opened

20:00

closed

20:44

Check-ins (30)

• Matthew Barry (KG5LYE)
• Jeff McDowell (KI5CES)
• Travis Scott (KI5TMS)
• Matthew Cadman (KJ5IIF)
• Bill Rose (K5WTR)
• John Walpole (K5ZY)
• Marshall Walpole (KG5IQY)
• Ron Hambric (N5SBN)
• David Bailey (K5DKB)
• Don Ling (WB5CKO)
• Ken Wilson (KE5DFR)
• Brad Snyder (W5BLS)
• Brian Gaskamp (N5WCT)
• Dick Zimmer (W5DZ)
• Avery McIntosh (N7ALM)
• Bill Preston (KZ3G)
• Lorna Flansburg (KI5FIZ)
• Mike Wisby (KA5HIA)
• Ron Estes (KJ5EFO)
• John Graesser (KC5DWD)
• Harold Turbyfill (KG5SDG)
• Russ McDonald (KL2PB)
• Michael Bobinski (N5NYL)
• Emery Hyden (K5OWO)
• Pierre Catala (WA1UAT)
• Matt Robinson (W5XMR)
• Phil Gates (N5ZKF)
• Tom Johnson (KI5ZPG)
• Robert Grigsby (KB5RAG)
• Brandon Bartlett (KG5LYN)

Officer Reports

President

David Bailey (K5DKB)

• Thanks to everyone who attended Saturday’s meeting!
• Ballot approved for next meeting’s elections
  • Current officers have agreed to continue serving, No one running against
    • President: David Bailey (K5DKB)
    • Vice-President: Tom Johnson (KI5ZPG)
    • Secretary: Matthew Barry (KG5LYE)
    • Treasurer: Lorna Flansburg (KI5FIZ)
  • We will need quorum next meeting to hold elections, so please mark your calendar to attend:
    • 2025-12-20 09:30
    • American Legion Post 159, 101 Waco St, Bryan [Google Maps]

Vice-President

Tom Johnson (KI5ZPG)

• Winter Field Day Planning Committee Meetings will start meeting
  • 2026-01-24/25

Secretary

Matthew Barry (KG5LYE)

• Minutes will be sent out after the net.
  • Need to get meeting minutes transcribed and will send those out, too
• Apologies I missed the meeting and club build on Saturday
  • First half of the game: I missed ham radio stuff for this!?
  • Second half of the game: I just witnessed college football history!
    • Greatest comeback (down by 27 at halftime)
    • First time being 10-0 for season opening
• Last week was also pretty great… I went North to OSR and saw Aurora Borealis

Treasurer

Lorna Flansburg (KI5FIZ)

• 81 members
• Bank balance: $11,850.49
• Ham License exam outcome
  • 2 new Technicians
  • 1 upgrade to General
• Club build went well
• Next license exam 2025-12-20
  • American Legion Post 159, 101 Waco St, Bryan [Google Maps]
  • Be sure to have your FCC Registration Number (FRN)

Announcements / Comments

Question #250 for conversation: Would you be interested in a multi-mode digital radio? e.g., Connect Systems' radio(s) that can do DMR, M17, and FM (potentially even C4FM and D-STAR)

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

Ron Hambric (N5SBN)

• Good ARES meeting last night
• Winlink review by Mike Wisby (KA5HIA)
• CEOC Visit Friday 09:00
  • If late, call in on 146.680 MHz FM (W5BCS) repeater

Matthew Cadman (KJ5IIF)

• 1.25 m repeater is now online and should be ID-ing correctly
• 70 cm repeater now has 18 dB range automatic gain control (AGC) on receive
• Bonfire remembrance event this morning
• “Spring cleaning in the Fall”
  • Need to downsize after moving into new ham shack
  • Have a lot of old and non-functional radio equipment
  • Does anyone want to (or know someone who wants to) salvage this?
  • If so, contact us one of the following ways:
    • Send an email to clubofficers.w5ac@gmail.com
    • Reach out on our Discord Server
    • Check in on the weekly net
      • Mondays at 21:00
      • On 2 m and 70 cm analog FM repeaters

Matthew Barry (KG5LYE)

• A multi-mode digital radio sounds great!
  • Not a fan of vendor lock-in
  • radios are meant to communicate with everyone, not just those with the same radio as you
• N5ZKF: DMR and M17 are open, D-STAR is also open protocol from JARL (but ICOM makes most of devices), C4FM might be owned by Yaesu

Buy / Sell

Matt Robinson (W5XMR)

• More desktop workstation computers available
  • Intel 9th–13th generation processors
  • Some with integrated graphics, some with discrete graphics
  • Windows 11 already loaded
  • I’ll even throw in a warranty
  • Prices start at $450
• Contact (979) 324-4348 if interested

Information Exchange

Matt Robinson (W5XMR)

• Running an audio mixer from HF radio and computer to share the same speaker
• Using 1/4 in. cables
• No issues on 80 m, but there’s a hum on 40 m and up
• 1 run through ferrite core helped, 2 passes made it even better, 3 passes made it worse
  • K5WTR: more inductance can change impedance, and impedance mismatch can act like a trap or plugging in a microphone with the wrong impedance.
  • KG5LYE: Are the lines balanced (positive/negative)? yes, but shielded
    • OK, the choke would just attenuate oscillations on the shield, probably not on the signal lines themselves
    • Balanced feed wound in same direction will help attenuate noise, but wound in opposite direction could have an adverse effect (unless making a balun)
  • KJ5EFO: there’s a difference between “guitar cables” and “speaker cables” … maybe using wrong type? no, they’re “audio/video” cables

Closing Remarks

• Visit us online at w5bcs.radio.