[FCARC] Meeting notes for June 2012

[Craig Szczublewski]

A summary of the FCARC meeting notes for June 18th, 2012:

The meeting was called to order at 7:35pm with 23 members and guests in 
attendance. Introduction were made and minutes from the previous meeting as well 
as the treasurer's report were read and accepted.

Committee reports follow:

Education: The VE Team held testing at the Archbold Police Station on May 26th 
with two people in attendance, both earning Technician.  Th VE team also held a 
special testing session at the FCARC Hamfest on June 2nd with 4 people attending 
and two new upgrades to Extra were earned.  We have one more testing session 
this Saturday in Tedrow at 10:30am during Field Day weekend.  We have two people 
scheduled so walk0ins are welcome.  Space is limited so we may need to split the 
test session into a couple of groups.  There will not be a test session on June 
30th.

KB8ELG is planning on a second Technician class this year.  He reports the Class 
will be taking place September 15, 22, and 29th at the Delta Public Library. We 
have several people already interested for this class.  We'll post more details 
as they become available.

Repeater Committee:  There has been no forward movement on the relocation to the 
new repeater building and with Field Day this weekend we do not expect any 
further progress until the end of the month.

The backup repeater site is still inoperable following a lighting hit in May. 
We are scheduled to assess the damage this week so we can start processing any 
necessary claims to replace the equipment.

Memorial Committee: No news to report.

Membership: We have 53 paid and lifetime members.  Thanks to all who continue to 
support our club, it helps with the costs of running the club and allowing us to 
maintain and upgrade our repeater.

T-Shirt Committee: No forward movement yet, it is still in the works.

Hamfest Committee: The Hamfest was a great success,  we actually made money this 
time around and had very good crowds despite the threat of weather.  We had 
discussed at length several options to improve attendance and perhaps getting 
some larger vendors to consider setting up during our Hamfest in the future. 
Some options include relocating to event sites with permanent structures and 
leveraging postal mailings to northwest Ohio and southwest Michigan Hams.  For 
next year we will plan on being back in Tedrow on June 1st.

Field Day Committee: Field Day is June 23-24, this weekend.  We are currently 
planning on running as a 7A.  The roster is getting close to being set.  Look 
for an email following this one for specific Field Day content.  Even if you are 
not operating or assisting with logging, please consider stopping out to say 
hello that weekend as many of the club members will be actively involved in the 
contest.

Old Business: The 60 foot pneumatic mast is complete.  KC8UOM had the trailer at 
the Hamfest and demonstrated the workings of the mast system.  Dave Nelson 
(KA8KDS) has generously donated a larger capacity air compressor specifically 
for the pneumatic mast trailer.  This will help achieve operating pressure much 
faster then the current lower capacity compressor.  Lindsay Infante (K8LI) has 
also mentioned donating a 3500W generator to be used in conjunction with the 
mast trailer.  This will allow us to operate in complete absence of utility 
power.  We thanks these two for their donations of equipment as well as everyone 
who worked on this project.  Without this level of support, the mast trailer 
would not have been possible.

New Business: We are still planning on running a booth at the Delta Chicken 
Festival July 13, 14, and 15.  KB8ELG will be firming up details in the coming 
week, but if you have some time and want to run the club rig for a few hours, 
please let us know.  We have traditionally assisted with traffic control during 
the Sunday parade and are looking for assistance with that.  Further details 
will be forthcoming.

We also discussed plans for a foxhunt sometime in late July or August.  We are 
considering a Thursday evening, after work event.  More details at the next 
meeting July 16th.

Upcoming Events: Field Day June 23-24, ChickFest July 13-15, Fulton County Fair 
Aug 31 - Sept 6.

Upcoming Hamfests:

07/12/2012 Elyria, OH (NOARSFest)
07/22/2012 Van Wert, OH
07/28/2012 Lansing, MI
08/04/2012 Angola, IN
08/25/2012 Owosso, MI

Next Meeting:  The next regular club meeting will be July 16th at the County 
Administration Building (same as the Drivers License Bureau), 152 S. Fulton St, 
Wauseon.  The club meeting will be at 7:30pm.

Club Nets:

Weeknights at 10:30pm Bud's Midnight Madness Net -- 147.195+
Wed at 8pm Informal Two Meter & ARES Net -- 147.195+
Wed at 9pm 6M Net -- 50.400 AM on the first Wednesday of the month
Wed at 9pm 6M Net -- 52.525 FM Simplex

I think that about covers it...73 for now!
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Craig Szczublewski - KD8KBU