YRARC General Meeting Minutes - 2015-12-01

Meeting held in the Sharon Temperance Hall. Called to Order at 19:30 by Chris VE3NRT. Total members and guests attending: 36

1. Welcome & Introductions – Chris VE3NRT
   
2. Adoption of Minutes from the 2015 November general meeting postponed until January.
   
3. Treasurer’s Report – John VA3JI. The next report will be at the January meeting.
   
4. Membership Report – Alf VA3BLE. To date 67 members have paid.
   
5. EmComm Report – Don VE3IXJ. The SET exercise was held on November 7 at two locations, the Regional Headquarters and the trailer in Schomberg. VE3TWR was the control channel. The cross band radio at the Regional Headquarters worked well to communicate from within the EOC to the trailer in Schomberg.
   
   • Using simplex frequencies to communicate with adjacent ARES groups did not work.
     
   • Other groups do not use the same pre-programmed memory channels as YRARC.
     
6. Repeater Committee Report – Steve VE3UT and Chris VE3NRT
   
   • The current repeaters are working well.
     
   • We have been approached by an existing repeater operator who would be receptive to us using the site and repeater pair for a Yaesu System Fusion 2m repeater. The site is located in Uxbridge on a police tower. Yaesu is currently offering a repeater at $500US until the end of the year. There are drawbacks to the proposal since there is a co-channel US repeater with coverage reaching the GTA. The repeater is built with 2 mobiles back to back, and reportedly not robust and may need to be run a half power. It was decided not to proceed with the proposal.
     
   • The IRLP/Echolink will be working soon.
     

Meeting adjourned at 20:00 Moved by Barry VA3LLT, seconded by Nicholas VE3NJV. Carried. The annual Christmas party followed the business meeting.

General Meeting Minutes - 2015-11-03

Meeting held in the Sharon Temperance Hall.Called to Order at 19:30 by Chris VE3NRT. Total members and guests attending: 45

1. Welcome & Introductions – Chris VE3NRT
   
2. Adoption of Minutes from the general meetings 2015/09/01 and 2015/10/06, both motions moved by Rick VA3VO and seconded by Rob VE3RQB. Carried.
   
3. Treasurer’s Report – John VA3JI.
   
   • Expenditures: $1094.04 insurance, $1415.00 hamfest
     
   • Revenue: $1555.88 hamfest, $335.00 dues
     
   • Balance at 2015/10/31 [available to members upon request to club Secretary].
     
   • Moved to adopt the Treasurer's report John VA3JI, seconded Garrett VA3PYP. Carried.
     
4. Membership Report – Alf VA3BLE: To date 62 members have paid.
   
5. Public Service Report – Eric VE3EB: We need someone to haul the trailer for the Newmarket parade on Nov 14 and the Aurora parade on Nov 21. No other events are planned until Spring.
   
6. EmComm Report – Don VE3IXJ
   
   • Don attended a York Region training event on Oct 21 with regional officials. Topics included problems with interoperability between various emergency services, dealing with terrorist activities and gun related violence.
     
   • There will be a SET exercise on Nov 7.
     
   • We received a cheque for $1000 from the Lake Simcoe REACT group, via Ron McCracken KG4CVL, in support of EmComm activities.
     
7. Repeater Committee Report – Steve VE3UT and Chris VE3NRT
   
   • The 6m repeater was unlinked just prior to the hamfest, and relinked to the other repeaters after the hamfest to avoid unnecessary use of the 6m repeater. The battery backup project is underway.
     
   • The Echolink/IRLP upgrade project is progressing. We now have an interface cable for the Raspberry Pi and the Echolink board is now ready. The D-STAR network issues have been resolved.
     
8. Hamfest Report – Geoff VA3GS: The Hamfest was Saturday October 31. Approximately 600 members of the public attended and 150 vendors participated. Setup time was about 2 hours and tear-down time was 2 plus hours. Move details to follow.
   
9. Other Business
   
   • Doug VE3VS and Rob VA3RBM have activated 2 more islands. Island ON-298 is Narrows Island (FN04dt66), near the outlet of Glouchester Pool on the Trent-Severn waterway. 26 40m contacts were made. Island ON-299 is Darling Island (FN04dt75) near Narrows Island. 38 40m contacts were made. (It was noted that Doug should also activate island 300.)
     
   • Doug VE3VS reported the results of exams held at the hamfest. 7 people took the basic exam and 1 person took the advanced exam. 7 of the 8 passed.
     

Break: 20:10 Guest Speaker: Dave VE3KCL spoke about Amateur Radio High Altitude Balloons.

• Weather balloons are expensive. They are latex balloons, are filled with helium, carry a payload of several kg, and continue to rise until the balloon eventually explodes.
  
• Amateur balloons are more moderately priced. They are mylar coated which prevents the balloon from expanding after being inflated, are filled with hydrogen which is cheaper than helium, are limited to a much lighter payload, and rise to approximately 8 to 10 km.
  
• Due to the restricted payload, only a lightweight processor (Arduino Nano), GPS module, fine gauge antenna (reinforced) solar cells and battery could be used.
  For more information see: http://qrp-labs.com/ultimate3/ve3kcl-balloons.html