FEBRUARY 2018 BAARC SECRETARY’S REPORT

THURSDAY-February 22, 2018 – 4:00 PM – BAARC BOARD MEETING MINUTES – BRAINERD Chamber of Commerce

President: Steve Mott NØCRM
Vice President: John Luce WØWY
Treasurer: Doug Bergsnev WØDWB
Secretary: Ron Finger KØGOP
Past Presidents: Charles Lane W5CCL, Al Doree WØRC
Director At Large: Lyle Amundson KØLFV
Director of Emergency Communications: Dave Schuldheisz KØISZ
Repeater Trustee: Mitch Ahrenstorff ADØHJ
Community & Special Events Coordinator: TBD

Attendees: Steve NØCRM, John WØWY, Ron KØGOP, Al WØRC, and Mitch ADØHJ. The President opened the Board Meeting at 4 PM.

Secretary’s Report: 

  • Membership roster: 65 members with 21 unpaid for 2018. The Club roster can be found on the Club website under the“Resources/Members Only”  Current paid members can request an individual password for access via the “Contact Us” form.
  • Minutes: The January 2018 meeting minutes were posted to the“Baarcer” area. There were no business meetings for December.
  • Correspondence: Thank you letter sent to Bob Feuer WØZPE for recent donations made to the Club.
  • Documents: Updated Club membership roster and Gmail contacts database.
    • Draft of Community & Special Events Coordinator Will refine and submit to Board for approval.
  • Membership ID’s: Will develop 1-year “Complimentary Membership” card for new Hams.
  • Motion to accept: Al WØRC, SecondJohn WØWY,  

Treasurer’s Report: The President presented the Treasurer’s report that was forwarded to the board showing all month’s account transactions and balances to date.

  • Motion to accept: John WØWY, SecondAl WØRC, Passed

Membership Meeting Programs: The President reviewed recent and future Club programs and events. Moved to the March 29 meeting: a half-hour program on the New CWC EOC, with tours of the 911 Center to follow. John will follow up on this with John Bowen. April 26 meeting: Paul KEØPBR will present a program on Satellite UHF/VHF Communications.

Upcoming Events: The following events were discussed:

CQ WPX SSB Contest March 24-25, 2018

BAARC Hamfest April 7, 2018

  • $400.00 usage fee for Brainerd Armory
  • Plus extra janitor fee? Was waived in past, Al WØRC will check on this as we get closer.

Brainerd Jaycees Run for the Lakes Marathon

  • Saturday, April 28, 2018
  • John WØWY will arrange for use of CWC Sherriff’s Trailer. Al WØRC noted that the CO detector triggered several times during the Dog Sled Race. The trailer generator was installed and run inside it’s on-board compartment by the Sherriff’s Department. John will advise them of this anomaly.

Digital & Emergency Communications: 

ARES Connect Update:

  • John has applied and will bring more information to the Club after we have been registered.

Duluth SKYWARN meeting:

  • Last year’s meeting was held on March 11, but no word on this year’s; John will contact the NWS-Duluth for 2018 meeting date.

Old Business: 

Repeater Sites:

  • Gull Lake:
    • Mitch ADØHJ presented a detailed upgrade plan, adding APRS to the VHF Repeater and providing for future expansion. Mitch was able to find a duplexer at the St. Cloud Hamfest this year and purchased it at a discounted price due to his active involvement with their club members.
    • Motion to Purchase the Club duplexer for $300: John WØWY, Second Al WØRC, Passed.
  • Crosby:
    • No new items.
  • Crow Wing Power:
    • No new items.
  • Cross Lake:
    • No new items.
  • High-rise Site:
    • No new items.

New Business:

American Red Cross

  • Ken Vertin KEØLOX, an ARC volunteer from Crosslake requested a short meeting with the Board to discuss the possibility of Club operator support for future exercises and relief efforts. Mr. Vertin discussed the current MOU between the ARC and ARRL, and various scenarios of possible involvement

Active 911

  • The Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Emergency Management Department has allowed us to use their Active 911 E-Paging Alert System to alert us of Skywarn events or other needs.
  • Need to reestablish and review our Club status using this system.
  • John will ask Mark KEØLFQ to contact John Bowen to resolve.

Upgrade Club IC-746 HF Transceiver to a second TS-590S

  • One of our Club objectives that was agreed upon with our Board and Technology Group was to standardize our infrastructure and equipment as to achieve a higher level of performance and operating skills.
  • Over this past year we have scheduled more HF Special Event activities using our current HF equipment and was found that our Kenwood TS-590S HF Transceiver performed much better than our ICOM IC-746; it has been recommended by our Technology Team that we upgrade our IC-746 HF Transceiver to another Kenwood TS-590S Transceiver.
  • The cost of this upgrade would not exceed $275.00. Selling our IC-746 and purchasing another used Kenwood TS-590S would provide 2 identical HF Rigs and meet the goal of standardizing our HF equipment, thereby requiring familiarization of just one HF radio model.
  • Current Club HF Transceiver inventory:
    • Kenwood TS-480SAT HF Transceiver: in operation as our HF Remote Base.
    • Kenwood TS-590S HF Transceiver
    • ICOM IC-746 PRO HF Transceiver
    • Yaesu FT-991 HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver
  • Proposal made by email to the Board by Lyle KØLFV, and voted for approval. Passed.

The Board Meeting was adjourned at 5:10 PM.

THURSDAY-February 22, 2018 – 7:00 PM – BAARC MEMBERSHIP MEETING MINUTES – BRAINERD Chamber of Commerce

The President opened the Club membership business meeting at 7 PM with 27 members and guests present. Ron KØGOP gave a presentation on Civil Air Patrol – MN Wing’s missions for Super Bowl VII in Minneapolis. CAP worked with the Department of Homeland Security, the ANG 148th Tactical Fighter Wing in Duluth, and other agencies in a week of comms-intensive intercept missions over Minnesota skies.

–Respectfully submitted by Ron KØGOP, Secretary

JANUARY 2018 BAARC SECRETARY’S REPORT

THURSDAY-JANUARY 25, 2018 – 4:00 PM – BAARC BOARD MEETING MINUTES – BRAINERD FIRE STATION

President: Steve Mott NØCRM
Vice President: John Luce WØWY
Treasurer: Doug Bergsnev WØDWB
Secretary: Ron Finger KØGOP
Past Presidents: Charles Lane W5CCL, Al Doree WØRC
Director At Large: Lyle Amundson KØLFV
Director of Emergency Communications: Dave Schuldheisz KØISZ
Repeater Trustee: Mitch Ahrenstorff ADØHJ
Community & Special Events Coordinator: TBD

Attendees: Steve NØCRM, John WØWY, Ron KØGOP, Lyle KØLFV, Al WØRC, Shirley KØDCW, and Mitch ADØHJ. The President opened the Board Meeting at 4 PM.

Secretary’s Report: 

  • Membership roster: adjusted for lapsed “Complimentary New Ham” memberships, 65 members with 29 unpaid for 2018. The Club roster can be found on the Club website under the“Resources/Members Only”  Current paid members can request an individual password for access via the “Contact Us” form.
  • Minutes: The November 2017 meeting minutes were posted to the“Club Blog” area. There were no business meetings for December.
  • Correspondence: 2017 lapsed renewal reminders sent on 12/14/17.
  • Documents: Updated Club membership roster and Gmail contacts database.
    • Need description of Community & Special Events Coordinator Will draft and submit to Board for input.
  • Membership ID’s: Will develop 1-year “Complimentary Membership” card for new Hams.
  • Motion to accept: Al WØRC, SecondJohn WØWY,  

Treasurer’s Report: The President presented the Treasurer’s report that was forwarded to the board showing all month’s account transactions and balances to date. Noted was a new $50K annual limit on proceeds generated by non-profit entities like our Club.

  • Motion to accept: John WØWY, SecondAl WØRC, Passed

Membership Meeting Programs: The President reviewed recent and future Club programs and events. A possibility for the February meeting was discussed: a half-hour program on the new CWC EOC, with tours of the 911 Center to follow. John will follow up on this with John Bowen.

Upcoming Events: 

Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza

  • January 27, 2018
  • http://icefishing.org/
  • John WØWY to coordinate with Lt Scott Goddard and John Bowen for CWC Sherriff trailer use
  • Event coordinator Mark KE0LFQ requested a couple more operators.

Mid Minnesota 150 Sled Dog Race

  • February 10, 2018
  • https://www.facebook.com/midminnesota150/
  • Al and Shirley will coordinate this event.
  • John WØWY will request the use of the CWC comms trailer.
  • Steve NØCRM will do the time logs and Ron KØGOP will do the maps.

CQ WPX SSB Contest March 24-25, 2018

BAARC Hamfest April 7, 2018

  • $400.00 usage fee for Brainerd Armory
  • Plus extra janitor fee? Was waived in past.

Digital & Emergency Communications: 

ARES UPDATE: 1/25:

  • 8 counties in the district, we show best participation of the 8 counties.
  • 8th of January we got an email stating we can sign up for a new program: “ARES Connect”: HUB….
  • Registration of the club, unique number and members can use call sign as unique ID.
  • Basic level
  • Level 2 complete ICS 100, ICS 200 training about Homeland Security and the Incident Command System.
  • Level 3 adds ICS 300 and 400 as a leadership courses (3-day courses)
  • John will bring more information to the Club after we have been registered.

Old Business: 

New Club Storage container

  • Nameplate by Tom KTØMMY with key holder info is complete and installed.
  • Inventory of Club Safety Vests is now stored there.

Webserver

  • Move Website Server computer into the new rack at Crosby.
  • Nick has a newer bigger better server… Hard Drives, (Nick/Lyle)

Club Remote Station

  • Pat WØOPW is working on a fan dipole for 80m, 40m, 20m.
  • Will need to mount and test the antenna at the high-rise when completed.

Repeater Sites:

  • Gull Lake:
    • Cabinet install completed, Ethernet needs activation-will contact Jason Atwater at CTC.
    • LMR 400 vs. Heliax was discussed – TBD.
    • Connect digital WIRES-X to UHF side 444.925 MHz.
    • Add analog / APRS / Digipeter?
  • Crosby:
    • Second new cabinet at Crosby (target….$) At some point in time it would be nice to have that cabinet purchased.
  • Crow Wing Power:
    • Install 3rd common Rackmount linking computer/controller/
    • When can we get this completed? Mitch has it at his house was delayed by the Gull Lake tower site work.
  • Cross Lake:
    • No new items.
  • High-rise Site:
    • No new items.

Repeater Equipment and linking :

  • Due to the firmware that is running on the Wires-X machines, we have hit a limitation with the processing power of the Latte Panda PC’s.
    • LattePanda Ebay auctions are in place (Mitch listing these for Club)
    • Minimum bids and “buy now” prices have been set.
    • Staged, multiple listing Ebay sales.
  • Mitch has developed a procedure to standardize the audio levels of the System Fusion repeaters and will allow us to set them up all the same way. We need to plan that effort out after this Wires-X test has completed.
  • We have tested a different processor including a common rack-mount PC/Wires-X system that can be replicated at each of the repeater sites and supports our common goal to have common equipment across our systems.
  • A replacement computer provided by Lyle still has the same issues
    • The Newer rack mount system PC’s (2 At Crosby are working)
    • Nick completed the third one for Crow Wing Power replacement.

Misc Items:

  • Provide a check to Crow Wing County Fairgrounds for $200? (Goodwill gesture; We held 3 events there this year (Field Day, Tailgate Hamfest, Trailer exercise/WW CQ event)
    • Will present at a Crow Wing County Fairground board meeting.

New Business:

  • Discussion regarding upgrade to DRX-2 systems.
    • The new model DR2-X cost would be either $300 or $500 depending upon what options we choose.
    • We do have a bad DR1 that came back from the Duluth club not working. We can send that one in for an upgrade.
    • Motion to upgrade a third DR1X, with a fourth upgrade to be made following the April Hamfest: Lyle KØLFV, SecondAl WØRC,  
  • Discussed option of selling 5 of the extra Motorola 750’s in the Club inventory.
  • These are like new, but do not have batteries.
  • Ron will repair the 5 extra chargers to go with these (missing cords and power plugs) and label with new code plug stickers.
  • Will offer to Club members at the January meeting for $30 each –
  • Al WØRC reported the Forestview High Altitude Balloon Class is getting ready to launch another balloon soon.

The Board Meeting was adjourned at 5:10 PM.

THURSDAY-JANUARY 25, 2018 – 7:00 PM – BAARC MEMBERSHIP MEETING MINUTES – BRAINERD FIRE STATION

The President opened the Club membership business meeting at 7 PM with 33 members and guests present. Mitch ADØHJ started the evening with an overview of the Yaesu System Fusion DR-1X and DR-2X repeaters, the FTM-400DR and FTM-100DR mobile radios, and FT-70DR handheld radio.  Also shown was the custom Rackmount PC built by Nick WØNY for our repeater sites along with the neatly integrated Yaesu HRI-200 WIRES-X Interface.

–Respectfully submitted by Ron KØGOP, Secretary

January Club Meeting Program: Yaesu System Fusion

For our January meeting program, we demonstrated Yaesu System Fusion and talked about the various radios and equipment used within the Brainerd Area Amateur Radio Club.

Mitch ADØHJ started the evening with an overview of the Yaseu System Fusion DR-1X and DR-2X repeaters, the FTM-400DR and FTM-100DR mobile radios, and FT-70DR handheld radio.  Also shown was the custom Rackmount PC built by Nick WØNY for our repeater sites along with the neatly integrated Yaesu HRI-200 WIRES-X Interface.

A virtual connection was made with our 444.925+ repeater to show the WIRES-X software that controls the DR-1X repeater and allows connection to other Nodes and Rooms on the WIRES-X network.  Mitch explained how to connect the repeater to a different rooms through both the WIRES-X software and through the radio interface itself.

We connected to THE-DARC-ROOM which is linked to about a dozen other repeaters located across outstate Minnesota in communities such as Alexandria, Becker, Fargo, Le Sueur, Little Falls, Minneapolis, Paynesville, Rochester, Stewartville, St. Cloud, and St. Peter.  After connecting to this Room, he called out for anyone on that repeater to please respond. A call came back from Mike WQØA located in Saint Peter and Mitch proceeded to have Mike explain the equipment being used by the Saint Peter Amateur Radio Club (SPARC) and talk about how many amateurs in his community have switched to Yaesu Fusion Digital.

After a live demonstration of the digital system, Mitch showed club members more details and answered questions.

NOVEMBER 2017 BAARC SECRETARY’S REPORT

THURSDAY-November 30, 2017 – 4:00 PM – BAARC BOARD MEETING MINUTES – BRAINERD FIRE STATION

President: Steve Mott NØCRM
Vice President: John Luce WØWY
Treasurer: Doug Bergsnev WØDWB
Secretary: Ron Finger KØGOP
Past Presidents: Charles Lane W5CCL, Al Doree WØRC
Director At Large: Lyle Amundson KØLFV
Director of Emergency Communications: Dave Schuldheisz KØISZ
Repeater Trustee: Mitch Ahrenstorff ADØHJ
Community & Special Events Coordinator: TBD

Attendees: Steve NØCRM, John WØWY, Ron KØGOP, Lyle KØLFV, Dave KØISZ, Al WØRC, Shirley KØDCW, Mitch ADØHJ, Roger WØWUG, and John W3MQD. The President opened the Board Meeting at 4 PM.

Secretary’s Report: 

  • Membership roster: 91 members with 30 unpaid for 2017. The Club roster can be found on the Club website under the “Resources/Members Only”  Current paid members can request an individual password for access via the “Contact Us” form. The secretary will send email reminders to members with outstanding dues.
  • Minutes: The October 2017 meeting minutes will be posted to the “Club Blog” area.
  • Correspondence:
  • Documents: Updated 2018 Officers ballot and 2018 Hamfest Flyer.
    • Need description of Community & Special Events Coordinator Will draft and submit to Board for input.
  • 65′ of LMR provided to WJJY as goodwill gesture.
  • Membership ID’s: proposal to hold off providing photo Membership ID badge until they start to Pay dues or become an active club member. Will develop 1-year “Complimentary Membership” card for new Hams.
  • Keep the $5.00 dues increase implemented in 2017 for $25 individual membership.
  • Will develop a “Property of BAARC” sticker on the back of the ID badge, to be turned in after lapsing membership.
  • Motion to accept: Dave KØISZ, SecondAl WØRC,  

Treasurer’s Report: The President presented the Treasurer’s report which was forwarded to the board showing all month’s account transactions and balances to date.

  • Motion to accept: Lyle KØLFV, SecondAl WØRC, Passed

Membership Meeting Programs: The President reviewed recent and future Club programs and events. The December 2017 BAARC Holiday Party will be held on Thursday, December 14, 2017 @ 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM at the Brainerd Chamber of Commerce facility at 224 W Washington St, Brainerd, MN 56401.

Upcoming Events: 

Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza

  • January 27, 2018
  • http://icefishing.org/
  • John WØWY to coordinate with Lt Scott Goddard and John Bowen for CWC Sherriff trailer use
  • Need an event coordinator; Mark Cross KEØLFQ volunteered at the main club meeting

Mid Minnesota 150 Sled Dog Race

CQ WPX SSB Contest March 24-25, 2018

Digital & Emergency Communications: 

UPDATE: 11/30:

  • Duluth SKYWARN link is still working: N0EO
  • EOC refit: John W0WY reported per John Bowen the EOC is still in disarray at this time. Will advise when ready for us to reactivate our station setup there.
  • John Bowen agreed to our future use of their training room as well.

Old Business: 

New Club Storage container

  • Nameplate by Tom KTØMMY with key holder info is complete and installed.
  • Inventory of Club Safety Vests is now stored there.

Webserver

  • Move Website Server computer into the new rack at Crosby.
  • Nick has a newer bigger better server… Hard Drives, (Nick/Lyle)

Club Remote Station

  • Pat WØOPW is working on a fan dipole for 80m, 40m, 20m.
  • Will need to mount and test the antenna at the high-rise when completed.

Repeater Sites:

  • Gull Lake:
    • Hardline connectors for Gull Lake. ~$35-45 7/8″ Mark originally provided, but have been used by a Radio Tower Engineer. We will need to obtain a new connector after all.
    • Technology decisions to be made: What are we going to use the site for? 440 and APRS.
    • Cabinet/Enclosure for Gull Lake Repeater equipment. (Rack mount DR1/2X, Rackmount controllers, rack mount computer, rackmount webserver) ~$900.
      • Mitch will have the treasurer place the order.
      • We will arrange for pickup to save shipping costs. Mitch will Coordinate with the vendor and either Al or John for a pickup date. 
  • Crosby:
    • Second new cabinet at Crosby (target….$) At some point in time it would be nice to have that cabinet purchased.
  • Crow Wing Power:
    • Install 3rd common Rackmount linking computer/controller/
    • When can we get this completed? Mitch has it at his house was delayed by the Gull Lake tower site work.
  • Cross Lake:
    • No new items.
  • High-rise Site:
    • No new items.

Repeater Equipment and linking :

  • Due to the firmware that is running on the Wires-X machines, we have hit a limitation with the processing power of the Latte Panda PC’s.
    • LattePanda Ebay auctions are in place (Mitch listing these for Club)
    • Minimum bids and “buy now” prices have been set.
    • Staged, multiple listing Ebay sales.
  • Mitch has developed a procedure to standardize the audio levels of the System Fusion repeaters and will allow us to set them up all the same way. We need to plan that effort out after this Wires-X test has completed.
  • We have tested a different processor including a common rack-mount PC/Wires-X system that can be replicated at each of the repeater sites and supports our common goal to have common equipment across our systems.
  • A replacement computer provided by Lyle still has the same issues
    • The Newer rack mount system PC’s (2 At Crosby are working)
    • Nick completed the third one for Crow Wing Power replacement.
  • Discussion regarding upgrade to DRX-2 systems.
    • The new model DR2-X cost would be either $300 or $500 depending upon what options we choose.
    • We do have a bad DR1 that came back from the Duluth club not working. We can send that one in for an upgrade.
    • Motion to trade in DR1X for $300.00 was made and approved at the October meeting.
    • Application has been filled out and delivered.

Misc Items:

  • Sell 10 of the Motorola 750’s?
    • These are now less popular Ron will sell on eBay
    • Ron will list for Club on ebay per October meeting motion.
  • Provide a check to Crow Wing County Fairgrounds for $200? (Goodwill gesture; We held 3 events there this year (Field Day, Tailgate Hamfest, Trailer exercise/WW CQ event)
    • John motion to pay the county for our use
    • Will present at a Crow Wing County Fairground board meeting.
  • New 2018 Club Application form is needed (Ron will provide to Mitch for posting on the website)

New Business:

  • New Club trailer heater: We would like to measure and confirm the current draw on the small club trailer heater. It does not seem to be working. Al WØRC will measure.
  • 925 DARC room request: to have a persistent (default) connection to that node. Motion presented and approved to give it a try.
  • CQ WW SSB contest: and small communications trailer exercise update:
  • https://brainerdham.org/baarc-cq-ww-dx-contest-2017/
  • October 28th-29th.
    • Crow Wing County Fairgrounds
    • Friday 7:00PM Central to Sunday 7:00PM Central
    • The CQ WW is the largest Amateur Radio competition in the world. Over 35,000 participants took to the airwaves on the last weekend of October (SSB) and November (CW) with the goal of making as many contacts with as many different DXCC entities and CQ Zones as possible.
    • BAARC results:
  • 66 countries
  • 230 contacts
  • 4 bands
  • Two Radios and Two antennas
  • VE testing: 4 new members per Al providing a class. Laurel VE worked great.

The Board Meeting was adjourned at 4:57 PM.

THURSDAY-November 30, 2017 – 7:00 PM – BAARC MEMBERSHIP MEETING MINUTES – BRAINERD FIRE STATION

The President opened the Club membership business meeting at 7 PM with 28 members and guests present. Lyle KØLFV and Mitch ADØHJ presented a very interesting program on the new digital mode, FT8. Tutorial videos were shown by Mitch and a working demonstration station was set up by Lyle using an indoor HF antenna provided by Pat WØOPW.

–Respectfully submitted by Ron KØGOP, Secretary