[FCARC] July 21 Meeting Notes

[Craig Szczublewski]

Hello everyone, here are some notes from the Monday night Club meeting:

The meeting was called to order at 7:30pm with 16 members in attendance. Minutes 
from the previous meeting and the treasurer's report were read and accepted.

Committee reports follow...

Field Day: The report has been filed with the ARRL.  We ran a 6A+GOTO, with 799 
combined contacts, for a total of 3,846 points with multipliers and bonuses.  We 
continue to improve on Field Day every years, and we also continue to draw in 
more and more hams from the surrounding area.  The is truly a showcase event for 
the club, and we want to thank all who participated in this years event.

Education: The VE Team had a test session at the Field Day location, issuing one 
upgrade from tech to general.  No reservations have been made for July 26.

Repeater Committee: Major repeater work occurred over the past weekend.  The 
backup repeater is now in place at the County Rd M and 16 site, along with 
KB8GOM's 440 repeater.  We have been running on the backup repeater for a few 
days now, trying to get a sense of coverage patterns.  There is some work that 
still needs to be performed on the 440 repeater, as the receive squelch may be 
to high.  We are also having a reported issue the key sequence for disabling and 
enabling the primary/backup repeaters.  We should have this resolved in a day or 
so, but one of the repeaters will be online.

Memorial Committee: No report.

Members in Distress: WD8KRS reported that he recently saw W8TGC (Doyle), who 
seems to be in good spirits.

EC Report: Any club member who is interested in participating is asked to fill 
out the online survey at http://k8bxq.org/tmp/ECForm.php.  We have only had 
about six club members express interest so far.  Even if you only have an HT or 
mobile rig, please fill out the form so we know if you can be called on during 
an emergency either for field assistance or traffic relaying.  One of the 
principals of Amateur Radio is emergency service, which we are all encouraged to 
take part in.

Membership: We have 47 members up to date on dues so far.  Thank you for your 
continued support.

T-Shirt Committee: We are trying to stoke renewed interest in club branded 
apparel.  The current logo was a little hastily designed, and does not 
transition nicely to silk screen or embroidery.  I offer a challenge to club 
members to assist with a redesign of the logo, which we can then use to upload 
to printers like Vista Print, allowing club members to order their shirts on 
demand, rather then carrying inventory.  We would like to have a logo idea for 
the August meeting.

Hamfest Committee: No further info on the December Hamfest yet, but we will be 
planning an outing to Memorial Hall to determine space and table layout for the 
December 6th show.  All club members are encouraged to print a copy of the 
Winter Hamfest flyer and post them around their communities on the public 
information bulletin boards.

Good of Amateur Radio:

1. Thanks to all who participated in the Chicken Festival booth and parade.  We 
had a great turnout of 11 club members to assist the Delta Police with traffic 
control.  As indicated in previous emails, we may be handling all event 
announcements at next years Chicken Festival, so we may need more coverage at 
the booth then in previous years.

2. OSPOTA is coming up faster then you think.  It will be September 6th at 
Harrison Lake.  I am not sure which shelter house yet, but we will endeavor to 
reserve one in the next couple of weeks.  Plan on a cookout/picnic the same day 
for the club.  If you have not been out to the Ohio State Parks on the Air 
contest, it's like a mini field day, and is always a fun time.  We typically run 
2-3 rigs, so if you are interested in coming out, the radios and antennas will 
already be accounted for, and you should not have a difficult time finding a rig 
to call CQ on.

3. Maker Faire Detroit is this coming Saturday and Sunday at the Henry Ford in 
Dearborn.  I can't recommend this event enough.  Check the website out at:

http://www.makerfairedetroit.com/

4. The Fulton County Fair Booth is in a state of limbo right now.  We will not 
be at our usual location due to administrative errors on the Fair Board's end. 
If they cannot find a reasonably quiet location to put us in, we may not be 
participating.  Before make any judgments or conclusions about the Fair, let's 
see how this plays out in the next week or so.  The Fair is growing every year 
with a limit on available space. Further updates will be made available as we 
have them.

Upcoming Events and Hamfests;

07/26/2014 Maker Faire 2014, Henry Ford, Dearborn, MI
08/02/2014 Angola, IN (Hamfest)
09/07/2014 Findlay, OH (Hamfest)

Next Meeting:  The next regular club meeting will be August 18th at the County 
Administration Building second floor (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 I have for now.  Please reply back to me with corrections...

Craig Szczublewski - KD8KBU