Location: The main conference room at the Naval Air Museum in Lexington Park.
St. Mary's County Amateur Radio association meets once a month, normally on the last Thursday of the month.
The museum is located just north of Gate #1 of the Naval Air Station Patuxent River at the intersection of MD Route 235 and Pegg Road (northbound side of Rt. 235). Click [ here ] for the museum web site which contains detailed driving directions and other information where our meetings are held. We hope to see you there!
Scheduled 24 September, 2009
Hi folks,
Wow... it seems like time is flying these days as we march steadily into the Fall season. I'd like to take this opportunity to invite you once again to share your time with your amateur radio friends as we hold our monthly meeting of the St. Mary's County Amateur Radio Association (SMCARA) for September 2009. We will be meeting in the conference room of the Naval Air Museum, located on Maryland Route 235 (Three Notch Road) just north of the Pegg Road traffic light and entrance to gate 1 of the Naval Air Station. The meeting will begin promptly at 7:30 PM.
Please join us in making some decisions about the museum antenna system and radios; make preparations for our annual swap fest to be held in October at the museum; and start making plans for the fall operating events.
Don't forget to update your membership if you haven't already paid this year. Our new Treasurer will be happy to take your cash or check and deposit it for safekeeping! (we have taken care of all the banking details and have made the transition to the new Treasurer).
If any of you have purchased a new 'toy' for ham radio use, consider bringing it to this week's meeting and showing everyone else what you got. This would be a great time of year for 'show and tell' stories. Again, we look forward to seeing all of you this Thursday, 24 September at 7:30 PM at the museum.
Vr, Pete (WA3UMY)
President, SMCARA
- Number of people attending the meeting: 21
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The attending members spent 2-5 minutes on what they did in Amateur Radio over the past 30 days
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Test Sessions: Eric had a person scheduled that did not show up, we will look to have a section in the "Become a Ham" link on the site related to test schedules (add a calender)
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Test Classes: Look to schedule a set time for Amateur Radio classes
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Repeater: Tom Clarke and Pete Butt discussed the options to repair/replace the 146.640 MHz Repeater
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Museum donation: Discussed the need for a PA Amp for the Museum
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Change Club Call Sign (what was not discussed is the cost and the changes that will have to happen) Gene will look into the process
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Swap Meet - This was brought up during the meeting, lets plan a swap meet for the September meeting, I would also like to send an email out to the group to plan for this. My question is, will this normally be for the Thursday meeting or will we have an open swap meet for a larger group?
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Tower Schedule - We should send out a general email claiming the last two weekends to be reserved for the tower party.
- Club received a $1,000 check from Garner
Gene Talley (N3NO) presented the SMCARA with a $1,000 cash donation from the late Charles 'Garner' Hayden (W3SI) in the memory of Warren Dean, KW3N who was a charter member of the SMCARA when it was formed over 50 years ago. The donation came from the sale of some of Garner's ham equipment after his untimely passing in July.
SMCARA President Pete Butt (WA3UMY) accepted the gift in the name of the Association and said that "we are most appreciative of this gift and will make sure that it is used for a good cause that will benefit the membership of the St. Mary's County Amateur Radio Association."
Last Meeting Notes (30 July, 2009)
We had a special guest speaker and show-and-tell for this meeting.
*** What do you do when you want to work EME and Weak Signal VHF/UHF
Tropo but don’t have any place to put up the big antennas needed to do
it right? Martin Berkofsky, KC3RE, was faced with exactly that problem
and decided to put his station in his Land Rover. The antenna mount for
this vehicle was designed and built by Fletch, K3JYD. Come to the SMCARA
club meeting and see how you put a dual band CW EME station with four
long wide-spaced Yagis and full elevation on a street legal vehicle used
for everyday commuting. Fletcher and Martin will discuss the evolution
and development of the station and antenna mount, and discuss it’s
success. The Rover will be available for Show and Tell. Come and see
why Dave Anderson, GM4JJJ, says “You don’t have to be mad, but it
helps!" about this vehicle.***This was a great meeting to see a presentation on the EME (earth-moon-earth)
ground station on wheels...