FCARC Meeting Minutes for October 9, 2007
Members & Family Present: 19 Guests Present: Total Present: 19
Perry Carleton, AE5EE
George Carroll, W5GHC
Ken Chafin, N5RKC
Kayla Dowdy, NE5JYX
Lynette Dowdy, KD5QMD
Jim Grinder, N5TSG and wife, Angela Grinder
Gary Hawkins, KD5ZQF
Gerald Hogue, AE5GH
Wayne Johnston, KD4TA - Vice President
Brian Kessler, N1WNC
Marlene Kessler, KE5HQU
Glenn King, N5GK - Custodian
Warren Lindgren, KE5TT
Craig Mangrum, N5CTM - Secretary/Treasurer
John Nordlund, AD5FU
Jim Norwine, W5CS
Frankie Parks, K5FRP - President
Joe Seiter, KI5TZ
New Members
Guests:
Call to Order
President, Frankie Parks, K5FRP, called the meeting to order at 18:30.
Treasury report is $436.00 (Remember, we bought a repeater.)
Old Business
Public Service Events Follow Ups
1. Faulkner County Fair Parade - Craig Mangrum & Glenn King
The event went well. There were no incidents. About a dozen members helped out with this event.
2. Big Damn Bridge Race - Frankie Parks
This event seemed to go pretty well. There were some incidents during the race. Frankie said all feed back was positive. He suggested that a few signs be put up to help warn traffic that a race was taking place so that they would slow down and be cautious.
3. Boy Scouts - Signaling and Morse Code - Wayne Johnston
Wayne said the boy scouts event went well. He and Tom Desaulniers, K4VIZ, showed the boys how to send messages through signaling with flags and morse code.
4. Arkansas Traveler 100 Race - Perry Carleton
Perry and a few others from the club helped out with the race this year. Things went well with few incidents.
Thanks to everyone that helped out with all of these events.
New Business
Simulated Emergency Test (SET)
There will not be a statewide SET this year. Frankie asked the members if the club wanted to do their own SET. All the members were in favor of doing so. Glenn King said he would check with the hospital. He said the hospital does a SET every year and thought they might be planning one in the near future. If so, the club may participate and work with them in their SET. A committee was formed. Members on the committee include Glenn King, Wayne Johnston, Perry Carleton, and Craig Mangrum.
Repeaters
Glenn King stated that we still need to do some more work at the repeater sites. The tower at the AETN building needs to have some work done to it. He felt this work could be completed in 2-3 Saturdays.
Sometime around Thanksgiving, Glenn plans to take the 145.210 down for repairs. During that time, he plans to move the 146.970 repeater to the 145.210 site.
Glenn also mentioned that the repeater committee will need to decide what the club wants to do with the 147.030 repeater that the club now owns. One option is to move it to another site, possible Rosebud, Enola, or another site, and link it to one of the other club repeaters using 70cm.
Craig had a receipt from either Bob Hambuchen or Lynn McCaig for some parts bought at Lowes during the last repeater work day. The cost was $29.03. The club voted to reimburse the person that paid for the parts.
Program - Hints and kinks for the ham station on the go
A couple of members had some equipment setups to show off at this month's meeting.
Craig Mangrum had a battery box station that he used at this years fair parade. The box contained a 26 amp hour sealed lead battery with a power cable complete with Anderson power pole connectors. There is room inside the box to store a 2-meter radio and small speaker. The radio's mounting bracket was affixed to the top of the box so that the radio could be mounted securely. Craig also showed his emergency radio backpack grab bag that contained many items. Some of the items included a notebook with forms, weather and Skywarn related material for Arkansas and Middle Tennessee. Other times included tools, two HT radios, roll up antenna, extra batteries and The ARRL Emergency Communications Handbook.
Brain Kessler had two items that he showed. He had a HT go bag containing radios, headset, mic, antennas, books, etc. The toiletries bag he used is available from www.PiperGear.com for $19.95 but may cost less at other retail outlets. Brian also had a large water-proof storage box on wheels that he uses for an emergency HF station. He took a large piece of wood, cut to fit the box that has Kenwood TS-2000 and Astron power supply bolted to the wood.
Wayne gave everyone a handout on Anderson Power Poles. The handout showed several ideas for using the power poles. Glenn King has power poles for sale if any members want them to convert their equipment. In the past, Glenn has said he'd like for all members to convert to the power poles so that if an emergency ever happened, everyone's equipment would be compatible with everyone else's equipment and power sources.
George Carroll, gave an introduction to WINLINK 2000 - VHF style. He used his laptop, a two meter ADI HT, and a twin lead j-pole antenna. George sent some links to some of the sites members can get information and software for running Winlink.
http://www.patmedia.net/ralphmilnes/soundcardpacket/index.html
http://www.soundcardpacket.info/
AGW Packet Engine can be found here:
http://www.elcom.gr/sv2agw/agwpe.htm
PacLink and PacLink Post office can be found with Info about them here:
http://www.winlink.org/Client.htm
Upcoming Events
NEARC Swapmeet
Location: Eastside Baptist Academy Church
2821 Forest Home Rd.
Jonesboro, AR.
On Oct.27 at 8 A.M. the NEARC will have a swapmeet at Eastside Baptist Academy Church 2821 Forest Home Rd. in Jonesboro, AR. Talk-in will be on 443.150 or 147.240
Contact: Travis Williams, N5JFD, President-NEARC
Any questions call 870-931-8743 or e-mail n5jfd@nea-rc.org.
Open Floor
Dora Anna Fill's son, Paul, fell at work and broke his hip. Craig Mangrum will have a get well card at Friday's lunch for everyone to sign.
George Carroll made a motion to adjourn and it was seconded by Jim Grinder. The meeting adjourned at 19:41.
2-Meter Net Reminder
The FCARC net meets each Thursday night at 7:30pm on 145.210- MHz PL 114.8Hz. Net Control for September is Debbie McEntire, KC5BVO. Wayne Johnston, KD4TA will be Net Control for November. If you are willing to volunteer, please email Frankie at k5frp@arrl.net
Don't forget about lunches at Smitty's BBQ on Fridays at around 11:00 am till we leave.
For more information about the Faulkner County Amateur Radio Club, including news and upcoming events, go to http://www.w5auu.org/
Minutes taken and typed by Craig Mangrum, N5CTM, Secretary/Treasurer