The March 2006 meeting of the Dickson County Amateur Radio Club was held on 13 March, 2006, at room 220 of the Renaissance Center in Dickson, Tennessee. The following members were present and accounted for:

 

KN4HL  Charles
W4TDB  Vollie
NY4N  Jeff
AF4QB  Becky
NN5A  Tom
AF4VG  Bruce
K4RXY  Bill
Fred Garton Visitor

 

Charles, KN4HL, Vice President, opened meeting.

 

Secretary, Jeff, NY4N, read February’s Club minutes. They were approved as read.

 

The Club welcomed our guest, Fred Garton. He is interested in becoming a ham, and believes his nine-year-old grandson will be too. Fred was one of the visitors at the LEPC Community Emergency Preparedness Fair in February.

 

Charles volunteered to get the VE testing materials for the May amateur radio test session.

 

The Club was not able to secure Lakeview Park for its May Picnic. Vollie advised that the Mt. Sinai Community Center would be available. The May Club Picnic and Club elections will be held on 13 May, 2006, at the Mt Sinai Community Center, arrival at 6 PM, serving starts at 6:30 PM.

 

Jeff confirmed that the Dickson Soccer Fields were secured for Field Day, fourth weekend in June.

 

After switching to the 147.150 repeater early in February, the machine is not working properly. Charles advised that the owner of the repeater, Ed, WA4PCD, said that it needed work. It is squelched so high, due to local inter-mod, the Club did not get the extra coverage it thought it would. On 6 April, the local traffic and weather nets will go back to simplex. The frequency is 146.580 MHZs.

 

Discussion on the Local Emergency Planning Committee's Community Emergency Preparedness Fair, held on 25 February, at the Fairgrounds in Dickson, was a huge success. Several people inquired about ham radio, while there.

 

On 7-8 of April, the Homeland Security District that handles Davidson and surrounding counties will be having a huge disaster drill. Details of the drill are unknown, but some local hams have been asked to participate.

 

Becky advised the Club that we had received a thank you letter from the lone survivor of the coal miner disaster in West Virginia. He was a ham operator and Charles suggested the Club send him a get-well card. The letter was in appreciation of that card.

 

The next testing session of the Dickson County Amateur Radio Club will be on 20 May, 2006, at the Renaissance Center. Start time is promptly at 9 AM, and will finish at noon. Also, the Three Rats Club in Waverly will be hosting a testing session on 8 April in Waverly.

 

The Club watched a 10 minute video from the Weather Channel’s “it Could Happen Tomorrow”. The topic was what would happen to the City of Memphis in the event of a 7+ magnitude earthquake hit the area.

 

Tom advised that if anyone needed a good set of headphones at a reasonable price, they could get such a set at any CVS Pharmacy. Cost around 14.95.

 

It was announced that former club member Melonie, NX4X, was to get married on 24 June.

 

The Club took in 22 dollars in donations, no expenditures, total in Club bank is 537 dollars.

 

The meeting adjourned at 8:40.

 

Submitted, 17 March at 0100 Z,  NY4N Jeff.