Historical Electronics Museum Amateur Radio Club

Minutes of the Meeting of
August 12, 2004

The meeting was called to order by President Jim Nowotarski N3GOO at 6:00
PM.

Present on the sign-in sheet were (20):
Chip W4PBG, Heru W3WVV, Alvin K0IQE, Ed AA3XY, Sam KB3CYL, Andy KB3JUH,
Gary W3GMY, Gene W3BAB, Uwe DF2IR, John Paul AA3WI, Jim N3GOO, Jim AB3CA,
Jules K0ZMA, Joe K3JIS, Steve WA3ZWC, Ray K3ZC, Bill WT3B, Chuck AA3FB,
Jim KB3GSA, Nick K3NY

Minutes
A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the July meeting
as distributed. The motion was approved by voice vote.

Treasurer's Report
Fred AI3Z was not present and the Treasurer's report was delivered by Nick
K3NY. He reported that there were 50 members as of August 12, 2004. The
bank balance is $818.48 and there is $34.55 cash on hand. The 50-50
raffle at the last meeting generated $11.50 and the snack sales provided
$15.25. $371 was reimbursed for the new QSLs and W2W postage and $94.65
was reimbursed for Field Day food. There is an additional $115 request
for postage for D-Day QSLs and certificates, 8.5 pounds of QSLs and 6
envelopes for the Bureau. A motion was made and seconded to accept the
Treasurer's Report as stated. The motion was approved by voice vote.

Programs
Nick K3NY said that the MD QSO Party was this weekend. The hours are 8 to
midnight on Saturday and 12 to 8 on Sunday. He passed out a sign-up
sheet.
Jim said that work on the Website is going forward and that all the
Websites are set to point to the current Website for W3HEM. Newsletters
and current items are now in the W3HEM directory. See Jim if anything
needs to be added or changed. Jim is doing some Web work to relieve Nick.

Net Reports
Gene was the net controller at the NG Family Net yesterday. The net
started at 3 PM local on 14.270 MHz with 5 check-ins. Gene operated from
his home QTH with 1200w. Band conditions were bad with lots of QSB. More
operators are needed for this enjoyable activity.
The First Saturday of the month net starts at 11 AM local on 14.270
(21.360 is the alternate frequency).

Training
The Extra class starts on the third Tuesday of September. Heru suggested
that the Club notify Mayer, Secretary of the BRATS club, so that he can
announce the course on the air. Jim noted that the course announcement
was on the Club Website.

Jackets
Sam said that he can purchase jackets for Club members. The jackets will
have the Club Emblem on the back and name and call on the front. Sam
needs interested members to send their name, jacket size, number of
jackets desired and Call Sign to kb3cyl@highstream.net.

FAR
Chip W4PBG could not make the FAR meeting last night. He reminded the
members that the Club is still on for staffing the Test Table at the
FARFest in Gaithersburg on September 11-12. Chip has 6 tickets for people
working the Test Table. He is not sure that the Treasurer can participate
since he will be defending his title in the VHF contest that weekend.
Nick will be available both days. Gary is not sure he will attend.
Everyone who subscribes to AutoCall will be receiving a reprinted copy
because the printer was dissatisfied with the quality of the pictures
printed in the issue mailed to subscribers.

Antennas
Jim reported that Chip has built two new antennas: a 10m dipole for the
R1000 and an 80/40 inverted 'V' to be installed using the tower. Chuck
will reassemble the Gap at a new location as a result of the dipole's
relocation. Chip will make a copy of the roof layout for Chuck. Jim asks
that changes on the roof be sent to him since he represents the Club to
the Museum and needs to know what is going on.

Old Business
There is a new address for Hugh Turnbull W3ABC: 3142 Graceland Road, Apt
508, Silver Spring, MD 20904-5857

Jim appointed an antenna committee made up of Chuck, Sam, Chip, Gene and
Jim ex officio. He suggests the following steps after discussing the
layout on the roof: Relocate the Gap antenna, put up the 10m dipole, and
install the 80/40 antenna on the back. Chuck pointed out that NG does not
want us up on the platform on the roof. Jim said that our plan is to get
away from the platform and that NG Industrial Health and Safety is OK with
the RF patterns on the roof. He believes that moving away from the
platform may help with the antenna noise problem.

New Business
Jim N3GOO read a message from Jim AB3CA about the availability of a
heavy-duty crank-up mast, 30' beam, rotator, QSL cards and logs being
offered by the widow of a silent key.
Chip reported that there is currently no survivor's assistance
representative at FAR.
Jim said that he had been asked by the Vice President if the Club would be
staffing a table at the Bethany Church FunFest from 10-4 on 9/25/2004 in
Bowie. Jim said that based on the amount of support we have received in
our own events, he was inclined to believe that we could not support this
activity. Jim asked for a discussion and if anyone was available to
support the activity. Based on the results of the discussion, he
concluded that the Club did not have the ability to participate in the
activity.
Chip was the only volunteer on the sign-up sheet for the QSO Party.
Chip mentioned that the Museum might want to participate in an event with
about 30 other IMD museums associated with the history of radio. An award
will be presented to the Amateur who works the most museums in the event.
Chip will get the date and more specific information. Jim suggested we
will have to focus on events that we can support.
Joe said that George Asaki W3MPN is in the hospital for surgery. He will
be in North Arundel Hospital for 4-5 days.
Nick gave an update on operators for the QSO Party: 3 operators signed up
for Saturday and none for Sunday. This means we will not be on the air on
Sunday.
A member pointed out that the Carroll County HamFest is Sunday in
Westminster.
Steve said that the new Acting Director of the Museum is Warren von Uffel
and Tiffany Davis is the new assistant director. The Acting Director
would like to clean up the first cage in the storage area. Jim said that
if there are items we no longer want, we could see if they are saleable at
the Hamfest. The Club may be able to use a second HF set. Chip suggested
coordinating this with Rol since he was to review the inventory and
indicate what was of value to the Museum. Jim said that the first thing
we need is an inventory.

Adjournment
A motion to adjourn was made and seconded. The motion was approved by
voice vote.

The Technical Program included a session on how to operate the Club
station, Chip had an antenna quiz and Uwe had a $10,000 spectrum analyzer
to demonstrate.

Respectfully Submitted by
Jim Smith AB3CA
Secretary