Amateur Radio Club of the National Electronics Museum | K3NEM

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ARCNEM
K3NEM -- W3HEM -- W3GR
Amateur Radio Club of the National Electronics Museum
MINUTES
of the
10 June 2010
Monthly Meeting
1. ATTENDEES

John Paul Howell AA3WI
Stephen Stitzer WA3ZWC
Bob Gardenghi K3FQP
Chip Weems W4PBG
Fred Heath AI3Z
Charles Angel AA3FB
Nick Yokanovich K3NY
Jim Smith AB3CA
Tom Christovich K3YH
Jim Nowotarski K3GOO
Jim Dressler KB3GSA
Tim Titus W1RT
Ted Bauer WA3AER
Rol Anders K3RA
Paul Roscosky

2. MINUTES
May’s meeting minutes accepted.

3. REPORTS
(a) Treasurer's Report - Fred AI3Z
• Treasury reports starting May with $1464.52 and ending May with $1477.59. 1 new member brings our total to 61. Fred will order the ATV preamp in time to have station operational for Field Day.
(b) Station Equipment and Operation Reports
• Family Net: good participation this week (9 June) with 8 stations participating.
• Special Event: W2W D-Day Special Event on Sat.-Sun. (6/5-6/6) produced 1961 contacts, including all states except AK. 50 QSLs already received.
• ii. Power Line Noise Report – Rol K3RA
• Conditions appear to have significantly improved with BGE’s recent efforts; the special event operation was unhampered by noise, enabling us to work some quite weak stations. BGE has more work scheduled. The ATL sub-station noise, in particular, has been fixed. The source in the direction of Gate 1 remains, and there is evidence of sources along some roads off Andover Rd.
iii. Station Equipment
1. If the Icom’s speech compressor is turned ON, transmitted audio is distorted and has a low freq. motor-boating sound. With the compressor and monitor both ON, the Icom transmits a tone at full power. Recommendation: Leave the compressor OFF; the signal is tolerable, and the low level hum we’ve noted hasn’t been noticed listening to the on-air signal.
2. A webcam has been proposed for the station; volunteers are lined up to set up the software. Also discussed having a W2W web site for special events.
3. Noted that with both HF rigs operating, we can only spot for one at a time…possible future improvement project?
(c) QSL Report – Nick K3NY, Tim W1TRT
• QSLs: We have 4 new entities worked: Suriname, Qatar, Saba/St. Eustacia, and Tokelau. The station now has 305 entities to its credit. Estimated that we have sent out 10k QSLs.
(d) Training Report -- Rol Anders, K3RA
• Testing for the current Tech class (expected to yield 20 new licensees) is scheduled for 17 June.
4. OLD BUSINESS
• Logging Program: After spirited (!) discussion via e-mail, DX4WIN will remain as-is. We will, however, spend $30 for the latest version (v8). Purchase approved; Rol will order. Of note is that even with all the discussion and “issues,” the station logging error rate is in the 1-2% range.
• Rotating Exhibits: The “$50 Homebrew Challenge Transceiver” will be put on display. Rol and Jim have secured a display case and need but to prepare the text material to accompany the display. Proposed holding an opening ceremony and inviting the donor.
• Station Facelift: Tom is getting new life and expects to make progress shortly.
• Storage Relocation: August may be the move date. We will likely require volunteers to move our treasures to its new location.
• The Trailer: no report, although Ulis will be checking it out when he scouts the site for Field Day antennas.
• AWARD: K3NEM congratulates Rol Anders for receiving the Amateur of the Year Award from the ARRL Atlantic Division.

5. NEW BUSINESS
• New News/Business:
1. IEEE Microwave Convention will be held in Baltimore in June 2011. Might the club be interested in a supporting activity, such as a microwave link between ARCNEM and the Baltimore Convention Center?
2. When the Calibration Lab moves into Friendship Square, we may be able to get time sync and time displays from the lab (so we would not need to worry about providing our own atomic clocks and having them sync with WWVB).
3. Is it time for the club badges to have a new logo?
4. The 175th Commemoration of the Thomas Viaduct, over/near which the telegraph lines ran for the Baltimore-Washington telegraphy demonstration, is being held on 5 July. W3V has been granted as the special event call sign for the commemoration. What involvement we may have is unclear.
5. BRATS hamfest is 18 July at Howard Country Fairground.
6. 3 new radio books of historical interest were recently added to the library’s collection. They may be found in section 23.4 (under the QSTs).
6. NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Technical presentations - Suggest or volunteer by contacting John Paul!

Next regular meeting: July 8 2010 at 6:00 p.m. local time.

Respectfully submitted, Laurie KB3ORF (from notes via Ted Bauer WA3AER, thanks!)

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