Month: March 2019

Called to order at 19:30 by Frederick W9GOC.

Minutes
Read by Andy AC9CB, no corrections.

Treasurer's Report
Checking Balance: $4,914.51

Recent Income:
Dues (February 20th Counter Deposit)
$50.00
Dues (March 12th PayPal Transfer)
$45.00

Recent Expenses:
WFD Generator Gas
$11.20
2019 Website Hosting
$68.04
Thank You Card
$2.84
PayPal Fees
$1.91

Pending Expenses:
2018 Website Hosting

I would like to close 2018 finances soon. Please be sure to submit any receipts for reimbursement.

Guests
KB9NIV - Dick
KD9MFZ - John, recently licensed Technician, got interested with using DMR system at work
KD9MRB - Eric, Technician at start of the month, here to learn more. Grandfather was into Amateur Radio. Has Kenwood TS-850 in parent's basement
KD9MRD - Chuck, Inspired by FLARC in the 1960s and a Novice. Came to meet folks
KD9MKM - Fritz, just got his General, no radio yet.
Daniel Arndt, representing himself in regards to food for hamfests/events

Bragging
Nick, KD9MIF contacted New Zealand on Saturday - 6:30AM. Was hearing Australia on 40M SSB and caught a TW call.
Matt, KD9DZT contacted Last Man Standing station via D-Star. Today, Uganda and Togo
Tom Pugh - 40M reached Eastern Europe from Florida

WI QSO Party
4 people participated
Sam reports band conditions were pretty good

Call sign changes and upgrades
Nick, KD9MIF - New Extra this month!!!

VE Report
3 Technician, 1 General and 2 Extra at March session

Upcoming classes
At least 20 people are signed up for the Technician class which will be the last weekend of March - 30-31. We will take all comers, so please

Announcements
Tom Pugh - Has taken volunteer coordination for Horribly Hilly Hundreds - June 15th in Western Dane and Iowa Counties. Please contact Tom Pugh, W9TDP or the club if interested. Equipment is available if you need to borrow.

Sam, Tour de Cure. 27 July. Looking for help as well. Quite a bit flatter course.

Bike the Barns will be happening September 15th (Sunday), but we will not know where it will happen until a bit closer to the event.

MARA Hamfest - April 13, doors open at 8 to noon. Tables are still available. Danny will have food available. VE Testing at 10am.

This Saturday there is a Hamfest in Milwaukee at the Elks Club across from HRO. Doors likely

Buck Night
KA9SRM - Gary

Presentation
Dano's Chef Service - Daniel Arndt local private chef from Stoughton would like to provide service for Field Day and open for other events. Currently catering for the MARA hamfest.
Question - Can you accommodate vegetarian meals? Yes, can do options.
How many meals - Betsy replied Dinner and smaller Breakfast
Funding - over past few years we have asked for $7 per participant to cover costs. Prior to that the club had covered costs fully.
Dano will work on a couple options and get in touch regarding.

Q&A Session
KD9MRD - Question on safety of radio in a car
WA9D - May be doing an antenna party in the near future
KD9MRD - Just put up antenna with wife and had some interesting time communicating how a guy wire works

Called to order at 19:30 by Frederick W9GOC.

Minutes
Read by Thomas AC9BJ, two corrections.

Treasurer's Report
Checking Balance: $4,903.50

Recent Income:
Dues (February 4th PayPal Transfer)
$100.00
Dues (February 18th Deposit)
$20.00

Recent Expenses:
2019 Liability Insurance
$215.00
PayPal Fees
$4.12

Pending Expenses:
2018 Website Hosting

I would like to close 2018 finances soon. Please be sure to submit any receipts for reimbursement.

Guests
Nick KD9MIF - new ham
Kyle KC9SDK - Wisconsin Section Emergency Coordinator, also President of WECOMM

Bragging
Mathew T contacted South Africa on 20M SSB - first time contacting.
- Also picked up Guantanamo Bay during winter field day
Barry K8SD contacted Guam.
Sam KG9NG went to Quartzite. At Quartzite, Icom gave away an IC-9700 because there were over 1,000 hams on-site.
Kyle picked up some SSTV from the ISS this past weekend. - an image from the Hubble telescope, one from the Mars lander, and one of the space shuttle. It takes about 180 seconds to receive an image.

Call sign changes and upgrades
Fritz is now KD9MKM - Technician class

VE Report
1 Technician and 1 Extra
Next session is March 2nd

Winter Field Day
Setup went well.
There were two end-fed half-waves in a perpendicular configuration.
Only four stations this time, in a diamond configuration so people could see each other.
There were visitors of varying ages and licensures.
All of the radios were operated off a battery rather than a generator - approximately two-thirds of the battery was consumed.
Lessons learned will be applied to Summer Field Day.
There was a magnetic whiteboard used for sign-in and in/out tracking.
Band conditions were "OK", but we made roughly the same number of contacts as last year.
There was a noise generator which was located and shut off, which improved the noise floor.
We like the Christiana Town Hall very much.

Upcoming Classes
The last weekend of March - 30-31 - there will probably be a Technician Class class, as there has been sufficient interest expressed.

Announcements
The MARA D-STAR repeater's hard drive failed. After a full re-install, the repeater is now back on. 145.305 is the frequency.
If you have registered to the MARA D-STAR repeater, please do not re-register; your information is in the cloud.
Yaesu Fusion is available on the 147.150 repeater, but it's not on the network.
The next MARA meeting is March 11, in the UW Space Place at 19:30. Seating is available.

The Wisconsin ARES/RACES annual conference is October 19th.
The same venue as last year in the McMillin Public Library in Wisconsin Rapids.

Tricounty Ham Fest March 17th, 2019
April 13, MARA Hamfest, Stoughton
The MARA vendor form is now available.

Buck Night
Eldon NK9U, James Madison

Presentation
Video on the 2015 K1N Navassa Island DXpedition