February 27 2018

members and visitors present

w7gfa Gary Anger

kf7stp Mike Orcutt

ki7fxj Tyson Brooks

kg7uav Michael Abernathy

and Kandi Hall

kd7cem Don Magee

k7krp Fred Leitch

kd7jg Joel Hinshaw

n7nsl Ted Ivester

Mark Mcdonald

Tyson began the meeting at 1900 and we did introductions.

Gary read the minutes of the January 2018 meeting. No changes.

Treasurers report. $2020.47 as of tonight

Old business.

Discussed changing monthly meeting time from 1900 to 1800. Motion to change was put forth and agreed by all present. Henceforth our monthly club meetings will begin at 1800.

Gary informed us that our club license has been renewed and is valid until 5/2/2028.

We discussed our digital mode workshop held at Ted’s house recently. Problems and on-going assistance needed. let members know how we can help.

Membership drive. We had talked about mailing letter so former club members and other licensed operators. Jason Fouts did a download of names from FCC site. Joel, Larry and Ted have scrubbed the list. It is still under review. Joel will follow up with Larry Wilson for further action.

Advertising. The free 8-week ad in the Nickle runs out soon. Tyson solicited thoughts on running a paid ad. Don Magee recommended we hold off until after we’ve done our membership drive mailer. All agreed. Tyson will go ahead and try to get local radio public service announcements especially now that our monthly meeting times have changed to 1800.

Joel discussed the features of using the 7th Area QSL Bureau for electronic QSL cards. QSL card response is enhanced by using their services and it makes the process easier.

Gary Anger briefed the insurance coverage for the club which was inquired about in January. Gary went over the activities that are excluded from coverage which are activities which we will likely be involved in The Insurance contact assured me on the phone that we are covered for all normal club activities.  ( a copy of the list of the exclusions are in the Secretary’s binder).

New Business

Gun Show last weekend did generate some interest.  Eight to Ten people  expressed interest on Saturday and three more on Sunday. Tyson had printed some informational sheet that we handed out (he will update to make more current).

Tyson will likely put together a visitors log and some business cards for future such event. We will want to capture contact data for those who stop by and express interest. Tyson also offered up the idea of having a drawing at future events for  a Technician Class study manual to be given to a potential amateur radio candidate

We also discussed possible different location at the gun show which would allow us to run a coax outside.

Upcoming Events.

The Tri Cities amateur radio club does a monthly Saturday morning get together which we may consider attending. It is held at Popular Donuts.

5/5/2018 is the Tri Cities Swapmeet (handouts in the back of the room) Good event for some inexpensive items

Seapac  on 6/1/ to 6/3/2018. great swapmeet.

Field Day 2018, June 23 and 24.  Agreed to hold at Bird Track Springs campground outside of La Grande(Oregon) again.

Tyson will see if some of our (Union) County government officials might come out to the field day event this year

We will need to set a time/date/location to meet and get our computer network established prior to the event.

VE Exams. The Technician Class question pool changes on 1 July 2018 so if any of us know of any candidates who would like to sit for an exam, please encourage him/her to take the exam before July 1 of 2018.

Tyson recommended we give a free membership gift certificate to anybody who passes the Technician exam, as well as a membership form at each exam sitting. accompanied by a sheet listing the local repeater information.

Tyson will be installing a new battery on the w7gra repeater once weather improves

Joel gave an impressive presentation on various diodes, their functions, uses, differences, etc and provided a handout to all. And brought in a home brew meter for all to view.

Jason brought in a homebrew
remote FOX built inside a coffee can wth a handitalkie which can be remotely controlled to that the Fox can be more hidden (i.e. not inside a vehicle which is easy to see). The remote fox will be smaller and more difficult to find.

Tyson presented yet another conception for direction finding/fox hunting using a SDRdonge (spelling approximate) which is a piece of equipment designed for digital tv that can be used to detect signals across various bands which he is experimenting with for direction finding/fox hunt purposes which he uses in concert with his smart phone

Ingenious.

our meeting adjourned at 2022

excuse the errors.