OCRA Club Meeting Minutes – October 11th, 2021

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ORANGE COUNTY RADIO AMATEURS

Monthly Membership Meeting – October 11. 2021 – 7:00 pm

Platform Utilized: OCRA 442.150 UHF Repeater supplemented with Zoom

NET CONTROL AND MEETING OFFICIATION: N1LN (Bruce) Opened the meeting by inviting member check-ins. The following stations responded either by repeater or Zoom.

ATTENDEES: N8BR, Bill; KA5ETS, Doug, KO4DHJ, Ken; KU4GC, Dee; W4BOH, Wilson;  KW4JY, Calvin; KF4PAB, Lenore; KM4MBG, Jack; N2XZF, Paul; KN4VXB, Aurora; KZ1X, Steve; N7RYN, Ryan; KR4UB, Dan; W4ORD, Lad; KR4AM, Mark; KB1WE, Wayne; KO4JAW, Mark; W4FK, Bob; N1LN, Bruce

OFFICER REPORTS

  1. N1LN (Bruce – representing W4SAR): Our agenda will consist of check-in via repeater and zoom, officer reports, fox hunt update, show and tell from members, open discussion and check-out. Bruce queried the group for additional agenda items. In response.N8BR asked that the Christmas party be added to the agenda so that the format of that event and its location could be finalized. Dan, KR4UB made an announcement about the Tarwheels Bikefest scheduled for October 23rd.
  2. KR4UB (Dan) -Treasurer’s Report: 94 members’ dues are current, 3 need to renew, and 4 memberships are expiring. In the past 12 months 26 new members have joined 13 of whom are newly licensed. In addition, 25 memberships have expired. The various methods for paying dues were discussed. All are designed to make the process easy.
  3. W4ORD (Lad) – Vice President’s Report: Indicated that he wanted to get a consensus from the membership in order to decide on the location for the Christmas party and whether it would be catered or pot-luck. Please let him know 1. If we should have the event, 2. If it should be catered or potluck, and 3. where it should take place. He also needs to know if members will attend or not.
  4. KR4UB (Dan) – Repeater Report: Based upon comments received from many members of our club who use the 145.230 repeater at the Pittsboro Fire Tower site, the machine there appears to be functioning well. Based on this outcome we may not have to move it from this site as was previously planned.

5. KM4MBG (Jack) – DFMA Update. Our 6 meter repeater has been active from TV Hill in Durham for a number of weeks. The signal is so strong it has

actually interfered with another repeater in Virginia making it necessary to change our crystals so the machine frequency could be moved to 53.61 Mhz. All members are invited and welcome to join us there.

DFMA members are also pondering what the club activities will be like in November and December. Many discussions have focused on whether the club is ready to return to face-to-face meetings and activities. Further, the club is contemplating the use of gift cards and door prizes to attract new program participants. In sum, lots of little things are going on to attract new membership.

6. KM4VXB (Aurora) – Fox Hunt Update: There has been no Fox Hunt yet because of the weather. We will have to use the rain date which is October 30 at 10:00 am for the on-foot event and 12:30 pm for the vehicle format. Please email Aurora if you are planning to attend the event so she can arrange for adequate staffing.

7.. PROGRAM – Show and Tell Presentations on equipment and technology relevant to Fox Hunting: Rainbow Sniffer (KN4VXB), Small Loop Square (KR3AM), offset attenuator and mixer (W4BOH), Fox Hunting in MA and 8 switch attenuator (N1LN), and Hand Fox Fnder (KB1WE). Relevant links to the various topics are presented below.

https://arrowantennas.com/main/fhl.html

the offset attenuator:

https://arrowantennas.com/main/4ofha.html

A DIY offset attenuator:

http://www.homingin.com/joek0ov/offatten.html

Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 8:22 PM Aurora Toennisson <wayferny@gmail.com> wrote:

equested by Bruce, here’s links from our on the air discussion.

Here’s the rainbow kit I made: https://www.rainbowkits.com/product-page/sdf-1-kit

Here’s the Handi-finder: https://www.handi-finder.com/

https://www.qsl.net/ve2emm/index.html#index

https://www.geontech.com/download/white_papers/AOC_Challenge_GEON.pdf

http://www.dhawke.com/kq1lweb/documents/rdf.pdf

https://arrowantennas.com/main/fhl.html

The offset attenuator:

https://arrowantennas.com/main/4ofha.html

A DIY offset attenuator:

http://www.homingin.com/joek0ov/offatten.html

On Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 8:22 PM Aurora Toennisson <wayferny@gmail.com> wrote:

As requested by Bruce, here’s links from our on the air discussion.

Here’s the rainbow kit I made: https://www.rainbowkits.com/product-page/sdf-1-kit

Here’s the Handi-finder: https://www.handi-finder.com/

On Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 8:21 PM infomet2003 via groups.io <infomet=embarqmail.com@groups.io> wrote:

https://www.geontech.com/download/white_papers/AOC_Challenge_GEON.pdf

http://www.dhawke.com/kq1lweb/documents/rdf.pdf

8. VOICE POLL AND CHECK-OUT: Prior to exiting the Zoom Meeting attendees were asked to respond to a voice poll designed to collect data on members’ intentions to attend the annual Christmas Dinner, their preferred location for the event, desire for full- service vs, potluck, and whether Covid 19 vaccination should be required for member participation. Data from this instrument will be used in final planning for the event. Poll results: 10 yes, 5 maybe, 2 will not attend.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:46,

WLB/DE.s.