April 2018 Monthly Meeting Minutes

Date
2018-04-21
Convened
09:39
Adjourned
10:15

Officers

  • President: Mark Hnatiuk (KG5EYV) present
  • Vice President: Phil Gates (N5ZKF) present
  • Secretary: Matthew Barry (KG5LYE) present
  • Treasurer: Sly Kapchinski (N5GQB) present

Attendees (24)

  • Sly Kapchinski (N5GQB)
  • John “Pocat” Walpole (K5ZY)
  • Ralph Cobb (W5RYC)
  • Kerry Miller (WD5ABC)
  • Gerald Golub (W5VUI)
  • Marty Nau (W5MHN)
  • Marvin Lowman (KG5MCN)
  • Jim Snell (WA5PMO)
  • Brian Walpole (N5BLW)
  • Harold Turbyfill (KG5SDG)
  • Lucas Hastings (KG5LYQ)
  • Matthew Barry (KG5LYE)
  • Avery McIntosh (N7ALM)
  • Mike Wisby (KA5HIA)
  • Phil Gates (N5ZKF)
  • Dick Zimmer (W5DZ)
  • Kevin Phillips (W5TTY)
  • Scott Rodkey (N5WKY)
  • Mark Hnatiuk (KG5EYV)
  • Juan Ramirez (KG5YSE)
  • Jim Laird (KF5YY)
  • Ron Hambric (N5SBN)
  • Don Conlee (WX5DC)
  • Karsten Pearce (KG5YRX)

Health and Welfare

  • Moment of silence for Barbara Bush
  • Jack Lester (K5JWL) and his sister have been in and out of the hospital
  • Charlie Culver (KD5DLW) and his wife have been ill, but are better

Officer Reports

President KG5EYV

  • Need immediate help with some field day preparations
    • List of prizes from last year
      • Keep same price range; amend contents
      • Sam’s Club already agreed to $50 gift cards
      • Request has been sent to Academy
    • Advertizing and Contacting Elected Officials
      • Send out letters and emails
        • We have names and addresses
      • Radio/Television interviews
        • Notes/topics to cover
      • Newspaper
        • Article from last year
      • Signs
    • Raffle Tickets

Vice President N5ZKF

  • Welcome, James!
    • Newly-Licensed Technician
  • Congrats, Harold (KG5SDG)!
    • Updated to General

Secretary KG5LYE

Approval of Meeting Minutes

  • Not enough for quorum last meeting to approve the February Meeting Minutes
  • Motion to approve February Meeting Minutes by N5ZKF
    • Seconded by K5ZY
    • Passes
  • March Meeting notes don’t need to be approved since there was not a quorum

Treasurer N5GQB

Bank Statement

  • March Beginning Balance: $4532.64
  • -$200.00 for Club Insurance
  • +$210.00 for Membership Renewals; Repeater Contribution
  • March Ending Balance: $4542.64

Outstanding: -$1465.00 Coax installation
Donut shortage: -$26.36
-$165.00 Checks for the repeater fund needed to be redirected to Sly

  • $410 contribution to Repeater
    • $300 for unit itself
    • $110 left for shipping and insurance (probably cost about $50)
    • Any leftovers will go back into the club
  • Marvin (WB5PWG) donated several items to the club
    • Item breakdown
      • Coax
      • Connectors/adapters
      • Books
    • Sold some at Belton Hamfest (raised $512)
    • Leftover stuff still for sale to club members
  • No new memberships
    • Currently about 70 members

Old Business

Repeater Tech Update

N5GQB & W5DZ

  • New repeater has been installed! (Yaay!)
  • Now running 50W
  • New bells and whistles
    • Voice Recordings / Announcements
      • Can only run once every 30 mins for 10 hrs
      • No way to repeat
    • Voice ID
      • still overrides someone talking on the repeater
    • In the future: Newer Controller?
    • 2 Repeaters in 1 Box
      • “A” side is primary W5BCS repeater
      • “B” side currently used as control channel
    • Yaesu System Fusion
      • Currently “Auto-in, FM-out”
      • Once noise problem is figured out, we’ll switch to “Auto-in, Auto-out”
  • Interference still present
    • Starts at 19:30, ends at about 08:00
    • Not sure what it is
    • Broadband noise across multiple frequencies

New Business

VE Test Session Results

  • 10 candidates
    • 5 new Technicians
    • 3 General
    • 2 non-passing

Field Day T-Shirt Orders

  • Blue and White

Radio in the Park

  • it was cold and windy
  • 20 m vertical
    • contacts pile-up on 20 m phone
    • lots of contacts on 20 m CW
  • Good outreach, lots of community involvement

Field Day

  • Equipment
    • Antenna Trailer
    • HG Radio
    • Radio Setup and Cables
    • Computers, Router, NetLogger
    • ARES / Sly’s Van
  • Advertizement
    • Radio
    • Newspaper
    • Elected Officials
  • Prizes / Raffle
    • Door Prizes
    • Silent Auction
    • Raffle Prizes
    • Print Raffle Tickets
  • Miscellaneous
    • HF Operators
    • Greeters
    • Attendance Sheets
    • Set up Signs; Tack Down
    • Trash Haulers
    • Ice Water

Closing

  • Motion to adjourn by N5ZKF
    • Seconded by many
    • Passes

Presentation by Dr. Don Conlee (WX5DC)

The Problem

  • Texas Aggie Storm Chasers (TASC)
    • chase storms… safely.
    • central and northwestern Texas
  • Lack of cell coverage makes communication with TAMU HQ and Spotter Network difficult
    • Wanted to develop more robest, reliable means of location reporting
    • That got Paul (KF5WGJ) thinking… uh, oh.

Potential Solutions

  • Automatic Position Reporting System (APRS)
    • AVRT5 / AP510
    • Buil-in GPS tracker
    • 1 W on 2 m band
    • Pre-programmed
  • Weak Signal Propagation Reporter
    • Dr. Joe Taylor, Nobel Laureate, Ham Genius
      • Also developed JT65, WSJT, FT8
    • 1-way transmission
    • 2 minutes to transmit about 11 chars (1.5 baud)
    • Callsign, 4 digit QTH, power/dBm
    • Precise timing and set frequencies
      • -28 dB signals
    • 2 min Extension
      • 4 min transmit
      • allows 6 digit QTH and/or callsign suffix
    • Devices
      • WSPR-Lite (200 mw “antenna tester”)
      • WSPR-Pi
        • Raspberry Pi 3 ($40)
        • Wsprry-Pi “Shield” ($30)
        • NAVSPARK Mini GPS ($6)
        • SSH interface
    • Real-time reporting on WSPRnet

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