Minutes – July 2024

MCWA Meeting Minutes of July 2nd, 2024

 

President Dan Larson (KD9M) called the July 2024 hybrid meeting (in-person and by Zoom) to order at 7:00 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 45 members were in attendance and 0 guests.

 

Awards and license upgrades

Gill Etheridge (WW9GIL) upgraded to General.

 

Approval of Minutes

The meeting minutes from the June 2024 meeting were previously posted to the MCWA website for review. John Kalenowsky (K9JK) moved to accept the minutes and Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY) 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 146 members including 12 family members and 2 associate members.

Opening Balance                         $11,130.61      2024-6-30

Deposits/Interest/Credits   $70.08          (Dues, Credits and Interest)

Expenditures                               $175.09         (DigitalOcean, POTA Supplies)

Final Balance                               $11,025.60      2024-6-30

Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY)moved to accept the treasurer’s report and John Cankar (W9JM) seconded the motion. Hearing no objections, the treasurer’s report was approved.

 

 Old Business

None.

 

New Business

The ARRL Foundation is announcing the return of the Club Grant Program for 2024.  This program offers up to $25,000 to projects that will transform ham radio.  Past examples include but are not limited to: get on the air projects; ham training and skills development through mentoring; STEM and STEAM learning through Amateur Radio; station resources for use by the ham community; and emergency communications and public service projects that emphasize training

As of yesterday (July 1st) LoTW is back on the air.  If you have large uploads from a contest or DXpedition, please wait a week or two before uploading to give LoTW a chance to catch up.

 

New Updates from Membership

 Roger Scott (KF9D) did 3 SOTA activations in Wisconsin over the weekend.  It was for the W9 Association anniversary weekend.

 

Trek 100 – John Cankar (W9JM)

John gave a quick overview on the Trek 100 from 3 weeks ago.  The event took place on Saturday, June 8th in Waterloo, WI.  There were over 1,000 riders that participated which was over 34% increase in ridership from last year.  The MACC Fund met their fundraising goal.  It’s a typical “Century” cycling event with 4 different routes.  Overall the event was a success, but the solar flare did cause some issues with SAG communications.  John thanked all members of MCWA that participated.  Next year’s date is Saturday, June 7 2025.

 

MCWA Field Day – Dan Larson (KD9M)

MCWA held field day at Rush Creek Conservation area this year.  We had smoked pork from Dan for food.  We laid out our lines in the trees on Friday afternoon and hoisted the antennas on Saturday.  We had several visitors including a Conservation Officer for the McHenry County Conservation District.  This year we tried something new with our generators.  John Dewey (KA9CAR) setup a transfer switch to seamlessly switch between generators when refueling.  The system worked well and was a safety improvement on fueling a hot generator.  We only had 4 hours and 15 minutes of storm delay and worked 85/86 ARRL Sections with 21 DX Entities.  Our total DX Mileage was 210,450.

 

415 Field Day – Gary Dembski (W9GD) and Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY)

415 had 30 GOTA operators.  They were also able to operate on a few satellites. The cast of Static showed up to support the 415 with their field day operations.  Static is a Morse Code Musical presented at the Raue Center in July.  Contact Sam (KC9GPY) for specifics on the dates.  The 415 will be getting a group together on Friday, July 19th at 7pm.  Reach out to Gary if you’re interested in attending as he needs to know final numbers by noon tomorrow (7/3).  Sam will be presenting for 2 min before each performance to give a quick rundown of ham radio and Morse Code.  The 415 will also be raffling off a practice code oscillator at the start of each show.  Dinner was a huge hit as always and they had 50 people attending dinner.  The VE Testing group at the 415 had 6 people take their license test.

 

Future Events

 Hamfests

South Milwaukee ARC Swapfest
Location: Oak Creek , WI
07/06/2024

Hamfesters 89th Annual Hamfest
Location: Peotone, IL
08/04/2024

Racine Megacycle Club Freefest
Location: Racine, WI
08/10/2024

ARANCI Hamfest
Location: Lake Village, IN
08/11/2024

ORC Annual Regional Fall Swapfest
Location: Cedarburg, WI
09/07/2024

HRO Superfest
Location: Milwaukee, WI
09/20/2024 – 09/21/2024

Midwest Superfest, ARRL Illinois Section Convention
Location: Chillicothe, IL
09/21/2024 – 09/22/2024

Radio Expo
Location: Belvidere, IL
09/22/2024

 

Contests and Activities

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

 

AUGUST

10-10 Int. Summer Contest, SSB   0001Z, Aug 3 to 2359Z, Aug 4

ARRL 222 MHz and Up Contest      1800Z, Aug 3 to 1800Z, Aug 4

North American QSO Party, CW     1800Z, Aug 3 to 0600Z, Aug 4

WAE DX Contest, CW                          0000Z, Aug 10 to 2359Z, Aug 11

ARRL 10 GHz and Up Contest         0600 local, Aug 17 to 2400 local, Aug 18

North American QSO Party, SSB    1800Z, Aug 17 to 0600Z, Aug 18

ARRL Rookie Roundup, RTTY         1800Z-2359Z, Aug 18

World Wide Digi DX Contest            1200Z, Aug 24 to 1200Z, Aug 25

 

Wrap up

The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, August 6th, 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.

John Dewey (KA9CAR) motioned to adjourn, and Dave Whaley (NT9E) seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM.

 

 

Prepared by Andrew White (K9AJW), MCWA Secretary.