MICHIGAN AREA REPEATER COUNCIL
WEB SITE: http://www.qsl.net/miarc May, 2000 e-mail: [email protected]
NEWSLETTER
Next Meeting: Sunday, June 4th 2000
Oakland County EOC Time: 1:00 PM
South on I-75. Exit at #93. Right on Dixie Highway for just over 6 miles. Look for Telegraph Road sign (with traffic light). Right on Telegraph Road. Turn right at first traffic light, on to County Center Drive West. Proceed along this road to Campus Drive. Turn left and stay to the right as you enter a parking area. The Emergency Management offices are in the low building on your right. We will have signs to help you.
MARC minutes from quarterly meeting March, 05, 2000.
Due to the misplacement of the notes taken at this meeting I am submitting this from memory.
Call to order by at 1:05 PM.. Board members present KB8RWG/ K. Karpp, N8BIT/ D. Oasch & K5EKP/ B.Gilbert. With 25 in attendance (16 from USECA). Treasure report given by D. Oasch motion to accept as read was made and seconded, motion approved. K.Karpp read Secretary report from newsletter, motion made and seconded to accept as read, motion passed.
Vote was taken via ballot reference the modification of the Bylaws to include the words (or Sunday) to Article VI, A. Annual Meetings. The modified section would read (The Annual Meeting shall be held on the first Saturday or Sunday following the first Monday of September of each year). A combination of absentee and those present was tallied and vote passed. While the votes were being tallied K.Karpp reported we have had no response to the proposed committee to work on the updating of the Bylaws & Standards. A motion was made to open up the committee to anyone interested instead of limiting the committee to 2 persons from each quadrant with no more than 1 from any Amateur organization. The motion passed.
The next order of business was Dave Oasch read his resignation. At that time the MARC Board no longer had a quorum so the meeting was automatically closed. No other MARC business was conducted however there was many discussions held.
Respectfully Submitted
Kelly Karpp, KB8RWG
President MARC Inc.
From The Presidents Desk
I write this with a very heavy heart as the Michigan Area Repeater Council has lost a very active supporter N8BIT / Dave Oasch.. Dave has served the MARC for over 20 years in one capacity or another, from active repeater owner / trustee to MARC Director and most recently MARC Treasurer. At our March, 5 2000 quarterly meeting I regretfully accepted Dave's resignation from the MARC Board. Again thank you Dave for your many years of service to the MARC Board.
Regretfully Dave's resignation requires us to fill the position of Treasurer until the end of term (Sept, 2001). The MARC Board will be accepting any and all applications to this appointment. Please remit to MARC Inc. Po Box 127 Oscoda Mi. 48750
The MARC Board has appointed N8JAZ / Ron Huber to fill the office of Secretary for the remainder of the term which will expire November 30 2000. The election for the office of President, Secretary, and one Director shall be held at the Annual Meeting in September, 2000. The MARC Board has also appointed KC8MFO / Ed Zupan as Newsletter Editor.
It is about that time of year again for the annual submission of your TDS (Technical Data Survey). Please remember the deadline date of July 15, 2000 for submission of data to be entered in the ARRL 2001/2002 repeater directory. For those of you with web service please file your update electronically at www.qsl.net/miarc and for those of you without web service please make as many copies to suit of the enclosed TDS at the end of this newsletter.
At this time I feel compelled to make mention of a situation affecting your MARC Board. We had received a compliant of interference between 2 repeaters on the same frequency. A letter requesting cooperation was sent to the trustee of record, with no reply. After several months of no response a certified letter was sent to the trustee of record and also a past president of the affected club. The trustee still ignored the certified letter allowing it to be returned to MARC Inc. In compliance with the Bylaws / Standards the coordination for this repeater was revoked. Please understand these events occurred between March 1999 through September 1999, a six (6) month period of complaint and without resolution.
At the September quarterly meeting there were 14 amateurs present, 7 of which represented the de-coordinated repeater in question. The board was met with the threat of a lawsuit. The members were informed the system was still in an un-coordinated state and would stay that way until the agreed district class coverage radius was not exceeded.
Prior to the December quarterly meeting Marc experienced an explosion in membership most of which decided to submit there membership dues by certified mail which caused the treasure extreme inconvenience.
At the December quarterly meeting there were 51 amateurs present,31 of witch represented the de-coordinated repeater in question. The MARC Board was given a Position Paper with a demand for a response within 10 days.
At the March quarterly meeting there were 25 amateurs present, 16 of witch represented the de-coordinated repeater in question
It's a real shame that the only way we can get amateurs to show up at the regular quarterly meetings is by trying to enforce the Bylaws / Standards that have been in effect since 1991. You may be wondering why when you ask questions of your MARC Board or request immediate action on your particular situation please remember this is an entirely volunteer position and we all have another life other than MARC.
Kelly Karpp, KB8RWG
President MARC Inc.
Coordinator's Report:
5 links coordinated during the last quarter. Two repeater reassignments completed. 1, 440 to 1.2 G AMSAT link and 5 more 440 links and controls in process.
Bruce
N8UT
To The MARC Members & Board
For several months I have been witnessing a break down in communications
from our membership and the Marc Board. It seems to be in the area
of valid and honest communications and information from our membership.
This has led to a constant and continued group of attacks on each other and a
lack of cooperation between the Marc Board and some of the membership alike.
I am not sure at this point that we (the Board or the membership) all
even have the same objectives in mind. I have tried my best to put forward
ideas and knowledge to the group and give the reasons for them. A large
percentage of the information we get in from the membership is either misleading
or just plain incorrect. Even though we are all aware of the problem it
has made no difference. I think we as a board have come a long way in
the past year from what it was when we started, I have been very active
in MARC for 20 years now and I believe that this is the most dedicated boards
I have seen. We had basically no database (which Bruce has put hundreds
of hrs on). We had an old membership list that was out of date, and almost
no communications with the membership. We have overcome all those things.
We are working with a set of by-laws that were put in effect by the past
membership of MARC. That was back when the term gentlemen's agreement
still meant something. It no longer means much to a great many of our members.
Some of the membership would like others to follow the By-laws as long
as they don't have to. I have brought all records and files to the meeting.
The board can check them over and there should be no question of the condition
the account is in. All of that information will be turned over the Board.
I have been spending a great deal of time working with and maintaining the records while communicating with members via e-mail, snail mail and phone. Under the circumstances I can see no reason to continue in the direction that we seem to be going. The time that I am spending on MARC business could be put to much better use with my family and Boy Scout Activities I am also involved in. I have been involved with MARC for well over twenty years now and this does not come easily. But I have no interest in working within a group of Ham's individuals or clubs that won't back us up or follow the rules that they themselves helped put together. I do not contribute this problem to any one person, or group. I really think that several groups contributed to it.
Respectively Submitted
David Oesch
Michigan Area Repeater Council Technical Data Sheet
(Instructions are on back of this form) (This form is also found on the MARC Web site)
Action Requested _____ New Coordination _____ Modify Existing Coordination __________ Renewal Update
System Type _____ Repeater _____ One Way Link _____ Two Way Link _____ Multi Location Link
Frequency Information Band: _______ Output Freq.:____________ Input Freq.: __________ Control Freq.: __________
System Status In Operation: ______ Will Be On By: __________ Not Used (return to frequency pool) _______
Sponsorship (Sponsor is the holder of the coordination)
Sponsor: ____________________________ Trustee: _______________________ Station Call: ___________
System Information:
City Identified With System:___________________________________________
Geographic Area Served: _____________________________________________
County (transmitter located): __________________________________________
Location Of Receiver If Different Than Above:___________________________________________________
Coordinates To The Nearest Second: Latitude ________________ Longitude__________________________
Ground Elevation Above Sea Level (AMSL):__________________ Ant Height Above Ground: ____________
Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT):_________________________________________________________
Date system was originally coordinated: ______/_______/_______
Michigan Coordination number: ____________ ARRL Coordination number:_____________
Antenna & Power Information
Antenna Gain : ________ dB Omni Or Directional : _______ Bearing Of Ant (if directional) ____________
Power To Antenna: _____________ Watts E.R.P. In Watts : _____________________
Access Mode ______(o) Open ______ ( c ) Closed _____(PL)CTCSS Freq.________ Tone (T) _____ Digital (Y) ______
System Features
A= Autopatch CA= Closed Patch DS= Dual Squelch E= Emergency Power L= Linked
P= Portable System PKT= Digital Packet Capability R/r = RACES A/a = ARES
X= Wide Area (requires Quadrant App) Y= RTTY/ASCII z/Z= Direct Access To Police (911) WX = Weather Net
Your Features : ________________________________________________________________________________
Trustee Information
Name : __________________________________________ Call Sign :_________________________________
Address : _______________ _________________________ City : ____________________________________
State : _________ Zip Code : __________ Day Phone (___)____________ Night (____)__________________
I certify that I have read and agree to abide by the MARC Standards and that the statements
above are true, complete and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.
Signature: ___________________________________________ Date : ______________________________
INSTRUCTIONS FOR TDS
This form explains how to fill out the MARC TDS form. It does not cover every box/line. This is to be filed only by a licensed amateur radio operator. The person filling out this form should be the Trustee of the repeater. The Trustee normally is the control operator and has sole responsibility for all correspondence with the MARC. This form must be complete and all appropriate boxes checked.
ACTION REQUESTED:
1.Check New Coordination for a frequency not currently assigned to you or when requesting an additional link frequency, to change location, ERP, antenna height, or any other operation that will change the technical parameters of the system. Explain the modification desired in the "Comments" area.
2. Check Modify Existing Coordination for a change in call sign, Trustee, access mode or system features.
3. Check Renewal Update when making the required two-year update of the MARC inc. files
SYSTEM TYPE: Check only one box in this section. Use an individual form for each component such as a transmitter, link, system, or remote receivers.
FREQUENCY INFORMATION:
1. For a New Coordination, indicate the desired band only.
2. All other actions require entering coordinated frequency data.
SYSTEM STATUS: "Will Be On By" enter date only if the system has been off-line for some reason. "Proposed" is only for new coordinations. If system is coordinated and on the air use "Operational".
SPONSORSHIP: The sponsor is the actual holder of the coordination. Enter sponsor name, club or organization.
Trustee enter name and call sign of individual in control of the repeater.
Station Call is the call sign on the repeater ID.
SYSTEM INFORMATION:
1.Geographic Area Served Please use the 4 quadrant indicator NE, NW, SE, SW given I-75, US-27, & US-127 as the north/south line and 46 as the east/west line.
2. Note Location of Receiver if different from the transmitter location.
3. Coordinates provide the Latitude and Longitude to nearest second . (Required) Entries with double zeros in the seconds position are not acceptable.The AMSL and COORDINATES are derived from a USGS 7 ½ minute quadrangle map or GPS device.
4. Exact Location: this is the address where the repeater is located.
ANTENNA & POWER INFORMATION: Please note the Power to Antenna does not refer to transmit power out of the transmitter, but to the actual power that reaches the feed point of the antenna. There are significant power losses in duplexers and feed lines. Please calculate these losses.
ACCESS MODE & SYSTEM FEATURES: The letter codes next to each box indicate the coding that will appear in the repeater directory. Check boxes as they apply to your system.
TRUSTEE INFORMATION: Enter information about the person who is responsible for communicating with the MARC. This is usually the Trustee.
CERTIFICATION: This is information about the Trustee, with whom the MARC communicates.
DATE: Please be sure to date this form where indicated.
NOTE if this frequency had been coordinated to another individual, organization or group, a letter of reassignment from the original coordination owner MUST accompany this request form.
COORDINATION PROCESSING FEES: Be sure to include the appropriate Coordination Processing Fee with your TDS if this is an application for a new coordination or re-coordination; do to extensive modifications or a move.