date

2020-03-21

convened

09:30

adjourned

11:10

Officers

• President: Phil Gates (N5ZKF) present
• Vice President: Rick Pfeil (KI5DUJ) absent
• Secretary: Trent Owens (AG1TX) present
• Treasurer: Sly Kapchinski (N5GQB) present

Attendees (31)

• John Walpole (K5ZY)
• David Cook (KI5GDX)
• Trent Owens (AG1TX)
• Phil Gates (N5ZKF)
• Brandon Bartlett (KG5LYN)
• Ralph Cobb (W5RYC)
• Jeff McDowell (KI5CES)
• Lorna Flansburg (KI5FIZ)
• Jeff French (KM5TW)
• Avery McIntosh (N7ALM)
• Joshua Cook (KF5TYX)
• Mike Wisby (KA5HIA)
• Dick Zimmer (W5DZ)
• Kerry Miller (WD5ABC)
• Clint Loggins (KG5OQV)
• Sly Kapchinski (N5GQB)
• Dwayne Walters (W5DPW)
• Jim Snell (W0PMO)
• Ron Hambric (N5SBN)
• Harold Turbyfill (KG5SDG)
• Joe Napoli (KG5SDF)
• Garrett Martin (KI5HVS)
• David Jones (WD5J)
• Don Ling (WB5CKO)
• Jim Laird (KF5YY)
• Bennie Naiser (KA5TWB)
• John Robertson (N5JSC)
• Brad Snyder (KG5SDE)
• Lance Smith (KI5ETF)
• George Degon (KI7PTY)
• Brian Walpole (N5BLW)

Officer Reports

President N5ZKF

• Thank you for being here. I know it’s a departure from our normal.

• Coronavirus safety.

  • https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/ Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) | CDC Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a virus (more specifically, a coronavirus) identified as the cause of an outbreak of respiratory illness first detected in Wuhan, China.
  • www.cdc.gov

• MS150 bike ride has been cancelled for this year. Thank you to those of you who expressed an interest in this event.

• No word on ARRL Field Day, stay tuned.

• Radio in the Park?

  • Both cities have declared disasters
  • COB park facilities are “closed”.

• City of Bryan Mid-Town Park

• Program Statement .PDF Also a link on our web site.

  • Pg 85. Program analysis chart. Intend to have a large building for public use. Science / maker events. Great place for amateur radio space. I purpose we talk to them about this space. There will, most likely, be costs for our club.

• n5zkf@arrl.net write me for your thoughts on this project.

• The city canceled the last meeting on this but will most likely be moving forward for Council approval quickly after virus subsides.

• I attended Belton HamExpo before these groups were discouraged. Not well attended, not many venders but that was understandable. A lot of friendly faces and individual sales tables.

• Took my radio gear to Temple, TX with me and setup at my father’s house with a homemade wire dipole ~15 feet in some trees. I made a 9,000 mile contact! Longest of my radio career.

• Has FCC relaxed any rules or regs due to emergency / pandemic? Not yet but what they have done is relaxed rules and made changes to commercial frequencies such as ATT, Verizon, Sprint, etc. to give them more bandwidth to help with additional load. Refer to the FCC or ARRL website for information on any emergency changes.

Vice President KI5DUJ

Unavailable this morning..

Secretary AG1TX

• Read previous meeting’s minutes. Minutes have been emailed and posted to the website.

Treasurer N5GQB

• Financials:

  • $5,464.09
  • $94 arrl membership debit for cjs
  • $205 Dep membership renewals
  • $5,575.09

• Renewals: Last Call for renewals. However, you can renew at any time.

• ARRL Renewals - Renew through us as we get a kickback but you have to renew and pay us.

• Our current situation is fluid and circumstances can open up for radio in the park.

• Dayton Hamvention, in May has been canceled if any of you were planning on attending.

• Hamcom in June, so far, is still a go.

• If we are going to be at the Mid Town Park, the city will most likely require more than a once a month meeting. Need to check into those requirements as well.

Old Business

• Minutes read and posted

New Business

Announcements and Comments

Lorna Flansburg (KI5FIZ)

I use retail therapy to help get through the crisis. Amazon smile is active for our club.

Trent Owens (AG1TX): Amazon donates a portion of your purchase to our club. Its Amazon’s way of giving back and it doesn’t cost you any more on your purchacse:

• Amazon Smile and log into your Amazon account.
  • Just below the Amazon search bar notates the nonprofit you are supporting.
  • Click the “supporting”, search and select “Bryan Amateur Radio Club”

Don Ling (WB5CKO)

• ARRL offices are open. They have normal working hours but prefer email as they are running a skeleton crew.

Connor Farrell (WG1GEM)

• W5AC: Decided earlier in the week to close the shack. Don’t have the resources to clean after every visitor.

• We have a large number of T shirts to sell. $25 cash or check We were intending to sell at Belton but due to social distancing circumstances, we opted to not go.

Phil Gates (N5ZKF)

• Field Day plug since Rick isn’t here. The virus will most likely run it’s course and as of now, Field Day is on. If you have something, I will be more than happy to pick it up for you.

• I was able to get my dad transferred to a hospital here in town which has helped greatly. I appreciate your thoughts and concerns.

• Dont be a stranger during our social distancing. Write someone a thank you note, call your friends, family and neighbors.

• Also, don’t hesitate to get on the air! It’s what we do..

• Don’t let fear drive your day. Take a break from 24hr news feed

Mike Wisby (KA5HIA)

• Filter what you see on media. Get real info! Big thank you to first responders and our health care professionals.
• Appreciate club officers for setting up the net. Coco Loco, where we have our informal, Saturday morning breakfast “get together” is still doing “to go” orders where we have our breakfast meetings.

Trent Owens (AG1TX)

• Skywarn class was canceled but was moved to an online “webinar” format Wednesday March 25th from 6:30pm - 8:30pm if you are interested educating yourself regarding this area of weather.

• CLICK HERE to register for this online class.

• Please remember to patronize our local businesses as they are really hurting during these extra ordinary times.

Jeff McDowell (KI5CES)

• Possibly a few drugs to help combat virus. Some good news coming out of medical field with some medication relief.

Phil Gates (N5ZKF): Nothing approved yet by FDA. Please don’t take anything without Dr approval!!

Sly Kapchinski (N5GQB)

• Scanner traffic has picked up due to calling EMS with respiratory illness etc.

• Hoax: National guard is not locking Houston down or enforcing curfew.

• Things can change quickly and this is a fluid situation. Get news information from official sources.

Information Exchange

Sly Kapchinski (N5GQB)

• Looking for instruction manual for Una Dilla 40/80 trap dipole W2AU. Need to rebuild and don’t have the specs. If you have one or know where I can find one, please let me know.

• Flex-weave copper wire is good, nice easy to use material for antenna but its not good for a permanent installation.

Phil Gates (N5ZKF): Try arrl antenna handbook as that was based off of an antenna in the handbook.

Bennie Naiser (KA5TWB)

• Renewed license in December and haven’t received license in the mail.

Phil Gates (N5ZKF): Fcc no longer mails out paper licenses. You can download and print the license.

Jeff McDowell (KI5CES): if you have a confirmation letter or email, you could easily prove it.

Jim Laird (KF5YY)

• Need help with Recent rs918 HF only radio. I will try switching mics. Please contact me if you have any experience with this radio
  • 832-655-6197

Buy or Sell

Connor Farrell (WG1GEM)

• Icom IC 7100. Haven’t turned on in a while but wouldn’t turn down a reasonable offer:
  • connor@wg1gem.com
  • 972-510-5388

John Walpole (K5ZY)

• I have a few IC 706 Mark 2G
• kenwood 480hx
  • k5zy@arrl.net
  • 979-324-7076

Bennie Naiser (KA5TWB)

• Looking for a FT-450 with an ATU
  • 979-402-0237

VE Test Session

• VE testing on hiatus until conditions change or, there is a direct request for an urgent session in support of emergency operations or the like.

Radio in Park

• On hold until conditions change. Our current situation is fluid and the status of Radio in the Park could change.

April Meeting

• Meeting will be at 9:30am and unless our current situation changes, will be held “On Air” in a NET style meeting on the 146.680 repeater.

Next Meeting: 2020-04-18 09:30

Presentation by David Cook (KI5GDX) on Ham Radio NETS. Presentation slides on our web site