HEMARC June 12 Meeting Minutes


Historical Electronics Museum Amateur Radio Club
Minutes of the meeting of June 12, 2003

The meeting was called to order by President Ed Myerson AA3XY at 6:00 PM

Present on the sign in sheet were (23): Ed Myerson AA3XY, Norman Smith
WA6ABD, George Asaki W3MPN, Bill Thompson WT3B, Jim Nowotarski  N3GOO,
Bill Ferguson KB3JJS, George Schrenker KB3IVE, Gary Ryan W3GMY, Gene Knapp
W3BAB, Mike Conlon KB3CPV, Ted Stathis KA3EGV (Guest), Tony Dalsanto
N3HYR, Rusty Schaeffer N3WKE, Dean Bush, Sr K3KHG, Charles Angel AA3FB,
Les Jamison WR3X, Gary Hendrickson W3DTN, John Paul Howell AA3WI, Paul
Gates KD3JF, Heru W3WVV, Lloyd Lachow K3ESE (Guest speaker), Nick
Yokanovich K3NY, Andrew Kopke KB3JUH (new member)

Minutes
A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the May 2003
meeting as published.  The motion was approved by voice vote.

Treasurer's Report
Fred AI3Z reported that the Club has $625.90 in the bank and $129.25 in
Petty Cash making $755.15 available.  A motion was made and seconded to
accept the Treasurer's Report as stated.  The motion was approved by voice
vote.

Training
Les WR3X said that five students finished the class and all five earned
upgrades to General.  Others in the class tested early, but the results
are unknown because they did not report back.  Les said that an Extra
course would start in September.  Rol W3RA indicated that the class would
probably start on the last Tuesday in September.  New member Andy KB3JUH
was welcomed with a round of applause.

FAR Report
No FAR report was available.

Jackets
No report was available

QSLs
Mike KB3CPV said that W3GR needs Rhode Island and Delaware to qualify for
the WAS award.

FISTS
Nick K3NY said that he received a bag that Gene W3BAB brought from Dayton
containing the first of the year reference magazines, applications and
pins.  He invited those present to pick-up a magazine and application.

D-Day
578 contacts were confirmed for D-Day after filtering.  Envelopes for the
QSL cards and certificates have started arriving.

Field Day
Nick K3NY was having a difficult time contacting someone from the Andover
Apaches to confirm use of the site for Field Day.  He said that the County
has withdrawn permission to use the field due to an extensive
renovation.  He is planning to talk to someone in the County Parks
Department to explain that we do not need to be on the field, only place
an antenna on the field and operate around it.  Several members discussed
whether or not a County official could expedite the process.  The fall
back site is the Museum.  Mike KB3CPV volunteered to take over the 10, 15,
20 meter station and provide the shelter, equipment, logging computer and
antenna.  Nick needed a computer for the GOTA station and someone to take
charge of the VHF/UHF station.  Sam KB3CYL was mentioned for the VHF/UHF
station.  Alan N3IKI and Chip W4PBG will man the satellite station.  Nick
has operators for the GOTA station but needs an Extra Class control
operator.  Nick will take care of the food and sodas.  He says that there
will be a lot more food and sodas than last year.  Fred did very well
running the GOTA station last year and someone else should do it this
year.  Nick said he needed one more laptop.  Ed said that he might have
one to use.  The operating hours for Field Day will be from 2 PM Saturday
to 2 PM Sunday.  Nick has tee shirts for $13.85 for those who ordered
them.  He has two extra shirts to sell.  Rol suggested that we could use a
non-traditional mode such as SSTV.  He said he would try to schedule a
SSTV contact on 10 meters.  Nick reported that the club recorded a FD
score of 2,745 in 97; 4190 in 98; 2554 in 99; 2502 in 00; 2950 in 01 and
4104 in 02.  We have enough batteries.

Old Business

RF Warning Device for Museum Roof
A comment was made that a warning device is needed to warn people working
on the roof that a large RF field may be present.  Mike said that the East
Building has a warning light that must be turned on 3 minutes before radar
equipment can be activated.  There was concern that people can access the
Museum roof by propping a ladder against the outer wall.  A statement was
made that the RF field from the tower was not a problem, but that the
antenna on the air conditioner railing needed a warning device.  A
suggestion was made that the antenna on the A/C railing should be moved to
another location.  A lengthy discussion of the types and locations of
signs, rails and lights and the dangers at different frequencies followed. 

A motion was made by Mike to make an RF survey of the roof and tower to
make sure we are not endangering anyone.  The motion was seconded.  Mike
said that a guest speaker had offered the use of his equipment to make the
survey.  During the discussion the comment was made that we also needed to
state what we will do to warn people.  An amendment to the motion was
offered stating that appropriate warnings such as signs would be
posted.  The amendment to the motion was not seconded and the motion was
not amended.  Les stated that he did all the charts, and that we are fine
until the linear amplifier is turned on and certain frequencies are
transmitted.  The motion was passed by voice vote.

Les WR3X said that he completed the ARRL charts and calculations from the
book.
A motion was made by John Paul AA3WI that the Club investigate and
possibly place signs at strategic locations on the roof to notify people
who get up on the roof of the possibility of RF.  The motion was
seconded.  During the discussion it was suggested that the committee
should talk to the relevant parties at NG.  The motion was passed by voice
vote.

Gene W3BAB and Les WR3X were suggested to head up the committee.  Les
opted out.  He said that he spent two weeds doing the survey and that
nothing came out of it.  He said he would be available to assist others if
necessary.  Heru suggested Gary Hendrix.  Gary felt that he did not have
the contacts at NG and did not have appropriate information.  Jim N3GOO
volunteered to head up the effort.

New Call
A committee is studying the use of W3GR, W2W, and the new addition,
W3HEM.  Rol reported that the committee has met, but was not ready to make
recommendations.  They are studying the financial impact and are learning
about Charlie Hartman, who used the W3GR call sign.  The committee will
formulate a suggestion on the use of the calls and it will be up to the
Club to decide.

Antennas
Rol led a discussion on several antenna related items.  Do we plan to have
a wire antenna for 160 meters?  It was suggested that we will look into
this after Field Day.  Is the ATV antenna working?  It has been working
OK, but it could be better.  We will do more on that.  Should we put an
element on the tower instead of installing the wire antenna?  The element
weighs 60 pounds and adds minor wind loading.  What will this do to the
antenna?  Cushcraft has modeled the antenna under these conditions, but
has not actually tested it.

New Business

Tower
A visitor associated with SatCom Systems said that they were cleaning up
and had identified a new 5 section Rohn tower that would not be used.  He
said that he had been given authority to sign it over to the Club if we
were interested.  Ed asked if it could be used for Field Day.  A motion
was made to accept the antenna.  The motion was seconded and passed by
voice vote.  Rol will take the lead to tell them we want the antenna and
then we will figure out how to get it.

AMSAT Plans
AMSAT has a May 2004 satellite launch planned.  Will NG support
AMSAT?  There was a discussion of how this might be accomplished.  A
motion was made for the Club to send a message of support and to contact
appropriate people at NG to investigate sponsorship.  The motion was
seconded and passed by voice vote.

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

Technical Program
Guest speaker, Lloyd Lachow K3ESE, spoke on a QRP contest known as Fox
Hunting.  He displayed and discussed his kit-built QRP transceiver, the
MultiPig Plus.

Respectfully submitted by Jim Smith N3ZPS, Secretary
7/3/2003