opened

20:00

closed

20:49

Check-ins (28)

• Matthew Barry (KG5LYE)
• Joe Napoli (KG5SDF)
• Jeff McDowell (KI5CES)
• Phil Abernathy (KQ4CFH)
• Bill Rose (K5WTR)
• Garrett Martin (W5HVS)
• Brian Gaskamp (KA5BKG)
• Andrew Byorth (KG5JDJ)
• Dick Zimmer (W5DZ)
• David Bailey (K5DKB)
• Kevin Walton (K5BTX)
• Lorna Flansburg (KI5FIZ)
• Tom Johnson (KI5ZPG)
• Ken Reeves (KE5FIV)
• Don Ling (WB5CKO)
• Robert Carter (NC5R)
• Brad Snyder (KG5SDE)
• Rich Rychetsky (KI5QNR)
• Bennie Naiser (KA5TWB)
• David Vickers (KI5WEH)
• John Walpole (K5ZY)
• Pierre Catala (WA1UAT)
• Phil Gates (N5ZKF)
• Ralph Cobb (W5RYC)
• Mike Mertes (KZ5M)
• Jon Edwards (KI5YZR)
• Travis Scott (KI5TMS)
• Becky Miller (K5BEC)

Officer Reports

President

David Bailey (K5DKB)

• Hope everyone’s okay after the storms last week
• lots of people joined us on KD5DLW for storm spotting
  • impressive information sharing
  • thanks to everyone who tuned in

Vice-President

Paul Bilke (KF5WGJ)

excused

• Proxy N5ZKF: Field Day volunteers needed

Secretary

Matthew Barry (KG5LYE)

• Minutes will be sent out after the net.
• Short on time and a bit scatter-brained this evening
  • Semester wrapping up; projects and papers due, finals coming up, etc.

Treasurer

Lorna Flansburg (KI5FIZ)

• 59 members
• Bank balance: $8172.94
• Reminder: VE session following club meeting on 2023-05-20 11:00
• Field Day Committee Zoom meeting tomorrow 18:00

Announcements / Comments

Question #125 for conversation: Have you seen any of the new gear from any of the major ham radio equipment manufacturers?

(If interested in submitting a weekly question, email n5zkf@arrl.net)

Bill Rose (K5WTR)

• New equipment prices are so much higher!
• 15m band is starting to open up
  • opening around 20:00Z
  • Ireland contact usually online: Mike Higgins (EI0CL) on 21.317 MHz

Kevin Walton (K5BTX)

• 10m is also open
  • worked 3 stations from New Zealand last night
• Brazos County ARES net 443.425 MHz FM (KD5DLW)

John Walpole (K5ZY)

• Haven’t watched too much for new equipment:
  • Swapped for a few new radios in Belton
  • Made 80 contacts in various digital and analog modes
  • FTM-200
  • FTDX-10 has some neat new features

Phil Abernathy (KQ4CFH)

• Passed by what I think is an airport, and there was some black smoke
• N5ZKF: Easterwood Airport has a fire school right next to it; regularly big plumes of smoke coming off of it

Phil Gates (N5ZKF)

• Keep an eye on the weather: lots of convection and rotation can give rise to big storms
• National Hurricane Preparedness Week
  • https://nhc.noaa.gov/
  • Hurricane season starts in June

Information Exchange

Robert Carter (NC5R)

• Son coming in at Easterwood. Is 118.5 MHz the tower frequency?
  • N5ZKF: correct. AM modulation
  • W5DZ: they close down at the end of the day
  • K5ZY: closes 9:00pm; aircraft talk on 134.3 MHz, and then they’ll call in the blind on 118.5 after the tower closes

Travis Scott (KI5TMS)

• Anyone with experience running a coax cable through the side of an RV?
  • K5ZY: use an available opening in the shell of the trailer and run behind cabinet
  • N5ZKF: Powerwerx has some products to help with mounting vehicle antennas and such
  • KQ4CFH: I have a tow trailer with a repeater antenna. Coax runs through a grommet for the 7-way cable from vehicle
  • KI5CES: Comet makes window pass-through product (CTC-50M); limited to 150 W