Historical Electronics Museum Amateur Radio Club
Minutes of the Meeting of
April 8, 2004
The meeting was called to order by President Jim Nowotarski N3GOO at 6:00
PM.
Present on the sign-in sheet were (25):
Jim N3GOO, Jim N3ZPS, Fred AI3Z, Tim W1TRT, George W3MPN, Charles K3JJD,
Heru W3WVV, Mike KB3CPV, John Paul AA3WI, Ed AA3XY, Bob K3FQP, Bill WT3B,
Alvin K0IQE, Les WR3X, Steven WA3ZWC, Charles AA3FB, Rusty N3WKE, John
W3BE, Vaughn K3VQ, Nick K3NY, Paul KD3JF, Ray K3ZC, Rod WA0QII, Joe K3JIS,
Gary W3DTN, Chip W4PBG (escorting the guest speaker)
Minutes
A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes as published. The
motion was approved by voice vote.
Treasurer's Report
Fred AI3Z reported that the Club started with $1,250.14, had $89.07 in
expenses, received $67.50 in dues and sales and now has a net worth of
$1,228.57 and a bank balance of $1,117.67. This is about on par with last
year. There are 42 Club members.
A box of 26 volt relays were available free for those who wanted them. A
check has been mailed to WorldRadio for $65 to pay for a Club listing.
A motion was made and seconded to accept the Treasurer's Report as
presented. The motion was approved by voice vote.
Programs
Nick K3NY said that the next operating event will be the Mid Atlantic QSO
Party on May 8-9. The event will run from 1600Z Saturday to 2400Z Sunday.
Operators are needed. Nick will not be available until Saturday evening.
The Titanic Special Event is scheduled for April 10 until 1AM on April15.
The Submarine Radio Room Reactivation aboard the Torsk Submarine will run
from Saturday morning, April 24 until about 3 PM on Sunday, April 25.
Everyone is welcome. Overnight accommodations are available for those who
wish. A Memorial Day event at the Smithsonian will take place May 27-30
honoring the opening of the WW2 Memorial on the Mall. Operators are still
needed. The Club's D-Day Special Event has been advertised in the three
major publications. Operators are needed for Saturday and Sunday, June
5-6. W2W is reserved for December 4-10. Field Day will take place on
June 26-27 this year. The Dayton Hamfest will take place on May 14-16.
Motel rooms are available. The best deal is a $23 bus pass that includes
entry to the Hamfest. Sample QSL cards with the Club's new Call Sign were
circulated to the Members present. The Club plans to use W3HEM for the
D-Day Special Event. Nick will call Art and create a new account on
qsl.net for the Webpage. Nick says that we need to annually certify to
the ARRL that a certain percent of Club Members are ARRL members to
maintain our affiliation.
Operations
Les WR3X reported that the station has been operating well. Both keyers
are hooked up. Rol and Dan Zeitlin operated on Wednesday. Les is taking
his Vibraplex back home to use; the Club must supply one for the keyer.
We need to clean up the wires behind the desk. Les reminded everyone to
make sure that all equipment is off before throwing the master switch and
that all of the chairs are back in place. The station can be operated by
anyone who has been trained and whose license in is the book. The green
notebook contains the station operating instructions. Everyone is
encouraged to operate the station. The Franklin Mint Museum has asked
their club to move their equipment out of the Museum. Do not try to use
the linear amplifier on 10m. Jim will produce a diagram of what is
connected to what to make station operation easier and more
understandable. Come in at 3 PM on Wednesdays to see how to tune up the
station. Operators are needed during the Tuesday evening classes.
Antennas
Gene was not present and there was no report.
Training
Les WR3X said that the Technician's class is finishing up. Three have
already tested and have passed. 5-6 more are expected to test in the
future. Rol is planning to start a General Class on April 20, 2004.
There have been about 50 inquiries about a Technician's course on a night
other than Tuesday or Saturday.
FAR
Chip W4PBG was escorting the speaker for the program, so the Secretary
read his report.
FallFest for September was cancelled when it was discovered that the
Howard County Fairgrounds had not been reserved. A FARFest at
Gaithersburg has been proposed for October. CARA is considering a Hamfest
at the Howard County Fairgrounds. HEMARC will honor its commitment to run
a test table at FARFest. The absence of the HEMARC report in the Feb-Apr
AutoCall was due to misfiling by the editor. He guarantees that material
for the May-July issue will be published. The next meeting is May 12.
Jackets
Fred spoke to Sam. Sam said that he was going to try to make it to the
meeting.
Old Business
Raffle
Joe is running the 50-50 Raffle tonight.
www.hemarc.org
Mike contacted Al, but has not heard back. He will call again.
Gary W3GMY
Chuck said that Gary W3GMY is back home from the hospital after a
successful bypass operation. He is doing well. Hurry back, Gary!
QCWA
Les had applications for the QCWA. Every Monday lunch is scheduled for
12:00 PM at Cactus Willey's in Glen Burnie. The QCWA Banquet will be on
May 23. The Banquet is open to nonmembers.
Newspaper Article and Contact Info for Jules
Joe said that today's Howard County Times contained an article on the
Historical Electronics Museum and the Cryptological Museum. There was a
picture showing the Museum including the Club Station. He also said that
Jules K0ZMA was on the air from Ocean City each day about 17:15 on 7.218
MHz.
New Business
John W3BE, author of the Part 97 Columns for AutoCall and WorldRadio,
offered certificates for two free issues of WorldRadio.
Gary W3DTN said that he has W3DQJ's old QSL cards from the 1930s. He also
reported that Hugh Turnbull W3ABC was moving into a retirement community.
He is getting rid of stuff at the hamfest. Among the items are ARRL video
tapes in Beta format. Does the Club have a video library? Does the
Museum? Hugh's junk and parts are in Gary's possession. It includes test
equipment, etc. Does the Club have a widows assistance program? AutoCall
does. Gary suggests that we formalize a program to handle an amateur's
estate. Mike proposed that Gary be in charge of a committee to
investigate. Gary described similar programs that he knew about. Jim
suggested using the Club, Museum and sales. Gary said that you could put
something in your will. Mike suggested talking to Chip about the FAR
program.
Mike said that Herman Turner, a long time Club member, was a silent key.
On a personal basis, Mike reported that he was now a life member of ARRL.
Les placed the Gonset Phone Patch donated by Riley Hollingsworth on the
table for all to see.
The Treasurer reminded everyone to pay their dues.
Jim suggested buying 50-50 raffle tickets.
Jim suggested a possible special event centered around Bletchley Park and
the Enigma Machine. We could send a key and a coded message to others.
GB2BP is Bletchley Park's club call. There are Java script versions of
the Enigma that could be used to decode the message. The idea is in the
formation stage.
Adjournment
A motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting. The motion was
approved by voice vote at 6:56 PM.
Technical Program
Alan Heil, retired Voice of America deputy director of programming and
author of the recently released book "Voice of America: A History," spoke
to an audience assembled in Pioneer Hall.
Respectfully submitted by
Jim Smith N3ZPS, Secretary
May 7, 2004