Change in Weekly Net Schedule
An important notice to those members that join us on the Tuesday night net:
beginning March 21, the BARK net will be held on Sunday evenings at 1930 hours.
On the remaining Tuesday nets, this change in days will be
announced. After the net has moved to
Sunday, for several weeks reminders will be given on Tuesdays at 1930 to alert
members to the change in days.
It is our hope that this change will promote participation in the net. Many
members indicated that they would be more readily available to check into the
net on Sunday evenings. This net will be
followed by the BARK Packet net which begins at 2000 hours. For information on
using packet radio, the club website offers some great information. Hopefully
you will find yourself addicted to this very useful and interesting form of Ham
communication
New Website
Club member Greg Kruckewitt,
KG6SJT, has been working very hard to create a new BARK website. This website
will allow us to take advantage of a large amount of memory which will permit
the addition of multiple menus and pages. For instance, we will have an
equipment sales page and technical information on such items as packet and
antenna construction. Greg has agreed to be the site webmaster and he has spent
many hours designing the current site. The new site will shortly become the
official BARK website – the link to the website is www.barkradio.org.
Change in Newsletter Editor
After 21 years of editing the BARK
newsletter, I will turn over this task and the position of secretary to Bob Jordan,
KI6BZR. I have enjoyed this task, which
for five years meant producing six newsletters a year, nine years producing
four newsletters a year and more recently, down to two newsletters a year. By relinquishing this task, I will have more
time to devote to maintaining and improving the BARK repeater hardware. As an electrical engineer, this assignment is
more appropriate to my background.
Thanks to Bob for his willingness to take on this task.
Gary Ford, N6GF
Board Meeting January 16, 2010
A
BARK board meeting was held at the LSCE Office, 500 First Street, Woodland
on Saturday, January 16, 2010. Board
members present were Bill Gustavson, KG6GNI, Ken
Wilson, K6WLS; Jack
Hendrick, K6JAC; Ione Hendrick, W6ION; Gary Ford, N6GF; and Bob Jordan, KI6BZR.
Gary provided an update on the checking account and the status of dues collection. The group reviewed Bill’s operating budget and anticipated expenditures for 2010. Gary provided a few adjustments on expense amounts.
Bill described interference being received from the
Cloverdale 146.970 repeater. After some
discussion, Bill agreed to write a letter to the group to explain the problems
we have been experiencing.
Ken reported that the new 2m transceiver is working
correctly. He and Damian Appert, AB6WB,
need to take the transceiver up to the site for installation. The problems with the 2m portion of the power
controller need to be investigated, as the 2m transceiver is currently
connected to the unused controller for the former 220 system. This task will be deferred until the spring
when the weather improves.
Recent news on the PAVE-PAWS system was
reviewed. After discussion, Bill agreed
to provide a report to Dan Henderson at the ARRL about our low power use of our
440 system for control purposes.
Bill
reported that he continues to collect information about an Echolink for our 2m
repeater. He has a June target date for
implementation.
A
successor or successors for Gary
as secretary/treasurer was discussed. Gary explained that he would
begin to write up his duties and to provide his computer files with
explanations as to their purpose.
The
board agreed to have Bill talk to Greg Kruckewitt, KG6SJT, about the
possibility for him to assume management of the club website. Gary
reviewed his financial records quickly, reporting that it appeared that our
last payment to the provider was in 2001.
Jack
explained the responsibilities of the repeater operator. There is need for a backup who can monitor
frequently. There is a need to add material
to the systems operations manual.
The
problems with the power controller were discussed. This homebrew system is difficult to maintain
and there is a desire to replace it with a commercial system. Bill will contact Maggiori to get their
recommendations.
Jack, as chair of the Repeater Maintenance Committee,
recommends turning over this responsibility to Ken, as he does not get up to
the site often. Bill will send to Jack
his description of actions to take when visiting the site, asking him to revise
as needed.
There is a need to cut back brush to provide a defensible
area around the building. This should be
done in the spring when the weather improves.
Bob, chair of the Membership Committee reported that we
gained two new members from the testing session. Club information should be sent to HRO in Oakland. Ken showed a club membership card, explaining
that a template is available to print 10 per sheet
A letter will be sent to Hal Stoner, WB6KXV, granting him
life membership.
Board Meeting March 6, 2010
A
lengthy board meeting was held in Woodland
on Saturday, March 6, 2010, primarily to follow up on the issues addressed in
the January meeting. Attending were
those who attended the January meeting, plus member Greg Kruckewitt, KG6SJT.
Gary read the minutes of the board meeting from January 16, 2010, reported the three expired memberships and provided an update on the checking account. The balance is about $1,980, which is about $25 less than the balance at this time last year.
Jack presented a proposal for a letter to be sent to members whose dues had expired. The letter would encourage members to pay their dues on time, but would also assess a penalty of $5 for late payment. Bill suggested instead an incentive for paying early. We agreed that a rule was needed a rule as to when a member is to be dropped from the roster. After some discussion, it was approved that upon delinquency, we will alert members at 30 days and 60 days, deleting them from the roster if they have not renewed by 90 days. Ken recommended posting the policy for membership dues on the website, with an announcement on the weekly net. Two alternatives were discussed: an additional charge for rejoining after a year, or a $5 incentive for paying dues 30 days early. After discussion, neither of these alternatives were approved. There was some discussion of the wording of the announcement on the weekly net and the letters to be sent to members whose dues have expired. Bill asked Jack to send his draft to the board members as an email attachment for further discussion.
Greg was invited to the meeting to describe his efforts to develop a new website, currently under construction at the URL www.barkradio.org. Bill had authorized Greg to purchase the domain name and the website hosting, which will cost $60 per year. He explained that the server for this website has database capabilities that can be used to provide several valuable services and functions. For example, these capabilities can be used to maintain the membership roster, generating email reminders as needed. All of the member email addresses could be maintained in the database and be used to send out reminders for the weekly net and the annual meeting. A net check in list could be maintained. Gary recommended that we switch to this new website, with the old website used to redirect visitors to the new website. Greg accepted and board approved that he would serve as the webmaster until January 1, 2011, with his dues waived for his efforts. After discussion, the board agreed that we will move to the new website as soon as possible, rather than necessarily at the end of March.
As agreed in the January board meeting, Bill sent a letter
to club managing the Cloverdale 146.97 repeater that has created interference
for our 2m repeater. He reported that he
has not received a response from the club.
Ken reported that there has been no change in the status of
the new 2m repeater since the last board meeting.
Bill
reported to Dan Henderson at the ARRL about our low power use of our 440 system
for control purposes. Bill later talked to Henderson, who thanked him for the
report and said our use of 440 was not a problem and that we should continue.
Bill
reported that he continues to collect information about establishing Echolink
on our 2m repeater. He is still working
on this and he has a tentative June target date for implementation.
A
successor or successors for Gary
as secretary and treasurer was discussed.
Bob offered to take both duties.
Bill suggested that his wife, an accountant, could establish new
business practices for the treasurer. Gary will send the
current budget and checking account spreadsheets to Bill, for his wife to build
a new process, which Ken may maintain as the new treasurer. Gary
had provided a description of his current duties prior to the meeting. However, with the information from the
meeting regarding a new web-based membership roster and new processes for the
treasurer, he will revise the write up of his duties in this light.
The
trustee position was discussed, with Gary
agreeing to continue in this role. When
he has completed and passed along his secretary and treasurer responsibilities,
he will devote more time to the technical management of the repeater.
We
discussed the possibility of replacing the commercial repeater controller and
our homebrew power controller. The
repeater controller is difficult to program, as the control interface software
does not meet current standards. The power
controller is difficult to maintain.
Bill provided information on repeater controllers from Computer
Automation Technology and power controllers from West Mountain Radio. Gary
will prepare a block diagram of our current system and consider new commercial
controllers.
The possibility of moving the weekly net from Tuesday to
Sunday has been discussed on the net, with positive feedback. Bill recommended that we experiment with this
change for about six months. The board
approved beginning the Sunday night nets on March 21. Gary
will announce the change in the March newsletter that he hopes to distribute by
March 15. The change will also be
announced on the website and the next two Tuesday night nets.
Bill noted that we need to better define the functions and
responsibilities of the officers and directors.
He suggested that we plan to have one annual meeting of the full
membership and three quarterly meetings of the board each year. Bill read from the club bylaws regarding the
responsibilities of the officers and the board.
We discussed the misunderstandings regarding the experiment with the new
website.
Gary and Ken plan to go to the site on Saturday, May 22 to
investigate the programming of the repeater controller and to look into the
problems with the power controller. We
decided that this would be a general clean up day, with other members invited
to help. They will be asked to meet at
the bottom gate, with Ken to be contacted for directions. Ken will let the Wirth family know that we
will have more than one vehicle traveling to the repeater site, with other cars
to be left inside the gate. Several
members will bring chain saws to cut back brush to provide a defensible area
around the building.
Bob reported he has sent out about 40 email messages to
hams in the region through arrl.org, inviting them to join the club. He has not received any responses as yet.
Another test session will be conducted by Ken on Saturday
May 1.
Membership News
Since
the November 2009 newsletter, we gained two new members, while losing five;
bringing our total membership to 54.
New
members are:
|
KJ6DVS
|
Dan Stromness
|
Dixon
|
|
KJ6EHV
|
Isaac Oshima
|
Sacramento
|
|
KI6PVI
|
Ray Grout
|
Davis
|
A
few memberships have expired since the last newsletter. Please check the mailing label on this
newsletter to find your membership expiration date. If your membership has expired, or will
expire soon, the date will be highlighted.
Note
that the annual dues are now $30 for both for an individual or a family
membership. Please send renewal checks,
made out to BARK, to Gary Ford, N6GF, at the return address on this
newsletter. If I do not receive your
dues by early May, I will send a reminder.
You
are encouraged to invite other hams to join the club. Just have them send their dues to the return
address on this newsletter and to provide their name, address, and call sign.
Treasurer’s Report, March 2010
|
Balance
7/09
|
$2,251.86
|
|
Income:
|
|
|
Dues
|
$622.00
|
|
Patches
|
$6.00
|
|
Miscellaneous
|
$75.00
|
|
|
|
|
Expenses:
|
|
|
Operating
|
$902.84
|
|
Correspondence
|
$31.45
|
|
Miscellaneous
|
$23.99
|
|
|
|
|
Current Balance
|
$1,996.58
|
Operating
costs include $320 for liability insurance, $305 for a new antenna, and the
electric utility costs.
BARK News 21 Years Ago
For
my last newsletter, I have dug into the archives to find out what was happening
when I started writing the newsletters in 1989.
At
the time, the president was Jim Dawson, K6HVM, since deceased. Current member Pete Perata, KA6SHE (now
K6SHE) was vice president, current member Al Lindquist, K6QDC, was treasurer and
net control. Directors were Dick Frame,
K6KYU, Pete Visalli, W6HKB and Gene
Hurn, KG6PL, all of whom have left the
club. The trustee was Dave Oliver,
WB6VKH, who has also left the club.
Membership
dues were $20 a year and our membership was growing rapidly. We had 20 new
members in the previous several months, bringing our total membership to
67.
Dave
maintained three repeaters at the time, including our current 2m and 440
repeaters, plus a 220 repeater with input on 222.32MHz and output on 223.92MHz. Only the 2m repeater had PL tone access and
it was activated rarely, to resolve interference problems.
Once
every 3 minutes of continued use, the 2m repeater identified as WB6VKH/R in
Morse code, accompanied by 1 or 2 dits.
These dits indicated the current mode.
When a conversation longer than 5 minutes has ended, the identifier
sounded off with "73 OM,"
accompanied by 1 or 2 dits and 1 or 2 dahs.
These dits and dahs indicated the receiver and transmitter in use at the
site.
Dave
had been working on a 2m remote receiver project. It was intended to extend the
mobile range of the repeater to the north all the way into Redding and to the west into Willits. The remote receiver was to be located on Baldy Mountain,
located about 31 miles north of Berryessa
Peak, just north of Highway 20 near
the county line between Lake and Colusa
counties. The repeater was to
“vote” for the strongest signal between the main and remote
sites. While Dave expected that this
system would be installed by the summer of 1989, the project stalled and was
never completed.
In
a Febuary 1989 board meeting, Dave described his talks with a Reno
repeater group about linking with them to provide communications between the Reno area and the Sacramento
valley. The Reno group had installed the WA7RPS
repeater on Mount Rose the previous summer, which operated on 146.115+ and
provided some coverage of the Sacramento
valley.
The
board discussed the need for ideas to increase the use of the 220 and 440
repeaters. Informal nets had been held
on the 220 repeater on Saturdays at 10am and on the 440 repeater on Saturdays
at 10:30am, but they had not attracted many users.
The
site manager, Harry, WB6YCL (now deceased), had taken a video camera to the
repeater site and recorded several views.
I still have a copy of the VHS tape, although I have not viewed it in
many years to see if it is still intact.
Yolo
County ARES/RACES was conducting a net on Monday evenings at 8:30pm on the 2m
repeater. The board approved the net for
a trial period of three months in the fall of 1988, and in December, they voted
to allow the group to continue the net indefinitely. The ARES/RACES coordinator was BARK member
Mark, KA6YSC. He shared net control
duties with Tim,
N6JXN
(another BARK member); Kyle, KB6OLL; Richard, KB6HQS, and Jeff, N6MYF. Several of the ARES/RACES members were also
members of BARK, and many were members of the Yolo Amateur Radio Society
(YARS). The frequent public service
activities of YARS are often discussed on the net.
An
announcement was provided for a recently-opened store in the Sacramento area that provided sales and
service of ham radio equipment. Quad A's
Electronic Supply, 7366 Auburn
Blvd., #3, Citrus Heights,
owned by Sam Ansell, WA6POM, had been in business for nearly a year. He provided sales and service of the three
major brands of ham radio gear, several of the lesser brands, and several
brands of accessories. The stock of ham
gear was small, although a complete collection of detailed catalogs was
available and an order service was provided.
This store did not last long as I recall.
To
end the newsletter, I provided a review of the ICOM IC-2GAT 2M walkie talkie,
written by Bob Parnass, AJ9S, and posted to an early internet news group. Bob gave me permission to include it in the
newsletter.
Previous Newsletters:
November 2009 Newsletter, Vol. 37, No. 2
March 2009 Newsletter, Vol. 37, No. 1
September 2008 Newsletter, Vol. 36, No. 2
March 2008 Newsletter, Vol. 36, No. 1
September 2007 Newsletter, Vol. 35, No. 2
March 2007 Newsletter, Vol. 35,
No. 1
September 2006 Newsletter, Vol.
34, No. 1
November 2005 Newsletter, Vol.
33, No. 2
