Membership Meeting Minutes – November 12, 2016
Stillwater Amateur Radio Association
1618 Pine Street West
Stillwater, Minnesota 55082
President: Joe KCØOIO
The meeting was called to order at 9:07 AM.
Secretary’s Report: Steve KAØOBI
The general meeting minutes from the October 8, 2016 meeting are posted on the website. Please report any corrections to: Secretary@radioham.org
Treasurer’s Report: John N5JLZ
Beginning Balance: 10/1/2016 $3,062.12
Income: $354.00
Expenses: $ 0
Ending Balance: 10/31/2016 $3,416.12 (Not including HELP income/expenses)
$16,285.75 (Including HELP income/expenses)
Education and Training: Bob WØGAF
General Class wrap up – 8 in the class with some late starters.
VE Session was held November 10th – 4 sat for the testing, all 4 passed. Results – 1 new Extra, 2 new Generals, and 1 new Technician.
Contact Bob if you are interested in participating in an Extra Class Study Group that will run at the same time as the 2017 Technician classes.
Activities & Events: Dave WØOXB
Thursday Night Eye Ball Sessions – are normally held at Stillwater Public Library from 6 to 8 PM CT. On November 17th the Board Meeting will be held at the Lake Elmo Library, 3537 Lake Elmo Avenue North at 6 PM. There will be no Eyeball Session on November 24th due to Thanksgiving. In its place an 80 Meter Gobbler Gathering may be held – Dave will email frequency and time.
Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald wrap up– The 12th annual event was held Nov 4, 5, & 6. There were about 22 participants that enjoyed the Friday Fish Fry and the Sat & Sun operations from 0915 to 1730. Photos of the event will appear in the upcoming newsletter. We made about 713 SSB contacts with two phone stations and one PSK digital station. The best band was 20 meters, followed by 17 and very few on 40 meters. About 190 QSL requests have already been received.
Reservations have been made for next year’s event on Nov 3, 4, 5, 2017.
Ice Station WØJH – the 4th annual event will be held February 18, 19, 20, 2017 (Presidents Day weekend). KØAIF has agreed to host the event for the 2nd year on the east side of Lake Elmo.
MAP – Dave WØOXB
See Dave or Joe KCØOIO if you would like to volunteer. There are a number of projects that we would like to complete this year prior to the onset of winter weather.
Handiham Equipment Liaison Program (HELP)
We are still looking for a home for WØZSW which is a 200W station and works on 160M. If you can help you just need to provide electricity and internet access, everything else will be provided and set up for you.
We will be purchasing a new 50 amp switching power supply for WØZSW. The antenna tuning issue at WØEQO is still being analyzed and several solutions are being considered.
There are several pieces of radio equipment that are still available for sale that have been tested and repaired to good working order – Icom 706 MkII G, TenTec antenna coupler, Kenwood TS-570, Yaesu FT-847 all mode/all band, and Icom PW-1 linear amp ($2,200 to SARA members).
Washington County ARES: John KAØHYR (not present)
The ARES net meets on the 1st and 15th of each month on 146.985 at 7 PM CT on the SEMARC repeater.
Check the web site www.mnwashcoares.org regularly for current events, net schedule, and other items of significance.
Digital Net: Joe KCØOIO
SARA DIGI Net will be held this Sunday (13th) at 7 PM CT on 3.581.15 centered on 800-1000.
Two meter ragchew is held every Wednesday night at 9 PM CT. You can find us at 147.060 MHz 114.8 Hz Tone.
160 meters SARA Top Band Ragchew is at 1.966 MHz. They operate every night except Tuesday & Thursday at 8 PM CT.
SARA 75 meter Round Robin RagChew – It has been operating on 3.816 MHz at 7:30 PM CT on Tuesday evenings.
SARA Monday morning Round Robin RagChew – It is operating at 3.856 MHz at 9 AM CT.
Newsletter & Website: Pat WAØTDA & Dave WØOXB
Thanks to Pat and Dave for putting together the newsletter! Additional contributors are needed. The deadline for submissions for the December issue is November 26th.
DX News: Mike NØODK (Not present)
Mike just got back from Vietnam (Oct 20th to Nov 5th). Unfortunately, propagation was not good. Only two hams in Ham Lake and Forest Lake were able to make contact. Check out www.ng3k.com for DX & Contest Calendar information.
Program Schedule
Nov: Pat WAØTDA – Using RCForb on remote base operations
Dec: SARA Roundtable/ Icom 7300
Jan: SWEEP
Feb: Digital Mobile Radio (DMR)
Mar: Working on Classic Radios – Randy & Peter
Old Business:
SARA coffee mugs are on sale for $3 each – See Keith AGØH.
The SARA Oval Sticker/Decals are on sale for $1 each or you can get a free one when you renew your annual membership ($20) for 2017.
A 6’x12’ “V” front trailer will be purchased from Goodrich Trailer Sales for $2,500 that has some hail damage on the roof. Bill has offered to provide a parking site for the trailer at Marine on St. Croix.
New Business: Nomination of club officers will take place at the December meeting. This will include the President, VP, Treasurer, Secretary and 2 year term Director.
Good of Association:
SEMARC Meeting on the 4th Tuesday of the month at the Zion Lutheran Church in Cottage Grove.
Show Us Your Shack: Keith AGØH displayed a photo of his shack.
Program: RCForb Xcvr Remote – Pat Tice WAØTDA
RCForb (Remote Control for Online Remote Base) allows virtually anyone to get on the air as long as they have an internet connection, remotehams.com software, and an Android smartphone or tablet. The software will work with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, or 10. However, XP and Vista are not recommended. If you currently have only Apple products you can avoid any hassle by just buying a cheap Android tablet. There is also an O.R.B. control device that can be purchased for $190 that can be used with an Elecraft microphone, cw paddle, or straight key.
Licensed Hams and SWL’s can use this service. Although only licensed Hams can use the transmit feature. The software and website is sponsored by Elecraft and many volunteers that maintain an active forum and can answer typical questions about getting started. Pat can also help members by contacting him at waØtda@arrl.net.
SARA is fortunate that we have access to two remote control bases – WØZSW and WØEQO. This type of setup can be very helpful to people who are sick or disabled, travelers who don’t want to carry rigs with them, and hams that cannot put up antennas due to restrictions.
The system is not recommended for emergency operations because it can be subject to failures. It is an excellent system to use for training operations. The remotehams.com website is very complete and provides step-by-step instructions on how to setup and utilize the remote system.
The program and meeting concluded at 11:22 AM.
Meeting attendance: 23