PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
A note from the president, oh, the new guy, that’s me! Hi! I’m Ben Knapp KD9RYH the new president of the club. I suppose I should introduce myself.
But first, a huge thank you to our outgoing president, Justin N9WX. He stepped up from vice president and then has served as our president till he ran into a term clause in our constitution.
So, a little about myself. I’m a general class amateur radio operator first licensed in 2021. I’m an Eagle Scout, a Tazewell County EMA volunteer, and a data center troll for OSF. With my wife, Tanya KD9YPM, we have 4 kids, 2 grandkids and one more on the way! While I’ve been with OSF for 25 years now, I’ve had a bunch of sides jobs including ‘pro’ radio, TV and was a roadie working for Jim Rodewald KD9JXR. As far as the club goes, I’m excited for everything that’s going on. Lots of amazing opportunities and then the new home of the Midwest Superfest. Boy is that going to be great!
I welcome talking to all of you on the repeaters, online and in person. You can find me on Facebook and as they say, I’m good on QRZ.
73 and catch you down the log,
Ben Knapp, KD9RYH
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2024 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
President – Ben Knapp, KD9RYH
Vice President – Scott Tranchitella, K9XJT
Secretary – Adam Gerik, KD9NYE
Treasurer – Tanya Knapp, KD9YPM
2 year Director-At-Large – Rich Schmitz, K9RCS
1 year Director-At-Large – Rob Herrin, KD9DBQ
Club Trustee – Tom Hunt, W8NWG (appointed)
Midwest Superfest™ Chairperson – Darren Weir, KD9HZZ (appointed)
Repeater Chairperson – Jacob Walters, K9WFT (appointed)
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MEETING MINUTES
Board of Directors – December 7, 2023 Via Zoom
Present: Darren (KD9HZZ), Ben (KD9RYH), Adam (KD9NYE), Tanya (KD9YPM), Tom (W8NWG), Rob (KD9DBQ), Deb (WD9EB) and Casey (KC9IH) are present. Scott (K9XJT) joins later.
Ben calls the meeting to order in Justin’s absence at 7:02 p.m.
To accept the meeting minutes from last month, Tom makes a motion and Deb seconds. All are in favor.
Treasurer’s report from Tanya:
- She had to travel for a family emergency, so no report this month.
Repeater committee/trustee report from Tom:
- A few board members visited a potential future site for a repeater/club station.
- Glasford repeater site computer work is still needed. A month ago, analog was turned on with the 85 repeater.
Superfest from Darren/Deb:
- Darren has gotten all letters mailed out. He’ll email those he hasn’t heard from after the first of the year.
- Forums for Saturday sessions have been filled thanks to a joint effort with Tom on Parks on the Air.
- Darren’s working on getting the main ARES guy as a session possibility. He’s also checking with Woodford and Tazewell EMAs to see if they’d come out with their vehicles, along with Blake at the Red Cross about their comms trailer.
- Our raffle license is corrected for next year.
- Todd got a few more door prizes… including $600 worth of stuff from MFJ.
- Deb got a response from the attorney working on our trademark application that our PO Box address isn’t good enough… they need a physical address. Deb was willing to put her address and transfer it sometime in the future to someone else.
- Next Superfest meeting is Dec. 21
OLD BUSINESS…
RED CROSS CHANGES:
- Darren got back with Blake at the Red Cross. The club now has a generator! All the storage totes have been moved to the new building. We need to figure out what to do with the desk, since it needs to come out quick. They’re issuing new cards for the new building as well under Ben and Darren’s names.
- Everything is on the third floor of the new building in one cubicle space. We should have some shelving in a storage room as well. There’s a meeting room we also have access to use.
- We might be able to lock our radios in a cubicle storage area. Rob mentions that those locks are poor and that maintenance folks also have master keys. Maybe we just leave a 2m rig and remove our HF rigs?
- There’s no big rush on getting the antennas down. There’s also a possibility that we can take the tower down as well. It does look like we’ll get a decommissioned trailer from the Red Cross.
- We’ll still need to determine if we’re moving the antenna/tower to the new building. We also don’t know if we’d have a path for our coax inside the new building.
- We might consider renting some storage space so we can get out of the old building more quickly. 5x10ft is $45/month, says Darren.
501(c)3 UPDATE FROM DARREN:
- We cannot easily convert from the current 501(c)7 to a 501(c)3. The cheapest and quickest way to do it is to start all over. The name can pretty much stay the same, although take the hyphen out “Peoria-Area Amateur Radio Club Inc”
- A new bank account has to be opened, equipment assets need to be transferred, etc.
- We’ll need even more careful record keeping when we’re a 501(c)3. Darren recommends a binder with printed meeting minutes + treasurer’s report.
- So far, we’ve been charged $100 by the attorney for the advice we’ve been given on this. There’s enough in the retainer to still accomplish this transition. Darren also recommends some (boring, he says) videos that will help us through this process.
- Any changes we’re working on to our bylaws will need to be given to the attorney as well. (This saves us money so we don’t need to have the attorney write language from scratch.)
BYLAWS DISCUSSION WITH DEB:
- Some changes proposed by Dwight… including that members must comply with published club policies and our new sexual harassment policy. He also mentioned a three-month loophole whereby a member could wait those three months to renew, giving them a 15-month membership instead of a year. We will make both changes to our proposed bylaws.
- He also proposed adding an item to the bylaw that the number of current members shall be announced at meetings and included in the minutes. We’re good with that change as well.
- There are concerns among the board about current bylaws making it possible for a member to move for an officer or board member to be removed at the same meeting with no notice given to general membership. Deb will work on language to propose instead.
- For special club meetings, we currently say that we’ll send notification on “local radio nets and packet radio bulletin boards.” We will update with more modern language.
CHRISTMAS PARTY:
- Next week! 6:30 p.m. at Brandywine Pizza Ranch. We have 25 committed so far.
Deb makes a motion to adjourn, Tom seconds. Meeting is over at 8:15 p.m.
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Membership Meeting December 12, 2023
Annual Holiday gathering at the Pizza Ranch.
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WINTER FIELD DAY
Mark your calendars for Winter Field Day, Saturday, January 27 at the Hopedale
Community Center, 101 SE Main St. in Downtown Hopedale. Check or web page and listen to the Sunday night net for information and updates.
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MIDWEST SUPERFESTTM
We have our raffle license, and tickets should be printed by March so we can start mailings.
Todd Rica has started receiving prizes already.
I will be reaching out to Woodford and Tazewell EMA about bringing Eccom vehicles out to display, I have talked with Blake from the Red Cross and he is all about coming, I also talked with Scott DeSantis from SATERN.
Forums for Saturday:
8:30 – Carl K9LA – Solar Cycle 25 and Propagation
10:00 – Scott DeSantis KB9VRW – SATERN
11:30 – Craig Thompson K9CT
Noon – License Testing
1:00 – ARRL forum
2:30 – POTA forum: W8NWG & KD9HZZ
ARRL, Tom Beebe reached out to me. They will be at Midwest Superfest, Illinois Section Convention.
Darren, KD9HZZ
Midwest Superfest Chairperson
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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®.
January 3, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
January10, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
January 17, Monthly Meeting via Zoom, 7:00 PM
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
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DECEMBER NET LOGS
12/3
N9WX W8NWG KD9ANU WD9EB W9WTF K9HJZ NM0O KD9YPM KD9WRX NP2WJ W9JDP N9NDF KB9ATO N9WFT KD9JXR KD9IVV KD9AER KD9PXZ KB9YYD K9QJ K9WFT K9RCS N9CS KD9STL K9TNT WF9E KD9VIN KD9ZFC KD9RYH KB0OGS KD9VIN KD9QQU K9CEW KD4UTL Submitted by KD9DBQ 73
12/10
KC9IH KD9YPM KD9YCJ W9JDP W8NWG N9NDF KD9JXR N9WFT K9TNT KD9PXZ KD9MPI WW9DLM KD9AER K9RCS W9WTF WD9EB KD9STL W9WGN KD9NYE KB9ATO KD9QQU N9CS K9UQF K9HJZ KD9RYH K9QZ Submitted by KD9DBQ 73
12/17
WD9EB KD9ANU W9WGN K9XJT KD9ZFC KD9WRX KD9YPM K9RCS NP2WJ KC9IH KD9JXR N9NDF K9TNT NM0O KD9IVV KD9AER KD9PXZ N9WFT K9WFT KD9TEG KD9STL W8NWG W9DAY K9UQF KC0VEW KD9QQU WF9E KD9RYH Submitted by KD9DBQ
12/24 – No Net
12/31
KD9ANU KC9IH NP2WJ KD9YPM W9JDP K9WFT KD9PXZ W8NWG N9WFT K9TNT KD9JXR N9CS KD9RYH K9UQF KD9HZZ NM0O KD9MPI WF9E KD9QQU Submitted by KD9DBQ 73 Happy New Year!
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JANUARY CLUB EVENTS
Beginning in January, all Board, Membership and Superfest meetings will be held on Tuesdays.
January 2 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting via Zoom link on club meetings page
January 3 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
January 9 TUESDAY – 7:00 p.m. – Club Meeting – Bartonville American Legion, 4501 S Airport Rd, Bartonville
January 10 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
January 17 – 7:00 p.m. ARES Meeting: Zoom
January 23 TUESDAY – 7:00 p.m. – Midwest Superfest Meeting via Zoom link on club meetings page
January 27 – Winter Field Day: Hopedale Community Center. Details TBA
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CLUB EMAIL LIST
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