date

2020-05-16

convened

09:30

adjourned

10:55

Officers

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

Attendees (21)

• Trent Owens (AG1TX)
• Ron Hambric (N5SBN)
• Connor Farrell (WG1GEM)
• Jeff McDowell (KI5CES)
• Phil Gates (N5ZKF)
• Lorna Flansburg (KI5FIZ)
• Dick Zimmer (W5DZ)
• Robert Carter (NC5R)
• Brad Snyder (KG5SDE)
• Joe Napoli (KG5SDF)
• Jim Snell (W0PMO)
• David Cook (KI5GDX)
• Ralph Cobb (W5RYC)
• Sly Kapchinski (N5GQB)
• Bill Preston (KZ3G)
• Mike Wisby (KA5HIA)
• Loyd Rowe, Jr. (KA5LXK)
• Harold Turbyfill (KG5SDG)
• Jeremy Carter (KF5YAA)
• Charlie Culver (KD5DLW)
• John Walpole (K5ZY)

Officer Reports

President N5ZKF

• Welcome to our 3rd “on air” monthly club “BARC: W5BCS” meeting!

• Pandemic

  • State/local government and universities all announcing “re-opening” plans.
  • Whatever comes of it, we still need to avoid infection.
  • Red Cross office is still closed for us to use. We are working to get us together as quickly and as safely as possible.

• Remember me mentioning the Bryan Midtown Park?

  • The Midtown Area Plan has been approved.
  • Lake has been drained after fish relocated.
  • City is beginning construction on Villa Maria this week.
  • Drainage and infrastructure work has begun.
  • I will draft an introductory letter to the COB park project manager and circulate to BARC board for review before mailing it.
  • I will follow-up with telephone and emails in an attempt to begin dialogue regarding a possible BARC presence at the park.
  • If you have input or suggestions on this, please let me know.

• Poll is available regarding possible future club activities.

  • Lots of approval so far but, it would be good to have more participation.
  • I’ll leave it open for now and send out more reminders.

• FCC changed rules and guidance for RF Safety. They become effective June 1st. Please take a look at them. There is a 2 year compliance stand-off before corrective action. ARRL has asked FCC for clarification.

  • CLICK HERE for a link to the document.

• If you are a member of ARRL, you get a monthly copy of QST. 8 months ago launched “On the Air” magazine for newer Hams. There is also “QEX” and national contest journal.

  • Members can still get one physically mailed but now you can get access to all of them online at no additional cost.

Vice President KI5DUJ

• Field Day: As of now, field day is a go.

  • Due to the uncertainty of the near future we are wanting to explore ideas for field day. We want to hear from you! However, to give you ideas, here are some suggestions from the ARRL:
    • ARRL: Field Day 2020 - A Time to Adapt
    • ARRL: Creative Approaches to Field Day

• We need presentations! Please send us your presentation ideas.

Secretary AG1TX

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

• The website’s back end is still being worked on. A lot is being updated and overhauled on the back end of the website. The public, front end, hasn’t and wont change much on this update, however, a lot of work is being done to overhaul and streamline processes.

Treasurer N5GQB

• Financials:

  • Statement Details:
    • Previous Ballance: $5,575.09
    • Deposits: $75.00
    • Current Ballance: $5,650.09
  • May PO Box renewal $130 paid this week.

• You can renew or join the club at any time!

  • Click here for instructions
  • Join or renew ARRL through the club as we get a kickback. Not much but every little bit helps!
    • Make checks out to the Club and we will send the funds to the ARRL.

New Business

Announcements and Comments

Charlie Culver (KD5DLW)

• 443.475 linked repeater has had transmit problems; however, the antenna was replaced and up to full power.

Mike Wisby (KA5HIA)

• Club is going to host hot dogs and hamburgers social to thank Charlie and Skyline Communications for the use of his tower.

Jeff McDowell (KI5CES)

• VOIP, digi modes such as dmr, fusion, dstar etc. Does any of them look to shake out as a leader or any of them falling by the wayside?

Connor Farrell (WG1GEM): A lot is very regional, doesn’t look like any of them will go away anytime soon. Echolink and IRLP are more used to link repeaters.

Phil Gates (N5ZKF): Distinguished difference between digi radio modes and VOIP.

John Walpole (K5ZY)

• Mobile check-in
• TMV71 came with echolink
• Repeater list digi capabilities:
  • Snook repeater is allstar linked
  • Benchly is DMR
    • Brandmeister is slot 1
    • TGIF is slot 2
  • Iola is local fusion

Dick Zimmer (W5DZ)

• Local Allstar repeater 443.475 if you allstarlink.org Node: 48678 will show you bubble diagram of everything that is linked to this repeater. Can get quite immense!
  • All Star Web Site Scroll down to node 48678 for links to different features such as maps and station info
  • NODE 48678 AllStar web info

Ron Hambric (N5SBN)

• Brazos Co ARES: New Weather nets. Connor Farrell (WG1GEM) is assistant EC for the skywarn weather nets. Connor Farrell (WG1GEM): I’m working on more skywarn activities for Brazos County.

KI5HIA: Advanced skywarn are on hold for now.

Ron Hambric (N5SBN): Comet MetEd: meted.ucar.edu has a lot of online training and resources

Brad Snyder (KG5SDE)

• Online / remote testing is being done.
  • Hamstudy online has a list of upcoming sessions, some online.

Phil Gates (N5ZKF)

• Club poll: second post on the website. We want your input! Please take a minute to vote. Its a free service so expect a lot of adverts.
  • Link to BARC Post
  • Direct link to the Poll

Buy/Sell

Nothing heard..

Information Exchange

Nothing heard..

Health and Welfare / Good of the Order

• If anyone needs help with anything please reach out to the club. You can contact any of the officers at:
  • officers@bryanarc.org

VE Test Session

• Club officers are working on different options at this time. THe current situation with online testing and the ARRL is fluid.

June Meeting

• As of now, the meeting will be on June 20, 2020 at 9:30am and unless our current situation changes, will be held “On Air” in a NET style meeting on the 146.680 repeater. Please check the website and/or our Tuesday evening NETs for the most current information regarding our meetings.

Next Meeting: 2020-06-20 09:30

_No Presentation Scheduled This Month..