McHenry County Wireless Association
MCWA Meeting Minutes of July 2nd, 2024
DRAFT
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.
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.
MCWA Meeting Minutes of May 7th, 2024
President Dan Larson (KD9M) called the May 2024 hybrid meeting (in-person and by Zoom) to order at 7:00 PM. The Pledge of Allegiance followed, led by Andy Dyckman (N7IDE)
Board members present were: Director – Glenn Otto (K9OK), Director – Kent Dulaney (K9KMD), Secretary – Andrew White (K9AJW, Vice President – Wendell Smith (N9REP), President – Dan Larson (KD9M), Past President – Ralph Iden (WB9ICF)
A total of 48 members were in attendance and 2 guests:
Rudy Rios (N9DME)
Steve Gilbert (KE4AM)
Awards and license upgrades
None.
Approval of Minutes
The meeting minutes from the April 2024 meeting were previously posted to the MCWA website for review. Keith Schreiter (N9QDS) moved to accept the minutes and Roger Scott (KF9D) seconded the motion. Hearing no objections, the minutes were approved.
Membership and Financial Reports
Dan Larson (KD9M) presented the membership and financial reports for September. MCWA has a membership of 144 members including 12 family members and 2 associate members.
| Opening Balance | $11,339.67 | 2024-4-29 |
| Deposits/Interest/Credits | $50.09 | (Dues, Credits and Interest) |
| Expenditures | $279.22 | (Digital Ocean, Coffee, ARRL Book Donation) |
| Final Balance | $11,110.54 | 2024-4-30 |
John Cankar(W9JM) moved to accept the treasurer’s report and John Kalenowsky (K9JK) seconded the motion. Hearing no objections, the treasurer’s report was approved.
Old Business
The board had a meeting last month. Highlights included:
Suggestions:
IRS 503C7 Social Club Filing:
Club call (K9RN) Trustee to be transferred to John Dewey (KA9CAR).
Ralph Iden (WB9ICF) gave a recap on the Maker Faire at the College of Lake County. This was MCWA’s 4th appearance at the fair. There were well over 900 attendees at the Faire. There were lots more hands on exhibits this year and the event was an overall success. The theme for the MCWA booth was “The Invisible World of Radio Waves”. The goal was to make the introduction to amateur radio more of a 1:1 setting. The highest interest was in the satellite communications setup. Educators wanted to know how they could get a program like this going at their school.
Wendell Smith (N9REP) discussed the McHenry County Century Ride and how we always need more volunteers to help the SAG team. It’s a fun way to play radio and to help a good cause. It is the Sunday before Memorial Day. See Wendell for more info.
New Business
None.
New Updates from Membership
John Kalenowsky (K9JK) played in a lot of state QSO parties in April. He mentions it as another way to get involved and active on the radio.
Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY) mentioned that it is DXpedition season. He worked several all time new countries.
Ralph Iden (WB9ICF) developed a new bat signal for Comcast. He participated in the HamSci science experiment during the eclipse using WISPR at 1 Watt. About 2-3 hours into the event a Comcast truck pulled up to his house as Ralph had set off an alarm due to a tremendous reduction in upload speed from their customers.
Hamfests
Dayton Hamvention
Green Bay Hamfest
Starved Rock Radio Club Hamfest
Monroe County (IN) Hamfest
Contests and Activities
May:
Microwave Spring Sprint May 4
ARI International DX Contest May 4
Indiana QSO Party May 4
VOLTA WW RTTY Contest May 11
50 MHz Spring Sprint May 11
CQ WW WPX Contest, CW May 25
June:
ARRL International Digital Contest June 1
ARRL June VHF Contest June 8
Stew Perry Topband Challenge June 15
ARRL Kids Day June 15
ARRL Field Day June 22
Wrap up
The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, June 4th, 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 Tom Pusateri (W9NBG) and will cover “Your Ham Call Sign: Why did the FCC assign me this call sign?”
Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY) motioned to adjourn, and Andy Dyckman (N7IDE) seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 7:46 PM.
Prepared by Andrew White (K9AJW), MCWA Secretary.
MCWA Meeting Minutes of April 2nd 2024
President Dan Larson (KD9M) called the April 2024 hybrid meeting (in-person and by Zoom) to order at 7:00 PM. The Pledge of Allegiance followed, led by Dave Holmgren (K9AT).
Board members present were: Director – Glenn Otto (K9OK), Director – Kent Dulaney (K9KMD), Secretary – Andrew White (K9AJW), Treasurer – Bob Temes (KD9IDD), Vice President – Wendell Smith (N9REP), President – Dan Larson (KD9M), Past President – Ralph Iden (WB9ICF)
A total of 45 members were in attendance and 3 guests:
Rich Merle No Call (New Associate Member)
Ron Pieroni KE9AFU (New Member)
Nick Marocchi KD9ZLT (New Member)
Awards and license upgrades
None.
Approval of Minutes
The meeting minutes from the March 2024 meeting were previously posted to the MCWA website for review. Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY) moved to accept the minutes and Ken Farver (KB9I) 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 140 members including 12 family members and 1 associate member.
| Opening Balance | $11,627.11 | 2024-3-29 |
| Deposits/Interest/Credits | $99.79 | (Dues, Credits and Interest) |
| Expenditures | $387.23 | (Digital Ocean, Coffee, Pizza) |
| Final Balance | $11,339.67 | 2024-3-29 |
Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY) moved to accept the treasurer’s report and Dave Whaley (NT9E) seconded the motion. Hearing no objections, the treasurer’s report was approved.
Old Business
Volunteers went over the books for our Treasurer’s Audit before tonight’s meeting.
ARRL Library book set was donated last month. A big thank you to John Dewey (KA9CAR) for driving the efforts!
New Business
Ken Farver (K9BI) is no longer able to be the Trustee over our club call (K9RN). We need a new volunteer to take over this duty.
We are planning to have a board meeting the week of April 22nd. This will be a mid-year review and we will look at any adjustments needed to our Constitution as a result of our 501(c)(7). A formal announcement will be sent out through the reflector.
New Updates from Membership
Dan Larson (KD9M) mentioned that the special event station W2A for World Autism Awareness Week.
We are looking to do a club POTA activation sometime this summer. Details TBD.
Hamfests
| Madison Hamfest Stoughton, WI |
4/13/2024 |
| Hannibal Amateur Radio Club Palmyra, MO |
5/4/2024 |
| Kishwaukee ARC Sandwich, IL |
5/5/2024 |
| Starved Rock Radio Club Hamfest Mendoda, IL |
6/2/2024 |
Contests and Activities
| 144 MHz Spring Sprint | April 1 |
| 222 MHz Spring Sprint | April 16 |
| 432 MHz Spring Sprint | April 24 |
| 10-10 Int. Spring Contest, Digital | April 27 |
| Microwave Spring Sprint | May 4 |
| ARI International DX Contest | May 5 |
| Indiana QSO Party | May 5 |
| Field Day | June 22-23 |
Wrap up
The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, May 7th, 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 done by Mike Metroka (WB8BZK) where he will talk about his visit to Orlando HamCation 2024.
Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY) motioned to adjourn, and Erich Kraemer (KC9CUK) seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 7:28 PM.
Prepared by Andrew White (K9AJW), MCWA Secretary.
MCWA Meeting Minutes of March 5th 2024
President Dan Larson (KD9M) called the March 2024 hybrid meeting (in-person and by Zoom) to order at 6:59 PM. The Pledge of Allegiance followed, led by Dave Holmgren (K9AT).
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 42 members (8 on Zoom) were in attendance and 6 guests:
Sue Sayles No Call
Becky Fanzone No Call
Rich Merle No Call
Mark Thomas N9UM
Joe Bappert KD9ZVZ
Matthew Zavaleta KZ4EH
Awards and license upgrades
None.
Approval of Minutes
The meeting minutes from the February 2024 meeting were previously posted to the MCWA website for review. Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY) moved to accept the minutes and Bob Temes (KD9IDD) 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 147 members including 11 family members and 1 associate member.
| Opening Balance | $11,436.04 | 2024-2-1 |
| Deposits/Interest/Credits | $270.10 | (Dues) |
| Expenditures | $79.03 | (Digital Ocean, Coffee) |
| Final Balance | $11,627.11 | 2024-2-29 |
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
We still need volunteers to look over our books in April for the Treasurer’s Audit. We need 3 members to see Bob Temes (KD9IDD) to help out.
New Business
The club is looking to donate several of ARRL’s Library Book Sets to local libraries. The cost is $250/set and includes the ARRL’s most popular publications. John Dewey (KA9CAR) is leading the communication efforts with the local libraries to make sure the books will be used and not donated or scrapped. John (KA9CAR) made the motion to approve the expense if the library accepts. Keith Schreiter (N9QDS) seconded the motion. A vote was taken, and the motion passed.
John Cankar (W9JM) is asking for help from local amateurs with this year’s Trek 100. He is looking for 33 ham radio operators to provide communications for the event. The event is held Saturday, June 8th, 2024, at the Trek Bicycle corporate headquarters in Waterloo, WI. Please see John if you would like to learn more about this wonderful opportunity.
New Updates from Membership
Erich Kraemer (KC9CUK) started a Discord server for Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. It’s open to everyone and the idea is to bring the community together as a whole. If anyone has any questions, please reach out directly to Erich.
Lyle Giese (W9LRG) was talking about station grounding. He looked at the grounds at the basement on his water meter and found his ground clamp was broken and the pipe was very corroded. He replaced both clamps and cleaned up the braid on his ground wire. He suggests everyone check their ground connections at their home.
Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY) reminds everyone that June 22nd and 23rd is Field Day. Please put it on your calendar and plan on joining The 415 at Gary’s farm.
Hamfests
| Sterling Rock Falls AR Society Hamfest Dixon, IL |
3/17/2024 |
| Tri-county WI Hamfest Jefferson, WI |
3/17/2024 |
| Madison Hamfest Stoughton, WI |
3/11/2024 |
| Hannibal Amateur Radio Club Palmyra, MO |
5/4/2024 |
| Kishwaukee ARC Sandwich, IL |
5/5/2024 |
Contests and Activities
| ARRL International DX Contest, SSB | March 2 – 3 |
| Stew Perry Topband Challenge | March 9 – 10 |
| Wisconsin QSO Party | March 10 – 11 |
| CQ WW WPX Contest, SSB | March 30 – 31 |
| 144 MHz Spring Sprint | April 1 |
Wrap up
The next regular meeting will be Tuesday, April 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 done by Seth McCallister(KD9TAW) where he will talk about his DXpedition to the British Virgin Islands.
Sam Haldiman (KC9GPY) motioned to adjourn, and Dave Whaley (N9TE) seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 7:46 PM.
Prepared by Andrew White (K9AJW), MCWA Secretary.