President’s Report
The fact that it’s April is amazing to me. It seems like a couple weeks ago it was the New Year. With the weather getting warmer, the outdoors is calling. Half and full marathons around the area are happening. A lot of them can use communication support and welcome volunteers. I have 2 lined up that I’m helping with so far.
As most of you know, I love doing Parks On The Air and Foxhunts. I’m working with Scott Tranchitella to set up a class where we can make an antenna and use it for satellite communication and Foxhunts. It’s not your typical tape measure yagi. I hope to have this class towards the end of th month. I am hoping to have a Foxhunt in May along with having a POTA event.
I’m asking for you to give me your input. I’m looking for dates and times that work for you and others. Please feel free to email me your ideas. N9WX.ARES@gmail.com
I’m looking forward to what this year will bring.
Justin Flick – N9WX
PAARC, President
N9WX.ARES@gmail.com
_____________________________________________________
Meeting Minutes:
Board of Directors
At 7:06 p.m., we begin our board meeting via Zoom.
Tom (W8NWG), Justin (N9WX), Deb (WD9EB), Rob (KD9DBQ), Casey (KC9IH), Matt (KD9ERS) and Adam (KD9NYE) are in attendance.
Bandbits for March:
Tom moves to approve, Deb seconds. All are in favor and it passes.
Repeater committee:
- Matt still needs to go to the repeater site to upgrade software. He’ll check his schedule for a date/time to do so.
- Tom says we still need to also move things around physically in the shack.
Treasurer’s report:
- $545.02 savings
- $4,532.10 checking
- $10,921.47 in money market
- $594.03 in PayPal
A few board members still need to pay dues, but promise they will! We’ll remind the general membership of this as well. (35 people are paid up for 2023)
Deb moves to approve the treasurer’s report, Tom seconds. All are in favor and it passes.
Superfest Committee:
- Deb says they had a good meeting last week at the Red Cross (in person) and got documentation passed out
- Rich has gift certificates and flyers to send to different ham fests coming up
- Darrin has commercial vendor letters to send out
- Matt gave Darrin the most recent list of those sponsoring prizes
- Deb is still waiting on Peoria County about our raffle license situation
- Our flea market map is finally the way we want on our website. We still need to find out if we can sell tickets without a raffle license… then we’ll turn on the Superfest website by the middle of March.
Old business:
- Justin has new membership cards printed, which have our website and repeaters listed on it
- We still need to come up with a welcome letter for both new members and renewing members. Deb has something on the history of the club that might be worth using. She’ll send it to Tom for consideration.
New business:
- Justin says that we’ll have our summer Field Day at Illinois Central College in parking lot V. We’ll have access to the main bathrooms, power, and campus security will be around. $125 will get us a 25 hour period. It’s also high up on the bluff, which could be good for some propagation. We’re not sure if they’ll have anything else going on that weekend officially, but there will be people on campus regardless.
- For our storm spotting meeting this month, Justin says he told Bartonville that we’ll have 30-75 people. Since we normally have treats at this particular meeting, Deb wanted to be sure they’ll be able to handle our hunger and thirst.
- Bartonville is aware that this will be our last meeting at their facility before heading back to the Red Cross.
- Ham radio and boy scouts: Tom mentions that the radio merit badge is the second most popular one (second to white-water rafting!) There’s a 3-hour class to become a merit badge instructor, which Matt completed. Maybe we can host something in the future?
- For our April testing session, we’re going to combine efforts with Woodford for those who completed the Ham-In-A-Day course. This will mean a different date than usual.
Tom makes a motion to adjourn, and Rob seconds. We’re done at 7:40 p.m.
_________________
Membership Meeting
The April Membership meeting was a weather spotter training session, conducted by meteorologists from the National Weather Service office in Lincoln. This was the first live training session in two years due to the Covid pandemic.
__________________________________________________
Peoria County ARES
Apr 5, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
Apr 12, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
Apr 22, ARES Monthly Meeting @ 7:00 PM CST at the Peoria Red Cross
This meeting will be a chance to meet other ARES Members, as-well-as see the Radio Room at the Red Cross. The following ARES Meeting in May will return to being held via Zoom.
Meeting Agenda includes: Infrastructure Activities, Training Documentation, Storm Spotter Training Review, Simplex Exercises, Winlink News, Volunteer Opportunities, Changes to Our Website, and more.
Please submit your Training Documentation form.
ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/
Rich Holtman, KD9ANU, Emergency Coordinator for Peoria County ARES
email: kd9anu@arrl.net
Winlink: kd9anu@winlink.org
Cell: 309-256-4272
____________________________________________________
On April 18, 1925, the International Amateur Radio Union was founded in Paris, to encourage the development of amateur radio and to insure is future.
Every year on April 18, hams all over the world observe World Amateur Radio Day with special events and activities.
____________________________________________________
March Net Logs
3/5
KD9ANU N9WX KD9VYM KD9IBC K9HJZ NP2WJ KC9IH W9WGN WD9EB K9RCS W9JDP KD9PXZ N9WFT NM0O W8NWG KD9AER N9NDF KD9JXR KB9OGS KD9TEG KD9WRX KD9MPI KT9TB W9GLO KD9STL KD9RYH WF9E KD9RJH KC9YTT KD9VLQ KD9ERS KD9VIN AE9DM KD9NYE K9UQF Submitted by KD9DBQ 73
3/12
KD9ANU W9WGN K9HJZ KC9IH KD9ERS W8NWG KD9PXZ NM0O KD9JXR KD9IVV N9NDF W9JDP KD9QQU KD9AER KD9STL KD9RJH N9WFT K9UQF WF9E WW9DLM KB9ATO NP2WJ KD9VYM KD9IBC N9WX K9XJT N9GUE KD9WRX Submitted by KD9DBQ 73
3/19
W8NWG K9XJT N9WX KD9VYM W9WGN KC9IH K9HJZ NP2WJ NM0O KD9JXO KD9TEG K9TNT W9JDP KD9SZZ N9NDF N9WFT KB9SF KD9PXZ KD9JXR KB9ATO KD9QQU KD9AER KD9VIN K9RCS KD9RYH K9UQF KD9STL KB9MJA KD9IVV KC9YTT WW9DLM KB9OGS KD9RJH K9CEW W9WTF KD9WRX Submitted by KD9DBQ 73
3/26
KD9ANU N9WX K9XJT WF9E W9WGN KC9IH N9GUE KD9WSP K9HJZ KD9IBC NP2WJ KD9ERS W9JDP KD9PXZ N9NDF KD9JXR W8NWG KD9VIN K9RCS KD9AER KD9IVV KD9STL KB9OGS KD9RYH KD9VYM N9WFT KD9RJH K9UQF KD9TEG WE9DLM Submitted by KD9DBQ 73
____________________________________________________
April Club Events
April 5 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075
April 6 – 7:00 p.m. – Board of Directors via Zoom
April 12 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net: W9UVI Repeater 147.075
April 13 – 7:00 p.m. – Club Meeting: Scott Tranchitella, K9XJT will demonstrate the RFinder radio/phone – American Red Cross, 311 W John H Gwynn Jr Ave, Peoria
April 19 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Meeting: via Zoom. Zoom credentials will be emailed to ARES participants.
April 18 – World Amateur Radio Day
April 22 – 3:00 p.m. – License Testing – This month’s date, time and location are a change from our normal exam schedule: Woodford County EOC, 303 S. Main St., Roanoke, IL. FRN Required. Bring two forms of identification and a copy of your license (if upgrading). Testing Fee: $15.
April 27 – 7:00 p.m. – Superfest Meeting: Details TBA
Always check the Upcoming Club Events/Meetings page for the latest additional information or last minute changes.