MCWA Meeting Minutes of June 4th, 2024
President Dan Larson (KD9M) called the June 2024 hybrid meeting (in-person and by Zoom) to order at 7:01 PM. The Pledge of Allegiance followed, led by Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY)
Board members present were: Director – Glenn Otto (K9OK), Secretary – Andrew White (K9AJW), Treasurer – Bob Temes (KD9IDD), Vice President – Wendell Smith (N9REP), President – Dan Larson (KD9M), and Past President – Ralph Iden (WB9ICF).
A total of 46 members were in attendance and 3 guests:
PJ Delpalazzo (No Call)
Sonda Delpalazzo (No Call)
Lih Hwang (No Call)
Awards and license upgrades
None.
Approval of Minutes
The meeting minutes from the May 2024 meeting were previously posted to the MCWA website for review. Bill Wacaser (AF9I) moved to accept the minutes and John Cankar (W9JM) seconded the motion. Hearing no objections, the minutes were approved.
Membership and Financial Reports
Bob Temes (KD9IDD) presented the membership and financial reports for September. MCWA has a membership of 145 members including 12 family members and 2 associate members.
| Opening Balance | $11,110.54 | 2024-5-1 |
| Deposits/Interest/Credits | $34.10 | (Dues, Credits and Interest) |
| Expenditures | $14.03 | (Digital Ocean, Coffee) |
| Final Balance | $11,130.61 | 2024-5-31 |
John Kalenowsky (K9JK) moved to accept the treasurer’s report and Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY) seconded the motion. Hearing no objections, the treasurer’s report was approved.
Old Business
POTA at Moraine Hills State Park went well. A special “Thank You” goes out to Angelo Fanzone (KD9QVW) and Glenn Otto (K9OK) for putting the event together. At the peak, about 23 people were at the event.
John Dewey (KA9CAR) is going to create a LotW account for K9RN once the ARRL website is back up to accept registrations. That way we can upload logs from the previous and any future POTA events.
New Business
None.
New Updates from Membership
Ralph Iden (WB9ICF) has been playing with a new type of voice encoding called FreeDV. He built a hardware encoder that works with Flex radios for this new type of voice encoding.
Ralph also addressed the club program and survey that we conducted to rank the most desired program topics. He posted a listing of programs in the back of the room in order of ranking. He wants people to consider signing up for a program. No one has to do it alone and there will be support provided by the club. It’s a good opportunity for those with knowledge in a particular subject to Elmer others that may be interested in the subject.
Roger (K9FD) plans on doing several activations this Friday so look for him on CW.
Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY) took down a 40 year old, 80’ freestanding tower with some help from several other members. Everything went flawlessly and the tower is now at Gary’s farm.
Ralph posted on the reflector about the e-mail he received from the NY Amateur Radio Club that is looking to participate in a 40m direct conversion receiver build-a-thon in an anchovy can. Please reach out to him if you’re looking to get in on the build.
Future Events
MCWA will be doing Field Day June 22-23 at Rush Creek Conservation Area. Contact Dan Larson (KD9M) for more information.
415 is also doing Field Day in June at Gary’s farm. Contact Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY) for more info. The 415 will be doing VE Testing in the morning during Field Day at the farm from 10am to 12pm. Please e-mail JoAnne Maenpaa (K9JKM) if you’re interested in testing.
Hamfests
Monroe county (IN) Hamfest 6/8/2024
Bloomington, IN
EgyptianFest 6/9/2024
Granite City, IL
Sunshine Swapfest 6/15/2024
Appleton, WI
Contests and Activities
JUNE
ARRL Inter. Digital Contest 1800Z, Jun 1 to 2400Z, Jun 2
ARRL June VHF Contest 1800Z, Jun 8 to 0300Z, Jun 10
Stew Perry Topband Challenge 1500Z, Jun 15 to 1500Z, Jun 16
ARRL Kids Day 1800Z-2359Z, Jun 15
ARRL Field Day 1800Z, Jun 22 to 2100Z, Jun 23
JULY
13 Colonies 1300Z, Jul 1 to 0400z Jul 8
RAC Canada Day Contest 0000Z-2359Z, Jul 1
North American QSO Party, RTTY 1800Z, Jul 20 to 0559Z, Jul 21
CQ Worldwide VHF Contest 1800Z, Jul 20 to 2100Z, Jul 21
Wrap up
The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, July 2nd, 2024 at the Algonquin Township meeting room. Open “eyeball” QSOs start at 6:30 PM, with the meeting starting at 7:00 PM. Formal program is TBD.
Tonight’s presentation will be by Dan Larson (KD9M) on Log Books and Yet Another Way to Log.
Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY) motioned to adjourn, and Bill Wacaser (AF9I) seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 7:46 PM.
Prepared by Andrew White (K9AJW), MCWA Secretary.