[FCARC] Meeting notes for July 2013

[Craig Szczublewski]

Hello everyone, here are some notes from the July 15th Club meeting:

The meeting was called to order at 7:30pm with 18 members and guests in 
attendance. Minutes from the previous meeting and the treasurer's report were 
read and accepted.

Committee reports follow:

Members in Distress: KC2RCU (Grant of Bryan area) is recovering from routine 
surgery and is making good progress (update from KD8JBS).  KD8ERB (Ken Alvord is 
also recovering from surgery last month.

Education: The Autumn Tech Class is still being planned for September on the 
14th, 21st, and 28th.  This will allow us to promote the class at the Fulton 
County Fair.  Bryan (KB8ELG) has asked everyone to promote the class as much as 
possible to get a good sized group.  It was suggested that contacting local Boy 
Scout and Cub Scout Troops might also yield some new attendees.

The VE Team held a testing session at the end June with one new license issued. 
  As for now, we have no one scheduled for July 27th.

Repeater Committee:  The 150 watt amplifier is still on the bench awaiting 
replacement components to arrive.  All three finals were blown out, but repair 
should be quick once the new packs arrive.  The repeater is still operating on 
22 watts of power, but seems to be performing well.  An environmental assessment 
will be conducted soon to make sure the A/C unit operating properly.

Memorial Committee/Silent Key: Nothing to report.

Membership: we have 54 paid members.  Thank you to all who continue to support 
the club.

Hamfest Committee: further discussion was held on the possibility of an early 
December Hamfest, perhaps the first Saturday in December.  The location would 
tentatively be Delta Memorial Hall (first floor access), but no solid plans have 
been made yet.  We plan on taking a vote at the next club meeting to see if we 
want to pursue having this type of event.

Special Events:

1. Field Day Recap: We conducted 487 QSOs for a total claimed score of 2104. 
Further details can be found at k8bxq.org.

2. Delta Chicken Fest Recap: As always we had a great weekend at the festival. 
We made plenty of HF QSOs and assisted the Delta Police with the Sunday Parade. 
  We were able to cover 6 intersections with everyone's help, allowing the Delta 
Police to focus on other high traffic areas.  The Delta Police have offered an 
open invite to assist with other community events if we are able.  Especially 
intersection monitoring during Halloween (more to come on that).

3. Fulton County Fair Upcoming:  We are looking for suggestion on how to make 
the booth a bit more exciting and lively.  We are looking for pictures from 
community events we have assisted with, so if you have any, please send them my 
way.  We have also discussed running the booth through Labor Day, then closing 
is down for the remainder of the event.  We usually get really good coverage and 
response from the club members on the days leading up to Labor Day, but then 
getting people to staff the booth for the last three days is challenging since 
most of us return to work.  We are going to have further discussion on this at 
the next meeting.

Our county EMA director, Heather Kost, who was in attendance this evening, 
inquired about what additional role the Amateur operators could play at the 
Fulton County Fair if backup communication would be needed since cell phone 
coverage is spotty at best during heavy attendance days at the Fair.  Further 
updates will be made available if our assistance is required.

New Business:

Two contests are coming up which are worth participating in:

August 24th: Ohio QSO Party
September 7th: Ohio State Parks on the Air.

The club is definitely planning on running at Harrison Lake on September 7th. 
Everyone is invited to stop out and operate if you care to.  It is a great 
location and a fun contest to participate in.  I am not sure if the club will do 
an organized event for the Ohio QSO Party or not, but your suggestions are welcomed.

Upcoming Hamfests:


07/20/2013 Elyria, OH (NOARSFEST)
07/21/2013 Van Wert, OH
08/03/2013 Angola, IN
09/08/2013 Findlay, OH

Next Meeting:  The next regular club meeting will be August 19th 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

That's all folks...

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Craig Szczublewski - KD8KBU