Schaumburg Amateur Radio Club Business Meeting May 16, 2019

Schaumburg Business Meeting May 16, 2019

Geoff Stevens KA9QGH President called the meeting to order at 7:03 PM.

Rebecca KA9EFE brought lemon bars:  fabulous!

Attendees

Orson Baker AB9WQ Danny Kafka VP KD9HIL Greg Howard KD9MYA
John Schofield AC9JS Gary Bernstein N9VU Burt Shultz AB9CV
Geoff Stevens KA9QGH Leo Ribordy N9NBH Frank Giampa N9QPD
Bob Zuttermeister W9GEW Bill McGovern W9WEM Robert Kocourek W9RKK
John Zietlow K9WIC Bill Crockett KD9AUP Terry Jarholm AE9TJ
Chuck Billstrand KB9RGI Cliff Sowka K9QD Bob McIntyre W9DXR
Don Smith K9UD John Douglas KD9KSH

Treasurer’s Report

Chris Brewer AC9GN not present but previously reported:

Beginning Balance           $5,307.76

Income                                 $       0.00

Expense                               $   348.53  ($61.53 Data Line, CPM Cabs, Sec’y St. Annual Rpt)

Ending Balance                  $4,959.22

Current fully-paid membership:  75

President’s Report

Geoff Stevens KA9QGH Field Day remains Chair-less.  Geoff proposed Dues Amnesty for the person who handles the FD Duties for the following year.

Publicity 

 Dennis Calvey KD9HIK not present.

SARC Repeaters 

Terry AED9TJ announced our repeater is repeating.   The BOD has approved $200 headroom for inventory acquisition and some replacement Lightning suppressor pills have arrived; still need to purchase some spare memory and uP modules.

Membership

Bob Benwitz N9JAX not present.

Secretary’s Report

Cliff Sowka K9QD:  Approval of Meeting Minutes as published on our website.

EMCOMM

John Zietlow K9WIC EMCOMM Chairman updated the club regarding Bill Clark’s Ham Operator’s resource request:

The Marathon will be held on Sunday, May 19.

John will be looking for hams interested in helping with this event.  Please contact j.zietlow@comcast.net if interested.  We usually arrive around 0630 with our hand-helds and begin the race around 0700.  Our role is to support the Unified Command with sitreps (situation reports) and monitor runners for medical or physical problems.  Don’t worry if you can’t make the meeting on the 30th; we can still use your help on May 19th.

Schaumburg  EMCOMM Radio Team will provide communications support for the Chicagoland Marathon.  The typical operational period is from 0630 to noon in the Busse Woods Forest Preserve.  We are looking for volunteers to provide situational reports and health and welfare, tactical communications during the event. An orientation meeting will be held on April 30th at the Schaumburg EOC by Bill Clark, the Unified Commander for the event. It should be noted that this is also Dayton Weekend.

Additional information will be sent via Sarc-ALL.

There will also be a joint exercise involving multiple communities and agencies during the week of June 19, 2019.  This exercise will likely include amateur radio participation.  It should be noted that time is the week leading up to Field Day.

The following events are listed on the SARC Calendar:

  • Chicagoland Marathon May 19, 2019

The Simulated Emergency Test Exercise Plan has already been published.

Construction Project (CP)

Bill McGovern W9WEM not present but provided the previous report:

SARC in the Park will become our activity for this time slot beginning in May.  Refer to the SARC calendar at:  www.n9rjv.org

The current Park District Free-Rental Agreement for the basement facility needs to be renewed.  We will need to renew our insurance rider as well.

Social

John Douglas KD9KSH reported plans are now complete for the J-Pole construction at Bob’s machine shop on June 15th.

Bob Zuttermeister W9GEW is able to host a social event for several Hams wishing to build antennas.   Bob is opening his business and will provide available machine shop tools at no charge (asked participants to assist in collecting $20 for materials ahead of time) to help club members craft J-Pole antennas.

John currently has about 5 people interested in participating.  Will plan a small additional collection to bring in some lunch at Bob’s facility.  Bob and John have scheduled 10AM June 15th.  Internal SARC-ALL correspondence underway and attendees need to confirm back to John’s email traffic by June 1st.

Education

Leo N9NBH reported plans are set for a fall Technician class.

VE Testing   

John AC9JS reports VE Tests results.

VE Tests Results for May 4, 2019

Name Call Class
Hamer, Judith KD9NDQ Technician
Moseley, Robin KD9NDR Technician
Johnsen, Donald KD9MXY General
Carlson, Robert KD9NDS Technician
Leisten, Thomas KD9NDT Technician

 

Class  
Technician 4
General 1
Extra 0
Failed to Upgrade 0
Total 5

 

Next examination date: June 1, 2018

RHG:

Mike KD9KMV not present.

Public Service

Rob N9MVO not present.

Programs

Cliff Sowka K9QD reported that a new Program Chair is needed for 2019.  No program scheduled for tonight.

Nets

On Thu, May 2, 2019 at 8:59 PM Steve Karson <ac9em1@gmail.com> wrote:

Club Members – thanks for participating in tonight’s net.   I certainly appreciate your time and input.  Questions of the night.  “Do you plan to attend the Xenia/Dayton Hamfest?”

Tonight’s (May 2nd) Check Ins:

KD9AUP     Bill KB9RGU     Jim WA9E         Roberto
N9NBH       Leo W9RKK       Robert KD9KMV     Mike
KD9HIJ       Ken AC9SD        Ed KD9HIK       Dennis
WB9C         Phil W9WEM    Bill W9YFC        Doug
KD9KSH     John NN9N         Orson N9MVO      Rob
W9DXR      Bob KB9RHR      Daryll K9KBM       Dave
N9HLG       Rick KD9NAZ      Russ

Leo N9NBH reported May 9th NET Check-ins:

N9NBH                 Leo KB9RGU             Jim KD9HIJ                 Ken
KD9AUP               Bill AC9EM                Steve KD9KSH              John
AC9SD                 Ed KB9QVX              Kevin AC9GN                Chris
KD9KMV              Mike W9YFC                Doug W9WEM               Bill
W9DXR                Bob WB9C                  Phil N9MVO                Rob
KD9AQO              Brian NN9N                  Orson

 

Bill McGovern W9WEM reported Tech Net results for May 7th.

We had the following folks check in to the SARC Tech Net this evening:

W9RKK Robert N9HLG  Rick KD9KSH John
K9KBM Dave AC9SD   Ed W9DXR Bob
W9YFC  Doug KD9AJI  Chris KD9MBR Dane
KB9RGI Chuck KD9IPO Ron

 

The question to all:  Do you have the ability to operate HF portable?  If so, what modes, which bands?  Equipment, details?

Six participants said they had the ability or were very close.  A variety of antenna solutions were mentioned including end-feds, verticals and magnetic loops.

Thanks to everyone who checked in and participated!

Ebay Sales

No eBay sales to report.  Gary Bernstein N9VU offered his services in filling this vacant role and indicated his previous experience could be helpful.

New Business

Geoff KA9QGH moved the club’s President will also be assigned Field Day Chair during elected term.  Frank N9QPD reminded there are specific job descriptions in the ByLaws that define roles for each office and such a proposal would require an official club affirmation during Special Session.   Motion withdrawn.

Old Business

None

Ask an Elmer

Geoff KA9QGH experienced a length of dead COAX that was underground for several years.  Receive seems okay but transmit appears to be loaded into a direct short.  His Fluke continuity test indicates fault but it isn’t known how low of a resistance indicates when fail status is indicated.

Bill AUP has offered his 900 Mhz machine as a donation.

Adjourn  8:10 PM

Submitted: May 17, 2019 by Cliff Sowka K9QD during the prearranged absence of Ken Krzywicki KD9HIJ, Secretary.