[FARC] FARC Minutes - #-21-2011

[Herb Palm]

FARC Members.
Below are the minutes from the March meeting.
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Frederick Amateur Radio Club (FARC) Minutes  For   March 21, 2011

_Meeting:_  The club meeting was called to order at ___7:05 pm_____ by 
President __Jim Ridgley.  ___

_Introductions:_   Jim Ridgley - N3THA introduced himself to the group 
as the newly elected President.  Meanwhile an attendance sign-in
sheet circulated.  (See below)

_Minutes:_  Minutes for Feb. 21, 2011 were read and accepted with two 
minor typo corrections.

_New Licenses and/or Upgrades:_  Steve Copperstein - KB3VPT received his 
TECH license about two weeks ago.  There were no
upgrades.

_Treasurer Report:_   Checking Acct. is at $2,243.96;  the CD of 
approximately $13,000 matures in 10 months.

_New Member Application(s):_   An application has been accepted from 
Steve Copperstein - KB3VPT

_Old or Ongoing Business:_

- FARC Station Tour - A scheduled date, probably on some Saturday, will 
be posted on the reflector in the near future. Equipment
includes a Yaesu FT920 HF Transceiver, Halicrafter HT46 HF Transmitter, 
Yaesu 4400 2M radio, Electra Voice 638 Desk Mike, Coax 2
Position Switch,  a By-Pass Filter, and more.

- FARC Antenna Trailer - The license plate stickers expire on April 30, 
2011.  Joe Durnal said he would take care of that before the
expiration data.

-FARC Station in the Firehouse Training Room - The telephone number 
301-600-1720 might be used to find out if the training room is
in use so NOT to make an unnecessary trip to operate the station.

_New Business:_

- John Creel - W3GXW requests the use of the antenna trailer at Summit 
Lake on 3-30, 3-31, and 4-1-2011. Transportation for the trailer has yet 
to be worked out.

- RACES - The monthly drill worked out well.  The radio system had been 
in a "closet", now in a fully operational center, serves as a
dispatch back-up center, in a room besides the main Emergency Operations 
Center, (EOC).

- SKYWARN - Herb Palm reported to be on the e-mail list for the 
seasonally issued "Sterling Reporter".  Recent copy had a helpful
Skywarn Reporting Procedure itemized list and a listing of upcoming 
Basic Skywarn Classes in this area.

- ARES - May 1, 2011 is the "March of Dimes" walk in Baker Park, 
Frederick,  followed by the May 7, 2011 "Walk Across Maryland" on
May 7, 2011 sponsored by the Mountain Club of Maryland.  Two volunteer 
sign-up sheets went around the room.

- FIELD DAY - Field Day is scheduled for June 25 & 26, 2011, operations 
to be set up on the top 2 levels of the Frederick Memorial
Hospital.  More details will be forthcoming.

- MADXRA Repeater 147.060 MHz - This repeater has been added to the Wide 
Area Network (WAN) Repeater System covering a great
portion from the East coast to the middle of the country.  This may 
cause a change of repeater use for local ARES nets.

- By-Laws Committee - The newly formed committee of Jeff Fishman - 
KB3FIO, Mark Whitmore - AB3KS, Joe Durnal - NE3R, and
chairman Herb Palm - K3HCP was formed by Jim Ridgley - N3HTA for the 
revision of the club's by-laws with the expectation to receive a
report by the next meeting.

- PC Program - Mark Whitmore - AB3KS reported on finding a "software 
defined radio" program. SDR technology makes it possible
that all listeners tune independently, and thus listen to different 
signals; this is in contrast to the many classical receivers that are 
already
available via the internet.  The URL is  http://websdr.org .

This Month's Program:

- "Operating Procedures for Radio Communications".

End of Meeting:  The meeting ended at  __7:59 pm___


Attendees:
Leonard Keepers - KB3LN     Bill Lazzaro - N2CF         Jim Ridgley - N3HTA
Phil Stalnaker - W3ICF      Mark Witmore - AB3KS        Jim Gillespie - K3DQ
Ben Nardi - W3ZUP           Glen Dorsey - WA3CGU        Joseph M. Durnal 
- NE3R
Jeff Fishman - KB3FIO David Kindred - K3PO        Bill Zimmer - N3VPT
Herb Palm - K3HCP

Respectfully submitted, Herb Palm - K3HCP