Mar 20

March 2021 Monthly Meeting Minutes

date
2021-03-20
convened
09:30
adjourned
10:20

Officers

  • President:
    Phil Gates (N5ZKF) present
  • Vice President:
    Rick Pfeil (KI5DUJ) present
  • Secretary:
    Matthew Barry (KG5LYE) present
  • Treasurer:
    Lorna Flansburg (KI5FIZ) present

Attendees (18)

  • Phil Gates (N5ZKF)
  • Matthew Barry (KG5LYE)
  • Jeff McDowell (KI5CES)
  • Lee Lance (KK5QO)
  • Dick Zimmer (W5DZ)
  • Lorna Flansburg (KI5FIZ)
  • Rick Pfeil (KI5DUJ)
  • Sly Kapchinski (N5GQB)
  • Ralph Cobb (W5RYC)
  • Ron Hambric (N5SBN)
  • Mark Coppock (KG5PDT)
  • Harold Turbyfill (KG5SDG)
  • Jim Hanks Jr. (W5CYN)
  • Jim Laird (KF5YY)
  • Gerald Golub (W5VUI)
  • Jeremy Carter (KF5YAA)
  • David R. Cook (KI5GDX)
  • Don Ling (WB5CKO)

Officer Reports

President Phil Gates (N5ZKF)

W5BCS Noise Problems

  • We’ve had a couple of different noise problems
  • Most recent and persistent seems to be coming from lights
  • Input from:
    • W5DZ, been maintaining since 1985
    • KD5DLW, hosting on tower for no cost
    • AD5RN, one of KG5LYE’s friends
  • Not solved yet, but ruled some things out

KD5DLW Repeater Repaired

  • Power amplifier had a failed transistor
  • Wasn’t offline for long
  • Thanks, KD5DLW, for all you do!

Radio in the Park

  • N5GQB:
    • Let’s do it!
    • Tanglewood Park
    • Saturday mid-morning; operate until mid-afternoon
    • Plan around the weather: choose main day and alternate
  • KI5FIZ:
    • 2021-04-17 is club meeting; do combined meeting with Radio in the Park?
  • KI5DUJ:
    • City of Bryan is not reserving pavilions, parks, or anything
  • KK5QO:
    • Combining meeting with Radio in the Park sounds like a great idea
  • N5GQB:
    • Sounds like a good, interesting idea since meetings have been in-person
    • Usually lets out late, so having Radio in the Park is sometimes infeasible
    • Get net control out there and set up a control station, take check-ins
    • Anyone else who wants to come out can do so… at their own risk 🙂
    • Pavilion would be first-come, first-served
    • If weather doesn’t cooperate, we can have just our meeting on the air as usual
  • KG5LYE:
    • 2021-04-03 is Easter Weekend
    • 2021-04-24 would be a good alternate weekend
  • KI5DUJ:
    • No restroom facilities on-site
  • N5ZKF:

Ideas for Public Event

  • KI5CES mentioned the Museum of the American GI is having an event
    • Perhaps W5BCS could set up a table?
    • Unfortunately, probably won’t work out
  • 150th Anniversary of City Chartering
    • Bryan became a city on 1871-11-13
    • City is looking for artifacts, history, photos, etc.
    • We could set up a special event station
      • We did something similar with Camp Hearne a few years ago
    • KI5FIZ:
      • Special event station sounds like an excellent idea
      • Could do it the whole event weekend (November 12th through 14th)
    • W5RYC:
      • Certainly worth pursuing!
      • Could do something at a location like Field Day
      • Can also get people to operate from home station
    • KI5GDX
      • Club has been around for a long time; perhaps almost as old as the city itself!
      • We found some historical club artifacts a while ago (original draft of by-laws)

Vice-President Rick Pfeil (KI5DUJ)

Field Day

  • Keep the date open: 2021-06-26 and 2021-06-27
  • Had a last-minute good idea for a presentation
    • will push that back to the next meeting

Secretary Matthew Barry (KG5LYE)

  • Read minutes; no additions or corrections

Treasurer Lorna Flansburg (KI5FIZ)

  • Starting Balance: $5986.09
  • Disbursed $200 deposit for field day
  • Income of $160
  • Ending balance: $5876.09
  • Currently 42 Members
  • Secretary’s note: numbers are probably off

January Bank Statement

Amazon Smile

Additional Business

VE Test Report

Lee Lance (KK5QO)

  • Thanks to W5VUI and outstanding VE people
  • 4 new hams, 1 upgrade:
    • KI5OUT through KI5OUW
    • KG5PDT upgraded to general
  • Be sure to keep an ear out to welcome them!

Health and Welfare / Good of the Order

Information Exchange

Phil Gates (N5ZKF)

  • Magazine ideas shared a few weeks ago
  • New recommendation:
    • Online German company: Elektor
    • Have online electronics store
    • Publish a magazine
    • Collaboration with US-based Spark Fun (online DIY, homebrew tech store)
    • A little pricey: $100 / yr

Don Ling (WB5CKO)

  • Since lifting the mask mandate, is there any idea of when we might be able to meet in person?
  • N5ZKF:
    • don’t know when we’ll start up normal operations again
    • Next meeting at the park
  • N5SBN:
    • Red Cross still closed down
    • When it opens back up, masks will still be required

March Meeting

Next Meeting: 2021-04-17 09:30 (in Tanglewood Park and on the air: 146.680 MHz FM repeater)

Matthew Barry

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bryanarc.org/march-2021-monthly-meeting-minutes/