Month: April 2024

MEETING MINUTES

Board of Directors – April 2, 2024

In attendance via Zoom: Adam (KD9NYE), Rob (KD9DBQ), Scott (K9XJT), Ben (KD9RYH), Tom (W8NWG), Rich (K9RCS), Jake (K9LE), Tanya (KD9YPM), Darren (KD9HZZ), Casey (KC9IH)

7:18p on April 2, 2024, call to order by club president Ben

Treasurer’s report from Tanya:

• $2,337.91 in checking
• $33.92 in savings
• $7657.32 in money market
• $379 in square
• Unable to access PayPal account at this time
• No checks written in last month
• Tanya will be going to CEFCU tomorrow morning to regain access to our account login

Rob makes a motion to accept, Tom seconds. Accepted.

Approval of last month’s meeting minutes:

• Tom makes a motion to accept Bandbits for April, with Darren seconding. All are in favor.

Old business:

• None

New business:

• Ben says that he’d like to see a membership committee formed, along with a web presence committee and an activities committee. Jake especially agrees with the membership and activities committee ideas, since he remembers how difficult it was as a new ham to get going with the club. Darren says that it would spread workloads out, too.
• Ben asks Jake if he’d like to head a membership committee… and he is on board. Ben will also ask the general membership at the next meeting how they’d like to get more involved. Rich says that he’d be happy to work with Jake on the activities committee. Ben reminds all that these committees don’t have to be a specific size, nor is someone only allowed to participate in just one.
• Ben asks Scott if he’d like to lead a learning/teaching committee – and he’s on board. Darren mentions that we have a whole bunch of parts for tape-measure yagis already at the Red Cross.
• Jake mentions really wanting to do a club POTA event soon. We’d need to find some of our bandpass filters to make it easier for more people to operate at the same time. Or maybe we even split up to several area parks simultaneously.
• The committee members and leaders aren’t the same as board members… but it would be a great development path for future club leadership.
• A Discord channel made by one of our club members (Tony, KD9ZXH) has been taking off. 11 people are on it as of today. We should see if he’s interested in being a part of the proposed communications committee. https://discord.gg/mcn6cAkW
• We’re still trying to regain control of w9uvi.org… Wayne, who originally registered the domain for us long ago, will check and see if he still has access and can transfer to us. In the meantime, we have w9uvi.com and w9uvi.net to get us by.
• Deb has stepped down from the Superfest committee, and Adam is stepping down from his secretary role due to time constraints. Former president Justin said a week ago that he’ll be taking a break from the club.

Repeater committee from Tom:

• Tom is still in negotiations with a future repeater site north of Peoria but doesn’t have anything yet to share publicly.
• Jake is hoping to check on how our Glasford repeater site is doing now that we’ve filled up the water in our backup battery, but he hasn’t had a chance yet. Ben thinks he can meet out there tomorrow afternoon with Tom and Jake.

Superfest committee from Darren:

• He’ll call Jason about the other signs we need (50-50, etc.)
• All mailings are ready to go out for flea market spots that are already sold. He’s still trying to get ahold of one guy that only left his name and no other info.
• He’ll deliver Don Bell’s tickets in person and will take more tickets to a Woodford breakfast to sell.
• KD9IPO reached out about doing a presentation at this year’s Superfest. Darren said we had a spot available on Sunday at 10:30 and he said that was fine. It’ll be about different ham awards and the challenges of getting them. Saturday is pretty much filled up with forums and now so is Sunday.
• Sign-up sheets and tickets will be available at our next club meeting.
• Links for Superfest need to be updated on our website due to temporarily changing domain names.

Last note: Ben expresses his gratitude for all the hard work of the board… 7:56 p.m., we adjourn!

• Submitted by Adam Gerik, KD9NYE

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Membership Meeting – April 9, 2024 Bartonville American Legion

Called to Order at 7:03 p.m. by President Ben Knapp

Roll Call – 23 present

Treasurer’s Report: Expenditures – $155.44 for replacement repeater backup battery; $56 for 501(c)(3) legal fees. Revenue – $305 Deposit; $3,443.77 in Checking; $3,392 in Savings; $7,655.32 in Money Market. Motion to accept Tom Hunt, Second Jake Walters. Passed

Old Business: Ben Knapp addressed rumors from members. He also talked about the web site domain names. We hope to restore w9uvi.org. Currently w9uvi.com and w9uvi.net are now owned by the club and are active. He also disucsssed that the club is working on ZIRS 501 (c)(3) nonprofit status. Finally he asked for membership help with various Board positions and committees.

Committee Reports: Midwest Superfest – Darren Weir brought tickets for distribution to members and sign up sheets for various jobs.
Repeater Committee – Tom Hunt and Jake Walters discussed new battery installation, efforts to link repeaters and the possibility of using the Dunlap Fire Station #2 tower.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:37 p.m. and turned over to Scott, K9XJT for a demonstration of satellite radio.

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MIDWEST SUPERFEST^TM

Our hamfest is about four months away and things are coming together, but we still have members tickets to pass out. We will have them at all club meetings

We need volunteers, including shuttle drivers, gate sales and traffic directors for Saturday and Sunday.

More importantly, we need volunteers Thursday the 19th so we can lay out the flea market spaces and the 20th helping set up tables.

Door prizes are starting to roll in, including items from MFJ, Nat Comm Group, The Wireman, Mastrant, Arrow Antenna, DX Engineering, RT Systems and Baofeng Tech.

There will be a dinner Saturday night at 7pm at Grecian Gardens for all who want to attend, If you plan on coming please send email and let us know.

w9uvi.paarc@gmail.com

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PEORIA COUNTY ARES

Amateur radio operators use their training, skills, and equipment to provide communications during emergencies, When All Else Fails®.

May 1, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
May 8, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
May 15, ARES Monthly Meeting via Zoom, 7:00 PM

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

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APRIL NET LOGS

4/7
KD9RYH W8NWG K9XJT KD9ANU W9WGN KD9QQU KD9VRW K9HJZ KD9YPM KC9IH NP2WJ K9OBI KD9YER W9JDP K9TNT N9NDF KD9PXZ KD9JXR KB9ATO N9WFT KD9IVV KD9AER KD9WVP KD9ZKZ KD9WLD KB9SF KD9SPI KD9STL K9RCS K9LE AA9MK KD9YWB N9GZ KC9ZWR N9ASP KD9MPI KD9WRX KB0OGS N9SL KD9ERS Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

4/14
K9LE W8NWG KD9AER W9WGN K9OBI K9HJZ KD9YPM KD9IBC KC9IH KD9VAN KD9ERS K9TNT W9JDP N9NDF NM0O KD9PXZ KB9ATO KD9IVV KD9JXR KD9RJH N9WFT KD9ZKZ NP2WJ KB9SF KD9WLD KD9YEB WF9E K9RCS KD9WVP KD9MPI W9ODO KD9QQU N9GZ K9QZ N9ATF KD9WRX KD9NYE W9WTF K9UQF KD9STL KD9YER K9QQT Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

4/21
KD9RYH KD9ANU W8NWG K9LE KD9QQU KD9WRX W9WGN WD9EB KD9IBC NP2WJ KD9YPM KC9IH KD9WVP K9XJT K9HJZ K9TNT KD9JXR KB9ATO NM0O KD9PXZ AA9MK N9WFT KD9ZKZ WF9E KD9NYE KD9YWB/AE KB9SE K9QZ KD9WLD/AE KD9STL N9ASP K9UQF KB9SF K9RCS KD9ERS N9GZ Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

4/28
​K9LE W9WGN K9HJZ NP2WJ KD9HZZ W9JDP K9TNT N9NDF NM0O KD9PXZ AA9MK W8NWG KD9ZXZ KD9AER KD9WLD/AE KD9RJH KD9VIN KC9ZWR KD9QQU KD9WVP N9WFT KD9YWB KD9STL KD9IVV KB9SF KD9JXR K9RCS WF9E KD9IBC K9UQF KB9ATO N9GZ KC9IH K9XJT KD9NYE Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

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MAY CLUB EVENTS

May 1 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

May 7 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting – details TBA

May 8 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

May 14 – 7:00 p.m. – Membership Meeting: TBA – Bartonville American Legion, 4501 S Airport Rd, Bartonville. All are welcome.

May 15 – 700 p.m. – ARES Meeting – details TBA

May 28 – 7:00 p.m. – Superfest Meeting – details TBA

Check w9uvi.org for last minute changes or additions

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CLUB EMAIL LIST

If you would like to be notified by email when BandBits and other club news is posted to the website, click here: email list sign-up to be added to our email distribution list.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Hello club!

Spring foward… into the darkness?

Hopefully everyone has recovered most of the lost sleep and have replaced your smoke detectors batteries!

This is also a great time of year to make sure your weather radios are ready to go, and be sure to check on your loved ones that they are prepared as well.

We apologize for the loss of the web page this week. We hope to have our original domain name back, but now w9uvi.net and w9uvi.com will work.

And now, the darkness! here comes the eclipse! we have been invited to be at the Peoria Riverfront Museum and Planetarium for the local gathering there.
the event starts at noon, the moon and sun will together at 2pm or so. if you cant be there, be sure to set outside and safely look up!

Looking past that, summer field day plans are starting to be laid out, more on that later.

in the mean time, do your part to keep the bands busy.

~73’s
KD9RYH
Ben

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MEETING MINUTES

Board of Directors – March 6, 2024

In attendance at Red Cross: Adam (KD9NYE), Ben (KD9RYH), Rob (KD9DQB), Scott (K9XJT), Tanya (KD9YPM), Rich (K9RCS), Darren (KD9HZZ), Tom (W8NWG), Jake via Zoom (K9LE)

Ben calls our board meeting to order at 8:19 p.m. after a presentation on 501(c)3 management from club member Todd Ricca (N9CS)

Tom makes a motion to accept last month’s meeting minutes as published in Bandbits, with Rich AND Scott seconding simultaneously. All are in favor and they are accepted.

Treasurer’s report from Tanya:

• $1,976.41 in checking
• $7,645.36 in money market
• $379.72 in Square
• $1,045.92 in PayPal
• Two checks written since last month: $1,050 to Katie’s Kars for Superfest, $253.54 to Darren for miscellaneous Superfest expenses

Rob makes a motion to accept, and Rich seconds. The report is accepted unanimously.

Old business:

• Darren has heard back from our lawyer. The registered agent is still showing up with the state as former treasurer John Zandowski. It should be Tanya. Ben has started a checklist file of these annual obligations.
• Darren and Todd did inventory of the club assets… Tom would like to confirm our list as trustee. Adam will include that in our shared club Google Drive.
• No other old business.

New business:

• Darren says we need to get started on compiling our passwords, etc for accounts. We need to keep these in a few places to make sure we have continuity.
• Scott asks about access codes for buildings – we don’t need anything new from what we had for the old building.
• Darren says that we will need to take down antennas from our tower at the Red Cross.
• We need to update our club info for our ARRL listing.
• Scott would like to add two people to our training endeavors.

Repeater committee update from Tom:

• Still working on the potential for a new repeater site, but some disappointment. We liked what we saw when going on a site visit… but we haven’t been able to set up a meeting with the person in charge of the site in the past few months. Tom will keep trying to get that meeting arranged.
• We still have the 075 site in Groveland and during high winds on Sunday, the site’s power went out. The generator came online as expected, but the transfer switch did not. We have a battery backup there, but it wasn’t hooked up to the Anderson power connector and wasn’t getting a charge. Adding to that, the computer wasn’t set up to come back up after power failure. In addition, our UPS wasn’t being used for the computer. Not sure how this happened. We have three sets of keys, including a hidden set at the site. The good news is that we’ve set up the computer correctly again, along with our battery, charger and UPS.
• Tom would like the board’s authorization to replace the 20-year-old battery. Rob will get a quote for a deep-cycle replacement this week and bring it to the board.
• We’ve found that a single computer can only handle WIRES-X or Echolink, not both. Jake is going to confirm if we need a second computer for each site to allow running both at each repeater site.
• Jake is also talking to a friend in Champaign about what it would take to link our 85 repeater to the 075.

Superfest update from Darren:

• Darren has again emailed all vendors he hasn’t heard from. No one who has replied has committed to this year, but one has for next year.
• Got flags for the ticket gate… not the red we expected, but tall enough to get attention at $56. Darren will need to pick up conduit to make brackets to hold them.
• Todd and Brett are getting started on prizes in addition to what vendors have already pledged
• Superfest meeting for March will be in-person at the Red Cross on the 2nd floor.
• Jill from Tower Electronics says they’ll be back.

Any other business?

• Rich brings up Ham Club Online. Adam will make sure that Tom knows how to update our calendar and will also check into email notifications to members. Adam will also make sure that board members have elevated access.
• Nothing else. Ben calls the meeting closed at 9:09 p.m.

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Membership Meeting February 16, 2024

Meteorologists from the National Weather Service in Lincoln conducted our annual weather spotter training event at the Bartonville American Legion.

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Midwest Superfest is six months away, but it’s not too soon to think about tickets. Tickets will be distributed to members at upcoming club meetings. Each club member will receive 10 tickets to sell or purchase. Any unsold tickets may be returned, but we encourage you to sell as many as possible to benefit the club. More tickets are available on request.

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PEORIA COUNTY ARES

Amateur radio operators use their training, skills, and equipment to provide communications during emergencies, When All Else Fails®.

April 3, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
April 10, ARES Net @ 7:00 PM CDT on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater
April 25, (Note Day and Week have a change) Monthly Meeting via Zoom, 7:00 PM

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

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MARCH NET LOGS

3/3
KD9RYH KD9ANU KD9HZZ K9LE W8NWG K9XJT W9JDP K9TNT W9WTF KD9NYE N9NDF N9CS K9RCS KD9JXR KD9PXZ K9QZ WW9DLM W9WGN WD9EB NM0O N9WFT N9GZ KD9YWB KD9STL KB9ATO KD9WLD K9UQF KM9SPL KD9QQU KD9IBC WF9E KD9ZXH KD9WVP KC9ZWR KD9YER K9CEW Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

3/10
KD9RYH KD9ANU K9XJT KD9WRX KD9ZFC K9HJZ NP2WJ KC9IH KD9YPM W9GLO W9JDP W9WTF WF9E NM0O B9ATO KD9JXR KB9OGS W8NWG KD9QQU KD9WVP KD9PXZ N9WFT KD9YWB WW9DLM KC9ZWR N9NDF KB9ATO KD9ZXH KD9MPI KD9YWB K9QJ KD9WLD KD9DBQ W9DAY K9UQF K9RCS KD9STL K9JQF K9QZ W9WTF Submitted by N9CS 73

3/17
KD9RYH KD9HZZ KD9QQU K9XJT KD9ANU W9WGN KD9WRX KD9YER KB9VRW KB9SF KD9TEG KD9YPM KC9IH K9HJZ W9JDP K9TNT N9NDF NM0O KD9PXZ KD9IBC KD9ZKZ N9WFT KD9JXR W8NWG KC9YTT KB0OGS K9STL K9LE KD9YWB KD9NYE WF9E K9RCS KT9Y KD9ZXH Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

3/24​
KD9ANU KD9RYH W9WGN KD9WRX K9HJZ KD9YER KD9YPM KD9ZXH KD9WVP NP2WJ KD9HZZ W9JDP K9TNT NM0O N9NDF W8NWG KB9ATO KD9JXR KD9PXZ N9WFT KD9ZKZ KD9IBC KD9STL KC9YTT WF9E KD9NYE KD9WLD KD9MPI KD9QQU KD9YWB K9UQF KD9VRW KB9OGS K9RCS Submitted by KD9DBQ

3/31
KD9RYH K9XJT KD9ANU KD9WRX KD9IBC K9HJZ KD9QQU KC9IH W9WGN KD9PXZ W9JDP K9TNT N9NDF NM0O KD9JXR KD9ZKZ W8NWG KD9YWB KB9SF N9WFT KD9STL K9LE K9UQF KD9WVP Submitted by KD9DBQ 73

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April Club Events

April 2 – 7:00 p.m. – Board Meeting details TBA

April 3 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

April 9 – 7:00 p.m. – Membership Meeting: TBA – Bartonville American Legion, 4501 S Airport Rd, Bartonville. All are welcome.

April 10 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Net on the W9UVI (147.075) repeater

April 20 – 12:00 noon – 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.

April 23 – Midwest Superfest Meeting

April 25 – 7:00 p.m. – ARES Meeting, (Note Day and Week have a change) Monthly Meeting via Zoom

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CHECK IN ON MIDCARS NET DURING THE APRIL 8 ECLIPSE

Although totality of the April 8 solar eclipse will be visible in southern Illinois, the propagation effects will be felt over a much wider area. The altered ionospheric conditions during an eclipse change conditions in an odd way to varying degrees depending on location.

We will have an opportunity to experience these changes during the eclipse when net control operator Mike Patton, AA9MK will extend hours of the MidCars Net on 7.258 MHz to cover this time period, so we can experience the propagation changes first hand. The net will run on both sides of totality (1:58-2:06 pm CDT, April 8). The net is open to all.

Click here for more information.

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CLUB EMAIL LIST

If you would like to be notified by email when BandBits and other club news is posted to the website, click here: email list sign-up to be added to our email distribution list.