May 19

May 2018 Monthly Meeting Minutes

Date
2018-05-19
Convened
09:36
Adjourned
10:43

Officers

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

Attendees (21)

  • Bill Peterson (KZ3G)
  • Sly Kapchinski (N5GQB)
  • Mark Hnatiuk (KG5EYV)
  • Brad Snyder (KG5SDE)
  • Matthew Barry (KG5LYE)
  • Dick Zimmer (W5DZ)
  • Richard Epting (KG5WIV)
  • Marvin Lowman (KG5MCN)
  • Harold Turbyfill (KG5SDG)
  • Mike Wisby (KA5HIA)
  • Ralph Cobb (W5RYC)
  • Vic Pears (KX8V)
  • Joshua Cook (KF5TYX)
  • David Cook
  • Andrew Cook
  • John “Pocat” Walpole (K5ZY)
  • Joe Napoli (KG5SDF)
  • Phil Gates (N5ZKF)
  • Jim Laird (KF5YY)
  • Tom Small (N1TOV)
  • Gerald Golub (W5VUI)
  • Paul Bilke (KF5WGJ)

Health and Welfare

  • Moment of silence for victims of school shooting in Houston
  • Ron Hambric (N5SBN) has been in and out of hospital; doing better

Officer Reports

President KG5EYV

  • USDA building will not be available the meeting before Field Day
    • Will discuss in New Business
  • KG5SDG antenna help
    • Thanks, KM5TW for helping!
    • Great membership like this is what makes W5BCS great!
      • help when we get in over our head
      • promote the hobby
  • Appreciation for Board Members
    • “Iron Man” – Sly Kapchinski (N5GQB)
    • “The Voice” – Matthew Barry (KG5LYE)
    • “The Pusher” – Phil Gates (NZKF)
    • “Never Says No” – Mike Wisby (KA5HIA)

Vice President N5ZKF

  • Presentations
    • We’ve had lots of great topics!
    • If there’s anything you’re interested in, let us know!
    • No presentation at next meeting (final Field Day prep)
  • Regarding club
    • have a “elevator speech” for Ham Radio to promote the hobby to others
    • Make a ham radio business card (email, phone, callsign, ARRL website)

Secretary KG5LYE

Approval of Meeting Minutes

  • Motion to approve as read by W5RYC
    • Seconded by KF5TYX
    • Passes

Treasurer N5GQB

Bank Statement

  • Starting Balance: $4542.64
  • Checks
    • $1465 for repeater antenna installation cleared
    • $26.36 for March donut fund shortage
    • $27.00 for April donut fund shortage
    • $165 for repeater funding fee redirection
  • Deposits
    • $40–$50 from leftover repeater funds
    • about $600 from sale of donations from Marvin (WB5PWG)
  • Ending Balance: $3501.28

Upcoming Expenses

  • PO box renewal: $102 for another year
  • $900 budgeted for Field Day prizes
    • will be purchased this weekend (Dayton Hamvention causes prices to come down)

New Members

  • No new members
    • stands at about $70

Upcoming Events

  • Hamcon 2018-06-08 through 2018-06-10
    • Plano, TX

Old Business

Field Day

  • Field Day is 28 days away (2018-06-23/P1D)
    • need volunteers to help smooth operations
    • everyone please give 15–20 minutes of air time
    • Need sign-up sheet…
  • Location: Brian Bachmann Park
  • Raffle Prizes
    1. Introductory HF radio: Yaesu FT-450D $679
    2. Antenna Analyzer: Comet CAA 500 Mk 2 (works up to UHF) $374
    3. Dual-band FM and DMR Radio: TYT MD-217 $150
    4. Gift card: Academy
    5. Gift card: Sam’s
  • Motion by KF5WGJ to purchase prize list despite over budget
    • Seconded by K55SDG
    • Passes
  • Door Prizes
    • Please donate miscellaneous items
    • Keep it in the $5–$20 range
    • must be present to win
  • Raffle tickets available for purchase starting now!
    • same tickets will be used for door prizes
    • door prize winners will be put back into drum for raffle prizes
  • Dinner at 18:00
    • BBQ meal: brisket, potato salad, sausage, beans
    • Bring a dessert to share!
    • $10 for meal tickets
    • not ready for sale yet, but will be available day-of
  • VE Test session at 15:00
  • Swap tables
    • you keep money
  • Silent Auction tables
    • proceeds go to club
    • usually not a good turnout for this area
    • still available as an option for now

June Meeting

  • Gerald will not be here to open USDA building
  • Need new meeting place for 2018-06-16
    • C&J Barbecue? (side room)
  • Table until later for venue checking

New Business

KA5HIA

KG5LYE

  • All board members got nicknames, president needs a nickname
    • KA5HIA: “El Jefe” … All in favor?

Closing

  • Motion to adjourn by KF5TYX
    • Seconded by KG5SDF
    • Passes

Presentation by Paul Bilke (KF5WGJ): Microcontrollers

Microcontrollers, and their ability to help mortals do cool stuff

  • First came microprocessors
    • required lots of glue (clock generators, external memory, etc.)
    • calculators started this whole thing
      • TI decided to make a chip that has everything built in
  • Microcontrollers
    • Digital everywhere!
    • extremely cheap in volume (cheaper than knobs, buttons, and mechanical things)
    • cheap enough for everyone to get access to them
    • Open Source revolution (hard to beat free price)
  • Arduino
    • Precursors:
      • Processing Java-based language and IDE developed at MIT in 2001
      • Wiring library in C++ for microcontrollers targeted to non-expert audience
    • Wiring library and Processing IDE became Arduino
    • Open-source, so lots of people came up with various form factors
    • Stats
      • 700K sold in 2013 to non-programmers
      • 8M devices in circulation now, but probably much bigger

      • 1K blogs

      • 10K snippets

    • Moral: not always about best, fanciest, or highest quality, but accessibility to audience
    • No barriers to entry
  • Ham applications
    • books and blogs dedicated to Ham Radio and Arduino
    • shields (expansion packs) for ham functions
  • Why use it?
    • cheap logic to take analog signals and make digital decisions
    • “afterthought engineering” can be done in code
    • someone has probably already done the same thing and published their code
      • and gives you the opportunity to do the same for others
    • “beat to fit, paint to match”
    • 3 hours of time and $3 in hardware
  • demo!

Matthew Barry

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