Schaumburg Amateur Radio Club Board of Directors Meeting April 3, 2019

Leo Ribordy N9NBH Chairman opened the meeting at 7:00 PM.

Attendees

Treasurer’s Report

Chris Brewer AC9GN reported current financials:

Beginning Balance $5,307.76

Income $        0.00

Expense $    348.53  ($61.53 Data Line, Field Day Reimbursement, new CP parts bins).

Ending Balance $4,959.23

Current fully-paid membership: 75

President’s Report

Geoff KA9QGH reminded the group that we will be looking forward to field day shortly.  Discussion centered around details of contacting the Village for Permit Approval, Insurance Rider, organization specifics and communicating with the relevant Village officials.

Publicity  

Dennis Calvey KD9HIK reported he had forwarded proposed text for a new Press Release to the Board but no receipts/feedback was observed.  Danny KD9HIL remarked she is also not receiving SARC-BD traffic. Both need to be added to the SARC-BD Reflector.

Dennis received Board Approval tonight for a short article [Frank moved, Danny Seconded, motion passed] he authored:

Every year an unseen army of volunteers donate thousands of hours of time to provide communication services at public events and during disasters.

The Amateur Radio, commonly known as “Ham Radio”, community in the United States has over 755,000 FCC operators licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  They’re involved in many types of activities ranging from extremely low power systems, bouncing signals off the moon or meteor trails, participating in contests, and developing new technologies.

One area of active participation is support for organizers and agencies during public events like parades or marathons.

The Schaumburg Amateur Radio Association (SARC) provides trained volunteer operators for Public Service Events like the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Walk-a-Thon, the Hoffman Estates 4th of July parade, and the Schaumburg Triathlon.

Rob Glowacki (FCC Radio Call Sign N9MVO), Public Service Chair for SARC, recorded close to 200 hours of volunteer time in 2018 from SARC members.  Rob explains that the volunteers typically use their own equipment to provide extra eyes and ears for event organizers as well as public safety agencies such as Police, Fire, and Paramedics.

This helps leverage public safety agency effectiveness without adding cost to taxpayers or event organizers.

Rob also points out that that the Ham radio operators also use these events to practice skills necessary for another type of volunteer service, providing Emergency Communications (EMCOMM) during disaster events.

Besides supporting Public Service Events, SARC offers a variety of activities for Ham operators as well those interested in becoming a Ham.  For more information check out their website, www.n9rjv.org or leave a message at (224) 698-1072.

Dennis C. Calvey  KD9HIK

KD9HIK@arrl.org

SARC Repeaters  

Rob N9MVO and Terry AE9TJ not present. Chis AC9GN hasn’t been contacted for reimbursement of newly-authorized SPARES purchases at the moment but we believe some equipment has already been procured with more to be acquired.  The Board had previously approved expenditures for various Repeater items such as Lightning suppressors, controller modules, etc.

Secretary’s Report

Cliff Sowka K9QD:   Approval of March’s BOD Minutes as published on our website.

State of Illinois Agent of Record is currently K9QD and will need to transition to KD9HIJ when he returns later this quarter.

EMCOMM

John Zietlow K9WIC EMCOMM Chairman not present.

Construction Project (CP)

No Report.

There are two CP sessions remaining during the month of April after which time the club’s CP events conclude until activating again in September 2019.

Social

John Douglas KD9KSH has taken control of the Social Chairman Role for 2019.  Discussed a possible spring activity such as a Boomer Game and will check costs, seating options, dates.  Regarding Public Service events, John observed there were about 60 people last year from Chicago for the MS Walk who arrived at the event only to find there were insufficient porta-potty facilities.  MS Walk responsibility for the participant’s needs was not evident.

Education

Leo N9NBH will be conducting a Technician Class with the Library District for the fall timeframe.  Library requires 6 months advance notice so Leo will submit his class announcement in time for publication.

VE Testing   

Ed Lishka AC9SD reported the March session results:  Passed 3 Technician, 2 General, 1 Extra.

RHG:  Matt AC9IG continues editor role until a new editor for 2019 can be appointed.

Membership Committee

For the month of March there were no inquiries responded to or any other significant activities to report.

Bob Benwitz  N9JAX

NETS

Leo N9NBH reported the NETS have been conducted as planned.  

Public Service

Rob N9MVO not present but previously reported the MS Walk has changed the venue for the event in 2019.  More details will become known as the spring approaches for the Roselle event May 5th.

Programs

Cliff Sowka K9QD reminded a new SARC Program Chair needs to be selected for 2019.  Nothing is scheduled for the April Business meeting at the moment.

Ebay Sales

No eBay sales to report.  

Old Business

30 Day advance notice has been properly given for proposed Bylaw changes to be subsequently affirmed in a future Special Session; currently targeted to be called after the April Business Meeting concludes.

Frank N9QPD reported there are internal discussions ongoing where a more definitive set of BOD guidelines could be crafted as a resolution per Article III Section 5 if passed during a Special Session in April.

Article III Section 5

Revocation of Membership for cause will be considered in a method specified by the Board of Directors 

Article VIII   Section 3

No member shall act in an official capacity on behalf of SARC or allocate/order emergency funding without having prior approval of three (3) members of the Board of Directors.

New Business

Leo N9NBH mentioned Bill Crockett KD9AUP has a 900 MHz Repeater available for donation. We may be able to replace our current linking configuration if we had two [927.55 MHz] Repeaters.  Leo will check for possibilities.

Geoff KA9QGH mentioned we need a Field Day Chair.  We also need to update our insurance rider to include the FD site and also add an updated rider for the Park District basement Zero-Rent Agreement which expired last fall.

Adjourn 8:35 PM

Submitted:  April 4, 2019 by Cliff Sowka K9QD during the prearranged absence of Ken Krzywicki KD9HIJ, Secretary.

Schaumburg Business Meeting April 18, 2019

Danny Kafka KD9HIL Vice President called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.

Rebecca KA9EFE brought cookies:  well done but great nonetheless and all gone!

Attendees

Treasurer’s Report

Chris Brewer AC9GN reported:

Beginning Balance $5,307.76

Income $       0.00

Expense $   348.53  ($61.53 Data Line, CPM Cabinets, Sec’y State Annual Rpt)

Ending Balance $4,959.22

Current fully-paid membership:  75

President’s Report

Geoff Stevens KA9QGH not present.

Publicity  

Dennis Calvey KD9HIK submitted a newly-crafted publicity idea to the Board for approval.

SARC Repeaters  

Terry AED9TJ purchased some spares for our machines.   The BOD has approved $200 headroom for inventory acquisition and some replacement Lightning suppressor pills have arrived; still need to purchase some spare memory and uP modules.

Membership

Bob Benwitz N9JAX reported were no membership inquiries during March.

Secretary’s Report

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

EMCOMM

John Zietlow K9WIC EMCOMM Chairman updated the club regarding Bill Clark’s Ham Operator’s resource request:

Schaumburg EMCOMM  requests the SARC EmCOMM Team meet on Tuesday, April 30, 6:30 PM at the Schaumburg EOC to discuss participation in the upcoming Chicagoland Marathon.

The Marathon will be held on Sunday, May 19.

John will be looking for hams interested in helping with this event.  Please contact j.zietlow@comcast.net if interested.  We usually arrive around 0630 with our hand-helds and begin the race around 0700.  Our role is to support the Unified Command with sitreps (situation reports) and monitor runners for medical or physical problems.  Don’t worry if you can’t make the meeting on the 30th; we can still use your help on May 19th.

Schaumburg  EMCOMM Radio Team will provide communications support for the Chicagoland Marathon.  The typical operational period is from 0630 to noon in the Busse Woods Forest Preserve.  We are looking for volunteers to provide situational reports and health and welfare, tactical communications during the event.  If we can get enough volunteers, we will pair up operators at the water stations; we also have multiple bicycle mobile stations to provide rapid response to mid-course incidents.  An orientation meeting will be held on April 30th at the Schaumburg EOC by Bill Clark, the Unified Commander for the event. It should be noted that this is also Dayton Weekend.

Additional information will be sent via Sarc-ALL.

There will also be a joint exercise involving multiple communities and agencies during the week of June 17-21, 2019.  This exercise will likely include amateur radio participation. It should be noted that time is the week leading up to Field Day.

The following events should be listed on the SARC Calendar:

• Simulated Emergency Test April 27, 2019
• Chicagoland Marathon May 19, 2019

The Simulated Emergency Test Exercise Plan has already been published.

Exercise Scenario

At 4:30 am CDT, Illinois experienced a statewide communications failure. The cause of the failure is a physical attack against a major telecommunication switching center and a coordinated cyber-attack against the carrier’s management and control systems. Cell Phones, StarCom Radios, landlines, 911, and internet service is spotty or unavailable.

Emergency Operation Centers have been activated across the state including the Rogers Street Facility (NC9IL) in Springfield.

Information will need to be shared locally, regionally as well as statewide.

Hospitals, Emergency Management Services (EMS), Police and 9-1-1 centers have limited to no communications capabilities.

At 0800 CDT, Saturday 27th we will start an 80 meter net to establish the exercise. This net will close at 1030CDT when the 60 meter net will start.  Please check into the net as your station becomes operable and check out when the net closes down.

At 1030 CDT, we will start the 60-meter net and NET CONTROL STATION will announce to the attendees the net is open to accept traffic.  This net will close at 1130AM then the 40-meter net will start. Please check into the net as your station becomes operable and check out when the net closes.

At 1130 CDT we will start the 40-meter net.  NET CONTROL STATION will announce the net is open to accept traffic both digital and voice.  This net will close when we start the 80-meter net at 1300 CDT. Please check into the net as your station becomes operable and check out when the net closes.

At 1300 CDT we will start the 80-meter net.  NET CONTROL STATION will announce the net is open to accept both digital and voice traffic.  Please check into the net as your station becomes operable and check out when the net closes.

At 1600 CDT 80-meter NET CONTROL STATION will close the net and return the frequency back to normal use.  The field stations will contact net control and check out.

Additionally, Bob WB9TZC informed Salvation Army will also participate in the exercise.

The following are the minimum to be done during each of the HF nets from 0800 – 1600

Activity 1 -Stations outside IL will send directed NTS Radiograms and WinLink messages to certain exercise field stations.  Be prepared to handle these messages per their directions. You will not know until the message arrives what you are to do with it.

Activity 2 -A station in N Illinois has developed a list of supplies to be fulfilled by NC9IL.   The list will be sent to the NET CONTROL STATION in Southern Illinois ASAP and then they will send to NC9IL.

You are to get the following list to the Southern Illinois NCS.  

200 feet of 1” hardline with connectors

2 dual band antennas

20 cots

40 blankets

200 gallons of water

200 First Aid Kits

Construction Project (CP)

Bill McGovern W9WEM reported the following attendance:  Thanks to all who attended the Construction Project meeting this morning.  The following folks signed the sign-in sheet:

Our last Construction Project meeting for the Spring will be 4/27/2019.  The recent SK donations will require some culling during this last session with needed separation activity to decide Hamfest Sales candidates for this coming summer season.  Hamfest attendees can then visit the storage area to gather items for upcoming fests and collect resultant funds for the Treasury.

SARC in the Park will become our activity for this time slot beginning in May.  Refer to the SARC calendar at:  www.n9rjv.org

The current Park District Free-Rental Agreement for the basement facility needs to be renewed.  We will need to renew our insurance rider as well.

Social

John Douglas KD9KSH discussed possible Boomer’s Stadium social event sometime in August.  Normal admission is $12 but we may be able to get a volume discount down to $9 if we can find a minimum of 20 attendees.  

Bob Zuttermeister W9GEW proposed that he is able to host a social event for several Hams wishing to build antennas.   Bob would open his business and provide available machine shop tools at no charge (will ask participants to assist in collecting aluminum metal and materials funds ahead of time) to help club members craft J-Pole antennas.  

A casual show-of-hands indicates about 5 people would be interested in participating in a Saturday-morning event where collections for purchased raw materials expense and delivery could be arranged ahead of time.  Maybe we could even plan a small additional collection to bring in some lunch at Bob’s facility. Bob and John will find a future Saturday timeslot that won’t interfere with other scheduled activity and inform potentially interested members through SARC-ALL reflector to organize such an event.

Education

Leo N9NBH not present.

VE Testing   

John AC9JS not present but reports VE Tests results.

Tests Results for April 6, 2019

Next examination date: May 4, 2019

RHG:  

Mike KD9KMV not present.

Public Service

Rob N9MVO not present.

Programs

Cliff Sowka K9QD reported that a new Program Chair is needed for 2019.  No program scheduled for tonight but Danny KD9HIL brought several 30-minute Videos if there is interest.

Nets

Tech Net Tuesday 7:30 and general net every Thursday 8PM except the third Thursday of the month.  

Bob WB9TZC reinforced Salvation Army’s appreciation for SARC’s permission to use our 2M machine on Monday nights.  Their reports are indicating they’re able to hear participants from Rockford and Rochelle; state our machine’s coverage is working well for them.

Steve AC9EM reported between 12 and 18 attendees are present for a typical net.

Bill KD9AUP will be working with the Illinois Repeater Association to get our Amita machine registered.  The current frequency we’re using was selected because it seems to effectively avoid the local QRM and hopefully we can keep the machine on this frequency.

Ebay Sales

No eBay sales to report.

New Business

Burt AB9CV moved we support the Illinois Repeater Association with a $20 contribution.  Bill KD9AUP seconded. So moved.

Chris AC9GN will trigger a payment to the repeater organization once Bill KD9AUP provides details.

Old Business

Bylaw Consideration:  Hereby invoking required 30-Day Notice Provision by closing this session and immediately opening a Special Session for Membership’s ratification of two Bylaw Changes.

Adjourn  8:01 PM

Submitted: April 19, 2019 by Cliff Sowka K9QD during the prearranged absence of Ken Krzywicki KD9HIJ, Secretary.

Schaumburg Amateur Radio Club Special Meeting April 18, 2019

Danny Kafka KD9HIL Vice President called the meeting to order at 8:02 PM.

Attendees

Special Session to Consider ByLaw Changes

Hereby In Compliance with Required 30-Day Notice Provision.

Committee asks membership to approve mechanism presented to the Board of Directors during February session that allows the club to remove an undesirable member(s).  

Article III Section 5

Revocation of Membership for cause will be considered in a method specified by the Board of Directors [For clarification in triggering an actual member removal incident under newly-proposed Article III Section 5 (if ratified by the Membership in April) for cause, Frank N9QPD moved the Board of Directors shall receive such complaint in writing.  So moved].

Discussion ensued until 8:25 PM.  Discussion closed; Dennis KD9HIK moved to Call for the Question.  Steve AC9EM seconded; so moved.

Danny KD9HIL informed the membership there was previous Board discussion to require a written, secrete vote but such requirement wasn’t instituted and therefore directed tonight’s vote will be called by Show-of-Hands.

Results:  four (4) votes to ratify, twenty-three (23) opposed.

Article VIII   Section 3

No member shall act in an official capacity on behalf of SARC, or allocate/order emergency funding without having prior approval of three (3) members of the Board of Directors.  

Dennis KD9HIK moved to Call for the Question. Steve AC9EM seconded; so moved.

Results: twenty-seven (27) votes to ratify.  

Adjourn  8:32 PM

Submitted April 19, 2019 by Cliff Sowka K9QD during the prearranged absence of Ken Krzywicki KD9HIJ, Secretary.