Nov 2017 Club Meeting Minutes

Officers

Amendent to change “voting at next meeting” to “December”
- Motion by KG5LYE to amend as described
- Seconded by N5ZKF
- Passes unanimously
Motion to accept as amended by N5ZKF
- Seconded by KD5TEF
- Passes Unanimously

Account Report
- end september: $6316.93
  - 2 checks cleared
    - $69.99 - TLS certificate renewal
    - $28.42 - donut fund shortage
      - 67.93 spent
      - 39.51 in tip jar
- end october: $6233.53
  - no deposits
Bill Fisher (W5WMF) card
W5BCS call sign renewal
- 2018-02-28
- ARRL handles renewals
Elections
- Only full members can vote (not associate or sub-members under family membership)
Membership Renewals
- Starting next meeting 2017-12-16
- Online payment? (absorb PayPal fee or raise price)

KD5DLW Repeater Frequency Change
- New frequency: 443.425
- Everything else (offset, PL tone) stays the same
- Frequencies of other things on tower are same (as far as we know)
W5BCS Repeater
- Need new coax and antenna
- Position on new tower will be at the top!
Saltgrass Repeater languishing

Current Club repeater info
- Skyline Communications Tower (KD5DLW) at Texas Ave and Mitchell St
- Current Height 200 ft on east side
New Tower will be built next to current tower
- our antenna will be at top (330 ft)
Feedline requirements
- 450 ft in length
- 7/8 in Hardline Eupen ECS-50-A
- Attenuation at 150 MHz is 0.429 dB / 100 ft (2 db loss for the whole line)
- cost: $2.40 / ft
- connectors: $30 ea
Antenna requirements
- Old antenna:
  - 29 yr old Decible Products DB224E
  - SWR looked okay, but intermittent short in phasing harness (unrepairable)
  - Decible Products now out of business
- Need new (commercial-grade) antenna
  - Not cheap, but will last
  - Telewave, Inc. ANT140F2
    - Ham pricing: significant discount
    - $594, 5 yr warranty
    - Wide bandwidth, low SWR
    - 3.0 dBd
    - Radio Mobile program propagation coverage
      - 25 mi radius
Approximate cost: $3834
- $1080 - feedline
- $60 - Connectors
- $594 - Antenna
- $1800 - Installation
- $300 - Shipping
Motion by W5VUI to allocate $4000 (not to exceed)
- Seconded by N5ZKF
- Passes

2017-12-03 morning and afternoon
- TAMU lots 50, 51 near Polo Rd (intersection of S College and University Dr)
- Meet at 08:30
- Breakfast at McDonalds at 07:30
Lots of help needed! (esp. between 12:00 and 15:00)
- Logistics and line-up preparation
- Communications
  - Simplex 145.465 MHz FM
- Putting up barricades and signs
- Lining up floats at positions in lots
- Floats dismiss at 14:00
info meeting 2017-11-27 18:30 (Monday) at Red Cross on Boonville Rd
Smaller parade this year (expecting 75 floats) than last year (had about 100 floats)