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        Southern Oregon Amateur Packet Radio Association               
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           Minutes for Meeting Held In Medford, Oregon
                      September 14, 2002

Members Present: Bob MacDonald - K7XI, Brian Fritsen - KK7BF,
                 Albert Pion - KK7XO, Albert Lawson - WB7AWL,
                 Calvin Burt - KA0DFN, Will Calvert - N7KS

The meeeting was called to order at 10:29 am by Albert - WB7AWL.
After introductions a moment of silence was observed for the
victims and families of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  After the
moment of silence, a hearty "Welcome Back" was extended to
Cal - KA0DFN who's been absent from our meetings for quite some
time.  Welcome Back Cal...!!!!!  Good to see you again...!!!!

Reading of Minutes From Previous Meeting:

Warren - KB7EKF was absent from the meeting, and no minutes were
available.  A motion to dispense with the reading of the previous
meeting minutes was made by Bob - K7XI and seconded by Albert - KK7XO.
The motion was carried by a 5:1 show of hands.

Treasurer's Report From WIll Calvert  - N7KS

Will reports a bank balance of $152.45, and he has pending deposits
adding up to $110.00.  This represents a total of $262.45.  Will
reports that some of the money did not come from dues but from
donations by members to offset the cost of the new nodestack.  Their
help is greatly appreciated.  Albert - WB7AWL presented receipts from
AES totaling $709.95 for purchase of two Alinco Radios and a 500'
roll of coax cable as part of the purchase of equipment for the
new Grants Pass nodestack.  A motion to accept the treasurer's
report was made and carried by a majority show of hands.

Technical Committee Report From Albert Lawson - WB7AWL

Soda Mountain:

The SCARA nodestack in Siskyou County is off the air.  We have
no idea why.  It's been like this for about a month now.

Hamaker Moutnain:

Icom IC-38A radio has low power output.  Another radio is on
it's way and should be installed on 9/15/2002 by Dick - K7DDI.
WB7AWL advises that if the power module in the radio has failed,
it will be a minimum of $100 to replace even if we do the work
ourselves.  The modules are not cheap.  This radio maintains the
220 MHz link to Hatchett Mountain near Redding.

King Mountain:

Two problems were corrected over the last month, broadband noise
to the 220 MHz link radio that will link King with Grants Pass was
eliminated by the installation of 220 MHz bandpass cavity.  The
broadband noise was 60 db over S9.  The cavity completely eliminated
it.

A brief power failure and a dead lithium back up battery in the
KING:WB7BPI-1 node may have contributed to a lock up of that TNC.
This happened about the same time as the East Antelope fire broke out. 
That fire started when tree branches "rubbed" a high voltage
distribution line which caused a very brief power fluctuation
throughout most of Jackson County.  WB7AWL assumes that the power
fluctuation affected the power going to King as well.  WB7AWL states
that the lithium back-batteries in each TNC were new when the node
stack was re-worked back in 1996 and that all the batteries are
probably near the end of their useful life.  A motion was made
by Cal - KA0DFN to replace all back-up batteries on King Mountain.
The motion was seconded by Will - N7KS and carried by a 4:2 show of
hands.

WB7AWL also reported the need for someone to climb the poles at King
to re-aim the two Yagi's we have up there.  Since our links have
changed over the last couple of years, the Yagi need to be pointed
at the new links.  WB7AWL is asking for some with climbing experience
to help with that.

A motion was made to accept the Tech report and carried by a majority
show of hands.

Old Business:

1.  Discussion regarding the length of time that it took to get the new
Grants Pass node stack up and running.  The stack should be on the air
and serving Grants Pass on Tuesday, September 17.  WB7AWL explained that
there were several problems that came up that slowed things down
considerably.  These problems included: documentation problems with the
TAPR 9K6 modems, broadband noise on King Mountain that would have
interfered with the link to GPASS, last minute changes to the nodestack
configuration that added a third node and sent us scrambling for another
radio, TNC, modem and antenna.

There were several members that contributed to the GPASS project with
donations of time and equipment.  WB7AWL expresses thanks and gratitiude
to the following people:

Elizabeth - KK7VO who donated eproms and programming services.
Bob - K7XI who donated a Diamond X50 VHF/UHF Antenna.
Cal - KA0DFN who donated a VHF/UHF diplexer and watt meter.
Sean - N7ZWU who donated a TAPR 9K6 Modem and is loaning
              us an Alinco DR-435 xcvr and giving us 1st
              option to purchase as soon as we can afford to.
Rich - K7ZV who will be housing the node stack for us on a temporary
            basis until we can locate a higher elevation site.

An equipment inventory for the GPASS equipment was submitted by
WB7AWL.

2. Brian - KK7BF reported on Josephine County ARES activity during
the Biscuit Wildland Fire.  Packet traffic was handled on the KING node
on 145.070 MHz and included a portable packet node installed on Hayes
Hill.

There was no other old business.

New Business:

BBS Sysop WA6ZTY reports that they may need to vacate the site
on Hatchett Mountain.  This is for *information only* and has not been
confirmed by Bob - KD6DG and we don't even know if it will happen.
WA6ZTY was told that SOAPRA will do whatever is needed to support
and maintain a link should the Hatchett Mountain site go away.

There was no other new business.


The meeting was adjourned at 11:50 am.


Respectfully Submitted,

"The Blue Phantom"
KD7BMK