MEETING TO ORDER:
President Jeff Darby, KS0JD, convened a Zoom video conference of the SFTARC at 8:15 AM. A total of 20 members were identified and gave their own call sign.
SECRETARY-TREASURER REPORT:
Marty Peters KE0PEZ reported the club's bank account balance. The sole disbursement was $63.35 for electrical parts needed for the auxillary power system for Field Day. There are now 69 members in good standing. The financial condition of the club continues to be good.
Ensor Park & Museum [Howard N0AZ]
On the final Saturday of June the museum was busier than usual. The pre-summer session has now ended and we await September and the beginning of the post-summer session. The signup website for September SFTARC volunteers is now online. An email to members will provide instructions on how to signup.
Repeater Relocation [Jim Andera – K0NK]
The discussions with OMC are on hold because of COVID-19. Jim feels the OMC Chief of Operations recognizes the contribution that repeaters can make to the emergency communication capabilities of OMC. However, our experience with COVID has exposed a potential downside of having repeaters on the hospital premises, as our access to the repeaters may be blocked for substantial periods of time during pandemic or other emergencies. Jim suggested that we consider other options for the location of repeaters. Jeff will set up a meeting of the repeater committee and the repeater trustees to further discuss the situation.
Kansas QSO Party [Marty KE0PEZ]
Marty will send $200 to Bob Harder to support the KSQP. Jeff will email Bob to make sure he is aware of the rules for the use of the KS0KS callsign. One of the KS0KS sites will be Del’s Edgerton Antenna Park. Bob Harder has already taken care of publicizing the event in QST. Joe suggested running a Zoom meeting during the event so that the various KS0KS stations could keep in contact. Various points regarding such a Zoom meeting were discussed.
2020 Field Day Summary [Greg, KI0KK, Jim K0NK]
Our Field Day activities brought to light several issues with our equipment, and Greg, KI0KK, submitted a list of actions that are needed:
1. Replace generator ground strap
2. Change oil in the generator engine
3. Rearrange trailer DC power for one battery. The B battery has a dead cell. We can use both solar panels to charge the A battery. We will need an Anderson power strip to replace the regulator (cost about $100). The lights in the trailer would be put on the A side. (Jim K0NK noted that manufacture of PowerGate devices, formerly available through Jim Cordell KI0BK, is licensed to a company in California. Joe KR0UT can provide a device with five ports for the A battery. Greg will gather more info and report at the August meeting.
4. Document N3FPJ set-up. The two main issues are network connectivity and making sure that file sharing is working properly. To help us remember how to perform the set-up quickly and easily, we need a checklist set of instructions on a card to be placed with radios and/or computers so as to be easily available for any event. The instructions must make clear how to link N3FPJ to radios so that it will automatically pick up band and mode. (Without this, it is easy for operators and loggers to forget to change the N3FPJ settings when they switch to a new band or mode.) Greg recommends gathering all the logging computers in the same place and doing a dry run to make sure they are all linking together properly. Jeff may be able to donate an old Windows computer to the club for use as a 2nd logging computer.
5. Document contest audio box set-up. This would also be in the style of a checklist that stays with the audio box to instruct anyone who uses it. Jeff will continue to develop these checklist instructions. Longer jumpers are needed since we now need more distance between operator and logger. Jeff estimates cost to be ~$30.
Jim K0NK added a summary of FD operations for 2020. On Friday evening 6-7 people set up antennas, including an all-band dipole/inverted V fed by ladder-line for the phone station (was also used for CW at times), an R-5 Cushcraft multiband vertical used for CW, a 40M vertical also used for CW, and a 6M dipole. A small portion of the time multiple stations operated simultaneously. However, most of the time only a single station was on the air. Jim and Marty made a total of 114 CW contacts. There were a total of 84 phone contacts, ~30 of those being on 6M. We achieved our goal of having stations up and running and available for club members to enjoy participating in Field Day 2020. Rick Nichols took photos a wrote an article about the SFTARC Field Day activities at Ensor. The article appeared on the front page of the Gardner News. Jeff submitted the summary operating logs to the ARRL. We did a pretty good job of conducting operations in accordance with best-practice pandemic guidelines.
Web Hosting [Greg Wolfe – KI0KK]
Greg presented a spreadsheet comparison of several different web hosting services. There was a discussion of the cost comparison and the pros and cons of the various hosting services. There was a consensus that the HostGator option was the best. Greg will verify the total amount needed to establish the HostGator web-hosting service for SFTARC for three years. There was a motion and a second to approve payment of up to $300 for this service. The motion passed unanimously. There was a motion and a second directing the SFTARC Treasurer to buy a pre-paid Visa card in the amount of $400 (total cost including service fee $404) to be used for purchasing equipment and services for the club, including the web-hosting service. The motion passed unanimously. Marty will make this purchase in the next few days.
OTHER BUSINESS:
On Wednesday, July 15, Jeff plans to send out an email inviting members to submit questions or issues that they would like to get “Elmer” help with. One of the missions of our club is to provide this kind of assistance to any of our members that would like it. We will continue to seek the best format for conducting these “Elmer” sessions.
ADJOURN:
The business meeting ended at about 9:15.
