W4WVP

Draft Minutes of Arlington Amateur Radio Club Meeting of March 17, 2009 -

President Reed called the meeting to order at 7:38 PM. He stated that the Treasurer was absent. He assumed all members have paid their dues.

ARRL Report (Dennis) - New ARRL awards including the Triple Play have proved popular. The Triple Play is Worked All States in one of three modes: CW, Phone, or Digital. Other new awards were being created, as well as electronic checking of award submissions, which now included a digital compact disc, as well as paper QSL cards. The files for DXCC submissions were being electronically submitted for that award. The Log Book of the World has now about 200 million contacts entered.

Ms. Laura Smith, the new FCC person for amateur radio enforcement is taking her position seriously, and doing a good job at this time.

EnComm (Gary and Jim) - The ARRL Section (Virginia) has a new Section Emergency Coordinator and Public Information Coordinator (the same person). The Pentagon Amateur Radio Club is considering joining AARC for Field Day. The club’s antennas have been remarked and the batteries checked. It was noted that the club did not have any voltage boosters for the batteries, but that could be considered in the future.

It was noted that the club’s emergency power source remains the diesel generator, which has proven very reliable.

Up Coming Events - Baltimore Hamboree and Computerfest at Timonium, Maryland March 28 and 29th. The Virginia QSO party would be Sunday, March 22 starting at 10:30 AM. (Contact Jack Reed).

Other Business - Dennis will print out mailing labels for new amateurs in Arlington for the club Secretary. The idea of a swap meet to help members dispose of older equipment was also raised. Randy will look into the idea of a club “face book”. Dennis will look at material available for education programs in the schools.

President Reed called the meeting to order at 7:39PM. The minutes from the March 2009 meeting were approved as published on the web site. The Treasurer made his report and stated he would take orders for Field Day 2009 items. A list of possible order items was circulated.

ARRL Report - Dennis reported that the FCC has lost a case where certain individuals were distributing high power radios which could be modified for use on the Citizen’s Band. There is a new web site for the ARRL Roanoke Division. Comments about the site can be made to the web master.

EnComm Report - Members were reminded again to register on the Virginia ARES web site. May 9th was the date for the Cross Band Test from the Pentagon Amateur Radio Club. Volunteers were solicited. On a date to be determined, the ARRL Level 1 (entry level) emergency training course would be given. This would be followed at a later date by the advanced course. Anticipated cost was $ 30 for the training material and certification. The course would be given in a one day program.

Red Cross Material - Sheets were distributed with the Red Cross, Arlington ARES, and other local emergency information. Information also included programmed channel information for the Red Cross Icom radios. Members were advised to keep these sheets handy for emergency use. Club members were advised to think about loss of commercial communications due to construction accidents or vandalism as potential scenarios for communications emergencies.

Old Business - The club members are still reviewing the purchase of a new 2 meter FM radio for use in emergencies. It was noted that radio prices are very low now, and suitable radio would cost about $ 110.

New Business - Club Net - More volunteers were requested to man the club nets on Tuesday evenings. This would spread out the net control duties.

Club Activity - A possible club operating date at the end of May was discussed. This would keep club members active on the air and make them more familiar with the club’s capabilities as part of the area emergency infrastructure.

Field Day - Invitations to local officials were drafted by Mike, NW3V. Mike has also drafted a press release and requested help in getting it distributed to the media. The Field Day plan was to use the FD Log program used previously. (See the club web site under Field Day 2009.) The group will try to make certain improvements to the software as appropriate. Use of the software is important for both logging and making sure only one station is on one band and in a particular mode at a given time. Field Day modes are CW, Digital (not CW), and Phone.

This approach requires we bring computers for each operating position. We will also need networking hubs to tie all PCs together. Digital stations should have two computers, one for logging and one for digital operations.

New Field Day Antenna - Mike suggested we erect a full 80 meter antenna on the east side of the Red Cross site. For this project, an work party this Sunday at 2 PM will try to get preliminary leader cords into the two supporting trees before there is further leaf growth.
The club will need to provide wire, coaxial cables, barrel connectors and adaptors to enable use of all antennas.

Field Day Setup - This is proposed to start at 10 AM and the club will be ready to operate at 2PM. The club voted $ 100 for food supplies. George, KR4MU will cook.

The meeting adjourned at 9:20 PM.

In attendance were: Ken, WB4AKK, Prentiss, K4PDJ, Chuck, KJ4DHW, Cynthia, KJ4CLK , Jim, K9AUC, Roy, AI4GO, Randy, WB4MJF, Arthur, W4ART, George, KR4MU, Jack WA4FXX, Dennis, W4PWF, Gary, KC5QCN Mike, KG4RKL, and Mike, NW3V.

Arlington Amateur Radio Club station W4WVP will operate as an Emergency Operations Center (class F) station in the American Radio Relay League Field Day 2009 operating event on June 27 and 28, 2009. Please visit and revisit the Field Day 2009 link on our Field Days page to keep up with the latest plans.