Business Meeting April 20, 2023

Don Dewar KD9NJR President called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.

Attendees:

ZOOM Attendees:

Secretary’s Report:

Cliff Sowka K9QD read Danny Kafka’s KD9HIL March Business Meeting Minutes into the record.  Darryl Jenks KB9RHR moved to approve, Robert Kocourek W9RKK seconded.  Motion Adopted.

Treasurer’s Report: 

Chris Brewer AC9GN reported current finances and requested any updates to our Roster be communicated to him so that he can edit our database.

ZELLE appears to be properly activated and one SARC Member has already been able to transfer funds to our Treasury.

Month: Mar 2023

Checkbook Balance 02/28/23                                                      $6,109.53

INCOME MEMO                                                                                $   262.89

03/17/23 Cash dues                                                                        $   130.00

03/17/23 Checks dues                                                                    $     75.00

03/17/23 Luck Monk refund                                                        $     57.89

DISBURSEMENTS MEMO                                                               $   192.82

ACH 03/14/23 AT&T DSL                                                               $     62.82

Petty cash                                                                                           $   130.00

03/31/23 Account Balance                                                           $6,179.60

03/31/23 Bank Statement                                                            $6,179.60

Checks Outstanding                                                                        $        0.00

Adjusted balance                                                                             $6,179.60

2/31/2023 Checkbook balance                                                   $6,179.60

2/31/2023 Petty cash                                                                     $   130.00

Funds Available                                                                                $6,309.60

94 members on roster

Danny Kafka KD9HIL moved to approve and Darryl Jenks KB9RHR seconded.  Motion Adopted.

Public Service

Rob Glowacki N9MVO Chair submitted the following report: (additional detail herein has been dutifully plagiarized from Rob’s subsequent posting on our Website)

1. May 7^th MS Walk in Palatine will start at 10AM but we need to be staged about 2 hours earlier (target 7:30AM) to organize our positions along the course. We will be using Channel  4 Simplex with Channel  5 as backup.  Bring a chair.
2. July 1^st will be the Hoffman Estates July 4^th Meet 7:30AM @ Paris/Illinois.  Our role will be to organize parade units positioning.

MS Walk

Sunday, May 7th at 7:30 AM we will meet at Harper college (details forthcoming) for the MS Walk in Palatine. The walk is scheduled to start at 10:00 AM, but the road around the campus gets closed off earlier for the safety of the participants.  The Walk should finish before noon.  We need radio operators to man [more properly PERSON] stations along the route to assist participants who may not be able to finish the walk.  See the internal email to SARC members.

Hoffman Estates Independence Day Parade

On Saturday, July 1st, we will be supporting the Hoffman Estates Independence Day Parade on Illinois Blvd. between Schaumburg Road and somewhere west of Roselle Road. We need radio operators to walk the streets west of Illinois Blvd. to organize the parade units for that event.

We will meet for the briefing at 7:30 at the intersection of Illinois and Paris Lane.  See the email in SARC-All for additional details.

EMCOMM:

John Zietlow K9WIC Chairman reported:

• ChicagoLand Marathon this year will not require SARC participation
• Third Saturday of the month will be the Hoffman Estates (HE) EMCOMM meeting
• HE EMCOMM Roundtable is planned to be held Quarterly
• Training on proper/complete Documentation @ HE PD Conference Room 1^st Floor
• HE meeting May 20 @ 9:00AM will be operational exercise.
• HE meeting openly Invites others to share their Organizational Structure experience

Repeaters:

2M Machine back on utility power and functioning properly.  Rob N9MVO will bench the 440 Machine’s Duplexer for possible alignment tweak during our final Construction Project gathering of the current season.

Construction Project (CP): 

Cliff Sowka K9QD CP Chair reported our final meet will be April 22 and re-start the last week of September.

VE Testing:

John Schofield AC9JS VE Session Manager reports Test Results for April 1, 2023:

James took all 3 of his exams at once to earn his Extra License.  Congratulations!

Upgrades to licenses were in the FCC ULS System by Monday evening, April 3.  Can’t get much faster than that.

Most licenses were in the FCC ULS System by Wednesday, April 5.

Participating Volunteer Examiners (VEs):

Thanks to all of our Volunteer Examiners for doing another great job!

Next examination date: May 6, 2023 with 4 reservations posted at the moment.

Nets:

Don Dewar KD9NJR reports 6 to 7 each time on New Ham Net.  Our recent power outage during the pump-house upgrade revealed some simplex coverage weakness.  Glad to have utility power returned.

Radio Hill Gazette RHG:

Mike K9KMV No Report.

Special Events:

No Report

Membership: 

Scott DeSantis KB9VRW reports a newly-streamlined process for new members has been implemented.  Promotional trinkets from various Ham Equipment vendors invited for handout.

Publicity: 

Dennis C. Calvey KD9HIK reported seeking response from SPD.   Dennis has posted our Field Day plans on Facebook.

Social:

Need Chair.

Education:

Leo Ribordy N9NBH not present.

Programs: 

Don Dewar KD9NJR:  Planning to present a historical review of the Schaumburg Amateur Radio Club’s formative years during a future Business Meeting.  Tonight’s presentation discussed potential for Red Envelope emergency medical documentation.  Examples were displayed for consideration.

SARC is in need of Tech Net Control Operators (Chair needed to manage scheduled Controllers) as well as several Committee vacancies.  Surely our planned Picnic this summer is one important event needing Leadership.   John Douglas KD9KSH has organized several successful events during his tenure and this new opportunity will be a wonderful challenge for a new leader.

Old Business:

None

New Business: 

Don Dewar KD9NJR informed a free tower and antenna array is available for the effort of take-down.  Please contact Don directly to arrange the effort.

Charlene Treve K9CMZ has noted the Illinois Repeater Association does not list our resources;  turns-out frequency submissions have to be one-single-record-at-a-time. Therefore we’re unable to send flat-file for efficient update.

Field Day:

Danny KD9HIL FD Chair reports June 24th and 25^th.  Setup Friday afternoon  June 23^rd.

Application for site permit was submitted on April 13^th.

Tent Captains: 

• CW: Bob W9DXR
• SSB: Darryl KB9RHR

Generators will be supplied by:

• Rob N9MVO and Darryl KB9RHR

Furniture Transport

• Leo N9NBH and Pat KD9PWI

Safety Officer

• Dennis C. Calvey KD9HIK

Tower Climbers

• Two people needed

Adjourn:  8:09PM

Submitted Apr 26, 2023

Cliff Sowka  K9QD Secretary

Board of Directors Meeting May 3, 2023

Robert Kocourek W9RKK Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:00PM

Attendees

Secretary’s Report

Cliff Sowka K9QD:  Bill Reiss KW9WR moved to approve the April BOD Minutes as published in the Radio Hill Gazette.  Ed Lishka AC9SD seconded. Motion Carried.

Treasurer’s Report:

Chris Brewer AC9GN unable to attend in person but provided the following report:

Month: April 2023

Checkbook Balance 03/30/23                                                      $6,179.60

INCOME MEMO                                                                                $   410.00

04/06/23 Zelle                                                                                   $     35.00

04/07/23 Collected dues                                                               $   245.00

04/07/23 from petty cash                                                             $     20.00

04/14/23 Collected dues                                                               $     20.00

04/17/23 Collected dues                                                              $     25.00

04/21/23 Collected dues                                                               $     65.00

DISBURSEMENTS MEMO                                                               $   126.61

ACH 04/10/23 AT&T DSL                                                               $     62.82

Check 04/26/23 (2) replacement stamps                                $     63.79

04/30/23 Account Balance                                                           $6,462.99

04/30/23 Bank Statement                                                            $6,462.99

Checks Outstanding                                                                        $       0.00

Adjusted balance                                                                             $6,462.99

Checkbook balance 04/30/23                                                      $6,462.99

Petty cash 04/30/23                                                                        $   110.00

Funds Available                                                                                $6,572.99

108 members on roster.

Public Service 

Rob Glowacki N9MVO not present but his summary of currently planned events has been uploaded and posted on our website.

EMCOMM

John Zietlow K9WIC not present.

Repeaters

Rob Glowacki N9MVO, Terry Jarnholm AE9TJ not present.

Construction Project (CP)

Cliff Sowka K9QD reported that Dennis C. Calvey KD9HIK was able to invite Park District management tonight to allow us to explain our Roof-Top Antenna Farm installation’s completion.  The connection(s) up on the roof are planned for Noon May 25^th.

VE Testing

John Schofield AC9JS announced our Next examination date is May 6, 2023 with six (6) candidates registered at the moment.

Nets 

Don Dewar KD9NJR Chairman reports good attendance continues and surely wishes more members would step forward to host our Nets:  please let Don know if you’re willing to take a session.

Radio Hill Gazette RHG 

Mike K9KMV No Report.

Membership

Scott DeSantis KB9VRW is working on updates to our literature hand-outs (Trifold, Welcome Letter) and requested our members scout for trinkets at radio events:

“If you see literature or free stuff that you think will benefit a new ham, grab some stuff.  I will take it and add to my collection of things from my past years with the IL Section ARRL Roles.

My ultimate goal is to have “New Ham” and “New Member” kits/care packages put together to give out.

A sample of things I have were the Yaesu hats at the last club meeting.  I have already reached out to the likes of Yaesu, Icom, Comet, Diamond, HRO, GigaParts, MFJ and RandL to name a couple”.

Thanks for your help,

Scott D  KB9VRW

SARC Membership Committee Chairman

Publicity

Dennis C. Calvey KD9HIK Publicity Chairman was able to discover Ryan Gangler as a Schaumburg Public Service contact for Rob Glowacki N9MVO.  FaceBook activity is slowly building.

Social  

Need Chairperson.

Education

Leo N9NBH not present.

Programs 

Don Dewar KD9NJR is working on an historical SARC Club formation presentation at a future Business Meeting.

Old Business

None

New Business

BOD ruled to grant Digital Library of Amateur Radio & Communications request to include our Radio Hill Gazette materials in their offering.  Robert Kocourek W9RKK moved to approve their access request and Bill Reiss KW9WR seconded.  Motion Adopted.

Don Dewar KD9NJR mentioned our new Zelle facility appears to be difficult for some users.  Possibly need to have a posting our website to clearly delineate the steps needed to initiate a transaction.  Also our Roster (and subsequently SARC-ALL Reflector) needs scrubbing.  Since only Members in Good Standing are to have access to the Reflector, there are past members still receiving traffic (wanted or unwanted).  A quick Roster audit is needed.

Dick Parks K9LW donated a TenTec rig (sans power supply) to Construction Project and Pierre Berube K9EYE may be able to benefit from the rig’s unique voice feature if we can confirm the radio is operational.  Russ Schmidt KC9NUV has been guiding this effort and Cliff Sowka K9QD brought a gifting motion to the floor tonight.  Robert Kocourek W9RKK seconded.  Motion Adopted.

Field Day Planning

Danny Kafka KD9HIL has submitted our FD Permit Application to the Park District.  It’s possible we have at least one Tower Climber available unless the person is called away on business travel.  Danny reports:

So far I have no commitments for:

TOWER CLIMBERS  for our antenna setup. I know we do have some younger, fitter members in our group, especially some new members. Please volunteer for this essential job.

To quote one of last year’s climbers: “Honestly it’s a super easy climb as it’s on a ladder designed for humans… you just need someone with no fear of heights.”

Meals:

Food for FRIDAY set up if we’re going to have something other than snack items.

SATURDAY.

A small committee to plan a Saturday meal if we are going to have one.

We have not yet discussed message handling.

Progress to date:

Application for site submitted on April 13th

Tent Captains: 

CW:  Bob W9DXR

SSB: Daryl KB9RHR

VHF/UHF: Scott KB9VRW

GOTA: Don KD9NJR

 Generators will be supplied by:

Rob N9MVO and Daryl KB9RHR

Safety officer: Dennis KD9HIK

Furniture transport by

Leo N9NBH and Pat KD9PWI

With a few others to help load

Sunday breakfast: 

Cliff K9QD reports Frank Giampa N9QPD Memorial Buttermilk Pancakes will be on the menu.  Service begins at the crack of dawn and over 7:00AM.  7:01AM is too late cuz he must leave FD ~7:30AM Sunday morning.

Adjourn 8:26 PM.

Submitted May 4, 2023.    Cliff Sowka K9QD Secretary