[FARC] FARC Minutes for November, 2011

[Herb Palm]

Frederick Amateur Radio Club (FARC) "Approved" Minutes for November 21, 
2011.

Meeting: The club meeting was called to order at 7:11 pm by President 
Jim Ridgley - N3HTA

Introductions: See Attendees

Last Months Minutes: Approved: YES

New Licenses: None

Upgrades: None

Treasurer Report: None

New Member Application(s): None

Old or Ongoing Business:

- Jeff Fishman - KB3IFO is the custodian of clubs records/trash pile and 
found the “FARC NEWS” from February 1, 1987. The news letter was 
circulated among the attendees.

Last Winter we have gotten rid of a lot of donated equipment and people 
have expressed interest in having something like that again. The 
question raised was if anybody has some equipment that they want to 
sell, having this room as a suitable venue, if the fire department is 
agreeable to this. Jeff will put out some feelers for this kind of activity.

- A question came up as to what kind of logging program people use. No 
particular program was identified but the general cost is about $25.00

- Jackie Fries - WB3KDS asked what ever became of the Red Cross’s 
requirement of having a certification to work in a shelter. A criminal 
type background check is required. Other requirements are not clearly 
defined, specifically to what courses are required.

New Business:

- Holiday Party - The Holiday Party was voted on to have it on December 
19, 2011 in lieu of the regular December FARC meeting. Mark Whitmore - 
AB3KS volunteered to spearhead selecting a place and make the necessary 
arrangements. The party is open to every HAM, their spouses, families, 
and friends. He proposed it to be held at the Golden Corral at 6:30 pm 
with a voluntary “gift exchange” with a $10.00 limit. Mark will post the 
particulars on the reflector.

Committee Reports:

- Bylaws - Jeff Fishman - KB3FIO is planning to have something for the 
January meeting.

- RACES - No report from Comex. There was no meeting but a committee got 
together to discuss operations and keeping radio systems running 
involving the whole State but not all jurisdictions are represented as 
to what can be done better, looking at procedures with the counties. Our 
EOC is on Montevue Lane.

Example might be the operation problems with the radios used for the 
recent Health Department exercise. The Linganore High School was one of 
the buildings identified as difficult to transmit from without an 
outside antenna and understanding the settings of the radios was a 
general concern. The answer might be to use “cross-band repeat” with two 
radios which will be discussed after the meeting in our monthly program. 
A two band HT covering 144MHz and 440 MHz would accomplish that, 
preferably with non-rechargeable batteries.

Jeff Fishman - KB3FIO thanked everyone that helped out with the Health 
Department exercise.

- ARES - Jeff Fishman - KB3FIO thanked everyone who helped out on the 
“Cycle for Life” exercise on October 8, 2011. In the future emphasis 
will be put on digital communications such as Packet or Win-Link.

- SKYWARN - Not much is going on. A Basic class is scheduled 12-14-2011 
at 16600 Courage Ct., Louden County, VA. Contact Rob Hiltner at 
703-737-8706. Jim Ridgley said you don’t have to report weather 
conditions by radio but calling 800-253-7091 can be just as effective. 
Your Skyward Spotter number is not necessary. The web site is 
WWW.WX4LWX.ORG .

- MISCELLANEOUS - Leonard Keepers announced that a free program called 
“CHIRP” is available on line at http://www.danplanet.com/index.php for 
programming many different brands of radios.

- Visiting Gerald Ziemba was referred to our web site to learn about our 
mission statement and general club activities.

This Month’s Program:

- Orientation of the FT-8900 Transceiver operation, set up for 
“cross-band repeat”.

End of Meeting: The meeting ended at 8:20 pm .

Attendees:

Glenn Dorsey - WA3CGU
Rick Ogden - N3RO
Mark Whitmore - AB3KS
Jackie Fries - WB3KDS
Leonard Keepers - KB3NL
Jeff Fishman - KB3FIO
Jim Ridgley - N3HTA
Lou Popowsky - KB3RNT
Emmitt Bonner - WA4UWD
Gerald Ziemba - guest HAM from Pennsylvania
Herb Palm - K3HCP

Respectfully submitted, Herb Palm - K3HCP