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Author: Thomas Murphy

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Meeting at Space Place and Zoom

Called to order at 19:30 by Steve W9GZO

Introductions & Guests
  • No guests this month.
Upgrades, Callsign Changes, and Bragging Rights

Thomas WN1C:

  • June ARRL VHF 2024: SOP, Analog 1st place WI Section, 4th place W/VE 864 points
  • WIPOTA 2024: QRP in park winner 550 points
  • California trip in October: 6 POTA references (all qualified), 4 WWFF (KFF) references (1 qualified), and 2 SOTA summits
  • POTA: James F. LaPorta N1CC Activator completed (10 parks with QSOs on 10 bands each)
  • ARRL Sweepstakes SSB: SOQRP, Limited raw score 24,304 points

Thomas AC9BJ:

  • Participated in IL QSO party in-state, Jo Daviess County
  • WIPOTA 2024: 232 QSOs, 1392 points, 3rd place in-state despite technical difficulties

Sam KI5POE: contacted South Cook Island DXpedition FT8 80m 10W

Review of September Meeting Minutes

No corrections. Nicholas KB9SKW moved to accept, Sam KI5POE seconded. No objections. Approved

Treasurer's Report

Recent transactions includes Field Day and Web Hosting reimbursements. Shoutout to an incoming donation from Dick K9APW. Checking balance of $5259.76 plus interest-accruing funds in the CD.

Sam K2PD moved to accept report, Don seconded. No objections. Approved

Review of proposed 2025 budget entries and comparison to 2024 to-date. Current budget to date shows $290.31 surplus, but with holiday party, reimbursements, and equipment expenses coming up. Future budget currently at $775 deficit due to projected equipment expenses (likely one-time). No additional discussion. Contact Andy AC9CB (ARRL.net forwarding) or treasurer@w9jz

VE Report

5 candidates - 3 new Technicians, 1 new General, 2 upgrades to General.

We are still looking for a full-time VE Liaison. Testing takes place on the first Saturday of the month, 8 am at Space Place.

Upcoming Opportunities
  • FLARC Holiday Party - December 3, 2024 at Great Dane East 6 pm!
    • Sign up by Sunday, November 24th! See the QST email list announcements.
  • Winter Field Day - January 25/26, 2025 [Matt NM9O]
  • Tri County Hamfest Jefferson WI - March 17, 2025
  • MARA Hamfest Stoughton WI - April 26, 2025
  • Dayton Hamvention Dayton OH - May 16-18, 2025
  • ARRL Summer Field Day - June 28-29, 2025
Old Business
  • 2024 Bylaws Update Proposal
    • Open for comments in the meeting. Request for potential for tracked edits, but this formatting was not available.
    • Comment from Tom W9TDP: announcement of Special Meetings do not have an advance notice requirement. Having said requirement (e.g. 7 days) is a common process. Discussion is positive toward having this added.
    • Summary of edits given. There may be additional typographical and formatting refinements.
    • Comment from Patrick KD9ZKI: 4.03 Vacancies, B "other that the president" typo
    • Final refinements will be worked through with the Board and the copy presented to the club on the email list.
  • Another reminder to sign up for the Holiday Party! We will have door prizes as well.
  • Anticipating the Winter Field Day event in Christiana, WI with indoor operating positions
New Business
  • Open Positions: Secretary, Member at large, VE Liaison (ARRL VEC), Equipment Tracking Manager, Point of Contact for Local Ham Estate Advice
  • ARRL Field Day Planning Team: Zoom meetings Jan, Mar, May
    • Interest for the committee was gathered, Zoom meetings to be arranged
    • Kevin is volunteering for BBQ
Announcements

Reminder that Board nominations coming up next month.

Program for November Meeting

Discussion of Bylaw proposals

Adjournment of Meeting

Adjourned at 20:31 with multiple motions.

 

Published on

The August 2024 Four Lakes Amateur Radio Club March membership meeting is Tuesday August 20th.

The August Fox Hunt has been deferred due to not enough hunters. Instead we will tour the Dane County Emergency Operations Center.
https://em.countyofdane.com/about
2982 Kapec Rd.
Fitchburg, WI 53719 (Google Maps)

The meeting will begin at 7:30 pm and will be both in person and virtually via Zoom. Meeting link is distributed via the club QST mailing list.

Note we will NOT be at Space Place!

Agenda
Brief Business Meeting
EOC presentation
ARES Presentation
EMCOMM Presentation
Skywarn Presentation
Radio Room Tour
How Amateur Radio fits into EOC

Attendees are also invited to attend dinner at 6 pm before the meeting. We will be at
Monkeyshines Bar & Grill.
6209 McKee Rd
Fitchburg, WI 53719 (Google Maps)

Published on

Called to order 19:31, WN1C, Vice President

Review of April Meeting Minutes

Nicholas KB9SKW moved to approve, Thomas AC9BJ seconded. No objections.

Treasurers Report

Treasurer not available, possibly due to imminent severe weather conditions.

Guests

No guests.

VE Report

No report from the Space Place session in May.

Bragging Rights/Upgrades/Call Sign Changes

KE9KOA has callsign change to N6WIS and is working on APRS with FTM-500DR, looking for input about configuration and use for free-text messaging.

WIQP 2024 results are out, our bragging for in-state operation:

  • W9S team (AC9BJ, NM9O, K8SD) took 2nd place Multi-Multi Fixed, Low Power (results correction: operated from Shawano county)
  • WN1C took 2nd place Single Op Fixed, QRP
  • As a club, Four Lakes ARC scored an aggregate 91882.5 points from 7 entries!
Upcoming Opportunities
  • Field Day June 22/23 Badger Prairie Park Verona
    • If you are interested in participating please get in touch on the FDOps list or contact Matt NM9O
    • KF9AQ will be helping with the catering
  • Northern Lights Radio Society Aurora'24 Conference Twin Cities, MN June 1, 2024 [https://nlrs.club/]
  • Horribly Hilly Hundreds Bike Event Support Blue Mounds, WI June 15, 2024 [W9TDP Tom]
    • Tom is looking for 4-5 volunteers to help, mostly at water stations. If you are interested, contact Tom via email W9TDP at ARRL.net
    • 1500 riders participate in this event, supporting the Friends of Blue Mounds State Park
    • Good radio coverage is available via VHF mostly using the SNP repeater deployed to the top of Blue Mounds State Park (where the event finish is)
  • Central States VHF Society Conference 2024 Cedar Rapids, IA July 25-27, 2024 [https://2024.csvhfs.org/]
  • Circus City Swapfest Baraboo, WI August 24, 2024
  • TREK-100 Bike Event Support Waterloo WI June 8, 2024 [W9JM John]
  • Dairyland Dare Bike Event Support August 3, 2024 [KC9IFF Luke]
  • Bike the Barns Bike Event Support September 15, 2024 [KC9UNZ Jeff]
  • Badger Challenge Bike Event Support September 22, 2024
  • Chicago Marathon Race Event Support Chicago IL October 13, 2024
Old Business

April J-Pole construction project: Nicholas KB9SKW reports a continued development effort to secure expected performance of antennas.

New Business

Board is looking for self-nominees for appointment to Secretary, VE Liaison, and Member at Large

  • Ann Reh KD9ZUE nominated for Member at Large
Announcements

No additional announcements.

Program for May Meeting

Brian Basura, N6CVO, discussing Pico-Ballooning (background, components, launch, and performance)

Adjournment of Business Meeting

Severe weather in Madison resulted in a power outage at Space Place during the course of the program at 20:30. In-person attendance including the lead of the meeting was cut off from Zoom, though the presentation seemed to carry on in due course. A hasty sign-off was provided to conclude the presentation by WN1C over cellular with Zoom on KB9SKW's phone.