St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club
Minutes of Monthly Meeting for Friday, September 6, 2024
The meeting was called to order at 19:31
The club officers and board members in attendance were:
- AA2MF – Richie (President)
- AB4YI – Carol (Vice President)
- W7WMS – Will (Treasurer)
- KF4TYA – Bruce (Acting Secretary/Newsletter Editor)
- N4GD – Dee (Board Member/Repeater Maintenance Manager)
- KR4U – Dave (Club Station W4GAC Trustee)
- KI4UIP – John (Board Member)
The president mentioned that the meetings are recorded for accuracy and the recordings are archived. He further mentioned that these recordings are not distributed.
The presentation/program for this meeting was a Panel of Experts to answer all membership questions, related to various topics. The panel members were:
- Ed, NZIQ – EchoLink
- Richie, AA2MF – Antennas
- Tom, NY4I – Networking
The presentation went for approximately 45 minutes with a total sixteen questions asked of the panel pertaining to a practically even distribution on the aforementioned topics
The 50/50 Jackpot was $28 and Chuck, WB4AIZ was the winner of that cash.
The Business portion of the meeting was called to order at 20:46
Club Treasurer, Will, W7WMS gave the monthly Treasurer’s Report, and the membership approved the Treasurer’s Report by a majority vote.
Acting Club Secretary, Bruce, KF4TYA submitted the minutes for the August 2024 meeting. The minutes for that meeting were posted on the club’s website.
Club Treasurer, Will, W7WMS in his Membership Report, reported that the window has opened for early payment of 2025 dues.
Repeater Maintenance Manager, Dee, N4GD reported that the 220 MHz repeater has lost its preamp and is currently down. He is looking to get a replacement transmitter for the 220 MHz repeater as well. Dee further reported that the 2-meter and 440 MHz repeaters are functioning normally at this time.
Tom, W4CU was not present at the meeting but it was mentioned that he has stepped down from his prior post as Activities Coordinator. He is now the Head of Station Maintenance
David, KR4U, Club Station – W4GAC Trustee – reported that everything is working properly, thus no issues at this time.
Carol, AB4YI, Club Station – W4TA Trustee – reported that all QSOs from Field Day 2024 have been updated to QRZ and Logbook of the World.
SPARC has a new Events/Activities Coordinator, Paul, KA4IOX. Paul introduced himself to the membership.
He reported the following:
• There is a RTTY Contest that is going from 9/27/24 @20:00 through 9/29/24 @20:00
o No prior signup required – signup or walk-in, either are ok. Signup is recommended if you want
to operate in a certain time slot
o Discussed Opon screens to have contacts credited to a specific operator
o Need to use Op-on to get credit
o New operators are welcome
o If you wish, you may bring your own refreshments
o Comfortable chairs are available upon request
• The club will probably partake in a CW contest at some point.
Bruce, KF4TYA, SPARC Gap editor, mentioned that he is still waiting on the newsletter from April 2024 to be distributed to the membership. Ed, NZ1Q advised that he is waiting on receipt of the newsletter to post on the website and Facebook page. Bruce, KF4TYA will furnish photos from the presentations for August and September. Additionally, he mentioned that he is always looking for volunteers and article submissions.
Charles, W4PBB gave the results of the last VE Testing session on August 2024 as Pat AAØO was not present.
The results were as follows:
Two new Technicians from two applicants
Richie, AA2MF mentioned attempting to get new hams by partnering with local schools to have a mentoring program.
• The program would allow the students to use the club station.
• The program would have to be under the supervision of the schools/school officials (eg: a teacher)
• Ideally, the school supervisor should be licensed or get licensed
Additionally, Charles, W4PBB mentioned an Amateur Radio program at USF that is currently in place and furnished the website: bulls.connect.usf.edu (USF Ham Radio)It was also proposed that there would be training after each net. The training would entail teaching people high
speed copying of callsigns for contesting.
New Business
Will, W7WMS mentioned that the ARRL has requested that its logo be removed from any and all club logos.
• Dave, K4DRW designed several replacement club logos
o All of the new designs except one had the State of Florida map in the place where the ARRL
logo once was o A couple of color schemes were introduced in addition to the Florida map
• The membership overwhelmingly voted on design #1, which was the yellow-on-yellow color scheme with the State of Florida map in the place of the ARRL logo
• Thank you, Dave, K4DRW for the new designs.
The club station will remain open before club meetings for those who are interested.
The revision of the club’s by-laws remains a work in progress at this time
Bruce, KF4TYA raised an interest in new, more ergonomic/comfortable chairs for the club station. While Paul, KA4IOX agreed with this, he mentioned that space may be an issue. He further mentioned that there are a handful of more ergonomic chairs for use, upon request. He also mentioned that members are welcome to bring their own chairs as well, to use during contests.
***This was missed at the 9/6/24 meeting***
Richie, AA2MF established a Nominating Committee on 9/9/24, appointing Hal, W1EES as the Chairperson
The Business Meeting was adjourned at 21:17
73’s
Respectfully Submitted,
Bruce H. Solov, KF4TYA