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 Minutes of the November 8, 2007 Meeting

Pres. Carl opened the meeting at 7:12 pm at Red Cross office in Watseka. The Oct 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.

New Business

The officers have prepared a sample constitution and it was passed out to each member at the meeting. Want every member to look over and vote on new constitution and bylaws at the Dec meeting.

We discussed program ideas for the coming year and these are some possibilities. Logging software and Log book of the world presentations. Digital modes and computer software. DX trips to Aruba and Montserrat. Talks by club members that have interesting jobs. Work projects that can be done include—weather proofing the radio shack at WGFA, removing the antenna at the elevator, moving the coax at the Red Cross office.

Steve made motion to elect the same slate of officers that are now in office. Benny second. Motion carried. Carl Pres., Mike VP and Sam Sec-Treas. are ICARC officers for the year 2008.

Three members were nominated for and elected as board members. Phil, Roy and Tim will serve on the board of directors for 2008.

Our 2008 group photo was taken by Janet.

Net Control Nov 12 Roy, Nov 19 Tim, Nov 26 Steve, Dec 3 Brian, Dec 10 Mike or Benny as sub

Snacks for Dec meeting by Phil and Cindy

Program was a film from Phil on a Dxpedition to Clipperton Island

Members present Carl, Chris, Steve , Roy, Benny, Phil, Keith, Tim, Janet and Sam.

Sam Ripple W9QKF Sec

Pres. Carl opened the meeting at 2:26 at Justins house in Sheldon. The Sept minutes were read and approved with one addition. Troys name is to be listed with the members helping getting the tax exempt status for the club. The treasure’s report was read and approved. All members introduced themselves with name and call.

Old Business

The APRS radio had bad finals and was replaced with a different one of the same model.

The webmaster said there was trouble with the hosting company and therefore the web site is down. New web site should be up soon.

New Business

The officers have prepared a sample constitution to be passed out or mailed to each member at the next meeting. Want every member to look over and vote on new constitution and bylaws at the Dec meeting.

Justin gave a guided tour of the new studio and how to remote control WGFA for emergency.

Everyone enjoyed a great picnic with plenty of food and drink. Mike was the master chef and prepared a great burger and hot dog for all of us.

Patty Goff, Co-Publisher of the Lone Tree Leader, was at the meeting to report on ham radio and our club.

Net Control Oct 15 Benny, Oct 22 Sam, Oct 29 Mike, Nov 5 Brian

Snacks for Nov meeting by Chris and Carl

Members present Carl, Chris, Ron , Mike, Benny, Justin, Keith, Troy, and Sam.

Sam Ripple W9QKF Sec

Pres. Carl opened the meeting at 7:12 at Red Cross in Watseka. The Aug minutes were read and approved. The treasure’s report was read and approved. All members introduced themselves with name and call.

Old Business

Roy reported on the SET for Saturday October 6th at 9:00 am. Mike is to check with IMH to see if we can set up in ER. Sam is open Red Cross office. CD-1 will be contacted. We want to use 147.03, 444.625, and maybe some simplex. Some ARES members are to be mobile units. We would like to have as many as possible check in

New Business

Troy KC9MCA joined as new member and wants to have a school project about ham radio for science club at GRS in March of 08. Keith is now KC9LUV.

Tim will get the big ladder to try and repair the antenna feed lines at the Red Cross office.

There is a DX convention in Elk Grove Village on the 15 of Sept. Carl, Chris, Phil and Jerry are planning to go.

There was a discussion of the constitution and the need to update the by-laws and constitution. Officers should provide some info for the approval of the membership.

Benny made motion to investigate non profit status. Steve second. Motion carried. Mike and Kyle have some experience with non profits.

A long discussion of the possibility of a new web site was agreed to by our web master Justin. Club members should have ideas for the new site. No one person has the time to devote to full time web work so we all need to help provide info for the site.

We discussed ideas for programs. Justin would like hands on small projects like soldering, antennas, modes of communication. Others discussed RTTY, APRS, Winlink, message handing.

Group decided that the Oct meeting should be a picnic at Justin’s QTH at 260 S First St in Sheldon, IL. Justin to provide meat and soda, each person bring a dish to pass and another liquid of your choice. Meeting is 1:00pm on Sat October 13. Eat, drink and talk about radio and antennas.

Motion by Jeremy to hold election in November and collect dues for 2008 in November also. Tim second. Motion carried.

Net Control Sept 17 Sam Sept 24 Steve Oct 1 Brian Oct 8 Tim

For show and tell Chris brought in her collection of QSL cards from all over the world.

Snacks provided by Benny.

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

Pres Carl opened the meeting at 7:07 at Red Cross in Watseka. The July minutes were read and approved. The treasure’s report was read and approved.

Old Business

New duplexer is working very well. We will touch up the squelch just a bit and turn on the PL. 440 repeater is not working as well as it did—we think it is the heat. Hope we can turn on the air at the shack.

We held a testing session and one new extra class ham passed his test.
We are holding another session on Aug 20.

New Business

Roy has been named the EC for Iroquois county. He suggested a SET exercise to be held soon. IMH radio is installed and Mike programmed it up with most of the local frequencies.

Program was the second half of our interesting film on antennas. . Our old duplexers are to be sold at Kankakee hamfest or we will try to sell on Eham
ARRL or QTH.com.

Hamfest at Peotone, Layfayett and Danville in last of Aug.

Net Control for Aug 13 Tim, Aug 20 Sam, Aug 27 Steve, Sept 3 Brian, September 10 Sam

Snacks provided by Tim and Janet. Snacks for Sept meeting by Benny

Members present Carl, Chris, Steve, Roy, Mike, Benny, Phil, Tim, Janet, and Sam.

Pres Carl opened the meeting at 7:00 at Red Cross in Watseka. The June minutes were read and approved. The treasure’s report was read and approved.

Old Business

We had a test session for new hams in which 2 hams passed to be new generals. Another person almost passed the tech exam.

Roy (new acting EC for Iroquois county ARES) and Sam went to a LEPC meeting at IMH to represent ham radio. More meetings are to get ready for a drill at IMH in April 2008. IMH is slated to get a Kenwood dual band radio and a diamond antenna soon.

WGFA tower work at fairgrounds is almost done. Tim, Janet, Carl, Justin and Sam painted and put up tower and antenna. Tim and Janet donated much of the money back to the club for the new duplexer.

Carl had a list of films from the Northern Cal DX club to pick for a future club program.

The KARS hamfest is Sunday July 15. Carl sold some tickets.

New Business

Carl handed out a copy of Repeater Operators Guide. Members are to look over and discuss any possible changes or improvements.

Red Cross dinner is on July 26. All volunteers are welcome.

Program was an interesting film on antennas. Show and tell was the new duplexers. We are to install them on Sat morning. Our old duplexers are to be sold at Kankakee hamfest.

Net Control for July 16 Sam, July 23 Steve, July 30 Carl, August 8 Brian

Keith won the door prize of two tickets to the Bowlingbrooke hamfest.

Snacks provided by Phil. Snacks for August meeting by Tim and Janet.

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

Clay N9IO spoke to the group about Fox Hunting as our special program. Clay demonstrated a couple of homemade quads and some homemade attenuators and a handheld device that included a small receiver. Clay said that these antennas were receive only so do not worry about correct spacing or high VSWR. Keep your antenna moving and swinging to find the best of the sharpest peaks. Use attenuators to cut down on signal after you get close to the tx. Clay suggested joint Fox hunts by the KKK and Iroquois clubs later in the summer or fall.

Old Business

New TX-RX duplexers were talked about for the 2-meter repeater. Some people going to Dayton might get to talk to the engineers at Tx-Rx.

We hope to have a test secession for new hams soon—we now have 3 VEs in our group.

Net Control for last three week of May is Sam, Brian June 4, Steve June 11,
Sam June 18, Carl June 24.

Snacks provided by Carl and Chris. Snacks for June meeting by Sam.

Members present Roy, Steve, Mike, Justin, Phil, and Sam. Guest were Clay and Keith

President Carl K9CS called the meeting to order at 7:29 pm at the Red Cross in Watseka.

Old Business

Minutes of the March meeting were read and approved. The treasurer’s report was read and approved.

Sam W9QKF reported that all three of our repeaters are working well. The 2-meter repeater duplexer could use a tune up when a spectrum analyzer can be borrowed. The blank channel elements for the Micor came in. Sam is to order them filled with the proper crystals at ICM. We are going to turn down the CW-ID and reset levels on 147.03.

A discussion of selling our old duplexers and buying a set of 95 to 100 db TX-RX ones. We will look at hamfests for a set.

Tim W9TRF and Janet KC9LBZ showed how to look up the results of our Red Cross background checks.

Mike reported that the link from 2 meters to 440 is working from his house. Only use when needed. Get filled out ARES papers to Roy KA9MZJ.

New Business

Mike KC9HHT reported that 147.555 stations are running APRS and packet up North.

The tower at the Fairgrounds was Oked by Marvin Perzee but we need to cite the location with Justin KC9GNH, Marvin, Sam and Carl. Tim is to erect the tower.
Sam is to loan a dual band radio and power supply for fair week. Sam to donate dual band antenna, Justin the tower and feedline, Tim the labor. Total budget is for $300. from WGFA. Some might go to radio club. Discussed a ham display for the fair.

May program is on Fox Hunting by Clay N9IO at May meeting.

We need at least one more person to be a VE in order to have tests for ham radio.
Chris W9LIZ has snacks for May. Sam had snacks (rum cake) for April. Program for April was film of ARRL headquarters. Mike discussed D-Star

Net control for Monday Net 4/16 Carl, 4/23 Sam 4/30 Tim 5/7 Brian

Carl. Chris, Steve, Tim, Janet, Sam, Mike and Justin and guest Keith Ralph were in attendance. Sam Ripple Sec

President Carl called the meeting to order at 7:15 at the Red Cross office in Watseka.

Old Business

Minutes of the Feb meeting were read and there was one correction. The backbone packet net was to be on 147.555.
The treasures report was that we have $850 dollars at this time. Membership cards were handed out to members present.

Sam reported that the new GE PA that we bought was installed by Benny and is working very well. We still want to find a TX-RX duplexer at a low price. Mike had a price of $1,000–we need to check Ebay and ham fests for a used set with 90 db of isolation. A discussion of selling our present duplexers and using money for the TX-RX ones.
Tim reported that Bill Young might be able to tune with spectrum analyzer. Roy collected the ARES forms to join ARES. We are still looking for more members in the group–please ask Roy for sign up sheets at next meeting.

New Business

Mike reported that the IP 232 crosspatch is working and sounds good.
Tim has upgraded to Extra and his wife Janet is a new tech.
Mike handed out a copy of our rev 2 Skywarn Net standard operating procedure
He went over each section and reviewed the net frequency and how we are to relay info to weather service. 147.03 repeater is main, if down then go to 147.03 simplex if that does not work go to 444.625 repeater.

Weather spotter school on March 27 Tues at 6:30 at fairgounds in Crescent City.
Supper at Fiesta at 5:30.
AES hamfest is March 30 and 31 in Milwaukee. Some of the ICARC are planning on going. President of the ARRL (Joel Harrison) is going to be there.

Net control March 12 Roy, 19th Sam, 26th Benny, April 2 Brian, April 9th Tim.

Tim had wonderful snacks–Sam to have snack for April. We welcomed another new member Phil N9LAH.

Members present Carl, Chris, Steve, Benny, Tim, Phil, Roy, Sam, Mike and guest Keith Ralph

President Carl called the meeting to order at 7:15 at the Red Cross office in Watseka.

He then introduced our guest speaker AB9EE Bob Cockream. Bob talked about the mission of ARES and working down in Mississippi after the hurricans. Bob is the NE district EC and lives in Morris IL. If we are interested in ARES–Roy passed out sheets to fill out and return to him to register with the ARES organization. Hopefully we will have several people from our group to sign up with Roy KA9MZJ. Roy would like to be the EC for Iroquois county.

Old Business

Steve made a motion to investigate a new TX -RX duplexer. Motion carried and Mike is to check on some prices.

Sam reported that the used PA for Mastr II has arrived. Carl reported that the back-up repeater is not working well. Micor also has some problems and needs new channel elements.

Sam reported that the 440 repeater is working very well at our WGFA site. The APRS will be placed at the east site by Benny, Carl, and Sam.

New Business

Roy asked hams that were interested to fill out 2 pages of info for ARES and return to him at new meeting.

ARES attempting to have packet backbone from Chicago to EOC in Springfield on 147.55.

Net Control Feb 12 Roy, Feb 19 Sam Feb 26 Steve Mar 5 Brian.

Carl CD-1 reported Weather Spotter Training is March 27 6:30 pm at Fair Grounds in Crescent City. We can meet at Fiesta at 5:30 for supper with CD-1 and weather person.

Benny provided us with home made cookies and diet and regular pop–with ice.

Tim has refreshments for March.

Members present Carl, Mike, Sam, Benny, Steve, Tim, Roy and guest Phil N9LAH

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

Old Business

The minutes for Dec. 2006 meeting were read and approved. The treasures report was read and approved.

Carl reported that the backup repeater is working well. Ron KC6FJO loaned a 70 watt amp but we had desense and turned the amp off.

The 440 repeater is working well at the Cingular site. Benny and Sam talked to Nita to try to get some donated Mastr II gear and a used PA (for free). She will ask her board and have their answer after their Jan 16th meeting.

Tim, Janet, Daniel, and Carl did a great job cleaning up the basement of RC office. There are still some moldy wallboard to get rid of. Joan said we could give away the rusty metal in the basement to Jeremy if he would like to haul it away.

New Business

Mike reported that the APRS station is being repeated by a station in Indiana, but still no messages are being repeated. If Jeremy can fix the TNC we can place it at the Cingular site.

Phil N9LAH has donated a Motrac repeater to club. We are not sure that we want to use this 1960s tube technology. The KARS club also donated their old MICOR (1980s technology) repeater. Carl, Benny and Sam have been working on it. We need controller and pl encoder installed–then new crystals for our frequencies. This could make a great backup for the 03 machine.

The contract for the WGFA site has been signed by both our club and also WGFA. We can move the repeater after we test the antennas.

Sam and Mike both got bids on a new Kenwood VHF repeater. Mike found the lowest bid from his friends at A-Beep in Joliet. Sam found $1100 + shipping. Mike found $935 and no shipping as we could pick it up in Joliet.

A discussion on the frequencies to go to in case of the 03 repeater goes down. We decided that the second freq should be 147.03 simplex, the next freq. would be the UHF repeater on 444.625. This is for net or emergency traffic for weather net.

Carl G (CD-1) has planned a weather spotter school for March 27, 6:30pm at the Fair Grounds. I hope all of you will attend. We have invited the WX guy and CD-1 for supper at Festia that evening.

Two of our members have passed the General written exam and are waiting on rules to change so that they will become generals. Tim KC9FON and Jermey KB9YZI.

Roy has taken several Emcomm classes and would like to sign up some RACES members from Iroquois county. He will have some application papers to sign at the Feb meeting and would like as many hams as possible to sign up.

Joan has some new Red Cross Training programs on the web.
Go to www.dhs-ngo-pilot.org click on Chicago, click on self Register to get student id and password. Find and order the courses through the Search Catalog interface.

If you have time and want too FEMA has many classes on the web.

Mike then presented a very good presentation on VOIP and the ability to connect any number of dissimilar radio systems together to allow intercommunication among different groups. Example connect UHF and VHF repeaters together. All seemed to enjoy the presentation. Mike worked for hours to set up this demo.

Snacks are to be provided by Benny in Feb and Tim in March.

Net controls for the month are:

Sam Jan 15. Roy Jan 22 Carl 29 and Brian Feb 5.

Snacks of home made? cookies and pop and ice were provided by Steve. Benny is to have snacks for the Feb meeting.

Sam W9QKF

Members present were Carl, Chris, Sam, Steve, Tim, Benny, Mike, Roy and guest Joe K9LPI