Author: Ralph

Subject: Meeting Minutes of Dec. 1, 2015

The December meeting was called to order by President Jim, N7US at 7:00 p.m. on December 1, 2015 in the Crystal Lake Bank meeting room.

The Pledge of Allegiance kicked off the meeting, led by Jim, N7US.

President Jim extended a welcome and asked if there were visitors or guests present. Ed, KC9FBN and Todd, N9GY were introduced as a guest. Ed, Mark, KD9FBL and Michael, KD9FBM were new licensees from the November testing session.

Introductions around the room followed. Thirty-two people were in attendance for the meeting.

President Jim encouraged all to join the club Yahoo reflector, K9RN.

Newsletter editor N9AVY was not in attendance, but Jim encouraged members to send Jerry more club-specific input for the monthly newsletter.

Minutes from the November meeting were published for review on the club website by Secretary Roger, KF9D. John, K9JK moved to accept the minutes as published, seconded by Ed, K9ECF. The motion passed by voice vote.

Treasurer Joe, N9OK reported additional dues totaling $170 for a balance of $4717 in the treasury, and bringing the paid membership to 89 members. Dues for the calendar year 2016 are now being gladly accepted. Roger, KF9D made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report, seconded by Dave, NT9E. The motion passed by voice vote.

Under the heading of public service announcements, John W9ZE informed the group of McHenry county ARES/RACES developments, including the ARES ID expirations at the end of December. Additionally, Scott, KB9VRW will be running a “ham cram” class for licensing preparation on January 30, 2016, at the Mental Health Building in Crystal Lake. Contact Scott for more information.

Jack, W9MU, reminded the club that the “Introduction to Amateur Radio” class at MCC will begin February 18 and continue for 5 consecutive Thursday evenings. Twenty general information amateur radio topics will be presented in the course. Ideas are welcomed on ways to get publicity for the class.

Jim, N7US advised club members that club callsign badges can be arranged through Ken, KB9I by sending him a check for $10.

The 145.41 repeater is back on the air for with a new trustee callsign and a new PL of 114.8. There has been no visible FCC action to date on the interference issues.

Program topic ideas and requests should be submitted to W9MU or N7US. January program will be a panel discussion lead by Mike, WB8BZK. The planned February program will be presented by Jack, W9MU on Standing Wave Ratio.

Several upcoming operating activities, including contests, were highlighted. See QST for contest details. Up-to-date DX information can be obtained from DailyDX.com.

Under the topic of new business, the current club projector is broken beyond reasonable repair and a new reliable unit is needed for use in future program presentations. Joe, N9OK, moved to authorize the officers to buy a new club projector which includes modern interfaces, remote, audio, etc. Ed, K9ECF amended the motion to include expenditure up to a $1000 limit. Kent, K9KMD, seconded the motion. Following member discussion, the motion passed unanimously by voice vote.

After a short break, Tom, W9NBG presented a program entitled “How Receivers Work”. The program included developments from early designs to modern super-heterodyne receivers, with advantages and disadvantages presented on each type.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Roger Scott, KF9D, MCWA Secretary

Subject: Meeting Minutes of Nov. 3, 2015

The November meeting was called to order by President Jim, N7US at 7:00 p.m. on November 3, 2015 in the Crystal Lake Bank meeting room.

The Pledge of Allegiance kicked off the meeting, led by Jim, N7US.

President Jim thanked the outgoing officers for their service: Kent K9KMD, Dave KA9OZP, Dave N9ITE, and Roger KF9D. The newly elected officers presided over the November meeting.

President Jim extended a welcome and asked if there were visitors or guests present. Jeff KC9WSJ was introduced as a guest.

Introductions around the room followed. Thirty-five people were in attendance for the meeting. Jon, formerly KC9TCX, now has the call sign K5JRD.

Minutes from the October meeting were published for review on the club website by Secretary Roger, KF9D. Jon, K5JRD moved to accept the minutes as published, seconded by Jerry, N9AVY. The motion passed by voice vote.

Treasurer Joe, N9OK reported a balance of $4547 in the treasury. John, K9JK made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report, seconded by Dave, NT9E. The motion passed by voice vote.

President Jim, N7US reported that the club roster is up to 83 members at this time.

Under the heading of announcements, Jim N7US announced that following up on last month’s meeting, the club continues to seek program ideas and presenters. Next month’s program will be presented by Tom, W9NBG on the topic of receivers.

No public service report was presented.

Jim, N7US commented that the fall contest season has started, see QST for full details.

Several good DX operations are currently in full swing, including V73D, C91B, and 3W3MD.

The 145.41 repeater is off the air for maintenance according to Cornel, KK9DX. Even with the interference present, the repeater has been mostly quite usable.

Dave, NT9E has been maintaining the club Facebook page and has been updating it with several news items.

Jim, N7US reminded the group that club badges are $10 and can be arranged through Ken KB9I.

John, N9DJ gave a progress update on his tower installation. He is finally past the permit stage and the concrete base was poured earlier in the day.

Jack, W9MU announced that the club members will again present a series of classes entitled “Introduction to Amateur Radio” through MCC. The classes will run for 5 weeks beginning February 18. All members should spread the word to anyone they think would be interested.

Jack, W9MU also said that he is donating a rotatable triband dipole to the club for use at Field Day. He also has other equipment for sale.

Following the business meeting, the group immediately began the program for evening, homebrew show and tell. Several members brought in and described homebrew projects they had previously done. The presentations were very good and generated a lot of interest. Those showing projects were: WB8BZK, KF9D, K9DMV, W9MU, N9OK, N9AVY, KC9Q, K9JK, K9EYE, KA9CAR, N7US, W9NBG, KA9NPT, and K9RUF.

Joe, N9OK made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Dave, NT9E. The meeting was adjourned at 8:41 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Roger Scott, KF9D, MCWA Secretary

Subject: Meeting Minutes of February 2, 2016

The February meeting was called to order by President Jim, N7US at 7:00 p.m. on February 2, 2016 in the Crystal Lake Bank meeting room.

The Pledge of Allegiance kicked off the meeting, led by Jim, N7US.

President Jim extended a welcome and asked if there were visitors or guests present. Mike KC9TCW from Woodstock and Craig (no call) from Woodstock were visitors.

Introductions around the room followed. Thirty-three people were in attendance for the meeting.

President Jim encouraged all to join the club Yahoo reflector, K9RN, visit the club website at mcwa.org, and join the MCWA Facebook page to keep up on club news and information.

The minutes from the January meeting were published for review on the club website by Secretary Roger, KF9D. Dave, N9ITE moved to accept the minutes as published, seconded by Dave, KD9ESL. The motion passed by voice vote.

Treasurer Joe, N9OK reported a balance of roughly $5,000 in the club treasury. Paid membership for 2016 is now up to 60 members. Dues for the calendar year 2016 are now being accepted. John, K9JK made a motion to accept the treasurer’s report, seconded by Dave, NT9E. The motion passed by voice vote.

Jack, W9MU, reminded the club that the “Introduction to Amateur Radio” class at McHenry County Community College will begin February 18 and continue for 5 consecutive Thursday evenings. Twenty general information amateur radio topics will be presented in the course. Jack has contacted 20 northern Illinois radio clubs to gain publicity for the classes, as well as putting a notice in the NW Herald events section. Cost is $49 for an adult and $15 for a student.

Ray, N9RWC informed the club that the K9ESV emergency services group had recently sponsored a “ham cram” course with 13 people participating. A testing session followed the course with 12 of the attendees successfully passing the licensing test.

President Jim noted that the club has a collection of radio library information, and will contact Marty, W9MLP to confirm that he is in possession of the material.

On the topic of Field Day, a new site is likely needed for this year as most of the area where the club operated the previous 2 years has been turned into farm fields. Club members should research any appropriate sites and discuss these at the March meeting. Ideas can be floated on the club email reflector for comments.

Dave, K9RUF commented that he was given a tour of WB9Z’s impressive station. Dave also noted the great website maintained by WB9Z.

On the topic of operating activities, it was noted that the South Georgia Island Dxpedition, VP8SGI is currently underway. The DXpedition to Palmyra Island, K5P, has recently concluded. Up-to-date DX information can be obtained from DailyDX.com.

Upcoming hamfests were discussed, including Radio Expo at Belvidere on Sept. 24^th. See QST for further hamfest details.

Under old business, Mike, WB8BZK inquired about who held the file for the club brochure. Dave, N9ITE offered that he has the master file. Mike offered to print some brochures and take them to future radio events that he will attend in order to gain club publicity.

President Jim invited everyone to join the club member group that meets at the Cottage in Crystal Lake immediately after the club meeting for pizza and camaraderie.

There was no new business.

After a short break, Jack, W9MU presented a very informative program on VSWR. Using the computer application SIM Smith, Jack demonstrated how much loss is possible in various transmission lines under certain antenna mismatch conditions.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:50 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Roger Scott, KF9D, MCWA Secretary