Monthly Equipment Chairman Report
I have several new items to report on for this month in the equipment
business.  First off, it was approved at last nights meeting to buy a 1.5 amp
maintained battery charger for the club packet station/remote receive site
battery.  This purchase was approved at an approximate cost of $35.00, but
may be a little less if we buy an optional 2A/10A used model. Kurt (KB9RKU)
will soon be moving the club packet station out to the table in the SW corner
of the main room, just behind the remote receiver.  The packet station will
then jointly utilize the commercial duty battery that the remote receiver
site operates off of now.  The battery charger will allow automatic charging
of the battery, and will shut off when a full charge is reached (thus the
reason for a "maintained battery charger").  Also, in the coming months, Kurt
and I will be erecting the two meter Ringo Ranger antenna for the packet
station to utilize as a separate entity, so the current tri-band vertical
will be returned to regular use for the Yaesu 6m/2m/70cm rig.  Second, the
two meter Alinco radio that was being used for the packet station, as you all
know, has now been officially rendered deceased (per KB9EZZ).  Thanks Joe for
analyzing the radio for us, even though "CPR" was unsuccessful.  Therefore,
next month I will have a proposal for the club on purchasing a new VHF radio
for the use of the packet station.  Currently, Kurt is loaning us his Icom
2100 two-meter mobile, which he will need back next month.  I will be pricing
16-channel commercial duty VHF rigs, as well as several different models of
basic amateur radio two-meter mobiles (Alinco, Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood and Radio
Shack).  The goal will be to obtain the best radio feature wise, with the
best price tag to the club.  The commercial duty rigs will output 40 watts,
and will be programmed for free by the gentleman at packetradio.com.  The
amateur rigs will likely be 40-50 watt outputs, with self-programming
required.  Long term, Kurt will be building a 2-meter/70 centimeter J-Pole
for possible expansion of the packet station onto 70 centimeters.  Also, with
the weather warming up, I will begin looking at options for fixing the guy
cable posts that service the club tower, as I have stated in previous reports
that they are leaning a bit too close for comfort.  I will wait to see what
happens with the current proposal with Tabor Grain and Leonore VFD before
making any serious plans, however.

All other club equipment seems to be operating fine, there have been no
changes made to the antenna system as of yet.  We really need to schedule
another antenna party to help Pat (KC6VVT) when he returns from California.
Please let me know what day(s) of the week are better for each of you to come
out to the club for a few hours and lend a hand!  The procedure should not
take hours on end, all we will be doing is replacing the HF beam and POSSIBLY
routing a new run of coax, depending on the condition of the current run.

February meeting happenings
The BIG NEWS is that there is no news.  Yep, the deal with Tabor Grain fell
through again!  This time it was not on our end.  The powers that control the
money at Tabor Grain decided the figure that the Leonore FVD wanted
(supposedly $40,000.00) was too much, and nixed it.  Several members did tour
the firehouse anyway, and there is still the possibility that Tabor or the
LVFD will change their mind...but don't hold your breath. We are trying hard
to twist some arms to become 2002 hamfest Chairperson.  That may seem like a
long way off, but we want to print flyers and tickets for the 2002 'fest so
we can distribute and sell tickets at the 2001 event, plus other fests
between now and then.  We did get some help promised.  N9PIB will do tables
and tickets for 2002, and the two Risley siblings will help out - the exact
degree of help to be determined.  Not much else went on at the meeting.

REPEATER MAINTAINENCE COMMITTEE
We had a few problems with he repeater about a week ago.  The receive levels
went way down, while the local audio - ID's and such - stayed up. It seems to
have cured itself.  I haven't heard it in over a week now. Another funny
thing is the autopatch announcement.  Whenever anyone dials the autopatch
number, it answers and asks for the password.  If it doesn't hear it in 20
seconds, it disconnects.  It then says "AUTOPATCH CLEAR" on the transmit
frequency.  Of course the number will be dialed up in error once in a while,
but I've been hearing this too often.  I hope no one is trying to hack the
repeater.  I am scheduling a repeater maintenance comm meeting on Saturday,
Feb 17. Let's try 11:00 AM.  I am going to try to discuss some specific
trouble shooting procedures, and possibly take a few members on a field trip
to Etna Rd - either later on in the day, or another weekend day soon after
that.
 

>From the editor
I'm very sorry about not getting the January Static out.  I'll try to get
them out earlier.  Anyway, My name is Austin and my e-mail address is
KB9UTF@aol.com.  E-mail me about stuff you want in the letter, questions, or
comments.  Again I'm sorry about the slowness.   I'll continue to improve.
The editor kb9utf