Chesapeake Amateur Television Society (CATS), W3BAB
Meeting Minutes

February 19, 2011

President Bob Curry, KC3VO, called the meeting to order
at 9:40 A.M.  The meeting was held in the offices of
Ball and Ball Communications, 14213 Cherry Lane Court,
Laurel, Maryland.

12 people attended the meeting.

 Robert Curry        KC3VO    (President)
 John Watson         NY3K     (Treasurer)
 Al (Brownie) Brown  KZ3AB    (Secretary)
 Ken McCue           K3UQQ
 Grady Ball          WB3JUV
 Heru Walmsley       W3WVV
 John Hagland        KA3ZTC
 Bob Martin          KC3FI
 Fred Merker         K3TAZ
 Tom Farrell         W3RCJ
 R Alfred Whiting    K3BRS
 Bob Storm           WB3EAF   (Guest from Pennsylvania)

* President Bob Curry, KC3VO, showed the ATV linear
  amplifier that he built for the CATS repeater.  The
  tentative date for installation is Thursday, February
  24th.

* Ken McCue, K3UQQ, led a discussion about testing the
  ATV link between Towson and York, Pennsylvania.  No
  date was set for the test.

* Bob Martin, KC3FI, proposed a committee to coordinate
  the tests between Towson and York.  Fred Merker, 
  K3TAZ, and Grady Ball, WB3JUV, volunteered to be 
  members of the committee.

* Heru Walmsley, W3WVV, proposed a meeting of 
  representatives from ATV clubs from around the region.

  The meeting is tentatively scheduled for Sunday,
  April 3rd at 2:00 P M.  Heru will reserve space for
  the meeting at the National Electronics Museum, 
  1745 West Nursery Road, Linthicum, Maryland. 

  The date and time need to be confirmed with members
  of ATV groups around the region before it is
  officially announced.

* Treasurer John Watson, NY3K, gave the treasurers
  report.

* Election of officers is coming up in March.  

  Bob Martin, KC3FI, and Grady Ball, WB3JUV volunteered
  to serve on the nominating committee.  Bob Martin,
  KC3FI was elected as chairperson.

* Bob Martin, KC3FI, opened a discussion to modify the
  CATS by laws to allow a quorum to include members 
  checked in via electronic means.  This means either
  through an Internet connection or by a land-line
  conference call, rather than physically being in
  attendance.

  No motion was made. 

* Grady Ball, WB3JUV, announced that the move and 
  coordination of the 145.430 MHz voice repeater to
  the Laurel Police Department Headquarters tower on
  5th Street in Laurel was approved by T-MARC.

  The authorization letter was dated January 17, 2011.
  The authorization expires on July 17, 2011.

  We are waiting for the City of Laurel to purchase and
  install the antenna and coax.  The purchase and 
  installation has been delayed because of the City's
  budgetary considerations.

  If construction can not be completed by July 17th,
  T-MARC policy allows for a single 90 day extension
  period. 

  If the coordination is withdrawn for failure to
  complete by October 15, 2011, T-MARC will not accept
  any further applications for coordination of the 
  145.430 MHz sponsor for a period of one year.

* Fred Merker, K3TAZ, donated a Sony B&W vidicon
  television camera and a Stetchel Carlson rack mount
  enclosure with three B&W monitors to the club.

* A motion by Grady Ball, WB3JUV, to adjourn the 
  metting was offered, seconded and approved at
  11:40 A M. 

The next CATS meeting is scheduled for Saturday,
March 12, 2011 in the offices of Ball and Ball
Communications, 14213 Cherry Lane Court, Laurel,
Maryland at 9:00 a.m. 
 

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ E. Allen (Brownie) Brown, KZ3AB
Secretary

 

March 12, 2011

President Bob Curry, KC3VO, called the meeting to order

at 9:15 AM. The meeting was held in the offices of

Ball and Ball Communications, 14213 Cherry Lane Court,

Laurel, Maryland.

14 people attended the meeting in person and one

watched online via VZOChat.

Robert Curry KC3VO (President)

John Watson NY3K (Treasurer)

Al (Brownie) Brown KZ3AB (Secretary)

Ken McCue K3UQQ

Grady Ball WB3JUV

Heru Walmsley W3WVV

John Hagland KA3ZTC

Fred Merker K3TAZ

Bob Martin KC3FI (via VZOChat)

Jim Cross WI3N

Larry Przyborowski K3PEG

Bill Rhone WB3LOT

Bill Boston N3DCI

Bron Kidwell N3AGB

Stan Novack K3DRP

The attendees introduced themselves.

* Secretary Brownie Brown, KZ3AB, sent the minutes of the

February meeting to CATS members and friends via e-mail

during the week before the meeting. He also distributed

hard copies at the meeting.

A motion was made seconded and approved to accept the

February meeting minutes as distributed.

* Treasurer John Watson, NY3K, also sent a treasurer's

report to CATS members and friends via e-mail during

the week before the meeting. He also gave an oral

report at the meeting.

Three additional members paid their dues at or before

today's meeting.

* We went a little out of the normal order because Jim

Cross, WI3N, had a request and information for the club

and had to leave the meeting early.

- Jim, WI3N, announced that the Maryland State ARRL

Convention will be held at the Greater Baltimore

Hamboree & Computerfest in Timonium on Saturday,

March 26 and Sunday, March 27, 2011. He requested:

(1) CATS set up an ATV link between the Vista Room,

located in the second floor of the Admin building, with

a receiver located at the ARRL MDC Section booth in the

Exhibit Hall, and;

(2) If someone in CATS would record the forums in the

Vista Room.

This would accomplish two things: (1) Help to promote

CATS and ATV in general to those attending, and (2)

provide reproducible recordings of the forums that may

be distributed and shown at future club meetings in

the MDC Section.

President Bob Curry, KC3VO, offered the use of his

professional video and audio equipment, ATV

transmitter, and a receiver if he was assured that

someone would help him with transportation.

Various other members offered to help Bob with

transportation, antennas, etc.

- Jim also announced that the move of the 145.430 MHz

voice repeater to the Laurel Police Department

Headquarters tower on 5th Street in Laurel is on

track.

The Laurel city engineers will be reviewing the wind

loading on the tower with respect to the placement of

the antennas on the tower for both CATS (DCMARC), and

the Laurel Amateur Radio Club (LARC).

Installation of the antennas, as well as the

installation of the 145.430 MHz CATS (DCMARC) repeater,

is expected to be completed between April, 2011, and

the T-MARC imposed coordination "drop dead" date,

July 17, 2011.

We wish to thank the City of Laurel's Information

Technology Specialist Kevin Frost, KL7JO, for his help.

- Finally, when all this is finished, Jim suggested

that CATS should participate in a public service drill

with the City of Laurel.

He proposed that video [from mobile ATV stations] could

be fed via the CATS ATV repeater to the television

system in the EOC in Laurel. Then, the CATS video may

be placed in a "Picture in a Picture" (P-I-P) frame and

distributed to other county EOCs (Howard, Anne Arundel,

and Prince George's, for example) via WebEOC.

WebEOC is software that is the original web-enabled

crisis information management system that provides

secure real-time information sharing amongst emergency

management officials.

* An announcement was made that Jim was reelected, by

default, for another two-year term as the ARRL MDC

Section Manager.

Congratulations to CATS member Jim Cross, WI3N.

OLD BUSINESS

* Elections:

We thank Bob Martin, KC3FI, and Grady Ball, WB3JUV

for serving on the nominating committee and preparing

the slate.

According to the by-laws, there was also a need for

two members to serve on the board of directors and no

volunteers were be found.

A request was made at the meeting. Secretary Brownie,

KZ3AB, and Bill Rhone, WB3LOT agreed to run.

The results of the election were:

President: Bob Curry, KC3VO

Vice-president: Grady Ball, WB3JUV

Treasurer: John Watson, NY3K

Secretary: Al (Brownie) Brown, KZ3AB

Board of Dir: Al (Brownie) Brown, KZ3AB

Bill Rhone, WB3LOT

The newly elected officers will be officially

installed at the next CATS meeting, Saturday April 9,

2011.

ATV Repeater Report:

A new transmitter linear amplifier and receiver pre-amp

were installed on the CATS ATV repeater on March 2nd.

This work resulted in a marked improvement to the

repeater's receiver sensitivity and a much stronger

transmitted signal.

The club thanked the team of Bob Curry, KC3VO, John

Watson, NY3K, Bron Kidwell, N3AGB, and Ken McCue,

K3UQQ for all their outstanding work.

President Bob Curry, KC3VO, also gave a technical

explanation of why there was no "ker-chunking" in

spite of the increased receiver sensitivity and an

~8dB increase in output power.

* Regional ATV Meeting on April 3, 2011:

Fred Merker, K3TAZ, submitted a proposed agenda for

the upcoming Regional ATV Meeting on April 3, 2011

at the National Electronics Museum (NEM), 1745 West

Nursery Road, Linthicum, Maryland from 2:00 PM until

5:00 PM.

Fred will contact and invite members of BRATS as well

as ATVers in the York, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania and Delaware region.

Heru Walmsley, W3WVV, will provide access to the NEM

from 1:00 PM until about 6:00 PM.

A motion was made, seconded, discussed and approved

to purchase food and incidentals for the meeting at a

cost to CATS not to exceed $150.

NEW BUSINESS

* There was no new business to discuss.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

* No additional announcements were made.

* A motion was made, seconded and approved to adjourn

the meeting at 11:16 AM.

The next CATS meeting is scheduled for Saturday,

April 9, 2011 in the offices of Ball and Ball

Communications, 14213 Cherry Lane Court, Laurel,

Maryland at 9:00 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ E. Allen (Brownie) Brown, KZ3AB

Secretary