FCARC Meeting Minutes January 8th, 2008
Called To Order By: Frankie Parks
At: 18:31
Treasury Report: $840.77
Members & Family Present: Members -- 23 Guests -- 2 Total -- 25
Don Bollman, KB8LNV
Kelly Boswell, KA5MGL
Perry Carleton, AE5EE
George Carroll, N5GC -- New Callsign
Ken Chafin, N5RKC
David Doty, N5XF
Nate Duncan, W5CND
Bill Fill, KD5IC
Dora Anna Fill, NI5D
Jim Grinder, N5TSG
Bob Hambuchen, N5OMW
Judy Hambuchen, N5QKH
Gary Hawkins, KD5ZQF
Glenn King, N5GK -- Custodian
Warren Lindgren, KE5TT
Craig Mangrum, N5CTM -- Secretary/Treasurer & wife, Janine
Dan Merry, KC5WMN
Frankie Parks, K5FRP -- President
David Turner, KD5JKX
John Webb, WE5BB
Roger Williamson, N5QNA
Kathy Williamson, KB5RMY
Guests:
Dan Ward, W5MAN
Eric Martin
Old Business:
Boy Scout Certificate
The Boy Scouts sent a packet to George Carroll. Inside the packet was a certificate and
badges for "Signalin" an"Search and Res". These items were in appreciation of our 's
help with the 2007 Boy Scout's Camporee.
Super Session
A Super Session has been schedule for January 12th and 19th. This is a technician class
and testing session that will be taking place in several locations across the state of Arkansas.
The FCARC will be holding its session at the Conway Regional Medical Center in the
cafetorium. The class will be from 8am - 5pm on the 12th and from 8am - 3pm on the 19th, with
testing following the end of the second class. The east entrance of the hospital will be the easiest
way to reach the cafetorium.
The class is open to the public. Also, anyone who can help with the class is encouraged
to be present as well.
New Business:
Toad Suck Daze Special Event Station
The annual Toad Suck Daze special event is coming up in May. The specific date will be
sent out as soon as it is available. The club will be work the event from 8am - 12noon. The
event will take place on 14.260 kHz. A volunteer sheet will also be made available shortly.
Club Membership & ARES Commitment Forms
Starting with this month's, December's, meeting, Craig Mangrum will start taking dues
for the year 2008. Dues need to be paid no later than the February 12th meeting if you want to
stay on the club roster and continue to receive emails. Information on how you can send in your
club dues are on the club's website at www.w5auu.org.
Craig also passed out ARES Commitment forms. ARES is a voluntary emergency
communications group. Those willing to serve in this group need to be a licensed amateur and
have taken the Incident Command System courses 100 and 700. Each member can take these
courses in a matter of a few hours online. The courses can be found on the club's website or at
http://training.fema.gov/IS/NIMS.asp. Each member only needs to take courses IS-100
Introduction to Incident Command System and IS-700 National Incident Management System
(NIMS), An Introduction. All other courses are optional at this time.
Member's Credentials
The officers spoke last year about forming a database of each members abilities and the
equipment that would be available for use during a possible emergency. Craig said he would be
emailing out a form requesting this information shortly.
Craig spoke about the information the club is going to be trying to collect. Training will
be one large priority. This will include things such as Skywarn spotter certification, FEMA's
Incident Command System 100 & 700 that is required to be an ARES member, and ARRL's
Emergency Communications Courses.
Equipment available for use will be what each member has for use or is willing to let the
club use during an emergency. Information requested for this will include things like radios,
antennas, antenna deployment kits or stands, amps, and test equipment such as SWR meters and
analyzers.
Another category is other credentials. This could be a wide range of things. For example,
someone may work in the emergency service field for ADEM, EMT, or maybe a net control
operator for the Skywarn weather nets. It could also include special training from outside the
amateur field. This could be CPR or search and rescue training. Anything a member feels
would benefit the club during an emergency.
Open Floor Discussion
Frankie Parks informed the club he had a camera present to take
pictures for the club's website.
Glenn King gave an update on work that has been done to the
repeaters. The 147.030 repeater is no longer linked to the Holley Mountain
link system. The repeater no belongs to the club and has received a new
callsign, W5AUU. It is now linked to the 443.200 repeater on Chenal
Mountain. The PL tone for local use is 110.9Hz and the tone for the link is
114.8Hz. The repeater has been used quite a bit lately.
Glenn also gave some very specific changes that have been made to
the equipment. He said that one thing that the club would need to do,
eventually, is to purchase a few power supplies for repeaters or upgrade to a
larger one.
Glenn also mentioned that he was housing too much of the club's
equipment and that it needed to find a new home or be sold. He said he
would leave that up to the club. The members present said that it should
probably be sold but offered to the club members first.
David Turner showed the club some new ideas for the club badges.
He had improved on the borders and also spoke about what abilities we
could store on the inside of the badge. He told that for the MEMS
employees, they may have their emergency contact information, medical
history, allergies, and other things. He said the badge could be cut open if a
member was injured and the information would be inside the badge.
Upcoming Events
The 2008 Lawrence County ARC Winter-Fest
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Location: Hoxie Community Center
Russellville Hamfest
Saturday, March 01, 2008
RESPOND of Arkansas Hamfest
Saturday, March 15, 2008 , 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Location: Earl Bell Community Center
Jonesboro, Arkansas
Hanging Judge Hamfest 2008
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Location: Columbus Acres
Fort Smith, AR
Thursday Night Net Control & Reminder
Debbie McEntire, KC5BVO, will be the Net Control Operator for the Faulkner Co.
Amateur Radio Club Net on Thursday nights for the month of January. A volunteer is needed
for the month of February. Please contact Frankie if you be net control. The net meets each
Thursday at 7:30 P.M. on 145.210- MHz with a PL Tone of 114.8Hz. Please make note of this
and come join in!
Reminder
Don't forget about lunches at Smitty's BBQ in Conway 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