From: "Roger Reini" To: "David Treharne" Subject: Minutes from october meeting Date: Friday, October 19, 2007 9:12 PM FARL CLUB MINUTES -- October 11, 2007 Prepared by Roger Reini, KD8CSE Meeting called to order at 7:03 by president Dave, N8HKU 5 members, 7 retiree members and one guest Thanks to Pat, WD8JDZ, for chairing last month's meeting Minutes from September reviewed and approved Treasurer -- club balance is solid. Expenditures this month included payment for the phone line for the repeater and flowers for the funeral of Rodney Deyo's wife REPEATER: Phone patch -- Dave still cannot get it to work. Murray, KE8UM, said that it was working the last time he checked. He'll check again. Subsequent to the meeting, it was found that the patch is indeed working. TRAINING: Bill, N8OZV, reported that his General license classes are still continuing at 10 AM on Sunday at the Fairlane food court NEWSLETTER: Any volunteers to put together the November Bolt? WEBSITE NEWS: Anniversary contacts listed and their QSL cards shown. SPECIAL EVENT STATION: QSL's are being prepared for them. Only one operator, VE3BQ, was able to qualify for a certificate. PEAC RIDE REPORT: Pat, WD8JDZ, reported that the PEAC ride went well. There were no big problems, no accidents of any kind. All of the stations were manned with operators, as were the SAG vehicles. The thank-you dinner will be held on Thursday, November 8, beginning at 6 PM. Note that this conflicts with the Tin Lizzy club meeting, which will begin at 7. CHRISTMAS DINNER: The club's December meeting will be the traditional Christmas dinner. Where shall we have it this year? After much discussion, the consensus settled on three restaurants: Richter's Chalet, Amantea, and Mexican Fiesta. A final decision will be made by the November meeting. SPEAK WITH SANTA: Believe it is still on; the tentative date is December 5. MORE TRAINING: Bill, N8OZV, will try to get FERA to announce some classes intended for Ford employees -- an Introduction to Amateur Radio class, followed by classes for Technician licenses and possibly for General licenses. In addition, 10 local high school students are interested. CALENDAR FOR FUTURE MEETINGS: Al, W8AMH, requested that someone prepare a presentation on mobile radio installation. There was another request for a presentation on software-defined radios, as well as a proposal for Linux for hams. SUNDAY NIGHT NET: Still going at 8 PM Sundays on the 2 meter and 220 MHz repeaters. BACKUP REPEATER: Murray, KE8DM, reported on a 2-meter Motorola repeater that was available for sale for $200 or $250. Might the club be interested in purchasing it as a backup for our repeater? Bill, N8OZV, moved that the club authorize spending up to $250 to purchase the repeater; Roger, KD8CSE, seconded. The motion was approved. EQUIPMENT: We now have a surplus speaker and Drake mic at the repeater site; these can be disposed of. We also have 2 extra cans for duplexers, one for 2 meters and one for 220 MHz. We'll keep those as spares. INVENTORY LIST: There is concern that the publicly available equipment list should not announce to the general public where the equipment is, lest thieves be tempted. The list will be revised to suppress the location. REQUEST: The Livonia ARC asked to borrow our R7 vertical antenna for use during their special event in early November. There was no objection. UPCOMING SWAP: The USECA swap will take place on October 28. FLOWERS: Bill, WA8HEA, asked for $42 to partially offset the expenses he incurred in ordering flowers for the funeral for Rodney Deyo's wife. He explained that the costs were greater than anticipated due to extra fees but that he was willing to absorb those costs. Bill, N8OZV, moved that the club reimburse WA8HEA for the full amount he incurred. This motion passed. It was further moved that future expenditures for flowers be limited to $50 (later amended to $75 to account for fees). This also passed. PRESENTATION: After a short break for refreshments, Dick, KW8B, played a video dating from the '70s showing a demonstration of a spark gap transmitter. ADJOURNMENT