General Meeting Minutes - 2014-10-07

Meeting held at the Sharon Temperance Hall. The meeting was called to order at 19:30. Chaired by Chris VE3NRT. 41 members and 3 guests in attendance.

1. The agenda for the meeting was presented by Chris VE3NRT (attachment #1)
   
2. News – Chris VE3NRT reported that
   
   • Aurora is getting LED lighting
     
   • Aurora council adopted a new tower protocol
     
   • W1AW moving to Virginia, Missouri, and the Mariana Islands at 0000Z
     
3. Project Night – Brad VE3HII discussed / proposed a microcontroller project night. Please contact Brad if you are interested in participating.
   
4. Financial Report – John VA3JI presented the financial report (Attachment #2).
   
   • Closing Balance August 31st [available to members upon request to Secretary]
     
   • Income (Dues and Hamfest) $1,140.00
     
   • Disbursements (Field Day, Trailer, Misc) $745.36
     
   • Closing balance Sept 30th $15,608.19
     
   • Income (Dues and Hamfest) $837.00
     
   • Disbursements (Fees) $8.21
     
   • Balance as of Oct 7th [available to members upon request to Secretary]
     
   • Motion 2014-10-07-01 by John VA3JI to accept the report, seconded by Geoff VA3GS. Motion carried.
     
5. Minutes of the last meeting:
   
   • Motion 2014-10-07-02 by Geoff VA3GS to accept the minutes of the last general meeting, seconded by Brad VE3HII. Motion carried.
     
6. Field Day Report – Steve VE3UT reported that
   
   • The field day trophy (broken coffee pot award), now has proper plaques installed to record the winners
     
   • Anyone interested in participating in the winter field day event contact him so that he can gauge interest among the club
     
7. Repeater report – Steve VE3UT reported that the repeater committee needs members who have the technical skills to support our repeaters. He provided an update (attachment #3) on the projects underway as follows:
   
   • Communications trailer – Work is underway to tune the duplexer previously installed in Richmond Hill to the new frequency pair. The repeater will also need to be programmed to the new frequency.
     
   • Tower trailer – repeater needs to be installed and tuned. There will need to be a budget approved to purchase materials required (antenna and feedline) and to cover any repairs necessary.
     
   • Tentatively planning to increase the power of the YRK/B D-Star UHF repeater to 75W in the next 2 or 3 weeks
     
   • Looking into the feasibility of a linked UHF repeater in Georgina to improve coverage
     
8. Public service – Eric VE3EB thanked those who volunteered to support the CIBC Run for the Cure and highlighted the concern that the club was short of a full complement of volunteers to support the event. Eric VE3EB asked if the club planned to enter the Newmarket Santa Clause parade. Chris VE3NRT confirmed that the club will support the event. Plans are also underway to support the Bradford Santa Clause parade.
   
9. EMCOMM – Russell VE3WTR reported that
   
   • YRARC served as emergency dispatch to EMS, St John Ambulance, and YRP again this year at the Markham fair. The communications trailer was deployed to the event
     
   • He is working to secure a parking space for the tower trailer at Bales Road site.
     
   • EMCOMM group is looking for more volunteers to act as site owners
     
   • Richmond Hill council has indicated they can fund an amateur radio equipment installation at their site. A volunteer is needed to take the EMCOMM lead with Richmond Hill.
     
10. Hamfest report – Geoff VA3GS reported that set up will start at 1pm on Friday Oct 31st. On Saturday vendors will arrive at 6:30am. Yaesu will be presenting Saturday morning. Volunteers are needed.
    

After the break at 8:06pm Doug VE3VS presented Fox Island Activation (Canadian Islands on the Air - CISA) and Steve VE3EZ presented Durham’s Next Gen Regional radio upgrade project. The meeting adjourned at approximately 21:41

6m Net - February 17, 2014

Just 5 of us this time, with Mike VE3FGU in the North and Chris VE3NRT at the South end for a longest path of 27km. Rob VE3RQB joined us for the first time having cobbled together a Bazooka running from inside his shack, and was copied at 5x1 by Chris VE3NRT but well over S9 by Mike. John VA3JI and Brian VE3IBW were all clearly audible which allowed for some casual conversation before signing off at 8:25.



After the net Chris and Brian had their first successful QSO with digital voice using FreeDV.

Chris, VE3NRT