Month: August 2022

September 2022 BandBits

President’s Report

As we all know, Midwest Superfest is just a short time away! We desperately need your help to pull this off. We have had some setbacks, but I know that we will succeed! We had to change our location due to weather damage at the East Peoria Event Center, so Midwest Superfest 2022 is going to be held at Expo Gardens in Peoria, IL.

Again, I am asking for your help and support. Volunteers are needed from Thursday the 15th through Sunday the 18th. I will be working Security overnight on Friday and Saturday, but I would like to have at least one more person dedicated to this position. We need help with marking the flea market spots on Thursday. We need help at the front gate checking and selling tickets. We will have the logo stickers and magnets for sale at the Club Table and will need someone for that. These are just a few of the positions available. If you (or know anyone who) are willing and able to help in any position… Please contact Deb Suhs at WD9EB@ARRL.net ASAP!

I want to thank all of you who have supported the club and Superfest. Without you, we would not exist.

Justin Flick, N9WX President, PAARC

____________________________________________________

Meeting Minutes: Membership

7:09 p.m.: meeting begins

Welcome to new member Adam (KD9SBI). Introductions all around.

Deb makes a motion to approve Bandbits, Jim seconds. Unanimous approval.

TREASURER’S REPORT:

Savings: 235.32
Checking: 1423.85
Money market: 8395.91
PayPal: 280.37
470 in checks that deb has for Superfest tickets

Dion makes motion to approve, Jim seconds. It’s approved.

SUPERFEST UPDATE FROM DEB (Note that this report was made to the membership prior to the storm damage that forced us to move Superfest):

  • All club members should have 10 tickets to buy or sell.
  • Need to talk to Aaron about what’s going on at the Superfest site…
    will make sure things are ready.
  • Justin says that air conditioning looks to be working because
    condensation is gone from windows. Deb also noticed that the roof has
    been redone.
  • Our contract with Three Sisters Park has been signed. Half of the
    deposit has been sent to them (why our checking account is so flush.)
    $750. Guaranteed price from 2023-2028. Then, the price will be
    renegotiated for the next five years after that. As long as we want
    Three Sisters on the third weekend of September, it’s ours.
  • Will use every building out there except the barn. If we need it, we
    can add it as well.
    Flea market will be in the campground area, which means some spots
    will have guaranteed electric hookups. Will have room to expand, even.
    Chapel will be used for forums. Meeting rooms for testing.
  • 50 amp service by the museum is for big vendor RVs
  • Susan at Three Sisters has been real good to us, with nice breaks:
    Only paying $3,500 for the weekend. And vendors won’t have to rush
    out… they can even leave the next day. She’ll be at this year’s
    event in East Peoria to check out how we have it set up.
  • Deb is getting pictures of Three Sisters in advance so we can have
    flyers available THIS year for next year’s first event out there.
  • Deb has signup sheets on our website… Deb will work with Adam on
    activating. Everything info-wise on Superfest is live and active (flea
    market map, vendor letter, tickets, etc.)
  • We’ll have a simplex frequency for people there, so bring your HTs.
  • Tables will be coming from just Pekin instead of two places. Rich
    has a trailer lined up.
  • We have two food trucks reserved.
  • If anybody is volunteering, they get a bright yellow shirt so people
    know you’re there to help. Send Justin email ASAP with size
    (n9wx.ares@gmail.com)
  • 2019 was 60 years of Superfest at Expo, so at least that old.
    Jobs needed for SuperFest:
  • Talk-on for people who are lost.
  • Ticket sales at the gate.
  • Helping people to flea market spots
  • Making announcements
  • Meet Jim or Todd at Expo to get sound equipment we need

Two weeks from tonight, Superfest meeting is at the Red Cross.

REPEATER UPDATE FROM TOM:

  • Echolink is up and running. It turns out that the router just needed rebooted.
  • Suggests that Scott may want to train again on Echolink for membership.
  • UHF D-STAR repeater is now shut down.
  • We were hoping to move the 075 repeater to a taller tower, but
    prices came in much higher and tower climbers were in short supply…
    so postponing that move for now.
  • So now, Midwest is only charging for antennas in use instead of
    what’s actually on the old tower.
  • Midwest is having another tower climber out for another client, so
    we’re going to try to piggyback to have things checked on our setup
    (we have some remaining issues with noise on the repeater.)
  • 075 is at 180ft and VHF DSTAR is at 160.
  • Next job is getting out to Timber Hollis repeater and getting Fusion
    back up (was an bad internet connection that has allegedly been
    fixed.) Need to get there before the current fire chief is gone.
  • Moving things to the Proctor repeater site is probably dead.
  • 61 is leased to the end of the year.
  • Tower rent is $1,130 for six months for two antennas.

Any old business? No.

ARES from Rich:

  • Has been slow because of no severe weather.
  • Second WinLink set up at the bunker. Good opportunity to practice
    sending from one radio to another.
  • Going through training.
  • Will have a monthly meeting on Wednesday night at the bunker for a
    tour. (Kickapoo)

Jim makes a motion to end meeting, Mark seconds. We
adjourn to Scott’s presentation on satellite work.

Additional item….

  • Rich wants to start planning for a spring balloon launch in honor of
    Fritz. If interested in planning, let him know. Unfortunately, very
    little equipment survived the last few balloon launches. Got a bunch
    of records from Fritz’s wife Susan but can’t even figure out what
    model of balloon we were using. (NWS in Lincoln may know
    manufacturers, though.)

____________________________________________________

SuperFest

By now you know that we have had to move Midwest Superfest 2022 from the East Peoria Event Center to Exposition Gardens in Peoria due to storm damage to the front of the EP Event Center where our indoor vendors would be setting up. As Justin talked about in his President’s Message there are several jobs we need help with. Please keep an eye on the website, we will soon have a Midwest Superfest Jobs page that we are asking everyone to please help with. We will be discussing Midwest Superfest, what still needs to be done before hand and what we have to do during it at the monthly club meeting. If you have any questions before hand, please contact Deb WD9EB@ARRL.NET.

____________________________________________________

Peoria County ARES

Sept 7, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater 

Sept 14, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater 

Sept 21, ARES On-line Conference @ 7:00 PM CST (Watch your email for Zoom conference info)

Call or email Rich if you are not on the ARES Roster and desire to join the Zoom Conference.

On-Line Conference Agenda includes: Infrastructure Activities, PAWS Event on 10/22, Training Documentation, How to reply to Winlink ICS 213 messages, and more.

Please submit your Training Documentation form.

ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/

____________________________________________________

August Net Logs

8/7
WD9EB KD9ANU N9WX NM0O N9GUE KC9IH KD9IBC K9HJZ W9JDP K9HJZ W9JDP N9SJZ KB9ATO K9TNT KD9PXZ KD9JXR W8NWG KD9AER W9WGN KD9ERS K9RCS WD9EGV WF9E KD9RYH N9WFT NP2WJ W9TTX N9NDF KD9HZZ KD9NYE WW9DLM KD9RJH NA9LE KB9TNZ KD9STL KD9SZZ Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

8/14
KD9ANU K9XJT W9WGN W8NWG WF9E K8HJZ KC9IH N9GUE W9JDP KD9ERS K9RCS KB9ATO N9NDF KD9PXZ KD9VAM NM0O KD9SPI KD9AER K9TNT KD9VLQ KB9TNZ KD9RYH KD9IVV N9WFT KD9JXR KD9STL KD9QQU KB9SF KD9MPI Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

8/21
WD9EB K9XJT N9WX KD9ANU KC9IH W8NWG WD9EGV N9GUE KD9ERS KD9IVV KB9OGS KD9PXZ W9JDP KD9TAE NM0O
W9WGN K9TNT K9RCS KD9AER WW9DLM N9WFT KD9RJH KD9QQU K9UQF WF9E KD9RYH KD9QQT KD9JXR KD9STL KB9TNZ N9NDF KB9ATO KD9TEG KT9TB KD8NYE KB9SF KD9SPI Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

8/28
KC9IH K9HJZ WD9EGV KD9IVC N9GUE W8NWG W9JDP N9WX K9RCS KB9OGS KB9ASO NM0O KD9PXZ K9TNT KD9ERS K9XJT KD9NYE N9NDF K9MOA KD9AER KD9JXR K9TLZ KD9RHY WW9DLM
KD9STL W9NDG Submitted by KD9QQU 73

____________________________________________________

September Club Events

September 1 – 7:00 pm – Board of Directors Meeting – Zoom

September 7 – 7:00 pm – ARES Net – 146.075 Repeater

September 8 – 7:00 pm -Membership Meeting – Bartonville American Legion: Setting up and using EchoLink. Please install EchoLink on your laptop and/or phone before the meeting. Click here for information on how to install EchoLink.

September 15 – 7:00 pm – ARES Meeting

September 17 – 18, 2022  MIDWEST SUPERFEST – NEW LOCATION: EXPO GARDENS, 1601 W Northmoor Rd. Peoria – All (pink) tickets issued for the East Peoria location will be honored. Flea Market, Indoor Vendors, License Testing, Learn about DMR, Satellite Demo, Learn about Winlink, DXCC Card checking and more. –  Purchase Tickets

September 29 – 7:00 pm -Superfest Meeting

August 2022 BandBits

President’s Report

All,

As summer winds down, it means that our club’s main event of the year is just around the corner. Midwest Superfest 2022 is set for Saturday and Sunday, September 17 and 18th at the East Peoria Event Center, 4200 Washington Road. We look forward to seeing you next month, and hope to sign you up as a volunteer for an hour or two to make this one of the best hamfests in the area.

Volunteers make the difference: Putting on a hamfest is a major undertaking for any organization. Volunteers are the backbone of this event. We appreciate the long hours they put in not only on the weekend of the event, but in the planning and logistics process. They give of their time and purchase their own tickets to insure our success. We can’t thank them enough for their time and effort. To show our appreciation, all Superfest volunteers will get a free tee shirt. Volunteer sign up sheets will be available on line soon, but to make sure you get yours, please send you name and shirt size to me ASAP:  n9wx.ares@gmail.com 

Likewise, a special thanks to our Board of Directors, also volunteers, who oversee ther club’s operations, from Superfest, to Field Day, to educational and informative meetings, to license examinations and the day to day operations of our repeaters. Volunteers make the difference.

Repeaters: D-Star, Fusion and EchoLink require internet connectivity. We had an issue with our internet over the summer that was recently resolved. We are happy to report that EchoLink and D-Star are fully functional. Full Fusion operation will be coming soon.

Our repeaters are used a lot, and we want to make sure that they stay on the air to provide reliable service to the area. We made a couple of important decisions in order to insure our repeaters are there for you. We had hoped to move our repeaters this summer in order to improve service. To do it properly, we have to use experienced, insured tower climbers. Unfortunately, their availability is limited, and their prices are higher than we anticipated, so the Board decided to postpone this project for the time being. Because we rent tower space for each of our repeater antennas, we evaluated repeater usage and found that of our 2 D-Star repeaters, the UHF repeater had very little use, so we shut it down. This will reduce or total tower rent costs. The VHF D-Star repeater on 145.1050 will remain on the air.

I realize that we have talked about a lot of change here. Sometimes life is about change, and in this case it is positive change that will keep the Peoria Area Amateur Radio Club alive and well.

73,

Justin Flick, N9WX

____________________________________________________

Meeting Minutes: Board of Directors

In attendance: Justin, Adam, Darren, Rob, Deb, Matt

7:07 p.m. July 7, 2022: meeting begins

Deb makes a motion to approve July Band Bits. Rob seconds. It
unanimously passes.

Darren bought 100 more stickers for the club.

TREASURER REPORT:
Savings: $235.31
Checking: $2,251.11 (had to pay Noize Communications,
equipment/liability insurance $723.38, Field Day $40.23, $12.04
refunded)
Money market: $8,395.27
Paypal: $147.14

SUPERFEST COMMITTEE:

  • Deb picked up tickets last Friday and will invoice to John. Deb will
    bring tickets to the regular membership meeting for July. Adam will
    get Deb an updated copy of our membership list. People who aren’t at
    the meeting will have tickets mailed to them or will meet up with them
    later. Deb is also getting the raffle license signed and notarized.
  • We got the contract from Three Sisters Park and they’d like us to
    pay the full deposit. Deb will ask if we can pay half of it now and
    the other half after SuperFest ($650-700 each time)
  • For this year’s SuperFest, the A/C at our East Peoria location was
    supposed to be fixed this summer. Deb will check on if it actually
    happened.
  • Deb will also follow up on our food truck situation. We should have
    permission, but will get it in writing. Scott was getting two food
    trucks AND a coffee truck reserved.
  • Deb is working on getting our website opened for ticket sales and
    will have it done by the end of the weekend.

REPEATER COMMITTEE:

  • Justin is waiting on a climbing quote for our repeater tower move.
    It’ll probably be around $4,000 for the job.
  • We’re still not able to get Echolink back up because we can’t get
    access to the router that needs a firewall exception.
  • But we’re ready to move our D-Star machine to Proctor once we have
    the tower climb completed.
  • What are we paying Noize Communications for? Not sure! Will try to
    find out and see if that’s our obstacle with getting Echolink working
    again. (Will also see if we need to remove the Noize antenna during
    the tower work as well)
  • Matt picked up a used laptop to get Fusion/Wires-X going at the fire
    station site.

OLD BUSINESS:

  • Giant spool of coax was picked up from Neil and is being stored.
  • Will check if we got registration taken care of…

Darren motions to finish, Deb seconds… meeting adjourns at 7:40 p.m.

____________________________________________________

SuperFest

All club members have been mailed their tickets to buy or sell. If you do not receive your tickets by Friday August 5th, email Deb at WD9EB@arrl.net because either we don’t have an address listed for you or we don’t have you listed as paid for this year.

The next Superfest meeting will be on Thursday August 25th at 7:00pm. Location will be posted on our Facebook page.

____________________________________________________

Peoria County ARES

A good sized crowd enjoyed this year’s Emergency Expo at Grand Prairie.
– Photo by KD9DBQ

August 3, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
August 10, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
August 17, Monthly Meeting at the Bunker @ 7:00 PM CDT

For those who have never seen the Bunker, here is your chance. This is a cold war era facility now equipped with a variety of public service radios and antennas. Call or email Rich if you need info on how to get to the Bunker. The tour will focus on our gear as-well-as that used for weather spotting, with a shorter than normal presentation.

Please submit your Training Documentation form – bringing to the meeting is an option.

ARES website: http://www.peoriacountyares.org/

Rich Holtman, KD9ANU, Emergency Coordinator for Peoria County ARES
email: kd9anu@arrl.net
Winlink: kd9anu@winlink.org
Cell: 309-256-4272

____________________________________________________

July Net Logs

7/3
KD9ERS KD9PXZ K9FIT NM0O KD9JXR N9NDF W9WGN KB9ATO KD9IVV KD9AER N9GUE KB9TNZ KD9STL WW9DLM KD9RYH K9UQF WD9EGV N9GZ N9WFT K9HJZ K9TNT Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

7/10
K9XJT KD9ANU W9JDP KB9ATO K9TNT N9NDF KD9IBC W9WGN KD9AER KD9JXR KD9IVV KD9PXZ AA9MK W9SEB N9WFT WF9E N9GUE K9UQF N9SJZ K9FIT NM0O KB9TNZ KT9TB KD9RYH KD9QQU KD9SZZ W9WTF KD9NYE KD9STL Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

7/17
KD9ANU K9XJT W9JDP K9RCS W9WGN N9NDF W8NWG KD9JXR N9WFT NM0O W9SEB KD9IBC WW9DLM KD9AER N9GUE K9UQF KD9ERS WF9E K9HJZ KD9RYH KD9PXZ KB9TNZ KD9STL KB9ATO K9TNT Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

7/24
K9XJT KD9ERS W9JDP K9TNT W9TTX NM0O N9NDF KD9IBC KD9IVV W8NWG KD9PXZ K9RCS KD9AER W9WGN N9WFT KD9QQU N9GUE KD9JXR KD9MPI KT9TB K9UQF WD9EB KD9RYH KB9TNZ KB9ATO K9HJZ N0XOH Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

7/31
WD9EB KD9ANU NA9LE W9WTF KD9ERS N9GUE KC9IH KD9IBC N9NDF WF9E KD9JXR K9RCS W9WGN KD9IVV W8NWG KD9PXZ N9WFT KB9ATO K9HJZ KD9AER KD9QQU KD9RYH KD9NYE KB9TNZ K9UQF KD9STL KT9TB Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

____________________________________________________

August Club Events

August 3 – 7:00 pm: ARES Net – 146.075 Repeater

August 4 – Board of Directors Meeting – Zoom

August 10 – ARES Net – 146.075 Repeater

August 11 – Membership Meeting – Satellite Communication using the Arrow antenna – Bartonville American Legion.

August 17 – 7:00 p.m. ARES Meeting at the Bunker

August 20 – FCC License Testing: Morton Knights of Columbus, 616 W. David Street, Morton, IL. FRN Required. Bring two forms of identification and a copy of your license (if upgrading). Testing Fee: $15.

August 25 – Superfest Meeting