Choctaw Amateur Radio Club Minutes from March 17, 2008 Members Present: Richard Johnson WA5EOD Norm Wilson W5FLO Bill Tarkington K3YC CORA Officer/Treasurer Dave Downing WD5G CARC President Bill Crossland N9SQV CARC Vice President Bill Wilburn N5NUK CARC Secretary CORA Officer/President Ron Earnest W5RGT Richard Edwards KA5ALO CORA Alternative Director David Huntz NH6SM Jerry Baumeister KD5ZUG Larry Brewer K5VVD CARC Treasurer Meeting Called to Order at 7pm. The minutes from the February meeting were approved Treasurer’s Report: Larry K5VVD presented the Treasurer’s Report listing debits and credits. A question was raised regarding the tower insurance amount and due date. The approximate amount and due date was stated by Bill N5NUK. OLD BUSINESS: Repeater replacement: Ron W5RGT reported the club now has two commercial radios. One programmed as a transmitter, the other as a receiver. The controller has a CW identifier as well as timers to operate the radios. There is also a 45 amp power supply and duplexer. A discussion with Don N5ENQ suggested keeping the old repeater as a back-up. Ron suggested packaging the new system with a cooling fan for use during the summer. A battery backup was also suggested in the event of a power failure, although it would require large batteries. Dave WD5G and Don discussed using a product called Power Gate from West Mountain Radio that is essentially several connected diodes which floats a battery. And there’s also the option of generator power, and sealed lead acid batteries. Dave also suggested utilizing the current controller. Club Equipment Inventory List: Ron W5RGT referenced club inventory which raised the question of who was doing an inventory list. It was suggested to research the minutes. Bill N5NUK volunteered to conduct that research. (Secretary’s Note: see attached page) Saturday Morning Breakfast: Dave WD5G brought up the subject of the second Saturday breakfast. Don N5ENQ and his wife were the only ones that made the breakfast for March. Dave recommended putting an announcement on the repeater to remind everyone, but also noted it works only if a person’s radio is turned on. Constitution posting on website: Bill N5NUK mentioned the electronic version file of the updated Constitution and By-Laws had been sent to Chuck KC5EZS for posting on the Club website (Secretary’s Note: it is now posted). NEW BUSINESS: Field Day 2008: There was discussion about using the Mount Scott location for Field Day. Pro’s and con’s regarding the site were touched on including elevation height, public exposure, space for antennas, lack of facilities (i.e. toilets), and dealing with inclement weather. Tech Meeting: The next Tech Meeting is slated for April 3. Word was that Doug N4IJ would do a presentation on RTTY. The May Tech Meeting will be a demonstration of D-Star given by Dave WD5G. Announcements: Richard KA5ALO reminded everyone who uses the crossband repeat setup to give the repeater time to drop out before keying the radio. After some discussion about the use and operation of the crossband radio, it was suggested to focus on it at a future Tech Meeting. CORA Report: Bill N5NUK gave a report about Ham Holiday. Various vendors attending were announced. Letters to others will go out. There was no other business and the meeting was adjourned.