2021-04-20 Net Minutes

date
2021-04-20
opened
20:00
closed
20:43

Check-ins (19)

  • Matthew Barry (KG5LYE)
  • Bill Rose (K5WTR)
  • Don Ling (WB5CKO)
  • Lorna Flansburg (KI5FIZ)
  • Garrett Martin (W5HVS)
  • Ron Hambric (N5SBN)
  • Ken Reeves (KE5FIV)
  • Rick Pfeil (KI5DUJ)
  • Avery McIntosh (N7ALM)
  • Jeff McDowell (KI5CES)
  • Ralph Cobb (W5RYC)
  • Lance Smith (KI5ETF)
  • Randy Field (K5RLF)
  • Phil Gates (N5ZKF)
  • Joshua Cook (KF5TYX)
  • Dick Zimmer (W5DZ)
  • Mark Coppock (KG5PDT)
  • Bennie Naiser (KA5TWB)
  • Mike Wisby (KA5HIA)

Officer Reports

President Phil Gates (N5ZKF)

  • Great day today
    • Cold front coming through
    • Projected low of 41°F
  • Good weekend: Radio in the Park
    • three radios on the air
    • some CW, SSB
    • propagation left a lot to be desired, but had fun anyway
  • Sunday was World Amateur Radio Day
    • Worked W1AW, Barbados, and Venezuela even despite the propagation
  • Field Day is starting to materialize
    • Get online to check the ARRL’s posted rules
    • We’ll be out at Brian Bachmann Park
    • Help needed to run the radios, especially during the night
    • CW is also greatly appreciated!
  • Lots of upcoming events:
    • K5T San Jacinto Day
    • W1BSA Apr 24
    • “Light Up 2m Night” event: 2021-04-25 18:00-20:00 CDT
    • 10-10 Int’l spring Digital Contest
    • FL QSO party this weekend
    • VHF SSB 2m Sprint Classic this weekend

Vice-President Rick Pfeil (KI5DUJ)

  • Field Day
    • Will be having a meal: Brisket, Sausage, Potato Salad, and Pot-Luck
      • suggested $10 donation per plate
    • Raffle Items have been purchased
      • Get ready to sell raffle tickets
      • Shotgun
      • Yaesu FT-60R handheld
      • Custom-made leather wallet by Richard Epting
    • Door Prizes
      • sign in when you get there
      • hourly drawings throughout the day
      • if you have something you’d like to contribute, it would be greatly appreciated

Secretary Matthew Barry (KG5LYE)

  • Thanks to everyone who came to Radio in the Park
    • was great to see y’all there!
  • Minutes will be sent out at the conclusion of the net
  • Classes winding up for end of the semester

Treasurer Lorna Flansburg (KI5FIZ)

  • Current balance: $5306.46
    • Starting to incur Field Day expenses
  • 50 members so far
    • Please renew if you have not already done so
    • Applications will be available at Field Day
  • Select BARC as your Amazon Smile charity

Announcements / Comments

Question for conversation: Have you done anything with microprocessors or microcontrollers?

Dick Zimmer (W5DZ)

  • Pickaxe timer: 10 min timer for station ID
    • Plan to use for a club project once we can meet in-person again
    • Costs only $20

Don Ling (WB5CKO)

  • When will we meet in-person again?
  • Where are we planning to meet?
    • Maybe at the EOC downtown?
  • N5ZKF: No official meeting place yet.
    • We’ve met at the Red Cross in the past
    • Explored new Midtown Park
      • City will not allow us to have a permanent presence
      • Might be able to use meeting rooms there
    • Regarding EOC,
      • We do have friends there
      • Not sure about availability for meeting
      • Could offer to do some volunteer work there to keep things up and ready

Matthew Barry (KG5LYE)

  • Miscellaneous automation and network controllers around the house
    • Raspberry Pi:
      • Pi-Hole DNS filter and VPN gateway
      • Temperature monitor for server cabinet: turns on A/C when it gets too hot

Phil Gates (N5ZKF)

  • Tinkered with Raspberry Pi and Arduino

Bill Rose (K5WTR)

  • Need some help: Had a Raspberry Pi DMR hotspot that was working fine before, but recently stopped working
    • KG5LYE: try a fresh restart/setup
    • N5ZKF: updated version of Pi-Star might fix it; check logs if there are any errors
      • Maybe check with KG5JDJ
  • Built a Pickaxe beacon

Information Exchange

Dick Zimmer (W5DZ)

  • Mars helicopter has flown!
    • First flight on another planet

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