[FCARC] September Meeting Notes

[Craig Szczublewski]

The meeting was called to order at 7:30PM by Bryan Patterson (KB8ELG) with
11 members in attendance.

Silent Key/Members in Distress: No Report

Treasurers Report: No Report

Minutes from the previous meeting were electronically distributed last
month with no corrections.

Repeater Report:

* The Fusion repeater is still in QRP mode. We plan to perform maintenance
to the system once we have a new set of duplexors and can bring the power
level up.

* We are still planning a maintenance day for the primary site, probably
sometime mid September or after, to perform exterior maintenance, including
repair to the wood trim and paint. Look for details after the OSPOTA event.

* The main site experienced an issue with the Air Conditioning system,
which was fixed by KB8ELG, who was able to fix it. He noted that the fan
bearings sounded worn and the unit may need to be replaced, possibly with
an all in one heating/cooling system. Dave Claar made a motion to purchase
a combo unit if under $750, which was seconded by Bill Lampe. All voted in
favor. Bryan Patterson will research the best available unit for the size
of the structure.

Old Business:

* September 8 was OSPOTA. We contacted 16 parks and had 30 total QSOs.

* September 8 was the rain-date for the Swanton Fireworks. Participation
was light, with 2 club members, but the fire chief expressed his thanks for
their help.

New Business:

* The Fulton County Health Center expressed interest in several staff
members working towards their technician license for operation of the
backup comm VHF station being installed. We may look at a class at the
beginning of the year, or alternatively may direct them to attend the Lucas
County (TMRA) class on October 27 and November 10. Bryan will send this
information to the hospital EM coordinator.

* The EM service net for the hospitals will be the first Wednesday of every
month at 1:00pm. The monthly net needs to be run from that station. We are
looking for retired club members to rotate through a schedule participating
in the net. Once we have confirmation of the station installation, we will
set a schedule.

Good of Amateur Radio:

* Marilyn Nelson has made arrangements for us to use a meeting room at the
First Church of Christ in Delta (at the corner of Providence and 109). The
location is ground floor and air conditioned. A motion made by Jason and
seconded by Bill Lampe. All were in favor. Bryan will reach out to Marilyn
to finalize arrangements. Details will be available as soon as we have them.

* The Christmas dinner will be held at the Barn Restaurant in Archbold
again this year. This will replace the December 18th meeting.

* Jim McBride indicated October 6-7 is the Nationwide SET drill and
encouraged us to participate (details at
https://sites.google.com/view/blackswan/2018). He also reminded us of
SATERN being active due to Hurricare Florance and encouraged club members
to monitor 14.265 (info at http://satern.org/).

* The club Wednesday 8pm ES net schedule will be Dave on the 1st Wednesday,
Bill on the 2nd, Bryan 3rd, and Jim on the 4th and 5th.

* We would like to have a meeting presentation or educational topic for our
October meeting. Craig offered to show how to get started in SDR receiving
with a low cost RTL USB stick device and a laptop.

* KA8KDS is looking for assistance to put up a small amount of American
tower. Please contact Dave direct at ka8kds @ embarqmail.com

* Glen Lammon (formerly WXH372) of Wauseon stopped out to the club meeting
a few months ago and presented the club with several equipment donations.
One was a fully fitted 440 UHF repeater system with the necessary duplexors
we are looking for. We still need to schedule a visit to inventory the
hardware.

* Jim McBride (K8JPD) indicated he needs help soldering a 8 wire lead for
his rotor controller.


Upcoming Hamfests:

10/13/2018 Lima

10/21/2018 Kalamazoo

10/28/2018 Madison Heights

11/17/2018 Ft Wayne

12/01/2018 FCARC

Club Nets:

Weeknights at 10:30pm Bud's Midnight Madness Net -- 147.195+

Wed at 8pm FCARC ES Net -- 147.195+

Wed at 9pm 6M Net -- 1st Wed 50.400 AM, 3rd Wed 50.125 USB, all others
52.525 FM Simplex

Latest Club Information:

On the web: http://www.k8bxq.org/

On Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Fulton-County-Amateur-Radio-Club-206939596063938/

E-Mail list: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/fcarc

VE Testing:

The club gives testing at 9am the last Saturday of each month at the
George's Radio Service in Wauseon, contact Tom Servoss (KC8UOM) if
interested, you can find his phone number on the www.k8bxq.org website
under the VE Testing section.

Saturday morning breakfast at the Delta 109 at 9:00 AM, in downtown Delta,
OH.

A motion to close was made by Larry Lampe and seconded by Jason Clingaman
at 8:30pm.

Craig Szczublewski - KD8KBU