The members met at the Bellevue Senior Center, with 6 members and 1 visitor. The meeting began at about 7 PM.

Attending were members Van Kichline KD7QIT, Charles Beckmeier W7CEB, Dick Schwanke W9HXM, Edna Rideout KA7HNH, Doug Bell KD7KKR, and later John Black W7HIL.

Van announced that John Schurman is just about ready to install our repeater at Evergreen Hospital. He's using our controller board, but he's supplying the radio, cavities, and everything else. He needs coax to run to the antenna and an antenna, and he's asked if we would reimburse him for those. We will spend probably on the order of $100 for these.

Charles will contact John to find out exactly what his needs are.

Charles reported a closing balance for December of $1655.46.

John Schurman AA7UJ, president of the Western Washington Repeater Coordinating Committee, will be our speaker next month, and will talk about our new repeater installation.

Charles and Dick discussed local repeater owners that are associated with the coordinating committee.

Van has posted an article on our web site about his modifications to the Arrow handheld satellite antenna.

Dick asked Van about his progress in studying for the code test. Van was about ready, and asked where he could be tested. Dick said the testing occurs on the first Thursday of each month at the Redmond Maintenance Operations Center, at 7 PM. Van mentioned that the PARS board meeting is at the same time, and said that we should hold our board meeting there.

Van talked about the fact that the last three restaurants where the PARS board has met have closed. In fact, all the Coco's in Western Washington have closed. Dick mentioned that three of the schools his wife, a teacher, had left subsequently closed.

Dick offered to allow the next board meeting to be held at the testing facility. Van planned to have our board meeting there, and to try to take the General and the code exams. Dick and Charles said the RMOC is just east of Target, by the Redmond Cemetary.

John showed up. Van filled John in on the status of our repeater.

Charles mentioned that PARS will not be going as a group to the Mike & Key Arc Swap Meet, although indivicual members will be going.

Van mentioned that in the past our table at the Mike & Key Arc Swap Meet has been our major fund raising event, so if anyone has any ideas on what else we can do to raise funds for the club, let him know.

Van and Charles mentioned that dues are due.

John passed out some EARS flyers.

For the program, Charles and Van gave a presentation on EchoLink.

January's QST had an article on EchoLink for beginners.

The meeting broke for goodies.

Van announced that Don Hickman received the PARS Ham of the Year Award at the December holiday party.

Van talked about ways that EchoLink could be used with our new repeater installation.

There was discussion about how Evergreen Hospital personel currently use ham radio and would use our repeater.

Doug speculated that just as EchoLink can be installed on a radio not at the repeater site, perhaps a phone patch could be installed off site as well. Van mentioned that EchoLink is programmable, so it might be used to implement such a thing. Van would like to monitor repeater usage using such a setup. He would also like to write a program to scan the 2 meter band for activity.

Van talked about planning an EchoLink conference to gain experience with EchoLink, and asked when would be good for members. He decided to continue the planning via email.

Doug verified that at 17 KBaud per connection, he might be able to use EchoLink with his crummy modem. Van remembered that he had planned to bring in a modem for Doug but had forgotten.

Dick asked about whether there should be meeting notices. Van had forgotten to send out a meeting notice for this meeting, but will be sure to send out a notice for future meetings.

Van mentioned that we plan to publish more stuff on our web site, and asked Doug if he'd had a chance to look at that. Doug hadn't, but hoped to be able to do that soon.

John asked what the website address was - www.qsl.net/k7par

Dick had a quickie: "Two antennas fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was wonderful!"

Charles asked who had been to the trailer most recently. Van remembered being there with Don after the December board meeting. When Charles went to the trailer before this meeting, he found the padlock locked in such a way that the trailer had been left unlocked. He had taken a quick look and didn't notice anything missing.

John mentioned that he has forgotten to lock his trailer (which is in the same parking lot) before and hasn't noticed any problem with people getting into it.

Charles forgot his receipt book, but promised to bring receipts for those who would pay at this meeting.

John plans to buy one of those motorized vertical antennas for his trailer.

The meeting was adjourned at about 8:30 PM.

Several members went to the trailer to show it to the visitor. There, we noticed a new leak in the middle of the ceiling.

Respectfully Submitted -
Doug Bell, KD7KKR
PARS Secretary