Rappahannock Valley Amateur Radio Club Meeting Notice

The February meeting of the RVARC will be held Tuesday, February 24th at the Cooper Leedy Real-estate office 405 William St., Fredericksburg Va.

Parking and entry at the rear of the building.

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Minutes of the RVARC Meeting - January 27, 1998

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The meeting was called to order by President Mike Sims, K4GMH at 7:18 p.m.

Old Business

• Cynthia read the Financial Report for 1997. A motion was made and approved to accept the Financial Report.
• Mike reported that he gave plaque to Ms. Hinkle as a thank you for the use of her husband�s callsign.
• Jack reported that he had to coordinate the repeater with TMARC again.
• Mike told the club that the Club Christmas Dinner went well.
• Jim received the Ham of the Year award at the club meeting because he was absent at the dinner.
• Malcolm asked for any new or updated Email addresses.

New Business

• Jack told the club about a new bill to prevent restrictions on Amateur Radio antennas that were smaller than 200 feet above the ground.
• Malcolm told the club about AT&T and other phone companies putting up towers with their antennas on them, but also included Amateur Radio antennas to put up more towers.
• Gordon recommended to the club that we tell everybody what we do, i.e. A Special Event Club, A Contesting Club, etc. Mike recommended that we postpone until the March meeting.
• John needed help getting the repeater hut down to the Thornburg Water Tank.
• George recommended that we thank Cooper-Leedy for the use of their building. Jack said that he would get Carolyn to make up a certificate.
• Malcolm reminded everybody to go to the joint breakfast at Old Country Buffet.
• Malcolm proposed to the club that he buys the old repeater antenna for $1 and he would fix it up for the new site. Malcolm will track down the antenna and get it.
• A motion was made and accepted that Malcolm will buy the club repeater antenna for $1.

• 1998 Officers
  President	Mike Sims	K4GMH
  1st Vice President	Steve Bookout	NJ4F
  2nd Vice President	Bill simpson	N4CKZ
  Secretary	Tim Gajewski	KU4IY
  Treasurer	Mal Gray	KK4GZ
  Activities Manager	Gordon Thomas	WB4LNT

Presentation

• Tom presented a videotape of how to make an antenna for the Roanoke Doppler Kit.

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If you have not paid, 1998 Dues are now due!

The following are some of the results from the Club Planning Session held on 14 Feb:

• The Repeater was discussed in light of the Spotsylvania County's request for additional installation information. Most of the discussion was summarized in the previous Repeater Status e-mail.
• Several additional repeater subjects were discussed and will be looked into:
• Obtain 50 ohm cable (low loss) for the County site instead of using 7/8 inch CATV 70 ohm line and coaxial matching transformers.
• Emergency power source (battery) to cover the time when the mains go out and before the on-site emergency power (generator) comes on line.

• Typical activities the Club has participated in the last several years:
  March of Dimes Walk	April
  Diabetes Walk	Spring
  Canoe Race	June (Manassas Hamfest Weekend-usually)
  Field Day	June (Last full weekend)
  Heritage Run	July
  Triathalon	July
  10 Mile Run	August
  Picnic	Sept. (late)/Oct. (early)
  Altzheimer Walk/Run	Fall
  Jingle Bell Run (Arthritis)	December
  Christmas Dinner	December

  
  

• A couple of activities to be looked into that the Club has participated in previously are:
• Fredericksburg Agricultural Fair (Oldest Fair in America) Special Event Station/Call in August.
• Talk to Santa Claus over ham radio from the Children's ward at MW Hospital.
• Special Events Station(s)
• The operation of a special event station on or near the date of a Civil War battle fought in the area. Steve, NJ4F, put his station on the air last May as a special event station commemorating the Battle of Chancellorsville. The Club's PO Box was the address for sending in the SASE for the QSO certificate. We had over 150 SASE's with Steve getting the certificates made and the call/band put on each one. Carl, K4ME, and his wife did the envelope stuffing and mailing. The Club should look in to expanding this to try and get other clubs to do the same from a Civil War site in their area.
• Virginia QSO Party Participation - try and get more to participate as part of the Club.
• Getting new hams coming into the area aware of the Club.
• One suggestion was to look into getting the info regarding the Club and when it meets as part of the Welcome Wagon material.
• Other ideas were discussed such as getting cards for the taking at Radio Shack.
• Making the Club announcement periodically on the Repeater.
• Bumper stickers also was suggested.
• Insure the Free Lance Star continues to carry our Club meeting announcement and Club information as part of its annual activities issue.
• Getting the Club meeting announced as part of the local cable TV's public service bulletin board.
• Meeting topics
• Rig testing: Have a meeting session in the parking lot somewhere so that hand helds and mobile rigs could be checked out.
• Miscellaneous
• Once the Repeater is up, to return the Newcomers Net as an activity.
• Suggestion is to rotate the net control/advisor.
• Education Class: Is there interest - upgrading, becoming a ham, etc.
• Update of the Battlefield Callbook - Jack, KB4XF, will get it updated with Malcolm's, KK4GZ, latest listing of members and persons in the area. This was approved at one of the Club meetings last winter.
• We need to get an Elmer list together listing the Club member's unique capabilities for helping another ham with an amateur radio problem.

These were the major topics that were discussed as showing up on my notes. They will be discussed at future meetings. Hopefully, this will serve as a jumping off point and by no means is this the end-all list of topics for the Club. Please provide any ideas you have for the Club.

The RVARC is your Club and without your participation it won't exist.

    73,
    Mike, K4GMH