HEMARC

W3HEM – W3GR

Historical Electronics Museum

Amateur Radio Club

MINUTES

8 June 2006

Meeting was called to order at 1800R (6:00 P.M.) By Jim, N3GOO

PRESENT:

                Chip Weems, W4PBG                         Jim Nowotarski, N3GOO                     Heru, W3WVV

                Steven Stitzer, WA3ZWC                  Uwe Kulms, DF2IR                              John Paul Howell, AA3WI

                Sam Dunkle, KB3CYL                          Bill Corley, NG3O                 Bill Thompson, WT3B

                Tom Dalton, KB3NHQ                        Bob Gardenghi, K3FQP                       Chuck Hastings, W3PJ

                Norm Smith, WA6ABD                       Frank Brelsford, KB3JJP                     Bill Ferguson, KB3JJS

                Jim Smith, AB3CA                               Larry Leitch, K3FIT                             Nick Yokanovich, K3NY

                Gary Hendrickson, W3DTN               Chas Angel, AA3FB                           Bruce Carpenter, W3YVV

                Ed Myerson, AA3XY                          Les Jamison, WR3X                            Al Kinney

                Mike Simons, KB3NQC

May 2006 Minutes were approved as distributed before the meeting (and at the meeting).

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

‘         HEMARC will be conducting a membership renewal drive this summer.  A special renewal offer will be given to all previously registered HEMARC members who have not already paid their 2006 dues.  Now is the time to fill in the form and forward a check to ensure your continued membership in HEMARC.

‘         Museum director Mike Simons passed his license exam and received KB3NQC as his call sign.

‘         All men are hereby encouraged to have their prostate checked.  Baltimore Washington Medical Center and other area hospitals have free screening sessions from time to time.  Getting checked out is a whole lot better than finding you have a problem when it is time for you to check out and go SK.

REPORTS:

Treasurer – No report.

W2W – (Nick) As of 8 June, there have been 835 QSOs made (781 with U.S. hams in ~45 states).  Conditions were good on both Saturday & Sunday.  We had 1 European contact, a handful of Central & South America Canadian contacts, and the rest were from Canadian.  Some QSL requests have already been received.  Expenses to date have been $18.50

QSLs – (Nick) We are receiving about 100 incoming QSL cards a month.

Training – (Les) The next Amateur EXTRA class will start in September.  The GENERAL class finished up with at least 3 students passing their GENERAL license exams.

Station – (Les) Rol worked on the tower, removing the old (broken) rotator and installing a temporary loaner.  The old rotator was disassembled to find the ring gear in 3 pieces.  A new ring gear has been provided and the rotator was awaiting reassembly.  Some discussion ensued regarding whether the rotator should be sent back to the manufacturer for factory quality servicing. We also received a much needed tutorial on how to properly use this type of rotator – 1^ST you press down and hold the brake lever, 2^nd you press down the desired direction of travel, 3^rd you let up on the travel lever, and 4^th (after a couple of seconds) you can now, and only now!!!, let go of the brake lever.  Failure to follow this procedure is almost certainly the primary cause of the ring gear breaking.

                Bob has run the NGC net the last couple of Wednesdays.  Propagation has been awful on 20 meters.

                Tom got his first QSO working W2W.

Fists –  Nothing to report.

F.A.R..– (Chip) Nothing to report, there has been no meeting since the last report.

Correspondence – Baltimore City RACES Officer Christopher Madairy, N3QXX, sent a letter soliciting the help of any members who happen to live in Baltimore.  If you would like to get a copy of the letter and the accompanying volunteer application, please see Norm.

                A copy of an FCC Citation to Lakeland Electric was made available.

OLD BUSINESS:

< Field Day – Preparations continue.  Most of the batteries are in good condition and will be useable for Field Day.  Three laptop computers have been donated to the club and have had the N3FJP Field Day network logging program installed. Discussion ensued.  Gary will be working with a group of Boy Scouts on site and plans for them to work on the GOTA station.  Grass is being cut. Invitations to officials are going out.  Everyone was encouraged to come out at 8 A.M. or as soon as they are able on Saturday morning.

< HEMARC Web Site – HEMARC.org has gone defunct because a SNAFU with paying the registration fee.  HEMARC.US has been registered and all of the data is now pointing at this new domain.  An attempt to recover HEMARC.org will be made after the high-price waiting period has finished.  Hopefully no domain squatters will snap up the domain in the meantime.

NEW BUSINESS:

                An anonymous donor has offered to underwrite a snail mail membership renewal effort.  A pro-rated fee for 2006 will be offered, and members so choosing will also renew for 2007 at the same time. $18.00 as of press time.

50/50 RAFFLE:

                No raffle was held.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

) FARFEST, 9th and 10th September 2006.

) MS Walk, 16^th and 17^th September 2006.  AA3XY is looking for 20+ volunteers per day to help out.  Send him an email at AA3XY@arrl.net  if you can help.

) Pearl Harbor Commemoration, 12-7-2006.

HEALTH & WELFARE:

Next regular club meeting will be held on Thursday 13 July 2006 at 1800R (6:00 P.M. local)

The meeting was adjourned at 1920R (7:20 P.M.), and was followed by a short video of Rol on the tower, and a show-and-tell session.  Highlights included a 1938 Woof Hong and a very unusual QSL card from Martinique.

These minutes are respectfully submitted by Norman Smith, WA6ABD.