Membership Meeting Minutes – October 8, 2016
Stillwater Amateur Radio Association
1618 Pine Street West
Stillwater, Minnesota 55082
President: Joe KCØOIO
The meeting was called to order at 9:04 AM.
Secretary’s Report: Steve KAØOBI
The general meeting minutes from the September 10, 2016 meeting are posted on the website. Please report any corrections to: Secretary@radioham.org
Treasurer’s Report: John N5JLZ
Beginning Balance: 9/1/2016 $2,982.42
Income: $272.50
Expenses: $192.80
Ending Balance: 9/30/2016 $3,062.12 (Not including HELP income/expenses)
$15,514.15 (Including HELP income/expenses)
Education and Training: Bob WØGAF (Not present)
General Class – is scheduled for September 15th – November 3rd at the Stillwater Library from 6-8 PM.
VE Session is scheduled for November 10th at 6 PM at Boutwells Landing in Auditorium B.
Activities & Events: Dave WØOXB (Not present)
Thursday Night Eye Ball Sessions – are held at Stillwater Public Library from 6 to 8 PM CDT.
Remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald – This will be the 12th year and it will be held November 4,5,& 6. We will be operating from 10 AM to 5 PM on Saturday and Sunday. Be sure to make advance reservations at the Mariner Hotel since these dates coincide with the deer hunting opener. The event will be listed in the Nov issue of QST and posted on the QRZ page of WØJH.
Drop a note to Dave to let him know that you are planning to attend this year.
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.
ADA Step Out Walk for Diabetes – this event was a huge success considering the route was changed this year. There were no emergencies so everything went very smooth with great club participation.
MAP – Dave WØOXB (Not present)
See Dave or Joe KCØOIO if you would like to volunteer. Please keep in mind that Dave will be out of town from October 4th thru 27th.
Handiham Equipment Liaison Program (HELP)
Both remote stations are up and running. 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.
Washington County ARES: John KAØHYR
The ARES net meets on the 1st and 15th of each month on 146.985 on the SEMARC repeater.
There was a SET (Simulated Emergency Test) on September 22-24th. With this simulation they had the operators work from their home stations on DC power and covering all modes.
There will be an Amateur Radio-Military Interoperability Exercise on 10/31-11/1. This will be held on 60 Meters, Channel 1 thru 4. The objective is to make contact with all 3007 U.S. Counties. Participants can earn a DoD Interoperability QSL card.
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 (10th) at 7 PM.
Two meter ragchew is held every Wednesday night at 9 PM CDT. You can find us at 147.060 MHz 114.8 Hz Tone.
160 meters SARA Top Band Ragchew is at 1.966 or 1.964 MHz. They operate every night except Tuesday & Thursday at 8 PM CDT.
SARA 75 meter Round Robin RagChew – It has been operating on 3.816 MHz at 7:30 PM on Tuesday evenings.
SARA Monday morning Round Robin RagChew – It is operating at 3.856 MHz at 9 AM.
Newsletter & Website: Pat WAØTDA & Dave WØOXB (Not present)
Thanks to Pat and Dave for putting together the newsletter! Additional contributors are needed. The deadline for submissions for the Nov issue is the last Saturday of October.
DX News: Mike NØODK (Not present)
Mike will be going to Vietnam again from Oct 20th to Nov 5th. He will definitely be listening for “Ø” callsigns. He will be operating as 3W6DK. Check out www.ng3k.com for DX & Contest Calendar information.
Program Schedule
Oct: Bill AEØEE – VKØEK Heard Island – The 2016 Cordell Expedition
Nov: Pat WAØTDA – Using RCForb on remote base operations
Dec: Ask the Elmer/Stump the Elmer Roundtable (not firmed up yet)
Jan: SWEEP
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.
New Business:
The club is considering the purchase of a trailer (5’x8’ to 6’x10’) for transporting and storage of equipment (ice shelters, screen tents, etc.). Ideally we would like to get one with both a rear and side door. Radios would not be stored in the trailer.
50/50 Drawing:
The total amount collected was $54. John KAØHYR won $27.
Good of Association:
SEMARC Meeting on the 4th Tuesday of the month at the Zion Lutheran Church.
Program: VKØEK Heard Island DXpedition – March/April 2016
Bill Mitchell AEØEE
Bill explained the DXpedition to this small 25 mile long volcanic island in great detail. It was very interesting to hear how he became involved with the project after only having several years experience as a ham radio operator just out of graduate school earning a PhD in Chemistry & Geodating.
The project took nearly 10 years of advance planning. The time commitment was roughly two months which included a long sea voyage from Cape Town, South Africa to Heard Island and back to Freemantle, Australia before flying home to the U.S. They were on the island for 3 weeks, 2 weeks to get there, and 1.5 weeks to get back.
Heard Island is uninhabited and as such this was a very coveted rare DX location for many hams. The weather was described as wet, windy, cold and ever changing. Typical air temperatures were mid 30’s to low 40’s F. For the duration they stayed in two special airbeam tents used for the radio ops area and sleeping quarters. They made over 75,000 contacts using Elecraft K3S transceivers, KPA500 amps, and P3 panadapters. Because of the tough conditions, 74.5% of the contacts were CW, 21% SSB, and 4.5% RTTY.
The cost of the project was close to $1 million and each of the 14 participants personally paid about $18K.
Since Heard Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site there was a required scientific part of the expedition which included dropping buoys to measure ocean currents, taking bird photos, and collecting rock and soil samples. Their ship, RV Braveheart, stayed near the island during the operations and brought the participants hot meals.
The program and meeting concluded at 11:07 AM.
Meeting attendance: 29