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
11 March 2010
Monthly Meeting

Meeting was called to order at 6:07 p.m. by club President John Paul Howell.

1. ATTENDEES

AA3WI John Paul Howell
AB3CA Jim Smith
K3FQP Bob Gardenghi
K3KHG Dean Bush Sr
K3LU Ulis Fleming
K3NY Nick Yokanovich
KB3GSA Jim Dressler
KB3ORF Laurie Knaack
N3GOO Jim Nowotarski
W1TRT Tim Titus
W3DTN Gary Hendrickson
W3WVV Heru Walmsley
W4PBG Chip Weems
WA2DRY Zack Goldstein
WA3AER Ted Bauer
WA3ZWC Steven Stitzer

2. MINUTES
The minutes from the January 2010 meeting were approved.
February 2010 meeting was canceled due to snow (no minutes).

3. REPORTS
(a) Treasurer's Report -- Fred AI3Z (not present) – Jim N3GOO reports:
We had ended December 2009 with $1447.35. Updates: We took in $72 from 7 more new renewals and we earned $12.16 in interest last year.
(b) Station Equipment and Operation Reports
i. Northrop Grumman Family Net, Weds 3pm ET – Chip W4PBG / Bob K3FQP
Very little noise recently during scheduled nets, which has been good.

ii. Equipment issues
Heru reports that 2-meter rig push to talk switch is not working right. Suggestions discussed were fixing or for anyone to donate a 2-meter rig.
Desk mike on HF station is still not working (but Chip and Bob report they have been using Heil headset for the net, which works fine).

iii. Antennas/Work party planning for spring
Items we might need to do: -Put up 160m dipole. -Heru’s preamp: not ready yet. -Gap: seems ok. -Add lightning arrestors? No work party scheduled yet.

iv. Monthly Power Line Noise Report – Rol K3RA (report via e-mail)
Glenn Booth at BGE notified Rol of work scheduled mid-March. “Great news! Of course we’ll have to see if this really cures the problems.”

(c) QSL Report – Nick K3NY
2 new countries confirmed: Barbados & Georgia.
Tim Titus has put in for 2 DXCC certificates so far.
From Rol K3RA via e-mail: “DX: Three new countries worked, but we missed VK9CF on Cocos Keeling Island. … The new ones were H40FN Temotu on Feb 18, VK9X/G6AY Christmas Island on March 1, and V63MY Micronesia on March 3. We are at 303 worked. Nick and Tim are working hard to get confirmations on the ones we need cards from.”

(d) FISTS Report - Nick K3NY - No report.

(e) Training Report -- Rol Anders, K3RA (report via e-mail)
Extra course exam will be held on April 20.
“The Extra course continues with good attendance every week (~13). … Tech Course will start on April 27 and run 7 sessions through June 8.”

(f) FAR Report - No report. We still need a FAR Representative.

4. OLD BUSINESS
(a) Exhibit space for new rotating exhibit of our special/historic equipment
Rol and Jim had volunteered to talk to Mike about setting up an area.

(b) Station appearance cleanup
Tom Christovich, Jim Nowotarski, and Ted Bauer will develop ideas to improve layout/appearance of station, price them, and present back to club.
From Tom Christovich via e-mail: “We have made measurements of the footprint and desks, next step will be to generate a drawing of the existing layout, then developed some proposed new arrangements. Focus will be on improving the legroom, lower monitors to more comfortable viewing angle, and arrange equipment in a more coordinated manner.”

(c) Gary Mauler's trailer
The club further discussed ideas for converting an old, approximately 20ft trailer owned by Gary Mauler into a mobile communications vehicle.
Summary: Consensus is that it’s a good idea and that the club should take on the project within the next year; no firm plans made.

5. NEW BUSINESS

(a) Storage area moving
We had expected club storage to be moved in January/February, but moving has not actually happened yet. John Paul will talk to Mike.

(b) Promotional brochure
Tim Titus has created a tri-fold format version of the promotional brochure.

(c) Swapfest/fundraiser
Heru suggests that the club could hold its own swapfest or tag along with a museum swap meet (museum held an event with about 34 tables in February).

(d) Field Day
Field Day: At Gary Mauler’s? Jim N3GOO will confirm. We will plan Field Day further at May and June meetings.

6. NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

BRATS Hamfest: July 18

Technical presentations - Suggest or volunteer by contacting John Paul!
Tonight – Jim AB3CA on RACES.

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

Respectfully submitted, Laurie Knaack, KB3ORF

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