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Good Hamming from BARK.

Minutes, BARK Directors Meeting, June 7, 2008

 

The BARK Directors met at the Red Cross building in Woodland on Saturday, June 7, 2008, called to order by President Bill Gustavson, KG6GNI, at 9:10am.  Attending were Vice President Ken Wilson, K6WLS; Secretary/Treasurer Gary Ford, N6GF; Directors Jack Hendrick, K6JAC, Hal Stoner, WB6KXV, Val Thomsen, W6LED, and members Damian Appert, AB6WB, and Doreen Appert, KE6ROR.

 

Gary, N6GF, reported that we currently have 58 members, although the dues of five have expired.  Renewal notices have been sent, but only Zola Bergstrom, KC7WCE, has responded, saying that she was moving out of the area and would not be continuing her membership.  Directors expressed interest in having a breakfast gathering for her before she leaves.  They proposed and approved that she be named a life member.

 

Gary provided a short treasurer’s report, saying that our balance in July 2007 was about $1680 and our current balance is about $1270.  The primary expense was that for the new 2m repeater.

 

The modifications needed on the new 2m repeater were discussed.  Damian and Ken agreed to work together on this.  In addition to connector changes, there is a need to build a timer circuit to turn on the fan in response to a COR signal and to keep it on for a desired amount of time.

 

The 440 PAVE-PAWS issue was discussed, in particular the issue of remotely controlling the 2m repeater.  While we no longer have a command confirmation transmitted by the 440 repeater, we still have the 440 control receiver in place and working.  A command can be given on the 440 control frequency to shut down the 2m repeater and this can be confirmed by observing that 2m is down.  There was concern that it might not be possible to turn the repeater on again, so it was suggested that this be tested the next time the site is visited.  The command confirmation could be transmitted on the 2m repeater, but of course this would not work if the command was to shut down the 2m repeater.

 

Instructions were sent by the ARRL to determine the amount of signal strength reduction we could achieve on the 440 transmitter for command confirmation if we were decrease power, use highly directional antennas at both ends, and still have the system work.  To make the necessary measurements, we would need a 440 receiver with an S-meter and a step attenuator.  The availability of these items and their costs will be investigated.

 

Jack reported on the repeater maintenance committee, saying that everything appears to be working well.  The vault fan is off now, but should be turned on the next time someone goes to the site.  The solar panels are working well to charge the batteries.  Gary will watch the electricity bills to see if they have been reduced significantly by the solar panels.

 

An Elmer class will be held after this meeting.  Concern was expressed regarding the few people who were expected to participate.  We decided that we would try this one more time, possibly after the October annual meeting.  The next session will be announced at a YARS meeting to see if some of their members would be interested.

 

Val agreed to coordinate a fund raising effort by developing a list of gear that could be sold at the North Hills Radio Club ham swap next May in the Carmichael area.

 

Gary will review his minutes to determine the status of Bob, KI6BZR, as we believe that we had appointed him as an associate director.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 10:10am.

BARK Newsletter

Vol. 36, No. 1, March 2008

PDF Version of Newsletter

2007 Annual Meeting

The BARK annual meeting was held on Saturday, October 6, 2007 at the Red Cross building in Woodland. President Bill Gustavson (KG6GNI) called the meeting to order at 10:03am. The 14 members present were Director Ken (K6WLS), Bob (KI6BZR), Sam (N7DTW), Secretary-Treasurer Gary (N6GF), President Bill (KG6GNI), Ione (W6ION), Director Jack (K6JAC), Director Hal (WB6KXV), Director Val (W6LED), Al (K6QDC), Rose (W6QPV), Jim (W6RWI), Mark (KF6SML), and Zola KC7WCE). With 16 proxies, we met our quorum.

Secretary-Treasurer Gary (N6GF) reviewed the minutes from the 2006 annual meeting and presented a Treasurer's report.  Our financial balance was about the same as that of the previous year.  Routine annual expenditures are about $1000, roughly equal to membership dues income.  He noted that our total membership has dropped to 47, down from the mid-50s level of the past several years.

Bill (KG6GNI) recommended that we establish a fund for future replacement of equipment.  It was moved and approved to have the Treasurer establish a savings account for this purpose.

The status of the PAVE PAWS radar interference issue on 440 was discussed.  We are not able to meet the mitigation requirements and still have adequate coverage of our 440 repeater, so we have shut it down.  We discussed installing a repeater on an alternative band, such as 6m, 220, 902, or 1.2G.  However, we concluded that it would be best to make our 2m system as reliable as possible, so it was moved and approved to purchase a backup repeater for this band.  Hal (WB6KXV) will investigate duplexers and commercial antennas for the system, with the priority being the receive antenna.  We will also consider the use of beam antennas and reduced power to use 440 to control the 2m repeater.

Jack (K6JAC) reported on site maintenance.  He has found that he is the only member available to go to the site on short notice.  The batteries were checked recently and found to be in good condition.  Ken (K6WLS), Bob (KI6BZR) did a thorough job of cleaning up the room, removing and storing the spare interconnect cables.  The solar panel donated by Yolo ARES needs to be installed in a frame on the roof.  A second panel is needed to supply power to the controller, so a motion was approved to purchase this second panel.

Bill (KG6GNI) discussed the agreement with property owner Jim Wirth regarding use of the road to the site and the need for liability insurance.  Bill is investigating having the Wirth group named as an additional insured party on our current insurance policy.  It was moved and approved that we provide a token amount of $200 per year to assist with road maintenance.

The next order of business was to elect two board members.  The terms of Bill (KG6GNI) and Gary (N6GF) had expired.  Both said they could serve again, so they were nominated and approved by acclamation.  In an effort to get more members involved in the management of our activities, Bob (KI6BZR) was ppointed to a newly created position of Associate Director.  Sam (N7DTW) volunteered to be added to the maintenance committee.

The new board then considered the officer positions.  Gary (N6GF) agreed to continue to serve as the Secretary/Treasurer.  Bill (KG6GNI) agreed to continue to serve as President.  They were approved by acclamation.

Under new business, there was an announcement that the Quarter Century Wireless Association (QCWA) and Old Timers 20-25 meet for breakfast at CoCo’s in Sacramento on the second Friday of each month.

 

Repeater Status

 

Ken (K6WLS) visited the repeater site on February 10.  He found that the batteries were charged and the repeater was working very well.  The solar panels are doing a good job of battery charging.  Later, he picked up another panel, with Jack (K6JAC) building another frame.

 

BARK Directors Meeting, March 15, 2008

 

A BARK directors meeting was held on Saturday, March 15, 2008 at the Red Cross building in Woodland. President Bill Gustavson (KG6GNI) called the meeting to order at 10am. Board members present were Ken (K6WLS), Gary (N6GF), Jack (K6JAC), and Val (W6LED). 

There was discussion regarding having Yolo ARES members join BARK.  Additional discussion will continue in the future.

A decision was made to purchase another solar panel to power the packet system.

It was reported that Damian (AB6WB) has not had an opportunity to work on the new repeater.  Changes in connectors are needed.  When he is able to get this completed, the new repeater will be installed and the old repeater will be cleaned up and then stored for backup use.

Bill described a plan to use low power and high-gain directional antennas to use 440MHz to communicate with the repeater controller.  This will be discussed with the ARRL regarding the PAVE PAWS problem.

Bill plans to investigate linking the repeater through the Internet using the IRLP protocol.

The 2008 general meeting will be held on October 4 and another directors meeting was scheduled June 7.

 

Donation from YARS and DBC

 

We received a generous donation of $125 from the Yolo Amateur Radio Society and the Davis Bike Club for use of the repeater for the bicycling events Double Century and Foxy Fall Ride.

 

Membership News

 

Since the September 2007 newsletter, we lost two members while gaining three new or returning members.  This reduces the total membership to 58.

New or returning members are:

 

K6JCH

John Hendrickson

Placerville

K6LAV

LaVonne LaMoureaux

Woodland

KD6QHH

Mark Ochoa

Woodland

Several 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 June, 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 2008

 

Balance 7/07

$1,684.78

Income:

 

  Dues

$839.50

  Miscellaneous

$195.00

Expenses:

 

  Operating

$580.71

  New Equipment

$895.70

  Correspondence

$32.03

  Bank

$57.05

 

 

Current Balance

$1,162.05

 

Miscellaneous income included the YARS/DBC contribution.  Operating expenses included PG&E electricity and insurance.  New equipment included the 2m repeater and solar panels.

 

September 2007 Newsletter, Vol. 35, No. 2