Grande Ronde Radio Amateur Association Meeting of 11/18/2015
Present were:
W7GFA Gary Anger
W7IXZ Larry Wilson
W7EEX David Hoeflein
Visitor Pete Candlish (interested in getting licensed)
W4PJS Graham Hicks
KD7JG Joel Hinshaw
KB7RGX Camber Bybee
KB7DRI Barbara Hicks
W7IYA Nancy Wilson
KE7LXY Brent Linville
N7NSL Ted Ivester
Sharon Linville
KA7ISH Jessie Hale
KF7STP Mike Orcutt
The meeting was called to order at 6:59PM.
Gary read the minutes from last months’ meeting.
Membership report – no changes. 21 paid members.
We did round-robin introductions.
The La Grande Repeater, 146.980 is working great. Mike Abernathy and Ted Ivester did a firmware upgrade on it. The upgrade was needed in order to be able to turn the repeater off and on remotely. Only certain transmitters can turn the repeater on and off, all Yaesu. The FCC requires this capability. Ted went on to explain some of the capabilities of our repeater.
Larry continues to work on registering the new repeater with ORRC.
Ted has been working on getting our repeater registered on repeaterbook.com and thinks he has been successful.
Camber mentioned that the Yaesu digital is the only one that our repeater will respond to. Other manufactures have their own versions of digital.
Since we have a Yaesu DRX1 we can use digital or analog. Spout Springs and Joseph repeaters are now FUSION digital which is the Yaesu digital system.
Ted recommended use of digital rigs to all present.
Fox Hunt. The most recent Fox (W4PJS) admitted he broadcast with too much power, which overwhelmed our directional antennas making it very difficult to get good lines of bearing. Mike Abernathy was first to find the Fox. Discussion of the Fox Hunt ensued.
Several members had done an ad-hoc fox-hunt a week earlier with great success.
ARES membership. Ted is still looking for interest and will send out some information to the club. He passed around a sign up sheet to see who present was interested in participating in ARES. The next SET (Simulated Emergency Training) will be a 48-hour SET in April 2016.
Club Insurance. Discussion of the club purchasing insurance ensued. Graham motioned that we purchase insurance, Joel seconded the motion and the decision to purchase insurance was made.
Gary will fill out the application for the ARRL insurance and coordinate with Mike Orcutt for the premium payment.
Ted will work on revising our by-laws during the holiday season.
The Christmas party will be on 12/10/2015 beginning at 1800, and will be held at Jeff and Karen Crews’ home again. Address is 1507 2nd, La Grande.
Auction of Mark Larson’s equipment. Most items were sold prior to the meeting, with the last item, the tower and stand being sold to highest bidder during the meeting. With all items being sold, the club brought in $660.00.
New Business:
Bring ham gear that you may want to try to auction off to the Christmas dinner on the 10th.
Mike Abernathy will be exploring other possibilities that our repeater may be capable of, and he would appreciate any help from fellow hams. The goal is to obtain maximum usage of our repeater. This may involve the purchase of additional hardware.
Antenna Building Party. Ted is asking for ideas on what projects we may want to undertake. Projected time frame of next antenna building party will be late spring/early summer. Ted would like to have a few people get together and help plan the date and determine what supplies we will need.
What should be our 2016 focus?
7QP Party – looking for more involvement. Joel suggested we do the 7QP Party as a club and use the club callsign (W7GRA). It is a 24-hour event.
Field Day. Fist club field day was circa 2005. They’re fun and a good learning experience. The 2016 Field Day will be 25 and 26 June. Ted solicited ideas for it’s location.
Members expressed interest in holding more Fox Hunts.
The evening’s program was on building power supplies, presented by Joel. He is in the process of building a tube-type power transformer.
Gary plugged the Eagle Cap Extreme Sled Dog Race. Amateur radio operator play an important part in the race and any operators are welcome to participate. The 2016 dates are January 20 -23. Race Central is in Joseph, and it is heated and there is food galore.
Mike gave us a treasurers report. We have $1790.95 in our treasury.
The meeting adjourned at 8:06PM.
