ORANGE COUNTY RADIO AMATEURS
Monthly Membership Meeting – November 9, 2020 – 7:30 pm
Platforms Utilized: OCRA UHF Repeater and Zoom

Minutes

MEETING CONVENED AT 7:30 PM
N1LN (Bruce): Introduction and General Remarks- Good evening all. I am again serving as host this evening in place of W4SAR, David, our club president who is still occupied with family issues. While he may check in this evening, we can expect him to be back with us regularly again by the December meeting. Additionally, please keep in mind the following points:

• The majority of the membership present at this meeting are participating through the OCRA UHF repeater which may time-out occasionally.
• This is not an ARES net so I will be using my own call sign.
• Some of our members do not have VHF/UHF equipment and will be joining us via Zoom.
• Irrespective of which platform you use, please check into the net using phonetics so that your call may be accurately included on the meeting roster.

KR4UB (Dan) has posted and mailed out the agenda for tonight’s meeting. It includes (1) a formal check-in, (2) general remarks, (3) reports from our treasurer, repeater gurus, our holiday party chairperson and (4) A round-table during which all members will have an opportunity to report on their ongoing and new radio-related activities since our last meeting. During this part of the meeting all attendees are strongly encouraged to present their ideas for future club presentations and projects.

Finally, please be aware that video and audio generated at this meeting is being recorded so that information presented can be accurately included in meeting minutes.

MEMBER CHECK-IN:

• OCRA VHF/UHF REPEATER: N1LN (Bruce),KU4GC (Dee), W4ORD (Lad), KA1HPM (Nick), KM4MBG (Jack), KF4PAB (Lenore), KZ1X (Steve), N2XZF (Paul), KN4ZHP (Mike), KO4DHJ (Ken), KR4UB (Dan), W4BOH (Wilson), KX4P (John), KN4BTI (Mark), KA5ETS (Doug), N4JQR (JR) KM4JZA (Mike), KN4JYP (Cathy), WB1AJJ (Jon), KI4RAN (Bill)
• VIA ZOOM: N8BR (Bill), NA4VY (Dave), KN4QBZ (Fred), and KR4UB (Dan)

TREASURER’S REPORT (Dan KR4UB): Current Club Membership stands at 114 (87 current active paid up members, 27 requiring renewal). 22 new members have been added during the past 12 months.

REPEATER REPORTS:
KR4UB (Dan), KA1HPM (Nick), N2XZF (Paul) and W4CFO (Jim): All participated in a repeater work day at Dan’s home.

KA1HPM (Nick): Presented the report for Chatham repeaters. Antennas will be going up soon. Installers are saying they will be placed at 100’ but the committee would like to see them higher so they will be more effective. The two meter repeater audio test went well, and the machine should be on the air by early December. The Auxcom net meetings have been taking place on alternate Tuesdays. Members are looking forward to taking part in in a WinLink event this coming Saturday. With that technology hams will be able to handle e-mail messages without use of the internet.

HOLIDAY PARTY UPDATE:
KR4UB (Dan): A note from David, our president, informs us that because of the Covid 19 pandemic and our inability to provide adequate protection for attendees at a dinner event, the club board members have decided that the Christmas party is cancelled for this year.

W4ORD (Lad): As chair of the Christmas Party Committee Ladd reaffirmed for the club membership that the facility folks and catering operation have already been notified that the party is cancelled.

MEMBERSHIP ROUNDTABLE:
N1LN (Bruce) Officially opened the membership roundtable. This part of the monthly meeting is especially important because it provides an open forum in which each member has an opportunity to talk about his or her own ham radio activities and how they contribute to the cohesiveness and mission of our wonderful hobby. We are further emphasizing that this part of the meeting provides a venue for members to make suggestions about potential subjects for future club projects and presentations.

KO4DHJ (Ken): Thanks to AB4OZ for spearheading the mini-hamfest last Saturday. It provided an opportunity for me to sell lots of surplus stuff which made my XYL very happy.

KN4BTI (Mark): I Have been in Richmond with some medical issues and minor surgery that required fairly extensive rehabilitation. We now have 16 “chatters” on the Carbon Link, a packet radio link headed up by K4KZ. If the club would like a presentation on this initiative please feel free to let me know and I will set it up.

KA5ETS (Doug): Has been monitoring the bands for DX conditions on FT8. There has been a noticeable paucity of stations from the middle east. He is also doing some antenna work in preparation for the winter. Sporadic E openings on 6 meters have been observed.

KA1HPM (Nick): Not much radio activity. Very busy with AuxCom and attendance at virtual breakfasts at Virlies in Pittsboro.

N4JQR (JR): Is enjoying Zoom communication within the club and doing lots of jobs around the house.

KM4JZA (Mike): Requests that club information be forwarded so he can become an official member. He is enjoying this net.

KM4MBG (Jack): Congratulations to Dan (KR4UB) for doing a great job on the OCRA website (ncocra.org). He has done a great handling of emails to the benefit of both the OCRA and DFMA clubs. He announced that DFMA is not yet sure that Durham Fest will take place this year because of Covid 19. Suggested that both clubs design “show and tell” presentations consisting of short videos that can be replayed at various times so members can view them on the web when it is convenient. Q and A sessions could logically follow. Jack would be happy to give a presentation about free linux software that has useful ham radio applications.

KN4JYP (Cathy): Signed on to tonight’s net using a handheld on her back deck. Says working entirely from home is a nightmare. The remodeling projects at her home are complete and she is now ready to challenge her Home Owners Association for antenna privileges.

W4ORD (Lad): Recent storms have taken down literally all of his antennas. He has had minor foot surgery and eye surgery recently and is recovering from both.

KF4PFB (Lenore): Not too much radio going on. Always looking forward to Jack’s cooking.

KX4P (John): Having fun playing with a new Kenwood VHF/UHF duo bander for 2M and 440 mhz. .Recent ham radio activity included participation in the Classic Exchange. He wasn’t able to contact N1LN but had a lot of fun anyway. Has been trying to replace the dial cord on his Collins 75A1 but is finding it to be a complicated and time-consuming job.

KZ1X (Steve): Looking forward to beginning his antenna/tower rebuilding project which is scheduled to begin one week from today. Wants to know if the repeater on 53.45 has come back yet. Dan replied for that the last several years, summer time propagation brings in a signal from some distant source that times the repeater out and takes it off the air. A google search indicates historically there have been some beacons on this frequency

NA4VY (Dave): Noted that he and his XYL spent some vacation time on the lake. The weather was great. Has been participating in numerous local nets. Would like to give a club presentation about the radio telescope he visited in Green Banks, WV.

N2XZF (Paul): Helped with repeater work at Dan’s and attended a virtual meeting at Mikes.

KU4GC (Dee): is spending some time in Wilmington working on settling his son’s estate.

KN4QBZ (Fred): Would be available to present a program on AuxCom for the club.

WB1AJJ (Jon) Agrees that having club members present programs on how they developed their interest in ham radio and actually got into the hobby would be useful and entertaining. He also feels that this approach would be more appealing if the presentations were organized by decades during which members’ interests in the hobby bloomed.

N8BR (Bill): has just acquired a new Kenwood duo-band VHF/UHF mobile transceiver and is building a low-visability tilt-over mast for the duo-band vertical antenna that he has assembled to use with it. He hopes that this choice of toys will allow him to join our virtual club meetings via the repeater in a manner that pleases the home owners association where he lives.

KR4UB (Dan): hosted a repeater building session with Paul N2XZF, Nick KA1HPM and Jim W4CFO. He also worked on the board agenda and began writing software to make setting up the Net/Zoom meetings. Per Mike, KM4JZA’s request, Dan will add him to the club email distribution list.

W4BOH (Wilson): Prepared a beautiful new operating position for his radios. He also made 44 contacts in the Classic Exchange Contest that took place last week end. Refurbishment of the ’34 Chevy truck is coming along well as is repair of the steering box in his Ford tractor.

KI4RAN (Bill): requested to be added to the OCRA Zoom list.  Dan, KR4UB replied to Bill that he is already on the OCRA Meeting email distribution list (which includes the Zoom information) and that his email SPAM settings should be checked.

MEETING ADJOURNED AT 8:45 pm
WLB/DE/s