Schaumburg Amateur Radio Club Business Meeting November 15, 2018

Matt Walsh AC9IG President called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.

Rebecca KA9EFE brought Cupcakes tonight; made sure we had coffee ready.

Attendees

Leo Ribordy N9NBH Danny Kafka KD9HIL John Zubay AC9CP
Ken Krzywicki KD9HIJ Kent Ochs W9KAO Frank Giampa N9QPD
Matt Walsh AC9IG Geoff Stevens KA9QGH Mike Sorensen K9KQX
Larry Barker K9FLT John Douglas KD9KSH Robert Kocourek W9RKK
John Zietlow K9WIC Peter Maziuk N9POL Terry Jarholm AE9TJ
Bob Benwitz N9JAX Dirk Smith W0RI Dennis Calvey KD9HIK
Chris Brewer AC9GN Bill Crockett KD9AUP Rob Glowacki N9MVO
Burt Schultz AB9CV Edward Lishka AC9SD Ken Krzywicki KD9HIJ
Steve Karson AC9EM Bill McGovern W9WEM Cliff Sowka K9QD
Wake Wacaser AF9I John Shofield AC9JS Mike Sorensen K9KQX
Kevin Willard KB9QVX

Treasurer’s Report

Chris Brewer AC9GN reported: beginning balance $5,230.34.  Income was $0.  Expense was $60.42 for the data line.  Ending balance $5,169.92.  Paid membership is currently 72.

President’s Report

Matt AC9IG reminded the group we will present the Proposed By-Law changes to be voted on tonight in Special Session following adjournment of the regular Business Meeting.

This weekend is the ARRL Sweepstakes.  Modes will be SSB Phone.  Call, Serial Number (sequenced) and Grid.  Get on the air this weekend.

Any On-Air Events to mention?  Do we wish to conduct a January Winter Field Day?

Publicity 

Dennis Calvey KD9HIK present; reported no new activity at the moment.

SARC Repeaters

Terry reported the effort to secure spare parts for our three machines is underway with the Board already approving a $400 budget.

Don’t forget: we are logging all transmissions through the repeater.  If you hear interference please use the link at the bottom of our web site to note the date and time it occurred.  Log any MI reports that help us continue the ARRL OO/FCC process.  FCC has reduced the number of volunteer monitors and is now utilizing Official Observers (OO) with more targeted activity so concise logs are imperative.

Membership

The following were contacted via phone and/or email during the month of September

9/6   Patty Prasad (on behalf of her mother VU2RBI) who gave a presentation at our September meeting

9/13  Charles Herring  (no call sign) needed info on our class for radio license

9/13  Matthew Samme  (no call sign)   needed info on our class for radio license

Secretary’s Report

Cliff Sowka K9QD:  Approval of Meeting Minutes as published on our website. So moved.

EMCOMM

John Zietlow K9WIC reports SARC EmComm group participated in the Statewide exercise titled Dark Web II on October 27th.

The Scenario of the exercise was that the State of Illinois had experienced a cyber-attack on the phone switches and all land-line phones, cellular phones, and the Internet were inoperable.  Hams were to set up portable stations that could provide tactical communications from the emergency operations centers (EOCs) to critical locations such as hospitals and fire stations.  The ability to operate and send “911-type” information to the local public safety answering point (PSAP) was also to be tested.  The original instructions required simplex operations; this was amended during the exercise to allow the use of repeaters as simplex operations could not be sustained.

Participants included:

Schaumburg EOC Control Operators: Cliff, K9QD and Phil, WB9C

Hoffman Estates EOC Control Operators: Tyler, KD9GOL and Hillary, HE EMA

Northwest Central Dispatch liaison: Rob, N9MVO and Bob, WB9TZC

Tactical teams:

Chris, KA9QPY and Alex Shin

James, KC9UFB and Danny, KD9HIL

Orson, AB9WQ and Kevin, K9AAB

Bob, K9EKL and Peter, N9POL

While the overall operation did demonstrate that we could communicate and many lessons were learned to be incorporated in future exercises, we need more participants to totally cover all critical locations and to fully test the stability of the network.  We also need to establish digital links and HF connectivity to the State EOC.

A special thank you from SARC and the Villages of Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates to the participants for giving up their Saturday morning and helping with the exercise.  Well done!

Construction Project (CP)

Bill W9WEM reported there were more donuts @ CP than participants so we’re hoping attendance will improve in the coming months. There are residual items from the impromptu auction that remain in the northernmost cabinet for redemption.

Summary of Sold items and items to be paid-for and picked-up:

$10 for Icom IC-27h                                                                        N9EHA                  Sold & Paid

$190 for SB-500, SB-101, SB-600                                                K9KQX                  Sold & Paid

$1 on Motorola TEK7A meter                                                      AC9GN                  Sold & Paid

$25 for the ARC 5 T-22 7MHz Xmitter                                      AB9CV   In Cabinet     Open
$22 for the Hallicrafters HT-18 VFO                                          AB9CV   In Cabinet     Open
$5 for the Motorola TEK 21 Pulse Generator                        AB9CV   In Cabinet     Open
$5 for the Motorola TEK 31 Tone Generator                         AB9CV   In Cabinet     Open

$15 for the Fluke 8000A DMM                                                    AB9CV   In Cabinet     Open

$7 HP 1744 Scope                                                                            AB9CV   In Cabinet     Open

$30 for the HP 200AB Audio Generator                                  Picked-up already      Open
$120 for the Philips PM6671 Frequency Counter                AB9CV   In Cabinet     Open

$12 for the Eico 377 sine/square generator                          AB9CV   In Cabinet     Open

 

$241 Open w/ AB9CV; needs pick-up and payment for all except HP 200AB already delivered.  Items located in northernmost cabinet of the Construction Project meeting room.

Social

Robert Kocourek W9RKK will contact Bueno Beef for the January meeting night.   The January club party will include:  Net Check-in Raffle, Special Acknowledgement Awards for Member of the Year as well as the Bill Smead K9IIM Memorial Construction Project contributor.  These special acknowledgement awards were submitted on the Election Ballots this evening and will be ready for the January event.

Education

Leo N9NBH reported winter General Class has concluded with two students already taking their exam.  Potential for Tech Class in the Spring and possibly another General Class in the Fall.

VE Testing

John AC9JS reports VE Tests Results for November 4, 2018

Name Call Class
May, Douglas W9YFC General
Anderson, Justin KD9LYK Technician
Froula, Donald WD9DMP Extra

 

Class  
Technician 1
General 1
Extra 1
Total 3

Next examination date:  December 1, 2018

RHG

Matt AC9IG has been publishing club meeting minutes and activities on his newly-designed website.

Public Service

Rob N9MVO reported MS Walk is moving to Roselle this spring and set for the first weekend of May.  Good Public Service participation was enjoyed throughout 2018.    

Programs

Cliff Sowka K9QD no presentation tonight as elections will be held.  Dirk W0RI will present Digital Ham Operations during the December meeting.  No presentation for the January Holiday Party to be held at Buona Beef.  Next presentation will be February, 2019.

Nets

2M Machine is back on the air.

Ebay Sales

No eBay sales to report

Old Business

Nominating Committee:  Russell Schmidt KC9NUV is managing the candidate nomination process this year.  Please make your intentions known to Russ so that we can continue to have dedicated leadership for the coming year.

New Business

Elections:  Absentee Ballots that may have been returned to the PO Box today were not picked-up in time for the election tonight.  Since the slate for two offices of President and Vice President remained vacant on the mailing of Absentee Ballots, and since the potential is open for only up to three vacancy entries on the Absentee votes cast, John Zietlow K9WIC moved the affirmation of Geoff Stevens KA9QGH President, and Danny Kafka KD9HIL Vice President, Ken Krzywicki KD9HIJ Secretary, Chris Brewer AC9GN Treasurer, and Peter Maziuk N9POL Director be consummated as the election slate presented tonight.  Geoff KA9QGH seconded.  So Moved.

Club Officers for 2019:

President         Geoff Stevens KA9QGH

Vice President Danny Kafka KD9HIL

Treasurer        Chris Brewer AC9GN

Secretary         Ken Krzywicki KD9HIJ

Director           Peter Maziuk N9POL

Adjourn  7:40 PM

Submitted: November 16, 2018  Cliff Sowka K9QD Secretary.