Apr 18

April 2020 Meeting Minutes

Monthly Club Meeting Minutes

date
2020-04-18
convened
09:30
adjourned
10:26

Officers

  • President:
    Phil Gates (N5ZKF) present
  • Vice President:
    Rick Pfeil (KI5DUJ) absent
  • Secretary:
    Trent Owens (AG1TX) present
  • Treasurer:
    Sly Kapchinski (N5GQB) present

Attendees (29)

  • Trent Owens (AG1TX)
  • Joe Napoli (KG5SDF)
  • Rick Swaims (W5RTF)
  • David R. Cook (KI5GDX)
  • Lorna Flansburg (KI5FIZ)
  • Brad Snyder (KG5SDE)
  • Gina Miller (K5GKM)
  • Jeremy Carter (KF5YAA)
  • Dick Zimmer (W5DZ)
  • Kerry Miller (WD5ABC)
  • Sly Kapchinski (N5GQB)
  • Rick Pfeil (KI5DUJ)
  • Mike Wisby (KA5HIA)
  • Ralph Cobb (W5RYC)
  • Jim Snell (WA5PMO)
  • Robert Carter (NC5R)
  • Michael Hance (K5NZ)
  • Harold Turbyfill (KG5SDG)
  • Brandon Bartlett (KG5LYN)
  • John “Pocat” Walpole (K5ZY)
  • Bennie Naiser (KA5TWB)
  • Gerald Golub (W5VUI)
  • Phil Gates (N5ZKF)
  • Joshua Cook (KF5TYX)
  • Brian Walpole (N5BLW)
  • Tom Talley (W5XTT)
  • Don Ling (WB5CKO)
  • Dwayne Walters (W5DPW)
  • Clark Pennington (KC5BHM)

Officer Reports

President N5ZKF

  • Thank you for being here. I know it’s a departure from our normal meetings but this is what Amateur Radio is all about, adapting and using technology.
    • Using the 146.680 Repeater for audio
    • Zoom meeting for video and for us to get the face time we are used to in our regular meetings.
  • World Amateur Radio Day is today 04-18-20
  • For the comment section of the meeting today, please voice your opinion on future club activities in the comments section of the meeting. Will document them and put together an online pole
  • Testing. ARRL has been experimenting with online testing. A few clubs have been testing using different adapted methods.
    the officers have been looking at several ways to legally do testing.

Vice President KI5DUJ

  • Field Day: As of now, field day is a go.
    • Due to the uncertainty of the near future due to the shelter in place, we decided that it was not prudent to purchase raffle prizes and food at major expense to the club. We will continue with FD plans, just an attenuated version. Without our typical meal and raffle we have come to enjoy.
  • Think of alternatives in which we can have a function in which we can do a meal and raffle. Some suggestions so far:
    • State Park activation
    • Winter Field Day
    • TAMU Football Tailgate

Secretary AG1TX

  • Read previous meeting’s minutes. Minutes have been emailed and posted to the website.
  • Membership update of the website.

Treasurer N5GQB

  • Financials:
    • 5,575.09
    • $0 Debits
    • $0 Deposits
    • $5,575.09
  • Couple checks ready to deposit. I will deposit those shortly.
  • Renewals: Not too late to join. Go to website and print out the form and send to me.
  • 50 members plus or minus. A little bit down from previous years.

Old Business

  • Trent Owens (AG1TX): Minutes emailed and posted, if no objections, accepted.
  • Phil Gates (N5ZKF): Clarification: We only have 2 individuals listed as members this year. We are required to update ARRL to maintain status with ARRL and I have done that this week.
    If you have questions please email n5zkf@arrl.net
  • Gerald Golub (W5VUI): Web: major update with WordPress. Generate membership list off current tag with each user account. Could generate a member list from 09 or 10 and then modify. The update kicked out a good bit of the membership. Working on the back end to get it sort it out.
    If you have questions, contact:
    webmaster@bryanarc.org or officers@bryanarc.org

New Business

Announcements and Comments

Trent Owens (AG1TX)

  • TAMU Tailgate with special event station, coordinate with W5AC so both clubs are included and get exposure.
  • I found that Contest University has canceled their course for this year and have announced a FREE online class via Zoom. Would be good for those of you interested in contesting or as a brush up for Field Day to help our club score.

Phil Gates (N5ZKF)

  • Club construction project such as a portable antenna, small circuit board kit, etc
  • fox hunt where we invite the public and possibly sell fox kits and have some fun doing fox hunts.
  • Special event station with an important calendar event. Similar to Robinson County POW camp activation we did a few years ago.
  • Texas A&M University Amateur Radio Club (W5AC) are still communicating with Dave from UK. I encourage you to listen in and say hello.
    • Lost their tower and beam in the last storm. Huge loss to them as it took quite a bit of effort and money to get it up.

David R. Cook (KI5GDX)

  • I like soldering kits and would like to suggest something involving soldering, the fox hunt seems fun and a good way to drive interest in our hobby

K5XTT

  • I’m interested in remote rig control. My 2nd time with zoom. Interested in seeing if a remote station could be operated by different members with a zoom meeting. willing to work with others to figure it out.

Buy/Sell

Dwayne Walters (W5DPW)

Health and Welfare / Good of the Order

  • If anyone needs help with anything please reach out to the club. You can contact any of the officers at:
    • officers@bryanarc.org

VE Test Session

  • Club officers are working on different options at this time. The current situation with online testing and the ARRL is fluid.

May Meeting

  • As of now, the meeting will be on May 16, 2020 at 9:30am and unless our current situation (Shelter in place) changes, will be held “On Air” in a NET style meeting on the 146.680 repeater.

Next Meeting: 2020-05-16 09:30

Presentation by Phil Gates (N5ZKF) on building a tape measure yagi antenna

Trent Owens

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