ARCARS
August 2011
Meeting Minutes
The meeting was called to order on August 7, 2010 with 15 members and guests present.
MOTION: To accept the previous minutes by Russ (KD8FRE), seconded by Jerrie (KC8YRQ), approved.
TREASURES REPORT: Our last reported balance stood at $5,154.50.
DISASTER REPORT: There were several mutual aid fire calls reported. None required an ARCARS call out.
NET REPORT: Edgar (KC8VLV) reported that the net has been doing well with an average of10 amateurs participating on the weekly nets. He expressed that he was going to re-introduce various topics on the upcoming nets to peak interest.
SPECIAL EVENTS: The 4H fair was a success. We established a command station and worked with eight other organizations. We logged in 280 volunteer man hours at that event. There were 48 calls for help that ultimately involved EMS and police at the event.
We collected $305 selling parking spaces for the Port Huron to Mackinac Sail Boat Race “boat night” event. $60 has been spent on minor repairs on the truck.
An upcoming Lightship and Lighthouse weekend is scheduled to be held August 20 & 21st.
The Fall Harvest Days event is scheduled for August 26th through the 28th. ARCARS is preparing to support the event with a working amateur radio station to demonstrate to the attendees. We will be setting up a tower and the TET “directional beam” antenna. We will likely set up on the 25th and are seeking radio operators for the event. Watch for an email with further details.
CLUB STATION: The 2 meter packet station is operational again. Please contact via, k8arc-1 on 145.01MHz.
Our request for the grant for the DStar repeater has been accepted. Our initial outlay is expected to be about $3,000 with that amount to be refunded to us if we are able to gain 10 new DStar registrations. The DStar is a digital repeater that will allow a wider service area as well as access to the internet using the hand held transceivers. The frequency of 146.690MHz has been secured. We have other elements of the repeater in hand including; duplexers, feed line, and an antenna. Once this is in place we will be one of three American Red Cross chapters that have a DStar system. The repeater is likely to be housed in the Command Center of the Chapter House. This repeater should be operational in the very near future.
The purchase 60, sixteen channel handheld business band radios to be used by non-licensed disaster responders has been set in motion. They will also be offered to be rented by organizations that need radios for their events. They should break even on the investment with anticipated donations in about 2 years. They were ordered with 2 batteries and an assortment of spare parts. These radios are easily programmable to limit the frequencies to the intended usage.
NEWSLETTER: The web pages are located at www.qsl.net/arcars and www.bandopening.com/arcars . There is a wealth of information available on the website including the RSS feed. Please be sure to visit the swap list link has recently been updated.
CLUB PROJECT: The truck has been insulated and a small air conditioner has been installed. A shelf is needed above the desk along with lighting. We also need a spare battery in the truck for radio charging and operation. The RV plug needs to be replaced that plugs into the trailer.
OLD BUSINESS: All the remaining equipment that has been removed from (NA8I)’s garage.
Orders for ARCARS apparel are being processed by Russ (KD8FRE).
NEW BUSINESS: The 146.800MHz K8ARC, ARCARS repeater is scheduled to be insured through the chapter house as a rider on the plan.
DX SPOTS/ SPECIAL EVENTS: Paul (KG8OU) reported working the Southern Sudan station (ST0R) on 17 and 20 meters. He went on to report that the Ascension Islands have been active on the bands.
MOTION TO ADJOURN: by Edgar (KC8VLV), seconded by Jerri (KC8YRQ), approved.
ANNOUNCEMENTS and other info:
The ARCARS & International Traders Net is held every Tuesday evening at 8pm on the 146.800 K8ARC repeater.
AA8K 's Johnson Ranger and PCR-100 receiver were sold at the trunk sale.
The International Friendship Net is held every Thursday at 9pm on the 145.370-VA3SAR repeater
The Thumb / Mid Michigan Nets are held Monday through Saturday at 9:30pm on the 147.300 repeater.
HF: The Great Lakes Emergency and Traffic Net is held nightly at 8pm on 3.932 kHz
Our scheduled events are located on the Google Doc’s system at docs.arcars.org and mail.arcars.org