YRARC General Meeting - February 3, 2015

Meeting held at the Sharon Temperance Hall. The meeting was called to order at 19:30. Chaired by Chris VE3NRT. 32 members and 2 guests in attendance

1. Adoption of the minutes. There was no motion to adopt the minutes of the last meeting due to the late publication
   
2. Winter Field Day – Steve VE3UT
   
   • Steve VE3UT reported that there was a surplus of $52.80 to be returned to the treasurer
     
   • Chris VE3NRT reported that he is working on the scoring and will make an announcement when completed
     
   • Steve VE3UT submitted a report summarizing what went well and what went wrong (Attachment #1)
     
   • John VE3POJ announced that the Polar Bear Car Rally will be held Saturday and Sunday Feb 21 and 22nd near Bancroft. Amateur radio operators are needed at each check point
     
3. Emcomm – Russell VA3WTR
   
   • Emcomm has asked the club to consider an offer available from Yaesu, which combines a Fusion Repeater and 6 HTs for $500.00 USD. The deadline for the offer is March 31
     
   • REOC Drill is coming up on Feb 9th at York Regional Headquarters in Newmarket. This drill involves setting up the EMC and testing / updating equipment.
     
   • Courses in emergency management will be offered again by the region to Emcomm members. Russell VA3WTR will post a schedule.
     
4. Repeaters – Steve VE3UT
   
   • VE3YRA is back on the air. The antenna position was changed which has resulted in better coverage to the north. Coverage in Georgina is improved.
     
   • VE3YRC-UHF is off the air. There are issues with the link radio and the controller. The controller is very old, and is malfunctioning. A new controller will cost $499.00 USD plus shipping. Purchase of a new controller will be discussed at the next board meeting.
     
   • Chris VE3NRT reported an issue with the VE3YRK D-Star registration page and gateway. Similar issues have been reported in Vancouver. The solution requires a complete reload of the system software and configuration. However, the current system uses 10 year old software which is no longer supported, and prevents us from installing the latest patches in the operating system. To resolve the issue and get the system running current software, Chris VE3NRT will migrate VE3YRK away from the US Trust Registration system and run the g2_link software which is part of the free*star system . There will be limited impact to users and there is no cost to change.
     
5. Doug VE3VS presented a short summary of the DXpedition to Navassa Island which is presently underway and is planned to be in operation for another 8-10 days. The last time amateur operators were allowed on the island was 1993. It is not expected to be on the air again for 25-30 years.
   
6. Doug VE3VS presented the “YRARC Field Day Melted Pot Award” to Steve VE3UT. Steve VE3UT and Geoff VA3GS were awarded the Melted Pot Award at Field Day last year. Doug VE3VS volunteered his time to craft a wooden Trophy featuring the burnt element from the melted coffee pot. Special thanks were extended to Doug VE3VS for taking the time to build such a beautiful trophy for the Club.
   
7. Don VE3IXJ presented a new HT (TYT-DM-UVF10) that he has been experimenting with. This is an analogue and DPMR Digital radio that sells for $85.00 USD plus shipping. The radio supports individual calling, group call, all call, short message services (SMS) messaging, and GPS (although Don does not recommend purchasing the GPS option due to weak performance of the GPS receiver).
   
8. Meeting adjourned at 21:26pm