitted to us by the State yet. No indication of when it will happen. We have a plan to purchase the necessary equipment when it is approved. There is a County Exercise on Nov. 28 at the 4H Fairgrounds. All Communications personnel are invited to participate. We’ll have the MCU there and will need support. The Run-The-Mounds Communications Exercise went off well last Sunday. Many of the members present participated in that event.

Upcoming Activities – The Fort Wayne Hamfest is coming up no the 18th and 19th. The MCARC will have tables as usual and anyone who wants to send up equipment should have it at the EOC at 3PM Friday. Dick, WA9STB, also mentioned that the MCARC maintains the “Silent Key” plaque in the hallway. If anyone knows of a local silent key who has been active in one of the Clubs they should notify him so the club can have it engraved.

New Member Applications – None.

Nominations for the Club Officers for 2007 were opened. The nomination process will stay open until the election at the January meeting. A motion was made by W9EEL and KE9XF that the current slate of Officers be re-nominated.

The Ham-Of-The-Year nomination is also open. Anyone who would like to nominate a local ham should contact Matt, KG9NS, or Tim, WB9GUY.

W9DIP is a Silent Key, and Larry, N9HJJ, has his equipment to be sold for the family. It is available to be viewed in the Club Room, and will be taken to the Fort Wayne Hamfest. Minimum bids are on each piece of equipment. We all looked at it after the meeting.

Steve, WA9CWE, and Dave, KE9XF, demonstrated a number of flashlights. There is now available at reasonable prices LED flashlights in the 3 to 5 Watt range. We looked at the regular incandescent 2 cell Mag-light and mini-Mag-light, at LED flashlights of various types, and the high intensity Streamlight type lights. There is a very significant difference in the intensity of the light produced by the various products, and the LED lights are impressive. The other advantage is much longer life for a given battery, and more consistent output over the decreasing battery voltage.

The door prize drawing was held, and Larry, KB9SCC, was the winner.

Upon motion by W9EEL and KE9XF the meeting was closed at 1940.

There were 9 members present.


Steve Riley, WA9CWE,
Secretary, ARC