Choctaw Amateur Radio Club Minutes from November 19, 2007 Members present: Bill Wilburn N5NUK Larry Brewer K5VVD Richard Johnson KE5RAC Richard Edwards KA5ALO Don McDown N5ENQ Ron Earnest W5RGT Norman Wilson W5FLO Walt Diehl KA3AMK Dave Downing WD5G Jerry Sams N5KNU Meeting opened with Pledge of Allegiance and was called to order. The President and Vice-President were not present. Meeting opened with Treasurer’s Report from Larry K5VVD. Ron W5RGT, in conjunction with Don N5ENQ, gave a report on his research into repeater equipment including D-Star digital repeaters, which would cost about $XXX not including digital radios. The Edmond club (EARS) has a D-Star set-up, although it was stated there is currently no activity on it. The recommendation is to stay with an analog system. There was an idea of going through CORA to contact other clubs to see how much interest there would be in pooling funds for a joint D-Star system, although logistics would make this difficult. Other discussion on this subject included the technical advantages of this mode. A straw poll of members present showed no interest in the club proceeding in the direction of acquiring D-Star. Dave WD5G mentioned investigating the possibility of seed money from Homeland Security or other such entity to provide funds. Another suggestion was to buy a converted military radio from a vendor in QST, but disadvantages included hard-to-find parts and uncertainty of reliability. These are GE’s or Motorolas. Analog repeaters: Cost of a used repeater w/o a controller is about $500. Cost of a new repeater ranges from $XXX to $XXX. The existing repeater requires replacing the amp and pre-amp. The current location of the repeater is SE 104th & Peebly Rd. The treasury currently is short of funds for a new repeater, and although there are members who have not renewed yet, funding for a new one would deplete the bank account substantially. Three options are available: #1 Replacing the amp/pre-amp for the current system, cost unknown. #2 A complete new repeater #3 A used repeater Jerry N5KNU as trustee of MORI proposed going through MORI’s inventory to see if there’s any equipment that can be utilized by CARC. Jerry also put forth the idea of putting up another repeater in another location with a minus offset. A motion was made by Ron W5RGT to start a donation program. Motion was seconded by Richard KA5ALO. Motion passed unanimously. Club Officers for 2008: President: Dave WD5G Vice President: Bill N9SQV Secretary: Bill N5NUK Treasurer: Larry K5VVD The Christmas Dinner to be held at the Golf and Country Club was scheduled for December 15, however this was cancelled due to inclement weather. The motion to change the Constitution was tabled because there was not a copy available to review. Meeting was adjourned.