KØND
 
                                                                                             
 
 
News Letter -- February 2006
Volume 24, Number 2
 
 

 

PRESIDENTS CORNER

A nice group attended the meeting. Election of officers was held. President, Dick Hansen KCØHXG, Vice President Darryl Wehner KCØEWH and Secretary Treasure Laurie Heick KAØNHW. Congratulations to the new officers.

We are working on getting the station at the LEC operating better. We found the antenna in bad shape so we replaced it with an R-7 for the time being. Would be nice to get up a dipole. Thanks to Joe, Dick, and Emil we did get it done also checked out a few things in the shack. Joe also set up a computer in the radio room.

We have not heard of anyone wanting to take the class, so maybe wait until the new question pool comes out and then go to the DVD material, and a weekend session, and test. This has been used in several of the clubs and has worked very well.

A new group has been formed to keep the straight keys active it is called Straight Key Century Club, for anyone interested in operating with a straight key may want to check it out. They also have formed a yahoo group.

Enjoy this great weather. 73 de Bill KØUB

 

 

 
 
Theodore Roosevelt Amateur Radio Club
Meeting Minutes
January 2, 2005
 

Minutes submitted by Laurie, KCØNHW, Secretary/Treasurer.

 

Bill, KØUB, President called the meeting to order.

 

Introductions of members and guests followed.

 

Minutes of last meeting were approved on a motion by Emil, NØDK and seconded by Jim, NØSJ.  Motion carried.

 

Laurie, KCØNHW, gave treasurer’s report.  Motion to approve by Evelyn, KCØHKR and seconded by Irene, WDØDAW.  Motion carried.

 

Old Business

 

  1. Repeaters – everything is working well.  Joe, NØQAU shared some helpful hints for those of us who do not use the radio frequently.  To use auto patch, with your mic key all at once, star and the seven-digit phone number you are dialing.  You should then hear “auto patch”, then a masking tone (sounds like a busy signal), then it rings.  To finish key your mic and # key, you will hear “call complete and the time”.  We have legal requirements, no long distance calls when using auto patch.  0 and 1 are blocked as 1st digit to prevent error. To hear the temperature, [key] 598 [unkey].  Voltage of repeater battery, [key] 599 [unkey].  [Key] 026 [unkey] is time of day in female voice.  [Key] 027 [unkey] is time of day in male voice.  ID’ers are set to rotate.  Such as welcome to KØND repeater or at KØND the temperature is __.
  2. Christmas Party – Discussion on having the Christmas party upstairs at the Elks again next year.  Question was asked at the party this year as to which was preferred, upstairs or down.  Majority was in favor of upstairs.  Motion was made by Darryl, KCØEAK and seconded by Emil, NØDK to have the 2006 Christmas party upstairs
  3. Club Commission – Just a reminder that the club receives $2.00 for each ARRL member who does their renewal through the club.
  4. Club Trailer – The fenders were to close hitting the new tires.  CJ Welding moved the fenders and welded a box on that was donated by Stan, WDØDAJ. We were only billed for the parts.  The labor was donated.  Laurie, KCØNHW sent them a thank you note along with the payment.

 

New Business

 

A.     Election of Officer’s – Any nominations for President?  Richard, KCØHXG was nominated for President on a motion by Irene, WDØDAW and seconded by Emil, NØDK.  Any other nominations for President?  Motion made that nominations cease for President and we cast a unanimous ballot made by Jim, NØSJ and seconded by Stan, WDØDAJ.  Motion carried. Any nominations for Vice President?  Darryl, KCØEWH was nominated on a motion by Betty, KBØNVT and seconded by Irene, WDØDAW.  Any other nominations for Vice President?  Motion made that nominations cease for Vice President and we cast a unanimous ballot made by Jim, NØSJ and seconded by Joe, NØQAU.  Motion carried.  Any nominations for Secretary/Treasurer?  Laurie, KCØNHW was nominated on a motion made by Irene, WDØDAW and seconded by Darryl, KCØEWH.  Any other nominations for Secretary/Treasurer?  Motion made that nominations cease for Secretary/Treasurer and we cast a unanimous ballot made my Stan, WDØDAJ and seconded by Evelyn, KCØHKR.  Motion carried.

B.     Classes – No interested parties at this time.  If someone shows an interest we will re-evaluate the situation.

C.     Stark County Operation – Our Stark County Operation ID’s expired the end of 2005.  Joe, NØQAU will notify us when he gets word from Gary Kostelecky as to when we will be renewing them.

D.     Bismarck Hamfest – Will be held February 25, 2006.

                   

 

Winner of the meeting drawing is Marge, KA7LQB.  Congratulations!

 

Motion to adjourn by Irene, WDØDAW and seconded by Betty, KBØNVT.

 
 
 
CHECK YOUR CALENDAR 
 
Feb 4 ............................  FORX ARC Hamfest
Feb 6 ...........................  TRARC Meeting @ LEC 7 PM
Feb 25 .........................  CDARC Hamfest
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TEST SESSIONS 
 
If you are in need of a test session, contact either Bill Bosch, KØUB or Emil Wieglenda,
NØDK. Bill is associated with ARRL VEC and Emil is W5YI. They will let you know when
the next test session will be held.
 
Bill 701-483-3869               Emil 701-483-4953
 
 
 
CLUB INVENTORY
Joe, NØQAU, is updating the club's inventory
database.  If anyone has any club equipment, please let
him know so he can add it to the database.
 
 
 
 
 
Margaret's Corner
 
As of this writing January has been a nice mild winter month. We had a brown Christmas but the week after the snow showed up. It got a bit icy for a while but now only patches of ice remain where it didn't get a chance to melt. We really can't complain about the weather here and once more consider ourselves blessed.
    As with the New Year, for our club officers it was out with the old and in with the new. At the club meeting on January 2nd Richard Hansen  KCØHXG was voted in as President, Darryl Wehner KCØEWH as Vice President and Laurie KCØNHW as Secretary/Treasurer. Congratulations to the new officers and Thanks to Bill KØUB and Darrel KCØAPN for their past two years of service.
    Stan and Betty left for Yuma on the 3rd. I imagine that by now they are thoroughly enjoying the Arizona sun. Sue, KBØNBU, also left for Arizona on the 4th. Needless to say, our coffee group has dwindled a little so we are always pleased to see Mary or Elaine stop by. Dave Watkins also joins the group from time to time. It was great to see Phil and Pat Walker at Pizza on the 6th.  Darrel's brother Ray who was celebrating his birthday along with Darrel's mom and Ray's wife Shirley were also there.
    On a whim the guys decided to go up on the roof of the LEC on Saturday the 14th to change out an antenna up there. What a beautiful day and stroke of luck because on Sunday, when they originally planned the work, it was cloudy, cold and breezy.
    Here's wishes for a Happy Valentine's Day to all. I'd like to include a little thought here that really struck my fancy when I read it. It goes like this "You were born an original. Don't die a copy." Just a little something to think about. 
73, Margaret KB7ITR
 
 
 
 
Birthdays for February
Lee Larsen KBØNCV
2 - 04
Michael Hastings NØUDG
2 - 13
Warren Pierce K7UPS
2 - 17
Emil Wieglenda NØDK
2 - 20
Faye Nelson KØTUP
2 - 25
Art Ekblad KØQQ
2 - 28
 
 
 
 
APRS
 
Following is a side-bar from an article in the February, 2006 issue of QST magazine. I would like to invite some of the members that are currently using APRS, to share some insight on equipment, settings, web sites, etc, for operating this mode.  This information could be compiled into a few future issures as a reference for anyone interested in APRS.  Thanks!
Mick/KCØRLF
 
 
 
 
What is APRS?
 
For the uninitiated, APRS (Automatic Position Reporting System) is an Amateur Radio digital application utilizing packet radio in the unconnected mode.
Traditional packet radio operations occur in the connected mode--one station communicates with one (and only one) other station by being virtually connected to that station. Such virtual connections are not required in APRS, thus allowing multiple stations to communicate with each other.  As a result, one station can disseminate information to many other stations.
In APRS, that information is typically position information--the geopraphic coordinates of the transmitting station or an object being tracked, such as the track of a hurricane or a marathon runner.  Amateur Radio operators also use APRS to disseminate other information, any kind of information that needs to be disseminated to multiple stations such as local weather conditions from an Amateur Radio weather station.
APRS software can display the disseminated information in tabular and graphic formats with maps being the typical graphic format.  The software can also access databases via the Internet that collect, collate, and store the disseminated information for historic purposes.
Lots of information about APRS can be found on the Web site of it's inventor, Bob Bruninga, WB4APR, at http://web.usna.navy.mil/~bruninga/aprs.html.