MICHIGAN AREA REPEATER COUNCIL NEWSLETTER

WEB SITE: http://www.qsl.net/miarc        e-mail: [email protected]

May 2003

 

 

A short note from the Prez………..

 

 

As most of you know already, we have a new Coordinator. Wallace Murray had other commitments and stepped down from his appointed position, at our March meeting, newly appointed Vice-President Bruce Winchell, against his better judgment accepted the duties of the Coordinator. I am sorry to announce that we accepted the resignation from David Schwein as one of our Directors, partially due to health problems. Currently, we do not have a Secretary and we are short one Director. It is with great importance that we fill these two positions. Everyone is ready to criticize, but reluctant to help.

 

A year ago when we attempted to hold a meeting at the Hudsonville Swap, we were asked to look the Band Plan for the 900 MHz. After contacting the ARRL and found out that their was no upcoming changes, the Board decided to leave the Band Plan the way it is currently set up. Our Coordinator has received a few request for frequencies out of the 900 MHz plan. The Board has decided to look at this new plan again to see what can be done.

 

The June meeting will be held at the American Red Cross, 112 W. 14th Street, Traverse City. Directions can be found on our website http://www.qsl.net/miarc/meetings.html.

 

We will be having our Annual meeting in Lansing. At this meeting, we will hold elections for Vice-President, Treasurer, and one Director. A nominations committee will be formed and the ballot will go out in the August newsletter.

 

Also, we will be looking for a location for our December meeting in the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek area. If you are interested in hosting a meeting, please contact me so arrangements can be made.

 

One last thought; get involved and participate.

 

73,

 

Dennis W8DFG

 

Minutes March Meeting

Bangor Twp, MI

 

Meeting called to order at 1:00PM by President Dennis Gaboury W8DFG. Board members present, Vice-President Bruce Winchell N8UT, Treasurer Kelly Karpp KB8RWG, Director Ron Gordon W8YUC, and Database Manager Dave WD8DJB.

 

Treasurer’s report given, Motion made to accept report by Bill Kelly KC8DBG, seconded by Jim Wickstrom W1IK. Vote taken, motion carried.

 

Old Business:

Call was made for Secretary to fill vacant seat. No volunteers stepped forward. Also brought up on the replacing of the Coordinator. It was announced that Bruce to help out to get caught up, and hopefully trains someone to take over.

 

Vote was taken on By-Laws changes printed in the November Newsletter. Printed copies of the By-Law changes were provided. Vote was taken, proposed changes as presented defeated 16-3.

 

Discussion of 900 MHz Band Plan followed. No out come from discussion.

 

New Business:

Motion was made by Kelly KB8RWG, for an annual donation for our website host QSL for $50.00. Seconded by Ron W8YUC. Vote taken, motion carried unanimously.

 

June meeting to be held in Traverse City/Northwest Quadrant.

 

Motion made by Dave Cunningham KC8IAQ to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Ron W8YUC, motioned carried. Meeting adjourned 2:30PM.

 

Minutes taken by Bruce Winchell N8UT

Typed by Dennis Gaboury W8DFG

 

 

 

 

 

Frequency Coordination Request & Action

            Req Date        Call           City           Quad   Freq Req        Result Reason

                5/19/1992              KB8LCY        Lansing            SW        147.280                Coordinated

                7/31/2000              KB8BIT         Manistee         NW         144                        Cannot contact

                8/8/2000                W8GDS        Mattawan          SW        147.300                Denied    Won't Clear IN,WI

                8/12/2000              KB8SWR      Frankenmuth   SE         144                        Denied    Nothing available

                8/28/2000              W8TQE         Adrian               SE         444.675                Denied    Too close 2 co-chan

                9/8/2000                KB8YNC       Grand Rapids  SW       440                        Withdrawn              No longer wanted

                10/4/2000              N8YRN         Bancroft             SE        440.050                Coordinated

                10/5/2000              KC8OVZ       Niles                   SW       144                        Denied    No Clear-IN

                11/17/2000           KC8IHO        Detroit                SE        144                        Denied (4 requests)            Nothing available

                1/15/2001              N8CJM          West Branch     NE       147.060                Coordinated

                2/3/2001                N8ZPJ           Grosse Ile         SE        440                        Denied    Local Class Request

                2/10/2001              N8WGD        Pinckney            SE        440 snpr                               Denied    No Clear-OH

                2/20/2001              KB8ZGL        East Lansing   SW        147.320                Denied    Nothing available

                3/28/2001              N8ACL          Fremont            SW        444                        Trashed  Not ham Ficticious Request

                3/28/2001              N8ACL          Fremont            SW        443.125                Coordinated

                5/25/2001              N8UXR         Mt. Pleasant     NW       51.680                  Coordinated

                6/21/2001              N8JWH         Alpena              NE        145.430                Coordinated

                9/15/2001              K8COP         Muskegon        NW       52.0                       Denied    Same band/same coverage rule

                9/15/2001              KB8RF          Northville          SE         443.150                Coordinated

                10/8/2001              KC8OVZ       Niles                  SW        442.200                Denied    No Clear-IN

                10/23/2001           WB8DEL       Stutsmanville  NW       224.560                Coordinated

                10/24/2001           W8COL         Cheboygan      NW       146.840                Coordinated

                11/23/2001           N8TNT          Traverse City   NW       440                         Withdrawn             No longer wanted

                12/16/2001           KC8HFA       Otter Lake         SE         147.280                 Denied   Nothing available

                12/17/2001           K8JSL           Houghton Lk    NE        145.110                 Denied   Nothing available

                1/1/2002                W8COL         Charlevoix        NW       444.575                 Coordinated        

                1/5/2002                KC8OVZ       Niles                  SW        144                         Denied   Nothng available

                1/11/2002              W8MSU        East Lansing   SE         442.900                 Coordinated

                1/11/2002              K8JSL           Hougton Lake NW        443.850                 Coordinated

                1/22/2002              KA8ABM       Lake City           NW       444.525                 Coordinated

                2/8/2002                N8PSE          St. Joseph        SW        145.110                 Denied   Nothing available

                3/9/2002                N8OKU         Gobles              SW        144                         Denied   No Clear Adj.States

                3/27/2002              N8PYN          Detroit               SE         440                         Denied   No Clear OH

                4/9/2002                KE8Z             Webberville      SE         145.210                 Denied   Nothing available

                4/10/2002              N8GQ            Fowlerville        SE         443.050                 Denied   Local class

                4/15/2002              N7LMJ          Lake Ann          NW       444.950                 Coordinated

                4/18/2002              KF8KK          Glen Arbor        NW       52.920                   Coordinated

                4/29/2002              N8UXR         Weidman         NW       51.680                   Re-Coordinated   Mods/Move

                5/26/2002              W8USA         Sparta               SW        145.230                 Coordinated

                6/23/2002              AA8ZV           Kalkaska          NW       147.300                 Coordinated

                7/10/2002              W8HIU          Pontiac             SE         442.350                 Coordinated

                7/16/2002              WB8VT          White Lake       SE         50.000                   Coordinated

                7/27/2002              K8SN           Grand Rapids  SW        927.175                 Denied   Out of band

                8/14/2002              K8LHS          Lowell               SW        147.280                 Denied   Nothng available

                8/23/2002              K8VEB         Charlotte           SW        442.625                 Denied   No Clear-OH

                8/29/2002              N8WKM       Grand Rapids  SW        927.4875               Denied  Out of band

                9/3/2002                K8JBA          Fowlerville         SE         145.210                 Denied   Local class

                9/11/2002              N8LYL          Harrison            NW       145.230                 Denied   Nothing available

                10/8/2002              AA8B            Detroit                SE         147.280                 Denied   Nothng available

                10/13/2002           WW8GM      Warren               SE         145.210                 Denied   No Clear-OH

                10/14/2002           KC8HKT      Wayne                SE         145.390                 Denied   Nothng available

                11/17/2002           N8ERV         Lake George    NW       443.300                 Coordinated

                11/18/2002           KB8QOI       Big Rapids        NW       52.860                   Coordinated

                1/7/2003                W8QPO       Hemlock            SE         444.425                 Coordinated        

                1/26/2003              KB8ZUZ       Kingston            NE        51.820                   Coordinated

                2/19/2003              W8MMQ       Lansing             SW        146.740                 Denied   Cross band & Local class

                3/7/2003                WX8KEA      Midland              NE        147.280                 Denied   Nothing available

                3/27/2003              N8NOE        Waterford          NE        220                         Denied   No Clear-Canada

                4/27/2003              N8CUH        Muskegon         NW       52.800                   Coordinated

 

Database Manager / Webmaster’s Corner

 

Activity during the past six months has been heavy.  I produced updates of the web site Repeater Directory in November, February and May.  Entries for the 2003-2004 ARRL Repeater Directory were submitted in February.  Most of the 162 database updates I have completed during the past six months have been from posting Renewal TDS updates.  Although there has been an increase in posting new repeater and link coordination’s in the last 45 days since Bruce N8UT has started working through the new coordination request backlog.

 

I’ve written a program to assist new coordination processing.  The program identifies available repeater pairs for a given set of coordinates (latitude and longitude).   To qualify Frequency Pairs have to meet or exceed the 120 mile co-channel and 25 mile adjacent channel separation rules.  The program runs distance checks between the proposed repeater’s coordinates and every repeater in the MARC database on the same band in a mater of a few seconds and displays and/or prints its calculations and the search results.  If you see a smile on N8UT’s face at the next meeting, this program is the reason.

 

I’ve logged 253 hours on MARC activities between Nov 1st and May 8th.

 

If you want to know the status of your repeater refer to our web site repeater directory: http://www.qsl.net/miarc/repeater_directory.html.  If your entry is Red you have an overdue TDS.

 

For those who plan to submit a new or renewal TDS the key to making our job easier is to make sure the information you supply is accurate and complete. 

 

 

 

 

It saves time because it keeps follow-up email exchanges to a minimum.  If you need help identifying the coordinates of your repeater Bruce or

I can help , if you can provide us the street address of the repeater and/or the nearest cross streets.  Just drop us an email at [email protected].  For those that would like to look up this information themselves, you can go to http://www.topozone.com/ plug in your city and then

navigate around the displayed map to identify the correct coordinates.  If you have rough coordinates you can get a map display by entering them at http://www.topozone.com/finddms.asp.  You can even print the Topo Map for your repeater records.

 

Please use the email TDS form at http://www.qsl.net/miarc/tdsform.html rather than paper TDS forms if at all possible.  It will give you a copy of your submission that you can print for your records and provides us a permanent record of your request.

 

For those of you contemplating a change of Internet provider, please remember to send us your new email address.  If you opted for email communications from MARC and we don’t get notification our link to you is broken.

 

Thanks again to all that are keeping their TDS’s current.  MARC relies on the validity of our database and your current information helps us do our job.


Dave Johnson, WD8DJB

 

 

This is a reminder to all repeater Trustees, TDS’ are due every two years. If you do not know the current status of the TDS on your repeater please see http://www.qsl.net/miarc/repeater_directory.html to see the status of your repeater. Also, if you would like a nice way to find your HAAT data as well as create a coverage map for your repeater please see http://www.cplus.org/rmw/english1.html for information about

Radio Mobile. The learning curve is high, but well worth the effort.

 

 

 

 

Repeater owners responsibility

 

FCC Says, "Tend to Your Coordination!"

Radio Amateurs may lose their coordination for failure to update.  Recently, in the Seattle, Washington area, the coordination of a still-operating repeater was revoked for failure to update and a new repeater was coordinated on the same frequency. The FCC Field Office was consulted and after the FO checked with FCC Headquarters, they stated that the failure of the original coordination holder to "tend his coordination" means that the now uncoordinated repeater owner is responsible for resolving any resulting interference problems. (read "take it off the air" ...ed)

 

If you change your location or operating parameters,  you must recoordinate (if possible) to maintain a valid coordination. The FCC has taken action regarding an uncoordinated repeater in New York. In this case the repeater was once coordinated but changed location thereby invalidating its coordination. Regarding this situation, Riley Hollingsworth of the FCC wrote: "Section 97.205 of the commission's rules states that where there is interference between a coordinated repeater and an uncoordinated repeater, 'the licensee of the uncoordinated repeater has primary responsibility to resolve the interference.'"

 

 

 

Coordinator’s Quarterly Report

 as of May 8, 2003

 

The following report does not reflect ongoing activity. This only shows what has been completed in the past 1 ½ months. There are still a significant number of requests in process. This is a very time consuming and exacting procedure when you have 2 ½ years worth of backlog. I am about two weeks from finishing the backlog completely. If you do not see your request in this report, do not panic and think that your request is not in process. Do not send in another TDS request for something you have already applied for. That slows the process even more.

 

 I have done my best to see that all requests since January, 2000 are in the hopper. That’s not saying that I might not have missed a few in a manual search of 5000 emails. I’m human. If you sent a request by USPS mail, I may not have it. I believe that many of those never got to me. We are now so bound to the electronic processing methods at hand, that I can think of no quicker way to have your requests and reports be at risk than to send them by USPS. It just does not fit into our flow chart any more. We will still take them, but be aware of the pitfall.

 

Just because you see what you think are a lot of new coordinations in this report, don’t believe that we have found a magic solution to putting in a bunch of new repeaters. That is not the case. We just have faster and more accurate means to process data. What you are seeing is 2 ½ years of processing done in a month and a half.

 

The Southeast and Southwest Quadrants are now closed to any new applications for 2 meters. The Southeast is going to be closed for 440 and 220 very shortly. The SW quadrant is nearly locked up on 440 now.

 

R. Bruce Winchell-N8UT

MARC Coordinator

 

 

A Short Note From the Editor.

 

If you would like your comments included in the newsletter please email them to [email protected]. Obviously I can only include what will fit into the newsletter. Please also note that the MARC also maintains an email address for communication concerning MARC business as well as a P.O Box for you to send USPS mail. The email address is [email protected] and the USPS address can be found on the label of this mailing.

 

 

June Meeting Information:

Date:               June 1, 2003

Location:          American Red Cross Building

112 West 14th

Traverse City,  MI

 

All meetings start promptly at 1:00 pm

 

Directions to June Meeting

 

From US 31, turn East on 14th Street. Red Cross should be between

Locust and Union Streets.

 

Talk in on 147.100

 

 

 

Upcoming Meetings:

September 2003         Lansing- Location top be announced

December 2003          Kalamazoo/Battle Creek – Location to be announced

 

MARC Board of Directors

 

President

Dennis Gaboury

W8DFG

P.O. Box 463148

Mt. Clemens, MI 48046

Vice President

Open

 

 

Secretary

Open

 

 

Treasurer

Kelly F. Karpp

KB8RWG

PO Box 127

Oscoda, MI  48750

Director
Open

 

 

Director

Ron Gordon

W8YUC

7172 Sharp Rd.

Swartz Creek, MI 48473

Frequency

Coordinator

Bruce Winchell

N8UT

 

Database Manager

Dave Johnson

WD8DJB

2266 E. Vermontville Hwy

Charlotte, MI 48813