Schaumburg Business Meeting November 21st, 2019
Rebecca KA9EFE once again had two plates of her baked goodies for us.
Vice President Danny Kafka KD9HIL called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm. The question for the evening was “have you ever experienced a lightning strike?”
Attendees:
Danny Kafka KD9HIL///Robert Kocourek W9RKK///Mel Luxenberg W9FRT
Rob Glowacki N9MVO///D.J. Traxler WA9UBR///Terry Jarnholm AE9TJ///John Douglas KD9KSH
William Crockett KD9AUP///Burt Schultz AB9CV///Bill McGovern W9WEM///
James Edgell KC9UAB///Don Smith K9UD///Jim Campbell KB9RGU///John Zietlow K9WIC
Doug May W9YFC///John Schofield AC9JS///Steve Karson AC9EM///Don Dewar KD9NJR
Ed Lishka AC9SD///Gireg Olmetti (no call)///Sid Puri (no call)///Abe Goodman KD9OFB
Frank Giampa N9QPD///Lou Childers N9LTW///Lucas Childers KB9UGJ///Dane Duval KD9MBR
Jack McClurkin W9YY///Mike Griffiths K9KMV///Cliff Sowka K9QD///Bob Benwitz N9JAX
Bob McIntyre W9DXR///Ken Krzywicki KD9HIJ///Rick Dickens KY0Q
Secretary’s Report:
A motion to accept the minutes of the 17 October 19 meeting was made by Rob N9MVO and seconded by Frank N9QPD.
Danny KD9HIL wanted the minutes to be amended to reflect the following changes: Under the VP report it should only read “The VP was in attendance”. And under New Business it should read “Danny KD9HIL has volunteered to be the Field Day Chair”. A motion to accept the minutes as amended was made by Rob N9MVO and seconded by Robert W9RKK. The motion carried.
Treasurer’s Report:
The Treasurer’s Report from the BOD meeting for the month of October was read by the Secretary. Beginning Balance:…………..$5962.09
Income:……………………………. 0.00
Expense……………………………. 700.74 (2 storage, party, $61.53 data)
Ending Balance………………….$5261.35
Notes: Current number of fully paid members is 76.
A motion to accept the Treasurer’s Report was made by Rob N9MVO and seconded by Bill W9WEM. The motion carried.
Public Service:
Rob N9MVO reports that there will be several activities coming up in the future and information on those will be forthcoming.
Newsletter:
Mike K9KMV requests that any items the members may want included in the newsletter should be forwarded to him early in the month.
EMCOMM:
John K9WIC submitted the following.
Club members participated in the State-Wide Fractured Prairie Exercise on October 25th and 26th. This was a simulated emergency test (SET) to demonstrate the ability of amateur radio operators to provide backup communications across the entire State.
On Friday, the focus was on agency communications, since employees were being paid and could participate in the exercise as part of their normal duties. Locally, we had three hams at the Hoffman Estates EOC. The focus was on HF communications; primarily the Illinois Emergency Net on 3.905 MHz. Propagation was extremely bad that day as witnessed on the North Central Phone Net, 3.912 MHz, from 0700 to 0730 local time. Normally solid contacts between Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa stations were non-existent.
The EOC does not have HF capability. Local VHF and Starcom 21 channels were monitored. No communications took place. We attempted to locate a means of erecting a temporary HF antenna but were unsuccessful. We secured the EOC around noon.
On Saturday, we began by calling a resource net on the SARC repeater at 0815. Over the course of the morning we had seven check-ins. We monitored the local VHF frequencies and Starcom 21 channel Region 4A. We had planned on staging at the PD and testing some of the tactical links. With only three of us present, we did not go to the field. We secured the EOC at 1130 local time.
This exercise demonstrated the need to train and exercise outside official exercises. Beginning in January, we anticipate training on deployment, message handling, and both voice and digital communications. Means and methods for this training are TBD.
It is also noted, since the EMCOMM Round Table is not a SARC function, The EMCOMM Chair had no authority to cancel The November and December sessions. Accordingly, Bob Langsfeld, WB9TZC, will determine the location of the December meeting. Watch for information on SARC-ALL and the Thursday evening net.
Repeaters:
Terry AE9TJ, Rob N9MVO and Dennis KD9HIK installed new batteries, rigged up the power supply and the repeater is up and running. The repeater call sign is still set for 10 minute intervals. There is no information at this time about the possibility of a new call sign.
Construction Project:
A dummy load project was suggested for a CP activity with about 25/27 attendees indicating they would be interested.
Cliff K9QD advised us that Roy Merkel has passed away. His widow has indicated that she will provide a list to SARC ALL with an offer to purchase the equipment.
VE Testing:
John AC9JS reports the results of the VE Testing for 2 November 2019 are as follows:
Adalbert KD9OFA Technician
Abe KD9OFB Technician
Jeffery KD9OFC Technician
Michael KD9OFD Technician
Wayne KE0GTF Extra
Class: Technician 4 General 0 Extra 1
VEs: Bill Davies K9WKD///Steve Karson AC9EM///Ed Lishka AC9SD///James Migalla KC9UFB
John Schofield AC9JS and Dirk Smith W0RI
The next examination date is 7 December 2019.
Social:
John KD9KSH has lined up Garibaldi’s Restaurant for the SARC Christmas/Holiday Party. More information will be forthcoming. Normally the Club has its party at Buona Beef. However, due to construction/remodeling at Buona Beef, they couldn’t guarantee the area would be ready in time for our activity. Garibaldi’s is located in the same general area as Buona Beef.
Education:
The Technician Class is over and a General Class will be scheduled for 12 weeks in the fall. Leo N9NBH will be in contact with the Library officials to reserve the dates.
Publicity:
Dennis KD9HIK is still looking for volunteers to participate in a recorded/filmed segment for the Schaumburg Park Districts airing on their web site of what Ham Radio is all about. Those interested please contact Dennis KD9HIK.
Programs:
Bill KD9AUP has set up a presentation for the December meeting which has to do with distracted driving.
Old Business:
The donated Rohn tower has been picked up at the water tower site.
The Club is still looking for a membership chair as Bob N9JAX is stepping down. Many thanks to Bob for his service in that capacity.
Bob N9JAX will be in contact with Bob W9GEW to get the badges project going.
New Business:
Leo N9NBH has secured a new meeting date for the BOD meeting from 1/1/20 to 1/8/20 at the CRC meeting room.
John AC9JS has also adjusted the VE testing date due to the 4th of July holiday. The dates for 2020 have been sent in to SARC already.
Motion to Adjourn:
With no further business to conduct, a motion to adjourn was made by Cliff K9QD and seconded by Robert. The motion carried and the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted KD9HIJ
Secretary
Election:
The ballots were passed out to the membership and subsequently counted by Frank N9QPD and Danny KD9HIL. Frank then remarked “everyone elected”.
Congratulations to President Geoff Stevens, Vice President Danny Kafka, Secretary Ken Krzywicki, Treasurer Chris Brewer, BOD Kent Ochs, BOD John Douglas.
The special recognition awards will be announced at the Christmas/Holiday Party.