October 2017 Meeting
Presenting the Treasurer's Report
Talking things over
Taking a break between the Board and Regular Meetings
Club meeting came to order at 19:32
Alan T won the 50/50 Raffle and donated the winnings back to the club.
Linda reported that she is now Cancer FREE! and celebrated as the members gave her a round of applause.
Gerald is back to normal activities after having a stent placed. Glad to have you here!
Old Business;
The repeater change is scheduled for Wednesday October 18th. Bill will be at the Audubon ER Security Desk at 6:30 on Wednesday for those club members interested in participating in seeing the repeater and observing the Mode Select change and reducing the Squelch Tail setting.
Kentucky QSO Party is November 11th 9 am Eastern to 9 PM Eastern Time
Winter Field Day is January 27 & 28.
New Business;
Net Control for the following Dates were set.
Retiree Net - 10:00 AM
10/18 Bill K4QFE
10/25 Bill K4QFE
11/01 Bill K4QFE
11/08 Bill K4QFE
Club Net - 8:30 PM (Analog)
10/19 Bill KC4ZMZ
10/26 Linda KM4IX
11/02 Marc KC4FJR
11/09 Alan KF4EFI
2 Meter SSB Upper Club Net - 9:05 PM (Analog)
10/19 Bill KC4ZMZ
10/26 Linda KM4IX
11/02 Robert KF4TYF
11/09 Alan KF4EFI
Nominations for Officers and Board were opened by Alan. After discussion when no new nominations were presented, the nominations were closed and the current officers and 2016-2017 board were elected by acclimation.
President Alan Tooley KF4EFI 2018
Vice President Eddie Hall K4EDH 2018
Secretary Greg Gawron WX8V 2018
Treasurer Marc Feld KG4FJR 2018
Board Jim Vaughan K4TXK 2018-2019
Board Ted Sims AI4LV 2018-2019
Board Robert Smith KF4TYF 2018-2019
Board Bill Tooley K4QFE 2018-2019
Two Board Members and the Past President will continue in their present position.
Board Bob Bauer KC4HM 2017-2018
Board Bill Shive, Jr KC4ZMZ 2017-2018
Past President Don Hoover WS4E
Program;
Dan KF2HP, brought his new UTC/Local Time/Timer project to share with the club. Dan stated that he has in the past used two wall clocks for UTC and Local Time and had to keep track of ten minute intervals for station identifications.
Recently he experimented with an Arduino micro processor to give him better control of time display and a timer for Station ID.
Dan assembled the following for the project;
· Arduino
· GPS Shield
· I2C interface (uses Clock and Data Lead)
· LCD for UTC Time Display
· LCD for Local Time Display
· LCD for a 10 minute count down time display
· Switch for timer reset
· LED goes on when GPS time acquired and then flashes when timer gets to zero.
· Buzzer for timer (buzzes when timer gets to zero)
· 5 Volt Power Supply
· Plastic box
The GPS gets time information from satellites in synchronous orbit which the Arduino then uses to display time and timer information on the displays. Dan said the hardest part was determining which Arduino Library programs to use and to get the I2C set correctly for the three LCD units.
The presentation was well received by the group. John will work with Dan to get his design up on the W4CN web site.
Bill, KC4ZMZ demonstrated his openSPOT, a standalone digital radio IP gateway / hotspot.
Supports DMR (Brandmeister, DMRplus), D-Star (DCS, REF/DPlus, XRF/DExtra, XLX) and System Fusion (FCS, YSFReflector) networks.
You can talk with a C4FM radio on DMR, and with your DMR radio on System Fusion networks
Works without a computer. No additional hardware required.
Web interface for configuration and monitoring.
The 70 cm unit is about 239 dollars.
During the demo Bill talked to Chris KC4CFX in Raleigh NC. The connection was through the World Talk Group. Bill said there are various talk groups that can be logged into, depending on one's interest.
Other vendors have similar units including a DB4 Mini for about 125 dollars.
The group discussed the noisy AC line at Fairdale Fire House. Linda will ask her son to check this noise to see if it is in the LG&E transformer serving the firehouse
Meeting Adjourned at 8:43 PM
Respectfully Submitted,
John Miller, Acting Secretary
KB3QAT
A little time for meeting with old and new friends
Meeting Attendees
October 13, 2017 Webmasters Report
The W4CN.ORG Welcome Page appears cluttered and contains duplicated information and information that may be better presented on other pages. All Recommendations Approved by the Board
Welcome Page Recommendation:
Event information is presented on the following pages; Welcome, Club Events and Calendar
All dates with minimal information goes on the Calendar
Detail continues on the Welcome Page under "Up Coming 2017 Events"
Delete the Club Events Page
Duplicate information on the club is on the Welcome Page and on the About Us Page
Delete duplicate information from Welcome Page
Consolidate information on the About Us Page
Ham Radio News, Propagation and Ham Contests may be better served on a separate page
Create New Page - "Ham Radio News" containing Ham Radio News and Propagation
Move Ham Contests to the top of the Contesting Page
New page will be in the first position in the About Ham Radio
Move McMahan Fire Department and Meeting information to the About Us Page
Keep ARTS Club Sponsored Weekly Nets on the Welcome Page
Delete Amateur License Testing from the page as it already is on another page
Delete ARTS Club Calendar the page as it already is on another page
Club Services Page Recommendation:
Move information to the About Us Page
Delete Club Services Page
W4CN Repeater Page - W4CN Repeater Auto Feed - Does Not Work. When I go to Broadcastify.com, their site shows our repeater offline. Check with Don Hoover
Questions
ARTS Gear - Are we supposed to have something to purchase from CaffePress.Com? - Not Required as we do not need this link
Is the following event correct? - Yes
Every December the ARTS club celebrates the holiday season it’s own little way… A WHITE ELEPHANT GIFT EXCHANGE! Each person brings one wrapped radio related gift and takes home another. Sometimes the gifts are cool, sometimes they’re funny and sometimes it’s just plain sad. BUT,… It’s never boring! Gift exchange starts at 7:30pm
Has the repeater change been completed? No, scheduled for the 18th
Who is responsible for answering the questions to the board as submitted by the Contact Us Form from our web page? And how do the rest of us know who has taken the lead on the email? Check with Greg
John
KB3QAT