MEETING TO ORDER:
President Jeff Darby KS0JD called to order the August, 2020, business meeting of the SFTARC at 8:05 AM. The meeting was conducted via Zoom. Members gave their call signs. There were 17 members to start the meeting; one was added during the meeting for a total of 18. There were no guests.
SECRETARY-TREASURER REPORT:
Marty Peters KE0PEZ reported the club's bank account balance. Since the July business meeting there have been no receipts and two disbursements: $200 to support the KS QSO Party and $190.04 to set up the new web-hosting service with HostGator. Members should check with Marty before making purchases for the club out of their own pockets. The financial condition of the club continues to be good.
Elmer Questions [Jeff KS0JD]
Jeff asked for feedback about whether our recent sessions to ask and answer Elmer questions have been useful or not. There was much positive feedback, and the club will continue to include Elmer questions and answers as a component of meetings.
Ensor Park & Museum [Howard N0AZ]
SFTARC is responsible to provide volunteer tour guides for the month of September. Howard sent email to club members with a link to the signup website.
On Monday there will be a Zoom meeting with Olathe City officials about Ensor. Howard has to miss but Marty will attend and be Howard’s proxy. Exactly how to fill the position vacated by Larry Woodworth W0HXS has not been determined yet. The meeting on Monday will help Olathe officials in this determination. For the remainder of this year, Howard is standing ready to open the museum and be tour manager every Saturday in Sept and Oct. Marty and Joe KR0UT are standing ready to alternate Sundays to perform these duties. The museum will thus need two additional volunteers on each Saturday and each Sunday in Sept and Oct. Those interested in helping out please signup online.
Del K0DDS and George WB0CNK asked for more background information about Larry W and the tour operations of the Ensor Park and Museum. Howard explained that Larry, due to age and health, decided to “retire,” that is to say, have no more involvement with the Ensor P&M. Larry’s stepping down is not unexpected, as signs of decline have gradually become more noticeable. The meeting on Monday will allow Olathe City officials and representatives of the SFTARC and the JCRAC to begin the process of working out the organizational framework for continuing the Ensor tour operations into the future.
Repeater Relocation [Jim Andera – K0NK]
Progress has been slow. We need to set up a meeting with the repeater trustees to let them know we are still trying to solve the repeater problem. We also need to get their opinions about whether to continue to pursue our original effort to locate repeaters at OMC.
Jim reported that the Lindenwood Business and Technical Center has a self-supporting 85’ tower on their property (the old King Radio facility) that is relatively unused. We would like to make contact with them to see about the possibility of placing our repeater antennas on this tower and the radios in an appropriate space in a nearby building.
Jerry Dixon KC0KW has knowledge about and connection with some of the repeaters in the KC area. He may be able to provide some information about possible locations on water towers or other similar structures. Jim commented that mounting antennas on these structures probably requires professional installations, which may make them prohibitively expensive for us. Greg will contact Jerry to discuss this idea further.
Larry KD0RIU proposed considering installing the three club-associated repeaters at Ensor. One advantage would be that we would have good access to the tower and equipment. A large obstacle to this idea would be in finding a suitable location for the radio cabinets and cavities. The basement of the farmhouse is a possibility, but the humidity there and the lack of space to maneuver in the stairwell to the basement both detract from the feasibility of this option. Jim K0NK commented that the present tower is probably stable enough for one antenna, but putting three antennas on it may be unwise. In addition, we would only be able to access antennas that are mounted at cherry-picker height. Jim has discussed with Bill Brinker WA0CBW the idea of using one antenna for all three repeaters, using a triplexer. Bill is not optimistic about finding a cost-effective solution for that idea.
Several other possible sites for the repeaters were mentioned, including some in Gardner, Edgerton, and KCMO. Danny Lane KA0FMZ has told Jim that he very much would like the 2-meter repeater to be located in Olathe.
Kansas QSO Party [Jeff KS0JD]
In 2020 operators will use their home stations but use KS0KS as call sign. To prevent two or more operators from using KS0KS at the same time on the same band and mode, Jeff will send out a sign-up sheet. The signup time slots will be in 1-hr or 2-hr increments. Modes available will be CW, Phone, FT4, and FT8. If anyone specifically wants to operate RTTY or PSK, please contact Jeff. Del will be operating either at the Sawyer Antenna Park in Edgerton or at his home residence in South Olathe. We continue to recruit CW operators for this event. Non-members of SFTARC are not allowed to use the KS0KS callsign unless a member of SFTARC is physically present with the guest operator.
Larry KD0RIU suggested the possibility of using CW decoder software to increase our CW operations. Greg KI0KK cautioned that many of the CW decoders are not very accurate. The best are CW Skimmer and DM780. Tom WA2IVD cautioned that decoders are dependent on the sender’s fist.
Ralph N0KC, George, Tom, Jim Anderson AC0OW, and Marty said they would sign up for CW slots. The exchange info for KQP contacts consists of state, county, and rst. The designator for Johnson County, KS, is JOH. For information about the exchange requirements of the different modes, including digital, please check the KQP website for details. https://www.ksqsoparty.org
KS0KS is a 100-pt bonus station. Jeff will provide the N3FPJ logging software to any member who needs it. Send all logs to Jeff to consolidate. Free Mac logging software is available.
SFTARC 2-meter Net [Jeff KS0JD]
We need to arrange for back-up help for Mike KE0CIS, who has been doing a great job running the Tuesday night net for three years or so. Del, Jim [Andera?], and Jeff stepped up to volunteer for some net-control duty. Jeff will make a sign-up sheet. If you are interested, please contact President Jeff.
Web Hosting [Greg Wolfe – KI0KK]
The website transfer is complete. If you are having problems accessing the site clear the cache of your browser in order to be taken to the new site at Hostgator. Site security of the new site is running properly. The Newsletter is up and running. The forms are working. An email “List” function is now available if the club wants to use it. Please look around in the site and if you have any trouble or if you notice a problem, please contact Greg W.
A known issue is that our free Google Maps account has expired, so that if you click on a calendar event you will not see the location of the event mapped. Greg asked the group how important this is. Several members said they thought it was not worth the effort to make this feature operational.
OTHER BUSINESS:
Tom WA2IVD asked whether there was interest in resuming our in-person breakfast meetings. Black Bob Park, Johnson Co Park, and Ensor were suggested as potential locations. New benches have been placed around the campfire at Ensor. A consensus developed that we will meet via Zoom next Saturday as usual and decide during that meeting if there is to be an “afterglow” in-person meeting to follow the conclusion of the Zoom meeting.
Jim K0NK brought up the subject of the Christmas Party for 2020. The cost of the event space at the Gardner Senior Citizen’s Center is $60. Jim will contact them to see if he can reserve the room on Sat, Dec 19, 2020, and whether any portion of the advance payment would be returned if we cancelled the event.
Jeff brought up the subject of our annual ham class. He is willing to host Zoom meetings to teach these classes. Howard reported that in response to Covid the Salvation Army has greatly reduced traffic in the facility on Santa Fe and that it is not likely to be available in the early part of 2021. A consensus developed that we teach the next Tech class via Zoom. George suggested the possibility of conducting it at Ensor in June. Although several drawbacks to holding all class sessions at Ensor were noted, it was recognized that a one-day “hands-on show-and-tell” class at Ensor would be an attractive addition to a late-spring ham course that was otherwise conducted via Zoom.
Larry KD0RIU noted that there may be more interest in a ham course in 2021 than there has been in the past especially if the course is taught via Zoom. Although it would be possible to include students in Zoom sessions who lived far away from Olathe, it may be better to include only students who live locally. We have about 20 Tech textbooks in stock due to the error made by the ARRL with our last book order.
Jim K0NK asked how a CW class might work via Zoom. Comments and ideas were expressed. We will continue to assess the feasibility of offering a CW course along with the upcoming Tech course.
Larry KD0RIU shared a link to the new ARRL Learning Network (http://www.arrl.org/arrl-learning-network). The first presentation to be made available is about wire antennas. It is very good. Please take a look. Other presentations are on the schedule.
Marty asked an Elmer question about CW filters. Many helpful comments were given.
ADJOURN:
President Jeff adjourned the meeting at 9:18 AM.
