December 2006 Meeting Minutes

Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club

Minutes for the Month of December 2006

President Carl called the meeting to order at 7:00pm at the Red Cross office in Watseka.
Old Business
The minutes for Nov meeting were read and approved. The treasures report was read and approved.
Carl and Sam are to remove the spool at Cingular and dispose of it.
Benny e-mailed Tim K. to arrange the final walk around of the east site. Benny and Sam placed the 440 repeater at the east site and it seems to be working very well. The red cross FT 8800 is placed at Sam’s house to link the 440 and 2 meter. This link is working but still have one extra cerchunk per keyup. Mike and Sam are working on another way to link with an IP232 box.
We discussed the idea of installing a remote rx at the east site with UHF link into our rx voter.
The GE 2 meter repeater final went out again–still running on the exciter.
New Business
Sam collected dues from Steve and Justin
Benny is to contact Nita to see if there are any Mastr II left to remove PA from. Benny is to contact Ken to see price on new solid state repeaters. Sam is to get a PA from Henry at a price of $65 if we can‘t get one cheaper.
Carl and Sam will hook up the backup repeater to see how it will play.
Net Control for 18th–K9CS 25th KA9MZG Jan 1 KA9FAV Jan 8 W9QKF.
Jerry WB9Z is one 20 meters 14262 at 7:00am
Next meeting we are to wear our ESDA shirts for a picture.
Idea for new programs included learning how to complete written emcomm message, new frequency plans from the FCC. Benny suggests we have emecomm drills and plans.
Carl presented a program on the Space Station school radio contact–DVD and 8 by 10 pics.
Snaks of good cookies and pop were provided by Chris and Carl. Steve is to have snacks for the Jan meeting.
Sam W9QKF
Members present were Carl, Chris, Sam, Steve, Tim, Benny, Justin, Roy

Sam Ripple
W9QKF KAE7607

December 2006 Meeting Minutes

President Carl called the meeting to order at 7:00pm at the Red Cross office in Watseka.

Old Business

The minutes for Nov meeting were read and approved. The treasures report was read and approved.

Carl and Sam are to remove the spool at Cingular and dispose of it.

Benny e-mailed Tim K. to arrange the final walk around of the east site. Benny and Sam placed the 440 repeater at the east site and it seems to be working very well. The red cross FT 8800 is placed at Sam’s house to link the 440 and 2 meter. This link is working but still have one extra cerchunk per keyup. Mike and Sam are working on another way to link with an IP232 box.

We discussed the idea of installing a remote rx at the east site with UHF link into our rx voter.

The GE 2 meter repeater final went out again–still running on the exciter.

New Business

Sam collected dues from Steve and Justin

Benny is to contact Nita to see if there are any Mastr II left to remove PA from. Benny is to contact Ken to see price on new solid state repeaters. Sam is to get a PA from Henry at a price of $65 if we can‘t get one cheaper.

Carl and Sam will hook up the backup repeater to see how it will play.

Net Control for 18th–K9CS 25th KA9MZG Jan 1 KA9FAV Jan 8 W9QKF.

Jerry WB9Z is one 20 meters 14262 at 7:00am

Next meeting we are to wear our ESDA shirts for a picture.

Idea for new programs included learning how to complete written emcomm message, new frequency plans from the FCC. Benny suggests we have emecomm drills and plans.

Carl presented a program on the Space Station school radio contact–DVD and 8 by 10 pics.

Snaks of good cookies and pop were provided by Chris and Carl. Steve is to have snacks for the Jan meeting.

Sam W9QKF

Members present were Carl, Chris, Sam, Steve, Tim, Benny, Justin, Roy

Skywarn Recognition Day is December 2

The 8th annual SKYWARN Recognition Day (SRD) special event will take place Saturday, December 2, 2006. SKYWARN Recognition Day is an event co-sponsored by the National Weather Service and the American Radio Relay League, and it
is the National Weather Service’s way of saying “thank you” to Amateur Radio operators for their commitment to helping keep their communities safe. During the 24-hour special event, amateur radio operators will visit their local National Weather Service (NWS) office, set up Amateur Radio stations, and work as a team to contact other hams across the world.

“Ham radio operators volunteering as storm spotters are an extremely valuable asset to National Weather Service operations since they are cross-trained in both communications and severe storm recognition”, says Scott Mentzer (N***QE), organizer of the event and Meteorologist-In-Charge at the NWS office in Goodland, Kansas.

In typical warning operations, it is the direct communication between mobile spotters and the local NWS office which provides vital ground truth information. Spotter reports of hail size, wind damage and surface-based rotation in real time greatly assists the radar warning operator since that information can be correlated with Doppler radar displays. The result can range anywhere from a more strongly-worded statement to convey a greater sense of urgency, or the issuance of a tornado warning a few minutes earlier than would otherwise have been possible.

While National Weather Service offices utilize the real-time reporting of severe weather events to assist in warning operations, hurricanes and tropical storms have shown us that ham radio operators are equally important during the recovery phase of natural disasters. There are countless stories where ham radio worked in tandem with more
conventional technology to relay emergency traffic.

SKYWARN Recognition Day will be held on December 2, 2006, from 0000 UTC to 2400 UTC.

The object is for all radio amateur stations to exchange QSO information with as many National Weather Service Stations as possible on 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2 meter bands plus the 70 centimeter band. Contacts via repeaters are permitted.

The exchange should include call sign, signal report, location, and a one or two word description of the weather occurring at your site (”sunny”, “partly cloudy”, “windy”, etc.). NWS stations will work various modes including SSB, FM, AM, RTTY, CW, and PSK31. While working digital modes, special event stations will append “NWS” to their call sign (e.g., N***A/NWS).

Sam Ripple
W9QKF KAE7607