Meeting Minutes for

January 15, 2003

Submitted by Kristi Upton, KB1EPM, secretary

 

Attendance (18): Shawn Upton, KB1CKT, president; Al Bardwell, NS1O, vice president; John Moore, KB1CSI, treasurer; Kristi Upton, KB1EPM, secretary; Don Curtis, N1ZIH; Lee Scott, AA1YN; Dave Perrin, K1OPQ; Cliff Eisner, N1GJF; Al Marrin, K1CYJ; Scott Clay, N1ZGO; Ken Wilkens, K1MID; Tom Matisko, N1SKZ; Ron Herman, K1PDY; Dale Clement, A1FT; Mickie Bergh, KB1IVO; John Moore, N1FOJ; Dave Connors, N1KTP; Al Schuman, N1FIK

 

Summary

I. Presentation by Al Shuman

            A. QSO Parties

            B. Section News

            C. Email Lists

            D. Public Service: ARES

II. Business Portion of the Meeting

            A. Officer’s Reports

            B. Repeater Status

            C. Hamfest

            D. Field Day

            E. NH QSO Party

            F. Other business

 

The meeting was called to order by Shawn Upton, president, at 7:15pm.

 

I. Al Shuman, N1FIK, ARRL Section manager for NH, gave a presentation on what’s happening in New Hampshire Amateur Radio.  For up-to-date information on what’s happening in NH, visit the New Hampshire section website at http://www.nhradio.org

 

A. QSO Parties

The NH QSO party will be held February 1st and 2nd.  The future of the QSO party is dependent on this year’s participation level.  If the participation meets or exceeds that of last year, the QSO party will continue to be run.  However, if participation falls below last year’s level, this will be the last year it will be held.

 

The New England QSO party will be held May 3rd and 4th. 

 

B. Section News

Rob Hoyt, KB1FSK, who is actively involved in Boy Scouts, has been appointed as Scouting ASM in order to get more scouts involved in JOTA this year.

 

W1PID has stepped down as

 

C. Email Lists

There are three email lists that people may be signed up for to obtain news on what is going in NH Radio: 1) the ARES specific list 2) the NH specific list, and 3) the arrl.net list.

 

D. Public Service: ARES

There are a lot of changes going on in ARES as the result of 9/11 and audits of the state emergency plans.  ARES is being written into the official state plan for emergency communications and the changes in ARES are being made in order to better serve the needs of our served agency (mainly, NHOEM, Red Cross, and the National Weather Service).  As a result of this, the ARES communication plan is being rewritten.  ARES is trying to recruit and capitalize on current talent in the different parts of the state.  ARES promises to be a lot more exciting than it has been in the past.

 

There is a monthly HF net to practice and for training purposes.  The NH packet network is being reworked. Emcomm Level 1 courses are being held and members of ARES are encouraged to take the course, either in person, or online.  Also, to better facilitate the nets during an emergency where people will be working in shifts and leaving sites, NH ARES has applied for vanity call signs for ARES “clubs” in NH for net stations to use.  These calls were strategically picked to describe the station using the call, for example, K1NCS for Net Control Station.

 

An airport shuttle type bus has been purchased for conversion into a communications van for NHARES.  Al showed pictures of the 10-passenger shuttle bus and shared the vision that he has for the communications van: 3 stations- VHF, HF, and digital/other (with an additional VHF/UHF mobile for the driver).

 

Please, go through your stuff and considering making it available, or as a donation.  Al is currently looking into making it so that, in the future, donations will be tax-deductible, but as of right now, they aren’t.  If you do not have any equipment, consider making a monetary donation for the purchase of a specific piece of equipment.  If you have any special skills and can volunteer some time to work on the vehicle (Lee volunteered his welding) that would also be greatly appreciated.  Anyone who contributes to the vehicle (with equipment, monetary donations, or labor) will have their name placed on a plaque, which will hang inside the communications van.

 

There was considerable discussion over REACT, Radio Emergency Associated Communications Teams, and CBers in general. Lee suggested that we might find it beneficial to try and locate interested REACT members to encourage them to get their ham license and then possibly get involved with ARES.  The consensus was that REACT members tend to be hostile towards Hams, but, if we could find a good way to approach them to determine if there was any interest, they could be a valuable asset (even if they don’t get ham licenses, they might benefit from the Emcomm 1 Course).  As a result of the discussion on CBers, it was decided that a CB should be included in the communications van.

 

15 minute break

 

II.  Business portion of the Meeting

 

A. Officer’s reports

There was no treasurer’s report (the books are being transferred from the old to the new treasurer).

The secretary gave a report on the topics discussed that the December Business Meeting.

The Vice President gave a report on the tentative schedule for this year’s meetings.

 

B. Repeater Status

Tom reported that there was no new info on the repeater this month.  The transmitter will be replaced in February with a Motorola Centaur (money has already been allocated for this purpose).

 

C. Hamfest

-It is officially ARRL sanctioned (Al will give them a piece of his mind if they lose our application again). 

-Flyers (in pdf form) were sent out on the reflector.  Please help by making copies and distributing them around.  Shawn will send the flyer around to local clubs via email and put up on the NH list.

-Henniker school needs a copy of the insurance (Dave will give Shawn the paperwork from last year so he can get the insurance taken care of).

-All speakers are confirmed.

-Al (N1FIK) will have an ARRL book table.

-Al (N1FIK) and Tom weren’t sure if the emcomm course will get the ACTUAL Emcomm Level 1 course credit, and thus the $45 refund.  Shawn will email Jerry, K1BBQ, who is in charge of the arrangements for the course to see if he has talked with Gary, who has gone through putting on the course already.  (Note: At the time the secretary was typing up these minutes (on 1/17/03), further information has surfaced on this topic.  Jerry has talked with Al and Gary and confirmed that the course, will in fact be the ACTUAL ARRL Level One Emergency Communications Course.  Therefore, people will be able to sign up, get credit, and the refund if they pass the course).

-The HT and gift certificates still need to be purchased.  VP Al will get in touch with Jason to see what he can do.

 

D. Field Day

-The site now has a big house and barn in the field (next to the road).  But, it should still be okay to operate there this year.

-A guy who owns a field on top of a hill in Warner (at the same elevation as the field we’ve been using) may let us operate there.

-Satellite station- must be within 1000ft of the main site.  There was a motion to change these rules, but was turned down. We may want to write up a proposal for a rule change so that a working satellite station, set up in a visible spot for PR, would count for points (with restrictions to those similar to the GOTA station, perhaps). Although, it takes about three years for new rules to take effect, we may want to try to do a satellite station this year as a trial to see if it’s worth pursuing.

 

E. NH QSO Party

Al, K1CYJ, will be coordinating the club’s efforts for the NH QSO Party this year.  Please sign up with Al to use the club call during the contest.  The rules are on the NH section website.

 

F. Other business

 

-Refreshments for next Meeting

Al, N1SO will bring drinks and Mickie, KB1IVO will be making carrot cake.

 

-The next Business Meeting will be Tues, Jan 28th at 7pm at The American Red Cross in Concord.

 

- We can’t open the PO Box because the key doesn’t seem to fit.

 

 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:35pm.