PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Hello club!
Spring foward… into the darkness?
Hopefully everyone has recovered most of the lost sleep and have replaced your smoke detectors batteries!
This is also a great time of year to make sure your weather radios are ready to go, and be sure to check on your loved ones that they are prepared as well.
We apologize for the loss of the web page this week. We hope to have our original domain name back, but now w9uvi.net and w9uvi.com will work.
And now, the darkness! here comes the eclipse! we have been invited to be at the Peoria Riverfront Museum and Planetarium for the local gathering there.
the event starts at noon, the moon and sun will together at 2pm or so. if you cant be there, be sure to set outside and safely look up!
Looking past that, summer field day plans are starting to be laid out, more on that later.
in the mean time, do your part to keep the bands busy.
~73’s
KD9RYH
Ben
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MEETING MINUTES
Board of Directors – March 6, 2024
In attendance at Red Cross: Adam (KD9NYE), Ben (KD9RYH), Rob (KD9DQB), Scott (K9XJT), Tanya (KD9YPM), Rich (K9RCS), Darren (KD9HZZ), Tom (W8NWG), Jake via Zoom (K9LE)
Ben calls our board meeting to order at 8:19 p.m. after a presentation on 501(c)3 management from club member Todd Ricca (N9CS)
Tom makes a motion to accept last month’s meeting minutes as published in Bandbits, with Rich AND Scott seconding simultaneously. All are in favor and they are accepted.
Treasurer’s report from Tanya:
- $1,976.41 in checking
- $7,645.36 in money market
- $379.72 in Square
- $1,045.92 in PayPal
- Two checks written since last month: $1,050 to Katie’s Kars for Superfest, $253.54 to Darren for miscellaneous Superfest expenses
Rob makes a motion to accept, and Rich seconds. The report is accepted unanimously.
Old business:
- Darren has heard back from our lawyer. The registered agent is still showing up with the state as former treasurer John Zandowski. It should be Tanya. Ben has started a checklist file of these annual obligations.
- Darren and Todd did inventory of the club assets… Tom would like to confirm our list as trustee. Adam will include that in our shared club Google Drive.
- No other old business.
New business:
- Darren says we need to get started on compiling our passwords, etc for accounts. We need to keep these in a few places to make sure we have continuity.
- Scott asks about access codes for buildings – we don’t need anything new from what we had for the old building.
- Darren says that we will need to take down antennas from our tower at the Red Cross.
- We need to update our club info for our ARRL listing.
- Scott would like to add two people to our training endeavors.
Repeater committee update from Tom:
- Still working on the potential for a new repeater site, but some disappointment. We liked what we saw when going on a site visit… but we haven’t been able to set up a meeting with the person in charge of the site in the past few months. Tom will keep trying to get that meeting arranged.
- We still have the 075 site in Groveland and during high winds on Sunday, the site’s power went out. The generator came online as expected, but the transfer switch did not. We have a battery backup there, but it wasn’t hooked up to the Anderson power connector and wasn’t getting a charge. Adding to that, the computer wasn’t set up to come back up after power failure. In addition, our UPS wasn’t being used for the computer. Not sure how this happened. We have three sets of keys, including a hidden set at the site. The good news is that we’ve set up the computer correctly again, along with our battery, charger and UPS.
- Tom would like the board’s authorization to replace the 20-year-old battery. Rob will get a quote for a deep-cycle replacement this week and bring it to the board.
- We’ve found that a single computer can only handle WIRES-X or Echolink, not both. Jake is going to confirm if we need a second computer for each site to allow running both at each repeater site.
- Jake is also talking to a friend in Champaign about what it would take to link our 85 repeater to the 075.
Superfest update from Darren:
- Darren has again emailed all vendors he hasn’t heard from. No one who has replied has committed to this year, but one has for next year.
- Got flags for the ticket gate… not the red we expected, but tall enough to get attention at $56. Darren will need to pick up conduit to make brackets to hold them.
- Todd and Brett are getting started on prizes in addition to what vendors have already pledged
- Superfest meeting for March will be in-person at the Red Cross on the 2nd floor.
- Jill from Tower Electronics says they’ll be back.
Any other business?
- Rich brings up Ham Club Online. Adam will make sure that Tom knows how to update our calendar and will also check into email notifications to members. Adam will also make sure that board members have elevated access.
- Nothing else. Ben calls the meeting closed at 9:09 p.m.
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Membership Meeting February 16, 2024
Meteorologists from the National Weather Service in Lincoln conducted our annual weather spotter training event at the Bartonville American Legion.
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Midwest Superfest is six months away, but it’s not too soon to think about tickets. Tickets will be distributed to members at upcoming club meetings. Each club member will receive 10 tickets to sell or purchase. Any unsold tickets may be returned, but we encourage you to sell as many as possible to benefit the club. More tickets are available on request.
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PEORIA COUNTY ARES
Amateur radio operators use their training, skills, and equipment to provide communications during emergencies, When All Else Fails®.
April 3, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
April 10, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
April 25, (Note Day and Week have a change) Monthly Meeting via Zoom, 7:00 PM
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
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MARCH NET LOGS
3/3
KD9RYH KD9ANU KD9HZZ K9LE W8NWG K9XJT W9JDP K9TNT W9WTF KD9NYE N9NDF N9CS K9RCS KD9JXR KD9PXZ K9QZ WW9DLM W9WGN WD9EB NM0O N9WFT N9GZ KD9YWB KD9STL KB9ATO KD9WLD K9UQF KM9SPL KD9QQU KD9IBC WF9E KD9ZXH KD9WVP KC9ZWR KD9YER K9CEW Submitted by KD9DBQ 73
3/10
KD9RYH KD9ANU K9XJT KD9WRX KD9ZFC K9HJZ NP2WJ KC9IH KD9YPM W9GLO W9JDP W9WTF WF9E NM0O B9ATO KD9JXR KB9OGS W8NWG KD9QQU KD9WVP KD9PXZ N9WFT KD9YWB WW9DLM KC9ZWR N9NDF KB9ATO KD9ZXH KD9MPI KD9YWB K9QJ KD9WLD KD9DBQ W9DAY K9UQF K9RCS KD9STL K9JQF K9QZ W9WTF Submitted by N9CS 73
3/17
KD9RYH KD9HZZ KD9QQU K9XJT KD9ANU W9WGN KD9WRX KD9YER KB9VRW KB9SF KD9TEG KD9YPM KC9IH K9HJZ W9JDP K9TNT N9NDF NM0O KD9PXZ KD9IBC KD9ZKZ N9WFT KD9JXR W8NWG KC9YTT KB0OGS K9STL K9LE KD9YWB KD9NYE WF9E K9RCS KT9Y KD9ZXH Submitted by KD9DBQ 73
3/24
KD9ANU KD9RYH W9WGN KD9WRX K9HJZ KD9YER KD9YPM KD9ZXH KD9WVP NP2WJ KD9HZZ W9JDP K9TNT NM0O N9NDF W8NWG KB9ATO KD9JXR KD9PXZ N9WFT KD9ZKZ KD9IBC KD9STL KC9YTT WF9E KD9NYE KD9WLD KD9MPI KD9QQU KD9YWB K9UQF KD9VRW KB9OGS K9RCS Submitted by KD9DBQ
3/31
KD9RYH K9XJT KD9ANU KD9WRX KD9IBC K9HJZ KD9QQU KC9IH W9WGN KD9PXZ W9JDP K9TNT N9NDF NM0O KD9JXR KD9ZKZ W8NWG KD9YWB KB9SF N9WFT KD9STL K9LE K9UQF KD9WVP Submitted by KD9DBQ 73
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April Club Events
April 2 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting details TBA
April 3 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
April 9 – 7:00 p.m. – Membership Meeting: TBA – Bartonville American Legion, 4501 S Airport Rd, Bartonville. All are welcome.
April 10 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
April 20 – 12:00 noon – FCC License Testing: Morton Knights of Columbus, 616 W. David Street, Morton, IL. FRN Required. Bring two forms of identification and a copy of your license (if upgrading). Testing Fee: $15.
April 23 – Midwest Superfest Meeting
April 25 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Meeting, (Note Day and Week have a change) Monthly Meeting via Zoom
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CHECK IN ON MIDCARS NET DURING THE APRIL 8 ECLIPSE
Although totality of the April 8 solar eclipse will be visible in southern Illinois, the propagation effects will be felt over a much wider area. The altered ionospheric conditions during an eclipse change conditions in an odd way to varying degrees depending on location.
We will have an opportunity to experience these changes during the eclipse when net control operator Mike Patton, AA9MK will extend hours of the MidCars Net on 7.258 MHz to cover this time period, so we can experience the propagation changes first hand. The net will run on both sides of totality (1:58-2:06 pm CDT, April 8). The net is open to all.
Click here for more information.
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