Iroquois County Amateur Radio 147.030+ and 444.625+ - Meetings 2nd Thursday at the Red Cross Office in Watseka, IL

–Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club–

President Carl opened the meeting at 7:26 pm at the Glenn Raymond School in Watseka. The October minutes were read and approved. The treasure’s report was read and approved.

Committee Reports

Incorporation and Non-Profit Committee—Mike is in the process of registering with the Charitable Trust Division, Office of the Attorney General. He is also filling our 28 pages for the IRS. The secretary also gave Mike a copy of the IRS employer number that we must have.

Technical Committee— Steve and Benny reported that both repeaters were working well. Phil reported coverage early in morning up to route 30.

Program Committee—Roy and Phil reported that the Dec meeting would be a DVD on 4 famous DX trips.

Publicity Committee—No report.

ARES Liaison—No report

Red Cross Liaison—Carl reported that the Red Cross office was moved to the new location at 106 S 4th St. and the communications room has radios and some new furniture. We still need to work on antennas. Tim and Carl have a plan and are working on it. We would like to have a loop HF antenna if possible.

ESDA Liaison—Sam reported that we did not get a grant from the state for radio equipment.

VE Liaison—. VE testing in Kankakee is Nov 13. ICARC is planning on a VE test on the 11th of Dec. at the Red Cross office before our regular meeting.

OLD Business

Justin found enough paint to finish the north site building. On Sat Nov 8th a crew of ICARCers made up of Carl, Sam, Benny, Steve, Janet, Tim, Roy and Phil met for breakfast and then installed the insulation and cleaned up the North site. Everyone enjoyed the results and the fellowship.
Mike and Troy have installed the 2 meter 440 and 6-meter beam and seems to be working well.

NEW Business

The nominating committee for the election next month (Steve, Benny and Chris,) reported that the nominated slate of candidates for the 2009 officers are: Pres. Mike, Vice Pres Roy, Sec-Tres Sam. Board members nominated are Benny, Troy, and Steve. Any other member may run for any office.
We plan to have a club paid Pizza Party for the Dec meeting. We are inviting young science club members interested in ham radio. VE test will be given before the Dec 11 meeting.

Our official photographer (Janet) recorded several dozen classic moments to share with group on the workday at the north site.

Snacks for this month were by Sam and Janet. Dec snacks are to be brought by Carl and Chris. Club buys pizza.

Net control for 11/17 Roy, 11/24 Benny, 12/1 Brian, 12/8 Steve

Members present for the Nov meeting were Carl, Chris, Mike, Troy, Benny, Steve, Phil, Roy Tim, Janet, and Sam.

We were very pleased to host guests and potential hams by the name of Scott Anderson and his 12-year-old son Jacob Anderson. Scott is a Watseka fireman and photographer and Jacob is a 6th grader in the Science Club at GRS.

Meeting adjourned at 8:24.

After snacks Roy presented a well thought out program on ARES and NVOAD (National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters) and the role of ham radio in disasters.

Our job is to serve the agency that has requested our help. Our job is to serve to the best of our abilities. It may not only be talking on the radio but filling the requests of the agency. EMComm volunteers should have the ability to function as team players. We need to practice with other agencies on drills. Thanks Roy.

Sam Ripple W9QKF KAE7607

Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club

President Carl opened the meeting at 7:20 pm at the Glenn Raymond School in Watseka. The August minutes were read and approved with one correction. Visitor Paul Wilson was added to list of people present. The treasure’s report was read and approved.

Committee Reports

Incorporation and Non-Profit Committee—Mike is in the process of registering with the Charitable Trust Division, Office of the Attorney General. He is filling our the CO-1 and CO-2 forms. Our recorded form from Irouqois has been returned.

Technical Committee— Carl reworked the controller to make CW id the defult id on the repeater. Benny mentioned he liked a lower tone on the ID

Carl and Sam told of a “kerchunk” filter on the 2 meter repeater. It is a one half minute delay before repeater would open. Might try it later if it is needed.

Program Committee—Roy has planned a program on Traffic handling. We Plan to meet at back at the Red Cross office for November meeting.

Publicity Committee—No report.

ARES Liaison—No report

Red Cross Liaison—Carl reported that the Red Cross office will be moving to a new location at the end of October. We will need to take care of the radio room moving.

ESDA Liaison—Sam reported that we still have a chance for a grant from the state for radio equipment. Next April the Church of Latter Day Saints is planning a emergency preparedness fair.

VE Liaison—Carl reported that a technician license course is being given by the Kankakee club. Testing for that class is to be on Nov 13. ICARC is planning on a VE test around the first of Dec. at the Glenn Raymond School.

OLD Business

Justin will try to find out the cost of enough paint to finish the WGFA building. Looks like insulation will be higher that first estimated. Seems to be about $33 for a roll of the 22.5” and $25 a sheet for the solid styrofoam type.

NEW Business

Pres Carl appointed the nominating committee for the election next month.
Steve, Benny and Chris are on the committee.
Snacks for this month were by Mike. Nov snacks are to be brought by Sam. Carl, Chris, Mike and Troy will be unable to be at the Nov meeting. Carl replayed the DX presentation for Roy and Steve.

Net control for 10/13 Roy 10/20 Benny 10/27 Troy 11/3 Brian 11/10 Steve

Meeting adjourned at 8:24 .

Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club Minutes of the Sept, 2008 Meeting

President Carl opened the meeting at 7:21 pm at the Glenn Raymond School in Watseka. The August minutes
were read and approved. The treasure’s report was read and approved.

Committee Reports

Incorporation and Non-Profit Committee—Mike is in the process of registering with the Charitable Trust Division, Office of the Attorney General. He is filling our the CO-1 and CO-2 forms.

Technical Committee— We plan to rework the controller to make CW id the only id in the repeater.

Program Committee—Roy has planned a program on Traffic handling. We Plan to meet at Glenn Raymond School.

Publicity Committee—Justin was on the radio with a news release from Troy and was expanded to a report of amateur radio.

Justin e-mailed to invite interested parties to go to Champaign to a meeting of Broadcast Engineers on Sept 26. Starts at noon.  See Justin for carpool.

ARES Liaison—Roy reported last month that they annual ARRL SET is to be in October and he will plan a
radio exercise for us. It is to be a surprise net.

Red Cross Liaison—Tim reported that the Red Cross office will be moving to a new location at the end
of October. We will need to take care of the radio room moving.

ESDA Liaison—Sam reported that we still have a chance for a grant from the state for radio equipment.
Next April the Church of Latter Day Saints is planning a emergency preparedness fair.

VE Liaison—

OLD Business

We discussed selling the Motrac repeater but having trouble with the delivery to the buyer in Colorado.
Carl might try to see what could be done by mail. We discussed the possibility of a remote rx at our east
site for the two meter repeater. We have much of the hardware but not all that would be needed.

NEW Business

Troy reported that the radios for the GRS radio project were delivered and we all got a look at the complete HF station.

KARS has been discussing some remote RX sites for the 94 repeater to improve the Skywarn nets.

We talked about a workday at the WGFA site to improve the building including insulation and painting.
Snacks for this month were by Carl and Chris. Oct snacks are to be brought by Mike.

Net control for 9/15 Sam, 9/22 Tim, 9/29 Benny, 10/6 Brian

Meeting adjourned at 7:45 .

Carl and Don K9NR presented a well done power point presentation of their latest DX trip to Monteserrat

Members present— Troy, Tim, Carl, Chris, Mike, Benny, Keith and Sam. Don K9NR was our honored guest

Sam W9QKF secretary

Sam Ripple W9QKF KAE7607

President Carl opened the meeting at 7:14 pm at the Red Cross office in Watseka. The July minutes were read and approved. The treasure’s report was read and approved.
Committee Reports

Incorporation and Non-Profit Committee—Sam reported that the State of Illinois has returned and approved our articles of incorporation as a General Not for Profit Corporation as of August 8, 2008. Sam has recorded the incorporation papers with the Iroquois County Recorder of Deeds on on August 13, 2008. We are in the process of registering with the Charitable Trust Division, Office of the Attorney General.

Technical Committee—Sam has e-mailed the frequency coordinator of the IRA that our construction on the 444.625 is complete and is now completely coordinated. Steve reported that he has installed a surge suppressor on the two-meter repeater. We plan to rework the controller to make CW id the only id in the repeater.

Program Committee—Roy reported that the Sept program would be Carl’s DX trip. We plan to use Troy’s room at GRS to have projector.

Publicity Committee—Justin in Las Vegas but Sam showed the invoice for our web site and the 100 % discount. A large round of applause filled the room. Thanks Justin.
ARES Liaison—Roy reported that they annual ARRL SET is to be in October and he will plan a radio exercise for us.

Red Cross Liaison—Tim had nothing to report this month.

ESDA Liaison—A tabletop exercise is planned for Aug 28th.

VE Liaison—Carl reports that a license class for Tech and maybe General in Kankakee.

OLD Business

We discussed selling the Motrac repeater but having trouble with the delivery to the buyer in Colarado.

We discussed the possibility of a remote rx at our east site for the two meter repeater. We have much of the hardware but not all that would be needed.

NEW Business

Troy reported that the radios for the GRS radio project were to be delivered soon.

KARS has been discussing some remote RX sites for the 94 repeater to improve the Skywarn nets.

Mike made a motion, Benny seconded that we turn off the PL during Skywarn nets. Motion carried.

We talked about a workday at the WGFA site to improve the building. Due to heat we agreed to wait for cooler weather.

Snacks for this month were by Steve. Sept snacks are to be brought by Carl and Chris.

Net control for 8/18 Roy, 8/25 Benny, 9/1 Brian, 9/8 Troy

Members present— Troy, Roy, Steve, Tim, Carl, Chris, Mike, Benny and Sam.

Sam W9QKF secretary

President Carl opened the meeting at 7:10 pm at the Red Cross office in Watseka. The May minutes were read, corrected and approved. The treasure’s report was read and approved.

Committee Reports

Technical Committee—Benny reported both repeaters are working. Benny and Sam did remove the Astron power supply from the old repeater site at the elevator. Steve and Sam have sent in the coordination papers.

Program Committee—Phil and Roy reported that the July program would be second half of the DX flim.

Publicity Committee—Sam and Troy are to be on Justin’s radio program close to field day. Justin will try to get some PSA’s on close to field day. Justin is writing a story for publication and radio about flooding. Troy is also working on a story.

ARES Liaison—Roy invited any member of ARES to check in to the ARES net on Sunday. 1st and 3rd Sunday of month at 4:30pm on 3905. Roy asked if Skywarn notes could be sent to State ARES.

Red Cross Liaison—Sam handed out new Red Cross ID cards to Red Cross disaster workers. Tim needs to get one also.

ESDA Liaison—Sam reports that ESDA has applied for a communications grant for interoperability communications for the local ESDA EOC including ham radio.
VE Liaison—Carl reports that a testing session will be held at the Kankakee Hamfest in July..

Incorporation and Non Profit Seeking Group—Troy and Mike have prepared the paperwork but need a very small modification to the constitution. This change was passed out to all members present at May meeting. It involved article XII on dissolution. This motion was approved in June meeting.

OLD BUSINESS

APRS radio has been replaced by a 7950 Kenwood from Sam. Sam gave to Mike. Mike has it wired up and ready to place at east site. Jeremy set up the TNC for 2-2 now.

Field Day Fever has hit ICARC and many plans were made for the gear for Field Day June 28. Generator and radio and VHF antenna (Phil); VHF radio (Carl); HF and wire antenna (Benny); Tent, tables, chairs (Troy); Grill (Tim)

VHF-UHF FM station (Sam). Meeting place for field day to be the Glenn Raymond School. Sam is to invite Mayor, ESDA Coordinator and other public service guests.
Mike made a motion for the club to buy food for the Field Day members.
Benny seconded and Justin is to get the food and then turn in bill to Sam for payment from club funds. Motion carried.

NEW Business

Benny proposed and Roy seconded a motion to change a portion of the Constitution as follows.

Article XII—Dissolution, paragraph 2, would be changed to read:

“In the event any reason arises to dissolve the organization of ICARC, all assets of the organization shall be distributed to the ARRL Foundation, AMSAT, or some other organization which is organized for the purpose of furthering Amateur Radio, and is exempt from taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended from time to time.”

This motion was approved by unanimous vote.

Carl and Chris bought and donated to the club library three CD’s from the Dayton hamfest. They are on 5 Dxpeditions, Emergency Communications, and Introduction to Morse Code.

Snacks for this month were by Benny. July meeting snacks are to be brought by Steve.

We were informed and entertained by a logging program brought in by Phil. It is the program we will use at field day.

Net control for 6/16 Roy, 6/23 Benny, 6/30 Sam, 7/7 Brian

Members present— Keith, Phil, Justin, Tim, Carl, Chris, Mike, Benny and Sam.

Sam W9QKF secretary

Sam Ripple W9QKF KAE7607

President Carl opened the meeting at 7:20 pm at the Red Cross office in Watseka.
The June minutes were read and approved. The treasure’s report was read and approved.

Committee Reports

Incorporation and Non-Profit Committee—Papers ready to mail, along with a
check to Sec of State for $50

Technical Committee—Benny reported both repeaters are working.

Steve and Sam have sent in the coordination papers and the coordination has been
approved and we have 180 days to tell them when the construction is done.
Program Committee—Phil and Roy reported that the August program would be Carl’s DX trip.

Might try to get room at hospital to have projector.

Publicity Committee—We all thought Justin did a great job on field day project.
Story in Times and lots of play on WGFA radio.

ARES Liaison—Roy reported the state ARES were looking for people to fill
Sand bags.

Red Cross Liaison—Sam handed out new Red Cross ID cards to Red Cross disaster workers.

ESDA Liaison—Sam reports that ESDA has applied for a communications grant for interoperability communications for the local ESDA EOC including ham radio.

VE Liaison—Carl reports that a testing session will be held at the Kankakee Hamfest in July..

OLD BUSINESS

APRS radio has been replaced by a 7950 Kenwood from Sam. Sam gave to Mike.
Mike has it wired up and ready to place at east site. Jeremy set up the TNC for 2-2 now.

NEW Business

We talked about a workday at the WGFA site to improve the building. Due to heat we agreed to wait for cooler weather.

The Kankakee Hamfest is on the July 20 and we have a chance to have an indoor table or outdoor spot.

Snacks for this month were by Roy, Troy and Sam. August meeting snacks are to be brought by Steve.

Net control for 7/14 Sam 7/21 Roy 7/28 Benny 8/4 Brian 8/11 Steve

Members present— Ron, Troy, Roy, Phil, Justin, Tim, Carl, Chris, Mike, Benny and Sam.

Sam W9QKF secretary

Sam Ripple W9QKF KAE7607

Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club - Minutes of the April 10, 2008 Meeting

Pres. Carl opened the meeting at 7:20 pm at the Red Cross office in Watseka. The March minutes were read and approved. The treasure’s report was read and approved.

Committee Reports

• Technical Committee—Benny and Steve reported both repeaters are working.
• Program Committee—Phil suggested dx film and more Field day planning.
• Publicity Committee—Sam and Troy are to be on Justin’s radio program.
• ARES Liaison—No report.
• Red Cross Liaison—No Report
• ESDA Liaison—No report.
• VE Liaison—Carl reported that the one person asked about a possible test site and he was referred to a club within 25 miles of his zip code.
• Incorporation and Non Profit Seeking Group—Troy and Mike have prepared the paperwork but need a very small modification to the constitution. This change was passed out to all members present. It involved article XII on dissolution. This motion will be voted on next month.
• No reports from the ARES, ESDA, Red Cross

OLD BUSINESS

APRS radio has problems and was replaced by a 7950 Kenwood from Sam.

May 3 is the date for the WGFA shed project. Sam will try to get about 20 cement blocks to place under the 440 repeater.  Carl has a sheet of plywood to place on top. Steve suggested that a small overhang to place tools on would be good to have. A workday is to be on May 3 to check out and clean out the WGFA shed. 

Benny is to pick up the 35 amp power supply at the old elevator site.

Field Day Fever has hit ICARC and many plans were made for the gear for Field Day June 28. Generator and radio and VHF antenna (Phil); VHF radio (Carl); HF and wire antenna (Benny); Tent, tables, chairs (Troy); Grill (Tim)
VHF-UHF FM station (Sam) more discussion in the May meeting. Meeting place for field day to be the Glenn Raymond School. Troy and Sam to visit with Justin on WGFA radio program close to field day.

Net Control 4/14 Brian 4/21 Benny 4/28 Tim 5/5 Brian

Snack for this month was Phil and Cindy. May meeting snacks are to be brought by Justin.

Members present–Carl, Chris, Keith, Phil, Justin, Tim, Ron, Steve, Troy, Mike, Benny and Sam.

Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club

Minutes of the March 13, 2008 Meeting

Pres. Carl opened the meeting at 7:15 pm at the Red Cross office in Watseka. The Feb. minutes were read and approved. The treasure’s report was read and approved.

Committee Reports

Technical Committee—Several members reported that the wind noise that we had seemed to be better. Sam suggested that the tech committee could look at repeater and tune up if necessary.

Program Committee—Roy and Phil suggested a field day video for the next meeting.

Publicity Committee—Sam thanked Justin for the great publicity during the recent flood.

ARES Liaison—The drill on March 29 has been postponed.

Red Cross Liaison—Sam has ordered a flood video to donate to the chapter.

ESDA Liaison—No report.

VE Liaison—Carl reported that the test held in Kankakee was very successful with several new techs and two new generals. Our own Troy is now a new general and working on extra.

Incorporation and Non Profit Seeking Group—Troy and Mike are working with Ted Spenn for help in the procedure to get the incorporation and non-profit. Troy has done a lot of work on the computer to get forms ready.

OLD BUSINESS

Sam brought in the APRS radio and Mike worked on it to try to prepare it for install at Sam’s house to double check it.

Sam gave a rough draft of the inventory of our equipment to the President.

Carl is planning to go to the annual meeting of the repeater council meeting in Bloomington.

We discussed a plan to elevate the 440 repeater to prevent water damage if the flood returns. We discussed using cement blocks to place under repeater and replace the insulation in the building.

We discussed the Field Day at one of the parks in Watseka or at GRS for this June.

NEW BUSINESS

Carl mentioned the idea of Echo link or IRLP for one of the repeaters. Sam has a complete IRLP set up but not installed on any computers. Mike and Steve might be able to help get it up and running.

Phil presented a nice video on PSK 31.

Net Control—March 17 Roy, Mar 24 Tim, Mar 31 Steve, April 7 Brian

Sam had wonderful snacks and Phil and Cindy are on for April.

Members present–Carl, Chris, Keith, Phil, Justin, Tim, Roy, Steve, Troy, Mike, and Sam.

Iroquois County Amateur Radio Club

Minutes of the February 14, 2008 Meeting

Pres. Carl opened the meeting at 7:15 pm at Glen Raymond School in Watseka. The Jan. minutes were read and approved. The treasure’s report was read and approved.

Old Business

Proposed change to the by –laws to the constitution was discussed and voted on by the members. Benny made motion to adopt the change. Steve seconded and the vote was unanimous to make the change.

New Business

Technical Committee

The repeater has a different sound after the ice storm. We also have a noise in high wind that must be in the antenna or tower. Benny is to check with Barbeck for cost of new DB-224 in the correct ham range. Benny is to look at crystals for Micor. We need to look at UPS to see what is wrong.

Program Committee—No Report

Publicity Committee—No Report

ARES Liaison—Roy thanked all the members that were able to help in any way the effort to fight the flood in Iroquois county. Roy will send in a final report and we will get a nice certificate from section

Red Cross Liaison—Our $100 donation was made to the Chapter for the use of the building for our meetings. Our 47.42 radios need some work and the antennas need to be checked. Barbeck offered loaner radios.

ESDA Liaison—Sam W9QKF has worked in the EOC for about 28 days. Very little radio traffic—cell phone problems.

VE Liaison—Carl K9CS reported that a test is to be held on Feb 21 at EOC in Kankakee.

Incorporation and Non Profit Seeking Group—Troy is to work with Ted Spenn for help in the procedure to get the incorporation and non-profit.

Sam is to talk to Kyle about increase in insurance protection.

Sam mentioned a possible offer of a 7000 watt generator. Science club is going to offer 6 weeks of ham radio study for science club at GRS.

Net Control Feb 18 Steve, Feb 26 Roy, March 3 Brian, Mar 10 Troy.

All present enjoyed the wonderful brownies lovingly hand made by Dianne and served with pop and ice by Benny.

Snacks for March by Sam.

Members present–Carl, Chris, Benny, Tim, Roy, Steve, Troy, and Sam.

Pres. Carl opened the meeting at 7:15 pm at Red Cross office in Watseka.  The Nov minutes were read and approved.  The treasure’s report was read and approved.

Old Business

The 2 meter repeater is having some noise that appears with a strong wind.  Carl and others thought that we might be looking at a new antenna in the future.

Our liability insurance policy is coming up for renewal in Dec and it appears that we could get more coverage with the same premium.  Sam will talk to Kyle about it.

Mike made a motion to vote on the proposed constitution and by-laws.  Benny made a second.  The motion to approve the new constitution and by-laws was approved by a unanimous vote.  Carl will investigate some changes for a later meeting.

New Business

The January meeting will include a club paid pizza party.  We will order carry out from local pizza joint.

The repeater has a different sound after the ice storm.  Benny and Sam will try to find the reason.

We discussed the need for a license test session and will try to have one on Jan 23 at the Red Cross office in Watseka.  We have 3 potential persons to test.

Dues are due for 2008 and many members have paid

Net Control  for Dec 17 Tim, Dec 24 no Net, Dec 31 no net, Jan 7 Brian

Snacks for tonight’s meeting were provided by Phil.

Program was a film on a Dxpedition to VP8SSI to South Sandwich Island.

Carl made a very interesting presentation on his recent dxpedition to Montserrat.

Members present Carl, Chris, Mike, Benny, Phil, Keith, Tim, Janet ,Troy, and Sam. 

Sam Ripple W9QKF  Sec