II. Introductions & Upgrades
No visitors were introduced.
The
following upgrades were announced:
Ray
KD8CXY – Amateur Extra
Joel KC8DQH – Amateur Extra
Scott
W1BIC – Certificate of Completion Element 3
Ray W8PIE –
Certificate of Completion Element 3
It is
anticipated that the effective date for “No Code” General Status will be
23-Feb-07. After that date, an Amateur
who passes Element 3 will be upgraded to General Class.
Copies of the minutes from the 19-Dec-06 meeting were available at the meeting and on the GMARC Web Site. Motion to approve the December Minutes by Dave WD8IFL and seconded by Eddie N8RUE. Motion passed.
IV. Treasurer’s Report
Joel KC8DQH, our new Treasurer, reported that the GMARC Bank Account at TCF
Bank has been transferred to him, and new signature cards have been
signed. The January bank balance is
$979.89, and there is a pending deposit of receipts from the December meeting
of $452.50. The total bank balance as of
this meeting is $1,432.39. It was noted
that the $25.00/month electricity fee for the WW8GM repeaters has been paid
thru March, 2007.
Motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report by Scott W1BIC and seconded by Mike N5WCS. Motion passed.
V. Membership Report by Bobby N8CY
We have 73 members in good standing, and 40 have also paid their 2007 dues (including
those noted below). The following
members paid their 2007 dues at his meeting:
N8RUE
- Eddie
WD8IFL - Dave
DL5AL - Ingo
KZ8N – Bob
W8WRB – Bill
KC8WPS - Mark
VI. Nets and Newsletter (Discussion)
Dave W8RIT has resigned as the Editor of The Transmission Line.
Kurt WU8V agreed to be the interim Newsletter Editor until a
permanent Editor can be found. It will
be necessary for W8RIT to provide copies of the MS Publisher .pub files from previous editions of
the Club Newsletter in order to maintain continuity of format for the
Newsletter.
Kurt WU8V
noted that he does not have a spreadsheet from W8RIT that shows net check-ins
for 2006.
VII. Club Liaison Report
Mike N5WCS reported that the Hazel
Park Swap will be Sunday, 21-Jan-07.
Talk-in on W8HP repeater 146.640 MHz.
Scott W1BIC reported that the
Milford ARC has provided a free table to GMARC for their Swap on 21-Apr
-07.
VIII. Tech Committee Report
Jeff N8XN was not present, and no report was given.
IX. Old Business
It was noted that Brad N8VI was the
Program Director. This position is open
and needs to be filled.
The subject of a proposed EchoLink® policy for GMARC (from the December
meeting) was brought up. Al N8ARO
drafted a proposed policy as he agreed to do in December. This proposed policy has been available on
the Club Web Site since 22-Dec-06, and copies of this proposal were available
at the meeting. There was considerable
discussion about the meaning of certain section of the policy, and a few
revisions were made. A final version of
this policy was agreed on and a motion was made by Bob KZ8N and seconded by
Brad N8VI to accept the revised policy as written. Motion passed.
X. President's Remarks
President Ingo DL5AL stated that he intends to call a Board of Directors’ meeting prior to the next General Membership meeting, and notice will be given to Directors and to the Membership.
XI. New Business
Kurt WU8V made several suggestions for program at future meetings:
■
2-meter Tune-up
Night – WU8V stated that he will need some equipment; e.g. deviation meter,
power supply, mag-mount antenna, etc. He requested that members who can make such
equipment available contact him via eMail at WU8V@gmarc.org
■
CW Night – WU8V
suggested that we explore some interesting aspects of CW at a meeting and
perhaps have a “Left Toe CW Contest” as an entertaining interlude.
The
50/50 raffle winner was Mike N5WCS - $17.00.
The
donations to the Coffee Fund by those present were $5.00.
XIII.
Presentation – EchoLink® 101 by Bobby N8CY
Bobby N8CY made a presentation of
various aspects of EchoLink®, and its use on the WW8GM 443.075 MHz repeater. The presentation covered basic registration
and set-up of the EchoLink®
software, and a general discussion about other Voice over IP (VoIP) applications in Amateur Radio; e.g. iLink, IRLP, eQSO, and Wires-II (Yaesu). It was noted
that EchoLink® is the most pervasive application
with over 194,000 registered users in 162 of the 193 Nations on Planet
Earth. EchoLink® was developed by Jonathan Taylor -
K1RFD in 2002, and he received the Dayton HamVention
Achievement Award in 2003 for his work.
N8CY reviewed the EchoLink® command codes specific to the GMARC repeaters, and it was noted that
(specific to the WW8GM repeater) all commands are preceded by a “ # ”. The presentation also included information
about various interfaces that can be used for EchoLink® in SysOp
mode, or for operation of a transceiver in many of the Digital Modes; e.g.
PSK31, PACTOR, etc. The popular
interfaces reviewed were the WB2REM iLink Board, West
Mountain Radio RIGblaster interface, and VA3TO
Enhanced iLink Controller. Internet Links for Software, Computer / Radio
Interfaces, building you own Interface, and the Dayton HamVention
Award were provided.
Six (6) members, as noted above, paid their 2007 dues at this meeting.
23 Members
attended, and there were no Visitors.
Total
Collections to be delivered to the Treasurer:
Membership
Dues - $120.00
50/50 Raffle - 17.00
Pizza
Donations - 5.00
Total
-- $142.00
XVI.
Meeting adjourned at 8:57 PM. Motion by Scott W1BIC, seconded by Wes
KD8DHS. Motion passed.
Respectfully
submitted,
Bobby Corr N8CY,
Secretary –
GMARC
N8CY@gmarc.org
Revised: 20-Feb-07