April 2008

Dickson County Amateur Radio Club minutes:

The April meeting of the Dickson County Amateur Radio Club was
held on 14 April 2008 at 7:00pm in Room 216 of the Dickson Renaissance Center. Called to order by President Charles Seay.

Members Present are as follows:
Charles Seay.....-...KN4HL (President)
Jeff Clark.......-...NY4N (Vice President)
Dave Bailey.....-...KF4ZPN
Ed Tilley........-...AG4FW
Toni Tilley......-...KG4IWR
Bill Measures..-...K4RXY
Vollie Miller....-...NA4C

The minutes were read by Charles Seay. Motion to accept as read by Vollie Miller, second by Ed Tilley.

Treasurer's Report...Balance Forward $428.61.
We neglected to pass the hat at this meeting.

The club insurance bill was received and it was noted that we did have enough money in the treasury to cover the bill.

Charles reported that he has ordered placards for all the Field Day Stations.There will be placards for 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meter bands.
All CW stations will be red with white letters, the phone stations will be black with white letters. They are 4 X 4 plastic, large font easy to read. In addition there will 2 - 4 X 6 placards in green with white letters. One reading GOTA Get On The Air all modes all bands, and the other 6 Meters all modes all bands.
They will be in a box on the table for anyone to choose the band they want to operate. If it's not in the box, you will know that someone is on that band. When you go off that band, bring the placard back and return it to the box to let people know what is open.

Field Day press kit is on order. Charles brought in several different brochures for hand-outs at Field Day. He will write an article to be published in the Dickson Herald.

It was noted that Vollie Miller has been faithful to send out emails about the History of Field Day in order to keep Field Day fresh in everyone's mind. They are interesting facts about Field Day in the past.

Charles Seay recommended two books. One about Low Power Communications - QRP. It gives lists of kit makers, parts suppliers and equipment. The other book, More QRP Power discusses kits from the first book and even gives schematics, information on HF amplifiers, etc... Small Wonder Kits are cheap, for example $40.00 for a 2 to 3 Watt transceiver. See Charles for more information on these books.

There was a suggestion by Charles to send a small floral arrangement, a couple of roses in a vase to LeeAnn Polk in appreciation for her working with us on room reservations. A motion was made by Toni Tilley and seconded by Bill Measures.

Our club picnic will be held may 3rd at 6:00pm at Lakeview Park. It coincides with Old Timer's Day this year. Please email Vollie Miller with what you will bring and he will keep us posted via email.
A White Elephant sale will be held. Both Ham related and non-ham related articles will be auctioned. Please mark on the bag if they are Ham or Non-ham and any reserve price.
First thing on the docket will be election of officers.
Jeff Clark will Reserve Lakeview Park for the Fall picnic on Sept. 20th.

There was a tornado in Dickson County on April 11th. The net was not activated because the 955 was not working. It was decided to move the net back to 146.57. Motion by Ed Tilley, seconded by Vollie Miller.

Jeff Clark gave a report on a contest in Georgia and the price of gas. He hit 41 counties out of a possible 159 and ended up with 1600 contacts. He used the N3FPJ software to log his contacts. It was very easy to use, you could switch counties on the fly. All the counties were in one file.


Charles reported on receiving his coupons to buy the digital converter boxes. You can log on to www.Dtv2009.org to order coupons for $40.00 dollars off the price. They will enable you receive stations like channel 2's 24/7 weather station and many more.

Only 10 people have filled out new membership information forms. An effort needs to be made to get updated information on all members. A list of phone numbers and emails of those who turned in forms was passed out. It was decided not to put that information on the club website but that it would be made available to fellow club members.


Submitted by Toni Tilley per Jerry Lewis