Minutes - YRARC General Meeting 2017-09-05

Meeting held in the Sharon Temperance Hall. Called to Order at 19:30 by Chris VE3NRTTotal members and guests attending: 42

1. Welcome & Introductions – Chris VE3NRT. Adoption of the Minutes from the 2017/05/02 and 2017/06/06 general meeting postponed until October.
   
2. Public Service – Brian VE3IBW for Eric VE3EB. Past events included the Canada Day celebration at the Sharon Temple and the Newmarket Music Festival. We received a $600 honorarium for our participation at the music festival. Upcoming events include the Sharon Temple Illumination on September 8 and Weaving Words, also at the Sharon Temple on September 17. Run for the cure is on October 1 and we will need 10 to 14 volunteers to run this event.
   
3. Treasurer’s Report – Charles VA3TTB. Charles stressed the need to pay our dues and support the Hamfest, since we have many expenses including insurance and rental costs for the Hamfest which occur throughout the year.
   
   • Opening Balance 2017-09-01 [available to members on request to club secretary]
     
   • Income: None
     
   • Expenditures: None
     
   • Closing Balance 2017-09-01 [available to members on request to club secretary]
     
4. Hamfest – Geoff VA3GS. Our annual hamfest will be held on November 4 at the Markham Fairgrounds. This year we will use Hall 2 as the entrance as before, and this year, all exhibits will be in Hall 1. We will need lots of help, on Friday for preparation, on Saturday morning to run the event and also for tear down. When we do the cleanup, we save ourselves money.
   
5. Ham Classes – Geoff VA3GS. Information about upcoming classes – TBD.
   
6. Summer Field Day – Steve VE3UT
   
   • Steve gave a quick summary of Summer Field Day, noting that it was a success with many bands operated, more QSOs and a record breaking number of Satellite contacts. This was in spite of having to shut down early because of severe weather.
     
   • Plans are underway to hold Winter Field Day in January with details to follow.
     
   • We have been invited to attend a Scout Winter Camp, the weekend before WFD. This will be a 'low key event'.
     
   • We have also been asked to participate at a Scout JOTA camp at Woodland Trails (Kennedy Rd north of Bloomington) on October 21.
     
7. Repeaters – Steve VE3UT. The IRLP node should be working within a few weeks.
   
8. Co-ax and 6m Net – Johnn VA3JI. John has some 7/8” Heliax available, and would also be willing to reactivate the 6m Net if there is sufficient interest.
   
9. ARES / EmComm – John VE3IPS, Mike VA3MCT. There is a GTA SET on Saturday October 14. York Region will be holding an emergency exercise on Wednesday and Thursday November 15 and 16. The scenario will involve a simulated 5 day power outage and will be at the Markham EOC. Check-ins are encouraged during the event.
   
10. Co-ax and TV tower – Doug VE3VS. Doug has some co-ax and TV tower sections available.
    

Break 20:30 – 20:45 Guest Speaker Grant VE3XTV – “Amateur TV Repeaters”. Grant talked about his amateur TV repeaters. He has plans for a hybrid analogue/digital repeater and spoke about some of the challenges and potential obstacles in getting his repeater up and running. For the moment the repeater input would accept analogue signals, and the repeater output would be a digital signal. Much of the equipment used would be old broadcast equipment, available at bargain prices, along with some custom made items. Future plans are for an all digital repeater.

Meeting adjourned at 21:30.