Category: BandBits

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

__________________________________________________

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.

Click here to learn more.

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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

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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.

President’s Report

Spring weather season is upon us. Can anyone say Severe Weather Season? I’m always excited for this season. Heck, my call has WX in it! We are hosting the National Weather Service this month at our regular meeting date and time. This is our annual spotter training session and it will be open to the public. The American Legion in Bartonville has been nice enough to have the bar and grill open for you to patronize.

CQ POTA, CQ POTA, CQ PARKS ON THE AIR! The weather is turning nice enough to be out in the open air. I’ve already activated 3 different parks this year. I’m hoping to do many more. If anyone wants to set up a meeting date and time to go do POTA, contact me! N9WX.ARES@gmail.com

Daylight savings time starts March 12th! I know I can’t for it to be light out later. Bonfire season… If anyone wants to set something up for an evening out at Jubilee College State Park at their outdoor fireplace, get in touch! N9WX.ARES@gmail.com

As a reminder, the April Club Meeting will be at the RED CROSS building in downtown Peoria.

Justin Flick – N9WX
PAARC – President

_____________________________________________________

Meeting Minutes:

Board of Directors

Attending via Zoom: Rob, Justin, Darren, Tom, John, Deb and Adam

7:04 p.m., we start the meeting!

Justin says thanks to those who came out to Winter Field Day in
Morton… it was a great turnout and a lot of fun.

Bandbits: Deb makes a motion to accept, Tom seconds… All are in
favor and it is accepted.

Treasurer’s Report from John:
Did not have time to prepare a report, but will have it for the
general meeting next week. Justin does provide the following:

• Savings: $544.81
• Checking: $4,532.10 (what recently came out: $100 check for Knights
  of Columbus Hall, $212 for PO BOX, $78.94 for Winter Field Day pizza)
• Money market: $10,914.10
• PayPal: $594.03

Repeater committee:

• Will have to go back out to the repeater site to move things around
  after we weren’t able to meet Bill out there…
• Still no invoice, so waiting on that before paying.

Superfest committee:

• Deb finally got a copy of the bill from last year and it’s $50 less
  than expected (hooray!) We owe them $2,329 out of $3,229 total on the
  bill.
• $3,405.81 total profit from Superfest (although less than that for
  PayPal fees for tickets purchased)
• Met with Three Sisters Park yesterday and had a good meeting. We’ve
  been talking about table arrangements for next year. We will have to
  rent some tables, since they only have 30 of the 3×8 tables. Deb will
  call a rental place in Pekin (A to Z) that has a good deal.
• Talked to Chris Levine at the State’s Attorney’s office today and
  they’re checking to see if we can cancel the existing raffle license
  so we can get a new one issued.
• We don’t have to rent a dumpster, but will have to pick up our own
  garbage and set up our own tables/take them back down.
• Nick Kline is who Three Sisters works with for porta potties… will
  call for a quote. We’re needing four of them.
• Any alcohol seen on premise that hasn’t been purchased from Three
  Sisters will be confiscated
• Dwight is printing a few things (flyers, vendor letter, ticket
  certificate) that Deb will bring to the meeting next week
• Rob brings up that they’re closing the bridge in Lacon during
  Superfest… people will need to use the Henry bridge, so maybe we
  should add a note to our website to warn folks?
• What will we have on the front sign? “Welcome hams!”
• Deb plans to turn on ticket sales in March
• John will get traffic cones for Superfest, but we need to figure out
  how many we need.

Old business:

• Dwight will print membership cards and bring them to the next meeting
• Rich and Tom went to the Red Cross last week to work on WinLink with
  our TS-2000 rig; we do have a potential offer to sell it for $1,000.
  Our Yaesu FT-991 is working just fine. Tom still has our Icom 7300 at
  home after Winter Field Day, but will return.
• There’s a chance we’ll have to start paying for American Legion
  space, so we need to make sure that the Red Cross option is viable and
  good to go.
• Deb would like the March Superfest meeting at the Red Cross as well.
• Still nothing new on the trademark front or 501(c)3 effort yet

New business:

• John suggests getting an embossed seal for our Superfest ticket
  certificates… but not sure we need it since we’ll be signing each
  one in pen. But maybe we want it for other club use?
• Adam has made some improvements to site speed on w9uvi.org
• Adam has also set up email following for w9uvi.org… will announce
  for membership at next meeting

8:04 p.m. Tom moves to adjourn, Deb seconds… we’re done!

__________________

Membership Meeting – No membership meeting in February.

__________________________________________________

Peoria County ARES

Mar 1, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
Mar 8, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
Mar 15, ARES On-line Conference @ 7:00 PM CST (Watch your email for Zoom conference info)

Call or email Rich if you are not on the ARES Roster and desire to join the Zoom Conference.

On-Line Conference Agenda includes: Infrastructure Activities, Training Documentation, Storm Spotter Training, Simplex Exercises, Winlink, Volunteer Opportunities, and more.

Expect to spend most of the meeting time detailing about Volunteer Opportunities. If you are interested in working on ARES radios and computers, please join us.

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

____________________________________________________

February Net Logs

2/5
KD9ANU N9WX KG9DW W9SEB W9WGN N9GUE K9HJZ KB9SF KC9IH KD9IBC NP2WJ W9JDP KD9IVV KD9PXZ KD9AER N9NDF KD9JXR W8NWG K9TNT KD9VIN N9WFT WF9E KB9OGS NM0O KD9TEG KB9ATO K9UQF KD9RJH K9XJT K9RCS N9GZ KD9NYE KD9RYH KB9TNZ KD9STL KD9WHE KT9TB WW9DLM KD9ERS Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

2/12
KD9ANU W8NWG W9WGN KD9IBC WD9EB N9GUE KB9SF KC9IH KD9NYN K9RCS KD9ERS KD9PXZ N9NDF KD9STL KB9OGS KD9JXR KB9ATO N9WFT W9SEB KD9VIN KD9AER KD9RYH KD9WHE W9JDP N9SJZ NP2WJ KD9WLD KD9RJH K9UQF KD9TEG K9CEW Submitted by KD9DBQ 737

2/19
KD9ANU KD9NYN KD9IBC KD9SZZ K9TJ W9JDP NA9LE KD9VIN N9WX KC9IH KB9OGS KD9PXZ NM0O KD9IVV K9TNT KD9AER KD9JXR KD9RYH KD9ERS KD9RJH KC9YTT KD9TEG K9UQF NP2WJ N9WFT K9XJT KD9WLD KT9TB W9WGN WD9EB WF9E KD9STL KD9WHE KD9QQU KB9ATO N9NDF Submitted by W8NWG 73

2/26
KD9ANU WD9EB W9WGN KC9IH W9JDP KD9JXR KD9QQU KD9PXZ W8NWG KD9AER KD9IVV N9WFT NP2WJ KD9VIN KD9HZZ NM0O KB9ATO KD9RYH KD9STL KD9MPI WF9E KC9YTT W9SEB K9HJZ N9NDF KD9NYE KB9OGS Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

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March Club Events

March 1 – 7:00 pm – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

March 2 – Board of Directors via Zoom

March 8 – 7:00 pm – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

March 9 – 7:00 pm – Weather Spotter Training by the National Weather Service. Bartonville American Legion

March 15 – ARES Meeting: via Zoom. Zoom credentials will be emailed to ARES participants.

March 23 – Superfest meeting

Winter Field Day, 2023

President’s Report

I want to start off and say a big thank you to everyone involved with Winter Field Day 2023! I think it was a big success. We had 22 people sign the check in sheet. 51 contacts were made.

Thank you to the Morton Knights Of Columbus Hall for letting us use the hall. We very much appreciate it.

I want to remind everyone that in 2 months, at the March 9th Club Meeting at 7 PM, we will be having our National Weather Service Spotter Training event. It’s open to the public so please pass the word along.

Starting in April, we will be moving back to the Red Cross building on downtown Peoria. The American Legion has been good to us. The majority of people I have talked with want to go back to the Red Cross. I am in communication with the Tactical Response Team and they want to work closer with our Club and ARES. More to come on this subject soon.

Thank you again for your participation in Field Day and in any Club event. If really makes the hard work that’s put into planning and running the events worth it.

Justin Flick, N9WX
PAARC President

_____________________________________________________

Meeting Minutes:

Board of Directors – January 5, 2023
7:07 p.m. meeting begins with Tom, Matt, Justin, Rob, Deb, John and Adam on Zoom.

Bandbits… Rob makes a motion to accept, John seconds… all in favor
other than Deb, who didn’t read it!

TREASURER’S REPORT:
$357.67 in PayPal
$44.96 x2 for monthly repeater internet, $11.45 for ARRL Field Day
pamphlet material, $238 for Rivermen tickets (We still need reimbursed
for two tickets from the Rivermen game)
$4,132.04 in checking, with about $600 in deposits to be made soon
$10,909.50 in money market
$544.65 in savings
Grand total in club accounts: $16,554.86

***Next week’s meeting includes a demo by Scott on DV Megacast
(multi-mode digital radio)

OLD BIZ:
Did we get out to Bill’s (repeater site) and move what is needing to
be moved? No. We’re going to move the D-Star radio into the rack with
the main repeater. Tom and Matt will work out details and let others
know if help is needed.

We haven’t done anything regarding the 85 repeater yet.

The noise during the ARES net was due to simplex interference from
Winterheat, says Matt.

Trademarks. Tom talked to his daughter about it briefly and she
thought it was very simple and easy… going to look into it. Will go
ahead and update Midwest Superfest logo with TM mark.

For our 501(c)3 application, there will be more hoops and research to
come by our next meeting.

Winter Field Day. Unless someone steps up quickly, we won’t be
participating as a club.

SUPERFEST:
Nothing new. Deb still needs to arrange a meeting with Susan et all.

Deb called a guy at the State’s Attorney’s office in Peoria and hasn’t
gotten a response yet regarding the raffle license for 2023.

Justin asks if we have a flyer for Superfest that we can share to
entice speakers? Deb will work on finalizing that.

Matt has a prize donation letter ready and will start sending it out.

NEW BIZ:

Deb will make sure that all board members have access to Google Drive
shared folder and email inbox.

Deb will also check on a business card template for membership cards.

From Adam: Could we come up with “greetings” email from club to new
AND renewing members, letting them know handy links available on
w9uvi.org, social accounts, etc? Also asking for feedback on what
they’d like to see from the club. Deb will look into any existing
documents and put them together; Adam will help update.

John brings up that some of the nets he participates in opens with a
prayer. Wanted to know if something we’d want to try… but consensus
was that it’s better to leave religion out of the club to avoid
causing debate or division.

Winterheat competition. John asks if anyone else is participating…
Deb thinks that Mark is.

7:44 p.m. Tom moves to adjourn, Deb seconds. We’re out!

__________________

Membership Meeting – January 12, 2023
7:02 p.m., our meeting begins at the American Legion in Bartonville.

From Justin: A big thank you to all who paid their dues. If you
haven’t renewed yet, please do so by March.

Winter Field Day is happening!… Justin is taking the day off work on
Saturday, January 28. Location is TBD: May be here at Bartonville
Legion or in the community center in Hopedale, 12 p.m. until 10
p.m./midnight-ish. Details will be posted on w9uvi.org and our
Facebook page. We plan to have one or two stations set up; if
interested in helping or coming out (likely ordering pizza!), let
Justin know.

The next SuperFest meeting will be in two weeks… January 23 on Zoom,
with the possibility that it’ll be in-person at the Red Cross (check
our website and social.)

We still haven’t gotten our bill from Expo Gardens for the 2022 SuperFest.

Treasurer’s report via Justin (since John isn’t at meeting):
Savings = $544.65
Checking = $4,743.04
PayPal = $500.45
Money market = $10,909.50

Tom makes a motion to accept, Jim seconds. All in favor, and it passes.

Repeater committee update:

• Still need to get equipment moved between racks. We still don’t have
  a bill for our tower rent, but it will be coming due soon.
• Justin was talking to ETSB in Peoria County about moving to the
  Peoria Heights tower where the .61 repeater is located, but it isn’t
  looking promising due to logistics.
• We can stay where we’re at, too. Not sure if rent will remain stable
  or go up, though. (Last we checked, tower rent was $1,130 for six
  months for two antennas.)
• Also need to address our antenna connection issues on W9UVI (075)…
  but waiting to piggyback on other tower work to save the club money.

Other business:

• We need to decide whether we’re officially staying at the Red Cross
  or making the American Legion our new permanent home.
• We already have a memorandum of understanding with the Red Cross and
  antennas on a tower. But we need to make sure that we have reliable
  access.
• Rich will get Justin contact info for the Red Cross to make sure
  that access problems are solved.
• Group consensus seems to be that we’d prefer to have both as our locations.

Bandbits:

• Jim makes a motion to accept, George seconds. All in favor, and it passes.

Jim makes a motion to adjourn, Rich seconds…. the regular meeting is
over before 7:30 and Scott starts his digital radio presentation on
DVMEGA Cast.

__________________________________________________

Peoria County ARES

Feb 1, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
Feb 8, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
Feb 15, ARES On-line Conference @ 7:00 PM CST (Watch your email for Zoom conference info)

Call or email Rich if you are not on the ARES Roster and desire to join the Zoom Conference.

On-Line Conference Agenda includes: Infrastructure Activities, Training Documentation, Storm Spotter Training, Simplex Exercises, Winlink, 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

_________________________________________________________

Superfest

Superfest activities are gearing up more and more, please make sure you have the dates blocked off on your calendars Thursday Sept. 14 through Sunday Sept 17 and plan on helping that weekend. We are so excited about our new home and while it is going to be challenging it is also going to be great for the club. The next Superfest meeting will be on Thursday 2/26 at 7pm via the Zoom link on the Club Meetings page.

Deb WD9EB
Superfest Chair

____________________________________________________

January Net Logs

1/1
W8NWG KD9ANU K9XJT W9WGN N9WX KD9ERS K9TNT KD9PXZ N9NDF NM0O N9GUE KD9JXR KD9AER KD9IVV K9RCS N9WFT KD9NYE W9WTF KB9SF KB9ATO KB9OGS KD9QQU KD9MPI KD9STL KD9RJH KT9TB KD9RYH K9CEW W9JDP NP2WJ K9UQF WW9DLM WF9E KD9QQT Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

1/8
KD9ANU W8NWG W9WGN KG9DW N9GUE KD9TEG KC9IH W9JDP W9WTF KD9PXZ NM0O KD9AER N9WFT KB9SF KB9OGS KD9NYE KB9ATO KD9IBC N9NDF K9TNT KD9JXR WF9E KD9STL KD9RJH KD9QQU NP2WJ KT9Y WW9DLM KB9TNZ KD9RYH K9UQF KD9SPJ KD9VIN W9GLO KT9TB Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

1/15
K9XJT KD9ANU W8NWG N9WX KD9VYM K9HJZ W9WGN KC9IH W9TTX N9GUE K9TNT W9JDP KD9IVV NM0O KD9PXZ KD9JXR KD9AER KD9IBC N9NDF N9WFT W9WTF KB9ATO KD9ERS KD9VIN KD9WHE KC9YTT KD9QQU WF9E NP2WJ KD9RYH KD9STL K9RCS KB9TNZ W9SEB N9SJZ KB9OGS KB9SF K9UQF KD9TEG Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

1/22
KD9ANU N9WX W8NWG W9SEB N9GUE W9WGN K9HJZ KC9YTT KC9IH KD9VYM KD9IBC K9XJT KD9PXZ KD9SZZ W9JDP N9NDF KD9QQU KD9NYE KD9JXR KD9AER N9WFT KD9STL K9RCS KD9RYH KD9IVV KB9SF KD9TEG KD9RJH K9TNT WF9E NP2WJ WW9DLM KD9ERS NA9LE KB9TNZ KD9LQL KB9OGS Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

1/29
KD9ANU N9WX WD9EB W9WGN W9SEB K9HJZ KD9VYM KC9IH KB9SF NM0O W9JDP KD9SZZ W9TTX KD9NYE W8NWG KD9PXZ NP2WJ KD9JXR N9WFT KD9IBC KB9ATO KD9IVV KD9ERS K9RCS KD9AER KD9VIN N9NDF KD9RJH KD9RYH KD9STL K9UQF KB9OGS WW9DLM N9GUE Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

____________________________________________________

February Club Events

February 1 – 7:00 pm – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

February 2 – 7:00 pm – Board of Directors via Zoom

February 8 – 7:00 pm – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

February 9 – Club Meeting – Demonstration of the RFinder radio/phone – Bartonville American Legion, 4501 S Airport Rd, Bartonville: Details to Be Announced.

February 15 – ARES Meeting: via Zoom. Zoom credentials will be emailed to ARES participants.

February 18 – 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.

February 23 – Superfest Meeting – Zoom

President’s Message

(Updated 1/13/23)

It’s a New Year! Wow, 2023. For this new year, I hope to have the membership be more involved. For starters, join us for Winter Field Day at the American Red Cross building, 311 W. John H Gwynn, Jr. Ave., Peoria. This is a ONE DAY Only event. Come for Radio and Pizza! Hope to see you there

I need your ideas, wants, likes and dislikes. I want our Club to have a lot of fun this year. POTA activations, camping trips, satellite communications, a high altitude balloon launch… These are suggestions.

We have the National Weather Service Lincoln coming in March for our Weather Spotter class. This is open to the public and will be at the American Legion in Bartonville. It’s going to be at the normal date and time as our club meeting. The bar and grill will be open. Spread the word!

It’s time for our annual dues. Without them, we won’t have funds for many things. We have tower rent, monthly internet and other costs. Please consider donating as well. Every little bit helps our club.

This year is also the year of Midwest Superfest at Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe! Join the committee and get your ideas heard. We can always use the help!

Justin Flick – N9WX

Meeting Minutes

7:05 p.m. Dec. 1, meeting begins

Bandbits:
Deb makes motion to approve. Matt seconds. Approved!

Treasurer’s report:
Nothing much has changed, since John is away.

Repeater committee:

• Matt plans to get to repeater site to reinstall TeamViewer on the
  machine or install AnyDesk
• Will also move equipment as needed
• Justin talked to Bill… we’re not certain when the next tower
  rental bill will be – but he will send an invoice.
• Will do two more 6-month contracts for 2023; also specifically said
  that he would not be kicking us off unless we want to go. We still
  need to get a longer contract to lock in a decent price.
• Need to fix the Brimfield repeater site by getting an old computer
  in place for Wires-X.

Superfest committee:

• Deb called and left a message for a guy at the state’s attorney’s
  office, then learned the courthouse was closed due to water main
  break. She did go by the post office and we still do not have a bill
  from Expo.
• Will need to pay the rest of the deposit for Three Sisters Park
  after the first of the year.
• Deb has a certificate made for Rich to start sending flyers to
  different ham fests. Instead of getting tickets, they will get a
  certificate to mail back for tickets.

Other business:

• 14 people have signed up for the Rivermen game so far
• There’s an ARRL grant we might qualify for:
  https://www.arrl.org/club-grant-program

____________________________________________________

Peoria County ARES

Jan 4, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
Jan 11, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
Jan 18, ARES On-line Conference @ 7:00 PM CST (Watch your email for Zoom conference info). Call or email Rich if you are not on the ARES Roster and desire to join the Zoom Conference.

On-Line Conference Agenda includes: Infrastructure Activities, Training Documentation, Winterheat Event, Storm Spotter Training, Simplex Exercises, Winlink, 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

Winterheat: Open to all Licensed Amateur Radio Operators. This is a Technician-friendly event. Get-on-the-air!

The goal and purpose is to make as many FM voice contacts as possible over a month-long period of time using only designated simplex frequencies. Repeat those same contacts and more the next day.

This will be the fourth year for this event. Runs from January 1st to the 31st (UTC time).

Online QSO Logging system on the web is easy to use. Logs contacts instantaneously and displays data in real time. Participant list, leaderboard statistics, map showing your contacts, link to propagation stats, & more resources.

Go to https://hamactive.com to learn more and sign-up. Check out the logging system and resources provided.

Some Peoria area operators plan to gather daily on Simplex frequency 145.570 MHz at 7:00 PM starting December 31st to get regular local contacts quickly completed, and move on to concentrate on distant contacts. We realize that not everyone may join in at that time every day, and may change the time to optimize as we hear from more Peoria area Winterheat operators. Please join us there.

____________________________________________________

December Net Logs

12/4
KD9ANU KC9IH KD9VYM N9GUE K9HJZ W9WGN K9XJT NP2WJ KD9IBC W9JDP K9TNT KD9PXZ N9NDF KD9JXR KD9SZZ KD9IVV KD9AER N9WFT K9RCS KB9OGS WF9E KD9RJH KD9STL KD9HZZ W8NWG KD9ERS KB9ATO KD9SPJ K8UQF KD9NYE KD9RYH WB9RJY KA3BQE K9CEW KT9TB KD9VIN Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

12/11
W9WTF K9XJT KC9IH NM0O KD9IBC W9WGN K9HJZ N9GUE KD9VYM KD9PXZ N9NDF KB9SF W9JDP KD9AER W8NWG KD9IVV KD9JXR N9WFT K9RCS K9TNT KB9ATO KD9NYE KD9QQU WF9E KA3BQE KD9RYH K9UQF KB9TNZ WB9RJY KD9STL KD9TEG KD9SPJ Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

12/18
KD9QQU, W9WTF, KD9ANU, KC9IH, WD9EB, KD9IEC, W9WGN, N9GUE, W9JDP, KD9PXZ, KD9VIN, KD9JXR, W8NWG, NP2WJ, KD9AER, K9TNT, KD9VYO, N8WFT, WFDDE, KD9VYM, KD9STL, WW9DLM, KC9AET, K9UQF, KD9RYH, K9TNZ, TB9OGS, N9NDF, K9XJT, KD9DBQ, KB9ATO, KB9TNZ Submitted by KD9QQU

12/25 – No Net

____________________________________________________

January Club Events

January 4 – 7:00 pm – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

January 5 – 7:00 pm – Board of Directors Meeting – Zoom

January 11 – 7:00 pm – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

January 12 – 7:00 pm – Club Meeting: Demonstration of DVMEGA Cast Multimode IP radio for DMR, D-Star, and Fusion. Bartonville American Legion, 4501 S Airport Rd, Bartonville

January 18 – 7:00 pm – ARES Meeting: Details to Be Announced

January 26 – 7:00 pm – Superfest Meeting – Details to be announced

January 28 – Noon – 11:00 p.m. Winter Field Day: NEW LOCATION: Morton Knights of Columbus Hall, 616 W. David St, Morton. This is a ONE DAY Only event. Get on the air and meet other hams! Food and Drink available for purchase. For information, contact Justin, N9WX.

Check Upcoming Club Events/Meetings on w9uvi.org for updates.

President’s Report

One more month before the end of the year. Normally we get together for dinner in December, but this year we are going to a Rivermen game! Thanks to VP Scott, we are getting discounted tickets at $17 each. This will be on Friday, the day after our normal meeting day. More information can be found on the website or on Facebook. The reservation deadline is December 1. You can email your reservation to w9uvi@arrl.net

Elections for next year: Everybody remains in the same position.

I want to personally think Vice President Scott for his hard work and dedication this past year. He has come up with some really interesting ideas and presentations for the club. I can’t wait to see what happens next year!

Planning for the Fritz Bock Memorial Balloon Launch is in progress. Please contact Rich Holtman (KD9ANU) with any questions you may have. There are a lot of things that need to be planned for with this launch and any help is much appreciated!

The radio room cleanup is in process and well underway. Rich is updating the computers and I will be reorganizing the room a bit. If anyone wants to ever use the radio room to get on HF, contact myself or a Board member. We are hoping that members, old and new, will start taking advantage of this room again.

Thank you for everyone’s participation in the club. Without you and your hard work, we wouldn’t exist. As a reminder, dues are requested to be in by January 1st. You can pay online (small convenience fee) on our website or via check and snail mail.

I want to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and I hope you have a great holiday season!

Justin Flick – N9WX
309-830-1967
N9WX.ARES@gmail.com

_________________________________________________________

Silent Key

Lisa Offutt, KB9YYC, of Mossville passed away in late November from ALS. Lisa and her husband Peter, KB9YYD were former members of the Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club.

______________________________________________________

Meeting Minutes:

7:01 p.m. on Nov. 10, the regular PAARC meeting begins with introductions

Bandbits approval… a motion by Jim (W9JDP), Jon (NM0O) seconds. All are in favor.

TREASURER’S REPORT:
$16,104.80 total in all accounts
$10,901.03 in money market
$535.44 in savings
$196.94 PayPal
$4,471.39 in checking
(For November, had some withdrawals for tower rental, internet and Expo Gardens rental.)

Tom makes a motion to accept the report, Brett (KD9PXZ) seconds. All are in favor.

SuperFest meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom this Thursday.

Nothing new from the repeater committee. But…

• Jon brought up maybe having a fundraiser idea for our potential tower move. But we need to figure out if we actually want to still move towers.
• We’re still having issues with the .075 antenna, but will have a tower climber look at it when they’re up for other business.

NEW BUSINESS:

• At next month’s meeting, Scott will lead discussion on two different types of digital radios (one with no RF, one that does DMR with no code plugs)
• Scott might get the group free Rivermen tickets for our yearly social event (will check… had 41 people last year for social event)
• Fritz Bock Memorial Balloon Launch sometime in Spring 2023 to honor a former member of our club who died in 2019. Planning will begin with some upcoming Zoom meetings, then face-to-face to start building the kit. Let Rich (KD9ANU) know if interested in helping. $640 was donated in Fritz’s name to do this launch, but we will need to budget out the rest of the gear we will need.

Mark (W9WGN) makes a motion to adjourn the regular meeting, Jon seconds. All are in favor and we’re done.

__________________________________________________

Peoria County ARES

Dec 7, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
Dec 14, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
Dec 21, ARES On-line Conference @ 7:00 PM CST (Watch your email for Zoom conference info)

Call or email Rich if you are not on the ARES Roster and desire to join the Zoom Conference.

On-Line Conference Agenda includes: Infrastructure Activities, Training, Winterheat Simplex Event, Winlink, 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

_________________________________________________________

Superfest

The December meeting will be Thursday Dec 22 at 7pm on Zoom. You can join the meeting by clicking on the Superfest link on the Club Meetings page.

We are beginning the process to trademark Midwest Superfest^TM if anyone has any experience with trademarks, your assistance would be welcome. If you can assist, please contact Deb, WD9EB@arrl.net.

____________________________________________________

November Net Logs

11/6
K9XJT KC9IH W9WGN NM0O K9HJZ KD0SZZ KD9ANU N9GUE N9SJZ KB9ATO KB9SF KD9IVV KD9AER N9WFT K9TNT W8NWG KD9JXR NP2WJ KD9VYM K9RCS WF9E KC9YTT N9NDF KD9PXZ KD9RYH KD9STL K9UQF KB9OGS KD9QQU Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

11/13
KD9ANU WD9EB W9WGN W9JDP K9TNT KD9PXZ NM0O W8NWG N9NDF KD9JXR KB9ATO KD9AER KD9IVV KD9NYE W9WTF K9XJT NP2WJ KD9IBC KD9STL K9RCS KC9IH KD9MOA KD9TEG KB9TNZ N9SJZ N9WFT WD9EGV WW9DLM KD9RYH K9UQF WF9E KC9YTT KD9VYM KT9TB KB9OGS Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

11/20
KD9ANU WD9EB K9XJT KD9QQU KC9IH W8NWG NM0O W9WGN N9GUE K9HJZ N9WX KD9VYM KB9OGS KD9TEG KD9IVV KB9TNZ W9JDP K9TNT KD9AER KD9PXZ N9NDF KD9JXR N9WFT K9RCS KD9ERS KD9IBC WW9DLM WF9E NP2WJ KD9RYH K9CEW K9UQF N9SJZ KT9TB KD9VIN KD9NYE KD9STL Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

11/27
WD9EB, W8NWG, KD9VYM, NM0O, N9GUE, K9XJT, K9HJZ, KC9IH, W9WGN, KD9DBQ, K9TNT, KD9PXZ, KD9IVV, KD9JXR, KD9AER, W9JDP, N9WFT, K9RCS, W9WTF, KB9ATO, N9NDF, KD9QQU, KD9STL, KB9OGS, KD9SPJ, K9CEW, KD9ANU, WW9DLM, KD9RYH, KC9YTT, K9UQF, KB9TNZ, KD9TEG, KD9ERS Submitted by WF9E 73

____________________________________________________

December Club Events

December 1 – 7:00 pm – Board of Directors Meeting – Zoom

December 7 – 7:00 pm ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

December 9 – FRIDAY – 7:00 pm: Club Meeting Social Event: Peoria Rivermen Hockey (vs. Huntsville Havoc) at Carver Arena at the Peoria Civic Center. Spouses welcome! Tickets are $17 each. Please reserve your tickets by email: w9uvi@arrl.net by December 1.

December 14 – 7:00 pm ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

December 17 – 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.

December 18 – Happy Hanukkah!

December 21 – ARES Meeting – details to be announced

December 22 – Superfest Meeting – via ZOOM

December 25 – Merry Christmas!

President’s Report

I would like to start off by reminding everyone that elections for the Board of Directors are coming up quickly. I do plan to run for President again for 2023. That being said, I welcome anyone to run against me. There will soon be a list of available positions posted. Please consider running for a position. If you are currently on the BOD and do not wish to run for next year, please inform me ASAP so we can list your spot as open.

We have a great Club. Let’s keep it going with participation! I welcome any and all ideas for classes and events. Even if you don’t think your idea is a good one, please tell me about it! I love learning and doing new things. Even going back to the roots of becoming a ham for the first time. Someone may have the same question that you do, speak up!

Justin Flick N9WX

_________________________________________________________

Many thanks to the club members participating in the Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive special event in October.

We activated special event station N9S, and made a lot of contacts.

_________________________________________________________

Meeting Minutes:

Board of Directors

No meeting due to lack of a quorum

Membership

6:58 p.m. meeting begins

Introductions around the room for those who have joined us tonight…

Time to approve the last meeting’s minutes in Band Bits… Tom moves,
Deb seconds. All in favor and it passes.

Club elections are coming up… so if you want to join the board, put
your name in the hat. (President, VP, secretary, treasurer will be up)
Let Justin or any board member know if you want to run – same for
current board members who want to stay in their positions.

Treasurer’s report:
$135.37 savings
$7,100.23 checking
$8,398.63 money market
$100 PayPal

Justin moves $400 from checking to savings, $2500 from checking into
our money market account.

New balances:
$535.37 savings
$4,200.23 checking
$10,898.63 money market

Mark accepts the report, Jim seconds. All are in favor and it passes.

Repeater committee update:

• Now operating on our 160-ft tower position, which was originally our
  D-Star antenna. (1.5 SWR)
• 180-ft original position has high SWR (6 to 1 with 100 ohm impedance)
• Need to get original position looked at when other tower work is being done.
• Still sounds good and has decent coverage.
• Have had recent trouble on Sunday nets due to tropo ducting.
• Other work on repeaters to come…

Superfest:

• We still haven’t gotten the bill from Expo Gardens.
• We did a lot better than Deb expected at the 2022 Superfest. Around
  $3500 from Superfest once we get money back from the East Peoria site.
• The W9UVI website has been updated with the main Superfest page
  looking different than the rest of the site.
• There is a price change for 2023. Tickets will be $8 in advance for
  two raffle stubs, $10 at gate for one stub. If wanting two stubs at
  the gate, will be $15. (Two stub option at the gate was an experiment
  this year that actually worked!) Tables will be $25 like they have
  been, but only up until July 1, 2023 – then $35/table.
• We’re not going to charge for site electricity because we aren’t
  going to be charged as a club (we were at Expo for 2022)
• Flea market will be $10 for first space, $5 for each additional
  space until July 1, 2023. Then just $10 for any spot.
• Tower Electronics is a lock for 2023!
• Anybody who wants to join us in camping for 2023 fest, Deb is
  renting an RV, Tom and Justin are bringing theirs… There’s a
  campground in a wooded area that will be the club’s area.
• Tom, Rich and Deb have worked on a vendor letter for 2023 that
  mentions electrical hookups for people on-site, along with off-site
  accommodations.
• Next Superfest meeting is in two weeks.

Spoon River Drive report:

• The special event station was during the first and second weekends
  of October… Justin and Ben the first weekend. Tom, Mark, Deb, Rich
  on the second weekend.
• We had QSOs with 37 people the first weekend, with 10 the second weekend.
• The director of Spoon River Drive was real happy that we participated.
• We had a lot of people that stopped by our table, including some lapsed hams.

Event coming up…

• Saturday, October 22: PAWS Giving walk/run. Bring your HT to help
  run the race at Junction City. 4pm, done by 6:30 in the evening. Can
  email Rich (KD9ANU) if you have questions.

JOTA is on Saturday.

Rich and Jim move to adjourn, Deb seconds… the meeting ends at 7:23 p.m.

Scott gives a presentation on mesh nets.

__________________________________________________

Peoria County ARES

Nov 2, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
Nov 9, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
Nov 16, ARES On-line Conference @ 7:00 PM CST (Watch your email for Zoom conference info)

Call or email Rich if you are not on the ARES Roster and desire to join the Zoom Conference.

On-Line Conference Agenda includes: Infrastructure Activities, PAWS Event on 10/22 – Review, Training Documentation, Economy Windows Computers for Hams – Update, Using GPS Position Reports in Winlink, 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

____________________________________________________

October Net Logs

10/2
Thanks to the W9BFD group this week!
KD9ANU W8NWG KB9ATO KB9SF KD9AER KD9PXZ WW9DLM KD9IVV KD9ERS N9NDF NM0O K9XJT N9GUE N9WX KC9IH K9HJZ KD9JXR N9WFT KD9QQU KD9STL KD9SZZ KB9TNZ WD9EB W9WGN KD9RYH K9UQF KD9RJH KD9NYE K9TNT KD9VSG Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

10/9
WD9EB KD9ANU KD9QQU W8NWG KC9IH NM0O KB9SF KD9AER K9HJZ N9GUE KD9HZZ W9JDP W9WGN N9NDF KD9NYE K9TNT KB9ATO WW9DLM KD9JXR N9WFT K9RCS KD9PXZ K9UQF NP2WJ KD9IVV WF9E KD9ERS KD9RYH KD9STL KD9TEG K9CEW KD9RJH K9XJT Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

10/16
W9WTF KD9ANU KC9IH KD9QQU NM0O K9RCS K9HJZ W9JDP K9TNT N9SJZ N0XOH KD9IVV KD9AER W8NWG KD9PXZ KD9JXR KD9ERS WD9EGV W9YES N9NDF KD9NYE W9WGN N9WFT WF9E KD9RYH KD9STL KD9SZZ NP2WJ KB9OGS KD9MPI K9XJT Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

10/23
KD9ANU WD9EB KC9IH KE8UIB NM0O K9XJT KD9TEG KB9SF N9GUE K9HJZ KD9SZZ W9JDP N9SJZ KD9AER KD9IVV KDPXZ KD9NYE KD9JXR K9TNT K9UQF N9NDF K9RCS KD9RYH KD9QQU KD9MPI WB9RJY KB9ATO W8NWG KB9OGS N9WFT KD9STL W9WGN N0XOH Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

10/30
KD9ANU KC9IH K9XJT W9WGN N9GUE KD9TEG K9HJZ W9JDP N9SJZ KB9ATO KD9AER KD9IVV W8NWG NM0O KD9PXZ N9NDF KD9JXR KD9SZZ KD9RYH K9RCS KD9NYE WF9E N9WFT WW9DLM KB9OGS WB9RJY KD9ERS KD9STL KD9VYM K9CEW Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

____________________________________________________

November Club Events

November 2 – 7:00 pm – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

November 3 – 7:00 pm – Board of Directors Meeting – Zoom

November 9 – 7:00 pm ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

November 10 – 7:00 pm Club Membership Meeting – Traditional shortwave radio and the RTL-SDR (Software Defined Radio). Bartonville American Legion.

November 16 – 7:00 pm ARES Meeting – Zoom

November 17 – 7:00 pm Superfest Meeting via Zoom. This meeting has been moved up one week due to Thanksgiving.

November 24 – Happy Thanksgiving!

President’s Report

It’s been quite a year for our club, and despite the challenges, we’re doing very well.

Again this year we had to relocate Superfest due to weather, but it was s success. We generated enough revenue to meet our expenses for the year. I can’t thank our volunteers and Board members enough for their guidance and hard work.  Most of all, thanks to the vendors and the flea market tailgaters for making this a great event.

The best is yet to come! We are looking forward to next year’s event at Three Sisters Park in Chillicothe.

This fall things will be busy and exciting. We hope you will join us for our Special Event Station activation, N9S, where we will be promoting the history of Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive. We will be operating from the Fulton County Fair on the first and second Saturday and Sunday of October from 9 am to 5 pm. Stop by and say hello!

Later this month, we will be providing communications support for the annual PAWS run Saturday, October 22 at Junction City. We hope to see you there.

We’re hoping to have another POTA (Parks on the Air) event in the near future. It will be in the area, but at a different location than Jubilee College. I’m still hopeful that the weather will hold out a bit longer. It would be a one day weekend event. Send me suggestions for dates, times and locations: n9wx.ares@gmail.com.

Also on October 15 we will hold a license exam session at the Morton Knights of Columbus hall. Here is your chance to earn a new or upgraded license. All newly licensed hams will be given a complimentary one year membership in the club!

As we approach the end of the year, it’s time to think about election of club officers. Here is your opportunity to get involved in the direction of the Club. Let me know if you have any questions and if you are interested. After all, this is YOUR club!

A lot has been happening lately. That’s what our club is all about. The key to making good things happen is PARTICIPATION. Participation in events and activities, on the Sunday net, and of course renewing your membership.

Thanks for being an active member!

Justin, N9WX

____________________________________________________

Meeting Minutes:

Board of Directors , September 8:

6:18 p.m. call to order

Bandbits approval? Tom motions, John seconds…. all are in favor.

TREASURER’S REPORT:
Savings = $235.34
Checking = $2,582.20 (Three Sisters has not yet cashed their check;
also waiting on refund from East Peoria)
Money market = $8,396.78
$100 left in PayPal ($222.07 just transferred from it)

Grand total = $11,214.32

Pending expenses:
Darren getting signs at $22 a sign (x8), so $176 + $300 for banner
$150-200 ($15 each or so) for volunteer T-shirts

Deb makes motion, Darren seconds. All are in favor.

REPEATER COMMITTEE: Nothing new to share.
– Tom and Justin have been hearing a Windows tone going out over
repeater… need to investigate.
– Still need to maybe have the transmission line inspected and our UHF
D-Star antenna removed (before snow flies.) Scott has volunteered to
host UHF at his place on a 40ft tower.

OTHER BUSINESS:
– Need to find out more about annual JOTA with Scouts… October 22
and 23. Is it a club event? If so, we need to be more involved.

SUPERFEST:
– Dwight was able to overprint tickets that haven’t been mailed yet…
will have new raffle stickers for tickets that have already been
issued.
– New map and revised info are live on w9uvi.org
– Will we need cones for parking, asks John? Deb says we’ll use them
for the flea market area and will probably need people to help direct
parking.
– John will bring 50 cones on Thursday… if we need more, he can
bring additional ones on Friday.
– Will we do golf carts, asks Justin? Deb is looking into getting two
of them from the fine residents of Hopedale.
– Justin won’t be able to be there Thursday, but will be there Friday-Sunday.
– Justin is bringing a camper with AC, Darren is bringing a trailer to
transport golf carts.
– For security, Justin will be there Friday and Saturday night… but
will need more volunteers so Justin isn’t alone.
– There is no football game at Richwoods Superfest weekend, so we’ll
have the place alone.

OLD BUSINESS: None.

Motion to adjourn… Tom makes motion, Deb seconds. 6:49 p.m. and we are done!

Membership, September 8:

7:05pm call to order

Motion to approve Bandbits? Mark makes motion, Scott seconds… all
are in favor.

Adam will set up a feature on our website so people can be alerted by
email when there’s a new post like Bandbits.

TREASURER’S REPORT:
Checking = $2,582.20
Savings = $235.34
Checking = $2,582.20 (Three Sisters has not yet cashed their check;
also waiting on refund from East Peoria)
About $700 in expenses still out for Superfest ($176 for signs, $300
for banner, $200 for volunteer T-shirts)
Dumpster is $300-350 additional

$11,214.33 total

Scott makes a motion, Darren seconds. All are in favor.

_____

SUPERFEST:
– We need volunteers!!!
– Deb will turn on signup sheets on site tonight. (gates, flea market,
Thursday setup, Friday afternoon, security, someone in EP in case
people go to the wrong place, etc.)
– John volunteers to make a sign for the original East Peoria
location. Darren will work on it as well.
– For on-site simplex, 146.43 MHz. W9UVI will be talk-in repeater.
– Rich has a projector and screen for classes; Scott will bring a
wireless mic and powered speakers
– Will have to go with Expo food instead of originally-planned food trucks.
– Peoria Fire Department is having training the week of SuperFest at
Expo Gardens, so supposed to get in to site at noon Friday.
– Banquet tables will be $4.50.. cheaper than other places we’ve
gotten in the past at least.
– We have 10×10 portable awning, 10×20 as well. Scott also has
another. Bring extra awnings if you have one!
– For security, Justin would like one other person with him as well.
John says he can help with one of the nights.
– Only Deb is allowed to sell flea market spots… 7 a.m. gate opens.
No selling from general parking spots!
– Justin will be running testing this year… Bob won’t be there. If
you have VE credentials, bring them so we make sure we’re official.
– If someone shows up at the gate and is only there to test, they can
be escorted for free. Scott may bring wristbands to designate. If they
pass their exam, we write on band so they will get full free
admission. They also get a membership to the club (will make sure we
have membership forms on site.)

Tabling rest of business for Scott’s Echolink presentation… 7:49 p.m.

____________________________________________________

SuperFest

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO HELPED WITH SUPERFEST!!!

Midwest Superfest 2022 is over, still getting some of the bills so don’t have the final totals, but the club did make money.

Planning and work for Midwest Superfest 2023 has already begun, if you were not able to attend the September Superfest meeting but want to be included on the Superfest committee, please contact Deb, WD9EB

The next Midwest Superfest meeting will be at 7pm on Thursday Oct. 27th via Zoom. Please use the link on the club meetings page.

____________________________________________________

Peoria County ARES

Oct 5, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

Oct 12, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

Oct 19, ARES On-line Conference @ 7:00 PM CST (Watch your email for Zoom conference info)

Call or email Rich if you are not on the ARES Roster and desire to join the Zoom Conference.

On-Line Conference Agenda includes: Infrastructure Activities, PAWS Event on 10/22, Training Documentation, Very Economical Windows Computers for Digital Modes, Using GPS Position Reports in Winlink, 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@winli

September Net Logs

9/4
W9WGN KD9ANU WD9EB K9XJT KC9IH KD9IBC N9GUE KB9ATO K9TNT W8NWG N9NDF KD9PXZ KD9JXR KD9IVV WF9E KD9SZZ NM0O KD9AER N9WFT WW9DLM KB9TNZ KD9STL K9QZ Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

9/11
WD9EB KD9ANU N9WX K9XJT KD9ERS WF9E KB9TNZ KC9IH KD9QQU W9JDP WD9EGV N9GUE KD9SZZ K9RCS KB9OGS N9SJZ W9WGN NM0O KD9PXZ KD9JXR NP2WJ KD9AER KD9NYE KD9VSJ KD9IVV W9WTF KB8ATO N9NDF W8NWG KD9STL KD9RYH KD9MPI WW9DLM KT9TB K9HJZ Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

9/18
W9WTF WD9EB KD9ANU KC9IH KD9IBC W9JDP N9GUE KD9LIE K9RCS KD9HZZ N9SJZ N9NDF KD9IVV NM0O KD9PXZ W9WGN KB9ATO KD9NYE KD9JXR WW9DLM N9WFT WF9E KD9QQU WD9EGV NP2WJ KB9SF KC9PZQ KD9ERS KD9STL K9CEW KB9OGS KD9AER W8NWG KD9VSJ K9HJZ KD9RYH KD9SZZ KD9TEG K9XJT Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

9/25
KD9ANU WF9E W9WTF KC9IH W8NWG K9HJZ N9GUE K9TNT N9NDF KD9JXR KD9AER KD9QQU KD9PXZ KD9VSJ VP2WJ WD9EGV KD9STL N9SJZ KD9IVV W9WGN NM0O KD9RJH W9JDP KB9ATO K9XJT KT9TB KD9ERS KD9MPI WW9DLM KB9TNZ KD9RYH WD9EB KD9ERT Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

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October Club Events

October 5 – 7:00 pm – ARES Net – 147.075 Repeater

October 6 – 7:00 pm – Board of Directors Meeting – Zoom

October 8 – 9 9:00 am to 5:00 pm – N9S Spoon River Valley Scenic Drive Special Event Station activation. Fulton County Fairgrounds, Lewistown, IL. All are welcome!

October 12 – 7:00 pm – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

October 13 – 7:00 p.m. – Membership Meeting: Ham Radio Mesh Net, American Legion, Bartonville

October 15 – 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.

October 18 (TUESDAY) – 7:00 pm – ARES Zoom Meeting – Watch your email for Zoom login information.

October 27-7:00 pm – Superfest Meeting – Zoom

President’s Report

As we all know, Midwest Superfest is just a short time away! We desperately need your help to pull this off. We have had some setbacks, but I know that we will succeed! We had to change our location due to weather damage at the East Peoria Event Center, so Midwest Superfest 2022 is going to be held at Expo Gardens in Peoria, IL.

Again, I am asking for your help and support. Volunteers are needed from Thursday the 15th through Sunday the 18th. I will be working Security overnight on Friday and Saturday, but I would like to have at least one more person dedicated to this position. We need help with marking the flea market spots on Thursday. We need help at the front gate checking and selling tickets. We will have the logo stickers and magnets for sale at the Club Table and will need someone for that. These are just a few of the positions available. If you (or know anyone who) are willing and able to help in any position… Please contact Deb Suhs at WD9EB@ARRL.net ASAP!

I want to thank all of you who have supported the club and Superfest. Without you, we would not exist.

Justin Flick, N9WX President, PAARC

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Meeting Minutes: Membership

7:09 p.m.: meeting begins

Welcome to new member Adam (KD9SBI). Introductions all around.

Deb makes a motion to approve Bandbits, Jim seconds. Unanimous approval.

TREASURER’S REPORT:

Savings: 235.32
Checking: 1423.85
Money market: 8395.91
PayPal: 280.37
470 in checks that deb has for Superfest tickets

Dion makes motion to approve, Jim seconds. It’s approved.

SUPERFEST UPDATE FROM DEB (Note that this report was made to the membership prior to the storm damage that forced us to move Superfest):

• All club members should have 10 tickets to buy or sell.
• Need to talk to Aaron about what’s going on at the Superfest site…
  will make sure things are ready.
• Justin says that air conditioning looks to be working because
  condensation is gone from windows. Deb also noticed that the roof has
  been redone.
• Our contract with Three Sisters Park has been signed. Half of the
  deposit has been sent to them (why our checking account is so flush.)
  $750. Guaranteed price from 2023-2028. Then, the price will be
  renegotiated for the next five years after that. As long as we want
  Three Sisters on the third weekend of September, it’s ours.
• Will use every building out there except the barn. If we need it, we
  can add it as well.
  Flea market will be in the campground area, which means some spots
  will have guaranteed electric hookups. Will have room to expand, even.
  Chapel will be used for forums. Meeting rooms for testing.
• 50 amp service by the museum is for big vendor RVs
• Susan at Three Sisters has been real good to us, with nice breaks:
  Only paying $3,500 for the weekend. And vendors won’t have to rush
  out… they can even leave the next day. She’ll be at this year’s
  event in East Peoria to check out how we have it set up.
• Deb is getting pictures of Three Sisters in advance so we can have
  flyers available THIS year for next year’s first event out there.
• Deb has signup sheets on our website… Deb will work with Adam on
  activating. Everything info-wise on Superfest is live and active (flea
  market map, vendor letter, tickets, etc.)
• We’ll have a simplex frequency for people there, so bring your HTs.
• Tables will be coming from just Pekin instead of two places. Rich
  has a trailer lined up.
• We have two food trucks reserved.
• If anybody is volunteering, they get a bright yellow shirt so people
  know you’re there to help. Send Justin email ASAP with size
  (n9wx.ares@gmail.com)
• 2019 was 60 years of Superfest at Expo, so at least that old.
  Jobs needed for SuperFest:
• Talk-on for people who are lost.
• Ticket sales at the gate.
• Helping people to flea market spots
• Making announcements
• Meet Jim or Todd at Expo to get sound equipment we need

Two weeks from tonight, Superfest meeting is at the Red Cross.

REPEATER UPDATE FROM TOM:

• Echolink is up and running. It turns out that the router just needed rebooted.
• Suggests that Scott may want to train again on Echolink for membership.
• UHF D-STAR repeater is now shut down.
• We were hoping to move the 075 repeater to a taller tower, but
  prices came in much higher and tower climbers were in short supply…
  so postponing that move for now.
• So now, Midwest is only charging for antennas in use instead of
  what’s actually on the old tower.
• Midwest is having another tower climber out for another client, so
  we’re going to try to piggyback to have things checked on our setup
  (we have some remaining issues with noise on the repeater.)
• 075 is at 180ft and VHF DSTAR is at 160.
• Next job is getting out to Timber Hollis repeater and getting Fusion
  back up (was an bad internet connection that has allegedly been
  fixed.) Need to get there before the current fire chief is gone.
• Moving things to the Proctor repeater site is probably dead.
• 61 is leased to the end of the year.
• Tower rent is $1,130 for six months for two antennas.

Any old business? No.

ARES from Rich:

• Has been slow because of no severe weather.
• Second WinLink set up at the bunker. Good opportunity to practice
  sending from one radio to another.
• Going through training.
• Will have a monthly meeting on Wednesday night at the bunker for a
  tour. (Kickapoo)

Jim makes a motion to end meeting, Mark seconds. We
adjourn to Scott’s presentation on satellite work.

Additional item….

• Rich wants to start planning for a spring balloon launch in honor of
  Fritz. If interested in planning, let him know. Unfortunately, very
  little equipment survived the last few balloon launches. Got a bunch
  of records from Fritz’s wife Susan but can’t even figure out what
  model of balloon we were using. (NWS in Lincoln may know
  manufacturers, though.)

____________________________________________________

SuperFest

By now you know that we have had to move Midwest Superfest 2022 from the East Peoria Event Center to Exposition Gardens in Peoria due to storm damage to the front of the EP Event Center where our indoor vendors would be setting up. As Justin talked about in his President’s Message there are several jobs we need help with. Please keep an eye on the website, we will soon have a Midwest Superfest Jobs page that we are asking everyone to please help with. We will be discussing Midwest Superfest, what still needs to be done before hand and what we have to do during it at the monthly club meeting. If you have any questions before hand, please contact Deb WD9EB@ARRL.NET.

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Peoria County ARES

Sept 7, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater 

Sept 14, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater 

Sept 21, ARES On-line Conference @ 7:00 PM CST (Watch your email for Zoom conference info)

Call or email Rich if you are not on the ARES Roster and desire to join the Zoom Conference.

On-Line Conference Agenda includes: Infrastructure Activities, PAWS Event on 10/22, Training Documentation, How to reply to Winlink ICS 213 messages, and more.

Please submit your Training Documentation form.

ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/

____________________________________________________

August Net Logs

8/7
WD9EB KD9ANU N9WX NM0O N9GUE KC9IH KD9IBC K9HJZ W9JDP K9HJZ W9JDP N9SJZ KB9ATO K9TNT KD9PXZ KD9JXR W8NWG KD9AER W9WGN KD9ERS K9RCS WD9EGV WF9E KD9RYH N9WFT NP2WJ W9TTX N9NDF KD9HZZ KD9NYE WW9DLM KD9RJH NA9LE KB9TNZ KD9STL KD9SZZ Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

8/14
KD9ANU K9XJT W9WGN W8NWG WF9E K8HJZ KC9IH N9GUE W9JDP KD9ERS K9RCS KB9ATO N9NDF KD9PXZ KD9VAM NM0O KD9SPI KD9AER K9TNT KD9VLQ KB9TNZ KD9RYH KD9IVV N9WFT KD9JXR KD9STL KD9QQU KB9SF KD9MPI Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

8/21
WD9EB K9XJT N9WX KD9ANU KC9IH W8NWG WD9EGV N9GUE KD9ERS KD9IVV KB9OGS KD9PXZ W9JDP KD9TAE NM0O
W9WGN K9TNT K9RCS KD9AER WW9DLM N9WFT KD9RJH KD9QQU K9UQF WF9E KD9RYH KD9QQT KD9JXR KD9STL KB9TNZ N9NDF KB9ATO KD9TEG KT9TB KD8NYE KB9SF KD9SPI Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

8/28
KC9IH K9HJZ WD9EGV KD9IVC N9GUE W8NWG W9JDP N9WX K9RCS KB9OGS KB9ASO NM0O KD9PXZ K9TNT KD9ERS K9XJT KD9NYE N9NDF K9MOA KD9AER KD9JXR K9TLZ KD9RHY WW9DLM
KD9STL W9NDG Submitted by KD9QQU 73

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September Club Events

September 1 – 7:00 pm – Board of Directors Meeting – Zoom

September 7 – 7:00 pm – ARES Net – 146.075 Repeater

September 8 – 7:00 pm -Membership Meeting – Bartonville American Legion: Setting up and using EchoLink. Please install EchoLink on your laptop and/or phone before the meeting. Click here for information on how to install EchoLink.

September 15 – 7:00 pm – ARES Meeting

September 17 – 18, 2022  MIDWEST SUPERFEST – NEW LOCATION: EXPO GARDENS, 1601 W Northmoor Rd. Peoria – All (pink) tickets issued for the East Peoria location will be honored. Flea Market, Indoor Vendors, License Testing, Learn about DMR, Satellite Demo, Learn about Winlink, DXCC Card checking and more. –  Purchase Tickets

September 29 – 7:00 pm -Superfest Meeting