Our Next Meeting: Friday June 8,
2001 8 PM
At Wantagh Public Library
This Month's Meeting will be the final installment of our 2001
Field Day
Planning.
Last month's friday meeting was followed by the saturday
morning tour of the
US Coast Guard Station at Jones Beach. Ten people attended
including nine
members and Joe Spadaro's wife Mary. The tour included a
walk through the Coast
Guard building with a view of administrative areas and daytime
living areas.
We were then taken outside for a tour of the station vessels.
We boarded the
station's 40 foot interceptor boat which is essentially a twin
engine cruiser made
out of steel. The boat is designed for rough seas rescue as
well as criminal
interception. Most of the members went back inside for a
tour of the radio
communications area. I also met US Coast Guard Auxilary
member and
fellow FAA employee Stu Cohen WA2CAV. Stu is interested in
our club's activities
and agreed to make a visit to our field day site as the ARES
Served Representative.
For the upcoming field day, Nassau County has issued our
official permit for the
weekend. Fortunately the county did not try to charge us a
fee this year but they
included a statement concerning county budget cuts and the
necessity for us
to maintain the site and leave it as we found it.
Frank Porcaro N2RSO has given Ralph Bose WP4KO a big assist
with our web
site. Frank has reserved server space on qsl.net. The
site will include
email forwarding capability and many other services provided by
qsl.net.
Also qsl.net only requests a voluntary donation of $10 a year to
maintain
their services. Frank is well along in designing the site
and hopes to have
it operable some time in June. We will distribute the url
link and link it to
the ARRL Section web page and other local web pages as well.
I also updated our club's affiliation status with the ARRL.
We are now listed
as an active NLI Section Club with our new qsl net email address:
[email protected]
Check our club's status by going to www.arrl.org and click on
"clubs" link.
Due to personal commitments by myself and other board members,
we
were unable to schedule a Board Meeting for late May or early
June.
The field day site survey team of Dan KB2HTB, Frank N2RSO,
Ralph WP4KO,
Jack KI2M and myself have worked out an antenna setup for the FD
phone
and vhf stations. The plans will be presented at this
friday's FD Planning
Meeting.
For Field Day we are looking for more operators, loggers, vhf
ops and
packet experts. As always, their is a shortage of people
for the late shift.
Due to the closing of the Mirage Diner, the Thursday and
Saturday lunch crew
have been meeting at the Apollo Diner in East Meadow and the
Lighthouse
in Wantagh.
May 11 , 2001 Meeting Minutes
Officers
Vic Panzica
President
K2IY
Vin Vignati
Vice President KD2EP
Herman Milatz Treasurer
W2TLC
Bill Kelly
Secretary
N2RRX
Arnold Tarallo Board Member
W2OEJ
Al Bockelman Board Member
K2ES
Sid Wolin
Board Member K2LJH
Meeting Opened 8:15 pm
March meeting minutes were read by Bill Kelly and accepted.
Treasurer's Report by Herman Milatz: $971 in account.
May expenditure includes yearly liability insurance which was
paid $325.
DX report was given by Len ZuckermanKB2HK.
DX conditions continue to be poor however Len was able to
work Madagascar and United Kingdom. Like last month;
solar flares and electric storms are ruining DX.
Art Blank N2NB gave a report on his planning for a DXpedition
to Sable Island. Art is planning a trip for this August or
later
in the year. Sable Island is located off the east coast of
Canada
in the Atlantic. Its is a unique DX location because of the
difficulty to land planes on or near the island. Transportation
and
Island accommodations are fairly expensive and Art is
seeking
monetary support from various DX clubs. As a long time
member
and supporter of our club, Art requested a donation of $100 from
us. The matter was tabled and will be discussed at the next
Board Meeting.
Prior to the meeting, a letter was passed to us from the
Wantagh
Library indicating that due to roof repairs, no July and August
activities would be permitted. Some members suggested
informal meetings at the Diners or in the parking lot. Some also
pointed out that some Long Island clubs do not normally meet
during those months.
The Field Day Park Permit from Nassau County is ready to go
pending submission of the 2001 insurance renewal certificate
with Nassau County added as "Additional Insured".
Vic, Jack, Dan and Ralph met at Wantagh Park to perform a
site survey for antenna and equipment placement. They are
working on a plan to use wire antennas on the phone station
instead of the triband beam setup.
A hand count was taken of those who will be attending Field
Day activities. There was also a request for late night
coverage.
Art N2NB indicated he has the large tent which he bought 3
years ago
for field day available for our use; provided we make
arrangements
to transport it.
Pete W2SUM indicated he may be able to procure his son's
van which we had for last year's field day.
Frank N2RSO informed us that he repaired the club's bent mast
and it will be available along with his own 36 ft mast.
The field day site survey committee requested some funds to
buy
wire & rope for antennas. The executive board will
discuss this and
other expenditures at next board meeting.
Business Meeting adjourned at 9:15 PM
Jack Wicks KI2M and Vic Panzica K2IY gave demos of field day
equipment and software. Jack brought down a wireless TV
camera system which includes two cameras, a receiver and remote
control system designed for home or area surveillance monitoring.
Jack proposed setting up the system on the field day site for
demonstration and surveillance. Vic brought down three
laptop
computers to demonstrate software which we could use for field
day. Five software applications were demonstrated for
logging,
packet, psk31, rtty and satellite tracking.
Vic Panzica K2IY