[FCARC] Meeting Notes for January 18, 2016

[Craig Szczublewski]

The meeting was called to order at 7:32pm with 21 Club members in attendance.  
Minutes and Treasurer reports were read and accepted. Committee reports follow:

Membership: This is the first meeting of the new calendar year. Membership dues 
reminders were sent out at the beginning of the month.  With membership renewals 
mailed in and paid for at the meeting, we currently stand at 34 paid and 
lifetime members.  We thanks everyone for renewing their membership as it 
offsets the clubs expenses such as liability insurance, post office box, etc, 
and allows us to make improvements to our repeater system.

Education:  As a reminder to all V.E.'s and anyone considering an upgrade, 
KC8UOM reports that as of January 2016, all testing will be moved to the Wauseon 
Public Library at 10:00am. Testing is still the last Saturday of the month. The 
Wauseon Public Library is located at 117 E. Elm St, Wauseon, OH 43567.

KB8ELG reports that there is a family of 5 interested in taking a tech class 
sometime in the spring.  While no firm date has been set, he is investigating 
the possibility of starting the first Saturday in April and running four weeks.  
A time and location has not been determined either.

Hamfest: The club conducted the second annual winter hamfest at the Delta 
American Legion in December.  Apart from some vendors who could not show, we had 
a good turnout and a lot of positive feedback.  We learned quite a bit from the 
expansion in size and dealing with the associated fees, and and the end of the 
day we turned a good profit.  We certainly made enough from the door and table 
sales to secure the hall for another year.  A motion was passed to reserve the 
hall for December 3, 2016 for the third annual winter Hamfest, so mark you 
calendars.

With the variety of hamfests coming up in the next few months, KB8ELG made a 
request for club members to get the word out about the summer and winter 
hamfests and encouraged us to distribute flyers at those events.  A new/updated 
flyer should be available soon, and a message will be announced when they are 
ready for download.

Repeater: The repeater committee reports that there are still some low priority 
maintenance tasks to be performed:

1. analyze the cooling fan in the backup repeater and determine if replacement 
is needed
2. procure and install a PA deck for the primary repeater (on hold pending 
diagnostics on duplexers)
3. deploy Yaesu Fusion for UHF operation at backup site (pending schedule 
coordination)
4. run a full service on the duplexers at the primary site (January/February 
task list)

EC: K8JPD reports that he would still like a few more amateurs to check into the 
Wednesday night EC net.  There is a pretty solid group that consistently checks 
in, but it is not near the number he would like.  He encouraged all in 
attendance to at least check in and check out.  This is a great opportunity to 
verify your VHF gear is in working order.  The Wednesday night EC net is 
8:00pm.  It was also briefly discussed that the county EMA may be looking for a 
coordinated test with the Amateur radio community.  More info on that as details 
are made available.

Special Events:  The club participated in the Archbold Festival of Lights parade 
on November 27.  We had a very good turnout, and combined with the Police 
Explorers group, there was more then adequate coverage.  The Archbold police 
invited us to return again next year.

Our December meeting was replaced by a Christmas dinner at the Barn Restaurant 
in Archbold.  We had about 30 in attendance and the move the big room offered 
much more room to social and move about.

Members in Distress:  KB8ELG sent around a card to be signed for N8MI who has 
been experiencing some health issues which are effecting his ability to get out 
to events like the club meeting.

Good of Amateur Radio: KD8JBS gave us an update on his e-Sight fund-raising 
activity.  Ben managed to raise the necessary funds to purchase one of these 
units, which is expected to help his vision and improve his overall quality of 
life. Ben noted that he will be traveling to Toronto to complete being fitted.  
A motion was made to help Ben with his travel expenses, which was passed, and a 
$100 check was issued to him for this purpose.

Upcoming Events:

02/03/2016 - Henry County Weather Spotter (register: 
http://henryohspotter2016.eventzilla.net/)
03/14/2016 - Hillsdale County Weather Spotter
03/29/2016 - Williams County Weather Spotter

Hamfests:

01/24/2016 - Hazel Park, MI (change in venue!)
02/21/2016 - Mansfield, OH
02/21/2016 - Livonia, MI
03/06/2016 - Elyria, OH
03/19/2016 - Marshall, MI (Kalamazoo)
03/20/2016 - Toledo, OH (TMRA)
04/09/2016 - Highland, MI

Next Meeting:  The next regular club meeting will be 7:30pm on February 15, 2016 
at the County Administration Building (same as the Drivers License Bureau), 152 
S. Fulton St, Wauseon.

Club Nets:

Weeknights at 10:30pm Bud's Midnight Madness Net -- 147.195+
Wed at 8pm EC Practice Net & Club Two Meter 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 good for now...

Craig Szczublewski - KD8KBU