Board of Directors Meeting January 8, 2025
As stated in the SARC bylaws, the Board of directors elected Bill McGovern W9WEM as its chairman
Bill McGovern W9WEM Chairman called the meeting to order at 7:00PM
A motion was made by the Chairman Bill McGovern W9WEM to add SARC Officers as voting members at Board meetings. The Motion was seconded by Bill Reese KW9W and adopted by vote of the Board members.
Secretary’s Report
Howard Mitchell KD9WSV: Asked for any comments or questions regarding the December BOD Meeting Minutes as published by Cliff Sowka K9QD in the RHG: None heard, Bill Reiss KW9WR moved for approve of then That’s wonderful to hear and Bob Benwitz N9JAX seconded. Motion Adopted.
Treasurer’s Report
Chris Brewer AC9GN not present
Public Service
Rob Glowacki N9MVO not present
Robert Kocourek W9RKK mentioned a report that documented the MS Walk for this coming year has been moved to Itasca.
Repeaters
Rob Glowacki N9MVO not present.
Board continues to request a detailed Scope of Work from TOWERWORKS in replacing our 2M StationMaster antenna. Rob N9MVO is working with the vendor; no report at the moment.
Construction Project
Cliff Sowka K9QD: Attendance continues to be very good. The successful bidders for the second round of the auction may pick up items at this coming Saturday freeing up much needed cabinet space.
Radio Hill Gazette (RHG)
Eliot Libner N9EPA Editor updating our main page with items of interest derived from internal postings of our membership. He wants to include pictures but has to explore how to add them.
VE Testing:
John Schofield AC9JC FCC Volunteer Examiner (VE) Session Chair not present but subsequently provided the following report:
Participating Volunteer Examiners (VEs)
Next examination date: February 1, 2025
Nets
Attendance remains enthusiastic. Don Dewar KD9NJR reports he needs club members to come forward to handle Net Control for the Tech Net.
Membership
Scott DeSantis KB9VRW Membership Committee Chairman not present.
Publicity
Dennis C. Calvey KD9HIK Publicity Chairman reports:
1) Invitations to the SARC Holiday Party sent to the following representatives of the Village of Schaumburg and Schaumburg Park District:
“Tracy L. Raimondo” Schaumburg Fire Department, Emergency Management and Accreditation
Tom Dailly, Village of Schaumburg President
Brian Bieschke, Village of Schumbrg Trustee
Jamie Clar, Village of Schaumburg Trustee
Mark Madej, Village of Schumburg Trustee
Esha Patel, Village of Schumburg Trustee
Jack Sullivan, Village of Schumburg Trustee
Jane Lentino, Village of Schaumburg, Village Clerk
Matt Frank, Villagfe of Schaumburg, Economic Development
Jim Walters, Village of Schaumburg Fire Department, Chief
Bill Wolf, Villafe of Schaumburg Police Department, Chief
Erin Chapa , Schaumburg Park Districtr, Superintendant of Facility Operations
John Schomer, Schaumburg Park District, Manager Community Recreation Center
Mary Leahy, Schaumburg Park District, Manager Tennis Plus Club
Bill Clark, RETIRED, former head of Emergency Services, Village of Schaumburg
Michael Hall, Village of Schaumburg, Engineering and Public Works, Director
Brian Townsend, Village of Schaumburg, Village Manager
The invitation includes a request to RSVP to me
2) Room reservations request for 2025 sent to the Schaumburg Park District (Community Recreation Center, Tennis Plus Club). It included room setup and a note that the Club Meeting uses the wall mounted television / monitor to facilitate a “Zoom” setup for disabled members that are unable to attend in person.
3) As of January 5th, 2025 the registration site for the Technician Class at the Schaumburg Township District Library – Hoffman Estates Branch, shows “Join Wait List”. This tells me that all 15 available seats are taken.
Reported over 170 followers on Facebook page, most being non SARC. Looking to add more information on our page.
EMCOMM
Still looking for someone to take over full chair responsibilities
Social
John Douglas KD9KSH has reserved Pollyanna facility in Roselle for our Holiday Party Saturday January 18th 2025 6~9PM. At this point about 30 have replied as attending but likely will get additional as we get closer to the party date.
Education
Leo N9NBH not present. Leo Ribordy (N9NBH) has secured dates for the next Technician class to be held at the Schaumburg Township District Library (Hoffman Estates Branch).
The classes will start on Saturday January 11, 2025 and continue each Saturday until Saturday March 15th. Classes are published on the Library website (stdl.org).
Programs
Don Dewar KD9NJR: working on Program Schedule for next several months. Still hoping to have host DX Engineering during the early months of 2025. Also working to have a session conducted by Kirk K9MSG on the simplex net testing he has been working on.
Old Business
Don Dewar KD9NJR Initiated a discussion regarding plans for replacing the two meter repeater antenna. We are still awaiting a response from the company that Rob has been interfacing with regarding a written, detailed proposal for the work to be done. He supplied information about a potential alternative named Tower and Repeater Repair and gave that information to the club secretary for our files. It was also noted during the discussion that ever since the testing took place to try to identify if there were problems with the antenna, thet the quality of the two meter system would appear to be much improved. It was decided that why we should continue to solicit installation quotes we should delay any implementation at this time
New Business
Don Dewar Indicated that one or more members are having problems getting messages on SARC-ALL. It is possible that this is due to set up problems on the member’s system.
Robert Kocourek W9RKK asked if we should consider using some of the funds we now have to purchase a new Yaesu Fusion capable 2M repeater. That prompted considerable discussion of various alternatives including the merits of linking repeaters and it was decided to further discuss this at the business meeting and future board meetings.
Another concern expressed to Don Dewar was that we too many individuals joining nets via Echolink from far outside our area. He pointed out that the automated announcements when an individual connects and disconnects is a big part of the problem. Robert Kocourek will investigate how this can be changed.
Adjourn 7:47 PM
Submitted January 9, 2025
Howard Mitchell KD9WSV, Secretary